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, The Navigator Catalyst, allow for grapple points to be positioned above bosses and groups of enemies for repeated use of Grapple.
- Energy Weapon: Xenoclast IV - This shotgun with Auto-Loading Holster and One-Two Punch provides ease of use, fast handling, and a melee damage increase all in one.
- Power Weapon: Commemoration - Great ad clear option with Reconstruction and Killing Tally if enemies are too far away to be damaged with melee.
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
- Helmet
- Strand Siphon - Rapid final blows create Orbs of Power.
- Special Ammo Finder - Increases drop chance of Special Ammo when defeating a target.
- Hands-On - Gain bonus super energy when defeating targets with melee damage.
- Gauntlets
- Heavy Handed x3 - Allows for an Orb of Power to be created on every melee kill once per second.
- Chest
- Resist mods, your choice - choose for the activity you are going into!
- Leg
- Strand Weapon Surge - Your Strand weapons gain a small bonus to damage while you have any Armor Charge. Your Armor Charge now decays over time. Collection of an Orb of Power causes you to gain 1 temporary Armor Charge.
- Strand Scavenger - Provides bonus ammo for Strand weapons when picking up ammo bricks.
- Recuperation - Replenishes health each time you pick up an Orb of Power.
- Mark
- Time Dilation - Your decaying Armor Charge has a longer duration.
- Powerful Attraction - Use class ability to collect orbs around you automatically
- Bomber - Reduces grenade cooldown when using your class ability.
Armor Mods are unlocked by progressing your Guardian Rank. Check out the Guardian Ranks Guide for more information.
Artifact Mods
- Radiant Orbs - Another source of Radiant without needing to hit a precision hit with a powered melee.
- Shieldcrush - Faster recharge times for Healing Grenade.
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 Commemoration for Edge Transit.
- Perks - Envious Assassin and Bait and Switch
- Great DPS option if range is needed in encounters where you cannot get close to the boss consistently. Also clears ads quickly.
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, ShieldMaiden, Tenkiei