Is the Starfire Protocol Warlock Exotic worth it in Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate?

Starfire Protocol is one of Destiny 2's most beginner-friendly Exotics. It grants you an extra fusion grenade that comes in handy for dealing additional damage and add-clearing. However, with so many changes in the Edge of Fate expansion, is the Starfire Protocol still worth using?

Surprisingly, yes, as it is among the few Exotic armors receiving a buff this season. When paired with proper aspects and mods, it can grant you a faster recharge rate for the grenade ability.

Here’s what you need to know about the changes and why it is still viable.

Starfire Protocol might become the meta for Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate

Starfire Protocol is back! (Image via Bungie)

You probably know about the double explosion Starfire Protocol. However, if you are unfamiliar, the build utilizes the Exotic armor piece, which grants two charges to fusion grenades. When paired with the Touch of Flame aspect, each fusion grenade explodes twice.

In total, seven Warlock Exotics were updated, and here are the changes for Starfire Protocol:

Now also activates on Radiant damage.
Increased the on-damage energy gain for fusion grenades to 5% (from 2.5%).
Reduced the on-kill energy gain for fusion grenades to 15% (from 20%).

The changes allow for better grenade energy recovery even when your grenade isn’t able to defeat enemies in a single go. However, the main highlight is that the Exotic now works with the Radiant buff.

Starfire Protocol grants a large amount of grenade energy on an empowered weapon kill. Before the changes, only the Empowering Rift or Well of Radiance granted the empower buff to weapons. Following the Edge of Fate update, being Radiant also applies the buff.

We are not delving into a full build, but here’s how the ability recharge works:

Starfire Protocol grants 20% base grenade energy recharge
Radiant kills grant 20% fusion grenade energy recharge
Demolitionist on a weapon grants 10% grenade energy recharge

Once you are radiant, which is easy to achieve by using the melee skill with the Ember of Torches fragment, all you need to do is defeat enemies with weapons and spam your fusion grenade. Ember of Empyrean will make sure those grenade kills extend your Radiant buff.

Seasonal Artifact perk adds more grenade damage

Artifact provides grenade damage boost for Arc and Solar (Image via Bungie)

The final column of Seasonal Artifact contains a perk named Shieldcrush. Contrary to the name, this perk will increase your grenade recharge and damage while Radiant or Amplified. Since the build allows you to stay Radiant for a long duration, the grenade spam build can easily take advantage of this perk.

Although even without the perk, this build is strong to the point where Bungie will likely disable either the Exotic or the Artifact perk during the Day 1 Raid race. The official list of Raid disabled items is yet to be revealed, but we’d be surprised if the Exotic chest piece isn’t on the list.

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About the author

Mayank Singh Rathour is an MMO writer at Sportskeeda. He graduated from college with a degree in Business Administration and has over two years of experience as an esports journalist.

Mayank was introduced to gaming at an early age and played Contra, Double Dragon, Castlevania, etc., on his Nintendo DS. When he was a little older, Counter-Strike — a title that majorly helped develop his passion for gaming — became his favorite pastime. Though he's played a bunch of games since then, his love of CS has remained strong. Shroud, a former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pro, is an inspiration to him. He's also a fan of series' esports scene, following teams like Vitality, NAVI, and The Mongols closely.

When Mayank has some free time, he plays basketball and helps people build PCs.

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Edited by Ripunjay Gaba