Trinity Ghoul — Chain Reaction (Hunter)

Centerpiece: Trinity Ghoul (Combat Bow · Primary · Arc) · Subclass: Arcstrider · Role: Add-clear room-eraser — one precision arrow chains the whole pack Sandbox: 9.7.0 · Updated 2026-06-29

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 while the bow is held. 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, which is awkward mid-horde; with it, a grenade chain, a Combination Blow, a Liar's counterpunch or a single Jolt tick re-arms the fork, so it stays lit essentially all the time and becomes the bow's resting state. The community data notes the one condition: Trinity Ghoul must be held to receive Lightning Rod, so you re-arm it by drawing the bow, not by swapping back to it after the kill. Arc · Primary ammo means the room-eraser never runs dry — Special and Heavy bricks stay fully reserved.

Loadout

Slot	Pick	Why
Subclass	Arcstrider	The native home: Jolt, Amplified and Combination Blow all feed Arc kills that re-arm Forked Lightning.
Super	Gathering Storm	Throw the staff to embed it and call a lightning strike that Jolts a wide area → every Jolt kill is a Forked Lightning re-arm; resets a stalled room. (Arc Staff is fine if you prefer roaming.)
Class ability	Gambler's Dodge	Dodging within 15m of an enemy doubles the melee refund (up to a full charge) → keeps Combination Blow charged between forks.
Movement	Triple Jump	Air control to hold the fully-drawn ADS line Split Electron wants for a tight fork.
Melee	Combination Blow	Chained melee kills heal, refund dodge and stack a damage bonus — each kill also re-arms the fork as an Arc final blow.
Grenade	Arcbolt Grenade	Chains between targets and, with Spark of Shock, Jolts the pack → instant Jolt kills → Forked Lightning re-arms.
Aspect 1	Flow State	"Defeating a jolted target makes you amplified." The bow Jolts constantly, so Amplified is effectively permanent. 2 Fragment slots.
Aspect 2	Lethal Current	After a dodge, your next melee gains lunge, Jolts the target and drops a damaging aftershock → more Jolt kills feeding the fork. 1 Fragment slot.
Fragments	Spark of Ions · Spark of Discharge · Spark of Shock	The trace + Jolt economy: Arc/Jolt kills flood Ionic Traces, the grenade becomes a Jolt-delivery tool.
Exotic armour	Liar's Handshake (Gauntlets)	The close-range panic button: Cross Counter one-shots and heals when a melee unit closes, and that Arc melee kill re-arms the fork.
Weapons	Special with a champion stun + Heavy boss-killer	Trinity Ghoul clears adds for free; the other two slots cover champions and bosses (e.g. a Barrier scout + an LMG or rocket).

Why it works (the mechanics)

• The catalyst removes the only friction. Base Lightning Rod needs a bow precision kill to re-arm. Forked Lightning re-arms on any Arc final blow — a grenade chain, a Combination Blow, a Liar's counterpunch, a Jolt tick — so the fork is lit nearly all the time. The only gotcha is that the bow must be held when the kill lands, so you draw to re-arm rather than weapon-swapping back in.
• 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 is both a Forked Lightning re-arm (Arc kill) and an Ionic Trace via Spark of Ions, which returns ability energy into Combination Blow.
• Flow State makes Amplified permanent. Jolt kills are constant, so you stay Amplified: faster reload (bows are draw-speed-gated, so this is felt directly), faster melee and dodge regen, and a small damage-resistance buff. The bow's own kills sustain the buff that makes the bow shoot faster.
• The melee/dodge loop is self-funding. A Combination Blow kill heals, refunds dodge and stacks damage; Gambler's Dodge within 15m of an enemy doubles the refund (up to a full melee charge); Spark of Ions traces top up melee energy. You can fork, dodge, punch and fork again without ever waiting on a cooldown.
• Ionic Trace flood = ability uptime. Spark of Discharge (Arc weapon final blows) and Spark of Ions (Jolt/Bolt-Charge kills) mean the bow personally generates a stream of traces, each returning ability energy — the gun reloads the abilities that reload the gun.
• Liar's is the close-range insurance. Cross Counter grants 400% additional base melee damage and restores 40 HP on the counterpunch, so when a melee unit closes you throw the Arc melee (or eat the hit), delete the elite, heal, and the Arc-melee kill re-arms the fork — all without spending the chain itself.
• Primary ammo is the quiet superpower. Trinity Ghoul never asks for an ammo brick to clear adds, so Special and Heavy stay fully reserved for the priority targets the fork can't one-shot.

Stats & mods

Weapons 200 → Melee 100 → Class 100+. Health is the dump — Combination Blow heals, Liar's heals 40 per counterpunch, Amplified adds DR and Flow State sustains it, so you do not need armour Health. Weapons 200 ramps the bow's per-arrow PvE damage so the fork one-shots a wider band of reds and oranges; Melee 100 keeps Combination Blow and the Liar's counterpunch online; Class feeds Gambler's refund.

Mods:

• Boots: Bow Scavenger (bow reserves) + Recuperation (Orb pickup → health, a top-up on the Combination Blow heal).
• Arms: Bow Loader (faster draw — the bow's only real reload gate, and Amplified stacks on top).
• Chest: Concussive Dampener (cuts combatant AoE so you can hold the fully-drawn ADS line in a horde).
• Class item: Orbs of Restoration (Orb pickup → energy to your emptiest ability) + Special Finisher (Orb collected → a temporary Armor Charge to keep the Surge lit).
• Surge: Arc Weapon Surge ×2 (+17% Arc damage in PvE at two mods, straight onto the fork). Run Harmonic/Arc Siphon on the helmet (Arc kills → Orbs — the bow floods them, feeding the Restoration and Finisher loop).
• Anti-Champion: No armour-slot stun exists; the build's 2/3/2 also omits the artifact's only champion mod (Kinetic Impacts, Unstoppable, Grenade-Launcher-gated). Coverage is Jolt (interrupts casts, pressures Overload) plus the other two weapon slots — bring a Barrier answer and an Unstoppable answer there.

Artifact — Slayer Baron Apothecary Satchel

Picks (2/3/2): Trace Evidence + The Thick Of It · Retinal Burn + Curative Orbs + Debilitating Wave · Arc Compounding + Conductive Cosmic Crystal

The Arc / Jolt / Blind economy this build already runs is exactly what this artifact rewards: Jolt and Blind kills feed Ionic Traces, the bow's precision shots blind whole packs, and Blind targets eat extra Arc damage — the fork hits harder while the traces reload your abilities. Champion answers ride the Special/Heavy slots, not this menu.

• Trace Evidence (T1): rapid precision/final blows on Jolted or Blind targets → Ionic Traces, and trace pickups grant Armor Charge — the bow's core trace flood, now also fuelling the Surge.
• The Thick Of It (T1): rapid final blows while surrounded → Armor Charge + increased weapon handling. You are always surrounded, and faster handling speeds the draw.
• Retinal Burn (T2): rapid Arc precision hits spend an Armor Charge to trigger a blinding burst — adds Blind to the loop, a precision bow's bread and butter.
• Curative Orbs (T2): shield break → Orb of Power, and elemental/orb pickups grant health — folds into Orbs of Restoration and the Siphon flood.
• Debilitating Wave (T2): Arc Super equipped → finisher wave Jolts and Blinds the pack, a manual reset that lights both debuffs at once.
• Arc Compounding (T3) + Conductive Cosmic Crystal (T3): Arc sources deal increased damage to Blind targets, and Arc abilities hit debuffed targets harder — Retinal Burn keeps the room lit so the fork and your abilities both compound.

Where it shines

• Add-dense PvE — strikes, Nightfalls, Onslaught, GM lost sectors, raid and 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.
• Sustained survivability in a horde. Between Combination Blow heals, Liar's 40-HP counterpunches, permanent Amplified DR and Concussive Dampener, you can hold the drawn ADS line in the middle of a pack the fork is busy deleting.
• Champion coverage: Trinity Ghoul carries no intrinsic champion stun (manifest champion: null), so the bow is the add-clear, not the champion-stunner. Jolt does the real work — it interrupts ability casts and pressures Overloads — and the chosen artifact 2/3/2 deliberately skips the GL-gated Unstoppable mod. Bring a Barrier answer and an Unstoppable answer in the other two slots (e.g. a Barrier scout + an anti-Champion Heavy), and run them Arc where convenient to fold in the Surge and Siphon economy.

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: feeding the Restoration; Finisher loop). - **Anti-Champion:** No armour-slot stun exists; the build's 2/3/2 also omits the artifact's only champion mod (Kinetic Impacts; Unstoppable; Grenade-Launcher-gated). Coverage is Jolt (interrupts casts; pressures Overload) plus the other two weapon slots — bring a Barrier answer; an Unstoppable answer there.