Arc

Cross-Counter — Gathering Storm (Arc Hunter)

Infinite Arc-melee brawler — Monte Carlo refills the punch, Liar's Handshake lands the +400% counter-heal

Centerpiece: Liar's Handshake (Gauntlets) · Subclass: Arcstrider (Arc) · Role: Infinite Arc-melee brawler — Monte Carlo refills the punch, Liar's Handshake lands the +400% counter-heal Sandbox: 9.7.0 · Updated 2026-07-03

Spray Monte Carlo to top off your melee, throw a Combination Blow, and Liar's Handshake hands you a free, empowered counter-punch that heals on hit. Every kill feeds the next — the gun's bullets and kills refund melee, melee kills refill the gun's magazine, and Gambler's Dodge fully re-arms the punch beside a pack. The gun is the battery; the fist is the gun. You never stop punching.

The exotic

Liar's Handshake (Gauntlets) — Cross Counter: Using your Arc melee ability or being hit by a melee attack will allow you to follow up with an extremely powerful melee counterpunch that will heal you.

Monte Carlo (Auto Rifle) — Monte Carlo Method: Dealing damage with this weapon reduces your melee cooldown and grants a chance to fully charge your melee ability with each kill.

This is a legal dual-exotic (one armour + one weapon). Liar's Handshake is the centrepiece: while an Arc melee ability is equipped, scoring an Arc elemental melee hit or taking melee damage arms Cross Counter for your next melee within 3 seconds — a punch worth +400% additional base melee damage that restores 40 HP on hit and deals Arc damage (Clarity). Monte Carlo is the battery that keeps that punch loaded: dealing damage grants 2% melee energy per hit and kills have a 25% chance to fully charge the melee (Clarity). Its Markov Chain trait stacks weapon-kill damage to +65% in PvE at five stacks, and — the load-bearing line — melee kills instantly refill Monte Carlo's magazine and grant all five stacks. The gun batteries the fist; the fist re-batteries the gun.

Loadout

Slot	Pick	Why
Subclass	Arcstrider (Arc)	Combination Blow is the strongest Arc melee — it satisfies Cross Counter's "Arc Melee Ability equipped" clause and unlocks the full native heal/dodge/jolt loop.
Super	Gathering Storm	Throw the staff for a wide jolt that seeds Amplified (Flow State) and the artifact's jolt payoffs; Arc Staff is the alt if you'd rather brawl through the Super.
Class ability	Gambler's Dodge	Dodging within 15 m of enemies refunds up to 200% melee energy at 200 Melee — the on-demand reset that re-arms Combination Blow and re-triggers Lethal Current.
Movement	Flex (Triple / Strafe / High Jump)	Not load-bearing; pick whichever jump keeps you closing on the pile.
Melee	Combination Blow	Required — the Arc melee that arms Cross Counter; chained kills heal, refund dodge, and stack damage to x3.
Grenade	Flex (Arc — Arcbolt / Flux)	Not load-bearing; pick for chip jolt and Spark synergy. Dump stat.
Aspect 1	Flow State	Defeating a jolted target makes you Amplified, speeding melee/reload/dodge regen and adding a damage-resistance cushion. Two fragment slots.
Aspect 2	Lethal Current	After dodging, your next melee gains lunge range, jolts, and drops an aftershock — the jolt feeds Flow State and the artifact. One fragment slot.
Fragments	Resistance / Feedback / Frequency	Crowd DR + a stacked counter-punch + reload uptime to keep Monte Carlo humming.
Exotic armour	Liar's Handshake (Gauntlets)	The centrepiece — turns each Arc melee (or tanked hit) into a +400% healing counter-punch.
Weapons	Monte Carlo (Kinetic Primary) · Arc Special · Arc Heavy	Monte Carlo is the melee battery and Unstoppable engine; the Arc special/heavy cover burst and ride Amplified.

Fragments

Spark of Resistance damage resistance while surrounded — you live in melee range
Spark of Feedback taking melee damage briefly boosts your outgoing melee — stacks with Cross Counter off the same hit
Spark of Frequency (melee hits raise reload/stability, boosted while Amplified — keeps Monte Carlo topped between punches). *(Flow State 2 + Lethal Current 1 = 3 fragment slots.)

Why it works (the mechanics)

The melee never runs dry — three batteries. Monte Carlo gives 2% melee per hit and a 25% full-charge chance per kill (Clarity); Combination Blow kills refund a slice of melee plus your dodge; and Gambler's Dodge within 15 m of a pack refunds up to 200% melee at 200 Melee. You are never more than a trigger-pull or a dodge from the next punch.
Cross Counter is a free, repeatable +400% punch. Landing a Combination Blow is "scoring an Arc elemental melee hit", so it arms Cross Counter for the very next melee. Punch, then the next punch is empowered (+400% base, +40 HP), and that kill arms the one after — the loop cycles on offence alone, no need to get hit.
When you do get hit, it doubles up. An enemy melee that lands triggers both Cross Counter and Spark of Feedback on the same next punch — the +400% base stacks with Feedback's outgoing-melee boost, plus the 40 HP heal. Tanking a melee is a reward, not a risk.
The gun is also a real gun. Markov Chain climbs to +65% PvE weapon damage off weapon kills, and every melee kill refills the magazine and slams it to five stacks — so Monte Carlo deletes the trash you are not punching, at full damage, between punches.
Healing is layered, not single-source. Cross Counter's 40 HP per hit, Combination Blow's on-kill heal, Spark of Resistance's crowd DR, and Flow State's Amplified regen keep you upright in the middle of the pile where a normal Hunter folds.
Jolt closes the subclass loop. Lethal Current jolts the post-dodge melee, jolted kills make you Amplified (Flow State), Amplified speeds the whole loop and boosts the fragments — and the artifact's Tazer Tag, Dielectric and Blinding Jolts all pay out off that jolt for free chip, Bolt Charge, and blind.

Stats & mods

Melee 200 → Health → Class. Melee at 200 is a hard requirement: it cuts the Combination Blow cooldown, maxes the Gambler's Dodge refund (200% within 15 m), and — under Armor 3.0 — scales the powered-melee damage the +400% multiplies. Then Health for point-blank survivability and Class to keep the dodge online as the melee-reset trigger. This is a brawler archetype — lean into Melee/Health rolls; Super and Grenade are dump stats.

Mods:

Boots: Kinetic Scavenger / Kinetic Loader — Monte Carlo reserves and reload.
Arms: Heavy Handed (powered-melee final blows make Orbs) + Momentum Transfer / Impact Induction (grenade↔melee cooldown trades).
Chest: Concussive Dampener + an elemental Resist ×2 — flat survivability for the brawl.
Class item: Powerful Attraction (vacuum Orbs on dodge) + Recuperation (heal on Orb pickup, stacks with the 40 HP) + Reaper.
Surge: Kinetic Weapon Surge ×2 (Monte Carlo damage while you hold Armor Charge).
Anti-Champion: Unstoppable is intrinsic via the artifact's Kinetic Rupture on Monte Carlo; slot an anti-Barrier / anti-Overload weapon mod on the Arc special or heavy when the activity demands it.

Artifact — Encrypted Data Disk

Picks (2/3/2):

Tier 1: Kinetic Synthesis · Fierce Proxemics
Tier 2: Dielectric · Armorsmith · Blinding Jolts
Tier 3: Tazer Tag · Kinetic Rupture

Encrypted Data Disk's theme is literally Arc + Kinetic, matching the Arcstrider subclass and Monte Carlo's real Kinetic element — the cleanest artifact fit.

Tazer Tag makes every Arc-powered melee (Combination Blow / Cross Counter) jolt and deal bonus damage, and Kinetic Rupture turns Monte Carlo's sustained Kinetic fire on a powerful combatant into a staggering shockwave — that shockwave is your Unstoppable answer.
Dielectric turns Arc-debuffed kills into Bolt Charge, an Orb, and a heal; Armorsmith grants damage resistance and increased melee damage on shield-break; Blinding Jolts blinds nearby combatants on jolted final blows — crowd control while you punch.
Kinetic Synthesis spawns an ammo brick off sustained Monte Carlo fire; Fierce Proxemics refunds grenade and melee energy on finisher final blows — a fourth melee battery.
Every pick is a real Encrypted Data Disk mod at the correct tier, exactly 2/3/2.

Where it shines

Add-dense PvE — strikes, Nightfalls, GMs, the pyramid of Onslaught: the punch loop self-sustains health and melee off a crowd, and Monte Carlo mops the leftovers.
Sustained face-tanking — the layered heal (Cross Counter 40 HP + Combination Blow + Recuperation + Amplified) lets you fight from inside the pile rather than peeling.
Champion coverage: Unstoppable is broken intrinsically — hold Monte Carlo on a powerful combatant to pop Kinetic Rupture's staggering shockwave. Barrier and Overload are not natively covered (jolt does not stun on its own); bring an anti-Barrier / anti-Overload weapon mod on the Arc special or heavy.

Verify notes

Liar's Handshake — Cross Counter intrinsic quoted verbatim from `encyclopedia/exotics.md`; the +400% base / +40 HP / 3 s window / Arc-damage numbers from `encyclopedia/clarity_build_numbers.md` (Armor Trait Exotic entry).
Monte Carlo is Kinetic / Primary / 600 RPM Auto Rifle, no intrinsic champion — confirmed `data/weapon_facts.json`. The brief's "Arc Auto Rifle" framing is a manifest-mismatch; the build is unaffected (its Arc identity is Arcstrider + Combination Blow + Cross Counter). Intrinsic quoted from `encyclopedia/exotics.md`; 2% melee/hit, 25% kill→100%, Markov Chain +13/26/39/52/65% PvE and melee-kill mag-refill all from `encyclopedia/clarity_build_numbers.md`.
Flow State and Lethal Current aspect text from `encyclopedia/aspects.md`; Gambler's Dodge 1%/point to 100% at 100 Melee, doubled (to 200%) within 15 m, from `clarity_build_numbers.md`.
Sparks (Resistance / Feedback / Frequency) worded from `encyclopedia/fragments.md`; Feedback's exact +100% [50%] base-melee value from `clarity_build_numbers.md`.
Combination Blow's on-kill heal scaling has no Clarity entry — manifest text only. Flagged unconfirmed; verify the exact heal per stack in-game.
Catalyst caveat: Monte Carlo's catalyst locks a bayonet that replaces your melee (`clarity_build_numbers.md`). Do not lock it — that overrides Combination Blow and turns off Cross Counter (no Arc melee equipped). Run the catalyst for the Markov Chain damage/mag economy only.
Artifact: all seven picks verified against the Encrypted Data Disk pools in `encyclopedia/artifacts_structured.md` (T1 Kinetic Synthesis/Fierce Proxemics, T2 Dielectric/Armorsmith/Blinding Jolts, T3 Tazer Tag/Kinetic Rupture) — real mods, exactly 2/3/2.

Mod selection (masterworked — full allocation)

Piece	Mod · cost	What it does
Helmet (7/10)	Arc Siphon 3e fill	Rapid Arc weapon final blows create an Orb of Power.
	Hands-On 3e fill	Gain bonus Super energy on melee kills.
	Heavy Ammo Finder 1e fill	Increases the effect of all contributions towards the Heavy ammo meter.
Arms (7/10)	Kinetic Loader 1e	Increases reload speed of Kinetic weapons.
	Heavy Handed 3e	Your powered melee final blows create Orbs of Power.
	Heavy Handed 3e	Your powered melee final blows create Orbs of Power.
Chest (7/10)	Concussive Dampener 3e	Reduces incoming area-of-effect damage from combatants.
	Concussive Dampener 3e	Reduces incoming area-of-effect damage from combatants.
	Arc Resistance 1e fill	Reduces incoming Arc damage from combatants.
Legs (3/10)	Kinetic Scavenger 1e	Kinetic weapons get bonus reserves when picking up ammo used by that weapon.
	Recuperation 1e	Replenishes health each time you pick up an Orb of Power.
	Recuperation 1e	Replenishes health each time you pick up an Orb of Power.
Class Item (5/10)	Powerful Attraction 2e	Automatically collects nearby Orbs of Power when you activate your class ability.
	Powerful Attraction 2e	Automatically collects nearby Orbs of Power when you activate your class ability.
	Reaper 1e	Shortly after using your class ability, your next weapon final blow spawns an Orb of Power.

All 15 sockets used, 10 energy per masterworked piece; costs from the manifest. Core mods are the build's engine; fill mods are strong defaults — swap freely (chest resists should match the activity's damage types).