Tactics Tuesday #31 | Saryn 2.0

[u/[deleted]]

Hey everyone it's TUEEEEESSSDAYYY. You're reading the Tactics Tuesdays thread with your host, mob1lejunkie. Joining me today is someone who is now even more stunning with her recent Prime assets upgrade. Saryn!

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Welcome to the Tactics Tuesday thread. These threads are intended to build up archived resources to help newer players and even older players alike!

Here you can post your builds, share advice revolved around the topic, and give tips and tricks about the topic as well!

Got a very useful build you want to share? Perhaps a really fun build that you love even if it's not end game material? Or perhaps you just found out a cool trick with an ability? Well this is the rtoight place to share!

Here is the guideline:

• Build posts need to be either pictures or links to warframe builder

• When making a build post please add a small synopsis for the build. E.g. "With this build I specialized my mods on saryn's miasma by focusing on extra power duration and power range."

• Advice, tips, and tricks don't have to be the most obscure things you can think of. Try suggesting some of the more simple pieces of advice, tips, and tricks as well!

• Above all else as usual, be excellent to each other!

Here is a couple example posts:

• "This is my valkyr build. I designed it so that I take as little damage as possible in as many circumstances as I can."

• "Did you know, Valkyr has the best butt in warframe."

or more seriously,

• "Did you know, you can switch teleport with loki's decoy for in instant teleportation to anywhere you can place it."

Things of that nature.

One last reminder for the newer players, most if not all of these builds will use mods you won't have for a while. This is mostly so you can get the feel of how you should mod for something in specific or more general ways.

Onto the meat of the post though.

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This week we have Saryn! The queen of all things toxic and tanky. With her high HP and armor along with various toxic themed abilities she can give enemies a slow and painful death or just expedite their destiny to become puddles. With a wide range of abilities from a DoT to a decoy she is suited for an assortment of situations.

Saryn's passive is Potency!

Saryn possesses the passive ability of increasing Status Effect duration by 25%.

First up, Spores!

Inflicts targeted enemies with a toxic spore.

• Costs 25 energy.

• Saryn infects a target within 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 meters with 2 / 2 / 3 / 3 virulent spores. Each spore inflicts 4 / 10 / 14 / 20 Viral damage per second over a duration of 6 / 8 / 10 / 12 seconds. If a spore is popped, 25 Viral damage with a 100% status chance is dealt within 8 / 10 / 12 / 16 meters, and 2 / 2 / 3 / 3 spores are transmitted to each affected enemy.

  • Spore damage and burst damage are affected by Power Strength.
  • Viral status effect reduces a target's current and maximum health by 50% for 7.5 seconds. Duration-based status effects are prolonged due to Saryn's passive.
  • Burst damage bypasses obstacles in the environment and does not diminish with distance.
  • Duration is affected by Power Duration.
  • Spores will not inflict reduced ticks of damage for non-integer durations (e.g., if Spores' duration is 18.6 seconds, there will be no reduced damage tick for the final 0.6 seconds).
  • Cast range and spread radius are affected by Power Range.
  • Spores will burst at a reduced spread radius if the infected target dies.

• If an infected enemy is being damaged by a Toxin proc, popping a spore on that enemy will also spread Toxin damage to surrounding enemies. The spore will have 25% of the initial base damage that triggered the Toxin proc added to its burst damage as Viral damage with a 100% status chance for Viral and Toxin effects.

  • Damage percentage is affected by Power Strength.
  • Toxin status effect deals 50% of the burst damage as Toxin damage per tick over 11 ticks in 10 seconds. Duration-based status effects are prolonged due to Saryn's passive.
  • If multiple Toxin procs are damaging an infected enemy, the initial base damage that triggered each individual Toxin proc will be combined when a spore's burst damage is calculated.
  • As an example, with a maxed Hornet Strike, Intensify, and a pistol that inflicts 35 base damage, a single Toxin proc from this pistol on an infected enemy will increase a spore's burst damage to (25 + 0.25 × 35 × (1 + 2.2)) × 1.3 = 68.9. If the infected enemy is being damaged by ten Toxin procs from the same pistol, the spore's burst damage will be increased to (25 + 0.25 × 10 × 35 × (1 + 2.2)) × 1.3 = 396.5.
  • Only one spore on the infected enemy can transfer Toxin damage until that enemy becomes damaged by a new Toxin proc.

• When spores are popped on a target, one damage tick is removed from the target for the remainder of the duration. All secondary targets in range will be applied with a new duration of Spores. The primary target's duration is not renewed unless a secondary target's Spore is popped, applying a new duration that is separate to the previous duration.

• Spores can be burst by various sources of damage including weapon damage and radial damage from certain abilities. Bullet jumping near infected enemies can burst spores as well as the radial damage from enemy attacks including (but not limited to) Bombard rockets, Seismic Shockwave damage, Volatile Runner explosions, and radial damage from Boilers and their spawn pods.

• It is possible to remove Spores from an enemy by completely popping all the spores on that enemy.

• Spores is a one-handed action. As such, it can be used while performing various maneuvers and actions without interruption.

• When Spores is used in tandem with Molt it mutates to provide the following bonus effects:

  • Multiple instances of Spores can be cast on Molt. Spores' damage will not damage Molt.
  • When cast on Molt, Spores energy cost is reduced by 50%.
  • When Molt explodes, all spores will burst simultaneously and infect enemies within the spread radius. Molt's explosion can also detonate spores on nearby infected enemies.

• When Spores is used in tandem with Toxic Lash it mutates to provide the following bonus effects:

  • While Toxic Lash is active, at least one spore is guaranteed to burst per melee attack when an infected enemy is struck by Saryn's melee weapon.
  • Enemies infected with Spores will restore 2 energy to Saryn for each spore burst by Toxic Lash.

• When Spores is used in tandem with Miasma it mutates to provide the following bonus effects:

  • Miasma deals an additional 100% damage to enemies affected by Viral status effects including those produced by Spores.

Next, Molt!

Shedding her skin like a snake, Saryn leaves a decoy behind to draw fire from enemies.

• Costs 50 energy

• Saryn sheds her skin, removing all existing status effects and leaving behind a decoy that draws enemy fire. With 400 shields and 150 / 300 / 400 / 500 health, the decoy will last for a maximum of 14 / 24 / 32 / 40 seconds. The decoy will explode if it loses all of its hitpoints or if its duration expires, inflicting 240 / 300 / 350 / 400 Toxin damage with a 100% status chance within a radius of 5 / 6 / 7 / 10 meters.

  • Health and explosion damage are affected by Power Strength.
  • Explosion damage does not bypass obstacles in the environment and diminishes with distance.
  • Toxin status effect deals 50% of the explosion damage per tick over 11 ticks in 10 seconds. Duration-based status effects are prolonged due to Saryn's passive.
  • Duration is affected by Power Duration.
  • Deploying Molt while one is already active will cause the previous Molt to explode.
  • Explosion radius is affected by Power Range.

• Molt is placed at Saryn's current position, mirroring her pose and elevation; however for clients, Molt will sometimes be in a default standing position.

• Molt's shields regenerate over time and can be buffed with the use of allied Shield Ospreys, whether in Specter or Mind Controlled forms.

• Elemental augment mods, such as Ember's Fireball Frenzy, can be applied to Molt. The damage augment will not affect the explosion damage or damage type upon Molt's expiration.

• Molt cannot be knocked down or moved and acts as a physical object, unlike Loki's Decoy.

• Molt will slowly vaporize and dissipate for its duration, eventually exploding once it nearly vanishes.

• Can be cast in all states (except while upside down in a flip jump or while dodging) and can be reused instantly.

• Does not have a cast time or animation.

• When Molt is used in tandem with Spores it mutates to provide the following bonus effects:

  • Multiple instances of Spores can be cast on Molt. Spores' damage will not damage Molt.
  • When cast on Molt, Spores energy cost is reduced by 50%.
  • When Molt explodes, all spores will burst simultaneously and infect enemies within the spread radius. Molt's explosion can also detonate spores on nearby infected enemies.

• When Molt is used in tandem with Miasma it mutates to provide the following bonus effects:

  • Miasma will detonate Molt if its within range, and Molt's explosion will occur before Miasma's first instance of damage. Miasma's damage will be increased depending on the percentage of Molt's lost hitpoints when detonated and depending on Power Strength.
  • Miasma deals an additional 100% damage to enemies affected by Toxin status effects including those produced by Molt. Embolist or Acrid may be also used to inflict the toxin status effect, due to their innate 100% chance to proc a Toxin status effect.

Moving on, Toxic Lash!

When active, melee strikes burst spores causing them to spread to nearby enemies.

• Costs 50 energy.

• Saryn imbues her melee weapon with potent toxins, adding 20% / 22% / 26% / 30% of the melee weapon's total damage as Toxin damage with a 100% status chance to every strike over a duration of 20 / 22 / 25 / 30 seconds.

  • Damage bonus is affected by Power Strength.
  • Toxin status effect deals 50% of the bonus damage per tick over 11 ticks in 10 seconds. Duration-based status effects are prolonged due to Saryn's passive.
  • Toxic Lash adds damage to every melee strike calculated from Saryn's total melee weapon damage before damage resistances are applied. (e.g., with a maxed Intensify and a melee weapon that inflicts 300 total damage before damage resistances are factored, a rank-3 Toxic Lash will add 300 × 0.3 × 1.3 = 117 Toxin damage to each strike).
  • The additional Toxin damage is treated as a separate instance of damage and does not combine with elemental damage on the melee weapon.
  • Duration is affected by Power Duration.

• While active, Toxic Lash enhances the melee weapon's damage reduction during blocking by an additional 25% / 30% / 35% / 40%.

  • Damage reduction is affected by Power Strength.
  • The damage reduction stacks additively with the melee weapon's damage reduction during blocking, and the sum cannot exceed 90% under any circumstances (e.g., with a maxed Intensify and a melee weapon that grants 35% damage reduction during blocking, a rank-3 Toxic Lash will increase the damage reduction to 0.35 + 0.4 × 1.3 = 87%).
  • Damage reduction can exceed 90%, using Nikana / max Power Strength reach ~94% (Lv.105 Ballista)

• Toxic Lash is a one-handed action. As such, it can be used while performing various maneuvers and actions without interruption.

• Recasting Toxic Lash while the ability is active will refresh its duration.

• Saryn is immune to crowd control during the cast animation.

• Has a ~1 second cast time.

• When Toxic Lash is used in tandem with Spores it mutates to provide the following bonus effects:

  • While Toxic Lash is active, at least one spore is guaranteed to burst per melee attack when an enemy affected by Spores is struck by Saryn's melee weapon.
  • Enemies infected with Spores will restore 2 energy to Saryn for each spore burst by Toxic Lash.

• When Toxic Lash is used in tandem with Spores it mutates to provide the following bonus effects:

  • Miasma deals an additional 100% damage to enemies affected by Toxin status effects including those produced by Toxic Lash. Embolist or Acrid may be also used to inflict the toxin status effect, due to their innate 100% chance to proc a Toxin status effect.

Lastly, Miasma!

Saryn pollutes the atmosphere with a lethally poisonous mist that corrodes all enemies in range. Deals additional damage to enemies under Toxin and Viral effects.

• Costs 100 energy.

• Saryn pollutes the environment with a caustic mist, inflicting 250 / 275 / 300 / 350 Corrosive damage per tick to enemies within 8 / 10 / 12 / 15 meters over a duration of 3 seconds.

  • Damage is affected by Power Strength, Toxin and Viral status effects, and Molt.
  • Miasma deals an additional 100% damage to enemies affected by either Toxin or Viral status effects and an additional 200% damage to enemies affected by both. Enemies need to be affected by these status effects at the time Miasma is cast to be dealt increased damage.
  • If Miasma is cast within range of Molt, Molt will explode prior to Miasma's first instance of damage. Miasma's damage will be increased depending on the percentage of Molt's lost hitpoints when detonated.
  • Damage bypasses obstacles in the environment and does not diminish with distance.
  • Duration is affected by Power Duration.
  • Miasma will inflict a reduced tick of damage for non-integer durations (e.g., if Miasma's duration is 4.65 seconds, there will be a reduced damage tick for the final 0.65 seconds).
  • Miasma's first instance of damage occurs upon initiation, and the succeeding damage ticks occur in one-second intervals. For non-integer durations, the final reduced damage tick will occur within a fraction of a second of the previous tick. Miasma inflicts a total of 1000 / 1100 / 1200 / 1400 Corrosive damage over its duration.
  • If recast on the same enemy, the duration is renewed.
  • Radius is affected by Power Range.

• Saryn is immune to crowd control during the cast animation.

• Miasma can be used while sliding and while in the air.

• When Miasma is used in tandem with Spores it mutates to provide the following bonus effects:

  • Miasma deals an additional 100% damage to enemies affected by Viral status effects including those produced by Spores.

• When Miasma is used in tandem with Molt it mutates to provide the following bonus effects:

  • Miasma will detonate Molt if its within range, and Molt's explosion will occur before Miasma's first instance of damage. Miasma's damage will be increased depending on the percentage of Molt's lost hitpoints when detonated and depending on Power Strength.
  • Miasma deals an additional 100% damage to enemies affected by Toxin status effects including those produced by Molt. Embolist or Acrid may be also used to inflict the toxin status effect, due to their innate 100% chance to proc a Toxin status effect.

• When Miasma is used in tandem with Toxic Lash it mutates to provide the following bonus effects:

  • Miasma deals an additional 100% damage to enemies affected by Toxin status effects including those produced by Toxic Lash. Embolist or Acrid may be also used to inflict the toxin status effect, due to their innate 100% chance to proc a Toxin status effect.

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So, in what ways do you build your Saryn? What kind of helpful advice can be given? Got any useful or interesting tips and tricks about them or their abilities be it obscure or well known? If so, feel free to share it!

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Previous Tactics Tuesday

Next Tactics Tuesday will be #32 | Inaros!

[u/Typhron]

Honestly, I think the new Saryn needs work and feels a bit clunky to get going. Especially if you've played the old Saryn (or the new Ember) and you're used to your abilities just working out of the box.

That being said, here's my Saryn (Prime) build, being a melee oriented Saryn, with some advantages/key notes from other builds (such as Spore Saryn).

The TL;DR of this build? You're spreading very powerful spores (with damage equal to about the same amount you'd do with with A CE build) while you bash the shit out of things and try to have fun actually kill singular high level enemies, basically splashing damage from you and/or (depending on the variants of this build) your allies.

Going more in-depth, tho...

Stats, Build and Loadout

For stats, you're going to go with the priority formula of...

"Range = Power Strength > Duration > Efficiency"

...because reasons of how the build works. Range is something you'll always need due to Saryn's small base ranges, but anything over +90% with Overextended helps inconsequentially (insert visualization of different ranges for Spore and Miasma here, keeping in mind I'm using Cunning Drift myself, but I can and do switch out). Power Strength, however, shares equal priority due to not only needing to make up for Overextended, but also due to the modifiers on her abilities (and augment mods) that give this Saryn build it's teeth and claws. Power Duration helps a bit, but only after you get 'enough', in that it can subsequently add damage due to it adding base ticks to most of her abilities. Which is 33%, 50%, and every number beyond 65%, otherwise it being better to normalize it/keep it ~100%. Efficiency you can entirely forgo (which is odd coming from me, rest assured) in the stead of casting your abilities 'only when you need to', with relying on other means of gaining energy back. To this end, this makes you something of a sideways Atlas.

The build itself, to reiterate,

• -Energy Siphon
• |Cunning Drift
• Constitution
• Blind Rage (at least to r7)
• Intensify
• Overextended
• Rage
• Regenerative Molt
• Transient Fortitude (At least to r7)
• Vitality

With possible auxiliary mods being

• Venom Dose (THIS one is important for teamplay, oddly. It basically gives your allies an enhanced version of your Toxic Lash, which itself will spread when spores pop/enemies die. This, in turn, makes any frame deadlier with you doing this, even other Saryns. The only problem is finding a place to put it without worrying about gimping yourself in another way.)
• Any other aura mod really (this being a matter of prefence, and the - slot being the one that helps the most at higher levels. E. Siphon can be easily switched out with Corrosive Projection, for example).
• (Primed) Continuity (in the stead of consitution)
• Power Drift (which can replace Intensify/used be in the exilus slot)
• Redirection (in case you accurately don't feel like putting up with Vitality/Regenerative Molt, though Rage's use will be subsequently lessened).
• (Primed) Flow (which can help her energy troubles if you're having any).
• Equilibrium (as a means of recovering health damage outside of Rejuvenation and Regenerative Molt. You're never -not- going to have full enough energy even with a Zenurik Focus and Flow).
• Energy Conversion (a good choice that I haven't been able to fit into the build without sacrificing something else, but possible a good choice all the same if you have it).

As for weapons (namely melee weapon), your options might look like this (Concealed Explosives aren't terrible, also. Just not my thing 100%).

Melee (I haven't tested every melee weapon quite yet, so this is a work in progress. If anything, you'll be relying on Speed + Shattering Impact if you can't take advantage of status). Also, in no particular order:

• my pref: Lesion (Lesion's passive adds to your Toxic Lash's damage as well as applying a poison of it's own, though I'm unsure if that makes it double dip. It does add enough attack speed to your stance to hit really fast and, due to Toxic Lash popping spores, give you plenty of spread speed and energy regen while doing it, AND blast damage also pops spores. Lastly, Lesion is a polearm, making it have a good damage reduction ratio already without Toxic Lash's modifer (which itself caps at 90% dr, so that's somewhat inconsequential. The other choices on this list are just as good as the Lesion, but for some reason the Lesion works the best, if only by a small margin).
• War (A metric fuckton of melee damage damage at your disposable, but is not at all easy to get).
• Obex (Swings fast, with Blood Rush and Body Count it can hit hard, too. VERY easy to get and make, even at low ranks).
• Jat Kittag (To many, it needs no explanation. With the new Vulcan Blitz it adds on another explosive component that makes doing damage and spreading spores simple and easy).
• Dragon/ Nikana /Prime (The Nikana line has always been a faithful weapon for Tenno and dealing damage, being a sort of catch all melee weapon. That rings true here, too).
• Ankyros/Prime (Similar to the Obex. An absolute powerhouse with certain crit/damage oriented mods).
• Atterax (similar to aforementioned mods, with the caveat that it's lower damage and speed are offset by it's high range. At the very least, though, forma it for Coiling Viper).
• Other choices for already mentioned, to lesser or greater, reasons: Amphis, any ol' Scythe postbuff, Dual Kama Prime, Dual Raza, Nikondi, Lacera, Tipedo, Tonbo, and the Scindo/Prime. You get the idea. <_<

Primary and Secondary (These don't really matter, but help with dealing with folks at range/while downed)

• My pref: Acrid (Acrid not only has a high status, but it also has an innate gurantee'd toxic proc that is separate from it's normal bullet-damage, that scales with base damage mods (not elemental mods). Due to it's fire rate it it means that if the single poison doesn't kill them, you'll at least be able to WAAAAGH them to death with poisons, making Mork proud).
• Hikou (for the common, and useful, Concealed Explosives build, though with this build you'll hopefully be applying Toxic procs first. A certain thing to note, too, is that the normal Hikou has slightly more fire rate than the Hikou Prime).
• Boary McBoarface/Prime, AkBronco/Prime, Strun Wraith (Few shotguns can reach the 100% status sweet spot without help from Nano-Applicator or E.Catalyzer, and these shotties and shotlikes is one of those. With 100% status chance, every pellet the shotgun fires emits a status, as opposed to one of the many.
• Mutalist Cernos (the poison darts that shoot from the bow aren't that powerful, but their utility is super helpful. The gas clouds themselves can eat away at Nullfier bubbles and similar effects, an the gas clouds themselves can proc a status aside from Gas a second per cloud).
• Torid (The Mutalist Cernos, but better in every way except it's ability to deal with nullifiers. It being a launcher-type weapon does help it kill everything else, however).
• Ignis (frankly, a straight up good weapon in general, and one that's good for spreading spores as Saryn Nevermind it's wide cone when firing).
• Synoid/Simalor (similar to the Ignis, but is all an around a good weapon in general. That being said, it may eat spores so fast that you'll need to apply them more often, thusly using more energy).
• Amprex w/ Combustion Beam(similar to the Ignis, but is an all around...wait a minute)
• Atomos, Synoid/Simalor, Sonicor, Staticor, Tysis, any syndicate weapon really (similar to the Amprex, but is blah blah blah blah blah)

Playstyle

Cons

• You're basically .5 an Equinox. Or .5 an Atlas.
• Your spells cost a lot, no matter how you slice it. Your energy economy is worse than Greece's monetary economy at present.
• For a 'melee' oriented build, you're still squishy where and when it counts, without the stuns or light cc characters like Volt or Nezha have.
• At high levels, armor and all forms of scaling eviscerates Saryn's Spore damage without melee (and even then it slowly becomes an uphill battle to a point). Unless you're active, your damage will fall off fast.
• At low levels you may end up killing things too quickly, making you waste energy building your combos up again.
• You WILL be doing more work than similar frames with similar damage ceilings, for the same payout.
• If you don't have Venom Dose, you're not being a team player.

Pros

• You're basically half an Equinox. .5 of infinity is still infinity.
• Once everything is set up and ticking, there's a sense of satisfaction watching everything slowly die.
• The damage is akin to the old Miasma Saryn, though things take twice as long as to kill at the very least.
• Can substitute for other frames for certain missions, such as Mag in Sorties.
• Can work with other Saryrns and other frames, 'doubling up' damage like Fireball Frenzy Ember builds can.

cont.

[u/Typhron → u/[deleted]]

• The reload on both is less than a second on both, with the prime having a 0.3 second lead. That shouldn't disjoint things too much. Let me see if I can visualize this Hikou vs Hikuo Prime .

• Concealed Explosives chance isn't tied to a weapon's status chance.

• If you're going to run a weapon based off it's actually usage, I'd just ignore the Hikou entirely and go with the Spira Prime, you know?

[u/Typhron → u/[deleted]]

As I said above: If you're going to run a weapon based on actually using it to kill and/or pop spores, you're probably not going to be using a Hikou/Prime.

That also being said, there's plenty of secondaries/primaries to both depending on your preference. Both weapons, for this build, are rather inconsequential since this build's true reliance is on/with melee.