Lord of Wolves — Release the Char (Solar Hunter)

Centerpiece: Lord of Wolves (Shotgun · Special · Solar) · Subclass: Gunslinger · Role: Close-range Solar scorch/ignition shredder Sandbox: 9.7.0 · Updated 2026-07-03

Flip Release the Wolves and the catalyst turns every pellet of the burst into a scorch applicator; aim down sights and a kill sprays that scorch onto the whole pack. Solar Gunslinger then converts scorch into ignitions, ignitions into more scorch, melee energy, Firesprites and orbs — a self-feeding burn loop where the shotgun is the lighter and Caliban's keeps the flame lit. Hold the trigger, the pack ignites, you reload off the corpses.

The weapon

Exotic intrinsic — Shrapnel Launcher: "Fires a powerful short-range burst of Solar damage."

Catalyst — Fang and Claw: "Increases reload speed and stability. While Release the Wolves is active, damaging targets with this weapon applies Scorch. When aiming down sights, defeating a target spreads Scorch to those nearby."

What it does: with the catalyst installed and the intrinsic alternate weapon action Release the Wolves toggled on, the gun stops being a raw-damage shotgun and becomes a scorch machine gun. Every 640-RPM burst stacks Scorch on whatever you hit; an ADS kill detonates that Scorch outward to the pack. On a Solar subclass, enough stacked Scorch ignites — and the whole Gunslinger kit is built to feed off Scorch and ignition. The weapon isn't chasing a damage number; it's the application engine that lights the subclass's whole reactor. Ammo is the only brake — a Special-slot shotgun with thin reserves, so you fire it in aimed bursts, not held sprays, and reload off the corpses it makes.

Loadout

Slot	Pick	Why
Subclass	Gunslinger (Solar)	Only subclass that turns the catalyst's Scorch into ignitions and pays you for both.
Super	Golden Gun: Marksman	On-theme priority delete; Knock 'Em Down extends its duration. Blade Barrage is the alt if you want add-clear over single-target.
Class ability	Acrobat's Dodge (Marksman's Dodge)	Reloads the gun and grants Radiant on dodge near enemies — Radiant keeps the burn build's damage floor up between bursts.
Movement	Triple Jump	Extra mid-air corrections to reposition into shotgun range and back out of trades.
Melee	Proximity Knife	Caliban's turns it into a second scorch/ignition source; refunds on ignition kills.
Grenade	Healing Grenade	Sustain at shotgun range; the gun and knives are the damage.
Aspect 1	Knock 'Em Down	Enhances the Marksman Golden Gun's duration and, while Radiant, refunds Proximity-Knife kills toward near-infinite knives.
Aspect 2	On Your Mark	Class ability / precision hits grant stacking reload + Weapons stat (×10) — reload is the shotgun's lifeblood and Weapons stat is free PvE damage.
Fragments	Ember of Char · Ember of Searing · Ember of Ashes · Ember of Wonder	Char closes the scorch loop, Searing/Ashes accelerate it, Wonder makes orbs for the Super.
Exotic armour	Caliban's Hand (Gauntlets)	Second scorch/ignition engine off the melee; ignition final blows overflow into extra knife charges — stacks with the gun's Scorch to cross the ignition threshold instantly.
Weapons	Solar primary (Incandescent / Heal Clip) + Solar Machine Gun or GL (Incandescent / Bait and Switch)	Incandescent is a third scorch applicator that pre-burns packs; the heavy is sustained Solar DPS for bosses the burn loop can't melt, and the champion-stun the shotgun lacks.

Why it works (the mechanics)

• The catalyst makes the gun a scorch applicator, not a DPS shotgun. Release the Wolves + Fang and Claw applies Scorch on every hit; ADS kills spread it to the pack. You aren't relying on the shotgun's damage number — you're using its 640-RPM fire rate to stack Scorch fast and wide.
• Solar's scorch→ignition threshold is the payoff. Stacked Scorch auto-ignites at 100 stacks; Ember of Ashes raises stacks-per-hit (+50% in most cases) so the gun crosses the threshold in one or two bursts. The ignition is the actual kill, and it's AoE.
• Ember of Char turns one ignition into the next. Each ignition spreads Scorch to everything nearby — which then ignites — which spreads again. The catalyst lights the first target; Char chains it through the room with no extra input.
• The ability economy is paid for by burning. Ember of Searing refunds melee energy and drops a Firesprite on scorched-target kills; while Radiant (from Acrobat's Dodge), Knock 'Em Down refunds Proximity-Knife kills toward more melee. So knives are nearly free, and Caliban's makes each knife also a scorch/ignition source that overflows into extra charges on ignition kills.
• Caliban's doubles the applicators. Two independent scorch/ignition engines — the catalyst gun and the Proximity Knife — so even when the shotgun is reloading you're still applying Scorch and keeping Char's chain alive. Ignition final blows overflow a knife charge, so the melee engine self-refuels.
• On Your Mark double-dips the 9.7.0 Weapons stat. Precision hits / class-ability use stack Weapons stat ×10 — flat PvE weapon damage on top of the burn — and the reload half keeps the low-reserve shotgun topped up between bursts. Ember of Wonder then converts your rapid ignition kills into Orbs of Power to bring Golden Gun online for the one target that won't burn.

Stats & mods

Weapons 200 → Health → Class. Weapons maxes the gun's damage and On Your Mark's payout; Health for shotgun-range survivability; Class to keep dodge (Radiant + reload) cycling.

Archetype lean: Gunner / Powerhouse pieces (Weapons + Melee/Super favoured).

Mods:

• Boots: Solar Weapon Surge ×2 (straight onto Lord of Wolves) · Orbs of Restoration.
• Arms (Caliban's): Melee Font · Heavy Handed (melee kills → melee energy).
• Chest: Solar/elemental resistances for shotgun-range trades.
• Class item: Powerful Attraction (dodge vacuums the orbs you flood) · Bomber.
• Surge: Solar Surge (all damage matched to the build's element).
• Anti-Champion: none on this frame — source Barrier/Unstoppable/Overload from the primary or heavy (see Where it shines).

Slot a Special Ammo Finder / Finisher — Lord of Wolves eats Special reserves and you fire it constantly.

Where it shines

• Add-dense PvE — strikes, Nightfalls, GM clear phases, dungeon/raid trash. The scorch→Char ignition chain is room-clearing AoE; the denser the pack, the harder it snowballs. This is the build's home.
• Close-quarters lanes where a shotgun's range isn't a liability and you can ADS for the catalyst's scorch-spread.
• Champion coverage: Lord of Wolves breaks nothing intrinsically — it carries no champion-stun line and Shotguns aren't an Anti-Champion 2.0 stunning archetype. Scorch/ignition thins champion health and Golden Gun deletes one outright, but the stun must come from the other two slots: bring a Barrier/Unstoppable/Overload Solar primary or heavy for a GM.

Artifact — Implement of Curiosity

The Solar artifact amplifies this build's Radiant→Scorch→ignition reactor and patches its one gap: champion stun.

Picks (2/3/2):

• Tier 1: Fever and Chill · Elemental Benevolence
• Tier 2: Elemental Daze · Energy Acceleration · Elemental Coalescence
• Tier 3: Radiant Shrapnel · Elemental Overdrive

• Fever and Chill grants Radiant on Solar precision hits — a second Radiant source beyond Acrobat's Dodge, keeping the damage floor up between dodges.
• Elemental Benevolence turns the Radiant you share to allies (via dodge) into class-ability energy refunds → more Radiant cycles.
• Elemental Daze makes your Solar champion stuns spawn a Solar explosion + debuff — turns the coverage weapon into extra AoE scorch.
• Energy Acceleration covers Unstoppable, the champion type the gun can't stun on its own.
• Elemental Coalescence drops Elemental pickups on Solar kills to fuel the loop.
• Radiant Shrapnel releases a burst on sustained Radiant damage or scorched-combatant kills — pays off both of the build's core verbs.
• Elemental Overdrive buffs Lord of Wolves' damage when you grab the Solar pickups Coalescence spawns.

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).