Caliban’s / Liar’s Prismatic Hunter Build
Last Updated:October 12, 2024|Change Log
Welcome to the Caliban's/Liar's Handshake Prismatic Hunter Build Guide! The Spirit of Caliban and Spirit of the Liar combo is one of the best Relativism combos for Hunter. This combination triggers Ignition on powered melee kills, clearing packs of enemies, while also adding a powerful damage multiplier to every other melee. These melees include Grapple melee, which when repeated with a The Navigator grapple point results in huge DPS.
The most important portion of this exotic class item is the Spirit of Liar's Handshake. The Spirit of Caliban's Hand will increase clear speeds but will not help in any sort of DPS or functionality. The Liar's Handshake portion allows for Grapple to benefit from the Cross Counter bonus damage.
Caliban's/Liar's Prismatic Hunter excels in any activity where enemies are within close range. Dungeon bosses that can be hit by melee get deleted when setting up the damage rotation properly. Damage cap is a very common number to be seen with this build.
WARNING: Exotic class item requires The Final Shape DLC to be obtained & Lightfall for the Navigator.
- Fast Ad Clear
- Heals on Hits
- Single Target Damage
- Micromanagement
- Requires Ads For Stacks
- Enemy Range Dependent
Gameplay Loop
A the start of your gameplay loop, always prioritize getting 3 kills with Combination Blow to achieve the maximum damage bonus on following melees. Do this by targeting weaker enemies around the larger targets. After each powered melee, dodge to regain melee charge and slow enemies with Winter's Shroud. The second time you dodge within a group they Freeze resulting in a large melee damage opportunity to quickly clear that group. Utilize the One-Two Punch shotgun on large targets to dispatch them quickly.
For boss enemies, shoot the grapple point from The Navigator above the enemy to allow for repeated use of Grapple. Shotgun the boss to proc One-Two Punch and very quickly Grapple to the grapple point and melee to achieve big damage.
Ability Breakdown
Super
- Shadowshot: Deadfall - Provides a 30% debuff for single targets while also being useful for quickly taking out hordes of enemies. When combined with Caliban's/Liar's Relativism, this provides exceptionally fast clear speeds.
Abilities
- Gambler's Dodge - Refunds melee energy when dodging near an enemy. Essential for the endless melee loop of this build.
- Triple Jump - Jump of your choice.
- Combination Blow - A strong stacking damage increase for melee that is also light damage to be combined with Facet of Courage and Winter's Shroud.
- Grapple - After grappling, use a melee to perform a strong area melee attack that Unravels targets. Used with The Navigator to output massive single target damage.
Aspects
- Stylish Executioner - Provides Invisibility upon defeating a target with an elemental debuff. This includes the Slow from Winter's Shroud. Using a melee while Invisible Weakens the target hit.
- Winter's Shroud - Provides an area of effect slow to give the bonus damage from Facet of Courage with Combination Blow. Another dodge on a slowed enemy Freezes them, providing massive bonus melee damage.
Fragments
- Facet of Protection - Provides bonus damage reduction when surrounded by enemies.
- Facet of Courage - Gives a 10% buff to Combination Blow when attacking an enemy with an elemental debuff.
- Facet of Purpose - With Deadfall as the Super in this build, picking up an Orb of Power gives Overshield for survivability and bonus melee damage from Shieldcrush.
- Facet of Ruin - Gives a larger radius on Ignitions and increased Shatter damage for more consistent clear.
- Facet of Bravery - Upon defeating a target with melee damage, Strand weapons gain Unravel Rounds.
Gearing
Required Gear and Weapons
Relativism is required for this build as it makes it possible to use Grapple with Caliban's/Liar's Hunter. The build can still work without Spirit of Caliban, but the class item must have Spirit of the Liar.
How to acquire:
- Farm Dual Destiny Exotic Mission.
- Open any chest within the Pale Heart.
Recommended Weapons
- Kinetic Weapon: The Navigator - This weapon with its Catalyst allows you to create grapple points above bosses and groups of enemies, letting you repeatedly use Grapple.
- Energy Weapon: Retold Tale - This shotgun has One-Two Punch, its melee damage increase is core to the build.
- Power Weapon: Hammerhead - An excellent Ad clearing machine for when your enemies are just out of reach of your fist. Most Perks on this work fine.
Stat Priorities
- Resilience > Discipline > Mobility.
- Resilience is the amount of damage you can take before dying, as well as your shield capacity.
- Discipline is what reduces your grenade cooldown.
- Mobility gives you more movement speed and jump height, also lowers dodge cooldown.
Learn more about the Stats available to you in Destiny 2 with our dedicated guide.
Armor Mods
| Item | Slot | Mandatory Mods | Supporting Mods |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deep Explorer Mask | Helmet | Special Ammo Finder Hands-On | Dynamo |
| Deep Explorer Grasps | Gloves | Heavy Handed Heavy Handed Heavy Handed | |
| Deep Explorer Vest | Chest | Resist Mods of your choice | |
| Deep Explorer Strides | Legs | Recuperation Better Already | Void Scavenger |
| Spirit of Caliban / Spirit of the Liar | Class Item | Reaper Powerful Attraction | Bomber |
Armor Mods are unlocked by progressing your Guardian Rank. Check out the Guardian Ranks Guide for more information.
Artifact Mods
- Anti-Barrier Shotgun - Gives you Anti Barrier capabilities, allowing this Build to deal with all 3 Champion Types.
- Killing Breeze - Weapon Final blows giving bonus Mobility helps you meet Stat recommendations.
- Total Carnage - Never say no to more damage resistance!
- Debilitating Wave - Slightly improves ad-clear, and boosting it makes it easier to proc the Artifact Perk immediately below this one
- Power from Pain - Easily gain Devour when killing Weakened enemies. Stylish Executioner also helps with this.
- Supernova - Helps proc the Artifact Perk immediately above this one, provided that you've boosted it and are using Void Weapons.
- Conductive Cosmic Crystal - Deal slightly more Melee Damage, since Winter's Shroud Slows targets. Boost this Perk to increase this effect.
Variants
- Swap Xenoclast IV for any energy shotgun with the perk One-Two Punch.
- The type of shotgun does not make a large difference, but shotguns with more handling tend to feel better with this build.
- Swap Hammerhead for Edge Transit.
- Great DPS option if range is needed in encounters where you cannot get close to the boss consistently.
Summary
Caliban's/Liar's Relativism is currently one of the strongest builds within Destiny 2 right now. With proper setup and rotations you can consistently hit the damage cap. Only downside is getting the correct roll on Relativism. But once obtained this build has extremely strong ad clear and boss damage.
If you enjoy up close and personal fast paced gameplay, this melee build is the setup for you. The damage it outputs is top tier. It can be slightly tricky to play with the rotations but with a little practice anyone can master this build.
Credits
Written by: Chadly
Reviewed by: Byrdman, Tenkiei