Tailored — Relativism (Prismatic Hunter)
Anchor: Relativism (Prismatic class item) · Subclass: Prismatic · Role: One-two melee burst — ignite the pack, heal off the counterpunch Sandbox: 9.7.0 · Created 2026-06-16
Two exotics tailored to a single punch. Your melee final blow detonates the target in a Solar ignition (Caliban), and the instant anything trades blows with you, you answer with a healing counterpunch that hits like a truck (Liar). Throw the knife to start the fire; wade in to finish it and walk out at full health. Survivability and add-clear off the same button.
Loadout
| Slot | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Super | Golden Gun: Marksman | Solar Super = orbs → Restoration via Facet of Purpose; precision orbs feed the loop. (Silence and Squall is the Stasis alt for hard CC.) |
| Class ability | Gambler's Dodge | Dodge near enemies refunds melee energy — the loop's reset button. |
| Melee |  Combination Blow (Arc) | This is the Liar trigger. Liar's counterpunch is an Arc powered-melee follow-up; Combination Blow is the Arc melee that chains, heals, and refunds dodge. |
| Grenade |  Swarm Grenade (Solar) | Light gauge + a Solar damage source that helps charge Gunpowder Gamble and seeds Scorch. |
| Aspect 1 |  Gunpowder Gamble | Any kills charge a free Solar explosive you shoot mid-air for a big  Ignition — a second ignition source alongside Caliban. 1 Facet slot. |
| Aspect 2 |  Winter's Shroud | Dodge slows (a Darkness debuff → Dark gauge + Facet of Courage targets); 2 Facet slots. The dodge here already refunds melee. |
Facets (manifest-verified wording):
Facet of Dawn (−10 Melee) — powered melee hits make you Radiant; final blows make you and allies Radiant. Every punch in this build is a weapon-damage buff.
Facet of Courage (+10 Grenade) — Arc/Solar/Void abilities deal increased damage to Darkness-debuffed targets. Your Winter's Shroud slow makes your Solar ignition hit harder.
Facet of Purpose (−10 Class) — orb pickup → buff keyed to Super element. Golden Gun = Restoration, stacked on top of Liar's counterpunch heal.
Facet of Blessing — melee final blows start health regeneration (you + allies while Transcendent). A third heal source on the kill.
Exotic — Class item: Spirit of Caliban + Spirit of the Liar
Caliban (Col 1) — "Powered melee final blows trigger an ignition." Every melee kill detonates the target in a Solar Ignition that scorches and kills the pack around it. Liar (Col 2) — "Counterpunch deals extra damage." This is the Liar's Handshake intrinsic: using your Arc melee (or being hit by a melee) lets you fire off an extremely powerful counterpunch that heals you, and the Spirit buffs that counterpunch's damage.
The two halves are one motion: throw/use the Arc melee → land the counterpunch (heal) → the final blow ignites (Caliban) → the ignition kills the next target, which is another powered-melee-adjacent kill that keeps the chain and the heal-on-kill rolling. Column-legal (Caliban is C1, Liar is C2 — they can't share a column, so this combo only exists on the class item). (Base-exotic fallback: 
Liar's Handshake alone is the bigger single-perk loss to drop; 
Caliban's Hand runs the ignition half one gear-tier worse on a knife melee. The class item is the only way to wear both.)
Why this works (the mechanics)
- The counterpunch is the survivability — and it scales with offence. Liar's heal is tied to throwing the punch, not to a cooldown. Combination Blow's own chain heal + dodge refund means you can keep meleeing, so the heal never stops while there are targets. You're tankiest exactly when the room is busiest.
- One kill, two ignitions, three heals. A single melee final blow fires Caliban's ignition (add-clear), Facet of Blessing's health regen, and — paired with Facet of Dawn — leaves you Radiant for the cleanup shots. Gunpowder Gamble then gives you a second, bigger ignition on demand. Ignition is the build's damage; the melee is just the fuse.
- Winter's Shroud turns your dodge into a damage multiplier. Slow is a Darkness debuff, so a slowed pack takes bonus damage from your Solar ignitions via Facet of Courage — and the slow buys the half-second you need to walk into melee range safely. The dodge that refunds your melee also sets up the kill. No wasted input.
- Two heal stacks + Restoration beats a DR percentage. Liar's counterpunch heal, Facet of Blessing's regen, and Facet of Purpose Restoration (off Golden Gun orbs) are three independent healing sources. Against melee-range pressure that out-sustains flat damage reduction — and frees your Health stat to sit lower so Melee/Class can run hot.
Weapons
- Solar primary with Incandescent (e.g. a Scorch-on-kill auto/hand cannon) — pre-scorches packs so Caliban's ignition chains instantly and Gunpowder Gamble charges faster.
Sunshot is the on-theme exotic pick (precision kills already explode + scorch). - An Arc special/heavy to lean into the Combination Blow / Amplified side, or any add-clear special you like — the build's damage is abilities, so weapons are flexible.
- Champions: Solar ignition handles soft CC; bring weapon archetypes whose intrinsic stuns cover Unstoppable (Aggressive frames) and Barrier (Precision/Adaptive) — anti-Champion is on the archetype in 9.7.0, not a mod.
Stats & archetypes
Melee 150+ (the whole build) → Class 100 (dodge refund) → Health ~70. Push Melee past 100 for the bonus melee damage/regen tier — it shortens the gap between punches and makes Caliban ignitions land sooner. Archetypes: 
Reaver (Class/Melee) and 
Skirmisher (Melee/Weapons) stack the Melee primary; lean a 
Siegebreaker (Health/Grenade) piece if you want Swarm uptime. Mods: Melee Kickstart ×2, Heavy Handed (melee kills → Special ammo + restores melee), Recuperation/Better Already (orb heals), Solar surge.
Set bonus (optional)
Crota's Memory 2pc — Cursed Fist (melee final blows trigger a Cursed Thrall explosion) is a fourth detonation stapled to the same trigger the whole build already pulls — pure on-theme garnish if the archetype rolls land on those pieces. Alternatively Lucent Transmutation 2pc (successive powered-melee final blows generate a Light elemental pickup) feeds Facet of Purpose orbs. Neither is the driver — the Caliban/Liar loop works with no set bonus at all.
Mod selection (masterworked — full allocation)
| Piece | Mod · cost | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Helmet (7/10) | Solar Siphon 3e fill | Rapid Solar weapon final blows create an Orb of Power. |
| Hands-On 3e fill | Gain bonus Super energy on melee kills. | |
| Heavy Ammo Finder 1e fill | Increases the effect of all contributions towards the Heavy ammo meter. | |
| Arms (5/10) | Melee Kickstart 1e | When your melee energy is fully expended, your Armor Charge is consumed and you gain melee energy for each Armor Charge used. |
| Melee Kickstart 1e | When your melee energy is fully expended, your Armor Charge is consumed and you gain melee energy for each Armor Charge used. | |
| Heavy Handed 3e | Your powered melee final blows create Orbs of Power. | |
| Chest (6/10) | Solar Resistance 2e fill | Reduces incoming Solar 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) | Better Already 1e | Your health begins to regenerate immediately after picking up an Orb of Power. |
| Recuperation 1e | Replenishes health each time you pick up an Orb of Power. | |
| Solar Weapon Surge 1e | Your Solar 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. |
| Outreach 1e fill | Reduces melee 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
- Tag a pack with the Solar primary / Swarm Grenade → light Scorch, charge Gunpowder Gamble.
- Dodge in (Winter's Shroud slows → Courage targets; dodge refunds melee).
- Punch: Combination Blow → Liar counterpunch (big damage + heal) → final blow ignites (Caliban) → the ignition clears the slowed pack; Blessing regen + Dawn Radiant tick on.
- Shoot Gunpowder Gamble over the next group for the big ignition; pick up the orbs Golden Gun / kills drop → Restoration (Purpose).
- Save Golden Gun for a Champion/boss; its orbs refill the heal economy. Both gauges fill from the Solar (Light) + slow (Dark) split → Transcend for the Hailfire Spike and the DR window when a room out-pressures the heals.