Forerunner — Sidearm Executioner (Kinetic Hunter)
An oversized, heavy-caliber sidearm that fires full-auto and hits like a hand cannon to the head. Forerunner is Kinetic Special — every precision kill it lands feeds Facet of Grace Transcendence energy, Gunpowder Gamble charge, and (while you're hurt) Mechaneer's Tricksleeves damage. The fantasy is the opposite of "save the special for bosses": you live in this gun, delete majors at point-blank, and the kills pay for your whole kit.
The weapon
Full Stop (intrinsic): Oversized Sidearm with extended-range, heavy-caliber rounds. Fires full auto with increased rate of fire. Deals increased precision damage to unshielded targets.
Catalyst — The Rock: For several seconds after a final blow, [Alternate Weapon Action] to consume part of your ammo reserves, converting your next thrown grenade into a fragmentation grenade.
What it does: Forerunner is a 200-RPM full-auto Special-ammo Kinetic sidearm with hand-cannon range and bonus precision damage to unshielded targets — so it shreds majors, minibosses, and any orange bar whose shield you've already popped. Being Kinetic is the load-bearing fact for the pairing (see Facet of Grace). The catalyst is a flex utility: after a kill, the alternate-fire converts your next grenade into a big frag — a free extra burst of add-clear that costs reserve ammo, not your grenade cooldown's identity. On Prismatic the converted frag still counts as a grenade kill for the kit. You are meant to fight at close range, in your enemy's face, and let the precision hits carry the damage a primary usually would.
Loadout
| Slot | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Subclass |  Prismatic Hunter | Kinetic-gun-agnostic; gives invis survivability + Transcendence fed by Forerunner's Kinetic kills. |
| Super |  Golden Gun: Marksman (Solar) | Priority/champion deletion on-theme; the gun is the real damage, so Super stays a flex tool. |
| Class ability |  Gambler's Dodge | Melee energy on dodge (scaled by Melee stat) + reload, and repositions you to point-blank range. |
| Movement |  Triple Jump | Air control to peek-and-delete with a Special sidearm. |
| Melee |  Combination Blow (Arc) | Heals and ramps melee damage; the Arc melee debuff feeds Stylish Executioner. |
| Grenade |  Grapple | Repositions to range, and with the catalyst's frag conversion it becomes a flex add-clear button. |
| Aspect 1 |  Gunpowder Gamble | Any kills (Forerunner included) charge a free Solar explosive — add-clear + a scorch debuff source for Stylish. |
| Aspect 2 |  Stylish Executioner | Killing any elementally-debuffed target grants Invisibility + Truesight — survivability for an in-your-face Special build. |
| Fragments | Grace · Blessing · Protection · Hope · Courage | Grace turns Kinetic kills into Transcendence; the rest give regen, DR, ability uptime and a Grenade bump. |
| Exotic armour |  Mechaneer's Tricksleeves (Gauntlets) | Sidearm ready/reload/airborne buffs + a critically-wounded panic-swap that reloads Forerunner and buffs its damage. |
| Weapons | Energy shield-popper (champion stun) + Heavy (2nd stun + boss DPS) | Forerunner can't stun champions; the other two slots pop shields and cover all three champion types. |
Facet of Grace Kinetic kills → bonus Transcendence — Forerunner is Kinetic, so the gun is your Transcendence battery
Facet of Blessing melee final blows → health regen
Facet of Protection DR while surrounded — you fight at close range
Facet of Hope faster class-ability regen while you hold an elemental buff — Truesight/Combo-Blow/transcendent keep it up
Facet of Courage your abilities hit Darkness-debuffed targets harder; +10 Grenade
Why it works (the mechanics)
- Forerunner is Kinetic Special, so its kills double-pay. Facet of Grace turns every Kinetic final blow into bonus Transcendence energy — and Forerunner is a fast-firing precision gun, so it builds Transcendence faster than any ability could. You're trans-ready constantly, which in turn arms Facet of Protection's bigger DR and Facet of Courage's ability bonus against Darkness-debuffed targets.
- "Bonus precision damage to unshielded targets" + Special ammo = major deleter. Pop a shield with anything, then Forerunner's head-shots delete the orange bar. It's a hand-cannon's range on a sidearm's fire rate, in the Special slot — the damage profile of a primary that hits like a secondary.
- Mechaneer's is a self-refreshing damage loop tied to the gun. Get low → swap to Forerunner → reload + damage buff → sidearm final blows extend the effect and reload again. The build wants you at close range where you take chip damage, so the "critically wounded" trigger is reliable rather than a gimmick, and the passive ready/reload/airborne boosts fix Forerunner's low airborne effectiveness for free.
- Stylish Executioner buys survivability off the same kills. Gunpowder Gamble's Solar explosive scorches (an elemental debuff) and Combination Blow is an Arc melee — either way you produce debuffed targets. Kill one → invis + Truesight → break line of sight, heal, re-engage. A Special-ammo close-range build needs an off-ramp, and this is it.
- The catalyst converts a kill into extra add-clear without spending your grenade identity. After any Forerunner kill, alt-fire → your next grenade becomes a frag — reserve ammo paying for AoE, and the frag still counts as a grenade kill for Gunpowder Gamble charge and the Facet stat feeds.
- Gambler's Dodge closes the ability loop. Dodge near enemies → big melee chunk (scaled by Melee stat) → Combination Blow → heal (Facet of Blessing) + a debuff for Stylish. Forerunner reloads on dodge too, so repositioning and re-arming are one button.
Stats & mods
Weapons 200 → Health → Class. Weapons stat is a flat PvE damage multiplier on Forerunner vs minors and majors — the centerpiece wants it maxed. Health next because you fight at close range under invis-only survivability; Class for dodge uptime (reload + melee + the Stylish reset). Grenade and Super are dump-ish — the catalyst frag and Golden Gun are flex tools, not the engine. This leans a Weapons/Health archetype set with a Class tertiary.
Mods:
- Boots: Kinetic Weapon Surge ×2 (straight damage onto Forerunner) · Orbs of Restoration for ammo-adjacent healing.
- Arms (Mechaneer's): Melee Font · Heavy Handed (melee kills → melee energy) — feeds Combination Blow and Stylish.
- Chest: triple elemental resist (one of each) under the invis off-ramp.
- Class item: Powerful Attraction (dodge vacuums orbs) · Bomber / Reaper.
- Surge: Kinetic Weapon Surge (matches Forerunner's damage type).
- Anti-Champion: none on Forerunner — bring the anti-champion mod/loadout on the Energy and Heavy slots; add a Special Ammo Finisher if reserves run thin in long fights, since ammo economy is the real constraint.
Artifact — Encrypted Data Disk
Forerunner is a Kinetic precision Special gun whose only real constraint is ammo — this artifact refuels it, turns its precision kills into Orbs of Power, and supplies the champion stuns the gun lacks (Unstoppable on Kinetic, plus champion-stun ability energy).
Picks (2/3/2):
- Tier 1: Kinetic Synthesis · Power from Pain
- Tier 2: Precision Equity · Counter Energy · Dielectric
- Tier 3: Kinetic Rupture · Void Infestation
Kinetic Synthesis — rapid Kinetic final blows generate ammo bricks, directly fixing Forerunner's Special-ammo economy.
Power from Pain — rapid kills versus weakened targets grant Devour, adding survivability at the close range this build fights.
Precision Equity — precision final blows build a big Orb of Power plus a bonus weapon-damage window; Forerunner is a head-shot gun, so this triggers constantly.
Counter Energy — stunning a champion refunds ability energy, feeding the off-weapon champion coverage.
Dielectric — extra Orb generation to fuel Kinetic Siphon and Orbs of Restoration.
Kinetic Rupture — Kinetic damage on powerful targets creates a Rupture that stuns Unstoppable, the one champion stun Forerunner can't carry itself.
Void Infestation — defeating a weakened target spawns a tracking weaken projectile, extending Weaken to keep Power from Pain's Devour rolling.
Where it shines
- Add-dense PvE, master/legend content: Forerunner's range + Special-slot damage + bonus-precision-vs-unshielded makes it a major/miniboss eraser; Stylish invis and Facet of Protection keep you alive at the range it wants.
- PvP / Gambit: the iconic home — a heavy-caliber 200-RPM sidearm with hand-cannon range and Mechaneer's panic-swap is a duelling monster.
- Champion coverage — FLAG: Forerunner has no intrinsic champion stun in the manifest, and a 200-RPM sidearm is not an Anti-Champion 2.0 archetype that stuns. Champions are handled off-weapon: Golden Gun deletes priority targets, Gunpowder Gamble scorch + the artifact's Kinetic Rupture (Unstoppable) and Counter Energy help, and your Energy + Heavy slots must cover Barrier / Unstoppable / Overload between them. Do not bring Forerunner expecting it to stun anything.
Mod selection (masterworked — full allocation)
| Piece | Mod · cost | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Helmet (7/10) | Solar Siphon 3e fill | Rapid Solar weapon final blows create an Orb of Power. |
| Ashes to Assets 3e fill | Gain bonus Super energy on grenade kills. | |
| Heavy Ammo Finder 1e fill | Increases the effect of all contributions towards the Heavy ammo meter. | |
| Arms (7/10) | Heavy Handed 3e | Your powered melee final blows create Orbs of Power. |
| Heavy Handed 3e | Your powered melee final blows create Orbs of Power. | |
| Melee Font 1e | You gain a bonus to your melee stat while you have any Armor Charge. Your Armor Charge decays over time. | |
| Chest (8/10) | Ammo Reserves 3e | |
| Solar Resistance 2e fill | Reduces incoming Solar damage from combatants. | |
| Concussive Dampener 3e fill | Reduces incoming area-of-effect damage from combatants. | |
| Legs (3/10) | Kinetic Weapon Surge 1e | Your Kinetic weapons gain a small bonus to damage while you have any Armor Charge. Your Armor Charge now decays over time. |
| Kinetic Weapon Surge 1e | Your Kinetic weapons gain a small bonus to damage while you have any Armor Charge. Your Armor Charge now decays over time. | |
| Orbs of Restoration 1e | Picking up an Orb of Power grants a small amount of energy to your ability with the least energy. | |
| Class Item (4/10) | Reaper 1e | Shortly after using your class ability, your next weapon final blow spawns an Orb of Power. |
| Bomber 1e | Reduces grenade cooldown when using your class ability. | |
| Powerful Attraction 2e | Automatically collects nearby Orbs of Power when you activate 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: since ammo economy is the real constraint.