Tommy's Matchbook — Burn Notice (Solar Hunter)

Centerpiece: Tommy's Matchbook (Auto Rifle · Primary · Solar) · Subclass: Solar Gunslinger · Role: Self-scorching add-clear ignition engine Sandbox: 9.7.0 · Updated 2026-07-03

Hold the trigger until the gun catches fire. Tommy's punishes you with a self-burn for sustained fire, so build the entire kit to want that burn: the catalyst turns the overheat into a cure-on-kill, sustained fire stacks scorch on the target, and Solar Gunslinger converts that scorch into ignitions that heal, refund melee, and make Orbs. The only real cost becomes the ammo economy. You never stop holding the trigger.

The weapon

Ignition Trigger (intrinsic): "Sustained fire with this weapon overheats it, increasing damage but burning the user."

Heat of the Moment (catalyst): "While Ignition Trigger is active, final blows with this weapon cure you and sustained fire scorches your target."

The longer you hold the trigger, the more the gun heats — past the overheat threshold it deals more damage but chips your own health. The catalyst flips that liability into the build's core loop: once overheated, final blows cure you (offsetting the self-burn) and sustained fire applies scorch to whatever you're shooting. A 720-RPM Solar auto hosing scorch stacks into a target is exactly the input the Gunslinger ignition economy is built to consume — every scorched target that dies (or tips past the ignition threshold) becomes a Solar detonation the rest of the kit feeds on. Without the catalyst this is a damage gun with a health tax; with it, the gun heals you and seeds ignitions on its own, so the whole ability loadout can be pure payoff instead of scorch-application.

Loadout

Slot	Pick	Why
Subclass	Solar Gunslinger	The only subclass whose entire verb set (scorch → ignite) consumes Tommy's catalyst output.
Super	Golden Gun: Marksman	On-theme priority delete; Knock 'Em Down extends its duration. Swap to Blade Barrage for more ignition spam if you prefer.
Class ability	Marksman's Dodge	Instant Tommy reload between overheats — keeps the heat/scorch loop unbroken.
Movement	Triple Jump	Maximum air control to reposition mid-overheat and keep line of sight on the pack you're cooking.
Melee	Lightweight Knife	Precision-kill → On Your Mark stacks + Firesprite fuel; cheap, fast, on-Solar. (Swap to Proximity Knife to claim Caliban's full melee loop — see below.)
Grenade	Healing Grenade	Extra cure layer on top of the catalyst; feeds ability regen on the heal.
Aspect 1	On Your Mark	Class-ability/precision hits → reload + Weapons-stat bonus — Tommy lands a hose of precision hits, so this stays near-permanent.
Aspect 2	Gunpowder Gamble	Defeating targets charges a Solar explosive → a free ignition you throw on demand; pure synergy with a scorch-spamming primary.
Fragments	Char · Searing · Blistering · Empyrean · Wonder	Turn Tommy's free scorch into chained ignitions, melee/Firesprite, grenade energy, rolling restoration, and Orbs.
Exotic armour	Caliban's Hand (Gauntlets)	No auto-rifle damage exotic exists, so the best pick closes Tommy's scorch loop: your scorch drip-feeds melee, ignition final blows fully refund it.
Weapons	Solar Special + heavy MG/Rocket	Special extends the surge/heal theme; heavy is your boss DPS and champion-stun archetype (Tommy stuns nothing).

Why it works (the mechanics)

• The catalyst inverts the downside. Ignition Trigger taxes your health for sustained fire; Heat of the Moment makes final blows cure and sustained fire scorch. You are now paid — heal plus scorch — for doing the one thing the gun penalises, so the "drawback" exotic becomes a self-healing add-clear primary.
• Scorch is the currency, and Tommy mints it for free. Every other ignition build spends an ability to apply scorch; Tommy applies it just by being held on a target. That frees the whole ability kit to be pure payoff — Caliban's melee, Gunpowder Gamble, and every Ember fragment fire off scorch that cost nothing but trigger time.
• Ember of Char chains the ignitions. One ignition spreads scorch to everything nearby (Char) → those targets ignite → Ember of Wonder turns rapid ignition kills into Orbs → Ember of Searing turns scorched-target kills into melee + Firesprites. A single held burst on a pack cascades into an AoE ignition chain plus a pile of orbs.
• Caliban's makes the melee self-funding. Scorch (from Tommy) grants a small amount of melee energy per proc; an ignition final blow fully refunds melee and can overflow an extra knife charge. The melee that causes ignitions is paid for by ignitions — a closed loop with no real cooldown, provided you equip Proximity Knife to claim Caliban's full package.
• On Your Mark stacks the Weapons stat off precision. Tommy lands continuous precision hits → On Your Mark stacks → reload (keeps the overheat loop fed) plus a Weapons-stat bonus, which adds PvE weapon damage on top of the overheat damage bonus. Two damage sources from just holding the trigger on a head.
• Gunpowder Gamble is a free, on-demand ignition. Add-clear charges it; you throw it at the next dense pack or a champion to manufacture an ignition Tommy would otherwise need a kill to start. It is the manual igniter when passive scorch has not yet tipped a target over.
• The heal stack is redundant on purpose. Catalyst cure-on-kill + Healing Grenade + Empyrean-extended restoration + the ability regen on cure means three independent sources out-heal the self-burn, so the overheat damage window is essentially free HP-wise.

Stats & mods

Weapons 200 → Health → Class → Melee. On Your Mark adds Weapons stat on top, so a 200 base turns Tommy into a wrecking ball during the overheat window; Health next to comfortably eat the self-burn before the cure lands; Class to keep Marksman's Dodge reloads frequent; Melee rounds out the Caliban's loop.

Archetype lean: Gunner / Powerhouse pieces (Weapons + Super-leaning), letting the heal stack cover the Health you trade toward Weapons.

Mods:

• Boots: Solar Weapon Surge ×2 (Solar weapon damage straight onto Tommy) · Innervation/Recuperation off the orb flood.
• Arms: Melee Font · Firepower or Heavy Handed for extra ability economy.
• Chest: Solar/Arc/Void Resistance trio under the catalyst heal layer.
• Class item: Bomber + Powerful Attraction (dodge vacuums the Orbs you flood).
• Surge: Solar Weapon Surge — matches Tommy's element for the damage boost during overheat.
• Anti-Champion: none native — Tommy carries no anti-champion mod, so slot the seasonal artifact's auto-rifle anti-Barrier/Overload mod when the column offers it, or run the stun on your other two weapons.

Artifact — Implement of Curiosity

The Solar-leaning artifact: it pays off the exact two currencies Tommy mints for free — Radiant and Scorch — and pours extra Solar damage into the ignition chain.

Picks (2/3/2):

• Tier 1: Fever and Chill · Elemental Benevolence
• Tier 2: Cauterized Darkness · Elemental Coalescence · Shoulder to Shoulder
• Tier 3: Radiant Shrapnel · Shieldcrush

• Fever and Chill turns rapid precision Solar hits into Radiant; Tommy's precision hose keeps it near-permanent, layering a weapon-damage buff on top of overheat.
• Elemental Benevolence refunds class ability energy when you share Radiant/Healing Grenade buffs — faster Marksman's Dodge reloads, which keeps the overheat loop fed.
• Cauterized Darkness makes scorched/debuffed adds take extra Solar damage — buffs Tommy and every ignition against the exact targets the build scorches.
• Elemental Coalescence drops Solar elemental pickups on kills, feeding the orb/heal flood.
• Shoulder to Shoulder grants damage resistance for sustained precision fire near allies, stacked under the catalyst heal for GM survivability.
• Radiant Shrapnel releases shrapnel from sustained fire while Radiant or on a scorched-target kill — it pays off BOTH currencies Tommy generates at once.
• Shieldcrush rewards Radiant with faster, harder melee — feeding the Caliban's knife loop.

Where it shines

• Add-clear / horde content (Battlegrounds, Nightfall trash waves, Onslaught): a self-healing Solar primary that ignites packs and never runs dry on abilities. Held trigger → scorch → ignition chain (Char) → orbs (Wonder) → repeat.
• Sustained-uptime survival: the catalyst cure + Healing Grenade + Empyrean restoration make it a comfortable solo/contest-clear primary.
• Champion coverage: Tommy's Matchbook stuns no champion type intrinsically (manifest champion field is null). Break Barrier/Overload via the seasonal artifact's auto-rifle anti-champion mods slotted directly onto Tommy when available, otherwise carry the stun on your other two weapon slots. Ignitions stagger many Unstoppables on contact, but do not rely on it as your only answer.

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: so slot the seasonal artifact's auto-rifle anti-Barrier/Overload mod when the column offers it; or run the stun on your other two weapons.