Build a build.
Understand every piece.

Something feels wrong?

Diagnose your build: energy, survival, Champions, ammo, set bonuses, and teammates taking your setup kills.

A description makes no sense?

Search Guardian vocabulary: effects, triggers, pickups, damage types, and the distinctions that matter.

Missing the recommended item?

Find an honest starting point for every published build. Learn what a substitute cannot reproduce.

Ready to play with friends?

Combine jobs, then use the practice range to verify your own triggers before harder activities. Put your names and contributions on a screenshot-ready dungeon or raid board.

Is your Ghost helping?

Configure your companion for XP, Glimmer, exploration, or armor-archetype targeting. Learn what its mods can and cannot change before farming your starter set.

Describe the result, not the Exotic.

Try: “Keep friends healthy,” “stop a dangerous pack,” or “clear enemies while staying alive.” Add clear and boss damage are different jobs. Pick one primary job and one fallback.

Write: My main job is ___; when I cannot do it, I will ___.

Browse roles in the build library.

Trigger → payoff → next action.

Read the exact condition. Does your item need a hit, kill, charged grenade, buffed ally, or pickup? Name the ability and input that satisfies it. Equip only valid aspects and the fragment count they actually allow.

Example: charge Vortex through Chaos Accelerant → land charged hits with Contraverse → use weapons and Devour while grenade energy recovers. No instant-refill assumption.

Event Horizon's setup.

Plan for the first kill to fail.

Choose an actual recovery route, such as Healing Rift or safe Orb pickups with Recuperation. Then add matching resistances and cover. Damage resistance and Overshields are protection, not automatic health restoration.

Write: Before my first kill, I survive by ___. Between waves, I recover by ___.

Fix recovery gaps.

Equip the whole loadout together.

At most one Exotic weapon and one Exotic armor piece. Check weapon slots and ammo roles. Start with a dependable Primary, a useful Special, and a Heavy suited to range; double-Special setups need a deliberate ammo plan.

Match Siphons and Surges to actual weapon elements. Pick a coherent Armor Charge plan instead of combining every spender. Check each armor piece's real energy costs.

Learn perk pairs · Work around missing items.

Check requirements before launch.

Read current modifiers, required Champion types, restrictions, and access. Identify a ready counter, its activation condition, and who backs it up. An ability available only during Transcendence is not always-on coverage.

Choose artifact perks that your equipped gear can trigger. Current plans use seven selections: T1 anywhere, T2 slots 3–7, T3 slots 6–7, maximum two. Alternatives are replacements, not extra slots.

Champion checks · Activity preparation.

Change one variable at a time.

Test the trigger in low-pressure combat. Watch your energy, buffs, Orbs, and recovery. Repeat with fewer easy enemies, then with friends. If the trigger fails, fix it before adding more damage bonuses.

Write: Expected ___; observed ___; changed ___; retest result ___.

Run the six practice drills. These are observation exercises, not benchmark claims.

Armor and the 0–200 stat scale

Our default is four current, set-perk-enabled Exodus Down pieces around one Exotic. Check both set bonuses are visible; ornaments and old versions do not count. Radiant Rebound is the explicit four-Lustrous exception.

Prioritize Grenade, Class, Melee, and Super according to the loop, but preserve Health, Weapons, and resistances. Final guide targets already include fragment adjustments; they are goals, not guaranteed inventory totals.

Above 100 is not another identical recharge tier. Grenade/Melee investment above 100 emphasizes damage; Super's lower range improves energy gain, not its base timer. Read the current stat tooltip rather than translating an old stat guide.

A worked configuration, not a new “meta” claim

Faultline Engine chooses ability clear as its job. Frenzied Blade supplies melee reserves; Consecration converts energy into Solar waves; Monte Carlo damage supports recharge.

Knockout's qualifying melee kills and safe Orb pickups support recovery. The fallback is weapon fire and cover, not another guaranteed full charge. The listed armor has no Inmost Light spirit or CODA bonus; importing their energy claims would change the build.

Lesson: a component list is not enough. Every claimed payoff needs a real equipped source.

Two pieces / An emergency pickup helper

Emergency Electromagnet collects nearby Orbs of Power and ammo bricks when your shields break. If useful pickups are nearby, it can save you a dangerous trip out of cover while you recover or reload.

It does not create Orbs or ammo, collect everything across the arena, or guarantee that you survive. Treat it as a backup when something goes wrong, never a reason to deliberately break your shields.

Four pieces / Ordinary charge changes help you survive

Repurposed Charge heals you and grants brief damage reduction when you gain, lose, or spend Armor Charge. The defensive effect scales with the amount of charge shifted.

With suitable mods equipped, safe Orb pickups build charge; a weapon Surge's timed decay or a chosen charge spender changes it again. This lets a normal mod loop also support personal recovery. An Orb alone does not guarantee a charge change: check your mods, charge cap, and actual buff.

A reusable foundation with a focused farm

The set bonuses do not demand one subclass element or a particular Exotic. Four Legendary pieces leave the fifth armor slot free for your build-defining Exotic, so the same qualifying pieces can support several builds on that character.

Where to start: farm The Conflux Lost Sector on Nessus on Expert for Exodus Down pieces. Once comfortable, move to Master for higher-tier armor. This gives you a focused way to complete the set and then improve it, rather than requiring raid armor.

Use the difficulty you can clear reliably; Master is an upgrade goal, not a requirement to learn a build. Check current activity availability, reward previews, modifiers, and Champion coverage before launch. No exact drop rate, desired slot/stat roll, or clear time is promised. See Beyond the Orbit for activity preparation, without encounter solutions.

Start with what you own; optimize later

You can learn the build before completing the set. Use suitable Legendary armor, keep resistance mods and sensible stats, and count any missing set effects as absent. Two qualifying pieces unlock the first bonus; four activate both.

Use current, set-perk-enabled drops, not ornaments or legacy copies. The healing and damage reduction protect you, not the whole fireteam. They do not replace cover, healing abilities, or a recovery plan when no pickups are available. A specialized set may suit your eventual goal better; Exodus Down is our shared starter choice, not a universal best-in-slot claim. Radiant Rebound intentionally uses Lustrous instead.