Holosmith - Power Tools Holo

The community gave this build a rating, making it top-tier: Great

Focused on: Direct damage and Mobility

Designed for: PvP Conquest

Difficulty:
TBD
This build was last updated on February 25, 2023 and is up to date for the March 19, 2024 patch.

Overview

A Holosmith PvP build focusing on burst damage with very little downtime but equally little sustain.


Skill Bar

Sword/Shield
Utility


Skill Variants

Utility

  • - CC, block, and some decent damage on . Consider taking on Tools, but you'll have to give up some instant burst damage for that.
  • - it's mostly for the toolbelt skill, is an instant trigger for . Has great synergy with the Tools spec in general.
  • - great panic button against any kind of pressure and even has Stealth Stealth access on toolbelt.


Elite

  • - a different kind of AoE CC, and the combo field could even be used for Stealth Stealth stacking.


Template Code

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Specializations

Variants

  • is better for burst damage, but not necessarily for sustain as the CC/blind from often ends up cancelling out more damage than what Big Boomer could heal for.

Variants

  • A combination of and on Tools also works. This version offers better susain, more frequent access to the Photon Forge, more synergy, but lowers your burst damage.


Equipment

Rifle
Sigil
Sigil
Rune
Amulet


Usage

Elite specialization basics

  • Holosmith grants access to the Photon Forge (sometimes referred to as holo mode) and introduces a new resource: heat. Heat is generated passively while the forge is active and also by activating forge skills. Higher CD skills generate more heat.
  • Reaching maximum heat (150) should be avoided as Overheating damages you and locks you out of the forge until heat goes back to 0.
  • is used to activate the forge, after which your weapon skills will be replaced by 5 new ones. You can't exit the forge for at least 6 seconds, so be careful about reentering with high heat levels. Be careful when entering it above ~70 heat as you may risk overheating.
  • Both Engage Photon Forge and Disengage Photon Forge count as toolbelt skills and will work with related traits. Both skills can proc weapon swap sigils too.


Forge skills

  • The autoattack chain can do considerable cleave damage especially with Quickness Quickness.
  • should be used on CD most of the time as this is an incredibly loaded skill on a very short CD. This skill provides mobility/cleansing via , does decent damage, and even functions as a Leap Finisher.
  • tends to be the first skill Holosmiths use in combat right after entering holo mode. This is a two-parter that also stacks Might Might. The second strike goes off after a delay, making it ideal to combo with other skills for burst damage. Try to squeeze in 2 Corona Bursts before exiting the form.
  • can be useful for reaching targets trying to escape, otherwise it should only be used if you can make sure that all of its projectiles are going to land (for example if the target is CC'd).
  • is an excellent AoE CC and also a Blast Finisher. You can also fake cast it by stowing your weapon right after activation in order to bait dodges from enemies.


General

  • The build has somewhat limited access to condition removal. When you're under heavy condition pressure always try to get a off for before leaving the forge, increasing the chance of removing damaging conditions with .
    • Against condition burst is your only mass cleanse on toolbelt, keep it for emergencies. Becomes more effective above 50 heat.
    • Every toolbelt skill cleanses conditions via which means even your offensive skills like could be used defensively too.
  • and are best used above 50 heat for maximum effectiveness. For Sword skills you should be aiming for 100+ heat.
  • on toolbelt is the only stun break in the build, but at least it recharges quickly. could be used while stunned in hopes of CCing enemies.


Damage

  • The more heat you have, the more damage you do thanks to and .
  • After every dodge roll you gain which adds a decent damage proc to your next attack.
  • Right after exiting the forge follow up with and while your heat is still high, preferably in this order (Radiant Arc is a leap which makes it easier to land Refraction Cutter in melee range which increases the chance of landing all projectiles on one target).
  • and are the best skills for proccing . These provide frequently available instant burst damage and should be used as soon as available.
  • is primarily a defensive skill, but its chain skill lets you shoot it at nearby enemies for extra damage. Using this skill only for the damage is hardly ever worth it (as it's one of your few defensive CDs and doesn't hit that hard), but you should consider using when Photon Wall is about to expire.
  • is a powerful unblockable ranged AoE CC on low CD and works great for setting up bursts. The skill is very telegraphed and somewhat easy to avoid if you don't have Quickness Quickness, but you could even pull some mind-games with it. PLB roots you in place and makes you face towards your target - with skill retargeting enabled under Combat/Movement Options you're able to cast it on target A, bait out a dodge and then switch to target B in the last moment, hitting them with the beam.
    • If target A dodges and there is no target B simply stow your weapon to cancel it and try again a few seconds later, don't waste your elite.
  • Once your heat is back at a reasonably low level enter holo mode and spam those skills, that's really all there is to it.


Mobility

  • Keep spamming while moving between capture points, but don't overheat.


Top Streamers


Ratings

This build has a rating of 5 stars based on 4 votes.
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5 stars
Hanz gave this build 5 stars • January 2024
Very solid damage with little to no downtime between bursts, excellent mobility with lots of superspeed. Condition management is slightly above what holos are used to. Sustain's overall a bit low even with the extra block from Toolkit, no stealth or elixir S can really be felt. Definitely a high skillcap build and it has everything needed to carry in ranked, but it can crumble fast when caught offguard. High risk, high reward. It's been on the edge of becoming meta for months, but it's not an easy build to pull off.
5 stars
DeDoctor gave this build 5 stars • July 2023
I've played this build for years and it's always been really good to me, the recent buffs have made even better. It has quite a learning curve though, but it is very fun when you get the hang of it! My main build for PvP (though, I play a variant, but plays the same basically). Lot's of big damage on low cooldowns with lots of mobility.
4 stars
Ethan gave this build 4 stars • May 2023
This build is alot of fun, super speed access, blocks, high damage, cc, sustain is a little iffy so I like taking elixer C for a mass cleanse. Only thing is that currently, scrapper does all of this and more, with higher stealth, higher superspeed access, higher burst, and potential for combos in a water field for more heals. The only thing I find holo does better is it's ability to cleanse conditions without sacrificing damage. But yeah, if you like engi but don't want cheesey one shots with the scrapper build, or if you don’t like grenades, I would suggest this one.
4 stars
Vex gave this build 4 stars • May 2023
Crazy burst and high skillcap but scrapper's better rn. maybe once that one gets nerfed people will swap to this, but if nades get nerfed and not scrapper then this will be dead too. Few builds have better bursts than this without being complete memes. A good holo is still terrifying to face.

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