Deterministic Chaos — Heavy Metal (Void Hunter)

Centerpiece: Deterministic Chaos (Machine Gun · Heavy · Void) · Subclass: Nightstalker · Role: Self-weakening Barrier shredder + AoE debuff engine Sandbox: 9.7.0 · Updated 2026-07-03

A Void machine gun that debuffs for you. Hold the trigger and every fourth round weakens on impact, then a counter-shot tops the mag up from reserves, so a held trigger is a rolling stream of weaken with no extra input. Wrap it in the iconic Void-Hunter invis loop: emerge from invisibility and the gun goes Volatile on top of its own weaken, and every weakened kill spits an Orb and a Void Breach back into the engine. It stuns Barrier champions on its own, so the champion that walls a normal heavy is this gun's bread and butter.

The weapon

Vexadecimal (intrinsic): "Strong against [Shield-Piercing] Barrier Champions. While holding down the trigger, every fourth Heavy Metal projectile also weakens targets on impact. Releasing the trigger after a Vexadecimal projectile partially reloads this weapon's magazine from reserves."

Catalyst — Target Lock: "Damage increases the longer this weapon remains on a target."

Hold the trigger and the gun cadences `1-2-3-WEAKEN, 1-2-3-WEAKEN` — every fourth "Heavy Metal" projectile is a Vexadecimal round that stamps Weaken, an incoming-damage debuff bucket that stacks on top of every other multiplier and applies for the whole fireteam. Let off the trigger right after one of those weakening shots and the mag partial-reloads from reserves, so sustained fire never runs dry. The anti-Barrier stun is bespoke and intrinsic — it lives in the exotic text itself, not a 2.0 archetype rule — so a Barrier champion that eats a normal heavy is exactly what this gun opens on. Target Lock ramps damage the longer you stay locked on one target, which is precisely how you fight a champion or boss with an MG: plant on it and hold.

Loadout

Slot	Pick	Why
Subclass	Nightstalker (Void)	Invisibility is the on-switch for Gyrfalcon's Volatile; weaken is the subclass's native verb and the gun's too.
Super	Shadowshot: Deadfall	Tether weakens, suppresses and groups the pack, stacking a team-wide weaken with the gun and feeding ability energy back via orbs.
Class ability	Gambler's Dodge	Near enemies → melee back; pairs with Vanishing Step for on-demand invis and a Volatile re-arm.
Movement	Triple Jump	Extra mid-air adjusts to keep line-of-sight on a target while Target Lock ramps.
Melee	Snare Bomb (Quickfall)	Trapping smoke → invis + a 7s weaken cloud; another Volatile re-arm trigger and a second weaken source.
Grenade	Vortex Grenade	Lingering Void AoE; with Echo of Undermining it weakens the whole pack — pre-softens what the gun then deletes.
Aspect 1	Stylish Executioner	Any elemental-debuffed kill → invis + Truesight; the gun's own weaken qualifies, so kills self-fuel invis → Volatile, no setup.
Aspect 2	Vanishing Step	Dodge → invis on demand, the reliable manual re-arm for Gyrfalcon's Volatile Rounds between Stylish procs.
Fragments	Undermining · Harvest · Starvation · Instability	Weaken grenades, weakened kills → Orb + Breach, Breach/Orb → Devour, a second Volatile source.
Exotic armour	Gyrfalcon's Hauberk (Chest)	See Me, Feel Me grants Volatile Rounds to Void weapons on emerging from invis — Deterministic Chaos becomes a gun that weakens AND goes volatile on one trigger.
Weapons	Void Primary (kinetic slot free) + Deterministic Chaos (Heavy)	A Void primary keeps Surge/synergy on-element; the heavy slot is the centerpiece.

Why it works (the mechanics)

• The gun debuffs itself, so the build spends its budget on amplifiers, not on applying weaken. Most weaken builds burn a melee or grenade to apply the debuff; Vexadecimal applies it every fourth shot for free. That frees every aspect and fragment slot to multiply rather than enable the debuff.
• Weaken is its own debuff bucket — it stacks on Volatile and Target Lock. The three damage sources live in different buckets (Weaken = incoming-damage debuff; Volatile = added Void detonation; Target Lock = weapon-side ramp), so they multiply instead of overwriting. One held trigger triple-dips.
• The invis ↔ Volatile loop never stalls — three re-arm triggers. Vanishing Step (dodge), Stylish Executioner (any debuffed kill, and the gun debuffs everything) and Snare Bomb smoke all grant invisibility. Emerging re-arms Gyrfalcon's Volatile Rounds (9s per Clarity), so you are almost never not volatile in a fight. Echo of Instability's grenade-kill Volatile (11s) covers the gaps.
• Harvest turns the gun's weaken into the whole economy. Every weakened kill drops an Orb and a Void Breach (Echo of Harvest); picking up either grants Devour (Echo of Starvation) → heal + grenade-on-kill reload, and each Orb returns 2.5% Super energy. Guns reload abilities; abilities re-arm guns.
• Barrier coverage is intrinsic and free. Vexadecimal carries bespoke shield-piercing / Barrier stun, so you spend no archetype slot or artifact mod on it — and a weakened, volatile Barrier champion under Target Lock ramp dies in one plant-and-hold.
• Vortex + Undermining pre-softens the room. Throw the grenade into a pack → it weakens for 6s (Undermining) → the gun's volatile detonations land into already-weakened targets → Harvest floods orbs and breaches. The grenade sets the table; the gun clears it.

Stats & mods

Weapons 200 → Health → Class. Weapons is a flat PvE damage multiplier (9.7.0) layered on top of Volatile and Target Lock; Health carries the survivability stack (Devour + reserve overshield + Truesight); Class fuels the dodge that re-arms invis. Lean into a Weapons/Health archetype chest and boots.

Mods:

• Boots: Void Weapon Surge ×2 (≈+22% Void weapon damage straight onto Deterministic Chaos) · Orbs of Restoration.
• Arms: Grenade Kickstart · Heavy Ammo Finder · Fastball (lands the Vortex weaken where you want it).
• Chest: Arc/Solar/Void Resistance (one each — flat DR under Devour + overshield).
• Class item: Powerful Attraction (dodge vacuums the Harvest orbs) · Reaper · Bomber.
• Surge: Void Weapon Surge (matched to the centerpiece and a Void primary).
• Anti-Champion: Barrier is covered intrinsically by Vexadecimal; run Overload Grenades from the artifact for the Overload gap, and let Deadfall's suppress mop up ability-spam elites.

Artifact — NPA Repulsion Regulator

The Void artifact for the Void build — it turns the gun's nonstop Orbs and Void Breaches straight back into Volatile, an overshield and weaken, while Overload Grenades plug the one champion the intrinsic Barrier stun doesn't cover.

Picks (2/3/2):

• Tier 1: Volatile Flow · Unto The Breach
• Tier 2: Protective Breach · Counter Charge · Overload Grenades
• Tier 3: Supernova · Void Weapon Channeling

• Volatile Flow re-arms Volatile Rounds on Orb pickup; Harvest floods Orbs, so the gun stays volatile even without an invis window.
• Unto The Breach spawns a Void Breach on every weakened Void kill, supercharging the Harvest/Starvation economy.
• Protective Breach refreshes an overshield on Breach pickup, stacking with Gyrfalcon's reserve overshield and Devour.
• Counter Charge grants Armor Charge on champion stun; the gun stuns Barriers intrinsically, so this is free value.
• Overload Grenades makes Vortex stun Overload — the champion the gun can't break on its own.
• Supernova turns a Breach pickup into a large weakening pulse on your next Void damage — another team-weaken layer on top of Vexadecimal.
• Void Weapon Channeling grants a temporary Void weapon damage bonus on Void kills, straight onto Deterministic Chaos.

Where it shines

• GM / −30/−40 Nightfalls: intrinsic Barrier stun + team-wide weaken + Target Lock ramp make it a premier champion-and-boss heavy. Plant on the champion, hold, it stuns and deletes.
• Boss DPS phases: Target Lock rewards staying locked; weaken is a fireteam damage buff the whole team rides; Volatile adds chip. An elite sustained heavy with a built-in team multiplier rather than a burst option.
• Add-dense rooms: volatile detonations + Vortex + Harvest orb flood = endless Devour and ability uptime; Deadfall groups and softens the worst packs.
• Champion coverage: Barrier intrinsically (bespoke, always on). Overload is covered by the artifact's Overload Grenades on Vortex; bring an Unstoppable primary (e.g. an Aggressive/High-Impact frame) for the last gap.

Mod selection (masterworked — full allocation)

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: a Void primary). - **Anti-Champion:** Barrier is covered intrinsically by Vexadecimal; run Overload Grenades from the artifact for the Overload gap; let Deadfall's suppress mop up ability-spam elites.