Ace of Spades — Funeral Pyre (Hunter)
Weapon: Ace of Spades (Hand Cannon · Primary · Kinetic) · Subclass: Gunslinger · Role: Precision-kill ad-clear engine that pays its own Super back Sandbox: 9.7.0 · Created 2026-06-16
One hand cannon that does two things every other Ace user picks between: Memento Mori for the damage spike, Firefly for the chain-clear. The catalyst welds them — Firefly hits harder while Memento Mori is loaded — and Celestial Nighthawk turns the resulting wall of precision kills into a Golden Gun that's almost always charged. Headshot, explosion, headshot, explosion, Super, repeat.
The weapon
Memento Mori (intrinsic, verbatim):
Reloading after a kill loads magazine with a few extra-damage bullets. Grants radar while aiming down sights.
Firefly (weapon perk, verbatim):
Precision kills with this weapon increase reload speed and cause the target to explode, dealing Solar damage to nearby enemies.
Catalyst — Funeral Pyre (verbatim):
Firefly deals more damage while Memento Mori is active.
What it does: Ace is a 140 RPM Adaptive hand cannon. Land a kill, reload, and the next several rounds are Memento Mori bullets that hit noticeably harder (Firefly's reload-speed bonus makes that reload near-instant after a precision kill). While those buffed rounds are loaded, the catalyst also pumps up every Firefly explosion. So a single precision kill detonates the corpse for Solar AoE, that AoE softens the pack, the next headshot kills and re-triggers Firefly, and the whole time you're firing extra-damage bullets. It's a self-sustaining precision-kill loop where the gun reloads, buffs, and clears for you — you just keep hitting crits.
Loadout
| Slot | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Subclass |  Gunslinger (Solar Hunter) | Everything Ace already does is Solar precision-kill flavour — Firefly is Solar, the subclass turns precision kills into Radiant/scorch fuel. |
| Super |  Golden Gun: Marksman | Single-target precision Super; Nighthawk reshapes it into one huge shot that also refunds Super on kill. |
| Class ability |  Marksman's Dodge | Auto-reloads the equipped weapon — instantly reloads Ace to bank Memento Mori bullets without a kill, and repositions between crits. |
| Melee |  Lightweight Knife | Throwing-knife precision kill = Radiant (with Ember of Torches loop), staying on the precision-kill identity. |
| Grenade |  Healing Grenade | Sustain/Cure; the gun is the damage, the grenade keeps you alive while you hunt crits. |
| Aspect 1 |  On Your Mark | Class ability or precision hits grant reload speed + Weapons stat, stacking ×10 — Ace lands precision hits constantly, so this is near-permanent extra weapon damage and faster reloads. |
| Aspect 2 |  Knock 'Em Down | Enhances Marksman Golden Gun (increased duration) — squeezes more shots out of every Nighthawk-fed Super. |
| Fragments |  Ember of Torches,  Ember of Empyrean,  Ember of Solace,  Ember of Searing | Torches → Radiant from the knife; Empyrean → Solar kills (Ace's Firefly explosions count) extend Radiant/Restoration; Solace lengthens those buffs; Searing → scorched-target kills give melee energy + a Firesprite. |
| Exotic armour |  Celestial Nighthawk (Helmet) | Hawkeye Hack: precision final blows reduce Super cooldown, and Golden Gun becomes one high-damage shot whose kills refund Super and explode. Ace is a precision-kill firehose → Super charges fast → Nighthawk shot deletes the one thing Ace can't. |
| Other weapon 1 | Special: a Solar Special weapon (e.g. a Solar fusion or sniper) | Surge-matched Solar; Firefly/Empyrean want Solar in the air, and it covers the heavy-shield targets Ace's primary rounds chew slowly. |
| Other weapon 2 | Heavy: Machine Gun or Rocket | Boss/heavy DPS — the role Nighthawk-Ace deliberately doesn't fill once it's spent its Super. |
Why this works (the mechanics)
- Catalyst stitches the two perks that normally fight for the slot. Memento Mori is a damage spike; Firefly is a clear tool. Funeral Pyre makes Firefly better while Memento Mori is up, so the optimal play is to keep both active — which Ace does automatically: a kill loads Memento Mori, a precision kill triggers Firefly, and Firefly's reload bonus re-banks Memento Mori on the next kill. One loop, both perks, no choosing.
- Celestial Nighthawk is the only correct exotic here. Hawkeye Hack reduces Super cooldown on every precision final blow. Ace produces precision final blows faster than almost any primary in the game (Firefly chains turn one crit into a cleared room of crits). So your Golden Gun is effectively always charging, and when you fire it, it's the single-shot Nighthawk version that refunds Super on the kill and explodes — Ace handles the adds, Nighthawk handles the boss/champion Ace can't burst.
- On Your Mark double-dips the 9.7.0 Weapons stat. Its stacks add Weapons stat, which is PvE weapon damage vs minors/majors on top of Memento Mori's flat bullet boost — and Ace landing precision hits is exactly what fuels the stacks. Two damage multipliers (Memento Mori + Weapons stat) and a reload multiplier (On Your Mark + Firefly) from the same action: hitting crits.
- The Solar verb loop keeps Radiant/Restoration live off the gun. Firefly explosions are Solar kills → Ember of Empyrean extends any Radiant/Restoration you're carrying; Ember of Solace lengthens them further. Radiant is +25% weapon damage, so Ace's own explosions feed the buff that makes Ace's shots hit harder. Lightweight Knife (precision) + Ember of Torches seeds the Radiant; the gun keeps it alive.
- Marksman's Dodge banks Memento Mori on demand. Auto-reload means you can refresh the extra-damage magazine before a priority target without needing a prior kill — dodge, full mag of buffed rounds, then engage. It also feeds On Your Mark (class-ability activation grants the stack) and repositions you between crit lines.
Stats & mods
Priority: Weapons 200 → Super (for Nighthawk uptime) → Health 100+ → Class. On Your Mark already pumps Weapons, so reaching 200 turns Ace's primary damage up across the board; Super stat shortens the Golden Gun cooldown that Hawkeye Hack is already chipping at; Class feeds dodge frequency for the reload/On-Your-Mark loop.
Archetypes: lean Gunner / Powerhouse pieces (Weapons + Super favoured).
Mods:
- Boots: Hand Cannon Holster (passive reload — keeps Memento Mori topped) +
Hand Cannon Scavenger + reserves. - Arms: Hand Cannon Loader ×2 + Heavy Ammo Finder.
- Chest: resist mods to taste under the Restoration layer.
- Class item: Bomber / Outreach (ability energy on dodge) +
Reaper (dodge → next kill spawns an Orb) for the Super economy. - Surge:
Solar Weapon Surge matches Firefly + your Solar Special, adding weapon damage on top of Radiant. (Note: Ace's direct impact is Kinetic, but the explosions and the Special are Solar, so Solar surge is the right call for the build's damage that scales — keep that nuance in mind.) - Anti-Champion: intrinsic to archetype — see below.
Where it shines
- Match-game / GM ad-clear and lost sectors: Firefly chains are built for dense trash, and the catalyst makes each explosion meaningfully lethal. Memento Mori turns Ace into a major-killer between explosions.
- Any content with a single priority target (champion, miniboss, named elite): Ace clears the pack → Super charges off all those precision kills → Nighthawk Golden Gun deletes the priority → kill refunds Super. The build's whole shape is "clear with the gun, burst with the Super."
- Champion coverage: Ace is a 140 RPM Adaptive hand cannon. Under Anti-Champion 2.0, Adaptive frames stun Barrier champions intrinsically — so Ace covers Barrier. Bring an Unstoppable option (Aggressive/High-Impact archetype) and an Overload option (Lightweight/Rapid-Fire) across your other two slots for full coverage. Golden Gun (Nighthawk) and Firefly's stagger help against Unstoppables in a pinch, but plan the loadout for the two Ace doesn't cover.
Mod selection (masterworked — full allocation)
| Piece | Mod · cost | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Helmet (5/10) | Heavy Ammo Finder 1e | Increases the effect of all contributions towards the Heavy ammo meter. |
| Heavy Ammo Finder 1e | Increases the effect of all contributions towards the Heavy ammo meter. | |
| Solar Siphon 3e fill | Rapid Solar weapon final blows create an Orb of Power. | |
| Arms (6/10) | 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. | |
| Fastball 1e fill | Increases grenade throw distance. | |
| 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) | 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. |
| 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. | |
| 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 (3/10) | Reaper 1e | Shortly after using your class ability, your next weapon final blow spawns an Orb of Power. |
| Reaper 1e | Shortly after using your class ability, your next weapon final blow spawns an Orb of Power. | |
| Outreach 1e | Reduces melee cooldown when using 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: adding weapon damage on top of Radiant. (Note: Ace's *direct* impact is Kinetic; but the explosions; the Special are Solar.