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Solar

The Eclipse — Golden Gun: Marksman (Solar Hunter)

Boss deleter

Centerpiece: Celestial Nighthawk (Helmet) · Subclass: Gunslinger · Role: Boss deleter Sandbox: 9.7.0 · Updated 2026-06-29

One shot, one health bar. Celestial Nighthawk compresses your entire Golden Gun into a single apocalyptic round, and Still Hunt lets you fire a second Golden Gun out of your sniper between casts. You spend the add phase feeding Radiant and Orbs, then cash two Nighthawk shots into a boss back to back.

The exotic

Celestial Nighthawk — Hawkeye Hack (Helmet, verbatim):

Precision final blows reduce the cooldown of your Super. Modifies Golden Gun to fire a single, high-damage shot. Targets defeated by that shot give you Super energy and explode.

Nighthawk is the Hunter burst king: it folds the three-shot Marksman Golden Gun into one round that, per the Clarity numbers, deals 650% increased damage and triggers an immediate Ignition. That single shot is the vehicle for the whole build — Radiant, surge mods and the artifact's Solo Operative ramp all multiply into it because they live in separate stacking buckets. The kill clause makes the rotation self-funding: a Golden Gun kill refunds 33% Super energy and detonates the target, and ordinary precision kills drip 1.5–4.5% back depending on enemy rank. Pair it with Still Hunt and both guns become a Nighthawk shot, so you are never more than one trigger pull from deleting an orange bar.

Loadout

Slot	Pick	Why
Subclass	Gunslinger (Solar)	Native home of Golden Gun; the whole kit orbits the Super and Radiant.
Super	Golden Gun: Marksman	Precision single-shot super — the round Nighthawk turns into a one-shot.
Class ability	Marksman's Dodge	Reload-on-dodge keeps Still Hunt topped between damage windows.
Movement	Triple Jump	Air control to hold a clean sightline onto the boss during the DPS phase.
Melee	Lightweight Knife	Throwing-knife precision kills proc Radiant via Ember of Torches and refund melee under Knock 'Em Down.
Grenade	Healing Grenade	Sustain — the damage comes from the guns, so the grenade just keeps you alive.
Aspect 1	Knock 'Em Down	"Marksman Golden Gun has increased duration"; while Radiant, Throwing Knife final blows fully refund melee.
Aspect 2	On Your Mark	Precision hits stack reload + Weapons stat ×10; final blows at ten stacks cure you.
Fragments	Torches · Empyrean · Searing · Solace	Radiant generation, Radiant/Restoration extension, melee/Firesprite economy and longer buff windows.
Exotic armour	Celestial Nighthawk (Helmet)	One supercharged Golden Gun shot; kills refund Super and explode — the burst engine.
Weapons	Still Hunt + Incandescent Solar primary + Solar Rocket	Second Nighthawk on weapon economy, Scorch spread for the Solar loop, and a rocket the artifact buffs.

Why it works (the mechanics)

• Buffs multiply across categories. Radiant (a weapon-damage buff), Solar Weapon Surge (armour mods) and Solo Operative's solo-DPS ramp (artifact) each live in a different stacking bucket, so they all multiply into the same Nighthawk shot. Stacking sources rather than one big number is the entire trick to the burst.
• Still Hunt is a second Nighthawk on weapon economy. Cayde's Retribution charges 16.67% per precision hit and 8.34% per Orb of Power, and wearing Nighthawk transforms its alternate-fire into a single high-damage round (~43% more than three successive precision shots, per Clarity). Because it charges off weapon economy, 9.7.0's −60% Super-from-bosses barely touches this rotation while it guts super-spam builds.
• Nighthawk's refund makes boss DPS self-funding. A Golden Gun kill returns 33% Super energy and explodes the target, and stray precision kills feed 1.5–4.5% more, so add and trash phases pay for the next damage phase instead of leaving you Super-dry.
• On Your Mark converts accuracy into stats. Landing precision hits stacks reload speed and the 9.7.0 Weapons stat ×10 — a sniper caps and holds these instantly — so the base Still Hunt rounds and your primary ride a near-permanent weapon-damage buff, and ten stacks cures you for free survivability.
• Radiant is the universal multiplier. Ember of Torches makes you Radiant off the knife, Empyrean extends it on every Solar final blow, and Solace stretches it 50% longer — so Radiant rarely drops. It is a separate buff bucket, so it stacks cleanly on the Nighthawk shot, the sniper rounds and the rocket.
• The Scorch/ignite loop feeds itself. Incandescent spreads Scorch, Kindling Trigger makes your Solar weapons apply Scorch while Radiant, and Ember of Searing turns scorched-target kills into melee energy and Firesprites — which fuels the next knife, which re-applies Radiant. Rays of Precision then ignites on Radiant Solar precision kills, closing the verb economy.

Stats & mods

Super 200 → Weapons → Health. Max Super for the fastest Golden Gun recharge, Weapons to push the 9.7.0 PvE damage stat onto everything you fire, and Health for survivability during the static DPS animation. Archetypes: Colossus (Super/Health), Powerhouse (Weapons/Super), Paragon.

Mods:

• Boots: Special Ammo Scavenger + Special/Sniper Reserves — keep Still Hunt fed for repeat alternate-fire shots.
• Arms: Sniper Rifle Loader + Unflinching Sniper Aim — fast re-ready and steady precision under fire.
• Chest: Concussive Dampener / resist mods to survive the stationary damage window.
• Class item: Powerful Attraction (dodge vacuums Orbs to charge Still Hunt's bar) + Reaper/Bomber for the orb-and-dodge economy.
• Surge: Solar Weapon Surge ×3 — the flat damage multiplier that stacks into both Nighthawk shots and the rocket.
• Anti-Champion: no intrinsic stun on this kit — lean on weapon archetypes (Barrier via Precision/Adaptive, Overload via Rapid-Fire/Lightweight) plus the artifact's Anti-Champion Nosecone (rocket champion damage) and Revitalizing Blast (ignite + clears your shield-stun once a champion is stunned).

Artifact — Queensfoil Censer

Picks (2/3/2): Fever And Chill + Kindling Trigger — Revitalizing Blast + Anti-Champion Nosecone + Perpetual Destruction — Rays of Precision + Solo Operative

• Fever And Chill — rapid Solar hits grant Radiant; with a sniper landing constant precision hits this is near-permanent, keeping the universal multiplier live on every shot.
• Kindling Trigger — while Radiant, your Solar weapons apply Scorch to unscorched combatants, feeding Ember of Searing and the ignite payoffs without spending the grenade.
• Revitalizing Blast — stunning a Champion ignites it and clears your shield-stun, turning a teammate's stun into Solar AoE and keeping you in the fight.
• Anti-Champion Nosecone + Perpetual Destruction — the Solar rocket layer: increased Champion damage plus ammo refund and reload on rapid rocket kills for sustained heavy uptime.
• Rays of Precision — while Radiant, Solar precision final blows ignite, so every sniper headshot that kills chains into an ignition for add density.
• Solo Operative — while solo, precision final blows ramp weapon damage until you die; a sniper keeps it climbing, an extra multiplier straight into the Nighthawk shot in solo/low-man content.

Where it shines

• Boss and miniboss burst phases: fire the real Golden Gun (Nighthawk one-shot), then immediately empty Still Hunt's stored Golden Gun for a second one-shot, refill on precision hits and Orbs, and repeat — best-in-class Hunter burst from helmet + special slot.
• Solo and low-man content: Solo Operative's precision ramp climbs the longer you survive, stacking another multiplier into the shot exactly when you have no fireteam to lean on.
• Add-dense rooms before a phase: Incandescent Scorch spread + Kindling Trigger + Rays of Precision turn precision kills into ignitions and Firesprites, clearing the pack while topping melee energy and Radiant for the damage window.
• Champion coverage: the kit carries no intrinsic stun — bring weapon archetypes for Barrier (Precision/Adaptive) and Overload (Rapid-Fire/Lightweight), then use Anti-Champion Nosecone and Revitalizing Blast as the finishing layer and a Nighthawk shot to delete the stunned champion. Unstoppable is the gap unless a kit weapon covers it.

Mod selection (masterworked — full allocation)

Piece	Mod · cost	What it does
Helmet (7/10)	Solar Siphon 3e fill	Rapid Solar 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)	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.
	Fastball 1e fill	Increases grenade throw distance.
Chest (9/10)	Concussive Dampener 3e	Reduces incoming area-of-effect damage from combatants.
	Concussive Dampener 3e	Reduces incoming area-of-effect damage from combatants.
	Concussive Dampener 3e	Reduces incoming area-of-effect damage from combatants.
Legs (3/10)	Solar Scavenger 1e	Solar weapons get bonus reserves when picking up ammo used by that weapon.
	Solar Weapon Surge 1e	Your Solar weapons gain a small bonus to damage while you have any Armor Charge. Your Armor Charge now decays over time.
	Solar Weapon Surge 1e	Your Solar weapons gain a small bonus to damage while you have any Armor Charge. Your Armor Charge now decays over time.
Class Item (3/10)	Reaper 1e	Shortly after using your class ability, your next weapon final blow spawns an Orb of Power.
	Reaper 1e	Shortly after using your class ability, your next weapon final blow spawns an Orb of Power.
	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). Flex/loadout-dependent: the rocket. - **Anti-Champion:** no intrinsic stun on this kit — lean on weapon archetypes (Barrier via Precision/Adaptive; Overload via Rapid-Fire/Lightweight) plus the artifact's Anti-Champion Nosecone (rocket champion damage); Revitalizing Blast (ignite + clears your shield-stun once a champion is stunned).