The community gave this build a rating, making it top-tier: Great
Focused on: Strike damage and Mobility
Designed for: Open World and Open World General
Expansions required: Path of Fire Builds
Difficulty: Normal
This build was last updated on January 19, 2026 and is up to date for the June 2, 2026 patch.
Overview
A power Holosmith build for open world. 
启用光子熔炉 to cauterise enemies with the power of concentrated sunlight. This build has great damage both in AoE and single target, decent mobility, and is slightly resilient. Compared to scrapper and mechanist, this build is harder to play but does higher damage after learning to play it. However, it isn't that great for soloing as it doesn't have barriers like scrapper or a very tanky pet like mechanist.
Template Code
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Weapon variants
- Rifle Rifle - good ranged option, though it performs best in melee range due to
霰弹射击. - Hammer Hammer - similar damage, defense, and cc to Sword Sword/Shield Shield with slightly more mobility. Requires access to Weaponmaster Training with Secrets of the Obscure.
Skill Variants
Healing
The choice of heal skill is very open. We recommend 
治疗炮台 because it provides very high healing and cleanses 2 conditions when first deployed, while creating a water field where you can detonate the turret to provide even more healing (See: Guide:What are Combo Fields). Always pick up the turret or detonate it, as it will provide more healing over time than the super weak regeneration that leaving the turret deployed provides. Other options can be considered.
医疗包 provides a decent heal with a low cooldown with the toolbelt skill 
自我包扎, a Blast finisher with 
灌注炸弹, condition cleanse and water field with 
净化区域, and some ally healing.
自动除颤 - helpful to negate a big attack or a oneshot, and has a helpful 2 second stun on the toolbelt skill 
静电冲击. This skill requires a bit more skill to use, as it only provides large healing if you were to take lethal damage.
冷却爆破 - good healing when used above 100 Heat, but not too good at low Heat. Its toolbelt skill is quite niche, transforming the conditions you suffer from into Burning (transforming more conditions at higher Heat levels), which can do more harm than good.
Utility Skills
投掷地雷 has great damage and crowd control. Don't replace it.
激光碟片 is great for damage. Don't replace it.
手雷包 provides great damage through the kit and its toolbelt skill. You can replace Grenade Kit if you don't like it.
光谱盾牌 - great stun break and damage reduction with a low cooldown, even lower if used at high Heat.
光子墙 - provides a projectile block on demand and a toolbelt skill that deals good damage. Situational since you are already using a shield, and this skill only blocks frontal attacks.
小型冲锤 - heavy melee range crowd control on a short cooldow, in case you need more crowd control than what Throw Mine provides (though it does almost no damage). Its toolbelt skill does a little ranged crowd control.
强光竞技场 - provides boons to yourself and nearby allies, and its toolbelt skill pulls nearby enemies, though sadly it has a small range.
C型试剂 - massive condition removal and heals per existing boon.
Elite skill
巅峰射线 deals great damage and Crowd Control.
空投补给 inflicts more crowd control but has less damage and a longer cooldown.
Specializations
Specialization Variants
Fast Tagging
In events that require fast AoE damage, take 
热能释阀 and 
水晶形态：风暴 with a 
超级精力法印 for higher tagging potential.
Equipment
Ascended gear is not required; exotic gear with the same stats will work.
Standard Equipment
This gearset is useful across all of PVE.
If you are gearing this character from zero, start with exotic quality gear. Search the trading post for "Nika" armor. Then search for the weapons you want to use: "Bonetti's Rapier" sword, "Kryta's Embrace" shield, "Venomstriker" pistol. Upgrade to ascended gear as you progress. See also: Guide:How to Gear a Character.
- You can use
萨奇洛斯古物 to trade a minor amount of damage for sustain, 
骑兵古物 to start combat with boons, or 
耐久古物 for a little extra defense. - For defense, equip the highest tier Jade Core you can afford. Use defensive food or skills if required.
Consumables
Budget consumables are acceptable for use in open world.
DPS
Defense
Farming
- Prioritize Steak Ascended food.
生日爆破枪 / 
令人愉快的生日蛋糕大餐-
薄荷怪异莓棒
锐磨颅骨 (and variants)
Usage
Photon Forge
Most of your damage comes from Photon Forge, the holosmith's profession mechanic. Using skills inside the Forge generates Heat, some Heat is also gained over time. Having high Heat is great, as it increases your damage through 
激光利刃 and 
强化储存单元. However, you must exit Photon Forge before you accumulate 150 Heat, or you will Overheat, which does great damage to yourself, prevents you from accessing the Forge until it cools down, and puts your toolbelt skills on cooldown, so a terrible thing to happen.
When you exit Photon Forge, it will begin to cool down after a few seconds, and you will slowly lose Heat and heal yourself a little through 
热量疗法. Once the Forge has cooled a bit (but not all the way down), you will enter it again. This way, you will always have some good amount of Heat to benefit from the aforementioned traits.
Damage
As mentioned, having high Heat is great, and your Photon Forge skills not only generate Heat but also do great damage. You should open fights with your Photon Forge, use your Forge skills until you're very close to overheating, then exit the forge and fight with your sword and Grenade Kit. Once your Heat cools down to about 80, you should enter the Forge again. Your highest damage skills are:
Rotation
Against bosses and other durable enemies, try to follow this rotation. If possible, start with high Heat, about 80. You can use 
全息震波 to quickly generate a lot of heat. If possible, use Throw Mine before the fight, so you can detonate it later once you have high Heat so it does more damage (the skill begins to cool down when you place the mine).
-
电晕爆炸
-
光子闪击
- Photon Forge auto attacks.
-
电晕爆炸
-
停止光子熔炉
-
折射切割刀
闪耀弧光 (skip if a nearby ally is providing you with Quickness)
破片手雷 + 
毒气手雷- Sword auto attacks.
-
折射切割刀
- Sword auto attacks.
-
折射切割刀
-
启用光子熔炉
- Repeat
- Use the following skills off cooldown inside Photon Forge when above 100 Heat instead of Forge auto attacks:
手雷弹幕, 激光碟片, 巅峰射线, 投掷地雷.
Notes and tips
- If you enter Photon Forge at about 80 heat as recommended, your second 电晕爆炸 will be used very close to overheating. But this won't be a problem because you can leave Photon Forge right after the yellow casting bar of Corona Burst disappears. This might cause you to reach 150 Heat outside of Photon Forge as Corona Burst generates its Heat over 1.5 seconds after casting, but you can't overheat outside of the Forge.
- If possible, precast 投掷地雷 and
布设雷区 before fights. - You can enter and leave Engineer Kits without interrupting your current action. So you can press the key for 折射切割刀 and equip the kit immediately and it won't get interrupted. This is great for when you are only going to use 破片手雷 and exit the kit, as you have to wait 1 second before you can exit the kit, this way that one second will pass by as you finish casting Refraction Cutter and cast Shrapnel Grenade, making the rotation much more fluid. Do note that Stow Kit does not interrupt your ongoing action but Weapon Swap Weapon Swap does, so don't use weapon swap.
- To quickly generate Heat before fights you can use 电晕爆炸,
全息跳跃, and auto attacks. You can also use 全息震波 if you won't be needing the Crowd Control. - Remember to try to stay always at high Heat to benefit from 激光利刃 and 强化储存单元. Even your sword skills are more powerful when used at high Heat.
静电护盾 only stuns enemies that attack you while you from melee range.- Photon Forge auto attacks have been bugged since launch and are much slower if you manually press the key. Instead, just rely on auto attack and don't press the key.
Defense and Sustain
- 热量疗法 and
超然爆发 provide a little sustain in long fights, but you're vulnerable to burst damage. - You can block attacks and reflect projectiles with your shield.
- 全息震波 is an evade.
- With your great burst damage, you will kill trash mobs before they kill you. You can also use your CC to incapacitate them so they can't fight back.
- In longer fights, if you need more defense, you can consider using the defensive utilities 强光竞技场 and/or 光谱盾牌 at a dps loss.
- Remember that 治疗炮台 cleanses 2 conditions. If you need even more cleansing, use
万华转换.
