Charge a Vortex. Weaken the pack. Push in with Devour, turn your Void weapon volatile, and finish the biggest threat with a Heavy shotgun.
Contraverse Hold + Legend of Acrius
Charged Vortex · Weaken · Volatile Rounds
Chaos Accelerant lets you charge Vortex Grenade. Contraverse Hold protects you while charging; charged grenade hits return grenade energy and apply Weaken, setting targets up for follow-up damage.
A grenade kill starts Devour through Feed the Void and grants Volatile Rounds through Echo of Instability. Use your Void primary to shred the pack, then Legend of Acrius to burst a nearby durable target.
Devour rewards final blows with healing and grenade energy. Healing Rift covers gaps, and Exodus Down adds personal protection when Armor Charge changes.
This is a damage-first PvE build, not a Solar-style team healer or a universal highest-DPS claim. It excels when enemies stay in your Vortex and a priority target can be safely reached with Acrius.
Prefer immediate burst over a lingering field? See the optional Magnetic Grenade / Handheld Supernova alternative. This Vortex guide still works on its own.
Hold the grenade input until the Vortex is fully charged, then release it into a pack or under a durable target. Do not walk into a firing lane just to charge.
A charged hit applies Weaken and triggers Contraverse's energy return. A Void ability final blow activates Devour; a grenade final blow also grants Volatile Rounds.
Finish smaller enemies to heal and refresh Devour while getting grenade energy. Use Volatile Rounds to pressure clustered targets. Watch the Devour timer, not just your health bar.
Keep the target in the weakening Vortex, approach through cover, and use Healing Rift at a useful corner if needed. Collect nearby Orbs for grenade energy and Armor Charge.
If the target is safe to approach, land a melee hit to activate the catalyst's Trench Barrel, then fire up to three buffed shots before refreshing it. Skip the melee if the stomp risk is too high.
Throw another charged grenade as it becomes available, keep Devour fed, and use Nova Bomb for a dangerous wave or damage window. If kills or ammo dry up, retreat and rebuild the loop.
Hold the grenade button to charge and enhance Vortex Grenade. This is what enables Contraverse Hold's charged-grenade loop; equipping the gloves alone does not add the charging input.
Void ability final blows activate enhanced Devour. While Devour is active, final blows sustain you and return grenade energy, making it the foundation for an aggressive push.
This setup does not equip Child of the Old Gods, and it does not use Magnetic Grenade's Handheld Supernova conversion. Vortex is the chosen persistent-damage option.
Extends lingering grenade effects, including Vortex. Better coverage helps keep durable enemies inside the damage field.
Grenade final blows grant Volatile Rounds to Void weapons. Use your Void primary; Arc Acrius cannot receive this Void-only weapon effect.
Extends applicable Void buffs, including Devour, giving you more time to reach the next kill. It does not heal without a trigger.
Void ability final blows cause targets to explode. Adds extra area pressure when your grenade starts finishing enemies.
Chaotic Exchanger: Resist incoming damage while charging your Void grenade with Chaos Accelerant. Charged Void grenades return grenade energy on a hit and apply Weaken.
Energy return is hit-driven, not guaranteed only after a kill. Do not translate that into an instant full refund on every impact; keep targets inside your Vortex and use Devour and weapon perks to support the recharge.
Shock Blast: High-damage Arc blasts that overpenetrate enemies. Your weapon for safe, short-range burst against a durable target.
Catalyst strongly recommended: Trench Barrel rewards a successful melee hit with increased damage, handling, and reload speed for a short time or until three shots are fired. Deeper Pockets adds reserves.
Acrius uses Heavy ammo and Arc damage. It does not get Volatile Rounds or a Void Weapon Surge bonus. The armor setup below uses Arc Weapon Surge specifically for it.
| Slot | Equip | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Helmet | Exodus Down HoodLegendary · set piece 1 | Void Siphon, grenade-kill Super energy, Heavy ammo utility. |
| Arms | Contraverse HoldExotic · not a set piece | Charged grenade engine and grenade-kill Orb generation. |
| Chest | Exodus Down RobesLegendary · set piece 2 | Encounter resistance and close-range protection. |
| Legs | Exodus Down BootsLegendary · set piece 3 | Arc surge for Acrius and grenade energy from Orbs. |
| Class item | Exodus Down BondLegendary · set piece 4 | Completes both set bonuses and the Rift-to-Orb loop. |
When your shields break, instantly collect nearby Orbs of Power and ammo bricks.
Gaining, losing, or spending Armor Charge heals you and grants brief damage reduction, scaling with the amount of charge shifted.
Use current armor with the actual set bonuses. Legacy copies or matching ornaments do not count. Neither perk guarantees safety from a stomp or one-shot; do not deliberately break your shields.
Only Acrius is Exotic. For a ranged boss or lethal melee zone, change to a suitable ranged Heavy rather than forcing this shotgun plan; then match the surge to that weapon.
Checked 23 October 2026. The linked Monument of Triumph roll guides rate these weapons S-tier for PvE; this is source-backed recommendation, not a measured live popularity chart. Gnawing Hunger specifically means the refreshed perk pool, not its legacy roll.
| Weapon / slot | Recommended perks | Why use it? |
|---|---|---|
| Gnawing Hunger (refreshed)Void · Energy · Primary auto rifle | Demolitionist + Rampage Alternative: Repulsor Brace + Destabilizing Rounds | Reliable Void cleanup that receives Instability's Volatile Rounds and feeds grenade energy. The defensive roll offers overshields from qualifying debuffed-target kills; choose one complete perk pair. |
| Ouster EngineStasis · Kinetic slot · Special area-denial GL | Auto-Loading Holster + Chaos Reshaped | Persistent lane damage while you charge or swap weapons. Complements Vortex coverage, but is weapon damage: do not count its kills as Vortex grenade kills for Firepower. |
| Accelerando-42Strand · Kinetic slot · Special fusion | Overflow + Controlled Burst | Direct burst against majors when area denial is less useful. Controlled Burst rewards accurate bursts without assuming a three-debuff team setup. Replaces Ouster Engine. |
Damage-first target: 200 Grenade / 100 Class / 50 Melee / 50 Super. A 400-point planning allocation across your four focus stats. Unlike the Solar healer builds, this loadout uses a damaging grenade, so above-100 grenade damage benefits fit the core job.
These are targets, not verified totals from your inventory. Include fragment modifiers, stat mods, and available tuning in your final totals. Preserve the four-piece set and required resistances; leave room for Health and Weapons rather than treating them as mandatory zeroes. Nearby values are fine because stats scale per point.
The baseline uses grenade kills and Void weapon multikills for Orbs, then a timed surge for Acrius and Exodus Down charge turnover. Add stat mods only after the essential functional mods fit.
| Slot | Recommended mods | Why they fit |
|---|---|---|
| HelmetExodus Down Hood | Void Siphon Ashes to Assets Heavy Ammo Finder | Rapid Void weapon kills create Orbs. Actual grenade final blows grant bonus Super energy. Finder supports Acrius ammo economy. |
| ArmsContraverse Hold | Firepower Bolstering Detonation | Grenade final blows create Orbs, subject to the mod's cooldown. Grenade damage returns class ability energy for Rift access. |
| ChestExodus Down Robes | Melee Damage Resistance Concussive Dampener 1× activity-matched elemental resist | Protect against close-range threats, splash, and the encounter's main damage element. Check range conditions; no mod guarantees stomp survival. |
| LegsExodus Down Boots | Arc Weapon Surge Innervation Recuperation | Arc Surge buffs Acrius and makes Armor Charge decay. Orb pickups grant grenade energy and immediate personal healing when Devour cannot supply a kill. |
| Class itemExodus Down Bond | Bomber Powerful Attraction Reaper | Rift use returns grenade energy and collects nearby Orbs; your next weapon final blow after class ability use creates an Orb. |
Firepower, Siphon, Reaper, and teammates supply Orbs. With your surge equipped, Orb pickups grant Armor Charge; the surge then uses timed charge decay. Both changes interact with Exodus Down.
Arc Surge buffs Acrius only among the listed weapons. It does not buff your Void primary, Vortex Grenade, or Nova Bomb. No charge means no surge benefit.
Avoid adding Grenade Kickstart casually: it spends the charges intended for your damage surge. Devour, Contraverse, Demolitionist, and Innervation are the baseline grenade-energy plan.
Checklist ticks last only for this open page; they are not saved between visits.
"I'll weaken the pack with a charged Vortex, get Devour running, then push the priority target with Acrius. Let me secure an ability kill to start the loop. If the boss is unsafe up close, we'll change the damage plan instead of forcing it."
Weaken: enemies take more damage.
Devour: kills sustain you and feed grenade energy.
Volatile Rounds: an effect for your Void weapon, not your Arc Heavy.
Prepared 23 October 2026. This is a curated loadout recommendation, not a measured DPS benchmark or an in-game-tested optimum. Confirm live tooltips, cooldowns, fragment modifiers, and mod costs after balance patches. Older descriptions of Contraverse can omit its current Weaken effect; the current item description is used here.
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