Sunshot — Explosion-Chain Add Clear (Hunter)

Weapon: Sunshot (Hand Cannon · Primary · Solar) · Subclass: Gunslinger (Solar) · Role: Solar add-clear engine — one kill detonates the whole room Sandbox: 9.7.0 · Created 2026-06-16

Point Sunshot at a pack and the first body that drops takes the next three with it. Every kill is a Solar explosion that scorches the survivors, every scorch stack feeds an ignition, and every ignition is another explosion. The hand cannon does the room-clearing; Gunslinger turns the corpses into ability energy, healing and Orbs. You barely touch the trigger after the first shot.

The weapon

Sunshot's intrinsic Sunburn (verbatim): "This weapon fires explosive rounds and highlights targets that take damage from Sunshot." In practice every kill detonates in a Solar explosion that damages and scorches nearby targets, and the highlight tracks who's hurt so the chain finds the next victim. It's a Primary, so ammo is never the constraint — this runs all day.

Catalyst — Loose Change (verbatim): "Applying an elemental debuff to a target increases this weapon's reload speed, aim assist, and movement while aiming down sights for a short duration." Sunshot scorches constantly (scorch is the elemental debuff), so the catalyst's reload/aim/strafe buff is effectively always live — the gun handles like a much lighter HC the moment the chain starts.

Loadout

Slot	Pick	Why
Super	Golden Gun: Marksman	On-theme Solar nuke for the priority target; precision hits make Orbs (feeds the orb economy). Take Deadshot/Blade Barrage if you prefer — the gun is the build.
Class ability	Gambler's Dodge	Refunds melee near enemies and triggers Wormhusk's Cure on every cast.
Movement	Triple Jump	Air control to reposition over packs.
Melee	Lightweight Knife	Cheap precision-knife to top up the scorch/ignition loop and proc Ember of Torches Radiant.
Grenade	Healing Grenade (flex)	An "oh no" button; the gun is the damage. Swap to any Solar grenade for more scorch.
Aspect 1	Gunpowder Gamble	"Defeat targets to charge up an improvised Solar explosive." Sunshot's explosion kills charge it fast; throw + shoot it for a second AoE nuke that scorches/ignites on top of the chain.
Aspect 2	On Your Mark	Precision hits / class-ability casts grant +Weapons stat and reload, stacking ×10 → Restoration at max (9.7.0). Sunshot precision hits keep it pinned.

Exotic armour — Wormhusk Crown (Helmet)

Verbatim: "Activating your class ability grants Cure. Rapid Solar final blows grant stacks of Burning Souls that increase Solar ability damage, increase the potency of Dodge's healing, and spreads the healing to nearby allies."

This is the weapon-centric pick, not a knife exotic: Sunshot's rapid Solar final blows are exactly what Burning Souls wants, and there is nothing on Solar Hunter that produces rapid Solar kills faster than an explosion chain. So Sunshot self-stacks Burning Souls → bigger Gunpowder Gamble / Golden Gun / ignition damage, stronger dodge-healing, and team healing as a side effect of normal add-clear. Cure-on-dodge gives a panic heal that pairs with the Empyrean/On Your Mark restoration. (Caliban's Hand is the knife-build exotic; here the gun is the engine, so the gun's exotic is the right call.)

Why this works (the mechanics)

• The kill condition and the spread condition are the same event. Sunburn makes every kill a scorching Solar explosion. Scorch on the survivors stacks toward an ignition (a second, bigger Solar explosion), which Ember of Char spreads more scorch off — so one Sunshot kill into a clustered pack rolls forward as explosion → scorch → ignition → scorch with no extra trigger pulls. Density is the damage stat.
• The catalyst is always on. Loose Change fires off applying an elemental debuff; Sunshot scorches on essentially every hit, so the reload/aim-assist/ strafe buff is permanent in add content. The gun never feels sluggish mid-chain.
• The chain pays for every ability. A single explosion-chain feeds four meters at once: Ember of Wonder spawns Orbs off ignition multikills, Ember of Searing refunds melee + a Firesprite off scorched kills, On Your Mark stacks Weapons stat + reload off precision hits, and Burning Souls ramps Solar ability damage. Guns reload the abilities; abilities don't gate the guns.
• On Your Mark double-dips the 9.7.0 Weapons stat. Its stacks grant Weapons stat, which is a flat PvE weapon-damage multiplier vs minors/majors — so landing Sunshot precision hits makes Sunshot itself hit harder, on top of the explosion AoE. Max stacks also hand you Restoration.
• Anti-Champion 2.0 is covered by the other slots, not Sunshot. Stun is intrinsic to weapon archetypes now; Sunshot (a 120 Adaptive-frame Solar HC) isn't a champion-stun frame, so the Special/Heavy carry Barrier/Unstoppable/ Overload (see Stats & mods). Scorch/ignition still staggers and softens champions for the team via Queensfoil's Revitalizing Blast option.
• It buffs the fireteam for free. Burning Souls spreads its healing to nearby allies, Ember of Wonder's orbs feed everyone, and Queensfoil's Heart of the Flame throws Radiant to allies on Golden Gun — all as a side effect of the normal loop.

Stats & mods

Weapons 200 → Health 100+ → Class. Weapons is the priority: it scales Sunshot's per-shot damage and stacks with On Your Mark; Class fuels Gambler's refund and faster dodges (more Cure / Burning Souls heals). Archetypes: Powerhouse or Gunner-primary pieces (Weapons-favoured), Specialist for the Class sliver.

• Helmet: Wormhusk Crown (exotic) · Solar Siphon (Solar kills → Orbs — Sunshot makes a flood) · Hands-On if running Golden Gun often.
• Gauntlets: Hand Cannon Loader · Melee Font (tops Lightweight Knife uptime).
• Chest: Arc + Void Resistance (flat DR under the Cure/Restoration layers).
• Boots: Solar Weapon Surge ×2 (≈+17% Solar weapon damage straight onto Sunshot) · Recuperation (orb pickup → heal).
• Class item: Powerful Attraction (dodge vacuums Orbs) · Reaper (post-dodge kill → extra Orb) · Class Font.
• Stat tuning: +Weapons mods where you can spare Health; the build runs Cure, Restoration, Empyrean extension and Burning Souls healing, so Health is the cheapest stat to trade.

Surge / Siphon / Font / Loader / Recuperation are CWL armour-charge mods. They live in `docs/knowledge/` (the encyclopedia `mods.md` only carries the stat-tune and intrinsic-armour plugs, not the combat mod table) — flagged in Verify notes.

Where it shines

• Add-dense PvE — strikes, GMs, Onslaught, seasonal activities. Sunshot is a room-clearer first; a single chain wipes a pack and refills your kit. The denser the encounter, the harder the explosion chain snowballs.
• Team play. Burning Souls heals nearby allies, the orb flood (Wonder + Solar Siphon + Reaper) feeds the fireteam, and Golden Gun + Heart of the Flame hands out Radiant. Solo-viable, fireteam-generous.
• Not a boss-DPS pick. Explosions and ignitions are add/major tech; bring the Heavy for single-target. Golden Gun: Marksman is your spike for an orange bar.

Other two slots

• Special — a champion frame you lack. Sunshot doesn't stun, so cover two champion types here: a Heavy Burst HC (Unstoppable) or Spread Shot HC (Overload) if you want to stay HC, or a Barrier-frame Special (e.g. a Strand/Stasis sniper) to round out coverage. A Solar Special keeps your Surge mods single-element.
• Heavy — single-target / boss insurance. A Machine Gun for sustained DPS or a Rocket/LFR for burst — whatever Sunshot's add-clear doesn't personally execute. Matches the third champion type your Special doesn't cover.

Artifact — Queensfoil Censer (Season of the Wish)

The Solar Radiant/ignition engine, same pick as the other Solar Hunter HC builds:

• Flint Striker — rapid Solar precision → Radiant (+weapon damage, and +10% vs champions in 9.7.0).
• Kindling Trigger — while Radiant, Solar weapons scorch unscorched targets (more scorch into the chain).
• Rays of Precision — while Radiant, Solar precision final blows ignite (yes — more ignitions, the whole point of the build).
• Solo Operative (9.7.0 rework) — precision final blows grant scaling weapon damage until you die; Revitalizing Blast instead if you want Solar-ability damage to weaken champions/bosses for the team.