Playing Saryn

[(PSN)northern_rebal]

I just built Saryn Prime and even after watching videos etc. I'm  still not sure how she should be played.

I use ability #1 and then run away to let that enemy infect others?   Do I then have to go back  to kill the infected?  Then ability #4 helps spread the spores? 

Do I infect one enemy and let him infect the others, or should I infect several enemies in the same area?

[(XBOX)EternalDrk Mako]

older video i did but hope it helps in explaining how she works

Spoiler

 

 

[Cephalon_Saryndipity]

Step one: cast toxic lash, step two: Spore an enemy step three: Kill said enemy, spore spreads, Step four: you can miasma every now and then in high level missions but you will wipe the map of most things on the star chart. Build her for Range, Strength and/or Survivability. You can also use Umbral Mods and Forma to kick her into heights she doesn't really need to achieve. If you are interested I can link you some of my builds, I have a lot of hours with her. She's my favorite DPS frame by FAR. 

[(PSN)northern_rebal]

11 minutes ago, (NSW)Badger said:

Step one: cast toxic lash, step two: Spore an enemy step three: Kill said enemy, spore spreads, Step four: you can miasma every now and then in high level missions but you will wipe the map of most things on the star chart. Build her for Range, Strength and/or Survivability. You can also use Umbral Mods and Forma to kick her into heights she doesn't really need to achieve. If you are interested I can link you some of my builds, I have a lot of hours with her. She's my favorite DPS frame by FAR. 

I'd  love to see your builds ... even better if you can tell me where to get the better mods I bet you've  used.

[Cephalon_Saryndipity]

These first builds are pretty easy to get early on as most of the mods are pretty common. There are a bunch of ways to build her but with my playstyle I go with:

Cunning Drift (Lua Challenge Room)

Growing Power (or Energy Siphon, GP is kinda hard to get without buying because it has a low drop rate, and doesn't actually drop from the enemy- that is a farm to spawn itself, until you finish a certain quest)

Vitality 

Stretch 

Transient Fortitude (This is from Vault Runs)

Intensify

Venom Dose (You can also use Regenerative Molt, which will heal you a ton. I love the extra damage with Venom Dose and I also like giving corrosive to allies. I run Condition Overload on my melee a lot with Saryn just because why not- you'll be procing things left and right. Even after they limited CO it is still does damage equivalent of having 6 different status effects while now only needing 3) 

Augur Reach (Earth Bounties on POE) 

Primed Continuity (Baro, Trade Chat) these primed mods can also be the non-primed variant. It will work almost as well.

Primed Flow (Baro, Trade Chat)

2nd Build: This one has is harder to get, but really great at farming Focus:

energy siphon (NW, Trade Chat)

cunning drift (Lua Vault)

Vitality

Fleeting Expertise (Vault)

Blind Rage (Vault)

Augur Reach (Would be stretch but I haven't added a sixth forma, not sure how I could, lol)

Venom Dose (again can be Regenerative Molt. My Operator can heal so I don't need it anymore)

Primed Continuity

Transient Fortitude

Overextended (Vault Runs)

Umbral Build (this is a WIP, and a bunch of others have radically different designs that work just as well)

Cunning Drift, Growing Power, Adaptation (Arbitrations or Trade), Fleeting Expertise, Blind Rage, Overextended, Venom Dose, Umbral Intensify, Prime Continuity, Umbral Vitality. 

I also highly stress the use of Arcane Energize once you get it. Otherwise you'll need:

Energizing Dash (Zenurik Focus School)

Supra Vandal W/ Augment or equivalent energy generating weapon OR Ignis Wraith but for Gas Damage OR Sobek w/ Justice Augment AND Acid Shells 

BIG ASS POLEARM. Zaws are great but the Lesion will work just as well, I also HIGHLY recommend the Prisma Dual Cleavers (BARO) w/ Steel Meridian Augment

Pet/Companion to Taste (Doesn't matter, I usually just slot in whatever at the time.) 

 

I also used Hunter Adrenaline quite a bit early on, that drops from Plains enemies and bounties

 

With Saryn you want RANGE, ABILITY STRENGTH (At 200 Str spores strip armor, which becomes her main job at high levels)

Warframe School also has a good Saryn beginner build that I used as a baseline until I found my way. https://warframe-school.com/saryn-builds-guide/

 

 

Edited February 6, 2020 by (NSW)Badger

[(PSN)AbBaNdOn_]

Thats a great step by step.  But it would still be nice to see people explain what exaclty each step does.  

Those mechanics are hella complicated lol.  (I know them too)

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I can get massive kill counts with my saryn but I can never tell how I am doing.   It feels like all my spores die off occasionally.   I usually run into other saryns in ESO and it feels like their spores are just non stop and always going..  

[Cephalon_Saryndipity]

20 hours ago, (PS4)AbBaNdOn_ said:

Thats a great step by step.  But it would still be nice to see people explain what exaclty each step does.  

Those mechanics are hella complicated lol.  (I know them too)

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I can get massive kill counts with my saryn but I can never tell how I am doing.   It feels like all my spores die off occasionally.   I usually run into other saryns in ESO and it feels like their spores are just non stop and always going..  

1, Toxic Lash: Adds a percentage, depending on Ability Strength, of Toxin Damage to all attacks for 30 seconds or more depending on Duration, Also instantly bursts spores that will then spread based on Range. Managing Toxic Lash and making sure it is always up while fighting is a top priority. For extra fun add in the Venom Dose Augment to give yourself and allies extra Corrosive Damage. Doing two types of Elemental Damage can easily end up in multiple procs that can be taken advantage of with Condition Overload. With Venom Dose and Toxic Lash you can have a minimum of three Status types (Corrosive, Toxin and whatever the weapon is modded for- I often use Viral or Gas. Radiation is great, too, that way you have all the armor stripping elements [Since Corrosive is for Ferrite Armor and Radiation is for Alloy Armor.]). 

2. Spore an enemy: Begins a Damage Over Time Corrosive Damage proc as well as stripping armor- the higher the status chance (listed in spore window on Warframe Ability Page) the greater the strip. Gas Damage will, if Toxic Lash is not currently up, add clouds of Toxin around enemies, these clouds will burst the spores as well, which is why a lot of Saryns run with Ignis Wraith modded for gas. I prefer the Acid Shells and Justice Proc from the Sobek- It's like having little Miasmas generated by your weapon, and will also heal you 25% with Justice AND hit nearby enemies with Blast Damage every time it triggers. 

3. Miasma will do a flat amount of Viral Damage (Not much, really) and also proc Viral status on enemies hit by it, also spreads spores on enemy death- and triples the damage output of Spores DOT. In low level missions (anything below 100) this will usually kill almost everything in range. At higher levels it helps maintain Spore DOT and spread. 

4.  Try to get your weapons to 100 percent status chance.  Saryn thrives not on Critical Damage but on Status (Hek, her passive extends Status Procs, which is the best thing ever). That said, a Stat Stick (A polearm modded for 100 percent status) is enough. Condition Overload and Healing Return are your best friends as well since you will be spreading status all over.

5. Grofit. 

 

____

 

as to your second comment all I can think is maybe their Range is higher. From what I understand (and I could be wrong) whichever Saryn has the highest range usually takes over in ESO

[(PSN)northern_rebal]

My spores don't seem to spread very much.  A couple of hours of playing and I think i reached a max of 10 affected.  Could I not be playing against high enough enemies, so they are dying too quickly?  I've been farming in the void, on the derelict and even the kuva fortress.

I really appreciate you going into so much detail.  Many people tell you what to do, but not the explanation of Why.

[(PSN)northern_rebal]

On 2020-02-05 at 2:08 PM, (XB1)EternalDrk Mako said:

older video i did but hope it helps in explaining how she works

I see how this works well in the simlucrum ... you have wide open spaces lots of tightly packed enemies ... but in the game, we're mostly in hallways or small rooms, enemies are coming 1 or 2 at a time ...

I can see maybe hitting a higher level enemy, infect him for a bit then shoot/slash him ... it should make him easier to kill,  but for lower levels, I don't see how to infect a bunch at one time, or do alot of damage.

[Canach]

35 minutes ago, (PS4)northern_rebal said:

My spores don't seem to spread very much.  A couple of hours of playing and I think i reached a max of 10 affected.  Could I not be playing against high enough enemies, so they are dying too quickly?  I've been farming in the void, on the derelict and even the kuva fortress.

I really appreciate you going into so much detail.  Many people tell you what to do, but not the explanation of Why.

Saryn is not for running all mission types, although somebody will definateley disagree with me as soon as I post - but really, you hit the nail on the head, she needs a certain population level to keep things going - at least until her stats and your techniques are there. Use Saryn for Defense and Survival missions and you'll get her 'feel'. People use her primarily for Sanctuary Onslaught missions (and such) where there's vast hoards of enemies spawning in uniterrupted - that's where Saryn really shines. As you said, Hallways, small rooms, enemies in ones and twos are not her thing.

Edited February 7, 2020 by Canach

[(XBOX)EternalDrk Mako]

12 hours ago, (PS4)northern_rebal said:

I see how this works well in the simlucrum ... you have wide open spaces lots of tightly packed enemies ... but in the game, we're mostly in hallways or small rooms, enemies are coming 1 or 2 at a time ...

I can see maybe hitting a higher level enemy, infect him for a bit then shoot/slash him ... it should make him easier to kill,  but for lower levels, I don't see how to infect a bunch at one time, or do alot of damage.

sim is actually garbage small in compared to its old setup (rip old) , mainly in sim hitting 1 of the 3 groups and seeing how far spore spread and how far your abilities can hit is the mental note you should have been making to then adjust on various tilesets , saryns 1/4 can bypass walls so always small doorways are pointless to consider other then you are trapping yourself in a bad position, most maps contain a ok large tile room and thats one you can use to advantage on anyframe

if your going for halway battles use lash + spore + any weapon to spread and deal extra damage 

well the basis is there are various builds but the three categories are who you mainly will interact against enemies

a: male-storm spore build 

b: melee build

c: hybrid build

A: you will predominantly use 1/spore onto a target, cast 2 to gain speed buffs and hp regen (augment), status removal , and be a spellcaster type. that is to say throw spore and dodge /heal a lot , once spore has spread past 10+ its damage ticks will ramp up and rapidly spread across the map, killing and shredding 

B: using this is another fun method less spellcaster, focus on smaller groups and rapid killing using melee /weapons enhanced with lash in combo with 4 

C: my preferred method and i feel utilizes the full powerset to keep player engaged better , in this you use spore , hit with a lash+ weapon to start the spread, then do 2 to speed up melee and with condition overload + your 4th power melt things , letting your 1 enchance melee damage or add to the killing to spread/infect 

[Cephalon_Saryndipity]

 

14 hours ago, (PS4)northern_rebal said:

My spores don't seem to spread very much.  A couple of hours of playing and I think i reached a max of 10 affected.  Could I not be playing against high enough enemies, so they are dying too quickly?  I've been farming in the void, on the derelict and even the kuva fortress.

I really appreciate you going into so much detail.  Many people tell you what to do, but not the explanation of Why.

 

13 hours ago, Canach said:

Saryn is not for running all mission types, although somebody will definateley disagree with me as soon as I post - but really, you hit the nail on the head, she needs a certain population level to keep things going - at least until her stats and your techniques are there. Use Saryn for Defense and Survival missions and you'll get her 'feel'. People use her primarily for Sanctuary Onslaught missions (and such) where there's vast hoards of enemies spawning in uniterrupted - that's where Saryn really shines. As you said, Hallways, small rooms, enemies in ones and twos are not her thing.

This Tenno is correct. Basically, she needs enemies and if they die spored with no one in range your spores just go away. I forgot to mention that. She can be used in other mission types but personally I use her in Defense, ESO, Interception and survival. However, other DPS frames like Mesa and Ember thrive on the Open World tile sets. Best thing about Warframe is there is no real end-all-be-all answer to everything because the meta is always slightly shifting. I love that every melee weapon is good now, for instance. When I first started it was all about specific zaws and spin to win weapons. 

Also: a friendly word of warning. A lot of people get really, really upset when they randomly match with a Saryn because they consider it "ruining their fun" or "not letting them play the game". They are not wrong. But the way I look at it a Saryn is a blessing because she really accelerates a farm. And Warframe has more farming than Stardew Valley ;) 

[(PSN)AbBaNdOn_]

14 hours ago, (PS4)northern_rebal said:

My spores don't seem to spread very much.  A couple of hours of playing and I think i reached a max of 10 affected.  Could I not be playing against high enough enemies, so they are dying too quickly?  I've been farming in the void, on the derelict and even the kuva fortress.

I really appreciate you going into so much detail.  Many people tell you what to do, but not the explanation of Why.

 

18 hours ago, (NSW)Badger said:

1, Toxic Lash: Adds a percentage, depending on Ability Strength, of Toxin Damage to all attacks for 30 seconds or more depending on Duration, Also instantly bursts spores that will then spread based on Range. Managing Toxic Lash and making sure it is always up while fighting is a top priority. For extra fun add in the Venom Dose Augment to give yourself and allies extra Corrosive Damage. Doing two types of Elemental Damage can easily end up in multiple procs that can be taken advantage of with Condition Overload. With Venom Dose and Toxic Lash you can have a minimum of three Status types (Corrosive, Toxin and whatever the weapon is modded for- I often use Viral or Gas. Radiation is great, too, that way you have all the armor stripping elements [Since Corrosive is for Ferrite Armor and Radiation is for Alloy Armor.]). 

 

3. Miasma will do a flat amount of Viral Damage (Not much, really) and also proc Viral status on enemies hit by it, also spreads spores on enemy death- and triples the damage output of Spores DOT. In low level missions (anything below 100) this will usually kill almost everything in range. At higher levels it helps maintain Spore DOT and spread. 

This is why I wanted him to explain the steps versus just telling you what to press.  I was to lazy to do it myself =P.   

Spores dont spread themselves*.   Initially spores only spread if you physically break the spores on an enemy.   Toxic lash is the ability you always wanna keep up because it lets you instantly pop spores of anything u hit/kill?  (with melee or gun).  So now as long as you keep hitting spored enemies you can keep it spreading.   (the spread range on spores is what you need to keep in mind for this 30m is good 40m is better lol)

Enemies who die from the DoT of spores but who have never been hit DO NOT spread spores...unless......You do Miasma her 4....  This upgrades the DoT of spores BUT it ALSO makes spored enemies who die from Spore DoT spread spores on death...without being hit.  

I think high strength is bad for Saryn..  range/duration/effeciency...   You dont really want anything dieing from DoT.  Not until your infected count is way up there and then blast them with miasma and then everything dies and spreads,   and before then you can be running around with toxic lash killing and spread spores that way.  Slow and low DoT.   a high Strength spore build will constantly kill stuff before you can do anything to spread spores.  

[Cephalon_Saryndipity]

37 minutes ago, (PS4)AbBaNdOn_ said:

.  

I think high strength is bad for Saryn..  range/duration/effeciency...   You dont really want anything dieing from DoT.  Not until your infected count is way up there and then blast them with miasma and then everything dies and spreads,   and before then you can be running around with toxic lash killing and spread spores that way.  Slow and low DoT.   a high Strength spore build will constantly kill stuff before you can do anything to spread spores.  

The reason I like and use high ability strength on Saryn is for my farming builds but also because at 200 power strength spores status chance becomes 100%, which is really important when you're trying to strip armor. But like I said before you can build her a bunch of different ways. Play however you want to play is how I look at it. 

[(XBOX)DarkForceLegend]

A lot of great advice on Saryn.

I've done some toying around with Saryn and the best way I can put it on how to build her is, you have to tune her to the mission type. I mainly just user her for helping clan members level up in Hydron and I too run a low strength build. If I where to go any higher then wave 20, Id have to use more strength.

I've used her in survivals and stuff and kinda felt bad because enemies were dying rooms away from where we decided to hold up. It can be cool, but It can really suck if your trying to farm for materials with a Nekros because Saryn can kill enemies beyond Nekros' desecrate range.

I think she is great, and agree that for ESO and defence missions she is awesome!