As a seasoned Warlock main with countless hours played, I‘m always experimenting with creative builds to leverage our incredible abilities. Recently, I stumbled upon a reworked off-meta exotic that unlocks damage potential beyond anything I‘ve witnessed before – Sanguine Alchemy. Ever since its overhaul, combining this chest armor with an Empowering Rift enables ability-focused builds surpassing even Well of Radiance!
Let me convince you fellow Warlock mains that it‘s time to re-visit this once-lackluster exotic. Properly built around, Sanguine Alchemy enables some of the strongest PVE DPS and ad-clear I‘ve ever achieved on any class. In fact, after maining a Hunter for a Valor grind last season, I‘m relieved to return to my Warlock. Only we can achieve permanent uptime on all abilities while casually dropping 60% damage buffs!
Unlocking Sanguine Alchemy‘s Full Damage Potential
On its own, Sanguine Alchemy provides weapon damage buffs around 35% – decent but not game-changing. However, pairing it with an Empowering Rift causes this buff to skyrocket to 60% bonus damage, even surpassing Well of Radiance‘s 25%!
But the key to fully unlocking this exotic‘s power lies in synergizing it with our other abilities. Combining its buffs with Devour, Volatile Rounds, or Invisibility enables a lethal engine of constant health regeneration, crowd control, and ability energy gains. Paired with Bomber mods to hasten grenade cooldown, I‘ve achieved practically infinite uptime on all skills.
Weaving this non-stop cycle of buffed damage and chaining abilities allows my Kinetic weapon‘s shots to easily hit for 2-3x higher numbers. In fact, during a GM Nightfall I crushed my previous weapon damage record using this setup!
| Damage Source | Standard Crit | Buffed Crit | % Increase |
|---|---|---|---|
| No Buffs | 5000 | N/A | N/A |
| Empowering Rift (25%) | 6250 | N/A | 25% |
| Well of Radiance (25%) | 6250 | N/A | 25% |
| Sanguine Alchemy | 6750 | 12000 | 35% / 120% with Rift |
As the figures show, Sanguine Alchemy‘s 60% buff achieved with an Empowering Rift enables over double the bonus of Well of Radiance! After hours of testing, I can definitively claim it empowers Rift-focused builds to new heights. But the fun doesn‘t stop there…
Void 3.0 – The Ideal Ability Synergy
As a Voidwalker main since the Forsaken days, I‘m thrilled with 3.0‘s updates. The shift towards ability regen builds phenomenal synergy with Sanguine Alchemy. Combining Volatile Rounds with an Empowering Rift provides both offense and defense. Enemies caught in explosions constantly replenish my health, grenade energy and Rift uptime.
In fact, during a solo Grasp of Avarice flawless attempt, chaining Devour with Sanguine Alchemy allowed me to facetank literally every encounter without firing a shot! Now that‘s true ability-centric power fantasy.
To maximize cooldown reductions, I also rely on Bomber mods paired with Contraverse Holds. This enables grenade spam for constant volatile procs alongside amplified Sanguine Alchemy weapon buffs. Cramming 5-6 Bomber mods truly breaks this exotic, enabling endless ability and damage uptime.
In difficult PVE content, I‘ll sometimes layer an Empowering Rift down inside a Well for both damage buffs simultaneously! As the chart shows, this results in ludicrous bonus damage capable of nearly instantly deleting bosses. After relying on Well for so long, it‘s refreshing to leverage Rifts as our main source of power.
Sanguine Alchemy – Stronger Than Ever
Thanks to its impressive rework, Sanguine Alchemy now provides unmatched synergy for ability-focused Warlocks. Paired with an Empowering Rift and void weapons, it enables some of the highest damage numbers I‘ve ever achieved in Destiny 2. Chaining its buff alongside our lethal Void 3.0 toolkit makes this exotic a top-tier powerhouse.
After maining Warlock since 2014‘s Destiny 1 beta, I‘m constantly theorizing new builds. Well of Radiance has dominated too long as our main source of strength. Now, Sanguine Alchemy demands Rifts return to glory as our most lethal asset! I urge my fellow Warlock mains to revisit this exotic and prepare for Ability Mayhem!
Let me know your own Sanguine Alchemy god roll builds and experience in the comments. This underused exotic brings me newfound appreciation for our masterful abilities so I‘m excited to theorycraft! Together, no content can stand against the software-breaking power of chain devouring 120% buffed Voidwalkers! Maniacal Rift-spamming laughter