Vexcalibur — Overshield Wall (Hunter)

Weapon: Vexcalibur (Glaive · Special · Void) · Subclass: Nightstalker (Void) · Role: Front-line tank — perma Void Overshield + Volatile gunplay Sandbox: 9.7.0 · Created 2026-06-16

A glaive whose shield gives armour instead of just eating damage. Block a hit and you bleed Void Overshields to yourself and the whole team; Graviton Forfeit's max-invis overshield stacks the same buff from the other direction. The whole build is one verb — Void Overshield — kept up two ways at once, with Volatile Rounds and invis bolted on so the gunplay feeds the tanking and the tanking buys time for the gunplay. Stand in the doorway. Don't move.

The weapon

M1R Distribution Matrix (verbatim): "Fires a spread. Equipped with a quick-draining shield. Blocking damage with your shield gradually bestows Void overshields to yourself and nearby allies."

Catalyst: none in the manifest snapshot (no Vexcalibur catalyst entry in `catalysts.md` — see Verify notes). Design assumes the base perk only.

What it does: it's a Void Special glaive. Glaive melee + projectile spread for the offence; the guard is the build. Holding block while taking fire ramps a Void Overshield on you and nearby allies — a rare team-wide DR source that costs nothing but standing still. The overshield is the keystone every Void Hunter tool below either consumes or re-applies.

Loadout

Slot	Pick	Why
Subclass	Nightstalker (Void)	The only class where overshield, invis and Volatile all share one kit.
Super	Shadowshot: Deadfall	Tether weakens + groups a pack — sets up Volatile/invis kills while you hold the line.
Class ability	Gambler's Dodge	Melee back near enemies; with Vanishing Step it's an invis button → Graviton overshield.
Movement	Triple Jump	Reposition the wall without dropping guard long.
Melee	Snare Bomb	Smoke weakens — feeds Stylish kills and Harvest orbs/breaches.
Grenade	Magnetic Grenade	Attaches + double-detonates; with Undermining it's a guaranteed weaken on a priority.
Aspect 1	Vanishing Step	Dodging makes you invisible → drives Graviton's stacking invis overshield.
Aspect 2	Stylish Executioner	Any elemental-debuffed kill → invis + Truesight; next invis melee weakens. The free invis trigger.

Exotic armour — Graviton Forfeit (Helmet)

Vanishing Shadow (verbatim): "Increases the duration of any invisibility effects. When you gain invisibility, your grenade, melee and class abilities recharge faster. At maximum stacks, you gain a Void Overshield as well."

This is the pairing. Vexcalibur builds overshield from blocking; Graviton builds the same overshield from going invisible. Two independent generators for one buff means it's never down: guard the doorway for the team overshield, dodge (Vanishing Step) or get a Stylish kill for the personal one. The ability recharge on invis refunds the dodge/melee/grenade you spent reaching invis, and the duration boost compounds with Echo of Persistence so the overshield outlasts each engagement.

Why this works (the mechanics)

• One verb, two generators, never down. Vexcalibur's guard makes Void Overshield from incoming damage (and shares it with allies); Graviton makes it from invisibility; Echo of Vigilance makes it from a kill while broken. Three sources for one buff is what turns "an overshield" into "permanent armour."
• Persistence is the multiplier on the whole kit. Echo of Persistence extends Overshield, Invisibility and Devour — every defensive verb this build runs. It stretches the Vexcalibur block-shield, the Graviton invis-shield, the Vanishing Step invis, and the Starvation Devour all at once. One fragment, four buffs longer.
• Invis is free and self-igniting. Vanishing Step gives invis on dodge; Stylish Executioner gives invis on any debuffed kill — and Snare Bomb + Magnetic (Undermining) + Deadfall manufacture the debuffs. Every invis tick feeds Graviton's stacks toward the max-stack overshield and refunds abilities.
• The glaive is also the gun. Vexcalibur is a Special, so it does real primary-replacement work between blocks: spread for adds, melee for a single target, then drop the guard up when the room turns on you. Offence and defence are the same trigger.
• The economy pays the ability bill. Weakened kills (Harvest) drop an Orb and a Void Breach → Starvation turns each pickup into Devour → full-heal on kill on top of the overshield. Dodge near enemies refunds melee (Gambler's), invis refunds everything (Graviton). You never run dry.
• Champions: Glaives have no intrinsic champion stun under Anti-Champion 2.0 — Vexcalibur does not stun on its own. Cover champions with the other two slots' archetypes and with Deadfall's suppress/weaken for ability-spam elites (see Verify notes).

Stats & mods

Class 150+ → Health 100+ → Weapons. Class feeds Gambler's refund and faster dodge → more invis → more Graviton overshield. Health backstops the overshield layers. Weapons for the glaive's chip.

Archetypes favouring Class/Health/Weapons; no set bonus required.

Mods, by piece:

• Helmet: Harmonic Siphon (Void kills → Orbs, fuels Starvation) · Dynamo (Super on dodge).
• Gauntlets: Heavy Handed / Melee loaders for Snare Bomb uptime · Fastball (place the Magnetic weaken).
• Chest: Arc + Solar + Void Resistance (flat DR under the overshields).
• Boots: Void Weapon Surge ×2 (glaive damage) · Orbs of Restoration.
• Class item: Powerful Attraction (dodge vacuums orbs → Starvation) · Bomber/Outreach for ability regen.

Where it shines

• Sustained-fire content — GM/Master rooms, defend/hold objectives, boss rooms with constant adds. Anywhere you can plant the guard and let incoming fire build armour for the fireteam is this build's home.
• Team play: the block-shield overshield is fireteam-wide — you're a mobile cover node, not just a self-tank.
• Champion coverage: none from Vexcalibur (glaives carry no intrinsic stun). Bring a Barrier/Unstoppable archetype primary + an Overload/heavy in the other slots; Deadfall's suppress handles Overload-style behaviour and stuns ability elites. Plan champions around the loadout, not the exotic.

The other two weapon slots

• Primary: a champion-stunning frame to cover what the glaive can't — e.g. a Heavy Burst HC (Unstoppable) or Barrier auto/pulse for the two stun types Vexcalibur lacks. Run it Void if you want surge-mod overlap.
• Heavy: a Machine Gun or LFR for the boss/major DPS the glaive isn't built to push — the glaive's job is the wall and the chip, not the burst.