Deterministic Chaos — Heavy Metal (Void Hunter)

Weapon: Deterministic Chaos (Machine Gun · Heavy · Void) · Subclass: Nightstalker · Role: Self-weakening Barrier-champion shredder + AoE debuff engine Sandbox: 9.7.0 · Created 2026-06-16

A Void machine gun that debuffs for you. Every fourth round weakens on impact and a counter-shot partial-reloads from reserves, so a held trigger is a rolling stream of weaken with no input. Wrap it in the iconic Void-Hunter invis loop: emerge from invisibility, the gun gets Volatile Rounds on top of its own weaken, and every weakened kill spits an Orb and a Void Breach back into the engine. It carries intrinsic Barrier stun, 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."

What it does: hold the trigger and the gun cadences `1-2-3-WEAKEN, 1-2-3-WEAKEN` — every 4th shot stamps Weaken (a ~15-20% incoming-damage debuff bucket that stacks on top of every other multiplier, for the whole fireteam). The "Vexadecimal projectile" is that weakening shot; let off the trigger right after one and the mag tops up from reserves, so sustained fire never empties. Barrier stun is intrinsic and bespoke — it does not rely on a 2.0 archetype rule. Target Lock ramps damage the longer you stay locked on one target, which is exactly how you fight a champion or boss with a MG: plant on it and hold.

Loadout

Slot	Pick	Why
Subclass	Nightstalker (Void)	Invis is the on-switch for Gyrfalcon's Volatile; weaken is the subclass's native verb and the gun's too.
Super	Shadowshot: Deadfall	35% weaken + suppress + groups the pack — stacks team weaken with the gun and gives Orpheus-tier ability return (here via Harvest orbs).
Class ability	Gambler's Dodge	Near enemies → melee back; pairs with Vanishing Step for on-demand invis → Volatile re-arm.
Melee	Snare Bomb (Quickfall)	Trapping smoke → invis + weaken on the trap; another Volatile re-arm trigger and a 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.

Exotic armour — Gyrfalcon's Hauberk (Chest)

See Me, Feel Me: "Your Void weapons gain Volatile Rounds after you emerge from being invisible. When you are invisible and defeat a combatant while using a finisher, all of your weapons gain bonus damage; you and your nearby allies gain a reserve overshield and improved class ability regeneration."

This is the pairing. Deterministic Chaos is the best Volatile-Rounds carrier in the game because it already weakens on its own — emerge from invis and you are firing a Void MG that weakens (intrinsic) AND goes volatile (Gyrfalcon) AND ramps (Target Lock) on a single held trigger. Volatile detonations chain through the pack the weaken already softened; Stylish + Vanishing Step keep invis — and therefore Volatile — perpetually re-arming.

Why this 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 4th shot for free. That frees every aspect/fragment slot to multiply rather than enable.
• Weaken is a 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 invis. Emerging re-arms Gyrfalcon's Volatile Rounds. You are never not volatile in a fight.
• Harvest turns the gun's weaken into the whole economy. Every weakened kill (i.e. most kills) drops an Orb and a Void Breach (Echo of Harvest) → picking either grants Devour (Echo of Starvation) → heal + grenade-on-kill reload. The Breaches also feed Deadfall back. Guns reload abilities; abilities re-arm guns.
• Barrier coverage is intrinsic and free. Vexadecimal carries bespoke shield-piercing/Barrier stun, so you do not spend an archetype slot or an artifact mod on it — and a weakened, volatile barrier champion under Target Lock ramp dies in one plant-and-hold. Deadfall's suppress mops up Overload behaviour; pick a Barrier-redundant or Unstoppable primary if you want full coverage.
• Vortex + Undermining pre-softens the room. Throw the grenade into a pack → it weakens (Undermining) → the gun's volatile detonations land into already- weakened targets → Harvest floods orbs/breaches. The grenade sets the table; the gun clears it.

Stats & mods

Weapons 200 → Health 100+ → Class. Weapons stat is a flat PvE damage multiplier (9.7.0) layered on Volatile/Target Lock; Class fuels the dodge that re-arms invis; Health is the dump stat (Devour + reserve overshield + Truesight cover survivability).

Mods by piece:

• Helmet: Harmonic Siphon (Void kills → Orbs, stacks with Harvest) · Ashes to Assets (Super on grenade kills) · Dynamo (Super on dodge — invis already comes from the dodge).
• Gauntlets: Grenade Font + Heavy Ammo Finder · Fastball (lands the Vortex weaken where you want it).
• Chest: Arc/Solar/Void Resistance (one each — flat DR under Devour/overshield).
• Boots: Void Weapon Surge ×2 (≈+17% Void weapon damage straight onto Deterministic Chaos) · Orbs of Restoration.
• Class item: Powerful Attraction (dodge vacuums the Harvest orbs) · Reaper · Class Font.
• Stat tuning: +Weapons/−Health where available — the gun is the damage and the survivability stack covers the Health dump.

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. Not a top burst heavy but an elite sustained one with a built-in team multiplier.
• 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). Deadfall's suppress handles Overload behaviour and ability-spam elites; bring an Unstoppable primary (e.g. an Aggressive/High-Impact frame) for the gap.