The community gave this build a rating, making it top-tier: Great
Focused on: Strike damage, Mobility and Control
Designed for: PvP Conquest
Expansions required: Path of Fire Builds Secrets of the Obscure builds
Difficulty: Hard
This build was last updated on June 01, 2026 and is up to date for the June 2, 2026 patch.
Overview
A Holosmith PvP build focusing on burst damage with very little downtime but equally little sustain.
The build itself boasts one of the highest levels of customization amongst all PvP builds and can be tailored to many different playstyles by swapping out weapons, skills and traits.
Skill Bar
Skill Variants
Utility
光子墙 is mandatory, but popular utility options you could take for the other 2 slots include:
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漏油跑鞋 - unblockable knockdown and stunbreak. -
U型试剂 - short CD stunbreak with some 
急速 mainly for offensive purposes, giving it some versatility. -
步枪炮台 - it's mostly for the toolbelt skill, 
奇袭射击 is an instant trigger for 
静电释放 and improves your burst damage. Works best with Sword Sword & Shield Shield.
Weapons
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Sword/Shield - well-rounded set with 2 quick burst damage skills and 2 defensives, not to mention plenty of combo potential.
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Hammer - this is an equally viable alternative to Sword/Shield for people who own the Secrets of the Obscure expansion. The two sets offer very similar things - block, projectile-reflect, CC, leap finishers. Hammer is a slower weapon but has more damage.
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Rifle - The best in slot for anyone who does not own the Secrets of the Obscure expansion.
Heal
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治疗炮台 - decent healing and cleansing, but the best part are the 2 water fields it offers. -
医疗包 - worse cleansing but higher healing thanks to the toolbelt skill 
自我包扎 and the water field the kit offers.
Elite
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精英炮座 - kit provides more ranged, healing and sustain options. -
空投补给 - a different kind of AoE CC, and the combo field could even be used for 
潜行 stacking.
Template Code
[&DQMGPhUtOR5VFgAALxYAAOUWAABgAQAA8BUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABawAA]Specializations
Variants
追踪火箭 trades sustain for more damage.
Variants
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Take
动力电池 if you can afford to give up sustain for a more offensive pick.
Variants
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太阳聚镜 could increase your damage in games where Tools Tools is enough to deal with conditions. -
强化储存单元 - Use with Sword Sword. This version offers higher burst damage whilst over 100 Heat.
Equipment
Equipment Variants
Relics
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雾灼古物 - better 
威能 stacking and a crit chance boost, but lower consistency than you'd have with Daredevil. -
领导古物 - improved condition cleansing. Works best with Mortar Kit as your elite because of the low CD and no cast time. -
激荡古物 - another great option for Mortar Kit. The instant aura access could stun attackers on demand, stopping enemy burst attempts and thus increasing your survivability. The stun could also set up counterbursts. -
河流古物 - Slightly better sustain but less damage. -
伊斯加然古物 - higher burst potential but less consistency.
Sigils
Usage
Elite specialization basics
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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.
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Reaching maximum heat (100) should be avoided as Overheating damages you and locks you out of the forge until heat goes back to 0. This can be avoided by dodging for
热能释阀. -
启用光子熔炉 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 think twice before 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
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The autoattack chain can do considerable cleave damage especially with
急速. -
全息跳跃 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 
水晶形态：和风, does decent damage, and even functions as a Leap Finisher. -
电晕爆炸 tends to be the first skill Holosmiths use in combat right after entering holo mode. This is a two-parter that also stacks 威能. 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. -
光子闪击 offers some ranged pressure on an otherwise melee-focused set. You could combo this with the toolbelt skills 
粒子加速器 and 奇袭射击 for ranged burst damage if going into melee is too risky, but it's worth using for the damage regardless of range. -
全息震波 is an excellent AoE CC and also a Blast Finisher. You may also fake cast it by stowing your weapon right after activation in order to bait dodges from enemies.
General
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Be mindful of your defensive CDs before entering Holo mode! Activating Photon Forge replaces your weapon skills and locks you out of swapping back for a few seconds. Many of your defensives are located on your equipped weapon (be it Hammer or Sword/Shield), making you an easy target especially when your toolbelt and utility skills are on CD.
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冷却爆破 and 光子墙 are best used above 50 heat for maximum effectiveness. For Sword skills you should be aiming for 100+ heat. -
奔驰疾速 on toolbelt is the only stun break in the build by default, but at least it recharges quickly. 漏油跑鞋 could also be used while stunned in hopes of CCing enemies. -
工具包 is a versatile kit useful for it's block(
齿盾) and it's burst damage (
撬棍). However it's other skills are equally strong with 
猛击 being the strongest melee autoattack on engineer, 
钉盒 being great when used while running away for it's Cripple Cripple duration and 
磁铁 being a hard to hit but very rewarding CC. -
精英炮座 is another versatile kit useful in just about any situation and has a lot of combo potential. It has a
中毒 field for healing reduction (that could also make it harder for enemies to rez their downed allies), 
目盲 and Chill Chill to avoid damage or kite enemies, and a Water field to combo extra healing. Most skills also do solid damage and could be used to pressure targets both in melee and range, further reducing your downtime between burst combos. -
步枪炮台 has low damage and gets blown up quickly in a real fight, it's really only taken for its toolbelt. That being said it still has some niche uses - for example you could place the turret at choke points and use it to get enemies into combat in order to slow their movements, or you may deploy it near downed enemies to prevent them from self-rezing while you move on to the next fight.
Damage
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The more heat you have, the more damage you do thanks to
激光利刃 and 强化储存单元. -
After every dodge roll you gain
爆破进击 which adds a decent damage proc to your next attack. -
粒子加速器 and 奇袭射击 are the best skills for proccing 静电释放. These provide frequently available instant burst damage and should be used as often as possible.
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Every 5th toolbelt skill you use gives you
急速 and 
奔驰疾速 via 动力电池. -
光子墙 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
发射光子墙 when Photon Wall is about to expire. -
If taken
巅峰射线 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 急速, 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.
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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.
Sustain
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治疗炮台 is a powerful but tricky heal to use. Once the turret is spawned you need to wait a short moment for the water field to appear. After which instantly cast
引爆治疗炮台 doing this beigns the cooldown and heals for 1300HP. For 3 seconds while the water field is present you can use blasts or leaps such as 全息跳跃 or 
流沙精华 to heal an additional 1300HP every combo. -
再生喷雾 ⇒ 全息跳跃 similarly you can use this combo every 15 seconds to heal for 2000HP, further improving your re-sustain. -
漏油跑鞋 is great at turning things around. The instant unblockable AoE CC could stop most burst attempts made by enemies without
稳固 while also creating the perfect opening for counterpressuring targets. Really good at immediately punishing teleport skills like 
位面穿行 or 
顺手牵羊 too. -
Toolbelt skills remove conditions. Since you're going to be spamming
奇袭射击 and 粒子加速器 quite a lot you should be able to keep them at bay just by playing offensively. When conditions start to overwhelm you use 
烧灼自愈 (preferably at high heat). -
The only stunbreak in the build is found on toolbelt skill
奔驰疾速 (not to be confused with the effect of the same name). -
光子墙 is an extremely valuable blocking skill that allows you to keep pressuring targets without having to worry in most cases.
-
Standing inside any of the AoE fields created by
精英炮座 is already going to make you a less attractive target, but 
闪光炮弹 and 
吸热炮弹 are especially useful when used defensively. 
试剂炮弹 isn't scary but being a water field you could use your many leap/blast finishers like 引爆步枪炮台 or 
火箭冲锋 to get even more healing out of it.
Mobility
-
Hammer-only Stack
迅捷 for your team using 
雷霆一击 ⇒ 全息震波 ⇒ 引爆步枪炮台. -
Keep spamming
全息跳跃 while moving between capture points if you don't have Swiftness, but don't overheat.
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