Arc

Trinity Ghoul — Chain Reaction (Hunter)

Add-clear room-eraser — one precision arrow chains the whole pack

✓ Manifest Arc · Primary · No intrinsic champion

Weapon: Trinity Ghoul (Combat Bow · Primary · Arc) · Subclass: Arcstrider · Role: Add-clear room-eraser — one precision arrow chains the whole pack Sandbox: 9.7.0 · Created 2026-06-16

The most iconic add-clear in the game on the class that was built for it. One precision arrow with Lightning Rod up fires a forked bolt that arcs to every body in the room; the catalyst (Forked Lightning) means any Arc kill — not just a bow precision kill — re-arms it, so the chain never stops. Combination Blow stacks the melee, Jolt feeds the kills, Flow State keeps you Amplified, and Trinity Ghoul converts the whole loop into a screen-clearing fork of lightning on a Primary-ammo trigger.

The weapon

Split Electron (intrinsic): "Fires an arrow that splits when released. Aiming down sights and fully drawing the bow both decrease the spread." Lightning Rod (trait): "Precision kills grant the next shot chain-lightning capabilities." Catalyst — Forked Lightning: "Lightning Rod now triggers from any Arc damage final blow."

A precision kill (or, with the catalyst, any Arc final blow) arms Lightning Rod. The next shot fires a fully-drawn arrow that splits into a fan of bolts and arcs chain-lightning between every nearby combatant — the single best body-count-per-trigger in the sandbox. The catalyst is the build: without it you need bow precision kills to re-arm; with it, a grenade kill, a melee kill, a jolt kill, anything Arc re-arms the fork. The chain is so easy to keep lit it functionally becomes the bow's resting state. Arc · Primary ammo (infinite resupply via Special/Heavy bricks), so the room-eraser never runs dry.

Loadout

Slot	Pick	Why
Subclass	Arcstrider	The native home: Jolt + Amplified + Combination Blow all feed Arc kills that re-arm Forked Lightning.
Super	Gathering Storm	Throw-staff jolts a wide area → every jolt kill is a Forked Lightning re-arm; resets a stalled room. (Arc Staff fine if you prefer roaming.)
Class ability	Gambler's Dodge	Near enemies, fully refunds the melee → keeps Combination Blow charged between forks.
Movement	Triple Jump	Air control to hold the fully-drawn ADS line Split Electron wants.
Melee	Combination Blow	Chained melee kills heal, refund dodge, and stack a damage bonus — each kill also re-arms the fork.
Grenade	Arcbolt Grenade	Chains + (with Spark of Shock) jolts the pack → instant jolt kills → Forked Lightning re-arms.
Aspect 1	Flow State	Defeating a jolted target → Amplified (faster reload/melee/dodge regen). The bow jolts constantly, so Amplified is permanent. 2 Fragment slots.
Aspect 2	Lethal Current	After a dodge, next melee jolts + drops a damaging aftershock → more jolt kills feeding the fork; 1 Fragment slot.

Fragments (3, via 2+1 slots)

Spark of Ions jolt kill → Ionic Trace → melee energy back
Spark of Discharge Arc weapon kills → Ionic Trace — the bow makes a flood of them
Spark of Shock your Arc grenades jolt — turns Arcbolt into a Jolt delivery system; −10 Grenade but you run it for kills, not throws

Exotic armour — Liar's Handshake (Gauntlets)

Cross Counter: "Using your Arc melee ability or being hit by a melee attack will allow you to follow up with an extremely powerful melee counterpunch that will heal you."

The bow is the ranged half; Liar's is the panic button and the close-range re-arm. When a melee unit closes, throw the Arc melee (or eat the hit) → the exotic counterpunch one-shots the elite, heals you to full, and that Arc melee kill re-arms Forked Lightning for the next fork. It also stacks Combination Blow without spending the chain. You stay at range firing forks; when something gets in your face, Liar's deletes it, heals you, and reloads the lightning.

Why this works (the mechanics)

The catalyst removes the only friction. Base Lightning Rod needs a bow precision kill to re-arm — awkward mid-horde. Forked Lightning re-arms on any Arc final blow: a grenade chain, a Combination Blow, a Liar's counterpunch, a jolt tick. The fork is lit essentially all the time.
Jolt is the keystone, and four sources keep it up. Arcbolt + Spark of Shock, Lethal Current's melee, Gathering Storm, and the chain-lightning itself all apply Jolt. A jolted target that dies → Forked Lightning re-arm (Arc kill) and an Ionic Trace (Spark of Ions) → melee energy back into Combination Blow.
Flow State makes Amplified permanent. Jolt kills are constant, so you're always Amplified: faster reload (bows are draw-speed-gated, this matters), faster melee/dodge regen, and a small DR. The bow's own kills sustain the buff that makes the bow shoot faster.
The melee/dodge loop is self-funding. Combination Blow kill → heal + dodge refund + damage stack; Gambler's Dodge near enemies fully refunds the melee; Spark of Ions traces top up melee energy. You can fork, dodge, punch, fork again without ever waiting on a cooldown.
Ionic Trace flood = ability uptime. Spark of Discharge (Arc weapon kills) + Spark of Ions (jolt/bolt kills) means the bow personally generates a stream of traces, each returning ability energy — the gun reloads the abilities that reload the gun.
Primary ammo is the quiet superpower. Trinity Ghoul never asks for an ammo brick to clear adds, so Special/Heavy stay fully reserved for the priority targets the fork can't one-shot.

Stats & mods

Weapons 200 → Melee 100 → Class 100+, Health as the dump (Combination Blow heals, Liar's heals, Amplified gives DR, Flow State sustains). Weapons 200 ramps the bow's per-arrow PvE damage so the fork one-shots a wider band of reds/oranges; Melee 100 keeps Combination Blow and the Liar's counterpunch online; Class feeds Gambler's refund.

Mods: Bow Loader + Bow Scavenger (draw speed + reserves), Arc Weapon Surge ×2 on boots (≈+17% Arc damage straight onto the fork), Harmonic/Arc Siphon on the helmet (Arc kills → Orbs — the bow floods them), Orbs of Restoration (orb pickup → ability energy), Heavy/Special Finisher to convert the constant kills into Heavy bricks. Stat tuning: +Weapons/−Health and +Melee/−Health.

Where it shines

Add-dense PvE — strikes, Nightfalls, Onslaught, GM lost sectors, raid/dungeon clear rooms. This is the canonical Trinity Ghoul home: one arrow erases a pack, the catalyst re-arms it off the kills, repeat. Best-in-slot trash clear.
Champions (Anti-Champion 2.0): Trinity Ghoul carries no intrinsic champion stun and Lightweight bow frames map to Overload — but the build's Jolt is the real coverage: jolt interrupts ability casts and pressures Overloads, and on Arcstrider you can run the seasonal Anti-Barrier/Unstoppable artifact mods on your Special/Heavy. Bring a Barrier and an Unstoppable answer in the other two slots — the bow is the add-clear, not the champion-stunner.
Other two slots: a Special weapon with intrinsic/archetype champion stun (e.g. a Barrier-frame Scout or an anti-champion Fusion/GL) and a Heavy for bosses (LMG or rocket). Run Arc where convenient to fold the surge + siphon economy in, but the bow doesn't need them to be Arc.

Verify notes

Element/ammo confirmed from manifest: `inspect_item.py 814876685` → Damage: Arc, Type: Weapon (Combat Bow = Primary ammo). Intrinsic Split Electron + trait Lightning Rod present.
Exotic perk + catalyst quoted verbatim from `docs/encyclopedia/exotics.md` (Split Electron) and `docs/encyclopedia/catalysts.md` (Forked Lightning: "Lightning Rod now triggers from any Arc damage final blow."). Lightning Rod text from `perks.md` line 1712; Forked Lightning from `perks.md` line 1214.
Combination Blow / Disorienting Blow / Gambler's Dodge are not in the encyclopedia perk dump (melee/class abilities aren't fully extracted) — sourced from `docs/knowledge/subclasses_and_aspects.md` §4.2 (Arcstrider). Effects (chained melee kills heal + refund dodge + stack damage; Gambler's refunds melee near enemies) recorded as the knowledge doc states; confirm exact heal/refund numbers in-game.
Flow State, Lethal Current, Liar's Handshake, the three Sparks all verified verbatim in `docs/encyclopedia/aspects.md`, `exotics.md`, and `fragments.md`. Note `exotics.md` and `perks.md` give slightly different Stylish-Executioner-style trigger wording elsewhere — not used here.
Numbers not fabricated: Lightning Rod's chain count/range, Forked Lightning's exact re-arm conditions beyond "any Arc final blow", Amplified's DR %, and Arc Surge's exact bonus (≈+17% at ×2) are behaviour-confirmed but not all numerically in the encyclopedia — verify in-game.
Champion coverage flagged, not invented: the bow has no bespoke champion stun in the manifest data; coverage leans on Jolt + the other two weapon slots + artifact mods. Stated explicitly above.
Set bonuses intentionally omitted — garnish, not a driver. Any Arc-flavoured set (e.g. an Amplified/Arc-kill 2pc) is optional once the stats above are met.

Mod selection (masterworked — full allocation)

Piece	Mod · cost	What it does
Helmet (7/10)	Arc Siphon 3e	Rapid Arc weapon final blows create an Orb of Power.
	Ashes to Assets 3e fill	Gain bonus Super energy on grenade kills.
	Heavy Ammo Finder 1e fill	Increases the effect of all contributions towards the Heavy ammo meter.
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 (5/10)	Arc Resistance 1e fill	Reduces incoming Arc 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)	Arc Scavenger 1e	Arc weapons get bonus reserves when picking up ammo used by that weapon.
	Arc Weapon Surge 1e	Your Arc weapons gain a small bonus to damage while you have any Armor Charge. Your Armor Charge now decays over time.
	Arc Weapon Surge 1e	Your Arc weapons gain a small bonus to damage while you have any Armor Charge. Your Armor Charge now decays over time.
Class Item (3/10)	Special Finisher 1e	Finishers generate Special ammo for the whole fireteam.
	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.

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: +Melee/−Health.