With the artifact mods it's actually pretty good. The issue is it lowers you to basically nothing and then it eats ammo super quick meaning you reload too often.

So with the 'Targeting Autoloader' Artifact mod, at least one of the downsides should be lessened a bit?

Yep. I used it and it became like 10x better.

it's really fun to use and has great utility with solar when you have the catalyst, but at base, one of the major issues is that the ammo capacity is terrible for how fast it shoots, while having no way to mag refresh without something like war rig or this season's artifacts. The other issue is that it leaves you completely vulnerable to being OHK, though this is somewhat understandable as a trade-off for providing double damage in PvE and 15 scorch on every 5th shot. A really fun build that I've been using is a solar titan with healing nades, ember of empyrean, war rig, all the auto artifact mods, and solar fulmination (ashes if you want, but it isn't necessary). It never runs out of ammo and melts anything in the way that isn't a boss, and even then it deals somewhat respectable damage for a primary, plus it can cause them to chain ignitions to weaker ads with the fulmination. I also played around with basic banner of war berserker, as it's far easier to maintain the banner than it is to keep restoration active, though it misses out on general solar synergy like the ability to gain radiant and bonus effects from scorch/ignitions

Unfortunately, I main a Hunter due in no small part to the fact that I have no discernible skill when it comes to running a Titan or Warlock (it's the jumps, they're just completely unlike most of the games I've played for 3 decades and change) but honestly, you had me at "It's really fun," so I think I'll be picking it up when I log in next time. Thank you!

seasonal artifact perks carry most of the build, so class is no barrier. I initially choose Titan because War Rig lets you turn off your brain and basically hold down the trigger at all times, but I just threw together a solar Hunter build and it's even more fun and much more destructive. Here it is: - On Your Mark and Gunpowder Gamble for aspects - Healing grenade to survive - Marksman Dodge to reload faster when empty - Fragments are entirely personal preference, but I went with Singeing, Empyrean, Char, and Tempering for the main build, with the last fragment depending on the play style (many good choices here, but the most interesting are possibly Mercy for more Restoration, since Tempering creates lots of Firesprites, or Eruption for bigger Ignition chains with Solar Fulmination) - Super doesn't matter much, but Marksman Goldie doesn't lose much without Knock 'Em Down compared to Blade Barrage - Not a lot a exotic synergy here, but you could use Nighthawk for damage, Dragon's Shadow for very fast handing and reload, or even Wormhusk or Gemini Jester in high end content I initially thought to use Foetracer with this build, but it seems that the Gunpowder does not count as an ability hit, and Golden Gun cannot benefit from the surge it provides. It's still somewhat useful, but the focus of the build isn't really on melees, the only other available ability to damage targets with, and they aren't up as often without the generic KED + Torches kit.

I'll give this a try and tinker with the gun a bit; thanks again! 😁

Try it with a Prismatic ignition build on Hunter

I'll be sure to do that, thank you!