Arc

Wraithmetal — The Dragon's Shadow (Hunter gunslinger-tempo)

Dodge-as-tempo gunplay — every dodge full-reloads from reserves, buffs handling/stability/movement, and speeds the next dodge

Anchor: The Dragon's Shadow (Chest) · Subclass: Arcstrider · Role: Dodge-as-tempo gunplay — every dodge full-reloads from reserves, buffs handling/stability/movement, and speeds the next dodge Sandbox: 9.7.0 · Created 2026-06-16

Most dodge builds treat the dodge as a refund engine — kill with your gun to get the dodge back (Radiant Dance Machines). The Dragon's Shadow inverts that: the dodge itself is the payload. One tap full-reloads your equipped weapon from reserves (not just the mag — it pulls fresh rounds), snaps your handling and stability to their ceiling, gives you a movement-speed burst, and bumps your Class stat so the next dodge arrives sooner. So the optimal rhythm isn't "reload" — it's "dodge." Empty a heavy-hitting mag, dodge to skip the reload entirely, keep firing. On a one-in-the-mag special or a slow-reloading Hand Cannon, that reload-cancel is a flat DPS gain you pay for with a movement button you were going to press anyway. It's a neutral-game exotic — it does the same thing in a strike and in the Crucible, so this build reads both lanes.

Loadout

Slot	Pick	Why
Super	Gathering Storm (flexible)	Build isn't Super-reliant; the staff jolt seeds Flow State on a pack. Any Arc Super is fine.
Class ability	Marksman's Dodge	The build's heartbeat. Marksman's also reloads on dodge and keeps you sighted on the gun — it stacks the same intent as the exotic. (Gambler's if you lean melee — see Weapons.)
Movement	Triple Jump	Air control to reposition on the move-speed burst each dodge grants.
Melee	Combination Blow	Optional sub-loop: melee kill → heal + ramping damage + dodge energy back. A second dodge-refund that compounds the Class-stat bump.
Grenade	Flux / Arcbolt Grenade	Cheap jolt-on-demand to light up Flow State (amplified) and Lethal Current. Any Arc grenade works.
Aspect 1	Flow State	Jolted kill → amplified; while amplified your dodge recharges more quickly, you're more resilient dodging, and reload speed is greatly increased. It accelerates the one button this whole build is built on.
Aspect 2	Lethal Current	After dodging, your next melee gets lunge + jolts + an aftershock (and blinds jolted targets). You dodge constantly, so this melee is always charged — and the jolt it lands is what starts Flow State.

Fragments (5/5)

Spark of Frequency melee hits → reload speed + stability — literally doubles the exotic's two verbs
Spark of Momentum slide over ammo → reload + Bolt Charge — a third reload source on top of dodge + Marksman's
Spark of Discharge Arc weapon kills → Ionic Trace → ability energy
Spark of Ions jolted/Bolt-Charge kills → Ionic Trace
Spark of Resistance (DR while surrounded, +10 Melee). Throughline: jolt → amplified → faster dodge**
with reload/stability stacked so high the gun never feels like it stops firing

Exotic — The Dragon's Shadow (Chest)

Wraithmetal Mail: Your weapons ready quicker and are more stable. Dodging temporarily increases this benefit, reloads your equipped weapon from reserves, grants improved movement speed, and increases your class ability stat.

Read the four dodge effects as one combo, because they all fire off a single tap:

Reloads your equipped weapon from reserves — this is the build. It's a full reload (pulls fresh rounds from your ammo pool, refilling the mag), delivered for free by a movement button. On any weapon with a punishing reload or a tiny mag, dodging instead of reloading is the entire pitch.
Increases the passive (ready + stability) temporarily — the always-on handling/stability buff spikes higher right after a dodge, so the freshly reloaded gun also handles and shoots tighter for the next few seconds.
Improved movement speed — a reposition burst that turns the reload-cancel into a slide-out or a peek in the same beat.
Increases your Class ability stat — the sneaky one. Each dodge bumps your Class stat temporarily, which means your dodge regenerates faster, which means the next dodge (next free reload) comes sooner. The build snowballs its own tempo: the more you dodge, the more you can dodge.

The passive alone (quicker ready + more stable, all the time) is a quiet DPS gain on any weapon. The dodge turns it into a rhythm.

Why this works (the mechanics)

The dodge is a reload-cancel, and reload is the biggest hidden DPS tax. In sustained fire, most of your downtime is the reload animation. Replacing it with a dodge — which also moves you, buffs your handling/stability, and speeds your next dodge — is pure uptime. You're not spending a button; you're skipping one (the reload) and getting four buffs for it.
"From reserves" makes one-in-the-mag specials sing. Weapons that fire a single shot then force a full reload (Rocket Sidearms, certain Grenade Launchers, slow Snipers) are exactly where a free reload-from-reserves is most valuable: fire → dodge → fire, with no animation between. The exotic erases their drawback.
The Class-stat bump is a positive feedback loop. Dodge → +Class stat → faster dodge cooldown → dodge again sooner. Stack Marksman's Dodge's own reload, and Combination Blow's dodge-energy-on-kill, and the dodge effectively never goes cold — so the free reload is effectively always available.
Flow State accelerates the exact stat the exotic feeds. Amplified (from any jolted kill) also speeds dodge regen and greatly increases reload. So the exotic bumps Class to speed the dodge, and Flow State bumps it again — two independent accelerants on the same cooldown, plus a third reload buff layered on the exotic's.
Lethal Current + jolt is the engine that keeps amplified up. You dodge nonstop, so Lethal Current's post-dodge melee is always loaded; it jolts; killing the jolted target makes you amplified (Flow State) → faster dodge → another loaded Lethal Current melee. Self-sustaining, and every link also spawns Ionic Traces (Discharge/Ions) that top your abilities.
Spark of Frequency double-dips the exotic's own verbs. The exotic gives reload + stability; Frequency gives reload + stability on melee hits. Because Lethal Current guarantees a melee in the loop, you're stacking the same two buffs from two sources — the gun reaches a "glued-to-the-reticle" feel that's the whole identity of a Wraithmetal build.
It's genuinely neutral-game. None of this cares whether the target is a boss, a red-bar, or a Guardian. In PvE it's an uptime build for aggressive gunplay; in PvP the dodge-reload + handling/stability spike + move-speed burst is a textbook duelist's peek-shoot-reposition. Same exotic, both lanes.

Weapons

The exotic is weapon-agnostic, so pick guns that most want a free reload:

A heavy-hitting Primary — a slow-but-hard Hand Cannon (180/120-class) or an Aggressive Pulse. These have chunky reloads and reward the handling/stability spike; dodge-cancel the reload and you keep the pressure on. (This is the Lucky-Pants idea without Lucky Pants — the exotic supplies the reload-skip.)
A one-in-the-mag special — a Rocket Sidearm, a Wave-frame GL, or a heavy Sniper. Fire → dodge → fire. The reserve-reload deletes their reload tax entirely; this is where the exotic's ceiling lives.
Run at least one Arc weapon so Spark of Discharge / Spark of Ions keep Ionic Traces flowing and the jolt→amplified loop self-feeds. A Slice/jolt- adjacent Arc Primary is ideal.
Champions (Anti-Champion 2.0): stun is intrinsic to weapon archetypes now — pick frames covering your activity's Barrier/Overload/Unstoppable. The build's job is keeping those frames loaded and firing, which is exactly what the dodge-reload does; jolt (Lethal Current) and blind (Lethal Current on jolted) also handle Overload behaviour and ability-spam elites.

Stats & archetypes

Class ~130 → Weapons ~120 → Melee ~70, Health/Grenade/Super as dump.

Class is the priority stat — it directly sets dodge cooldown, which is your reload cadence and your buff cadence. The exotic's own bump rides on top of a high base, so the snowball starts higher. ~130 gives a noticeably faster dodge.
Weapons raises the floor on reload/handling/stability under the exotic's spikes — more of the build's identity for free.
Melee ~70 is enough to keep Combination Blow / Lethal Current cycling (Spark of Resistance adds +10); you're not a melee build, the melee is a jolt delivery and a bonus dodge-refund.
Archetypes: Specialist (Class-leaning) or Grenadier/any archetype that favours Class — the gear archetype that pushes Class is the one that pushes this build. Mods: Class Font to reach ~130, Bolstering Detonation / reload + Surge for your main slot, Ionic Siphon for the Arc orb economy.

Set bonus (optional)

House rule: sets are garnish, not a driver — this build is complete on Tier 4 gear with no set bonus, because the engine is one exotic verb plus the Arc loop. If your rolls already carry Class ~130, an on-theme 2pc/4pc that grants reload or handling on dodge / ability cast stacks cleanly with the exotic's spike (more of the same verb, longer). Slot it only after the stats are there; never chase a set at the cost of the Class stat that actually drives the tempo.

Mod selection (masterworked — full allocation)

Piece	Mod · cost	What it does
Helmet (7/10)	Arc Siphon 3e	Rapid Arc weapon final blows create an Orb of Power.
	Ashes to Assets 3e fill	Gain bonus Super energy on grenade kills.
	Heavy Ammo Finder 1e fill	Increases the effect of all contributions towards the Heavy ammo meter.
Arms (6/10)	Bolstering Detonation 1e	Grants class ability energy when you cause damage with a grenade.
	Utility Kickstart 3e fill	When your class ability energy is fully expended, your Armor Charge is consumed and you gain class ability energy for each Armor Charge used.
	Momentum Transfer 2e fill	Causing damage with a grenade reduces your melee cooldown.
Chest (5/10)	Arc Resistance 1e fill	Reduces incoming Arc damage from combatants.
	Concussive Dampener 3e fill	Reduces incoming area-of-effect damage from combatants.
	Sniper Damage Resistance 1e fill	Reduces incoming damage from combatants that are at long range.
Legs (3/10)	Arc Weapon Surge 1e fill	Your Arc weapons gain a small bonus to damage while you have any Armor Charge. Your Armor Charge now decays over time.
	Recuperation 1e fill	Replenishes health each time you pick up an Orb of Power.
	Better Already 1e fill	Your health begins to regenerate immediately after picking up an Orb of Power.
Class Item (5/10)	Class Font 3e	You gain a bonus to your class stat while you have any Armor Charge. Your Armor Charge decays over time.
	Reaper 1e fill	Shortly after using your class ability, your next weapon final blow spawns an Orb of Power.
	Bomber 1e fill	Reduces grenade cooldown when using your class ability.

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).

The loop

Low-APM, gun-forward. There's no rotation to babysit — the dodge is the rotation.

Fire your heavy-hitting Primary / one-in-the-mag special until the mag's spent (or nearly).
Dodge instead of reloading → weapon refilled from reserves, handling + stability spike, move-speed burst, Class stat bumped (faster next dodge).
Keep firing on the buffed, loaded gun; slide over ammo bricks (Spark of Momentum) for a bonus reload + Bolt Charge between dodges.
Land the post-dodge Lethal Current melee on a target → jolt → kill the jolted target → amplified (Flow State) → dodge recharges even faster + reload buffed even harder. Ionic Traces (Discharge/Ions) top your abilities.
Repeat. The more you dodge, the faster you dodge — empty mags become a non-event.

Verify notes

Exotic text is verbatim from the manifest (`docs/encyclopedia/exotics.md`): ready quicker + more stable passive; dodge → temporary buff increase + reload from reserves + improved movement speed + increased Class ability stat.
Magnitudes not in the manifest, confirm in-game: the handling/stability numbers (passive vs. the post-dodge "temporarily increased" spike), the movement-speed bonus amount and duration, and — most importantly — how much the Class-stat bump is and how long it lasts (this sets how hard the dodge snowball compounds). The encyclopedia gives the behaviour, not every number.
"Reloads your equipped weapon from reserves" is a true reload (refills the mag from your ammo pool), not an overflow/mag-overfill — verify it doesn't benefit from holster-reload mods the way some sources do, and that it interacts with one-in-the-mag weapons as described (fire → dodge → fire).
Class-agnostic exotic: Arcstrider is the recommended home because every Arc Hunter aspect and Combination Blow are gated on the dodge you now spam, and Flow State directly accelerates the Class/dodge loop. On Prismatic or another subclass the gun half is identical; you'd swap the Arc loop for that subclass's dodge-synergy aspect.
Differentiation: this is the dodge-as-payload build (dodge → free reload/buffs); `hunter_radiant_dance.md` is the dodge-as-refund build (gun kills → infinite dodge). They share Arc/dodge DNA but solve opposite problems — Dragon's Shadow asks "what does the dodge do," RDM asks "how do I get the dodge back." They are not the same build and don't compete for the chest slot.
Combination Blow / Lethal Current / Flow State / Ascension confirmed as Arc Hunter abilities/aspects in `docs/encyclopedia/aspects.md` (Flow State, Lethal Current, Ascension texts verbatim). Combination Blow's exact per-stack melee numbers are abilities-table values; treat the ×3 ramp as the known behaviour.