Crucible is often populated by meta builds but if you're looking to have fun and make sick montages, we suggest you try out Ashen Wake with Titan and throw almost enough grenades to satisfy Shaxx.
Ashen Wake gauntlets for the Titans are useful with any Solar build but they shine brightest with the middle tree, Code of the Devastator. This is also a great opportunity to shine some spotlight on this heavily underrated tree as it's one of the most entertaining specs in the game.
Stats and basic mechanics of the Ashen Wake build:
The Exotic gauntlets themselves offer several traits that improve Fusion Grenades:
- They will now explode on impact
- Inherent Fastball effect so you don't need to slot the mod
- Kills with Fusion Grenades instantly recharge them
That last bit is interesting on its own but coupled with the passive from Code of the Devastator, called Roaring Flames, it can turn you into a walking Mountaintop that doesn't run out of ammo.
Roaring Flames increase your ability damage with each stack, stacking up to three times. Direct impact Fusion Grenades will deal:
- 150 damage by default,
- 188 with one stack (enough to instantly kill Guardians with two or less Resilience),
- 235 with two stacks and
- 293 with three stacks.
With the stats and the intrinsic of Ashen Wake, it is pretty obvious how the build works. You damage an enemy with your weapon and finish them off with Fusion Grenade for the first stack, repeat for the second and then you can go to town with your Roaring Flames stacks. From two stacks you should be able to one-shot enemies with direct hits and one-shot in AoE with three stacks.
The best part is that your grenade will refresh on every kill so the chain of kills can go indefinitely. Keep in mind that two stacks of Roaring Flames is sometimes unreliable and can register as 188 damage occasionally, interrupting your flow.
There are several weapons that work extremely well for building up stacks with Fusion Grenades before Roaring Flames kick in:
- 110 RPM Hand Cannon - A single shot anywhere will guarantee a kill on grenade hit
- 140 RPM Hand Cannon - A single headshot guarantees FG kill, body shot guarantees kills on Guardians with eight or less Resilience
- 150 RPM Hand Cannon - A single headshot guarantees FG kill, body shot guarantees kills on Guardians with six or less Resilience
- All bows guarantee FG kills on followup
- 600 RPM Auto Rifles require two headshots or three body shots to guarantee a kill on FG followup
One weapon that isn't among these archetypes is Traveler's Chosen but it works well with the build.
Necessary weapons, armour and gear
Any of the weapon categories mentioned above work well for priming Roaring Flames stacks. The thing you need on them is the Demolitionist perk since you will be spamming grenades a lot. Kills with such weapons will restore grenade energy for when you fumble the resets while it will also reload your weapon when you finish someone off with a grenade. It is perfect for this build.
If you don't have any weapon with Demolitionist from the aforementioned archetypes, farm up Umbral Engrams, which is simple enough, and go for the Lead-Focused Umbral Engram at the recaster. You will have levelled the recaster enough to get two perks on each weapon you get by now. This way you have the best chance of getting a Gnawing Hunger with the perk.
As for the armour, prioritise pieces with Recovery and Discipline. Ashen Wake itself should have a stat booster and preferably Impact Induction or the enhanced version of it. Don't use Fastball since you already have it from the Exotic's intrinsic perk.
Special Ammo secondary is either a shotgun or a sniper rifle, depending on which map you're playing. If possible, get a Demolitionist roll on them as well, for quicker grenade cooldowns.
In the case of shotguns, try to use one with a Lightweight Frame for that mobility boost if you are not running any Lightweight primaries.
The game plan
I personally prefer using either True Prophecy or Gnawing Hunger. The weapon pictured above is great as the rotation is simple - land any shot within optimal range and you're good to follow up with a Fusion Grenade.
Gnawing Hunger, on the other hand, is great because it's more adaptive. Landing two quick headshots for the FG kill before the first stack is simple enough but landing any kind of single shot to make sure you get an FG kill after the first stack is even easier. You can let out a spray and the moment you notice you hit something, just toss a 'nade and you're good.
In case you are using Traveler's Chosen, try landing a single headshot or two body shots before tossing a grenade. This weapon leaves more room for error when it comes to FG resets since a single kill with the Exotic sidearm can be converted into 30 per cent energy refund on all your abilities.
As soon as you get one Roaring Flames stack, it becomes easier to stack up again. At two stacks, you can already start one-shotting people with Fusion Grenade but it appears there is a bug that sometimes makes them not instantly the enemy, despite it being a direct hit.
Bungie
Make sure you don't die before the grenade kill happens because the cooldown will not be refreshed that way.
That about sums it up. Go out there, make your crazy montages and earn those bragging rights. Oh, and if you're hunting for the 7th Column medal, this is probably the best way to earn it.
