The Manticore — Flying Monster (Void Hunter)

Centerpiece: The Manticore (Submachine Gun · Primary · Void) · Subclass: Nightstalker · Role: Airborne Void add-clear / self-sustain skirmisher Sandbox: 9.7.0 · Updated 2026-07-03

The only Void SMG that wants you off the ground. Soaring Fang turns ground kills into antigrav fuel and airborne fire into hang-time; the catalyst then pays airborne damage against tough targets with a Void overshield, a blind, and ammo straight back to the mag. Lion Rampant makes it real — airborne firing during Lift, plus the aerial handling a hip-fire SMG needs to actually land shots while floating. Stay airborne, stay alive, never reload.

The weapon

Soaring Fang (intrinsic): Dealing damage while grounded charges antigrav repulsors. Dealing damage while airborne extends antigrav repulsors.

Catalyst — Flying Monster: While you are airborne, sustained damage and final blows with this weapon to difficult combatants grant a Void overshield, reduce combatant accuracy, and return ammo to the magazine.

The intrinsic is a flight system: kill on the ground to charge the repulsors, then go airborne and keep dealing damage to extend the hover — the gun holds you up as long as you keep shooting. The catalyst is the reward for committing to the air: against difficult combatants (majors, minibosses, champions, bosses) sustained airborne fire grants a Void overshield for survival, reduces the target's accuracy so incoming damage drops at the source, and refunds ammo to the mag so you never land to reload. Grounded, it is a fast, stable 900-RPM Void primary; airborne, it becomes a self-healing, never-reload, debuffing hover platform — the whole build is arranged to keep you in that airborne window.

Loadout

Slot	Pick	Why
Subclass	Nightstalker (Void)	The Void overshield / Devour ecosystem the catalyst plugs straight into, with an aerial dive aspect to match the airborne loop.
Super	Shadowshot: Deadfall	Tether weakens, suppresses and groups the pack — turns a room into stationary "difficult combatants" for catalyst procs, and weaken thins champ health.
Class ability	Marksman's Dodge	Instantly reloads the Manticore and vacuums ammo bricks if you ever touch down — the backup for the catalyst's air-only ammo return.
Movement	Triple Jump	Maximum hang time and mid-air redirects to stay inside the catalyst's airborne window.
Melee	Snare Bomb	Throw for invisibility and a weakening smoke; a debuffed kill in the smoke arms Stylish Executioner.
Grenade	Magnetic Grenade	Attaches and double-detonates; with Echo of Undermining it weakens the priority target, manufacturing catalyst eligibility.
Aspect 1	Trapper's Ambush	Air move → dive slam whose damage is greatly increased while you hold any Void status — the catalyst overshield qualifies — so the reposition dive is itself an AoE nuke.
Aspect 2	Stylish Executioner	Any elemental-debuffed kill grants invisibility and Truesight — a free disengage and reset between hover passes.
Fragments	Undermining · Starvation · Harvest · Persistence	Manufacture Weaken, convert it to Orbs/Void Breaches/Devour, and stretch every Void buff (see below).
Exotic armour	Lion Rampant (Leg Armor)	Enables airborne firing during Lift and grants aerial handling + Airborne Effectiveness so a hip-fire SMG actually lands shots in the air — the piece that makes Soaring Fang a playstyle.
Weapons	Barrier special + Unstoppable heavy	The Manticore has no intrinsic champion breaker, so the other two slots carry Barrier and Unstoppable (e.g. a Barrier Pulse/Scout and an Unstoppable MG/GL for boss damage).

Why it works (the mechanics)

• Soaring Fang plus Lion Rampant is the engine. Kill grounded → repulsors charge → Lift (airborne firing enabled by Lion Rampant) → damage extends the hover → the catalyst kicks in airborne for overshield, blind and ammo. Clarity confirms Lion Rampant enables hip-fire during Lift, cuts accuracy-cone size ~70%, and passively grants 50 Airborne Effectiveness — the fixes that make air shots consistent enough to keep the loop spinning.
• The catalyst stacks three survival layers at once. A Void overshield is raw HP, the reduced-accuracy blind cuts incoming damage at the source, and Devour (from Trapper's Ambush and Echo of Starvation) tops your health per kill — three reasons the squishiest airborne position becomes the safest.
• Ammo return removes the reload. Airborne damage against difficult combatants refunds the magazine, so you never land to reload — the single biggest thing that would break the hover loop. Marksman's Dodge is the fallback only if you do touch down.
• Trapper's Ambush is built for this. Its damage is greatly increased while you hold any Void status, and the catalyst's overshield is a Void status — so the dive you would take to reposition becomes a Void-empowered slam, healing on hit and granting Devour on kill. Higher Class stat feeds its ability energy, which is why Class is the stat target.
• Weaken manufactures catalyst targets. The catalyst wants difficult combatants; Magnetic Grenade (via Echo of Undermining) and Deadfall's tether weaken the priority and the pack. Weaken is a debuff-bucket multiplier, so the target you proc the catalyst against also eats more from every round.
• The Void economy is self-feeding. Weakened kills (Echo of Harvest) drop an Orb and a Void Breach → pick either up → Devour (Echo of Starvation) → Echo of Persistence stretches every Void buff (Invisibility, Overshield, Devour). Stylish Executioner converts any debuffed kill into invis + Truesight for a clean reset. You make your own orbs, Devour and disengage.

Stats & mods

Class 200 → Weapons → Health. Lean into the Class stat: it feeds Marksman's Dodge and Trapper's Ambush uptime. Push Weapons next for Manticore add-clear damage, and dump Health on purpose — the catalyst overshield, Devour and the target-blind are your real health bar.

Mods:

• Boots (Lion Rampant): Orbs of Restoration (orb pickup → ability energy) · Recuperation.
• Arms: Void Loader (reloads the Manticore if you land) · Grenade Font · Class Font (drive Class toward 200).
• Chest: Arc / Solar / Void Resistance ×1 each — flat DR stacked under the overshield.
• Class item: Powerful Attraction (dodge vacuums orbs into Devour/energy) · Reaper.
• Surge: Void Weapon Surge ×2 (routes surge damage onto the Manticore).
• Anti-Champion: none intrinsic to the Manticore — slot the season's anti-champion where the artifact and your other two weapons don't already cover Barrier/Overload/Unstoppable.

Artifact — Slayer Baron Apothecary Satchel

The Void column of this artifact is the engine room for the Manticore's Weaken → Void Breach → Devour → Orb loop, and since the Manticore breaks no champion on its own, the artifact and the other two weapons carry champion duty while the Void picks pour into sustain and add-clear.

Picks (2/3/2):

• Tier 1: Power From Pain · The Thick Of It
• Tier 2: Void Renewal · Curative Orbs · Debilitating Wave
• Tier 3: Supernova · Old God's Rite

• Power From Pain turns rapid kills on weakened targets into Devour and a Void Breach — the exact verb the build manufactures with Undermining and Deadfall.
• The Thick Of It grants Armor Charge from airborne kills while surrounded (fuel for the Void Surges) and its handling bonus tames the air-spread.
• Void Renewal generates Void Breaches from Void weapon kills under Devour — the hover loop becomes a Breach factory.
• Curative Orbs makes an Orb on the first shield break of each target, feeding Harvest / Starvation and Orbs of Restoration.
• Debilitating Wave weakens the pack off a Void finisher, hand-feeding the catalyst its "difficult combatant" targets.
• Supernova turns a picked-up Void Breach into a weakening pulse on your next Void damage — more Weaken on the priority you are already shooting.
• Old God's Rite rains seeking projectiles from Void weapon damage after a Breach — passive airborne add-clear off the same Breach economy.

Where it shines

• Add-dense PvE — Vanguard Ops, Battlegrounds, patrol, lower-tier Nightfalls: the airborne loop runs fastest where there is a constant supply of grounded kills to charge repulsors and majors to proc the catalyst. Endlessly sustaining, never reloading, always moving.
• PvP / Crucible skirmishing: Lion Rampant + Soaring Fang is a genuine air-duel package — hip-fire accuracy in the air, the catalyst's blind on whoever you are shooting, and an overshield to win the trade. A real niche, not just PvE flavour.
• Champion coverage: the Manticore breaks no champion intrinsically (manifest champion field is null). Bring all three types from the artifact's anti-champion mods and the other two weapon slots — a Barrier special and an Unstoppable heavy — with Deadfall's suppress + weaken handling ability-spam elites and thinning champ health for the team.

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). Flex/loadout-dependent: your other two weapons don't already cover Barrier/Overload/Unstoppable.