Build: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 26, 2023 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 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 of extra CC and/or survivability for a very minor DPS loss.

Skill Variants

Healing

• A.E.D. provides a massive amount of healing if you can predict damage spikes (e.g. specific mechanics in raids). It also provides CC with Static Shock.

Utility

• You can swap out Throw Mine for Rifle Turret at a small DPS loss, but with a simpler rotation. The difference is smaller against targets with smaller hitboxes (where you might not hit with all the mines from Mine Field), but rifle turret can be body blocked on fights with adds and you lose access to the CC and boon rip.
• You can also swap out Throw Mine for more utility, though it is a large DPS loss and should only be considered as a last ditch option:
  • 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.

Template Code

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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

• 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, so two options are offered here:

40% Heat opener

Try to start with Mine Field and Throw Mine pre-placed

1. Engage Photon Forge
2. Detonate Mine Field
3. Corona Burst
4. Photon Blitz
5. Laser Disk
6. Grenade Barrage
7. Light Strike → Bright Slash → Flash Cutter
8. Corona Burst
9. Deactivate Photon Forge - optional, more damage but you need to be fast enough to pull it off
   1. Refraction Cutter
   2. Shrapnel Grenade
   3. Engage Photon Forge
10. Light Strike → Bright Slash → Flash Cutter x3
11. Prime Light Beam
12. Photon Blitz
13. Detonate (engineer) if the boss didn't already trigger it
14. Mine Field
15. Detonate (engineer) and Detonate Mine Field
16. Corona Burst
17. Deactivate Photon Forge

90% Heat opener

Try to start with Mine Field and Throw Mine pre-placed

1. Engage Photon Forge
2. Detonate (engineer) and Detonate Mine Field
3. Corona Burst
4. Grenade Barrage
5. Laser Disk
6. Prime Light Beam
7. Throw Mine directly onto the boss (see Notes below for details on how to use this during the rest of the rotation)
8. Photon Blitz
9. Light Strike → Bright Slash → Flash Cutter x2
10. Corona Burst
11. Deactivate Photon Forge

Loop Rotation

1. Blowtorch - skip if it's not off cooldown
2. Refraction Cutter
3. Shrapnel Grenade
4. Poison Grenade - This will drift backwards in the loop over time, so use whenever it is available
5. Sun Edge -> Sun Ripper -> Gleam Saber x2
6. Refraction Cutter
7. Shrapnel Grenade
8. Sun Edge -> Sun Ripper -> Gleam Saber x2
9. Refraction Cutter
10. Blowtorch - skip if it's not off cooldown
11. Shrapnel Grenade
12. Engage Photon Forge
13. Corona Burst
14. Laser Disk - This will drift backwards in the loop over time, so use whenever it is available
15. Grenade Barrage - This will drift backwards in the loop over time, so use whenever it is available
16. Photon Blitz
17. Mine Field
18. 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 autoattack chains
19. Detonate (engineer) and Detonate Mine Field
20. Corona Burst
21. Deactivate Photon Forge
22. Return to start of loop

Video example (with Throw Mine and shield)

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.
• Never interrupt your Photon Forge auto-attack chain.
• 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 an extra Photon Forge auto-attack chain.
• Use Throw Mine off cooldown. 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 at step 19 in the loop.
• The cooldown on Poison Grenade is longer than the loop, so it will change position in the rotation. Whenever you enter Grenade Kit, use Poison Grenade if it is available. If it is still on cooldown the third time you enter Grenade Kit in the loop (just before going into Photon Forge), use Freeze Grenade instead. Both Poison Grenade and Freeze Grenade may be omitted from the rotation if you are losing too much heat between Photon Forge uses.
• Use Grenade Barrage, Blade Burst and Prime Light Beam off cooldown, but only while in Photon Forge so that you benefit from Laser's Edge.
• Surprise Shot (if using) should be used off cooldown.