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Choosing a DPS frame - Mesa vs Saryn


EL3kTr1C
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Obviously Saryn Prime has been unvaulted so I'm trying to farm her, but I also have enough plat to get a Mesa Prime. I'm not gonna ask which is the better frame because the answer will simply be "both are good in different situations" or something like that, so instead I'm here to ask about what exactly differentiates the two. From my understanding, Mesa is better as a focused/single-target damage-dealer, whereas Saryn is more of an AoE nuker or something like that. Tbh I've been looking for something to help with boss fights, and not sure which one to get first so yeah. Any other tips on either frame and how they work/how to play them will be appreciated 🙂

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I feel they kind of have different specializations. Saryn does map-wide elemental damage and has to ramp up, whereas Mesa dishes out absurd amounts of physical damage to less targets with minimal windup. Saryn has no direct damage mitigation abilities, but has more armour and absurd sustain with an augment; Mesa is tankier with Shatter Shield, but doesn't have any sustain at all.

I also believe Saryn has a bit more build variety. For the most part Mesa is locked into her 4, since her one other non-defensive ability doesn't really lend itself well to a specific build, whereas you can build a face-tanking Toxic Lash Saryn and absolutely annihilate if you don't feel like going Spore/Miasma style.

Edited by AdunSaveMe
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Mesa is gonna be your boss fighter. Shatter shield absorbs damage, and the 4 can be really good fast DPS per single target (and can wipe out mobs if you're putting out the damage). If you're running something like ESO, then Saryn is gonna be the one killing literally everything as she's best with max range and a decent amount of power strength.

As for builds, check out youtube. Lots of great builds out there. Saryn becomes straight forward to build for, but tweak to your liking. My build is like max range is a must, duration should stay at %100 or at least close, and strength depending on your activity. I can't recall my exact amount, but I have the power strength a little higher than necessary since I typically use her for ESO. Regenerative Molt is an important mod with her for higher content.

My build for Mesa focused a little bit on everything. Efficiency for less drain on the 4. Strength and Duration for 3 (shatter shield) and the tiniest bit of range (although I have no clue whether or not range has effect on the regulators) for the 4 as well but sits at like %115 anyways.

Hope it helps out.

Edited by HumanitysLastBreath
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Mesa (personal fav): As mentioned, can single target nuke. She also has a buff that can help your teammates, and it gets stronger as your other abilities get stronger.

Saryn: Versatile. With the content I run, she never gets up to what her high damage could be. The combo dies off, either because Spore runs out of mobs or Miasma finishes everything off. Saryn has the benefit of self-heal with the Molt augment.

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I'd go Sayrn as the power of mesa's peacemakers depends on how fast you can press the trigger, as on PC, you can't just hold down the fire button as if it was an automatic gun, as it is on console versions.

Further being able to kill large groups of enemies behind walls is better than killing every enemy you see, especially as there are many weapons that can compete/outclass mesa's peacemakers when it comes to single target damage so when a tougher unit comes up you can use those.

And sayrn's damage has inifite scaling meaning enemy level/armour values mean pretty much nothing to her.

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5 minutes ago, AndouRaiton said:

I'd go Sayrn as the power of mesa's peacemakers depends on how fast you can press the trigger, as on PC, you can't just hold down the fire button as if it was an automatic gun, as it is on console versions.

If I'm understanding what you're saying correctly, you're incorrect as I'm on PC and definitely just hold down left click and it automatically fires at everything on my screen until it's dead.

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3 minutes ago, HumanitysLastBreath said:

If I'm understanding what you're saying correctly, you're incorrect as I'm on PC and definitely just hold down left click and it automatically fires at everything on my screen until it's dead.

Is that so, then i guess i have a problem on my end.

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38 minutes ago, HumanitysLastBreath said:

Mesa is gonna be your boss fighter. Shatter shield absorbs damage, and the 4 can be really good fast DPS per single target (and can wipe out mobs if you're putting out the damage). If you're running something like ESO, then Saryn is gonna be the one killing literally everything as she's best with max range and a decent amount of power strength.

As for builds, check out youtube. Lots of great builds out there. Saryn becomes straight forward to build for, but tweak to your liking. My build is like max range is a must, duration should stay at %100 or at least close, and strength depending on your activity. I can't recall my exact amount, but I have the power strength a little higher than necessary since I typically use her for ESO. Regenerative Molt is an important mod with her for higher content.

My build for Mesa focused a little bit on everything. Efficiency for less drain on the 4. Strength and Duration for 3 (shatter shield) and the tiniest bit of range (although I have no clue whether or not range has effect on the regulators) for the 4 as well but sits at like %115 anyways.

Hope it helps out.

This definitely helps a lot! 

A couple of things about Saryn though - 

- Most Saryn builds I find run pretty low efficiency. Does she not need energy that much? Tbh I'm not familiar with her spore-spreading mechanic and was assuming she spams her abilities and would require Hunter Adrenaline or something. 

- Speaking of spreading spores, what kind of weapons are good for her? I have an Orthos Prime condition overload  build as my go to melee weapon, and I think it should fit right in with Saryn as she has built in corrosive/viral procs, but I'm not sure what primary(s) synergize with her abilities. 

- Kinda random thought that just came to my head, but how does Mirage compare to these two? I've heard she's a pretty good  DPS frame too. 

Edited by EL3kTr1C
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Mesa has two problems, she is stationary when in shoot mode. And she can't shoot through walls. This limits her uses to big open spaces, such as Plains or Fortuna. On the good side she is much easier to play with her defensive abilities and "hold X to win" playstyle.

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16 minutes ago, EL3kTr1C said:

This definitely helps a lot! 

A couple of things about Saryn though - 

- Most Saryn builds I find run pretty low efficiency. Does she not need energy that much? Tbh I'm not familiar with her spore-spreading mechanic and was assuming she spams her abilities and would require Hunter Adrenaline or something. 

- Speaking of spreading spores, what kind of weapons are good for her? I have an Orthos Prime condition overload  build as my go to melee weapon, and I think it should fit right in with Saryn as she has built in corrosive/viral procs, but I'm not sure what primary(s) synergize with her abilities. 

- Kinda random thought that just came to my head, but how does Mirage compare to these two? I've heard she's a pretty good  DPS frame too. 

For my Saryn, My efficiency is just below 100, maybe around 80? Basically you cast spores onto one single target, kill the target then it spreads to every other target within your ability range, slowly scaling damage (ability strength). The more you have infected, the faster it rises. As the enemies die, is usually spreads well on it's own. Miasma helps spread spores also. Your starting energy should be enough to get you going as you pick up more. Regenerative Molt is a good augment mod which allows you to recover health so you don't need to worry about anything else for survivability. 

As for weapons, it's personal preference to me. I like the Ignis Wraith for Saryn, but usually run things like Fulmin or Arca Plasmor. As for melee, I like running Atterax, but I don't find it has much of a difference with spores (although more veteran players might be able to lean into this more than I can).

Mirage is a very good DPS frame but can be tricky sometimes depending on the map. Her 1 is her "clones/holograms" that will do additional damage as well by mimicking exactly what you're doing. Her 3 is tricky, because when in darkness she receives a damage absorption buff (there's a better word for that, I can't think of it) and in light she receives the major damage buff that makes her output insane damage. However, a lot of maps are real dark so sometimes it's hard to get that buff. She's built for Duration and Strength, the rest don't matter at all. Again, I like using Ignis Wraith for her because there is major AOE with her clones for large mobs, and I've noticed that while spamming slide for some reason, it provides a light source to receive the damage buff.

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1 hour ago, EL3kTr1C said:

Obviously Saryn Prime has been unvaulted so I'm trying to farm her, but I also have enough plat to get a Mesa Prime. I'm not gonna ask which is the better frame because the answer will simply be "both are good in different situations" or something like that, so instead I'm here to ask about what exactly differentiates the two. From my understanding, Mesa is better as a focused/single-target damage-dealer, whereas Saryn is more of an AoE nuker or something like that. Tbh I've been looking for something to help with boss fights, and not sure which one to get first so yeah. Any other tips on either frame and how they work/how to play them will be appreciated 🙂

I wouldn't call Mesa a single-target damage dealer as her 4 doesn't target most bosses. She's a mobile turret and quite powerful, but much higher-maintenance than Saryn, who is self-sufficient and above all very, very economical.

Saryn's damage scales infinitely to match enemy level whereas Mesa's regulators don't. Saryn doesn't really nuke in higher-level missions, though - her job is to keep up steady damage numbers.

They're both very fun 🙂 

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50 minutes ago, EL3kTr1C said:

This definitely helps a lot! 

A couple of things about Saryn though - 

- Most Saryn builds I find run pretty low efficiency. Does she not need energy that much? Tbh I'm not familiar with her spore-spreading mechanic and was assuming she spams her abilities and would require Hunter Adrenaline or something. 

- Speaking of spreading spores, what kind of weapons are good for her? I have an Orthos Prime condition overload  build as my go to melee weapon, and I think it should fit right in with Saryn as she has built in corrosive/viral procs, but I'm not sure what primary(s) synergize with her abilities. 

- Kinda random thought that just came to my head, but how does Mirage compare to these two? I've heard she's a pretty good  DPS frame too. 

Saryn does not spam. She is built around not needing to spam. You can run high power strength and spam her miasma in lower-level missions, but you want sub-100% power strength for stuff that matters. That's so her spores don't kill their hosts too quickly. Running low power strength actually lets you do more damage by letting you slowly build up damage stacks on as many targets as possible.

I run 70-90% strength, maximum range using corrupted mods, I don't touch efficiency, and I add a little duration.

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1 hour ago, sinnae said:

Saryn does not spam. She is built around not needing to spam. You can run high power strength and spam her miasma in lower-level missions, but you want sub-100% power strength for stuff that matters. That's so her spores don't kill their hosts too quickly. Running low power strength actually lets you do more damage by letting you slowly build up damage stacks on as many targets as possible.

I run 70-90% strength, maximum range using corrupted mods, I don't touch efficiency, and I add a little duration.

As I said, I'm not familiar with how the spore spreads and thought she has to recast her 1 but I've got that cleared up now so no worries there. 

What you say about power strength is interesting because it gives her 1 upto a 100% chance of a corrosive proc, plus it affects the damage bonus from her 3. Most builds I found also seem to recommend at least 200% power strength, so sacrificing it seems like you're losing out on damage but maybe I'm missing something here. Does she have different builds to play around her different abilities? 

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Saryn is not a dps, and Chroma is not a nuker. Neither is Mesa. A nuker is someone who does aoe damage. None of the discussed frames do that as their main job.

Saryn is a DoT DPS. Hey day job is not to damage but to run around spreading and refreshing her dots.
Chroma is a support frame. He just happens to buff himself.
i'm struggling to classify Mesa to be honest, because her 4 is very selective in what it targets without asking the player.

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4 hours ago, AdunSaveMe said:

I feel they kind of have different specializations. Saryn does map-wide elemental damage and has to ramp up, whereas Mesa dishes out absurd amounts of physical damage to less targets with minimal windup. Saryn has no direct damage mitigation abilities, but has more armour and absurd sustain with an augment; Mesa is tankier with Shatter Shield, but doesn't have any sustain at all.

I also believe Saryn has a bit more build variety. For the most part Mesa is locked into her 4, since her one other non-defensive ability doesn't really lend itself well to a specific build, whereas you can build a face-tanking Toxic Lash Saryn and absolutely annihilate if you don't feel like going Spore/Miasma style.

Face tanking toxic lash ftw ... my fav build for her 😍

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4 hours ago, EL3kTr1C said:

Mesa is better as a focused/single-target damage-dealer, whereas Saryn is more of an AoE nuker

Basically. Mesa's main limitation is that her DPS is line-of-sight only and she can't move while using it (or can barely move with the augment for it). Saryn can nuke people through walls all around her but is a bit more squishy and can't focus down a single target like Mesa can.

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5 hours ago, HumanitysLastBreath said:

Mirage is a very good DPS frame but can be tricky sometimes depending on the map. Her 1 is her "clones/holograms" that will do additional damage as well by mimicking exactly what you're doing. Her 3 is tricky, because when in darkness she receives a damage absorption buff (there's a better word for that, I can't think of it) and in light she receives the major damage buff that makes her output insane damage. However, a lot of maps are real dark so sometimes it's hard to get that buff. She's built for Duration and Strength, the rest don't matter at all. Again, I like using Ignis Wraith for her because there is major AOE with her clones for large mobs, and I've noticed that while spamming slide for some reason, it provides a light source to receive the damage buff.

Unless you set yourself on fire as Mirage. That triggers your damage buff :P

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5 hours ago, EL3kTr1C said:

As I said, I'm not familiar with how the spore spreads and thought she has to recast her 1 but I've got that cleared up now so no worries there. 

What you say about power strength is interesting because it gives her 1 upto a 100% chance of a corrosive proc, plus it affects the damage bonus from her 3. Most builds I found also seem to recommend at least 200% power strength, so sacrificing it seems like you're losing out on damage but maybe I'm missing something here. Does she have different builds to play around her different abilities? 

I've never seen an ESO build recommend positive power strength.

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