Holosmith - Power Sword DPS

Part of the current metagame

Our curator decided this build is in the current metagame regardless of rating. The community gave this build a rating, making it top-tier: Great

Focused on: Direct damage

Designed for: Raids and Fractals

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Normal

This build was last updated on August 17, 2025 and is up to date for the June 24, 2025 patch.

Overview

A power DPS Holosmith build for fractals and raids. This build brings good burst and sustained AoE damage.

While this build deals good damage on its own, it excels when there are lots of conditions on the boss for Modified Ammunition.

Skill Bar

Sword/Pistol

Utility

Weapon Variants

• Shield can be used in the offhand slot for extra CC and/or survivability, for a small DPS loss.

Skill Variants

Healing

• Healing Turret could be taken to provide some AoE condi clease if your group otherwise lacks it.

Utility

• Throw Mine can replace Photon Wall or Grenade Kit for extra CC or boon rip. Additionally, it will be higher burst damage if you are able to precast Throw Mine and/or Mine Field. They are a similar DPS loss, but dropping Photon Wall is preferable as Grenade Kit provides ranged damage which can be very valuable in maintaining DPS uptime. You should also switch to Relic of the Thief if you remove Grenade Kit.
• Players that own Janthir Wilds can swap out Grenade Kit and Photon Wall for Bomb Kit and Throw Mine, and bring Relic of Bloodstone. This removes your ranged damage and is only a small improvement in long-term DPS, but has higher burst.

Other utility options are a much larger DPS loss:

• Hard Light Arena can be useful in uncoordinated groups for the protection and pull.
• Spectrum Shield if you don't trust your healer to keep you alive or stunbreak you in high pressure fights.
• Personal Battering Ram for massive amounts of CC.

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Equipment

Head
Berserker

Shoulders
Berserker

Chest
Berserker

Hands
Berserker

Legs
Dragon

Feet
Berserker

Backpiece
Dragon

Accessory
Berserker

Accessory
Berserker

Amulet
Berserker

Ring
Berserker

Ring
Berserker

Sword
Berserker

Pistol
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Relic

Equipment Variants

• If not using Grenade Kit and offhand Pistol, Relic of the Thief will be higher damage.
• Players that own Janthir Wilds can use Relic of Bloodstone by swapping out Grenade Kit and Photon Wall for Bomb Kit and Throw Mine.
• The Dragon stats pieces are a tiny dps increase, so you can run full Berserker stats if you prefer.
• Sigil of Superior Sigil of the Night or slaying sigils when applicable.

Consumables

Food

Utility

• Slaying potions when applicable.

Usage

Rotation

The logic behind this rotation is to maximize your Photon Forge and Laser's Edge uptime. You build heat in Photon Forge with Corona Burst, Photon Blitz, and autoattack chains. Using Corona Burst as your last skill and exiting Photon Forge will continue to generate heat for a few seconds without causing you to overheat. Then fill the time cooling down with Sword auto-attacks and your high damage skills such as Shrapnel Grenade and Refraction Cutter. Rinse and repeat when you fall below 100 heat.

Opener

Holosmith can vary the length of its opener by starting at different heats. This enables them to maximise damage by ending a phase just after their Photon Forge burst. Choosing the correct opener for the fight is a matter of experience, but 100% heat is a good standard:

100% Heat opener

Try to start with Mine Field and Throw Mine pre-placed (if using)

1. Grenade Kit ⇒ Shrapnel Grenade
2. Engage Photon Forge
3. Corona Burst
4. Photon Wall
5. Grenade Barrage - triggers Relic of Fireworks
6. Detonate (engineer), Detonate Mine Field, Particle Accelerator and/or Blade Burst (whichever you have)
7. Throw Mine (if using) directly onto the boss (see Notes below for details on how to use this during the rest of the rotation)
8. Launch Wall
9. Laser Disk
10. Photon Blitz
11. Prime Light Beam
12. Corona Burst
13. Deactivate Photon Forge

Sword loop

Blowtorch has a cooldown slightly longer than the rotation, so you alternate between using it at the start and end of your sword loop, and in the middle.

1. Blowtorch - skip if it's not off cooldown
2. Refraction Cutter
3. Shrapnel Grenade
4. Poison Grenade
5. Freeze Grenade
6. Blowtorch - skip if it's not off cooldown
7. Glue Shot
8. Radiant Arc
9. Sun Edge ⇒ Sun Ripper ⇒ Gleam Saber
10. Refraction Cutter
11. Shrapnel Grenade
12. Sun Edge ⇒ Sun Ripper ⇒ Gleam Saber x2
13. Refraction Cutter
14. Blowtorch - skip if it's not off cooldown
15. Shrapnel Grenade - skip if you used Blowtorch
16. Engage Photon Forge

Photon Forge loop

1. Corona Burst
2. Static Shock (if using) - this helps maintain the buff from Relic of Fireworks
3. Photon Blitz
4. Mine Field (if using)
5. Photon Wall - this will drift backwards in the loop over time, so use whenever it is available
6. Grenade Barrage - this will drift backwards in the loop over time, so use whenever it is available
7. Launch Wall - this will drift backwards in the loop over time, so use whenever it is available
8. Light Strike → Bright Slash → Flash Cutter x2 - ideally you want to be above 140 heat when you use Corona Burst so depending on your speed you may need to use more or fewer autoattacks
9. Detonate (engineer) and Detonate Mine Field (if using)
10. Corona Burst
11. Deactivate Photon Forge
12. Return to start of Sword loop

• Use Throw Mine off cooldown (if using). To avoid it detonating instantly, you will need to throw the mine to the edge of the target's hitbox. If you struggle with this, just replace Detonate (engineer) with Throw Mine in the loop.
• Use Laser Disk, Photon Wall ⇒ Grenade Barrage ⇒ Launch Wall, Blade Burst and Particle Accelerator off cooldown.
• Use Prime Light Beam off cooldown, but only while in Photon Forge so that you benefit from Laser's Edge.

Video example

Video example (without grenade kit)

Bloodstone Rotation

If using Relic of Bloodstone, the rotation is very similar but a bit more structured. You need to combo four blasts in quick succession, so Bomb Kit and Throw Mine are essential, and this variant may struggle on bosses with high movement or disruptive mechanics.

Opener

On appropriate encounters you can start casting bomb skills before the boss spawns, but bear in mind you cannot gain stacks for Relic of Bloodstone outside of combat so the timing needs to be precise.

100% Heat opener

Try to start with Mine Field and Throw Mine pre-placed (if using)

1. Big Ol' Bomb
2. Fire Bomb
3. Galvanic Bomb
4. Magnetic Bomb
5. Engage Photon Forge
6. Corona Burst
7. Detonate (engineer)
8. Laser Disk
9. Detonate Mine Field and Blade Burst as soon as the Relic of Bloodstone buff appears
10. Throw Mine directly onto the boss
11. Photon Blitz
12. Prime Light Beam
13. Sun Edge ⇒ Sun Ripper ⇒ Gleam Saber - you don't have to complete the chain if you're in danger of overheating
14. Corona Burst
15. Deactivate Photon Forge

Sword loop

1. Refraction Cutter
2. Glue Shot
3. Blowtorch
4. Radiant Arc
5. Laser Disk if available, otherwise Bomb Kit ⇒ Fire Bomb
6. Sun Edge ⇒ Sun Ripper ⇒ Gleam Saber
7. Refraction Cutter
8. Sun Edge ⇒ Sun Ripper ⇒ Gleam Saber x2
9. Refraction Cutter
10. Bomb Kit
11. Big Ol' Bomb
12. Fire Bomb
13. Galvanic Bomb
14. Magnetic Bomb
15. Engage Photon Forge

Photon Forge loop

1. Corona Burst
2. Throw Mine
3. Mine Field
4. Photon Blitz
5. Detonate Mine Field and Blade Burst as soon as the Relic of Bloodstone buff appears
6. Prime Light Beam
7. Light Strike → Bright Slash → Flash Cutter x2 - ideally you want to be above 140 heat when you use Corona Burst so depending on your speed you may need to use more or fewer autoattacks
8. Corona Burst
9. Deactivate Photon Forge
10. Return to start of Sword loop

Video example

Notes

• Under no circumstances should you ever overheat as it will massively reduce your damage output. Try to exit photon forge as close to 149 heat as possible.
• Corona Burst will continue to generate heat for a short time after it finishes, but it will not trigger an overheat if you are not in forge. For this reason, it should be the last skill you use while in Photon Forge.
• If you are a little slow with the rotation outside of Photon Forge, you may find that you are not close to 149 heat when you would normally exit. In this case, perform extra Photon Forge autos.