High Ground — St0mp-EE5 (Arc Hunter · PvP)

Anchor: St0mp-EE5 (Legs) · Subclass: Arcstrider (Arc) · Role: Air-superiority peek-duelist — Crucible & Trials Sandbox: 9.7.0 · Built 2026-06-27 · PvP (6v6 + Trials/Comp)

Skyfall already runs St0mp-EE5 as a ground-game hand-cannon duelist — strafe-jump the peek, land, trade. High Ground takes the third dimension. It pivots the whole kit onto one aspect Skyfall doesn't touch — Ascension — so the signature move isn't a jump-peek, it's a vertical pop: jump (St0mp throws you higher and farther), then tap your dodge in mid-air to Ascension upward, amplify yourself on demand, jolt the lane, and rain down a shotgun or SMG angle nobody's pre-aimed because nobody pre-aims the ceiling. And it's the honest St0mp build: in PvP the legs are pure movement, full stop. The famous "less damage while airborne" is PvE-only (Clarity: 30% vs combatants) and the legs give zero Airborne Effectiveness, so your real air survivability comes from Ascension → Flow State's amplified-DR-and-reload, not the boots. Movement is the defence; the gun is the kill; Ascension is the button that makes the air yours.

Loadout

Slot	Pick	Why
Super	Gathering Storm or Arc Staff	Zoning/map-control (Gathering Storm) or a roaming get-off-me (Arc Staff). Least important slot — this build wins in the neutral game, not with the Super.
Class ability	Marksman's Dodge	On the ground it's the duelist's reset: reloads + breaks tracking without moving your crosshair. In the air the same button becomes Ascension (the aspect re-routes airborne dodge), so one slot gives you a ground reset and an air launcher. (Gambler's if you'd rather it feed melee.)
Movement	Triple Jump	Three independently-aimable air vectors — the most peeking mischief, and St0mp "greatly increases the initial momentum of all jump abilities," so each kick goes higher/farther. Triple also gives you altitude to Ascension from. (High Jump if you want one big vertical instead.)
Melee	Combination Blow / Disorienting Blow	A panic button at close range, not a kill engine. Disorienting Blow blinds a pushing aper; either is just the half-second you need to win the gunfight you're already in.
Grenade	Flashbang or Arcbolt	Flashbang blinds a pushing duo (a get-off-me). Arcbolt chips + jolts → with Spark of Shock it sets up a jolted kill for Flow State amplified.
Aspect 1	Ascension	The signature. "While airborne, consume your class ability energy to summon your Arc Staff, propelling yourself upward and creating a burst of energy around you that amplifies allies and jolts targets." On-demand Amplified (no kill required), an extra vertical vector off the St0mp jump, and an AoE jolt that primes Flow State — all from a mid-air dodge tap. This is what makes High Ground its own build.
Aspect 2	Flow State	Defeating a jolted target makes you amplified; while amplified your dodge recharges more quickly, you are more resilient while dodging, and reload speed is greatly increased. It's the payoff layer: Ascension jolts → you finish the jolted target → amplified again, now with the resilience-while-dodging that is your only real in-air DR in PvP plus greatly increased reload.

Fragments (PvP-relevant):

• Spark of Ions (jolted/Bolt-Charge kills → Ionic Trace) — Ascension costs class-ability energy; jolted kills refund it via traces, so the next Ascension comes sooner. Closes the loop.
• Spark of Shock (Arc grenades jolt; −10 Grenade) — turns Flashbang/Arcbolt into a Flow State trigger; jolt → kill → amplified.
• Spark of Haste (greatly increased Health stat while sprinting) — survivability that matches the identity: you're sprinting between off-angles constantly, so this is near-permanent Health for free.
• Spark of Feedback (taking melee damage → +outgoing melee; +10 Health) — punishes the shoulder-charge ape and adds flat Health for trade-forgiveness.
• Spark of Frequency (melee hits → reload + stability) — keeps the gun glued after a brawl, doubling up Flow State's reload.

Swap Spark of Shock → Spark of Amplitude (rapid kills while amplified → Orb) if you'd rather your near-constant amplified state feed team orbs over the personal jolt loop.

Exotic — St0mp-EE5 (Legs)

Manifest (exotics.md): "Hydraulic Boosters: Increases slide distance and improves High Jump, Strafe Jump, and Triple Jump. Take less damage from targets when airborne."

Clarity ([pvp]-relevant breakdown):

• Sprint Speed +6.25% — faster rotations and faster off-angle arrivals.
• Slide Distance +33% — the headline PvP number. A slide that ends a third farther than the defender pre-aimed is a free first shot, and it's what makes the slide-peek aper below work.
• "Greatly increases the initial momentum of all Jump Abilities" — higher, farther, snappier jumps; warps how you peek, rotate, disengage, and (here) how high you can Ascension from.
• Airborne damage resistance: 30% — against PvE Combatants only. This is the honest core of the build. The manifest's "take less damage when airborne" reads like a PvP perk; Clarity confirms it does not apply to enemy Guardians. In Crucible St0mp-EE5 gives you no airborne DR.
• Airborne Effectiveness: none. St0mp grants 0 AE, so your in-air weapon accuracy still eats the standard penalty. You peek-and-land to shoot, or you stay close where the penalty barely matters (shotgun/SMG) — you do not float-and-spray a hand cannon.

Honest trade-off, stated plainly: in PvP this is a pure movement exotic. No ability refund, no airborne DR, no accuracy help. The slipperiness is the value — and your in-air survivability comes from Ascension → Flow State (amplified + resilient-while-dodging) and the Health-stat fragments, not from the legs. Build the air defence on the subclass; the boots only get you there.

Weapons (the loadout)

The exotic gives nothing offensive, and because there's no AE help, pick guns that are forgiving in the air or that engage where AE barely matters:

• Aggressive primary (AE-tolerant) — the core: an SMG (e.g. The Immortal, Unforgiven) or a 600-RPM auto is the air-friendly pick — high aim-assist, forgiving spread, and at the close-to-mid ranges this build duels in, the in-air accuracy penalty is least punishing. This is the deliberate split from Skyfall's stand-and-trade hand cannon: High Ground wants a gun you can keep firing through the peek. A 140 RPM hand cannon still works if you'd rather peek-and-land — just respect that those shots want your feet down.
• Special — the slide/air-drop finisher: a shotgun (e.g. a Slideshot/Threat-Detector roll) is made for St0mp's +33% slide and Ascension's downward angle — slide a corner faster than the defender expects, or Ascension up and drop the point-blank shot where the spread still connects despite zero AE. A fusion is the hold-the-angle alternative if you'd rather the mobility be your escape than your entry.
• Arc-tag option: running an Arc primary lets the gun itself jolt-adjacent the Flow State loop and keeps Spark of Ions fed; not required, but it tightens the amplified uptime.
• Want real air-shots? AE is built on the weapon, not these legs — slot an Icarus Grip-type AE source / pick a frame with passive Airborne Effectiveness if you genuinely intend to win mid-air gunfights with a precision weapon. (Verify the current AE mod/perk names in-game.)

Stats (PvP)

Six-stat Armor 3.0 — PvP relevance is not the PvE spread. Chase, in order:

• Weapons (push high, ~150+): governs weapon handling, reload, and ready (manifest: the universal weapon stat) — the single biggest lever for a build that wins with the gun. Note it does not raise Airborne Effectiveness (AE isn't part of the Weapons stat in Armor 3.0), so it sharpens your grounded gunplay, not your air accuracy.
• Class (~100+): drives dodge recharge — which here is two things: your ground reset (Marksman's) and your air launcher (Ascension consumes class energy). More Class = more Ascensions and more resets per life, compounded by Flow State's amplified dodge-regen and Spark of Ions' traces.
• Health (moderate, ~70–100): PvP TTK is fast and you have no overshield/heal and no airborne DR in Crucible, so don't dump Health — it's your trade-forgiveness. Spark of Haste (sprinting) + Spark of Feedback (+10) layer extra Health stat on top, so the armour roll doesn't have to carry it all.
• Super / Grenade / Melee (dump-tier): utility, not a damage loop. A little Grenade for a faster Flashbang is the only nudge worth making.

Archetype to chase: any roll favouring Weapons + Class (Gunner/Specialist-flavoured). Mods: Targeting + Loader + Unflinching for your primary's class, Dexterity for fast ready off the peek, Recuperation/Better Already to top off after a won duel. No ability-mod stack to build — spend the budget making the gun feel perfect.

How to duel (the neutral game)

• Rotate on the slide. Use the +33% slide + 6.25% sprint to arrive at angles before the enemy is set. Slide-cancel a corner and the defender's pre-aim is already a beat behind.
• Take the vertical with Ascension. Jump (St0mp launches you), then tap dodge airborne → Ascension: you pop up, become amplified on demand, and jolt the lane. Now you're shooting down an angle nobody holds — and amplified means faster reload + handling for the gun you land on.
• Air-shot only where AE doesn't bite. No Airborne Effectiveness from the legs, so mid-air you either (a) drop a shotgun point-blank where spread still connects, or (b) land first and fire the primary. Don't hover-spray a precision gun — that's the one thing the build can't do.
• Reset on the ground dodge. Mid-duel, Marksman's Dodge to reload + break their tracking without losing yours. Amplified (from Ascension or Flow State) makes it come back faster.
• Cash jolted kills into amplified. Ascension/grenade jolt → finish the jolted target → Flow State amplified → resilient while dodging (your real PvP air-DR substitute) + greatly increased reload, and Spark of Ions hands back the class energy for the next Ascension.
• 1vX: don't stand and tank — you have no DR net. Win the first duel, Ascension or slide out to a new angle, and re-engage the 1v1s separately. The build's survivability is not being where they're shooting.

6v6 vs Trials

• 6v6 (artifact active): lean the seasonal Arc artifact perks into the jolt→amplified→trace loop you already run — anything that rewards jolted kills with Ionic Traces / Bolt Charge / orbs stacks straight onto Spark of Ions and Flow State, and any Arc-weapon-kill orb perk turns the aggressive primary into ability uptime. Blind-on-jolt artifact perks make Ascension's AoE jolt a crowd-control tool when you pop into a stacked lane. Champions are out of scope in Crucible.
• Trials/Comp (no artifact): strip the assumptions — no artifact traces or blind, so amplified uptime now leans entirely on Ascension (on-demand) + Flow State (on a jolted kill), and the jolt economy is just your grenade (Spark of Shock) and Ascension. Tighten Weapons + Class on the armour to compensate, play the angles more patiently, and treat Ascension as your get-out vertical first and your aggression tool second. Spark of Haste's sprint-Health matters more here because every trade counts.

Notes

• Verify — airborne DR is PvE-only. Manifest text "take less damage from targets when airborne" reads like a PvP perk; Clarity states it is 30% vs PVE Combatants only. Confirmed-as-PvE here and built around accordingly — assume no airborne DR in Crucible. (Re-confirm in-game if Bungie ever re-tunes it.)
• Verify — St0mp grants 0 Airborne Effectiveness. The legs improve jump/slide/sprint, not in-air accuracy. Clarity numbers used: Sprint Speed +6.25%, Slide Distance +33%, "greatly increases the initial momentum of all jump abilities." No AE line exists for St0mp — your air accuracy penalty is unchanged unless you build AE on the weapon.
• Verify — Weapons stat ≠ Airborne Effectiveness. Per `stats_and_archetypes.md`, the Armor 3.0 Weapons stat governs handling/reload/ready (+ a PvE damage bonus past 100); it is not an AE source. Don't expect a high Weapons roll to fix air-shots.
• Ascension self-amplifies. Manifest says it "amplifies allies"; the caster counts — confirmed in `subclasses_and_aspects.md` ("Amplify nearby allies, lifting you into the air"). It's an on-demand amplify (no kill needed), the distinguishing engine vs Skyfall's kill-gated Flow State amplify.
• Aspects/fragments verified against `docs/encyclopedia/`: Ascension, Flow State (aspects.md); Spark of Ions, Spark of Shock, Spark of Haste, Spark of Feedback, Spark of Frequency, Spark of Amplitude (fragments.md). Effects quoted as the manifest states them.
• Differentiation vs `hunter_stompees.md` (Skyfall): same exotic and subclass family, deliberately different build. Skyfall = ground hand-cannon stand-and-trade on Flow State + Lethal Current, jump-peek-and-land. High Ground = Ascension + Flow State vertical air-superiority on an aggressive/slide-peek SMG-or-shotgun kit, with the honest correction that St0mp's airborne DR doesn't apply in PvP. Different signature aspect, different weapon archetype, different honesty about the legs — not a re-skin.
• No ability synergy in the exotic. As with every St0mp build, the legs feed no grenade/melee/Super/class-ability. The synergy here all lives on the subclass (Ascension↔Flow State↔Spark of Ions), and that's stated honestly throughout. It's a neutral-game movement-and-gunplay build.
• Anti-Champion 2.0: mentioned only to dismiss — this is a Crucible build, champion tooling is out of scope.

Mod selection (masterworked — full allocation)

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: **Dexterity** for fast ready off the peek.