Arc

Heir Apparent — Bulwark (Hunter)

Spun-up suppressing-fire anchor — blind the room, tank the return fire

✓ Manifest Solar · Heavy · 900 RPM · No intrinsic champion

Weapon: Heir Apparent (Machine Gun · Heavy · Arc) · Subclass: Arc / Arcstrider · Role: Spun-up suppressing-fire anchor — blind the room, tank the return fire Sandbox: 9.7.0 · Created 2026-06-16

Aim down sights, the rotary barrel spins up, and an Arc shield snaps into being in front of you (catalyst-fed). Now you're a 900-RPM area-denial turret that shrugs off the fire it's drawing. The trick is that Heir Apparent is a Heavy Arc weapon — so while you're amplified, every kill it lands triggers a blinding explosion (Spark of Beacons). Suppressing fire that also stuns the whole room, behind a shield that reloads itself when it pops. The Arc subclass exists to keep you amplified and the shield exists to let you stand still long enough to abuse it.

The weapon

Heir Apparent — Heavy Slug Thrower (verbatim): "[Aim Down Sights] : Spins up this weapon. This weapon can be fired only when fully spun up."

Catalyst — Legion's Bulwark (verbatim): "Increases the Arc shield's durability and partially reloads the magazine if it is destroyed."

What it does: ADS spins the barrel; once fully spun up an Arc shield materialises in front of you and the gun fires at 900 RPM with a 115-round mag. The shield soaks incoming fire from the front while you hose. The catalyst makes that shield tankier and — the part that drives the loop — partially reloads the mag when the shield is destroyed, so taking fire is rewarded, not punished. It's a stationary-anchor weapon by design: the spin-up tax means you commit to a firing position, and the shield is what makes committing safe.

Loadout

Slot	Pick	Why
Subclass	Arcstrider (Arc)	Amplified is the keystone; Arc is the weapon's native element.
Super	Gathering Storm	Anchor super — slap the staff into the densest pack, jolt + roaming damage; off-theme alternatives fine.
Class ability	Marksman's Dodge	Full reload on dodge — tops the 115 mag without leaving the firing line; pairs with Lethal Current's jolt-melee.
Melee	Disorienting Blow / Combination Blow	Jolt + blind on melee feeds Flow State (jolt kill → amplified) and stacks more blind.
Grenade	Pulse Grenade	Lingering Arc damage that jolts (Spark of Shock) → jolt kills → amplified; extended by Spark of Magnitude.
Aspect 1	Flow State	Defeating a jolted target → amplified. This is the amplified uptime engine that arms Spark of Beacons.
Aspect 2	Lethal Current	After dodging, next melee jolts + leaves an aftershock — a free jolt source to convert into amplified, on the dodge you're already using to reload.

Fragments

Spark of Beacons amplified + Arc Heavy final blow → blinding explosion — the synergy
Spark of Shock Arc grenades jolt → jolt kills → Flow State amplified
Spark of Discharge Arc weapon kills → Ionic Traces → ability energy from gunfire
Spark of Ions jolt kills → Ionic Traces
Spark of Amplitude rapid kills while amplified → Orbs of Power — Heir Apparent makes these in bulk

Exotic — Mask of Bakris (Helmet)

Light Shift (verbatim): "While you have a Stasis or Arc Super equipped, your Dodge becomes a longer range, faster moving shift that partially cloaks you during use. After shifting, your Stasis and Arc weapons gain a stacking damage bonus for a short time. Final blows with this bonus active refund class ability energy."

Bakris turns your dodge into a stacking Arc-weapon damage buff — and Heir Apparent is an Arc weapon. The dodge you're already pressing (Marksman's = reload; Lethal Current = jolt melee) now also buffs every slug you fire, and Arc-weapon final blows under the buff refund class energy → another dodge → reload + buff refresh. Three things off one button: reload the 115 mag, buff the damage, jolt the next target. The "Arc Super equipped" condition is satisfied by Arcstrider.

Why this works (the mechanics)

Spin-up + shield = a sanctioned turret stance. The intrinsic punishes mobility (you can only fire fully spun up), so the natural play is to anchor. The catalyst shield is what makes anchoring survivable, and destroying the shield partial-reloads the mag — incoming fire literally feeds your ammo.
Spark of Beacons is the build. While amplified, an Arc Special or Heavy final blow creates a blinding explosion. Heir Apparent is a 115-round Arc Heavy at 900 RPM — you generate a near-continuous stream of kills, so as long as you're amplified the whole room is being blinded. Blind is crowd-control and damage mitigation: blinded enemies can't shoot back, which compounds the shield's tanking.
Amplified uptime is solved three ways. Flow State (jolt kill → amplified), plus jolt sources everywhere: Pulse Grenade (Spark of Shock), Lethal Current's dodge-melee, Disorienting Blow. Kill a jolted target → amplified → Beacons arms → Heir Apparent kills blind the room → Spark of Amplitude spawns Orbs → Super back. Amplified also grants its own +damage-resistance and reload/handling, which directly improves the gun's feel through the spin-up.
Mask of Bakris is a pure damage + economy multiplier on this exact gun. Stacking Arc-weapon damage bonus from the dodge, refund class energy on Arc final blows under the buff → more dodges → more reloads/buffs. The dodge does triple duty (reload via Marksman's, jolt via Lethal Current, damage via Bakris).
The gun feeds the abilities, the abilities feed the gun. Spark of Discharge + Spark of Ions turn Arc weapon/jolt kills into Ionic Traces → grenade/melee energy from gunfire → more jolt sources → more amplified → more Beacons blind. It's a closed loop anchored on standing still and holding the trigger.

Stats & mods

Weapons 200 → Health 100+ → Class. Weapons stat is the priority: it's the 9.7.0 PvE weapon-damage stat and Heir Apparent is the whole build. Health 100+ because this is a stationary anchor that wants to be shot at (shield + mag refund), and Class feeds Marksman's Dodge frequency (reload uptime).

Archetypes: Powerhouse (Weapons/Super) or Gunner pieces; favour any roll leaning Weapons + Class. Mods: Machine Gun Loader and Machine Gun Scavenger (reserves matter on a 115-round Heavy), Arc Weapon Surge ×2 on boots (≈+17% straight onto Heir Apparent), Heavy Ammo Finder/Finisher to keep the brick flowing. Resilience-equivalent chest resist mods (Arc/Solar/Void) stack under the shield. Stat tuning: trade Grenade/Super down into Weapons if your rolls allow — the grenade only exists to seed jolt, it's not a damage source here.

Where it shines

Add-dense PvE — Onslaught, GM lost-sector chokepoints, defend-the-point. Anything where you can pick a firing lane and hold it is ideal: the spin-up tax is free when you weren't moving anyway, and Beacons blind turns a doorway into a kill box. Heir Apparent's huge mag + self-feeding reload make it a sustained area-denial tool other MGs can't match.
Champion coverage — this is the flag. Heir Apparent carries no bespoke champion stun (its perk text is purely the spin-up/shield). It does not intrinsically stun any champion. Cover champions off-weapon: the build's jolt (Flow State chain, Spark of Shock, Lethal Current) plus Gathering Storm handle Overload-style threats and ability-spam elites, and blind (Spark of Beacons / Disorienting Blow) staggers them, but for guaranteed Barrier/Unstoppable stuns in GM-tier content you must bring an Anti-Champion 2.0 archetype in your other slots or a seasonal artifact champion mod. Treat Heir Apparent as the clear tool, not the champion tool.
Weak in: anything requiring mobility or single-target boss DPS — the spin-up and the 39-impact 900-RPM profile make it a horde gun, not a damage-phase gun.

### The other two slots

Primary: an Arc weapon (any) so Spark of Discharge/Ions/Beacons stay fed and surge-matching is clean — a Voltshot or Jolting Feedback roll extends the jolt economy. Pick an Anti-Champion archetype frame here for the champion you lack.
Special: an Arc shotgun/sidearm with Spark of Beacons in mind (it also triggers on Arc Special final blows while amplified) — doubles your blind output, and covers the gap when you're moving and can't spin up Heir Apparent.

Verify notes

Element conflict: the manifest tags Heir Apparent's `Damage` as Solar (hash 2084878005), but the catalyst, the in-game weapon, and the shield are all Arc ("Legion's Bulwark: increases the Arc shield's durability"). This is a known manifest data quirk for Heir Apparent — the build treats it as Arc, which is correct in-game. Confirm Arc surge mods actually buff it before committing surge slots; if the game honours the Solar manifest tag, swap to Solar Surge (the Spark of Beacons / amplified / jolt synergies are unaffected — those key off the subclass and the weapon being your Arc-Super loadout, not the slug element). Flagged per instructions: do not trust the Solar tag at face value.
The Arc shield itself is not in the exotic perk text — the verbatim intrinsic ("Heavy Slug Thrower") only describes the ADS spin-up. The shield behaviour is referenced only via the catalyst (Legion's Bulwark) in our manifest snapshot; the base-weapon shield-deploy-on-spin-up is established in-game behaviour but not spelled out in the encyclopedia line. Treat shield durability / reload-on-destroy percentages as catalyst-gated and confirm in-game.
Champion stun: none intrinsic. Heir Apparent's perk text carries no anti-champion keyword. Stun coverage in this build is all off-weapon (jolt + blind soft-stagger + Super + other-slot archetypes). Verified against exotics.md line 257 — no "Strong against [Stun]/[Disruption]/[Shield-Piercing]" tag is present.
All armour/aspect/fragment text verified verbatim against `docs/encyclopedia/` (exotics.md: Mask of Bakris L39; aspects.md: Flow State L72, Lethal Current L108; fragments.md: Spark of Beacons L70, Shock L87, Discharge L72, Ions L82, Amplitude L69). Catalyst from catalysts.md L83.
Stats (900 RPM, 115 mag, 39 impact, etc.) pulled live from the manifest via `inspect_item.py 2084878005` — not invented.
Spark of Beacons triggering on Arc Heavy final blows is the load-bearing assumption; verbatim text reads "Arc Special or Heavy ammo weapon final blows" — Heir Apparent qualifies as Heavy. Confirm amplified is active at the moment of the kill (it gates the blind).

Mod selection (masterworked — full allocation)

Piece	Mod · cost	What it does
Helmet (7/10)	Heavy Ammo Finder 1e	Increases the effect of all contributions towards the Heavy ammo meter.
	Arc Siphon 3e fill	Rapid Arc weapon final blows create an Orb of Power.
	Ashes to Assets 3e fill	Gain bonus Super energy on grenade kills.
Arms (8/10)	Weapon Loader (faster reload) 3e
	Utility Kickstart 3e fill	When your class ability energy is fully expended, your Armor Charge is consumed and you gain class ability energy for each Armor Charge used.
	Momentum Transfer 2e fill	Causing damage with a grenade reduces your melee cooldown.
Chest (5/10)	Arc Resistance 1e fill	Reduces incoming Arc damage from combatants.
	Concussive Dampener 3e fill	Reduces incoming area-of-effect damage from combatants.
	Sniper Damage Resistance 1e fill	Reduces incoming damage from combatants that are at long range.
Legs (3/10)	Arc Scavenger 1e	Arc weapons get bonus reserves when picking up ammo used by that weapon.
	Arc Weapon Surge 1e	Your Arc weapons gain a small bonus to damage while you have any Armor Charge. Your Armor Charge now decays over time.
	Arc Weapon Surge 1e	Your Arc weapons gain a small bonus to damage while you have any Armor Charge. Your Armor Charge now decays over time.
Class Item (4/10)	Reaper 1e fill	Shortly after using your class ability, your next weapon final blow spawns an Orb of Power.
	Bomber 1e fill	Reduces grenade cooldown when using your class ability.
	Powerful Attraction 2e fill	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: it's not a damage source here.