Destiny Sunbreaker Guide

Destiny Sunbreaker Guide by cyberhawk94

First off, stat priority.

1. Intellect: CLANG The calling card of the sunbreaker, if this isn’t at 300 then you should just play a different subclass, because you don’t respect the hammers enough. PvE this can drop a bit, especially if you need to max out strength, but is still an excellent stat.

2. Strength: While titans do have fairly crappy melee range across the board, Melting Point is an excellent group support tool. In PvE if you’re a melting point bot, this should be maxed, otherwise it doesn’t matter as much. In PvP, strength vs discipline is a personal choice, though you should focus on one over the other.

3. Discipline: Sunbreaker grenades, while not the best in the world, are perfectly serviceable. Unfortunately, Melting Point and Hammer of Sol both are insanely good, leaving sunbreakers as one of the few classes where all three stats are worthwhile. In PvP, strength vs discipline is a personal choice, though you should focus on one over the other.

(My norm is a 4/0/5 in PvE for melting point, and a 5/4/0 in PvP (though 5/0/4 is also a valid build))

The Tiers

S, A, B, C, and D. As you might guess, S is the crème de la crème, A is everything but the cherry on top, B is perfectly functional – if outclassed, C is I guess it’s a thing? and D actually makes you worse.

Perks

Grenades:

Fusion PvE B PvP A-

Standard sticky grenade, does more damage than flux. Near-instant OHKO in PvP, so definitely not a bad choice, though it is limited.

Thermite PvE B+ PvP C

Slow, fairly easy to avoid, and low damage, not a good PvP grenade. Won’t even block off areas well (the pulses are easy to time between). Can’t kill even if all 4 pulses hit a player which will never happen. Decent in PvE since enemies will walk into the line of fire, but Incendiary is usually a better choice.

Incendiary PvE A PvP A

The go-to AoE grenade, really good at clearing trash mobs in PvE, recently buffed to do more damage, and can now kill in PvP making it an excellent choice there as well, probably Breakers best grenade.

Hammer of Sol:

Forgemaster PvE A PvP A+

The go-to pvp perk in this column, allows you to throw 7 hammers rather than 5, as well as larger explosions so people can’t escape them. Excellent choice in both game modes.

Suncharge PvE B PvP B

Useful for mobility, but the attack itself can’t do much a regular hammer cant. And against those bladedancers and sunsingers, your second hammer will kill them before they kill you. Not bad, just outclassed by the other perks in the column.

Scorched Earth PvE A PvP B

More useful in PvE than PvP, leaves sunspots at your hammer which can do insane damage over time to stationary bosses. If the boss moves around or your hitting adds, Forgemaster is better, but against things like Warpriest this is the choice. In pvp only really useful in combo with Firekeeper for a full sunspot build.

Sunstrike:

Melting Point PvE S PvP C

EXCELLENT PvE perk, making bosses or major threats take 50% extra damage, and stacks with Weapons of Light. Worth taking Striker exotics just to get two of these, easily an S tier perk. In PvP however, the debuff doesn’t add much since Sunstrike will nearly kill people anyway, it will only effect a shot or two and rarely reduces tTK.

Thermal Vent PvE B+ PvP A

Adds AoE damage and drops a Sunspot. Good with a sunspot build, and good for clearing adds in PvE (though you should still take MP). In PvP however, this explosion adds 13 damage, bringing Sunstike to 201 total damage to everyone in the AoE (not just the 13 and DoT). This means Thermal Vent can OHKO MULTIPLE people caught in the AoE. The only things holding this from S tier are its terrible range and the fact that it does take 6 seconds to kill, so you will usually trade the kill.

Stoke the Forge PvE B PvP A

Recharges your melee after a melee kill, and passively reduces the cooldown by 60%. Most worth it in a low strength build as a replacement for the stat. Simple but effective perk. (This vs Thermal vent in PvP is a hard choice, StF leaves them at 1 shot and is available often, while TV can kill, but slowly and less often)

Bonus Perk

Flame Seeker PvE B PvP A

Adds a small amount of homing to your hammers, helping hit aerial targets. Also adds +1 to BOTH agility and recovery, which helps give this some PvE viability. Especially important in 3v3 where targets wont be as grouped up, and Trials where plays can dodge hammers better.

Explosive Pyre PvE A+ PvP A-

Solid PvE perk, turning your hammer into a Nova Bomb with Bloom….that you get 5+ of. In PvP, the explosions are actually also capable of OHKOing players…for some reason, making this actually better than Bloom* and an extremely underrated perk.

Fleetfire PvE A PvP A-

Another underrated perk, essentially the Sunbreaker version of Chain of Woe. Adds agility on top of the reload speed, but applies to abilities instead of headshots. Up to you which of those you think is better, but the boost in agility is always useful (RIP MIDA) as is the substantial boost in reload speed.

Class Perk

Simmering Flames PvE A PvP B

At max Discipline, this gives you a grenade every 12.5 seconds. Actually a really good choice In PvE where melting point and grenades are useful and you may want to save your hammers, but in PvP you are usually not saving your super. Still, it does boost your cooldowns while moving into position so it definitely isn’t useless.

Cauterize PvE A PvP S

Then again, you should nearly always be taking this in PvP. Take Bladedancers best perk, and double its effectiveness by applying it to grenades as well. Turns your Breaker into the unstoppable QQ generator we’ve come to know. Also great in PvE for obvious reasons.

Firekeeper * PvE *B** PvP B+

The second half of the Sunspot build, sacrifice your mobility to become a near-indestructible hammer turret. Allows you to take stupid amounts of damage in sunspots, and drops a sunspot on the ground when you activate Hammers. Worth it in sunspot builds, but outclassed by the powerhouse of cauterize in most situations.

Exotics

Exotic stats changed in Taken King, no longer having certain stats per piece. Now most exotics can roll either split between any two stats, or pure ONLY in their “preferred” stat. Many are also more likely to roll their preferred stat, with a few having a certain stat nearly 100% of the time. Additionally, a small amount of stat comes from a perk, and can only be applied to one stat at a time.

Helm: // Pure: 80 +15 // Split-stat: 45/45 +15

Gauntlets: // Pure: 70 +13 // Split-stat: 40/40 +13

Chest Armor: // Pure: 104 +20 // Split-stat: 68/68 +20

Boots: // Split-stat: 53/53 +18

Exotic Armor (Preferred Stat) PvE rank PvP rank

Helmets

Insurmountable Skullfort (STR): PvE A PvP A

Reasoning: While this is technically a Striker helm, it is possibly better for Sunbreakers than it is Strikers. Double Melting Points in PvE is an excellent tool to have. In PvP, this can be combined with Thermal Vent to get a OHKO every life, or Stoke to ensure you always have a burn to hit with.

Empreyean (-): PvE C+ PvP C+

Reasoning: Some people really love this helm, but for most it isn’t worth the exotic slot. It has some niche uses (fairly good when fighting Phalanxes) but it also leaves you extremely exposed.

Taikonaut (-): PvE B- PvP A-

Reasoning: In PvE this helm is effectively a worse Ruin Wings with a small benefit in tracking. However most of the current PvE endgame is stationary bosses, and in fact Machine guns are preferred for nearly all PvE. In PvP however, this helm adds an insanely important perk to any launcher, and you can make a sudo-truth if you nab one that already has Horseshoes and Tripod. Don’t use an already tracking launcher though, as the helm will strip tracking off of it.

Gauntlets

Ruin Wings (-): PvE A PvP C

Reasoning: The only DLC titan exotic to come forward into Taken King, if we had to pick one this would have been it. Combo these with your favorite HMG and you will have a field day in PvE. Only their inconsistency keeps them from an S tier. For obvious reasons, nearly useless in PvP.

Immolation Fists (INT/STR): PvE A PvP A

Reasoning: An excellent choice of exotic in both PvE and PvP. In PvE allows for both Nova Bomb destruction and speedy reloads. While Explosive Pyre is probably the weakest PvP perk in the tree, it is still extremely useful. This allows you to combo it with Flameseeker, gaining the stat boost and homing as well as the OHKO chains.

Chestpieces

Crest of Alpha Lupi (INT): PvE C PvP A (in 3v3 only)

Reasoning: Nothing special in the ammo department. Exotic perk is cookie-cutter and available on all classes, useful only for 3v3 content. Not much else to say here.

Temporarily Missing

Armamentarium (DISC): PvE B+ PvP S

ACD/0 Feedback (STR): PvE B PvP C

Sample Builds

Melting Point

Recommended Talents: Incendiary // Scorched // Melting Point // Agility & Recovery //Player Choice // Simmering Flames or Cauterize

Stat Priority: Str > Int > Disc | Invigoration

PvE: Skullfort

Weapon Types: Sniper Rifles

Recommended Exotics: Monte Carlo, Raze Lighter

Playstyle: A Good support build for raids and dungeons, nearly 100% MP uptime

We Ran out of Medals

Recommended Talents: Incendiary(Fusion?) // Forgemaster // ThermVent // Armor&Recovery // Explosive(Seeker) // Cauterize

Stat Priority: Int > Str = Disc | Ashes to Asset Solar Armor

PvE: Ruin Wings PvP: Immolation Fists

Weapon Types: Snipers, Rockets, Army of One, Grenadier

Recommended Exotics: BAD JUJU, Bolt-Caster

Playstyle: OHKO melees & Grenades, Unstoppable Supers, and through in Bad JuJu for more mayhem.

Fahrenheit 451

Recommended Talents: Incendiary // Scorched // ThermVent // Agility&Armor // Explosive(Fleetfire) // Firekeeper

Stat Priority: Int >> Str = Disc | Infusion Solar Armor

PvE: Player Choice PvP: Immolation Fists

Weapon Types: Army of One, Life Support

Recommended Exotics: Red Death

Playstyle: Try and stay in Sunspots, as you are nearly invincible.