Destiny Obsidian Mind Guide
Destiny Obsidian Mind Guide by Eterya
By now I’ve seen several posts asking for how to spec your Warlock to get the most of the Obsidian Mind. So I thought I’d answer it comprehensively here so all of my fellow Warlocks unsure how to unlock their true potential may read this and become enlightened.
DISCLAIMER: This represents my opinion and experiences only. In no way I claim my build to be the “best” or something, and I may just be wrong or sub-optimal about some aspects, but this is how I play.
Preface: The OM is first and foremost a PvE helmet. In PvP its primary effect still works, but as you have fewer targets you’ll have fewer returns from it, to that end this guide will exclusive deal with PvE.
1) The Helmet offers 36 Light(obviously) and both Strength at Intellect in a range of 50+(unsure in the exact ranges) and has the following perks:
Energy Projection: Increases grenade throw distance. Occasionally useful, in the end neither especially bad nor good.
Inverse Shadow: Increased Super energy gained from killing minions of the Darkness. (read: all PvE kills). Now we’re getting somewhere. Very useful in getting your Super up. This is affected by your Intellect as normal.
Insatiable: Nova Bomb kills reduce the cooldown of your next Nova Bomb. The Signature ability and what makes this helmet so powerful. Every kill immediately refills your super bar by a flat 10% i.e. if you kill 10+ things with one NB you instantly have another Super ready.
Stat-wise you want max Intellect and the rest preferably on Strength, but Intellect is more important by far.
Weapons you’re gonna be a close to mid-range fighter, but there is only one option for a primary: Bad Juju. Fittingly created by the lost Warlock Toland, also known as ‘The Shattered’, its Signature ability String of Curses stacks with Inverse Shadow and the effects of Intellect, allowing you to gain incredible amounts of super energy from every single kill. Secondaries and Heavies use whatever Legendary you feel comfortable with, though I recommend Murmur, as it’s a strong Fusion Rifle that can switch between both elements your abilities don’t cover and comes with the Grenadier perk.
Now for the class perks:
Grenade: A matter of preference, as we’re just gonna be using grenades inbetween our supers or for some more damage or utility.
Vortex: Area denial and persistent damage. Use these to block a chokepoint for a few seconds.
Scatter: Immediate damage in an area; generates several bomblets around the point of detonation. My preferred of the three. This one does up-front damage, enough to clear a small group of normal mobs or severely damage a major. Note that it instantly detonates on impact and doesn’t bounce at all.
Axion Bolt: Spawns two trackers that hunt down enemies and explode on hit. King in PvP not so much in PvE. The tracking is unnecessary if you have decent aim, and the damage is just rather low.
Nova Bomb:
Vortex: Like the grenades, persistent damage that can finish off survivors and block an area for a few seconds. Useful if you have enemies funneling through a chokepoint, or have more stuff around you than you can kill even with a super.
Shatter: Splits the projectile in three. This one covers a larger area, at the cost of each singular projectile dealing less damage, but multiple can hit the same target. Use this one to maximize the area of every single super, or to make sure you don’t need the persistent damage because everything is already dead.
Lance: The projectile travels farther and faster. Tbh I haven’t used this one very much. I heard combined with Angry Magic you can do some mean distance shots in PvP, but in PvE it seems less useful than the other options, also we’re not gonna use Angry Magic either.
Movement: Not much to say here. Take whatever suits you. I prefer Blink, although it takes a bit getting used to. You should at least test it out.
Melee: As we want our Super over everything else the only option here is Soul Rip to recharge it faster on a kill. Make sure you hit weak or already damaged targets to make sure you get a kill. On-level Vandals and similar will survive from full HP, Thrall may not. To be sure just hip fire Bad Juju once or twice before going in for the kill.
Training: For PvE armor is (imo) not as significant as in PvP, so I like to run Recovery and Agility, but ultimately this is up to you too.
First row:
Annihilate: Increases blast radius of NB and grenades. This. The goal is to maximize the effect of our Super, so this is our choice without a doubt.
Angry Magic: Nova Bomb tracks enemies. Not really that useful, more so in PvE. There are few things moving fast enough to fully dodge Nova Bomb(if any), and those aren’t the ones you should be bombing anyway.
The Hunger: Increases duration of Energy Drain effect: A very good talent, but as this build uses Energy Drain only really for Soul Rip, not what we’ll be using.
Second Row:
Vortex Mastery: Increases range of Axion Bolt and the duration of Vortex effects from grenades and NB. You’re not gonna use Axion Bolt, and depending on your choices no Vortex effects at all. And even if you did I consider the next talent superior, though if you wish to focus on area denial and crowd control, it’s a valid alternative.
Bloom: Enemies killed by your abilities explode. This one is less than stellar in PvP, but in PvE it can extend your destructive range, significantly if your enemies are all clustered up. Kills with Bloom don’t trigger Bloom again sadly. Use this unless you insist on Vortex Mastery
Embrace the Void: Grenades and Nova Bomb trigger Energy Drain effect. Again a very useful talent, but again we’re not aiming to use Energy Drain except for Soul Rip, so we’ll pass.
My build looks like this:
This spec is a “Glass Cannon” style build, discarding toughness for speed and massive burst damage.
Playstyle is pretty straightforward. Take out weaker enemies to build up your super, then nuke groups or majors/important targets. Do not however hit bosses, at least not all the time, but maybe every other super, instead nuke their adds to get more Orbs for your team and prepare your next super.
Tldr: Take SHatter, Soul Rip, Annihilate and Bloom, then useBad Juju to kill trash mobs and Nova Bomb stuff.
That’s about it, feel free to tell me if I forgot anything/made some mistakes and I’ll update accordingly.
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