I will certainly agree that it has the lowest burst damage of any subclass. burst damage is usually what you look for in PvP.. however sun singer has the highest constant damage output of any subclass. with certain gear and spec choices you can have two grenades and two punches. which means those abilities are always on cool down even if you don't use them for a while. as for the grenades. while no one of them is amazing. the over all choice is arguably the best in the game. 1) area of denial 2) damage outside of LOS and ease of use 3) guaranteed kill with a stick. That covers more roles than another subclass. as for the super, using it for kills is the wrong thing to do in most cases. it has so much utility. Song of flame which everyone over looks is great as a mini heavy weapon drop that only your team gets.. solar wind combined with radiant skin is a blade dancer killer like nothing else. and song of flame while misused by most people can be very powerful at key moments.
Scrubs who use the resurect ability in PvP are tosspots; Without the damage reduction from radiant skin, you're just going to die again a moment later anyway. All you're doing is giving me another kill, and you've wasted a super.
If they've got the damage reduction along with the overshield though, then they can wreck some havoc.
6/10 Not as fun as Voidwalker but okay.
Fusion grenade=1shot kill
Solar grenade with sun breakers on a flag being capped=free kills
Radiant skin is blade dancer op
Voidfang+fusion grenade=two almost free kills after each death.
As soon as I move my second tv to a more comfortable eye level I'll be pvping hard
I run sunsinger in the crucible and I personally love it. The self resurrect comes in handy for flanking. It doesn't always work but on one such occasion I took out 5 guys in about 7 seconds. I resurrected behind their team while they were focused on killing my teammates. My grenades stat is pretty much maxed out so I start chucking solar grenades and combined with the solar gauntlets it's awesome cause the whole area gets filled with area of effect grenades that last a longer time. So then I start cleaning up everyone with invective and my melee. Keep in mind this doesn't always work but I love it when it does. This was just my fondest memory of it
[u][b]Offensive Benefits:[/b][/u]
[b]Grenade Spam:[/b] Massively reduced grenade cooldown means that grenades are essentially your primary weapon when it's Radiance time. With Solar grenades you can create impenetrable deathtraps with area denial; Firebolt Grenades can do large amounts of damage, killing up to three people in two Grenades with Touch of Flame active and is good for killing those around corners; Fusion grenades can guarantee individual kills if you are accurate, as they one-hit and do have a tiny bit of homing effect added to them.
[b]Scorch:[/b] during Radiance, the Sunsinger warlock special melee attack is a OHKO even to a fully shielded target. Obviously this doesn't make them into Bladedancers, but with a high Strength armor set, this makes them incredibly dangerous at close range- including shotgun range- for the entire duration of Radiance Solar Wind is rather useless, but CAN kill outside of Radiance if you throw them off cliffsides or into walls hard enough, and Brimstone's Explosion will ALMOST instantly kill players if they're caught in it with Radiance active.
[b]Touch of Flame:[/b] During Radiance, Sunsinger grenade cooldown is... silly. You can essentially spam them at will. This skill adds: "All grenades ignite enemies, causing damage over time." This can turn a grenade "miss" into a kill from DOT, and probably quadruple the amount of Postmortem kills you can obtain when killed out of Radiance
[b]Viking Funeral [/b](optional, consider against Radiant Will): "Enemies you ignite burn longer and take more damage." Obvious synergy with Touch of Flame and the grenade cooldown spam. What this does is essentially guarantee any grenade contact is a kill or near-kill. And there will be lots of grenades.
[u][b]Defensive Benefits[/b][/u]
[b]Radiant Skin [/b](optional, consider against Fireborn, but usually the right choice): "While active, Radiance reduces incoming damage." This alone makes the Sunsinger dangerous for the entire duration of Radiance. Radiant Skin with no other action taken still allows the Sunsinger to withstand two Arc Blade strikes. If I'm playing a good one, slice at him in Radiance, and discover he's got Radiant Skin (he doesn't die), 80% of the time I go on to be killed by either a shotgun blast or Scorch.
[b]Flame Shield:[/b] "Damaging enemies with Scorch reduces incoming damage for a short time." Obviously, synergy with Radiant Skin. This is similar to the Titan Defender's barrier melee (though not as strong). Combined with Radiant Skin (and assuming all traits focus on Toughness) this can allow the Sunsinger to survive three Arc Blade strikes or possibly even four from full health while in Radiance. It also has no tell whatsoever that I can see, other than noting the green overshield on their health bar after they get it (which, as a hunter, is merely a "Nope" indicator rather than something I can counter).
[b]Fireborn[/b] (optional, consider against Radiant Skin): "Radiance can now be activated from beyond the grave. Doing so returns you to life." Yeah this allows you to self-resurrect. Not recommended for Rumble; having been killed "counts" toward the match-ending score, and you allow for the chance of getting outplayed by someone who sees it coming (I'm hyper-vigilant about this already) and giving out double points. However, in Team/Objective modes, this can easily turn the tide of a team fight after you go down and even turn a close fight into a massacre like no other super can. Fist of Havoc and Nova Bomb get blown and if there was someone involved in that fight that wasn't in the spot, there's a moment of vulnerability for the super user. This is like the opposite of that; an apparent moment of expected vulnerability (one less team member alive) becomes an advantage.
[u][b]General Benefits:[/b][/u]
[b]Song of Flame[/b] (Optional, consider against Radiant Skin) This drastically reduces the CD of the abilities of all allied Guardians near you. Take it as giving them all Radiance as well, since it seems to be just as effective as that. (Discounting Heart of the Praxic Fire, I don't think that helps their Cooldowns, only yours.)
[b]Radiant Will[/b] (optional, consider against Viking Funeral): Just extends Radiance duration so all of these benefits translate into more kills/minute. Depending on your accuracy, this might be the better choice most of the time. Viking Funeral is extra leeway if you miss grenade throws; Radiant Will is the professional's choice IMO.
[b]Sunburst:[/b] Killing an enemy with Scorch has a chance to generate an orb of light, or during the use of Radiance even more orbs. Not as helpful as Radiant Skin but could have its uses at very rare circumstances.
[b]Auto-revive:[/b] Activating Radiance revives any nearby dead guardians. In Skirmish or any other potential modes allowing revival this is an absolute godsend for team fights.
[u][b]Other Benefits:[/b][/u]
[b]Angel of Light:[/b] (optional, consider against Touch of Flame) Not as useful as Touch of Flame or Gift of the Sun for PvP, but it does allow you to temporarily "float" while in mid-air regaining the accuracy you lose while in mid-air normally. Does extend the air distance you have, but also makes it easier to shoot you. Can be used for unexpected moments to kill players off-guard.
[b]Gift of the Sun:[/b] (optional, consider against Touch of Flame) Two Fusion Grenades for two kills if you're accurate, or two Firebolt Grenades for three kills if you have Touch of Flame active at all times. Has it's uses for when Radiance is on Cooldown, but other than that it's almost a wasted ability. Can be very powerful if combined with Voidfang Vestements, and with the new Starfire Protocol coming out you could potentially hold three Fusion Grenades, letting you have two Fusion Grenades by default and giving you access to Touch of Flame or Angel of Light simultaneously.
There's the in and out of Sunsinger for PvP, and overall they're actually an extremely powerful class in both PvP and PvE.
[spoiler]http://giant.gfycat.com/DentalIllAgama.gif[/spoiler]
To any Sunsinger with Radiant Skin and Flame Shield in Rumble:
[spoiler]Meet Pocket Infinity.[/spoiler]
Anyways, I agree with you very much, a SS CAN potentially perform well in the Crucible, but requires specialization, much more than the other classes, limiting you to one or two setups. SS just doesn't have the perk mobility like Gunslinger, Striker, or Voidwalker in PvP. -Someone who has maxed out all 6 subclasses.
This game's pvp strongly favors offense over defense.
The more mobile you are and the more rapid or projectable your attacks, the better.
Sunsinger and bubble titan do not fall into this mould, and lack of blink or a ranged super option combined with little defense makes striker titan the "skill" class in pvp.
While bubble titans were decried on the forums for the first 30 days they've since been countered so thoroughly I rarely see a bubble last longer than 5 seconds.
In this game, they've obvious chosen the ultimate sword over the ultimate shield.
Bad pvp sun singers use ressurect. They are just as op as every other class in crucible. The melee shield makes beating good ones in cqc extremely hard.
Sunsinger is definitely not the worst PvP class. Radiance give 50 percent damage resistance and radiant skin gives another 50 percent resistance meaning the regulator mk56 handcannon with 95 headshot damage normally only does 24 headshot combine that with a melee that can hit you a mile away spamming homing nades and a hmg you have a unstoppable juggernaut with the fire power to wipe out a whole team for as long as radiance last
I was Sunsinger for the entire iron banner (made it to rank 5 yay!)
Solar grenades on a capture point, either double kills or people have to stop capping till they disapear.
Having 2 grenades, always had at least one up till I got Voidfang vest, then i spawn with 2.
Scorch shield, that let me beat anybody who tried to run up and shotgun.
1 or 2 enemies kill me while i'm solo defending a capture point, self rez and stoping them.
Sunsinger is great for pvp, you just need to stop and think about it for 2 seconds.
Nothing is op. Everybody has there on style that works for them. I rock shit with sunsinger and usually carry everybody on my team. Different stuff works for different people
I will never understand people who use self-res in PvP. You're already going to resurrect in like 3 seconds, why waste your super?
Seems like damage reduction would be a much better choice
The ones I struggle with in the crucible have mastered the art of shotgun/melee...
Overshield on melee (without kill!) and stupid range?
That's pretty strong!