Deathbringer — Death From Above (Hunter)

Weapon: Deathbringer (Rocket Launcher · Heavy · Void) · Subclass: Nightstalker (Shadowshot: Deadfall) · Role: Add-clearing / miniboss-deleting Void rain that feeds the whole kit Sandbox: 9.7.0 · Created 2026-06-16

Fire it high, hold the trigger, let the rocket hang, then release over a pack and rain Void death down on them. The higher and longer the projectile falls, the harder its raining orbs hit (Dark Descent) — so the iconic play is to take the high ground, lob it, and detonate. On Void Nightstalker every one of those orb-kills is Void damage, so the gun isn't a damage button bolted onto an ability build — it is the engine: weaken the pack with the tether, drop the rain on the weakened, and the kills hand you orbs, breaches, Devour and invis.

The weapon

Dark Deliverance (verbatim): "Fires remotely detonated projectiles that drop Void orbs on combatants. [Shoot]: Fire; release to detonate."

Catalyst — Dead Weight (verbatim): "Increases how quickly Dark Descent reaches its full potential."

What it does: you hold the trigger to launch and hold the projectile in the air, then release to detonate — at which point it drops a cluster of homing Void orbs onto everything beneath it. The orbs' damage scales with Dark Descent: the longer the projectile falls (the higher you fire it from / the longer it hangs), the more lethal the rain. The catalyst (Dead Weight) ramps Dark Descent to full faster, so you don't need a sniper's nest of altitude to get full-power orbs — a normal arc over a pack is enough. It's a single-trigger AoE delete that you aim by positioning, not by leading the target.

Loadout

Slot	Pick	Why
Subclass	Nightstalker (Void)	Deathbringer's orbs are Void — the whole debuff/orb economy is native, not bolted on.
Super	Shadowshot: Deadfall	Anchoring tether suppresses + weakens the pack and holds it still — a perfect, stationary target cluster for the orb rain.
Class ability	Gambler's Dodge	Refunds melee near enemies; pairs with Trapper's Ambush / keeps Snare Bomb up for invis + weaken.
Melee	Snare Bomb (Smoke Bomb)	Weakens on hit and goes invis — applies the debuff Stylish Executioner and Echo of Harvest pay out on.
Grenade	Vortex Grenade	Lingering Void well that weakens (via Undermining) and re-detonates with Volatile — a second debuff source between rockets.
Aspect 1	Stylish Executioner	"Defeating a target affected by any elemental debuff grants invisibility and Truesight." Orb-kills on weakened/volatile targets = free invis + Truesight, every rocket.
Aspect 2	Trapper's Ambush	Air-dive that weakens a pack on impact (greatly increased damage with a Void status) — lets you set up the weaken from the air before the rain lands. (Swap to On the Prowl if you want team marking + an extra ability feed.)

Exotic armour — Orpheus Rig (Leg Armor)

Uncanny Arrows: "Provides ability energy for each target tethered by Deadfall anchors. Moebius Quiver has an additional shot."

This is the keystone. Deadfall is already the build's "stand still and get shot" setup for the rain; Orpheus Rig turns a fat tether into a near-instant Super refund — tether a big pack, get most of your Super back, tether again. That means you can spend Deadfall liberally purely to weaken-and-hold the pack for Deathbringer, instead of hoarding it. The gun kills the held adds → orbs + breaches (Harvest) → Devour (Starvation) → Super energy (Reprisal) → another Orpheus-boosted tether. The rocket and the Super loop into each other.

Why this works (the mechanics)

• The orbs are Void, so the whole subclass amplifies the gun. Deathbringer drops Void orbs; weakened targets take more damage from everything, so tether-weaken (Deadfall, −Void debuff) → the orb rain hits a debuffed pack for bonus damage. Most "gun + ability" builds run the gun's element separate from the subclass; here they're the same, so the debuff stack is free.
• Dark Descent rewards exactly how you'd want to use a Heavy AoE rocket. Take the high ground, lob it over the pack, hold to charge the fall, release. The catalyst (Dead Weight) ramps Dark Descent to full faster so you don't need a skyscraper's worth of altitude — a normal arc gets full-power orbs.
• Stylish Executioner converts every rocket into invisibility. The orbs kill targets that are already weakened (tether / Trapper's Ambush / Snare / Undermining-Vortex) → that's an elemental-debuff kill → invis + Truesight. You delete a pack and vanish in the same trigger pull — the safety is the damage.
• Echo of Harvest makes Deathbringer an orb fountain. It kills weakened adds in bulk, and every weakened kill spawns an Orb of Power + a Void Breach. One rocket over a tethered pack can drop a half-dozen of each.
• Starvation closes it into self-healing. Those orbs/breaches you just made → Devour (full heal on kill + grenade refund cadence). The gun that does the killing also does the healing, with no extra inputs.
• Orpheus Rig + Reprisal makes the Super nearly free. Tether refunds a huge chunk of Deadfall energy (Orpheus), and killing the surrounded tethered pack with the rain refunds more (Reprisal). Deadfall stops being a cooldown and becomes the targeting reticle for the rocket — fire it whenever you want a stationary, weakened cluster.
• Anti-Champion: this build leans on the subclass, not the gun. Deathbringer carries no bespoke champion stun, and a charge-and-release Heavy rocket doesn't fit the Aggressive/Precision/Lightweight archetype-stun buckets cleanly (verify, below). Overload is covered by Deadfall's suppression (suppress interrupts ability-channel and Overload regen); Barrier and Unstoppable must come from your two non-exotic slots' archetypes.

Stats & mods

Super 200 → Health 100+ → Class. Super is the headline: it's the priority target for Orpheus-fuelled Deadfall uptime, and more tethers = more weaken = more orb-rain damage. Health 100+ to sit on the front line lobbing rockets; Class to keep Gambler's Dodge (melee refund + Snare uptime) flowing. Melee/Grenade ride along off Echo deltas and font mods.

• Archetypes: lead with Super-favouring pieces (Brawler / Powerhouse spread), pair with a Health- and Class-leaning piece so the dump stat (Weapons) doesn't gut survivability.
• Mods (effect, not exact in-game name — see Verify): Heavy ammo economy on legs/arms (rocket reserves + faster Heavy bricks), a Void weapon Surge ×2-3 to push the orb rain's damage, Void Siphon on the helmet (Void kills → orbs, doubling the Harvest economy), and Bomber / Distribution-type class-item mods to keep Deadfall churning. Reaper / Powerful Attraction on the class item so every dodge scoops the flood of orbs you generate.

Where it shines

• Add-dense PvE — Vanguard Ops, Battlegrounds, the clear phases of dungeons and raids, Nightfall trash waves. Tether → rain → invis → repeat is a pack shredder, and the orb/breach flood keeps Super and Devour permanently lit.
• Minibosses / orange-bar majors — a fully-charged Dark Descent rain on a weakened major chunks it hard; this is where the high-ground lob pays off.
• Boss DPS — not its lane. Deathbringer is an AoE crowd weapon; on a single boss the orbs scatter and you lose most of the value. Carry it for the rooms, not the damage phase.
• Champion coverage: Overload via Deadfall suppression; Barrier / Unstoppable must be supplied by the archetypes of your two other weapons — this build does not stun them with the rocket.

### The other two weapon slots

• Kinetic Primary — a Barrier-stunning archetype (e.g. a Precision/Adaptive scout or pulse) so you cover the champion the subclass can't, and have a precise tool for ranged single targets the orbs aren't meant for.
• Energy Special — a Void Special (so it feeds the same Void Siphon / Surge economy and stacks debuffs) with an Unstoppable archetype if your Primary already covers Barrier, or a non-Void Unstoppable Special if you'd rather split champion duties. Deathbringer eats your Heavy, so the green slot is your champion flex and your sustained single-target damage.