Live Wire — Oathkeeper + Trinity Ghoul (Arc Hunter)
Anchor: Oathkeeper · Subclass: Arcstrider (Arc) · Role: Chain-lightning bow — hold a perfect-draw Trinity Ghoul indefinitely, release a charged chain-lightning arrow that jolts a whole pack, and ride the jolt economy (traces + Amplified) back to the next shot Sandbox: 9.7.0 · Created 2026-06-24
Trinity Ghoul's catalyst turns a precision kill into a chain-lightning arrow that forks across a crowd and jolts everything it touches. Oathkeeper lets you sit on that perfect draw as long as you like — hold the charged shot, wait for the opening, and loose it for bonus damage. Jolted kills mint Ionic Traces and make you Amplified, which reloads the bow faster, which gets you to the next charged shot. One arrow, a lit-up room.
The pairing — why two exotics, not one
Oathkeeper is the 
gauntlets, Trinity Ghoul the Primary — Oathkeeper is a pure bow amplifier, Trinity Ghoul is the bow that most wants to be amplified:
Oathkeeper lets a bow's perfect draw be held indefinitely and adds damage on release scaled by hold time. Normally a charged Trinity Ghoul shot forces you to fire now or lose it; Oathkeeper removes the timer, so you bank the chain-lightning arrow until the pack lines up.
Trinity Ghoul fires a splitting arrow base, and with the 
Lightning Rod catalyst a precision final blow charges the next shot into a chain-lightning arrow that forks through a group. Chain lightning is Arc damage that jolts — exactly the verb the Arc economy is built to convert.- They meet on the held charged shot: Oathkeeper banks Trinity Ghoul's Lightning Rod arrow at full draw + max hold-damage, you place it perfectly, and the jolt it spreads feeds Spark of Ions/Discharge (Ionic Traces) and Flow State (Amplified → faster bow reload) → straight into the next precision kill that re-charges the arrow.
Loadout
| Slot | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Super |  Gathering Storm | Throw-and-embed the staff to jolt a wide area → jolted kills mint traces + feed Flow State, and it's the single-target/boss burst a bow lacks. |
| Class ability |  Marksman's Dodge | Full reload — Trinity Ghoul's reserves and reload are its bottleneck; the dodge skips it and arms Ascension's jolt. |
| Melee |  Combination Blow | A neutral-game panic button between shots; chained kills heal and refund the dodge. |
| Grenade |  Arcbolt Grenade | Chains between targets and — with Spark of Shock — jolts them, seeding traces without spending an arrow. |
| Aspect 1 |  Ascension | Spin-dodge electrifies and jolts nearby targets (a ranged-friendly jolt source, no melee needed) and Amplifies allies. 2 fragment slots. |
| Aspect 2 |  Flow State | Jolted kills → Amplified → greatly increased reload (the bow's lifeblood) + faster dodge regen. 2 fragment slots. |
Spark of Discharge Arc weapon final blows → Ionic Trace — Trinity Ghoul kills feed this directly
Spark of Ions jolted kill → Ionic Trace — the chain-lightning kills mint these
Spark of Shock Arc grenades jolt — Arcbolt becomes a trace seeder
Spark of Resistance DR while surrounded — survivability for a stationary archer
Exotic armour — Oathkeeper (Gauntlets)
Adamantine Brace: Bow perfect draw can be held indefinitely. Gain a bonus to the Bow's damage when released, based on how long perfect draw was held. Provides a moderate benefit to the airborne effectiveness stat of Bows.
Two gifts for one weapon: you can bank a fully-drawn shot with no stamina drain (hold the Lightning Rod arrow until the shot is perfect) and you get more damage the longer you hold — so the charged chain-lightning arrow lands harder and exactly where you want it.
Exotic weapon — Trinity Ghoul (Combat Bow · Arc · Primary)
Split Electron: "Fires an arrow that splits when released. Aiming down sights and fully drawing the bow both decrease the spread."
An Arc Primary bow. Base, it sprays a fan of arrows; with the Lightning Rod catalyst a precision kill supercharges the next arrow into 
chain lightning that forks through a pack — high AoE Arc damage that jolts. The catalyst is the engine, so this build assumes it's unlocked.
Why this works (the mechanics)
- Oathkeeper makes the chain shot a placed weapon. Land a precision kill → Lightning Rod charges the next arrow → hold it at perfect draw (Oathkeeper) until a pack clusters → loose it for bonus hold-damage → chain lightning forks through them and jolts the survivors.
- Jolt is the whole economy. Jolted kills → Ionic Traces (Spark of Ions) + Arc-kill traces (Spark of Discharge) → ability energy; jolted kills → Amplified (Flow State) → greatly increased reload, which on a bow is enormous → faster back to the next precision kill that re-charges Lightning Rod.
- Ascension is a ranged jolt source. You don't have to melee to keep the loop lit — the spin-dodge jolts a pack and Amplifies allies, so jolt/trace generation never depends on getting into knife range.
- Arcbolt backs up the bow. A jolting Arcbolt (Spark of Shock) seeds traces and softens a pack between charged shots, so the trace/Amplified state holds even if a precision kill is slow to come.
- Champions and bosses are covered. Jolt handles Overload; Gathering Storm is the boss/heavy-add burst; traces keep its energy topped.
Weapons
- Trinity Ghoul (Arc Primary bow) — the chain-lightning engine. Needs the Lightning Rod catalyst.
- Special/Heavy: cover the ranges/targets a bow can't — an Arc option keeps surges + Siphon live and feeds Spark of Discharge; a boss-DPS Heavy for bosses.
- Champions (Anti-Champion 2.0): Overload — jolt (Lightning Rod chain + Arcbolt + Gathering Storm); Barrier + Unstoppable — archetype frames on the Special/Heavy.
Stats & archetypes
Priority: Weapons 150 → Class 100 → Health 100 → Super/Grenade/Melee dump.
- Weapons 150 — bow damage throughput on top of Oathkeeper's hold-bonus; the first 100 is the PvE damage bonus.
- Class 100 — Marksman's Dodge is your reload and Ascension's jolt; high uptime keeps both the bow loaded and the jolt economy running.
- Health 100 — a charged-draw archer is stationary; the DR floor (+ Spark of Resistance) keeps you alive at range.
Archetypes: 
Gunner / Powerhouse (Weapons), 
Specialist (Class), 
Bulwark (Health). Mods: Bow Loader + Reserves, 
Bow Targeting, Arc Weapon Surge ×2, Arc/Harmonic Siphon, Bomber on the class item for dodge uptime.
Artifact — Encrypted Data Disk (Renegades)
Picks (2/3/2): 
Reload at Range + 
Fierce Proxemics — 
Dielectric + 
Blinding Jolts + 
Counter Energy — 
Elemental Orbs: Arc + 
Tazer Tag The Arc artifact that also happens to love bows:
- Reload at Range — precision hits with
Bows and Snipers stack reload speed. Layers on top of Flow State's Amplified reload — Trinity Ghoul's worst stat, fixed twice over. - Dielectric — defeating Arc-debuffed (jolted) targets grants Bolt Charge; rapid ones → Orb + heal. The room is jolted, so this is always firing.
- Blinding Jolts — final blows on jolted combatants blind nearby ones — free CC layered onto every chain-lightning kill.
- Elemental Orbs: Arc — Arc final blows can spawn an Arc orb you shoot for a jolting explosion — extra AoE jolt + Orb economy.
- Tazer Tag — Arc melee hits jolt + ramp damage (for the Combination Blow panic button).
- Fierce Proxemics / Counter Energy — finisher → ability energy / champion-stun → least-charged ability energy: keeps Gathering Storm + abilities fed.
Mod selection (masterworked — full allocation)
| Piece | Mod · cost | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Helmet (7/10) | Harmonic Siphon 1e | Rapid Arc weapon final blows create an Orb of Power. Rapid Solar weapon final blows create an Orb of Power. Rapid Stasis weapon final blows create an Orb of Power. Rapid Void weapon final blows create an Orb of Power. Rapid Strand weapon final blows create Orbs of Power. |
| 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. | |
| Arms (8/10) | Weapon Loader (faster reload) 3e | |
| 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 | 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. | |
| 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. | |
| Class Item (4/10) | Bomber 1e | Reduces grenade cooldown when using your class ability. |
| Reaper 1e fill | Shortly after using your class ability, your next weapon final blow spawns an Orb of Power. | |
| 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: **Bow Targeting**.
The loop
- Land a precision kill with Trinity Ghoul → Lightning Rod charges the next arrow → hold it at perfect draw (Oathkeeper) and reposition.
- Loose the chain-lightning arrow into a pack → it forks, deals big Arc damage, and jolts the survivors.
- Jolted kills → Ionic Traces (ability energy) + Amplified (Flow State → fast reload) → re-draw and land the next precision kill → re-charge Lightning Rod. Ascension/Arcbolt seed jolt when you need it without a melee.
- Gathering Storm for a boss or a dense reset; Blinding Jolts + traces keep the room controlled and the abilities fed.