The Jade Rabbit — Firefly Marksman (Solar Hunter)
One gun, one rule: only ever land headshots. Chain precision hits and the mag refills, stability climbs, and the next Firefly explosion gets "greatly increased" damage — so a Kinetic scout becomes a Solar chain-detonator. Build the whole Hunter around never missing a crit: Gunslinger for Radiant, Celestial Nighthawk to convert every precision final blow into Super, and fragments that turn the scorch the explosions spread back into ability energy. Miss a body shot and you literally lose a stack — the fantasy is the discipline.
The weapon
The Fate of All Fools (intrinsic): "Chain precision shots or land precision final blows to refill the magazine, improve stability, and greatly increase the damage of Firefly and body shots. Landing a body shot will remove one stack of the damage bonus."
Firefly (trait): "Precision kills with this weapon increase reload speed and cause the target to explode, dealing Solar damage to nearby enemies."
Catalyst — Amassed Fate: "[Alternate Weapon Action] to consume Fate of all Fools and prime a single Fated Missile that deals increased damage based on the number of stacks consumed."
Every chained crit stacks a damage bonus that does two things: it buffs body shots so you can finish a precision-softened target without breaking the reload loop, and it buffs the Firefly explosion. Firefly deals Solar damage, so a precision kill on a stacked Jade Rabbit is an oversized Solar burst rather than a chip pop — it chains through packs. Because chaining crits also refills the magazine and tightens stability, a crit-only Jade Rabbit self-reloads and never stops ramping. The catalyst is the release valve: dump the accumulated stacks into a single Fated Missile for a burst hit on a priority target. The inversion is the whole discipline — a body shot removes a stack, so the weapon punishes the exact mistake every other primary forgives. Keep it crit-only and it never reloads, never stops climbing.
Loadout
| Slot | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Subclass | Solar Gunslinger | Firefly deals Solar damage — the whole subclass amplifies the explosion the gun cares about. |
| Super |  Golden Gun: Marksman | Celestial converts it into one massive precision shot; the scout's precision final blows refund it. |
| Class ability |  Marksman's Dodge | Full reload mid-fight (insurance for a rare missed-crit stack reset) plus a reposition to a clean head angle. |
| Movement |  Strafe Jump | Precise mid-air control to hold a stable crosshair on head-level lanes. |
| Melee |  Lightweight Knife | A precision knife kill triggers Ember of Torches Radiant, keeping the Solar weapon buff rolling between Firefly chains. |
| Grenade |  Healing Grenade | Cure and sustain at range — the gun is the damage, the grenade keeps you alive. |
| Aspect 1 |  On Your Mark | Precision hits grant reload + Weapons stat, stacking ten times — and this gun is nothing but precision hits, so it stays maxed. |
| Aspect 2 |  Knock 'Em Down | Marksman Golden Gun gets increased duration — more Celestial single-shots per Super cast. |
| Fragments | Torches · Searing · Empyrean · Solace | Radiant on melee, Firesprite/melee off scorched kills, Radiant/Restoration extended and lengthened by the gun's own Solar kills. |
| Exotic armour |  Celestial Nighthawk | Precision final blows cut Super cooldown; Golden Gun fires one high-damage shot for the burst target. |
| Weapons | Solar Special + Heavy | A Solar energy weapon shares the Solar surge and extends Radiant/Empyrean; Heavy covers boss/Unstoppable duty. |
Ember of Torches powered-melee kills make you and allies radiant — your Solar weapon-damage buff
Ember of Searing defeating scorched targets grants melee energy + a Firesprite; Firefly spreads scorch to feed this
Ember of Empyrean Solar weapon/ability final blows extend Radiant and Restoration — the gun's precision kills keep Radiant alive
Ember of Solace Radiant and Restoration last longer
Why it works (the mechanics)
- Every system pays out on the same input — the headshot. Fate of All Fools stacks on crits, On Your Mark stacks on precision hits, Celestial refunds Super on precision final blows, and Ember of Empyrean extends Radiant on Solar kills. There's no rotation to juggle; there's just aim. Land crits and all four engines charge at once.
- Firefly is Solar, and the weapon "greatly increases" its damage. A normal Firefly is a minor add-clear pop; a stacked Jade Rabbit Firefly is a real Solar AoE that chains through a pack. Radiant from Ember of Torches applies to the Jade Rabbit shot itself, so a bigger precision hit feeds a bigger Firefly, whose scorch then feeds Ember of Searing (melee energy + Firesprite).
- Celestial closes the Super loop off the gun, not the Super. Hawkeye Hack reads "Precision final blows reduce the cooldown of your Super" — a crit-only scout is a precision-final-blow machine, so Golden Gun comes back fast. When you cast, it's one high-damage shot for the boss or champion, then straight back to the gun, which is already charging the next Golden Gun.
- On Your Mark stacks the 9.7.0 Weapons stat. It grants reload + Weapons stat and "Stacks ten times"; the Weapons stat adds PvE weapon damage on top of the Fate-of-All-Fools ramp and Radiant — three independent multipliers on the same precision hits, all held up because you never stop critting.
- Body shots are a deliberate failure state, and the build covers them. Marksman's Dodge gives an emergency full reload if a missed crit resets the stacks; the body-shot damage bonus exists so you can finish an already-softened target without resetting, not so you can spray. Discipline in, ramp out.
- The Solar special extends everything. A Solar energy weapon shares the boots' Solar surge (which buffs the Firefly explosion), and its Solar final blows re-extend Radiant and Restoration through Ember of Empyrean — so downtime between Jade Rabbit chains still keeps the buff clock alive.
Stats & mods
Weapons 200 → Class → Health. Weapons is the dump-everything stat: it scales the Jade Rabbit, the Firefly explosion, and stacks with On Your Mark's Weapons-stat grant. Class next keeps Marksman's Dodge — the reload insurance — on a short cooldown. Health as the remaining buffer, since Radiant and Restoration carry survivability.
- Archetype lean: Gunner/Powerhouse pieces (Weapons + Super favoured).
- Mods: - Boots: Solar Weapon Surge ×2 — the Firefly damage is Solar, so a Solar surge buffs the explosion (a Kinetic surge would only touch the body-shot hits). - Arms: Scout Rifle Loader — faster recovery on the rare forced reload. - Chest: Concussive Dampener / resist mods for add-dense survivability. - Class item: Harmonic Siphon — Solar kills print Orbs that feed Celestial's Super loop. - Surge: Solar Weapon Surge (favour the AoE over the raw body-shot hit). - Anti-Champion: delegated to the artifact and heavy slot (the scout breaks no champion intrinsically) — see Where it shines.
Artifact — Implement of Curiosity
This artifact pays off the build's exact inputs — Scout Rifle precision and Solar Radiant — while plugging the Unstoppable gap the Jade Rabbit can't cover.
Picks (2/3/2):
- Tier 1: Semi-Auto Striker · Fever and Chill
- Tier 2: Energy Acceleration · Cauterized Darkness · Elemental Daze
- Tier 3: Radiant Shrapnel · Elemental Overdrive
Semi-Auto Striker — "rapid precision shots with Bows, Snipers, and Scout Rifles generate an Armor Charge" while under 2 stacks; the scout's own precision cadence keeps Armor Charge topped for Surge/Siphon mods.
Fever and Chill — "Rapid precision hits with Solar weapons grant Radiant" — your paired Solar special keeps the ~Radiant weapon buff live on the Firefly shot even when you're off the scout.
Energy Acceleration — the Unstoppable answer ("Strong against Unstoppable Champions") — the champion gap the scout leaves, sourced from the artifact instead of a mod slot.
Cauterized Darkness — "Stasis or Strand debuffed non-boss combatants take increased Solar damage" — amplifies the Solar Firefly burst against debuffed adds.
Elemental Daze — stunning a Champion with an elemental weapon applies a matching elemental debuff, feeding Cauterized Darkness.
Radiant Shrapnel — "sustained weapon damage while Radiant or defeating a scorched combatant… release Solar projectiles" — pays off both core verbs (Radiant + scorch) at once.
Elemental Overdrive — "Picking up an Elemental pickup or Tangle grants increased damage to weapons of the same element" — Firesprite pickups boost the Solar Firefly.
Where it shines
- Add-dense PvE — GMs, Nightfalls, Onslaught, legend content. Firefly chains through trash while Celestial recycles Golden Gun for the orange-bar that needs a burst; the crit-only loop self-reloads, so ammo economy is excellent for a scout.
- Mid-range lanes where a scout's range lets you sit out of melee and farm clean headshots — exactly the discipline the gun demands.
- Champion coverage: the Jade Rabbit breaks no champion intrinsically (manifest champion = none). Unstoppable comes from the artifact's Energy Acceleration; bring anti-Barrier and anti-Overload from your other two weapon slots or the season's champion mods for the given activity.
Mod selection (masterworked — full allocation)
| Piece | Mod · cost | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Helmet (7/10) | Harmonic Siphon 1e | Rapid Arc weapon final blows create an Orb of Power. Rapid Solar weapon final blows create an Orb of Power. Rapid Stasis weapon final blows create an Orb of Power. Rapid Void weapon final blows create an Orb of Power. Rapid Strand weapon final blows create Orbs of Power. |
| 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) | Concussive Dampener 3e | Reduces incoming area-of-effect damage from combatants. |
| Solar Resistance 2e fill | Reduces incoming Solar 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) | Reaper 1e fill | Shortly after using your class ability, your next weapon final blow spawns an Orb of Power. |
| Bomber 1e fill | Reduces grenade cooldown when using your class ability. | |
| Powerful Attraction 2e fill | Automatically collects nearby Orbs of Power when you activate your class ability. |
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 slot (the scout breaks no champion intrinsically) — see Where it shines.