Still Hunt — Two Golden Guns (Solar Hunter)
Still Hunt is a sniper that holds its own private Golden Gun. Charge the built-in Super bar off orbs and precision hits, then trigger the Alternate Weapon Action to fire Cayde's Golden Gun rounds out of a Special weapon — no real Super spent. Put Celestial Nighthawk on top and both guns become Nighthawk: your actual Golden Gun becomes one supercharged round, and Still Hunt's AWA shot becomes that same single high-damage projectile. Two Nighthawk shots in one pocket, one of them reloadable.
The weapon
Cayde's Retribution (intrinsic, verbatim): "Pick up Orbs of Power or land precision hits to charge this weapon's Super bar. Once full, [Alternate Weapon Action] to fire Golden Gun shots."
Lucky Shot (catalyst, verbatim): "Reloading after a precision final blow causes precision hits to refill a round from reserves."
What it does: Still Hunt is a Special-ammo Solar sniper carrying a second resource bar that fills from Orbs of Power and precision hits. When the bar is full, the Alternate Weapon Action swaps the weapon into Golden Gun mode and you fire Cayde's Golden Gun rounds — high single-target Solar damage that never touches your real Super. Because a sniper lands precision hits constantly, the bar refills passively as you play the gun normally, so you get boss-grade shots far more often than any once-per-Super Nighthawk Hunter. The catalyst, Lucky Shot, refunds rounds from reserves after a precision final blow, keeping the base three-round mag fed between Golden Gun windows rather than forcing a reload every few shots.
Loadout
| Slot | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Subclass | Gunslinger (Solar Hunter) | Golden Gun is the entire pairing; the whole kit orbits the Super and Radiant. |
| Super | Golden Gun: Marksman | The Super the weapon impersonates; Nighthawk modifies it, Knock 'Em Down extends its duration. |
| Class ability | Marksman's Dodge | Reload-on-dodge keeps Still Hunt topped between AWA shots without breaking precision fire. |
| Movement | Triple Jump | Reliable air control for repositioning to safe sniping angles in GMs. |
| Melee | Lightweight Knife (Throwing Knife) | Precision-kill loop feeds Radiant via Ember of Torches; on-theme and cheap. |
| Grenade | Healing Grenade | Pure sustain — the guns are the damage, so the grenade slot just keeps you alive. |
| Aspect 1 | Knock 'Em Down | "Marksman Golden Gun has increased duration" — more time in the supercharged Super each activation. |
| Aspect 2 | On Your Mark | Precision hits grant increased reload and Weapons stat, stacking ten times — a sniper caps this instantly and holds it. |
| Fragments | Ember of Torches · Ember of Empyrean · Ember of Solace · Ember of Searing | Torches makes you Radiant off the knife; Empyrean extends Radiant on Solar final blows; Solace lengthens Radiant; Searing returns melee energy from scorched kills. |
| Exotic armour | Celestial Nighthawk (Helmet) | "Modifies Golden Gun to fire a single, high-damage shot. Targets defeated by that shot give you Super energy and explode." — applies to Still Hunt's AWA shot too. |
| Weapons | Orb-spawning Primary (Slice/Headstone or a siphon-fed roll) + Machine Gun or rocket | The Primary feeds Orbs of Power that charge Still Hunt's bar and clears trash; Heavy covers sustained DPS between Golden Gun windows. |
- Ember of Torches · Ember of Empyrean · Ember of Solace · Ember of Searing
Why it works (the mechanics)
- Nighthawk transforms both guns. Celestial Nighthawk "modifies Golden Gun to fire a single, high-damage shot." Still Hunt's AWA fires Golden Gun shots, so the exotic converts the sniper's special action into that same single Nighthawk round. You wield a Nighthawk shot from the real Super and a Nighthawk shot from a Special weapon, on independent economies, back-to-back.
- The Super is the cheap resource. Cayde's Retribution charges off Orbs of Power and precision hits — exactly what a Gunslinger with a sniper floods. The base gun is a precision-hit machine, so the AWA bar refills passively while you play normally. You fire boss-grade shots far more often than a once-per-Super Nighthawk Hunter ever could.
- Nighthawk's kill clause refunds your real Super. "Targets defeated by that shot give you Super energy and explode." A Nighthawk Still Hunt AWA shot that kills feeds your actual Golden Gun back, which then also one-shots under Nighthawk — two one-shot tools paying into each other.
- On Your Mark double-dips the Weapons stat. Landing precision hits stacks the buff ten times, granting reload and Weapons stat, and post-9.7.0 the Weapons stat is a flat PvE damage contribution. A sniper caps these stacks instantly and holds them, so the base rounds and your Primary ride a near-permanent damage buff between the big AWA shots.
- Radiant is the universal multiplier. Lightweight Knife into Ember of Torches makes you Radiant; Empyrean and Solace keep it up on Solar final blows. Radiant boosts both the sniper rounds and the Golden Gun shots, and as a separate buff bucket it stacks on top of the Nighthawk damage and the Weapons stat.
- The catalyst keeps the gun fed. Lucky Shot refunds rounds from reserves after a precision final blow, so you are not constantly reloading a three-round mag while the AWA bar fills — sustained precision fire keeps both the mag and (via precision charge) the Golden Gun bar moving.
Stats & mods
Weapons 200 → Super → Class. Weapons maxes On Your Mark and the base sniper damage; Super speeds the real Golden Gun (the Nighthawk one-shot you want back often); Class feeds Marksman's Dodge reloads. Health, Melee and Grenade are dump stats.
Archetype lean: Gunner/Paragon pieces — anything favouring Weapons and Super. Mods:
- Boots: Solar Weapon Surge ×2 (Still Hunt is Solar — the surge stacks onto both the sniper rounds and the Golden Gun) · Special Ammo Finder to keep the mag fed.
- Arms: Sniper Rifle Loader · Sniper Rifle Targeting for consistent long-range crits.
- Chest: Sniper Rifle Reserves · resist mods to taste for GM survivability.
- Class item: Powerful Attraction (dodge vacuums orbs → charges the AWA bar) · Bomber.
- Surge: Solar Weapon Surge to match Still Hunt and the Golden Gun element.
- Anti-Champion: sourced from the artifact and your Primary — Still Hunt breaks no champion on its own (see Champion coverage).
Artifact — Implement of Curiosity
The Solar-precision artifact for a Solar sniper: every round you land is a precision hit, so Radiant sources stay lit permanently (the universal multiplier on both guns) while precision fire generates Armor Charge and the Champion mods cover the stun the weapon itself lacks.
Picks (2/3/2):
- Tier 1: Fever and Chill · Semi-Auto Striker
- Tier 2: Cauterized Darkness · Energy Acceleration · Elemental Daze
- Tier 3: Radiant Shrapnel · Elemental Overdrive
Fever and Chill grants Radiant from rapid Solar precision hits — free and near-permanent on a sniper, keeping the multiplier lit on both the base rounds and the Golden Gun.
Semi-Auto Striker turns rapid Sniper precision shots into Armor Charge, fuelling the Surge and resist mods.
Cauterized Darkness makes debuffed non-bosses take more Solar damage, feeding the Golden Gun burst.
Energy Acceleration supplies Champion coverage to back the sniper — since Still Hunt carries no intrinsic stun, this is where the anti-Champion comes from.
Elemental Daze makes stunning a Champion with the Solar sniper spawn a Solar explosion and debuff, feeding Scorch.
Radiant Shrapnel rewards sustained damage while Radiant or scorched-kill Scorch spread — paying off both verbs this build applies.
Elemental Overdrive grants increased Solar weapon damage from Solar Elemental pickups.
Where it shines
- Boss and miniboss DPS spikes: two Nighthawk shots back-to-back (real Super + AWA), then refill the AWA bar with precision fire and orbs and repeat. Best-in-class burst from a Special slot.
- GM/Master add-clear support: the Primary and Heavy clear the room while the sniper deletes the orange-bar that needs deleting now.
- Champion coverage: Still Hunt breaks no champion intrinsically (manifest champion field is null — it is a 90 RPM Adaptive-frame sniper, not a champion-stunning archetype). All anti-Champion comes from the artifact (Energy Acceleration for the sniper's stun, plus Elemental Daze on the stun payoff) and your Primary's archetype mod. Bring the Primary to cover Barrier/Overload as the strike demands, then Golden-Gun the stunned target.
Mod selection (masterworked — full allocation)
| Piece | Mod · cost | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Helmet (9/10) | Special Ammo Finder 3e | Increases the effect of all contributions towards the Special ammo meter. |
| 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. | |
| Arms (6/10) | 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. | |
| Fastball 1e fill | Increases grenade throw distance. | |
| Chest (6/10) | Solar Resistance 2e fill | Reduces incoming Solar 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) | Solar Weapon Surge 1e | Your Solar weapons gain a small bonus to damage while you have any Armor Charge. Your Armor Charge now decays over time. |
| Solar Weapon Surge 1e | Your Solar weapons gain a small bonus to damage while you have any Armor Charge. Your Armor Charge now decays over time. | |
| Solar Weapon Surge 1e | Your Solar weapons gain a small bonus to damage while you have any Armor Charge. Your Armor Charge now decays over time. | |
| Class Item (4/10) | 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. | |
| Reaper 1e fill | Shortly after using your class ability, your next weapon final blow spawns an Orb of Power. |
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: the Golden Gun element. - **Anti-Champion:** sourced from the artifact; your Primary — Still Hunt breaks no champion on its own (see Champion coverage).