What is Photon Forge?

is a mechanic unique to Holosmith. You will passively gain 2% heat per second while using and will gain increased heat when using a weapon skill.

Due to the trait , you have 150 heat available to you. At 150 heat, you will and take ~8000 damage. You can also manually whenever you want, as long as it's six seconds after you used .

If you , you will not be able to or any Tool belt skills until all of your heat has dissipated. You will dissipate heat at 5% per second, three seconds after you . This increases to 10% per second, 10 seconds after your .

So, let's take a look at the weapon skills that you gain when you :

1. is your auto attack chain and each individual skill will generate 2% heat per use.
2. generates 7% heat. This leap skill will leave behind an AoE that grants Swiftness to allies who touch it. It is also a Leap finisher. This can also be traited with to provide Superspeed.
3. generates 10% heat. This skill grants you Might and inflicts Vulnerability.
4. generates 2% heat. This skill applies one stack of Burning for each projectile that hits, for a maximum of eight stacks.
5. generates 25% heat. This skill will Launch foes and is a Blast finisher. This skill is a great way to build up heat before an encounter.

There are also a variety of traits that affect your damage when you or . Check the trait section on "Utility Skills and Traits" for more information.

Toolbelt Skills

Tool belt skills are based on your currently equipped heal skill, utility skills and elite skill.

Tool belt skills do not share a Cooldown with their parent utility skill. This means you can use a tool belt skill and then swap out the corresponding utility for something else. You can do this with by using the tool belt skill and then swapping out for whichever utility you need.

Let's take a look at what tool belt skills you will come into contact with:

• is from and provides your subgroup with Regeneration. This tool belt skill also provides a Water field.
• is from and provides a moderate Stun of 200 Breakbar damage.
• is from and is a high power DPS skill. This skill is Ground-Targeted.
• is from and places 5 mines around yourself and flips over to which allows you to manually detonate your mines to deal a large amount of power DPS.
• is from and will fire out projectiles towards five targets. Use this tool belt skill when you are above 51 heat.
• is from and is a blast finisher that deals high power DPS after a three second detonation time. It also is a Launch that deals 332 Breakbar damage.

General Holosmith Tips

Feel free to precast stuff like and from . You can always start with as your gap closer.

Be careful when you Weapon Swap, as it can interrupt your skills. Equipping a kit or switching from one kit to another doesn't interrupt your normal skills. However, it WILL interrupt your skills.

You will not be able to blindly follow the golem rotation with this build. Adapting the timing of your utility skills and heat management depending on phase length will be necessary to perform well.

When you , start with so you get the 10% damage modifier from .

Try to use whilst inside the boss's hitbox. This is because can target on trash mobs to produce additional projectiles, up to five.

When playing with shield, can be used to block attacks. The stun effect from blocking attacks has no internal cooldown, so it can deal large amounts of defiance damage if timed correctly. You can cast to throw your shield; it will travel a fixed 900 distance and daze all enemy targets hit both on the way out and back.

can be used to reflect projectiles. The reflect radius is only as large as your hitbox, rather than where your character holds the shield, so position yourself accordingly! You can cast (which is also a blast finisher) to do a small amount of damage and knock back up to five foes around you.

This is your skill priority list outside of :

1. .
2. .
3. .
4. .
5. .

Try not to delay using . Most of your DPS comes from within , but feel free to if a boss is about to phase.

Sword is the only weapon affected by your heat level:

• Above 50 heat, your auto attacks gain 10% damage and gains two additional projectiles.
• Above 100 heat, these effects are doubled.

Spirit Vale

Vale Guardian

General Holosmith Tips

Save your for when the Seekers are close enough to get the additional projectiles. Remember to stand inside of Vale Guardian to ensure that all projectiles hit.

When Vale Guardian phases, go to the Blue Guardian. Use on the Blue Guardian. for the Green Guardian and use and . at ~40 heat or 75, depending on your squad’s DPS.

Use or , if you're in , to get back to Vale Guardian if you get teleported by .

You can use and to help provide Breakbar damage to the Blue Guardian and Green Guardian. If you see that a Seeker is coming in, you can use to Push it away.

You can use to help CC during the split phases.

Gorseval the Multifarious

General Holosmith Tips

Use for the extra CC from .

Make sure you don't kill yourself with , , or during .

Save your for when there are trash mobs close to get the additional projectiles. Remember to stand inside of Gorseval to ensure that all projectiles hit.

Split Phase

Don't save any skills during the split phase as all your skills will be back up by the time Gorseval is back.

You should use on the first Charged Soul> and on the second Charged Soul. You can use and on this second Charged Soul and then . This will allow you to start the next phase of Gorseval with ~50 heat. If the second group is about to finish killing their Charged Souls too, you do not need to before engaging Gorseval.

Use to help slow down the Charged Souls if they are getting close to Gorseval.

Breakbar Phase

gives you access to . Use this to help break Gorseval during .

If you're still slow on the Breakbar, you could drop Pistol for Shield. This will give you access to:

If you're still in need of more CC, you can run Rifle instead of Sword / Shield. This will give you access to;

Sabetha the Saboteur

General Holosmith Tips

You can engage Sabetha by using Superspeed, which you can get by using the tool belt skills from . You can then switch back to your regular utility skills.

If, for whatever reason, you do need to do cannons you can use for mobility. If you’re in , you can use .

Use to help break Knuckles.

Save your for when there are bandits close to get the additional projectiles. Remember to stand inside of Sabetha to ensure that all projectiles hit.

If Knuckles is being a pain, you can swap out Pistol for Shield for the additional CC.

Salvation Pass

Slothasor

General Holosmith Tips

Save your for when there are Slubling close to get the additional projectiles. Remember to stand inside of Slothasor to ensure that all projectiles hit.

Feel free to if Slothasor is about to phase so you don’t lose uptime.

You can use to be able to face tank mechanics from Slothasor. Use it wisely!

Breakbar Phase

Take to help with CC by using the toolbelt skill - .

Use after Slothasor clears his conditions for soft CC.

If you don't trust your group, you can save and use it to block the Fear.

Matthias Gabrel

General Holosmith Tips

You will most likely be in a condition based subgroup, this means you should be a team player and take over .

If you see that you're going to get hit by or , use to ignore them.

Don't forget that you can use or to move around when you need to deal with mechanics.

Breakbar Phase

Use for extra CC from .

Stronghold of the Faithful

Keep Construct

General Holosmith Tips

When Keep Construct's Breakbar appears you can use to help CC.

The statues around the room count as targets for your . Make sure you're inside Keep Construct's hitbox before you use it.

When you have to move away from Keep Construct due to , you can use to get back quickly.

If your squad is struggling with cleaving the statues, you can delay and be a team player!

For the burn phases try to precast your heat to 90. The quickest way to get to 90 heat without any issues, assuming you start from 0, is: Auto Attack.

Xera

General Holosmith Tips

Use to help CC Xera.

Save your for when there are trash mobs close to get the additional projectiles. Remember to stand inside of Xera to ensure that all projectiles hit.

If shard cleave is needed, keep in mind that your auto attack has a fairly big cleave range. If you can, try to position yourself between Xera and the shard you want to cleave.

Use to help CC Xera.

Island Pre-Events

Start with 75 heat. On the first island use and use , , and . Finally, .

For the second island use and then use and . If you're close to going into , make sure you do so on the this island. This way you’ll have available again when you get to Xera.

Feel free to precast heat on the last island. It doesn’t matter how much heat you start with. Just do what you prefer, but 75 is recommended.

Bastion of the Penitent

Cairn the Indomitable

General Holosmith Tips

has a pretty big range, take advantage of this if you need to run to . You can also attack with .

Use or to get back to Cairn if you get ported by .

If you see you're going to die from , just use .

Mursaat Overseer

General Holosmith Tips

Gooooolleeeeemmmmmm booossssssssssssssss.

Nah but for real, use when the Jade Scouts are near to get more hits.

If cleave is lacking, you can delay until the Jade Knights are on top of you.

Samarog

General Holosmith Tips

Feel free to if Samarog is about to phase so you don't lose uptime.

Precast heat to 75 before the fight and after you kill Guldhelm during Samarog's phases.

You can’t apply conditions to Samarog during the Breakbar, so don’t use .

Breakbar Phase

Getting targeted by will cause you to lose all heat and make you lose . Your CC is very strong and should always be available during Breakbar.

Use for extra CC from .

• .
• .

Deimos

General Holosmith Tips

Precast your heat to 75 during the pre-event and delay your rotation until Unnatural Signet is up. Aim to get all of your high damage skills in while Deimos is the under the effects of Unnatural Signet.

If you have a hand kiter who is kiting close to the group, make sure you delay until there are four hands nearby. This will ensure you benefit from all the projectiles, but don't forget to stand inside Deimos.

You should delay and until Deimos is the under the effects of Unnatural Signet. If your group is actively giving Saul Alacrity, you will not need to delay these two skills as the Cooldown should align with Unnatural Signet.

Keep in mind that your auto attack range is fairly big, so you can usually keep attacking Deimos during .

You can use if you find that Deimos is completely inside a and totally out of range.

At 10%, when Deimos becomes Invulnerable, you can precast your heat to 75.

Hall of Chains

Soulless Horror

We recommend playing Condition Mechanist at this encounter.

Dhuum

General Holosmith Tips

The pre-event doesn't matter much but feel free to blast fields with and . If you jump at the end of your cast, it won't cast the water field so you can blast the intended fields.

You can use Blind to help with the Enforcers during the pre-event with . You can also Immobilize them with .

Blast water fields during the pre-event to help relieve some pressure from your Healer. You can create water fields with .

Try to start Dhuum with 75 heat.

Use to cleanse the Torment after each . During this mechanic you can continue to attack with .

Your job at Dhuum is mostly to DPS the boss. Your mobility is limited, so let other classes do mechanics.

The always happens at 6:25, 5:05, 3:45, 2:25, 1:05. You don’t have to follow the rotation perfectly, so feel free to use earlier if the timer is almost ending so you get the full damage from it.

You can camp while Dhuum is in the middle. You can do the same when you get or .

Final 10% Phase

During the last 10%, if you have to do the panels, start with 0 heat and when everyone runs out. Use to get there faster and for Barrier. You should at around 40 heat. You can use either or , depending on your heat, to get back to Dhuum quickly.

During the last 10% burst it's better to use and the moment you go over 50 heat. This will ensure that you get all the ticks on Dhuum before he dies or becomes Invulnerable again.

If you don’t have to do panels, precast heat to 75 and do your normal start.

When you cast , stand on the outer edge of his hitbox and do not move or else you will interrupt the skill.

Mythwright Gambit

Conjured Amalgamate

General Holosmith Tips

Don't waste when the hand comes down for the first time; save it for when the hand comes down for the second time.

Use to help CC the Shields. If there are still some Shields that need to be broken you can use .

will travel through multiple Shields, try to aim where you throw it.

Don't waste your during the hand phase. Wait until the main boss phase to use it.

Once the orb collection has finished and Swords have been used, you can begin your burst rotation. Wait until Conjured Amalgamate has at least five stacks before you begin.

For the last burn phase, remember that you can hit both Conjured Amalgamate and the second Arm if you’re close enough.

Qadim

General Holosmith Tips

Use to help break the creatures. If you're slow on the Breakbar, you could drop Pistol for Shield. This will give you access to;

• .
• .

Taking Shield also gives you the possibility to Push away the Greater Magma Elementals with .

You can do your normal rotation at any of the creatures as all your skills will be back off Cooldown by the time you get to Qadim.

Try to preheat to 75 while you are killing the Pyres. Don't waste any big skills here as they may not be back off Cooldown for the main burn phase.

You should have your up around the time that the Lava Elementals come into Qadim. This will let you easily cleave them down.

If you see a Greater Magma Elemental coming in, you can aim to provide a Launch. This should be enough to clear it from the Lava Elementals. If you need more, you can use to slow it down.

Don't waste any skills when Qadim is about to go into his Breakbar as you are unable to do damage. Use to help break Qadim.

You can Dodge through Qadim's hitbox whilst using . Make sure there are Lava Elementals nearby to ensure you get a multihit.

The Key of Ahdashim

Cardinal Adina

General Holosmith Tips

If you have to take a Pillar, use until you have returned back in melee range. this should fit in with your rotation perfectly.

You can then use to get back to Cardinal Adina quickly.

Use on the Hands during the split phase, this skill will always multihit them.

Don't forget to try to be at around 75 heat at the end of each split phase. For the first phase, you will have to use on the first hand in order to build up heat fast enough. Use or to get to Cardinal Adina quickly after the split phase.

Cardinal Sabir

General Holosmith Tips

Use you can to ignore .

You have plenty of time to manage your heat between phases. Just use the adds for this.

As you do have a lot of CC, if your group is on the slower and or lacks projectile mitigation, you can easily take care of the Wisps on the final platform.

Use or to get back to Cardinal Sabir quickly after each .

Breakbar Phase

Use for extra CC from .

As you are taking Shield, you should use;

• .
• .

Qadim the Peerless

General Holosmith Tips

Help with CC'ing the Pylons with and .

Save as you can use it to apply ranged CC on the Anomalies. You can also use to apply slow CC.

If your squad is struggling with the Anomalies, you could swap out to Rifle. Give you access to;

• .
• .

Use or to get to Qadim the Peerless at the start of each phase.

Remember to keep attacking with when Qadim the Peerless goes to destroy the Pylons. If you're feeling brave, you can also tank the pulsing AoE damage with .