Heirloom — Slow Burn (Solar Hunter)

Centerpiece: Heirloom (Combat Bow · Special · Solar) · Subclass: Gunslinger · Role: Unstoppable-stunning bow that scorches a room, cascades ignitions, and farms them back into ability energy Sandbox: 9.7.0 · Updated 2026-07-03

A Solar combat bow that fires explosive bolts, stuns Unstoppables intrinsically, and — with the catalyst — scorches every direct hit and spreads it on kill. The build does one thing relentlessly: stack scorch with the bow, convert it to ignitions, and let the Gunslinger fragment kit pay you back grenade, melee and class energy off the burning. You clear a GM room on a bow and save Heavy for the health bar.

The weapon

Bolt Thrower (intrinsic): "This weapon fires high-powered explosive bolts. Strong against [Stagger] Unstoppable Champions."

Catalyst — Heirloom Catalyst: "Direct hits with charged shots scorch the target. This weapon deals more damage against scorched targets. / Incandescent: Defeating a target spreads scorch to those nearby. More powerful combatants and opposing Guardians cause scorch in a larger radius."

Uncatalysed, Heirloom is an Unstoppable-stunning explosive bow with area-of-effect on the bolt. Catalysed, it becomes a Solar scorch machine: every charged direct hit scorches, the weapon then deals bonus damage to those scorched targets — a self-fulfilling loop on the same target, since the shot that scorches makes the next shot hit harder — and every kill Incandescent-spreads scorch to the pack. Stack scorch to the ignition threshold and the target ignites for a large Solar burst, which this build deliberately farms because Gunslinger turns ignitions and scorched-target kills into ability energy. Powerful combatants spread in a larger radius, so the engine scales up in harder content rather than falling off.

Loadout

Slot	Pick	Why
Subclass	Gunslinger (Solar)	Native scorch/ignition verbs the catalysed bow already speaks; champion and ability economy all key off Solar burning.
Super	Golden Gun: Marksman	On-theme single-target precision delete for the priority target the scorch loop can't burn down fast enough.
Class ability	Marksman's Dodge	Instantly reloads all weapons on dodge (handy on a slow bow) and triggers On Your Mark's reload + Weapons-stat stack.
Movement	Triple Jump	Extra mid-air adjustments to reposition and hold sightlines while the ignition cascade thins the pack.
Melee	Proximity Explosive Knife	Feeds Caliban's Hand: the knife's explosion scorches and its final blow ignites, a second ignition source on the same Solar loop.
Grenade	Tripmine Grenade	Sticky Solar burst that scorches and ignites clusters the bow has pre-scorched.
Aspect 1	Gunpowder Gamble	Kills charge a thrown Solar explosive → free ignitions on a pre-scorched pack; the bow charges it fast.
Aspect 2	On Your Mark	Precision hits or class-ability activation grant you and allies reload speed + Weapons stat, stacking ten times — direct PvE damage on the bow.
Fragments	Ashes · Char · Searing · Empyrean	Front-load scorch, re-seed it off ignitions, refund melee/Firesprite on scorched kills, and sustain off Solar kills.
Exotic armour	Caliban's Hand (Gauntlets)	"Roast 'Em: Your Proximity Knife scorches targets it damages with its explosions, or ignites targets on final blow." Turns the melee slot into an independent ignition trigger.
Weapons	Kinetic primary + Solar Heavy	Heirloom occupies the Special slot, so pair a kinetic primary for ammo economy and a Solar Machine Gun or Rocket for boss DPS and surge-matched element.

Why it works (the mechanics)

• The bow is the Unstoppable answer — intrinsically. Bolt Thrower carries a bespoke Unstoppable stun (not an archetype trait — Heirloom and Leviathan's Breath have dedicated per-exotic bow stuns). You get Unstoppable coverage from the Special slot, freeing your kinetic and Heavy weapons and artifact mods to cover Barrier and Overload.
• The catalyst is a closed damage loop on one target. Direct hit → scorch → "deals more damage against scorched targets" → the very next bolt hits harder because the first scorched. Ember of Ashes increases scorch applied by ~50% (Clarity), so a priority target reaches the ignition threshold in a couple of charged bolts.
• Incandescent + Ember of Char make it self-propagating across a pack. A kill spreads scorch (catalyst), and ignitions apply 40 scorch — 60 with Ashes (Clarity) — to everything caught in the blast (Char). One charged bolt into a cluster cascades: scorch → kill → spread → ignite → spread → ignite, and powerful combatants spread in a larger radius.
• Gunslinger turns the burning into a full ability economy. Ember of Searing: every scorched-target kill returns melee energy (8–25% by rank, Clarity) plus a Firesprite that feeds class/grenade. Gunpowder Gamble: kills charge a thrown Solar bomb for more ignitions. The bow doesn't just clear — it reloads your kit.
• Caliban's Hand converts the melee slot into a second ignition source. Proximity Explosive Knife scorches on explosion and ignites on final blow, so your melee plays the exact verb the bow does — a thrown knife into a bow-scorched pack ignites it instantly. Two independent ignition triggers on one Solar loop.
• On Your Mark and Empyrean pay you twice. Precision bolts (and Marksman's Dodge) stack reload + Weapons stat ×10 — flat PvE weapon damage on top of the scorched-target bonus — while Empyrean extends Restoration and Radiant off every Solar kill (up to 15 s, Clarity), so the kills that drive the loop also keep you alive with no healing-grenade tax.

Stats & mods

Weapons 200 → Health → Class. Weapons for the bow's per-hit damage (with On Your Mark on top); Class to keep Marksman's Dodge cycling (its reload + On Your Mark trigger); Health because Empyrean/Restoration covers survivability. Grenade and Melee ride up passively from Char (+10 Grenade), Searing (+10 Class) and Firesprite pickups.

Archetype lean: chase Weapons/Class pieces (Powerhouse, Gunner). Set bonuses are garnish — if a roll happens to carry a Solar-flavoured 2pc/4pc, fine, but chase the stats first.

Mods:

• Boots: Solar Weapon Surge ×2 (straight onto the bow and your Solar Heavy) + Bow Scavenger to keep the Special slot topped.
• Arms: Bow Loader + Heavy Handed for orb/melee economy off ability kills.
• Chest: Solar Resistance ×2 for GM incoming-damage survivability.
• Class item: Bomber + Powerful Attraction (grenade uptime + auto-collect Firesprites/orbs).
• Surge: Solar Weapon Surge — one element across bow, Heavy and abilities.
• Anti-Champion: Unstoppable is handled by Bolt Thrower intrinsically; source Barrier and Overload from your kinetic/Heavy weapons' champion mods and the artifact.

Artifact — Queensfoil Censer

The Solar artifact, and the one that amplifies this exact loop: Radiant drives extra scorch, scorch drives ignitions, and the bow's intrinsic Unstoppable stun is turned into yet another ignition.

Picks (2/3/2):

• Tier 1: Kindling Trigger · Fever And Chill
• Tier 2: Revitalizing Blast · Anti-Champion Nosecone · Perpetual Destruction
• Tier 3: Rays of Precision · Solo Operative

• Kindling Trigger — while Radiant, Solar weapons apply Scorch to unscorched combatants, directly feeding the core loop before the catalyst even lands.
• Fever And Chill — rapid Solar hits grant Radiant, the engine that powers Kindling Trigger and Rays of Precision.
• Revitalizing Blast — stunning a Champion causes it to ignite and clears your shield stun, so every Unstoppable stun the bow lands is a free ignition.
• Anti-Champion Nosecone — Rocket Launchers deal increased damage to Champions, covering the Barrier/Overload targets the bow can't stun if you run a Solar rocket Heavy.
• Perpetual Destruction — rapid non-Exotic Rocket final blows refund ammo and boost reload, sustaining the Heavy's boss-DPS slot.
• Rays of Precision — while Radiant, Solar precision final blows ignite, a second ignition trigger off the bow's headshots.
• Solo Operative — precision final blows ramp weapon damage while solo, flat bow damage in lone-wolf GM runs.

Where it shines

• GMs / −30 to −40 content: a Special-ammo Unstoppable stun plus room-clearing ignitions is the GM profile — the bow stuns Unstoppables on demand and the ignition cascade thins the pack while Heavy saves itself for the boss.
• Add-dense PvE generally: scorch + Incandescent + Gunpowder Gamble is a self-sustaining clear engine that leans on the Special slot and your Firesprite/orb economy.
• Champion coverage: Unstoppable — covered intrinsically by Heirloom (Bolt Thrower). Barrier and Overload are not covered by the bow — assign them to your kinetic primary and Solar Heavy champion mods and/or the artifact. This is a one-champion weapon; round out the other two on the rest of the kit.

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: Heavy; abilities. - **Anti-Champion:** Unstoppable is handled by Bolt Thrower intrinsically; source Barrier; Overload from your kinetic/Heavy weapons' champion mods; the artifact.