Khvostov 7G-0X — Attrition Orbs (Kinetic Hunter)
Khvostov is the rare exotic that pays you in Orbs of Power for doing nothing but holding the trigger, then spends those same orbs to make itself hit harder. Bolt on the catalyst and pair it with a Hunter who eats orbs for Super energy, and the loop closes on itself: sustained fire prints orbs, orbs strengthen the ricochets and overcharge a Solar Golden Gun, and every orb picked up also heals you. A 600-RPM Kinetic primary that quietly runs an entire build off its own ammo.
The weapon
The Right Choice (intrinsic): "Every seventh bullet from this weapon ricochets to nearby targets."
Eyes Up, Guardian: "Collecting Orbs of Power strengthens this weapon's next several ricochet shots, providing more damage and more bounces between targets."
Shoot to Loot: "Shooting an Orb of Power picks it up. Shooting an ammo brick picks it up and automatically reloads all of your equipped weapons from reserves. Increases range."
Catalyst — Attrition Orbs: "Dealing sustained damage creates an Orb of Power."
Hold the trigger and the catalyst spawns Orbs of Power off sustained damage — exactly what a 600-RPM full-auto primary produces by default, with no precision, kill, or cooldown requirement. Shoot to Loot then lets you grab those orbs from across the room without leaving cover or breaking your damage line, and each orb collected supercharges the next clutch of ricochets through Eyes Up, Guardian: more damage, more bounces. The gun manufactures its own build economy — orbs — and is the only thing in the loadout that needs to. Everything else in the kit just spends what the gun makes, so the whole flywheel lives inside one weapon: fire, orbs, stronger ricochets, faster kills, more orbs.
Loadout
| Slot | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Subclass | Prismatic | The only kit that turns an orb into Super energy (Star-Eater), a defensive buff (Facet of Purpose), and a Solar Super off a Kinetic gun all at once. |
| Super | Golden Gun — Marksman (Solar) | Cheap, spammable single-target delete; Star-Eater overcharges it off the orbs Khvostov prints, and its Solar element sets Facet of Purpose to Restoration. |
| Class ability |  Marksman's Dodge | Full reload mid-fight keeps the sustained-damage window — and the orb stream — alive without stopping to manually reload. |
| Movement |  Triple Jump | Aerial repositioning to hop between add packs and keep a clean line for Shoot to Loot; flexible, not identity-critical. |
| Melee |  Snare Bomb (Void) | Applies a Void debuff that arms Stylish Executioner's invis/Truesight loop — weak melee investment, big safety payout. |
| Grenade | Swarm (Solar) | Cheap area chip that adds kills, feeding more orbs; on-element with Golden Gun. |
| Aspect 1 |  Gunpowder Gamble | Kills charge a throwable Solar explosive whose Ignitions multikill, feeding Attrition Orbs again and ticking Transcendence. Pure throughput. |
| Aspect 2 |  Stylish Executioner | A kill on any elemental-debuffed target grants invisibility and Truesight — free repositioning to keep feeding the gun without dying. |
| Fragments | Purpose · Hope · Justice · Generosity · Courage | Orb pickup becomes healing (Purpose), faster dodge (Hope), and Transcendence payoff (Justice/Generosity); Courage cashes the Darkness debuffs. |
| Exotic armour |  Star-Eater Scales (Legs) | Converts the orb stream straight into an overcharged Golden Gun — the keystone; see Why it works. |
| Weapons | Energy: an on-kill-orb Special (e.g. a Repulsor-Brace Void shotgun) covers Khvostov's reload gaps · Heavy: a Machine Gun / LMG for the boss or champion Golden Gun doesn't personally execute, with sustained fire adding bonus orbs. |
Fragments (Prismatic):
Facet of Purpose — "Picking up an Orb of Power grants either Bolt Charge, Restoration, Frost Armor, Woven Mail, or Overshield based on the damage type of your equipped Super." With a Solar Golden Gun equipped, every orb you shoot off the ground grants Restoration — the survivability spine, paid for by orbs you were already collecting.
Facet of Hope — "While you have an elemental buff, your class ability regenerates more quickly." Restoration from Purpose is near-permanent, so the dodge is always charging.
Facet of Justice — "While transcendent, your ability final blows explode." Bonus clear during the Transcendence windows your kill-flood earns.
Facet of Generosity — "Defeating targets while transcendent creates Orbs of Power for your allies." More orbs, shared, exactly when you're killing fastest.
Facet of Courage — "Your Arc, Solar, and Void abilities deal increased damage to targets afflicted with Darkness debuffs." Snare Bomb and Gunpowder Ignitions cash in.
Why it works (the mechanics)
- The orb is the whole build, and the gun is the printer. Attrition Orbs spawns orbs from sustained damage — precisely what a 600-RPM full-auto primary does by holding the trigger. There is no precision, kill, or cooldown gate. The build never chases an orb source because the centrepiece is one.
- Shoot to Loot weaponises pickup. Normally you walk over orbs; Khvostov shoots them from across the room without leaving cover or breaking the damage line. The orbs you make get consumed fast into the loops below, and pickup stops being a positioning tax.
- Star-Eater Scales turns every orb into Super. "You gain additional Super energy from Orbs of Power you pick up. While your Super energy is full, picking up an Orb of Power overcharges your Super, causing you to gain a burst of healing when cast and a bonus to your Super damage. At maximum overcharge, you also gain an overshield." You print orbs nonstop, Shoot-to-Loot them instantly, and the stream converts straight into an overcharged Golden Gun.
- One orb feeds two systems. The same pickup grants Super energy (Star-Eater) and Restoration (Facet of Purpose + Solar Super) simultaneously. Survivability and damage share a single input, so nothing in the loop competes for resources.
- Eyes Up, Guardian closes the gun's own loop. Each orb collected strengthens the next ricochets — more damage, more bounces — so the orbs the gun makes come straight back as gun damage. Sustained fire, orbs, bigger ricochets, faster kills, more orbs: the flywheel never leaves the weapon.
- Gunpowder Gamble and Stylish Executioner compound and protect it. Your kill-flood charges the Solar explosive; its Ignition multikills feed Attrition Orbs again and tick Transcendence (tripping Justice/Generosity). Snare Bomb debuffs let any kill grant invisibility + Truesight, so you disengage, reposition, and reopen a fresh sustained-damage window — the only thing that would ever stall the orb stream.
Stats & mods
Super 200 → Weapons → Class. Star-Eater wants Super high to shorten the gaps between overcharged Golden Guns; Weapons is straight PvE damage on a primary that lives on uptime; Class keeps Marksman's Dodge (and its reload) on a short leash. Health is the dump stat — Purpose Restoration plus Star-Eater's cast-heal and overshield cover it. Archetype lean: a Super/Weapons-forward Prismatic add-clear profile.
Mods (verify exact in-game labels and costs, see Verify notes):
- Boots (Star-Eater): Kinetic Weapon Surge ×2 (Kinetic damage straight onto Khvostov) plus an orb-pickup-to-ability-energy mod so spare orbs feed cooldowns once the Super is overcharged.
- Arms: Kinetic Loader + Kinetic Dexterity — keep the gun topped and swap-ready so the sustained window never stalls.
- Chest: elemental resistance mods; a primary-range build should take the flat damage reduction.
- Class item: an orb-vacuum plus orb-on-dodge mod so no orb is ever wasted, plus a Super-stat mod.
- Surge: Kinetic Weapon Surge, matched to Khvostov's element.
- Anti-Champion: none intrinsic — the gun breaks no champion by itself (champion: null) and the artifact picks carry no anti-champion mod, so champion stuns come from the Energy/Heavy weapons (see Champion coverage).
Artifact — Hunter's Journal
The native fit: Hunter's Journal carries the Auto Rifle and Kinetic mods that feed Khvostov's orb economy, plus Solar/Void/Prismatic payoffs for the Golden Gun and Snare Bomb kit.
Picks (2/3/2):
- Tier 1: Elemental Siphon · Sustained Fire
- Tier 2: Radiant Orbs · Targeting Autoloader · Void Hegemony
- Tier 3: Shieldcrush · Transference
Elemental Siphon — rapid Kinetic (or Super-matching) final blows create an Elemental pickup, doubling the orb stream that already is this build.
Sustained Fire — continuous Auto Rifle damage grants damage resistance; free on a primary that just holds the trigger.
Radiant Orbs — on a Prismatic subclass, every orb you Shoot-to-Loot makes you radiant for extra weapon damage on top of Eyes Up, Guardian.
Targeting Autoloader — Auto Rifle kills reload and temporarily buff damage, keeping the sustained window open through mag breaks.
Void Hegemony — Snare-debuffed weaken kills grant a small Void Overshield, feeding the survival valve and Shieldcrush.
Shieldcrush — with a Void Overshield (Hegemony) or radiant (Radiant Orbs) up, melee and grenade recharge faster and hit harder, speeding the Snare Bomb / Gunpowder loop.
Transference — transcendent weapon final blows refund Light and Dark, cashing the Gunpowder Gamble → Transcendence loop.
Where it shines
- Sustained-add and majors content — as a primary, Khvostov's native lane is everything orange-bar and below, where dense, constant targets make orbs fastest. Golden Gun handles the one priority target ricochets won't finish.
- Solo and matchmade midgame — Strikes, mid-tier Nightfalls, Onslaught, patrol and seasonal activities, where the self-contained heal + Super loop means you don't need a team economy to function.
- Champion coverage — the honest weak point. Khvostov is a stock Rapid-Fire auto rifle with no intrinsic champion stun (champion: null in the manifest), and the chosen Hunter's Journal 2/3/2 contains no anti-champion mod. It breaks no champion type on its own. Bring your Barrier / Overload / Unstoppable coverage on the Energy and Heavy slots (an Anti-Barrier or Overload Auto Rifle/SMG, an Unstoppable-frame Heavy), and lean on Golden Gun plus Gunpowder Ignitions to brute-force the rest. Do not take this to high-end GMs expecting the gun to handle champions.