Last Laugh — Mechaneer's Tricksleeves (Prismatic Hunter · PvP)

Anchor: Mechaneer's Tricksleeves · Subclass: Prismatic Hunter · Role: Low-health sidearm clutch — Crucible & Trials Sandbox: 9.7.0 · Built 2026-06-27 · PvP (6v6 + Trials/Comp)

Everyone else's health bar going red is the moment they start backpedalling. Yours is the moment you win. Take the trade down to the red screen, swap to your sidearm, and the gauntlets ready it instantly, slap the magazine full, and add damage on top — so the gun you finish the fight with is snappier and fuller than the one the other guy is still reloading. Wrap that in DR that doesn't heal you out of the trigger — Transcendence and a no-heal "surrounded" buff — plus a slow to survive the swap and an invis to vanish after the kill. You don't escape the danger window. You live there, and it's where your gun is best.

Loadout

Slot	Pick	Why
Super	Golden Gun: Marksman	The "last laugh" delete — a long-range precision pistol that ends a priority target or saves a lost clutch from across the lane, without asking you to dive in at low health. Spawns Orbs on precision hits (feeds the Health-stat heal). Alts: Storm's Edge (aggressive 1vX roam) or Silence and Squall (Stasis zone-control, on-theme with the slows) — both in the Prismatic pool.
Class ability	Marksman's Dodge	Full reload + improved accuracy on the dodge, so your neutral gun is always topped and your aim snaps back mid-duel — and the dodge also triggers Winter's Shroud's slow. Gambler's Dodge is the alt if you'd rather refund Withering Blade to keep the slow flowing.
Movement	Triple Jump	Three air-control vectors to break aim-assist tracking on the peek and choose where you land the swap.
Melee	Withering Blade (Stasis shuriken)	A ranged slow — poke the dueller without closing, apply the elemental debuff Stylish needs, and seed the slow that buys you the swap window. No dive required.
Grenade	Duskfield Grenade (Stasis)	Slow/freeze a pusher, wall off a lane, or pin a 1vX scrum — pure no-heal control to buy time for the sidearm swap. A freeze also sets up a Facet of Ruin shatter.
Aspect 1	Winter's Shroud	"Dodging slows nearby targets." The survive-the-swap button: at low health, dodge → the chaser is slowed → you swap to the sidearm and out-trade them. No heal, so it never pulls you out of the trigger. Also feeds Stylish (slow = debuff). 2 Fragment slots.
Aspect 2	Stylish Executioner	"Defeating a target affected by any elemental debuff grants invisibility and Truesight." Win the clutch trade on a slowed target → vanish. The no-heal disengage that lets you reset a 1vX instead of dying to the second guy. 2 Fragment slots.

Clarity PvP values cited in Notes. The two that reset your expectations: Mechaneer's damage boost is 10% in PvP (not the 100% PvE figure) — the real PvP payoff is the instant ready + instant reload + +100 handling, with 10% as a breakpoint nudge — and Facet of Protection is 15% PvE DR with the PvP value unlisted, gated on 3 enemies within 15 m. Don't carry PvE numbers into Crucible.

Exotic — Mechaneer's Tricksleeves (Gauntlets)

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. (manifest, verbatim — and yes, it's Gauntlets / arms, confirmed in Notes.)

Clarity's PvP breakdown of what the swap actually does, in numbers:

• Passive, always on: +50 Airborne Effectiveness, +100 Handling, +100 Reload Speed to Sidearms (`clarity_lookup.py`, [pvp]). The +100 handling is the quiet star in Crucible — your sidearm readies and ADSes almost instantly, so a mid-duel swap beats your opponent's reaction.
• On readying a Sidearm at Critical Health: refills the magazine from reserves, and grants 100% [10%] increased damage — so 10% in PvP — that lasts until your shields are fully recharged, then a flat 5-second tail. In a duel you're at critical health with shields down, so the buff naturally rides the entire recovery window — exactly the danger zone.
• Sidearm kills extend the buff by 3 s (capped at 5 s) and refill your magazine from reserves — so in a 1vX scrum, the first clutch kill keeps the gun topped and the buff alive into the next.

PvP value = the clutch swap, not raw damage. The 10% won't conjure a one-shot. What it does: hands you, at the exact instant you're losing, a sidearm that's already loaded, snappier than any gun the enemy is holding, and hitting a hair harder — enough to flip a breakpoint (a 5-hit-kill into a 4, or a finishing tap that lands first). The trigger is readying a Sidearm while at Critical Health (the on-swap arms it; "critically wounded" = the red-screen Critical Health bracket — exact % in Notes).

Weapons (the loadout)

The sidearm is the centrepiece — the gun the whole build hands you at the worst moment. The project carries no legendary roll data, so these are archetype calls with example guns flagged as examples.

• Sidearm (the clutch weapon) — run a PRIMARY-ammo sidearm. Adaptive (300-RPM) for a forgiving laser, or an Aggressive Burst frame for raw dueling punch where the 10% can shove a burst-kill breakpoint. The reason for primary-ammo over a Rocket-Assisted/Special frame: Mechaneer's refills "from reserves," and primary ammo is effectively infinite — so the instant-reload-on-swap always fires, every clutch, no special-ammo gamble. Roll for handling/range/stability (Eye of the Storm, Keep Away, Dynamic Sway love the peek-and-swap game). Element is minor here — match it to your surge or to a Stasis/Void slow-synergy, and pick the one you hit breakpoints with. - Heavier alternative (flagged): a Rocket-Assisted Frame sidearm (e.g. an Indebted Kindness-class gun) or Forerunner hits much harder and the 10% lands on a bigger number — but it's Special ammo, so it competes with shotgun/sniper for the slot and the swap only works when you're holding bricks. Take it only if your special economy is disciplined; primary-ammo is the consistent clutch.
• Primary (the neutral game) — a 120/140 RPM Hand Cannon (e.g. a Rose / Igneous Hammer-class HC, examples only), or an Aggressive/Lightweight pulse if you fight better at mid. This is the gun you start fights with; the sidearm is what you finish with after you dip. Running HC + sidearm is a double-primary loadout — the sidearm lives in your other slot (primary ammo) so it's always loaded for the swap. If you'd rather keep a special weapon, run sidearm + shotgun/sniper and treat the sidearm as your primary range tool; you lose the dedicated neutral HC but gain a power pick.
• Heavy: any standard PvP power pick (sword / GL / rocket) — not part of the loop, just don't be unarmed in the heavy round.

Pairing logic: HC wins the opener, you trade down to red, swap to the always-loaded sidearm and win the back-half with +100 handling + a full mag + 10%, Marksman's Dodge tying reloads and the Winter's Shroud slow to one button. The combo to memorise is one beat long: dip → swap.

Stats (PvP)

Priority: Health → Class → Weapons, with Melee/Grenade/Super dumped (Facet of Ruin already gifts +10 Weapons, Facet of Protection +10 Melee).

• Health (moderate–high, ~100): "Increases the amount of health you gain each time you pick up an Orb of Power. Reduces flinching from incoming fire while aiming a weapon." The flinch line keeps your reticle steady while you trade inside the window, and the raw HP is the buffer that lets you survive the dip long enough to swap. Counter-intuition check: "critically wounded" is a percentage of max health, so stacking Health never locks you out of the trigger — it just gives you more red-screen runway to clutch in.
• Class (high, push toward 150–200): "Reduces your class ability cooldown. Increases the amount of class ability energy provided by all sources." The dodge is your survival multitool — Winter's Shroud slow, Marksman reload, and the kill that arms Stylish all ride it. More dodges = more clutches. In Trials especially, this stat is your only dodge-uptime lever.
• Weapons (whatever's left, value the handling): "Increases weapon reload speed and handling. Increases weapon damage against minor and major combatants." In Crucible only reload + handling matter — and they matter for your neutral HC, since the exotic already maxes the sidearm's handling/reload. The damage clause is "minor and major combatants" = PvE only, nothing vs Guardians.
• Dump Super / Grenade / Melee to utility-only levels — they're get-off-me tools (Duskfield, Withering Blade) and a panic super, not a damage loop.

Verify exact targets with `stat_optimiser.py`/`my_stats.py`; a sane PvP spread is roughly Health ~100 → Class ~150 → Weapons ~70–100, the rest dumped. Archetypes to chase: Bulwark (Health), Specialist/Reaver (Class), with the Tier-5 exotic gauntlets slotted into whichever archetype tops your weakest priority. Mods: Utility Kickstart ×2 + Bomber (more dodge), Unflinching + Targeting + Loader for the HC, Recuperation/Better Already to top off after a won duel.

How to duel (the neutral game)

• Bait to the red, don't fear it. Open every fight on the HC. When a duel goes even and you dip toward Critical Health, that isn't the loss — it's your on-switch. Position so you always have a wall or shoulder to break behind for the half-second the swap needs.
• Swap on the red screen. The instant you're critically wounded, swap to the sidearm: instant ready (+100 handling), full mag, +10%. You re-enter the trade with a snappier, fuller gun than the opponent who just spent their mag dropping you to red — and they're the one reloading now.
• Slow to survive the swap. Dodge for Winter's Shroud (the chaser is slowed — he can't close or strafe out of your sidearm) and/or chuck Withering Blade for a ranged slow. Both feed Stylish.
• Kill → vanish → reset. The slowed target you finish drops you into Stylish invisibility + Truesight — disengage the 1vX, see the next body through the wall, re-peek on your terms. The sidearm's kill-extension (3 s, cap 5 s) keeps the damage buff alive across the scrum.
• 1vX is the build's home. Surrounded by 3+ enemies, Facet of Protection procs (no-heal DR) and stacks with Transcendence — the exact moment that would kill anyone else is when your DR is highest and your sidearm is best. Duskfield to wall the room, Golden Gun: Marksman to delete the priority, sidearm to mop the slowed.
• When NOT to peek: don't open a fresh, clean 1v1 at low health hoping the swap bails you — with no Protection proc (no 3-enemy bubble) and no transcendence, the 10% won't rescue a losing aim duel. This build wins the scrum clutch and the trade you're already inside, not a disadvantaged peek from scratch. At full health with no one near, play the HC straight and save the dip for when it pays.

6v6 vs Trials

6v6 (Crucible — artifact IS live). The chaos is the build's element: more bodies near every fight means Facet of Protection procs constantly and Stylish always has a slowed target to vanish off. Lean the artifact column toward Stasis-slow / shatter mods (more debuff uptime → more Stylish + Ruin shatters), a Special-ammo or sidearm-handling mod if you run the Special-sidearm variant, and an Orb-on-kill mod to feed the Health-stat heal (Recuperation/Better Already) between trades. The throughline: pick perks that convert your slows and kills back into dodge uptime and survivability, not raw damage. Play aggressively — dive the scrum where your DR and gun peak, clutch, vanish, repeat.

Trials / Comp 3v3 (artifact DISABLED). No artifact economy, only six players, every death a round — so tighten everything. Push Class to a true high (your only dodge-uptime lever now) and don't dump Health (no artifact heal mods to lean on). Crucial nuance: with fewer bodies, Facet of Protection procs less often (you need the enemy 3-stack inside 15 m), so your reliable no-heal DR becomes Transcendence's unconditional 20% plus the Winter's Shroud slow and the Stylish disengage. Play methodical — use the sidearm clutch to win the trade your team's crossfire sets up, and treat Stylish invis as an escape far more than an entry. When a fight goes even, a clean vanish that costs them the round timer beats a coin-flip trade that costs you the round.

Notes

• Slot confirmed (premise matches): Mechaneer's Tricksleeves is Gauntlets / arms — `encyclopedia/exotics.md` ("Mechaneer's Tricksleeves (Gauntlets)") and `exotic_intrinsics.md` agree, as do the sibling builds `hunter_last_stand.md` and `hunter_adrenaline.md`. The brief's "arms/gauntlets" is correct.
• Exotic text verbatim (manifest `exotics.md`): "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."
• Clarity PvP numbers (`clarity_lookup.py "Mechaneer's Tricksleeves"`, [pvp] bracket): passive +50 Airborne Effectiveness / +100 Handling / +100 Reload Speed to Sidearms; on readying a Sidearm at Critical Health → refill magazine from reserves + 100% [10%] increased damage ("10% in PvP") lasting until shields are fully recharged, then 5 s; Sidearm kills +3 s (capped 5 s) + refill from reserves. Trigger = on-swap (readying the sidearm) while at Critical Health, not a passive "while low." Verify-flag: the exact Critical-Health % threshold isn't in the manifest or Clarity — confirm in-game (commonly the ~30% red-screen bracket).
• Facet of Protection (Clarity): "Grants 15% [?%] Damage Resistance while within 15 meters of 3 enemies. The DR is NOT increased while Transcendent, it simply stacks with Transcendence's 20% DR for a total of 32%." Verify-flag: the PvP DR % is unlisted (`[?%]`) — and the buff is conditional on being surrounded, so it carries the 1vX clutch but does nothing in a clean 1v1. Stat delta (manifest): +10 Melee.
• Stylish Executioner wording — manifest vs knowledge doc: `encyclopedia/aspects.md` reads "Defeating a target affected by any elemental debuff grants invisibility and Truesight" (the updated, broader text). The older `subclasses_and_aspects.md` line still says "weakened/suppressed/volatile." Slow (from Withering Blade / Duskfield / Winter's Shroud) is a Stasis elemental debuff, so it should proc Stylish — verify the live trigger list includes slow before relying on it as the primary debuff source. Stat delta: +2 Aspect Energy / 2 Fragment slots.
• Winter's Shroud verbatim (manifest): "Dodging slows nearby targets." (2 Fragment slots.)
• Pool-checked (Prismatic Hunter, `subclasses_and_aspects.md`): aspects Winter's Shroud (Stasis) + Stylish Executioner (Void); melee Withering Blade (Stasis); grenade Duskfield (Stasis); supers Golden Gun: Marksman / Storm's Edge / Silence and Squall all in the pool. Dodge options on Prismatic = Gambler's + Marksman's (Acrobat's is Gunslinger-only).
• Stat text verbatim (manifest `stats.md`): Health / Class / Weapons quoted in the Stats section. Note the Weapons damage clause ("against minor and major combatants") is PvE-only — irrelevant vs Guardians.
• `synergy.py --item "Mechaneer's Tricksleeves"` returns no match — the name isn't in that catalog, and the exotic produces a gunplay spike (handling/reload/damage), not an economy verb (Orbs/Jolt/Devour/etc.), so the verb-index has nothing to add. Expected and honest for a gun-handling exotic; the loop closes on the gun + subclass DR, not a verb economy.
• Subclass choice — Prismatic over Solar Gunslinger (justified): this is the dedicated PvP clutch card, kept distinct from its two siblings. `hunter_last_stand.md` (Arc) builds the "no-heal DR via Amplified" thesis for PvE roam; `hunter_adrenaline.md` (Solar Gunslinger + Forerunner dual-exotic) owns the Solar lane. Prismatic delivers the same "stay in the low-health window without healing out of the trigger" idea through Transcendence's 20% DR + Facet of Protection (neither heals) instead of Restoration — which is exactly why Solar is the wrong pick here: Radiant/Restoration would heal you out of the Critical-Health trigger. On top of the no-heal DR, Prismatic adds the Winter's Shroud slow (survive the swap) and Stylish invis (disengage the 1vX) that a pure Gunslinger can't — and Transcendence is a top-tier PvP toolkit in its own right.

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).