Void 3.0 is coming in Season 16 alongside the The Witch Queen expansion, and it promises to promote existing Void subclasses (Sentinel, Nightstalker, and Voidwalker) to the Stasis Aspect/Fragment system. It’s not just a port: Void subclasses are being reworked with new abilities, new roles, and a more cohesive take on the buffs and debuffs that currently exist within these subclasses. There are so many possibilities to consider with each subclass, but we’re still working with limited information. In the meantime, I wanted to share some theory crafting I’ve been doing regarding the new melee ability for Titans: Shield Toss.
New Ranged Melee For Sentinel: Shield Toss
Titans are picking up a new ranged melee ability with Void 3.0, and I think it’s going to be the centerpiece of most Sentinel builds going forward. Shield Throw was outlined in August and it’s been featured a few times in trailers for The Witch Queen. It’s not too different from the current shield throw attached to the Sentinel roaming super: it’ll ricochet off enemies and the environment, dealing damage as it goes. As a bonus you’ll get a small chunk of Void overshield each time the shield connects with an enemy.
There’s a bunch of other things to talk about in combination with the Shield Toss, but let’s just consider the melee on its own for a bit, and from a purely PvE perspective. Titans have only ever had access to one thrown melee, and we’ve all seen the Siegebreaker Throwing Hammer absolutely break the game. Titans plenty of melee-focused Exotics to abuse with all of their melee abilities, but they’ve never had a melee ability quite like this one. Shield Toss is very similar to Stasis Hunter’s Withering Blade, which is fantastic in PvE for clearing out trash mobs, slowing or freezing targets, and dealing damage to groups of enemies at range.
Unfortunately, Hunters lack meaningful Exotics to take advantage of Withering Blade. Most of their melee-based Exotics are subclass-specific. That’s not the case with Titans, where powerful Exotics like Wormgod Caress, Dunemarchers, and Synthoceps an be used with any class. As you’ll see, Titans are perfectly positioned to abuse a ranged melee, especially one that can hit multiple targets in a single activation.
The Best Void 3.0 Titan Exotics
I’ve already mentioned a few Exotic options that can make Shield Toss even more deadly, so let’s start by covering those.
Wormgod Caress
Very few perks in Destiny 2 offer as much of a damage increase as Wormgod Caress’ Exotic perk. Scoring a melee kill grants a buff to melee damage called Burning Fists that can stack up to five times. This effect goes away after five seconds, but it can ramp up to a maximum of 650% bonus melee damage. Yeah, you read that right. Assuming Shield Toss can build multiple stacks in a single activation, and there’s no reason to assume it won’t, Wormgod Caress will be boosting your melee damage by 170% by the time the shield hits a third enemy. If you can keep the stack going by getting melee kills in the meantime you’ll eventually be able to throw a shield to deal over 7x damage.
Synthoceps
While not as flashy as Wormgod Caress, Synthoceps offers 200% bonus PvE melee damage just by being surrounded by three or more enemies. That pack of Thrall chasing you down? That’s a mobile damage buff coming your way. Synthoceps also offers bonus super damage, and its buff lasts a bit longer than Wormgod Caress. The numbers might not be as wild, but in some content you’ll find that Synthoceps are a lot easier to trigger.
Dunemarchers
If you’ve ever used Dunemarchers with Throwing Hammer you’ll know why I’m mentioning these boots here. After sprinting for a couple of seconds your next melee will chain Arc damage to nearby enemies. This works with ranged melee too, causing the first enemy hit by your Shield Toss to chain Arc damage to its friends. It’s potentially a great way to increase your damage for free against enemies in more challenging content by combining both Arc and Void damage into a single melee, and the bonus damage will leave enemies either completely defeated or extremely weak.
Doom Fang Pauldron
For Void 3.0 Sentinel builds focused on the Super it doesn’t get any better than Doom Fang Pauldron. A powered Void melee kill while wearing these gauntlets generates 20% of your Super energy. I don’t think Bungie will let players trigger Doom Fang Pauldron multiple times from a single Shield Toss and potentially get 60% or more super from a single throw. Currently Shield Bash, the Void shoulder charge, doesn’t give bonus Super energy when you score a double kill. That said, Doom Fang Pauldron might be a great pick regardless since you’re probably picking up melee kills more often thanks to Shield Toss being a ranged melee.
Heart of Inmost Light
My favorite exotic for nearly two years running is Heart of Inmost Light. Essentially, HoIL gives you more ability uptime by fueling your three abilities with bonus energy. Activate any of your three abilities: melee, class ability, or grenade, and HoIL will kick in by feeding your other abilities with energy and bonus damage or, in the case of Barricade, hit points. This effect stacks up to two times, and goes away per ability after 11 seconds or if you use that ability. Ultimately, this means you’ll have your Shield Toss significantly more often. More Shield Toss means more debuff-applying, dead enemies, and more overshield.
I’m really liking Heart of Inmost Light for all Titan subclasses currently, but a strong ranged melee has always been a dream. Shield Toss is a perfect pairing with a HoIL build that gives you something even more important than insane damage: extremely high ability uptime. Keep in mind that mods like Outreach and Melee Kickstart, as well as high Strength stats on your armor will help you throw more shields no matter what Exotic you’re running. Personally, I can’t wait to for more Void 3.0 reveals, and I’m already hunting for a high-Strength HoIL to pair with it.
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