Arc

Reign Havoc — Shinobu's Vow + Thunderlord (Arc Hunter)

Pure Bolt-Charge engine — Skip Grenade + Thunderlord lightning strikes flood Bolt Charge for champion two-shots, constant team heals, and Overload

Shinobu's Vow on light.gg

Reign Havoc — Shinobu's Vow + Thunderlord (Arc Hunter)
Anchor: Shinobu's Vow · Subclass: Arcstrider (Arc) · Role: Pure Bolt-Charge engine — Skip Grenade + Thunderlord lightning strikes flood Bolt Charge for champion two-shots, constant team heals, and Overload

Super: Gathering Storm
Class ability: Gambler's Dodge
Melee: Combination Blow
Grenade: Skip Grenade
Aspect 1: Tempest Strike
Aspect 2: Flow State
Fragments: Spark of Shock (Arc grenades jolt — the skip seekers debuff the room), Spark of Discharge (Arc weapon kills can make a trace, and collecting any trace grants a Bolt Charge stack — Thunderlord is Arc, so its kills feed this too), Spark of Ions (jolted or Bolt-Charge kills create an Ionic Trace), Spark of Resistance (DR while surrounded — survivability under the constant Bolt-Charge heals).
Artifact: Tablet of Ruin — Dielectric + Hold the Line — Flashover + Gold From Lead + Harsh Refraction — Defibrillating Blast + Elemental Supercharger

Full build: https://d2builds.pages.dev/hunter_reign_havoc.html

Anchor: Shinobu's Vow · Subclass: Arcstrider (Arc) · Role: Pure Bolt-Charge engine — Skip Grenade + Thunderlord lightning strikes flood Bolt Charge for champion two-shots, constant team heals, and Overload Sandbox: 9.7.0 · Created 2026-06-24

Thunderlord's kills call lightning down from the sky, and every strike is a Bolt Charge stack. Shinobu's Vow turns Bolt Charge into Skip-Grenade energy and a team heal. So the machine gun feeds the grenade and the grenade feeds the machine gun — a self-topping Bolt Charge loop with Overload baked straight into Thunderlord. No trace bridge needed; this one runs on raw Bolt Charge.

The pairing — why two exotics, not one

Shinobu's Vow is the gauntlets, Thunderlord is the Heavy — both Arc, both all about Bolt Charge:

Shinobu's Vow is a two-way Skip↔Bolt-Charge circuit: Skip damage builds Bolt Charge, Bolt Charge refunds Skip energy + heals allies + enhances the next Skip, and you get a second Skip charge. Its only need is a steady Bolt Charge source so the skips never stop.
Thunderlord is that source on tap: Arc MG whose final blows summon lightning strikes, and each strike grants a Bolt Charge stack, plus intrinsic Overload. It's a Bolt Charge firehose.
They share Bolt Charge directly — unlike Stormswarm (which bridged blind→jolt through Ionic Traces), this loop is raw: Thunderlord strikes → Bolt Charge → Shinobu's Skip energy + heal; Skip damage → more Bolt Charge. The Arc verb economy (jolt → traces → Bolt Charge) is a second layer underneath.

Loadout

Slot	Pick	Why
Super	Gathering Storm	Wide pack jolt + the single-target/boss burst the kit otherwise lacks; jolt kills backfill traces. (Arc Staff to roam.)
Class ability	Gambler's Dodge	Melee energy near enemies for Combination Blow sustain; arms Tempest Strike's slide.
Melee	Combination Blow	Neutral-game sustain between Thunderlord bursts and Skip volleys.
Grenade	Skip Grenade	The Shinobu's engine — two charges; Spark of Shock makes the seekers jolt.
Aspect 1	Tempest Strike	Slide → charged-melee uppercut that jolts a line — an AoE jolt source seeding Ionic Traces + the Dielectric/Defibrillating Arc payoffs.
Aspect 2	Flow State	Jolted kills → Amplified; while Amplified, faster dodge + greatly increased reload (Thunderlord's reload is real).

Fragments

Spark of Shock Arc grenades jolt — the skip seekers debuff the room
Spark of Discharge Arc weapon kills can make a trace, and collecting any trace grants a Bolt Charge stack — Thunderlord is Arc, so its kills feed this too
Spark of Ions jolted or Bolt-Charge kills create an Ionic Trace
Spark of Resistance DR while surrounded — survivability under the constant Bolt-Charge heals

Exotic armour — Shinobu's Vow (Gauntlets)

New Tricks: Gain an additional Skip Grenade charge. Skip Grenade damage grants Bolt Charge and gaining Bolt Charge grants Skip Grenade energy. When Bolt Charge is ready, you heal nearby allies and enhance your next Skip Grenade (extra bounces + bonus seekers per bounce).

A single Skip caps Bolt Charge on its own; with Thunderlord also feeding Bolt Charge, "New Tricks" is permanently lit — you're always healing on the cue and always topping Skip energy.

Exotic weapon — Thunderlord (Machine Gun · Arc · Heavy)

Reign Havoc: "Final blows with this weapon generate stunning lightning strikes from above. Lightning strikes grant a stack of Bolt Charge. Strong against [Disruption] Overload Champions."

450-RPM Arc Heavy MG with intrinsic Overload. The kill-triggered lightning strikes are the point: they stun, they clear, and each one is a Bolt Charge stack — so simply mowing a pack tops your Bolt Charge (and therefore your Skip energy + heal) for free.

Why this works (the mechanics)

Thunderlord is a Bolt Charge firehose. MG kills → lightning strikes → each a Bolt Charge stack → Shinobu's converts Bolt Charge to Skip energy + heals allies. You cap Bolt Charge just by shooting the Heavy.
Skip Grenade closes the other half. Skip damage → Bolt Charge → Skip energy; two charges + Thunderlord's top-up means a Skip is always ready, and at ~200 Grenade the Skips two-shot champions (they deal real damage now).
Champions fall to the kit. Thunderlord stuns Overload intrinsically; Defibrillating Blast (artifact) turns any champion stun into max Bolt Charge (= full Skip + heal + a jolting heal-bolt). Cover Barrier on the Primary/Special.
Heals are constant. Shinobu's heals every Bolt-Charge cue (which is always, now), and Defibrillating Blast's bolts heal — Spark of Resistance's DR on top makes you very hard to drop in −30 content.
The trace layer is gravy. Skip seekers + Tempest Strike jolt the room; jolt kills mint Ionic Traces (Spark of Ions/Discharge) → ability energy + extra Bolt Charge. Even without Thunderlord up, the grenade loop self-sustains.

Weapons

Thunderlord is the Heavy. Fill Primary + Special for coverage:

Arc Primary (Voltshot / intrinsic jolt) — feeds Spark of Discharge traces and jolt, keeps Arc surges + Siphon live, and finishes between MG bursts.
Special — your champion-coverage slot or a damage special; Gold From Lead (artifact) lets special pickups feed Thunderlord's Heavy ammo.
Champions (Anti-Champion 2.0): Overload — Thunderlord (intrinsic) + jolt. Barrier + Unstoppable — bring archetype frames on Primary/Special.

Stats & archetypes

Priority: Grenade 200 → Weapons 100 → Health 100 → Class 60 → Super/Melee dump.

Grenade 200 — a damage stat here (Skip damage scales; the loop supplies the energy), so you're buying the champion two-shot, not cooldown — dodging the 9.7.0 cooldown nerf.
Weapons 100 — Thunderlord + Arc primary throughput.
Health 100 — survivability floor under the constant heals.

Archetypes: Grenadier / Demolitionist / Siegebreaker (Grenade), Gunner / Powerhouse (Weapons). Mods: Grenade Font + Weapons Font, Machine Gun Loader/Scavenger + reserves, Arc Weapon Surge ×2 on boots, Harmonic/Arc Siphon, Orbs of Restoration.

Artifact — Tablet of Ruin (Episode: Heresy)

Picks (2/3/2): Dielectric + Hold the Line — Flashover + Gold From Lead + Harsh Refraction — Defibrillating Blast + Elemental Supercharger The Bolt-Charge artifact, and it reads like it was written for an Arc MG:

Dielectric — defeating Arc-debuffed targets grants Bolt Charge; rapid kills spawn an Orb + heal. The room is jolted, so this never stops.
Hold the Line — while surrounded, Machine Guns gain reload/stability and final blows heal you — directly buffs Thunderlord and stacks survivability.
Flashover — max Bolt Charge → Amplified + bigger lightning bolts. You sit at max constantly, so you're permanently Amplified.
Defibrillating Blast — champion stun → max Bolt Charge + a jolting heal-bolt. Your champion → full-Skip + heal converter.
Gold From Lead — special pickups can grant Heavy, keeping Thunderlord fed.
Harsh Refraction / Elemental Supercharger — theme/fill (trace-rifle damage / super energy); see Verify notes — these are the weak picks, candidates to retune.

Mod selection (masterworked — full allocation)

Piece	Mod · cost	What it does
Helmet (7/10)	Arc Siphon 3e	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)	Grenade Font 1e	You gain a bonus to your grenade stat while you have any Armor Charge. Your Armor Charge decays over time.
	Grenade Kickstart 3e fill	When your grenade energy is fully expended, your Armor Charge is consumed and you gain grenade energy for each Armor Charge used.
	Impact Induction 2e fill	Causing damage with a powered melee attack reduces your grenade 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 (5/10)	Weapons Font 3e	You gain a bonus to your weapons stat while you have any Armor Charge. Your Armor Charge decays over time.
	Arc Scavenger 1e	Arc weapons get bonus reserves when picking up ammo used by that weapon.
	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).

The loop

Thunderlord into the pack → kills call lightning → each strike a Bolt Charge stack → Bolt Charge caps → Shinobu's heals + refunds Skip energy.
Skip Grenade in → seekers jolt (Spark of Shock) → jolt kills mint Ionic Traces → ability energy + more Bolt Charge; Skip damage → more Bolt Charge.
Champion → Thunderlord stuns Overload (or stun any champ) → Defibrillating Blast = max Bolt Charge = full Skip + heal → two ~200-Grenade Skips delete it.
Gathering Storm for a boss window or a dense reset; Combination Blow + the constant heals keep you up. You never stop topping Bolt Charge.

Verify notes

Shinobu's "New Tricks" + Thunderlord "Reign Havoc" quoted verbatim from `docs/encyclopedia/exotics.md`. Thunderlord is Arc Heavy MG with intrinsic Overload (`data/weapon_facts.json`). The "lightning strikes grant a stack of Bolt Charge" clause is the build's engine — confirm the per-strike stack count in-game.
Aspect class-check: Tempest Strike + Flow State are Arcstrider (Hunter) aspects (verified vs `docs/encyclopedia/aspects.md`). See [[reference_d2builds_aspect_class_gotcha]].
Skip Grenade champion damage scaling with the Grenade stat (~200 = two-shot) is from the `hunter_bolt_courier.md` creator's testing — verify in-game.
Artifact T2/T3 fillers (Harsh Refraction, Elemental Supercharger) don't key off this kit cleanly — left as legal placeholders; `artifact_parser.py --recommend` may surface better Arc picks. Bolt Charge + MG + champion coverage is the locked core.