Holosmith - Power Tools Holo - MetaBattle

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 (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

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.
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

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.
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 by default, but at least it recharges quickly. could also be used while stunned in hopes of CCing enemies.
is a versatile kit useful for it's block() and it's burst damage (). However it's other skills are equally strong with being the strongest melee autoattack on engineer, being great when used while running away for it's duration and being a hard to hit but very rewarding CC.
is another versatile kit useful in just about any situation and has a lot of combo potential. It has a field for healing reduction (that could also make it harder for enemies to rez their downed allies), and 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.
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

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.
and are the best skills for proccing . These provide frequently available instant burst damage and should be used as often as possible.
Every 5th toolbelt skill you use gives you and via .
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.
If taken 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 , 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.

Sustain

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 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 or to heal an additional 1300HP every combo.
⇒ similarly you can use this combo every 15 seconds to heal for 2000HP, further improving your re-sustain.
is great at turning things around. The instant unblockable AoE CC could stop most burst attempts made by enemies without while also creating the perfect opening for counterpressuring targets. Really good at immediately punishing teleport skills like or too.
Toolbelt skills remove conditions. Since you're going to be spamming and quite a lot you should be able to keep them at bay just by playing offensively. When conditions start to overwhelm you use (preferably at high heat).
The only stunbreak in the build is found on toolbelt skill (not to be confused with the effect of the same name).
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 is already going to make you a less attractive target, but and are especially useful when used defensively. isn't scary but being a water field you could use your many leap/blast finishers like or to get even more healing out of it.