Coldheart — The Eternal Beam (Hunter)

Weapon: Coldheart (Trace Rifle · Special · Arc) · Subclass: Arc (Arcstrider) · Role: Never-stop-firing sustained-DPS beam on majors/minibosses/Champions Sandbox: 9.7.0 · Created 2026-06-16

Coldheart pays you for not letting go of the trigger — its laser ramps the longer it stays on one target. The catalyst refills the mag while amplified; Cenotaph Mask reloads it for free and turns it into a team Special/Heavy ammo printer. Stack those three and the beam quite literally never stops: you hold one continuous laser through a whole pack, ramping into the boss it leaves standing. Arc keeps you amplified, amplified keeps the mag full, the full mag keeps the beam alive. It's a loop with no off-switch.

The weapon

Cold Fusion (exotic perk, verbatim): "This weapon shoots a steady cold-fusion-powered Arc laser, dealing more damage the longer it remains on a target."

Coldheart Catalyst — Supercharged Magazine (verbatim): "While amplified, ammo is gradually transferred from reserves to the magazine. While in Speed Booster, ammo regenerates faster and overflows the magazine."

What it does: Coldheart is a continuous-beam Arc Trace Rifle whose per-tick damage escalates the longer the beam dwells on a single target — peak DPS is back-loaded, so the worst thing you can do is stop firing or swap targets early. That single fact dictates the entire build: everything below exists to keep the beam on and the magazine full. The catalyst solves the magazine half (mag refills from reserves whenever you're amplified, and overflows while Speed Boosting), and the subclass + Cenotaph solve the rest.

Loadout

Slot	Pick	Why
Subclass	Arc (Arcstrider)	Amplified is the catalyst's trigger; Ionic Traces refill abilities off Arc gun kills; jolt clears the trash the beam doesn't dwell on.
Super	Gathering Storm	Throw-and-forget Arc Staff; jolts + sticks a damage zone so you keep beaming while it ticks. (Storm's Edge if you want roaming clear.)
Class ability	Marksman's Dodge	Reloads on dodge — a manual top-up of the beam on demand, and repositions without dropping fire long.
Movement	Triple Jump	Air control to keep line-of-sight on the dwell target.
Melee	Combination Blow (Disorienting Blow if you prefer blind)	Melee kills → amplified → catalyst mag refill; the cheapest way to stay amplified between gunfights.
Grenade	Flux / Arcbolt Grenade	Jolt fodder; jolted kills make Ionic Traces (Spark of Ions) → ability energy back.
Aspect 1	Flow State	"Defeating a jolted target makes you amplified." The keystone — Arc kills keep amplified up, which keeps the catalyst mag-refill running.
Aspect 2	Lethal Current	After dodging, next melee jolts + aftershock and melee hits jolt — manufactures the jolted targets Flow State needs, off the dodge you're already using to reload.

Why this works (the mechanics)

• The build is one closed loop with no entry cost. Be amplified → catalyst transfers reserves into the mag mid-beam → you keep firing → Arc kills keep you amplified (Flow State on jolted kills; Combination Blow on melee kills). The thing that runs the loop (amplified) is also the thing the loop produces. Once it's lit, the beam doesn't stop.
• Cenotaph Mask removes the only remaining downtime. High Priority "steadily reloads a portion of your equipped Trace Rifle's magazine from reserves" — so even without amplified the mag tops itself up. The catalyst handles amplified uptime, Cenotaph handles the gaps. Two independent auto-reload sources stacked on the one gun that punishes reloading.
• Cenotaph turns Coldheart into a fireteam ammo economy. Damaging a boss or Champion with the Trace marks it; when an ally defeats the marked target, you get Special ammo and your allies get Heavy. In a fireteam you become a self-sustaining Special battery feeding everyone's Heavy — you tag the boss with the beam (which you're doing anyway) and the squad's ammo problem disappears.
• Dwell damage rewards the boss phase this build is built to survive. Coldheart's ramp is back-loaded, so the meaningful number lands on whatever you can hold the beam on longest — a miniboss or boss. Cenotaph + catalyst guarantee you never run the mag dry mid-ramp, so you actually reach the high end of the curve instead of clipping it on a reload.
• Jolt + blind clear the adds the beam isn't dwelling on. Lethal Current and Arcbolt jolt; jolted kills chain Arc explosions and make Ionic Traces (Ions); Spark of Beacons makes every amplified Coldheart kill blind the pack. So the single target you're ramping is the only thing you steer the beam onto — the trash dies to chain reactions and blinds around it.
• Ionic Traces double-feed the abilities that feed the gun. Discharge (Coldheart kills) + Ions (jolted kills) spray Ionic Traces; collecting them returns ability energy and tops amplified. The gun pays for the dodge/melee that keep the gun firing.

Stats & mods

Weapons 200 → Class 100+ → Health. Weapons is the only stat that scales Coldheart's PvE damage and its sustained-beam ramp; max it. Class ~100 keeps Marksman's Dodge (your on-demand reload) charged. Health is the dump.

• Helmet (Cenotaph): Ashes to Assets (Super on grenade kills) · Hands-On (Super on melee kills) — Combination Blow feeds your Super while it keeps you amplified.
• Gauntlets: Melee Font (→ Combination Blow uptime) · Heavy Handed (melee kills restore melee energy).
• Chest: Arc Resistance ×2 + one other Resistance — flat DR while you stand still holding a beam (you're stationary and exposed by design).
• Boots: Arc Weapon Surge ×2 (≈+17% Arc weapon damage — straight onto Coldheart) · Innervation (orb pickup → grenade energy).
• Class item: Powerful Attraction (dodge vacuums the Ionic-Trace orbs) · Bomber (dodge → grenade energy) · Class Font (→ ~100 Class).
• Stat tuning: +Weapons/−Health where available — the beam's whole value is the Weapons stat and the dwell ramp.

Mod economy note: Coldheart kills (Discharge) + jolted kills (Ions) make Ionic Traces, Spark of Amplitude makes Orbs while amplified, Powerful Attraction scoops both on dodge — so the dodge that reloads the gun also refills your abilities and Super. One button, three payouts.

Where it shines

• Sustained-DPS boss/miniboss damage: the dwell ramp + guaranteed mag uptime is a held-trigger DPS wall — ideal for any encounter where you can plant and beam (Nightfall bosses, dungeon minibosses, raid majors).
• Fireteam content: Cenotaph's mark → ally-kill → Special-for-you / Heavy-for-them is a team utility; this build is at its best in a 3-stack where you're the ammo printer.
• Champion coverage — FLAGGED. Coldheart is not an anti-Champion weapon: Trace Rifles have no intrinsic Anti-Champion 2.0 stun, and Cold Fusion carries no bespoke stun text. You handle Champions through the subclass — jolt = Disruption → Overload (Arcbolt/Lethal Current/jolted-target chains), and blind (Spark of Beacons / Disorienting Blow) staggers/disorients everything including Champions. For a hard Barrier/Unstoppable wall, carry a stunning weapon in the Primary slot (see Weapons). Coldheart itself is the damage, not the stun.

### The other two weapon slots

• Primary (Kinetic): an anti-Champion Primary covering the stuns the subclass doesn't — a Barrier (Precision/Adaptive) or Unstoppable (Aggressive/High-Impact) frame per the encounter. This is your Champion answer and your ammo-light clear between beams.
• Heavy: any Arc Heavy you like — Cenotaph hands your allies Heavy ammo, and an Arc Heavy lets Surge mods and Spark of Beacons cover it too. A Machine Gun or Rocket for the burst Coldheart's ramp is too slow to deliver. (Coldheart occupies the Energy/Special slot.)