The "Coldtracer" is my Solo PVE death from above build for regular content in the open world, seasonal activities, and vanguard playlist strikes. It leans heavily on Solar debuffs Scorch and Ignition to proc ability regeneration.

While I love the Lightning Bug build for electrical mayhem, "Coldtracer" is just as fun because of the intrinsic ability to shoot while jumping coupled with air dash to quickly jump away from trouble.

This build is about spinny-jumpy-bursty damage and setting everything on fire until they explode. Crafted Solar weapons with Incandescent perks are the spark that starts the fire and procs ability regen through with airborne kills, supplemented by melee-powered firestorms of burning sparks. It is demanding, though, to target the right targets to maximize ignitions while shooting downward from the air. On the upside, there's always something to do, and even when things aren't working out I can haul out my Heir Apparent exotic machine gun and melt any major from any distance. Very satisfying.

The Loop

TRIGGER ACTIONS

• Apply "Scorch" from the air with either a Firebolt grenade or weapon with "Incandescent" perk kill.
• Apply more "Scorch" with melee "Incinerator Snap" to cause targets to "Ignite", spreading more scorch.

CHAINING ACTIONS

• Stay airborne and rapidly kill "Scorched" targets for melee, grenade, orbs, and health.
• Armor Charge grants 10% damage buff to weapons affected by siphon mod.

The Loadout

Exotic Armor Piece

Subclass Setup

The "Coldtracer" build is designed proc the "Scorch" debuff as often as possible through charge melee and weapons. The selected Aspects support this through multiple energy regeneration procs based on kills, especially when they are made while airborne! The build still works when sticking to the ground, but airborne kills increase ability uptime substantially.

ABILITIES

• Super - Well of Radiance increases weapon damage, shields, reduces knockback.
• Charged Melee - Incinerator Snap to apply "Scorch" with a fan of 10 short-ranged bolts each applying 20 stacks of ScorchA scorched target takes damage over time for a period of time, with more stacks doing more damage. If the number of stacks exceeds 100, Ignition happens..
• Grenade - Firebolt Grenade lightly applies "Scorch" to targets within a 15m radius (

ASPECTS

• Heat Rises - (1) can shoot and use abilities while jumping. Consume grenade (1a) for extended glide and (1b) gaining grenade energy and extended glide duration with airborne kills (said to be 20%).
• Icarus Dash - (1) can dodge quickly when airborne, twice when Heat Rises is active and (2) airborne weapon kills also grant "Cure" (instant heal of about 35%/60HP at X1).

FRAGMENTS

• Ember of Ashes - Applies more "Scorch" stacks (said to be 50% more).
• Ember of Char - Ignitions spread "Scorch" (said to be 40 stacks). Also +10 Discipline.
• Ember of Blistering - Ignition kills grant grenade energy (said to be 10% per target).
• Ember of Searing - Kills of "Scorched" target grants melee energy (said to be 20%) + Firesprite (said to be 20%). Also +10 Recovery.

Alternatively, could replace Ember of Searing if "Fire Sprites" grenade gain isn't that worthwhile:

• Ember of Eruption - Increases radius of "Ignite" (said to increase from 8 to 12 meters), making multikills easier.

Weapon Loadout

FOR POWER-LEVELED PVE

To make use of hard-hitting but slow-loading Solar weapons with the "Incandescent" perk, I use a crafted Forensic Nightmare SMG with the Sympathetic Arsenal perk (reloading after a kill reloads all stowed weapons). The crafted perks are Perpetual Motion (improved reload speed when always moving) helps keep reload efficiency high.

Paired with the SMG is an IKELOS_SG_V1.0.3 is optimized for range, as reloads are handled largely through Forensic Arsenal. The IKELOS has Incandescent to proc explosions and has an extremely high fire rate for burst DPS, though it requires diligent recoil control. Lastly, exotic solar machine gun Heir Apparent provides high-rate DPS, stability, accuracy, stability, and ammunition reserves. It can substitute for a scout-sniper rifle for distance shooting too, a nice complement to the other weapons.

Haven't tested this in harder content other than Neomuna Terminal Velocity and Vex Incursion Zone, but it's doing pretty well now that I'm around 1790 power level.

FOR UNDEMANDING PVE

None of these are exotic, so you can swap out some other weapons based on your mood. Some alternates I like:

• Alternate Kinetic: Quicksilver Storm strand autorifle, Outbreak Perfected pulse rifle, Witherhoard grenade launcher
• Alternate Energy: Sunshot solar handcanon, Polaris Lance solar scout rifle, Hard Light auto rifle

Armor and Seasonal Artifact Mods

SELECTED ARMOR MODS

• Helmet: Kinetic Siphon and Solar Siphon (rapid kills generate Orbs)
• Arms: Melee Kickstart x2 (said to be 12-30%, but this might be bugged on dual-charge builds according to the Internet)
• Chest: Charged Up (increase max Armor Charge by 1), Sniper (distant) and Concussion (AOE) Damage Resistance (15% dmg reduction)
• Legs: Weapon Surge x1 (increase weapon damage by 10%, 17% with two mods), Orbs of Restoration (said to be +10% to lowest energy pool), Recuperation (restores health on orb, approx 35%)
• Class: Distribution (gain Ability energy when casting Rift near targets), Time Dilation (increases duration of Armor Charges)

For personal playstyle preferences:

• Helmet: Special Ammo Finder (shotgun ammo)

SELECTED SEASON 21 ARTIFACT MODS

There are no Solar-synergizing mods in Season of the Deep, so I just keep those on for when I'm doing Arc and make use of these:

• Anti-Barrier Auto Rifle - allows Quicksilver Storm to shoot through shields!
• Overload Trace Rifle - requires **
• Counter Charge - grants armor charge when stunning a champion!

Synergy Reference

References: All Sources of Scorch, Benefits of Heat Rises, Breakdown of all Ability Armor Mods

ABILITY REGEN

• 10% Grenade on proc Ignition (Eo Blister)Alternative use Eo Eruption for 50% increase of Ignite scorch to 12m
• 20% Grenade on Scorched Kill. Also generate Fire Sprite (Eo Searing)
• 20% Grenade on pickup of Fire Sprite (Eo Searing)
• 50% more Scorch applied (Eo Ashes)
• 20%-50% Melee on kill while airborne (Heat Rises)

SCORCH SOURCES

• 20 (30) stacks - Firebolt Grenade (with Eo Ashes)
• 10 (15) stacks - Thermite Grenade (with Eo Ashes)
• 60 (90) stacks - Incendiary Grenade (with Eo Ashes)
• 40 (60) stacks - Fusion Grenade (with Eo Ashes)

BUFFS

• Ignitions now Scorch 40 stacks (Eo Char)

DEFENSE

• Cure x2 on consuming grenade (Heat Rises)

* Attack from the air (Heat Rises) and target central mobs with **grenade** or **weapon kill** that applies "Scorch"
* Use **melee** (Incinerator Snap) to proc "Ignition" which grants grenade energy (Eo Blister).
* Kill any "Scorched" target to gain melee energy + generate a "Fire Sprite" (Eo Searing)
* Kills made from the air grant additional melee energy (Heat Rises) and grant "Cure" (Icarus Dash)
* More "Scorch" stacks (Eo Ashes) and spread by "Ignition" (Eo Char)
This is a high-mobility airborne build. The key loop is to get scorched ignitions or kills from the air.
Melee uptime is emphasized so **Incinerator Snap** is available to keep the loop of scorch-kill-scorch
again going.

#### Ability and Weapon Uptime

* Use SMG "Forensic Nightmare" to **reload all weapons** on kill (Sympathetic Arsenal).
* Pick up "Fire Sprite" to gain 20% grenade energy (intrinsic)
* Melee energy is partially restored when expended (Melee Kickstart x2)
* Orbs generated by rapid kills (Siphon mods) and Powered Melee (Claws of Ahamkara Heavy-Handed intrinsic)
* Orbs picked up apply energy to least-charged ability (Orbs of Restoration) and Health (Recuperation)
* Airborne kills grant Cure (Icarus Dash) and Melee energy (Heat Rises)
* Casting Rift reduces grenade cooldown (Bomber)

#### Survival

* Mobility is your shield. Rely on scorch plus weapons, optionally save extra abilities for real trouble.
* Use "Air Move" (Icarus Dash) to jump away further from incoming fire!
* Well of Radiance / Healing Rift are available.
* Kills from the air grant "Cure" heal (Icarus Dash).
* Consume grenade for "Cure" AOE and extended float (Heat Rises); extend float time with airborn kills.

#### Improved Damage Output

* Armor Charge can be gained through Finishers if no Armor Charge is held (Empowered Finish)
* Orbs stack up to 4 Charges (Charged Up x1) for extended duration (Time Dilation)
* Weapon 10% damage buff when when Armor Charge active (Weapon Surge x1)  or 17% (Weapon Surge x2)
* Healing Rift also restores