Last Stand — Mechaneer's Tricksleeves (Arc Hunter)
Most builds treat low health as the failure state. This one arms there. Dip into critically wounded, swap to a Sidearm — the swap reloads it and lights a damage buff — then Sidearm final blows keep the buff alive past the point you heal back up. The whole design is staying alive in the danger window without healing out of it, which is exactly what Arc's Amplified gives you: damage reduction and a harder-to-hit profile with no health restored. You survive the spike instead of cancelling it.
The exotic
Spring-Loaded Mounting: Increases Sidearm airborne effectiveness, ready speed, and reload speed. While you're critically wounded, swapping to a Sidearm reloads it and increases its damage. While this effect is active, Sidearm final blows reload the weapon and extend the effect's duration.
The clause that builds this is the last sentence. The damage buff is gated on becoming critically wounded — the swap arms it — but it is sustained on Sidearm final blows, which carry no health requirement. So the buff outlives the crisis: get low, swap, kill with the Sidearm, and each kill reloads the mag and pushes the timer out, letting the buff ride at full health indefinitely. Clarity's community data pins the buff at 100% increased Sidearm damage in PvE (10% in PvP), passive +50 Airborne Effectiveness / +100 Handling / +100 Reload Speed, and a duration that runs until your shields fully recharge, then a trailing 5 seconds. Exotic armour is Tier 5 in 9.7.0, so the gauntlets roll top-tier stats with no grind.
Loadout
| Slot | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Subclass | Arcstrider | Arc is the one subclass whose strong defensive verb (Amplified) restores no health, so it can't heal you out of the exotic's critically-wounded trigger. |
| Super | Gathering Storm | One-cast ranged jolt that primes Flow State → Amplified before the crisis even starts, and it's cast-and-forget so it never pulls you off the Sidearm. |
| Class ability | Gambler's Dodge | Refunds melee energy near enemies (scaled by Melee), giving back Combination Blow — the escape hatch once the crisis is over. |
| Movement | Triple Jump | Air control; the exotic boosts Sidearm airborne effectiveness, so you can trade from the air while low. |
| Melee | Combination Blow | Chained melee kills heal, refund dodge, and stack melee damage — used deliberately as the bail-out, not the rotation (see note 5). |
| Grenade | Arcbolt Grenade | Chains jolt across a clump → a Flow State kill → Amplified; a low-commitment proc for the DR layer. |
| Aspect 1 | Flow State | The Amplified engine — any jolted kill amplifies you, and while amplified your dodge and reload accelerate and you're more resilient dodging. |
| Aspect 2 | Lethal Current | Manufactures jolt off your post-dodge melee and blinds any jolted target you hit — a no-heal panic defence inside the crisis window. |
| Fragments | Instinct · Recharge · Resistance · Ions · Amplitude | Two crisis-only fragments turn the danger window into an engine; the rest layer no-heal DR, Ionic Traces, and the Orb economy. |
| Exotic armour | Mechaneer's Tricksleeves (Gauntlets) | Arms the Sidearm damage buff on a critically-wounded swap and self-sustains it on Sidearm final blows. |
| Weapons | Arc Rocket-Assisted Sidearm (special) · Arc jolt primary · situational heavy | The Sidearm is the payoff the buff multiplies; the primary keeps jolt flowing between crises; heavy fills the encounter's chunk-damage gap. |
Spark of Instinct while critically wounded, taking damage emits a jolting Arc burst — defence that only exists in the crisis window, and its jolt feeds Flow State
Spark of Recharge while critically wounded, melee and grenade energy regenerate faster — the window pays your abilities back
Spark of Resistance damage resistance while surrounded, +10 Melee
Spark of Ions jolted or Bolt-Charge kills create an Ionic Trace — Amplified uptime plus ability energy
Spark of Amplitude rapid kills while amplified create Orbs of Power — the orb economy under everything
Why it works (the mechanics)
- The crux: Amplified is survivability without healing. The exotic's damage buff needs you critically wounded to arm, so anything that heals you out of that bracket cancels your access to the arming swap. Amplified is the one strong Arc defensive buff that restores no health — it grants damage reduction, improved handling and reload, reduced flinch, and a harder-to-hit profile. You can sit in the danger zone long enough to swap-arm the buff and stay there. This is why the subclass is Arc and not Solar, where Restoration or Cure would heal you straight out of the trigger.
- Flow State is the Amplified faucet, and Arc hands you jolt for free. Flow State makes you amplified on any jolted kill. Three independent jolt sources keep it flowing: Arcbolt Grenade, Lethal Current's post-dodge melee, and Spark of Instinct's crisis burst. You're essentially always one jolted kill away from re-amplifying, so the DR layer never lapses during the crisis.
- The Sidearm buff is self-feeding once armed. Arm it once with a critically-wounded swap and Sidearm final blows reload the weapon and extend the effect. That's a closed loop with no cooldown — kill, free reload, longer timer, kill again. The entire job after the first swap is landing Sidearm final blows, which a 100%-damage, handling-and-reload-buffed Sidearm does trivially against the chaff that put you in the crisis.
- The crisis-wounded fragments turn the danger window into an engine. Spark of Instinct (a jolting burst when hit, which then feeds Flow State) and Spark of Recharge (faster melee and grenade regen) are dead weight on a normal build because their condition is "be nearly dead." Here the build lives in that condition, so both are effectively always-on while it matters: incoming fire becomes jolt (→ Amplified → DR), and the window refunds your abilities so you exit it with a full kit.
- Combination Blow is the deliberate exit, not the loop. It heals on melee kills, which is anti-synergy with the trigger, so it's held as the panic button. Once the Sidearm buff is self-sustaining (note 3) and the room is thinning, a Combination Blow chain heals you to full while the buff keeps riding on Sidearm final blows — you leave the crisis on your terms with the damage spike still active, and Gambler's Dodge keeps the melee refunded so the exit is always available.
- The economy closes on Orbs and Traces. Spark of Amplitude makes Orbs from rapid amplified kills; Spark of Ions makes Ionic Traces from jolted kills. Orbs feed the Health stat's orb-pickup heal — your intended way back to full — and top abilities, while Traces re-amplify and hand back ability energy. Gathering Storm refills off the same kills for the next room's opening jolt.
Stats & mods
Weapons 200 → Health → Melee. Weapons drives Sidearm and primary damage plus reload — the payoff slot. Health is a real stat here, not a dump, but it's controlled upward via orbs (the clean exit) rather than passively; it also cuts flinch. Melee funds Gambler's refund and Combination Blow charge. Archetype lean: Gunner / Grenadier armour (Weapons-forward) with a 
Bulwark or 
Brawler piece to top Health to the orb-heal breakpoint.
Mods:
- Boots: Sidearm Scavenger + Orbs of Restoration (orb pickup → energy to the least-charged ability).
- Arms: Sidearm Loader for the between-swap reloads the exotic doesn't cover.
- Chest: resist mods matched to the encounter's damage type, since you fight from the low bracket.
- Class item: Special Ammo Finisher to keep the Sidearm fed, plus a Siphon mod for Orbs.
- Surge: Arc Surge ×2, matched to an Arc Sidearm.
- Anti-Champion: intrinsic to weapon archetypes under Anti-Champion 2.0 — jolt covers Overload outright; pick frames for the rest (see Champion coverage).
Artifact — Tablet of Ruin
Tablet of Ruin is the Arc artifact, and it weaponises this build's exact loop — Arc debuffs feed Bolt Charge, Bolt Charge converts to Amplified, and Champion stuns refund the whole chain — while jolt covers Overload intrinsically.
Picks (2/3/2):
- Tier 1: Dielectric · Elemental Siphon
- Tier 2: Flashover · Gold From Lead · Harsh Refraction
- Tier 3: Defibrillating Blast · Limit Break
Dielectric grants Bolt Charge on Arc-debuffed kills and, on rapid kills, spawns an Orb and heals a small portion of health — both payoffs this build wants.
Elemental Siphon drops an Arc pickup on kills matching your equipped Super, feeding the orb-and-energy economy the Health stat leans on.
Flashover makes you amplified when you reach maximum Bolt Charge — a second, weapon-driven faucet for the crux DR verb straight off the loop.
Gold From Lead gives Special-ammo pickups a chance to grant Heavy, keeping the Special-hungry Sidearm kit topped up.
Harsh Refraction boosts Trace Rifle damage against targets afflicted by matching elemental debuffs — an Arc Trace Rifle punishes your jolted targets, the on-element T2 option that fits the kit.
Defibrillating Blast grants maximum Bolt Charge on a Champion stun and its bolts jolt and heal you — Champion coverage that re-arms Flashover.
Limit Break grants bonus Super damage when you cast while critically wounded — the build's home state — so Gathering Storm hits harder from the low bracket.
Where it shines
- Sustained add-clear and survival content — the loop wants a steady stream of chaff to kill into, so waves, breaches, and horde rooms let the buff ride indefinitely.
- Solo and low-team content where nobody heals you out of the trigger; the build is self-contained and thrives on being the one under pressure.
- Not ideal for one-shot burst DPS windows — the identity is a rolling damage spike sustained by kills, not a set-piece boss-melt, so lean on the situational heavy there.
- Champion coverage: jolt (Flow State, Lethal Current, Arcbolt) stuns Overload intrinsically; bring a Rocket-Assisted Sidearm / primary pair whose archetypes cover Barrier and Unstoppable under Anti-Champion 2.0, and Defibrillating Blast rewards each stun with max Bolt Charge.
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. |
| 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 (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) | Orbs of Restoration 1e | Picking up an Orb of Power grants a small amount of energy to your ability with the least energy. |
| Arc Weapon Surge 1e | Your Arc weapons gain a small bonus to damage while you have any Armor Charge. Your Armor Charge now decays over time. | |
| Arc Weapon Surge 1e | Your Arc weapons gain a small bonus to damage while you have any Armor Charge. Your Armor Charge now decays over time. | |
| Class Item (4/10) | 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. | |
| Powerful Attraction 2e fill | Automatically collects nearby Orbs of Power when you activate 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). Flex/loadout-dependent: since you fight from the low bracket. - **Class item:** Special Ammo Finisher to keep the Sidearm fed; matched to an Arc Sidearm. - **Anti-Champion:** intrinsic to weapon archetypes under Anti-Champion 2.0 — jolt covers Overload outright; pick frames for the rest (see Champion coverage).