Best current zaw build?

[Kebast]

Returning player after about an 8 month break. All my old zaws were built with around 14 crit / 25 status. They still work OK, but I'm not dominating the damage list like I once was! 🙂

Seems like crit is the new king? What should I build? 

I put 4 forma into nikana prime yesterday, and that seems fun. I don't really care for the stances though, and would like to get back to my zaws, but with red numbers! 

[Traumtulpe]

Zaws honestly aren't that good anymore, as you have to choose between crit and status, while a number of regular weapons have both.

The only thing in their favor are the "Exodias", but even then most of them aren't worth much. Still, if you fancy yourself a particular Exodia, you may want to build a Zaw around it.

[(PSN)jaggerwanderer]

Zaw are actually in a good spot because of the viral change. Hybrid zaw with blood rush and weeping wounds stands out now.

[Kebast]

23 minutes ago, (PS4)jaggerwanderer said:

Zaw are actually in a good spot because of the viral change. Hybrid zaw with blood rush and weeping wounds stands out now.

So more like this now? 

PLAGUE KRIPATH + KROOSTRA + VARGEET JAI

Weapon Class POLEARMS

ATTACK SPEED 0.967

CRITICAL CHANCE 29.0%

CRITICAL MULTIPLIER 2.2x

STATUS  14.0%

[Kebast]

I do have plenty of good weapons to play with, I just like the polearm zaws. And I have a few good Rivens for them! 

[(PSN)CrazyBeaTzu]

I unveiled a zaw Riven and made a Kronsh Machete that is really ugly.....but has a nice 36 (or 32) crit chance. I already put 5 forma in it so it has all the meta mods. The heavy attack Exodia Brave I think....gives a good amount of energy as well.

By the way I'm not saying make a machete zaw, it's actually not the coolest out there. 

There should've been fist Zaws.

[Galuf]

The only optimal way of building a Zaw atm is aiming for something that one shots the content you plan to run with it with heavy attacks and having arcane grace. However there are plenty of combinations that are still ok.

I use a kronch machete for Heavy(arcane brave)/CO/Crit build but it is because I have a riven, it is exceptionnal but it is because it is minmaxed, Nikanas in general have faster charge attacks but Machetes have a multi hit spin that is very good when moving around imho.

il y a 3 minutes, (PS4)CrazyBeaTzu a dit :

I unveiled a zaw Riven and made a Kronsh Machete that is really ugly.....but has a nice 36 (or 32) crit chance. I already put 5 forma in it so it has all the meta mods. The heavy attack Exodia Brave I think....gives a good amount of energy as well.

By the way I'm not saying make a machete zaw, it's actually not the coolest out there. 

There should've been fist Zaws.

I swear I did not copy :). I love the skin tho.

Edited March 18, 2020 by Galuf

[(PSN)jaggerwanderer]

Zaw polearms do more damage per hit than other zaw type. Which is pretty weird. So yeah, that setup posted looks good. Most of my rivens have crit damage and melee damage (damn RNG), since Blood Rush and Weeping Wounds can cover crit chance and status chance.

[(PSN)CrazyBeaTzu]

6 minutes ago, Galuf said:

The only optimal way of building a Zaw atm is aiming for something that one shots the content you plan to run with it with heavy attacks and having arcane grace. However there are plenty of combinations that are still ok.

I use a kronch machete for Heavy(arcane brave)/CO/Crit build but it is because I have a riven, it is exceptionnal but it is because it is minmaxed, Nikanas in general have faster charge attacks but Machetes have a multi hit spin that is very good when moving around imho.

I swear I did not copy :). I love the skin tho.

Yea the spin heavy lol. That move is awesome.

[Kebast]

Thanks all. I think there's one or two strikes I haven't made yet, so I might play with them before using my last plague parts. 

Happy hunting! 

[SneakyErvin]

Also, dont forget Kripath rapier. It was already a strong weapon prior to melee 3.0, after 3.0 rapiers became real deadly weapons. And with the latest change to how there are no damage types getting extra chance to proc over others, a base stat kripath (both polearms and rapiers) have some pretty sweet status distribution since the innate viral now counts for as much as slash and everything else on the weapon when deciding what it procs. And if you build a kripath rapier with more viral you'll have a very quick viral stacker with good forced slash procs from the stance.

[Kebast]

1 hour ago, SneakyErvin said:

Also, dont forget Kripath rapier. It was already a strong weapon prior to melee 3.0, after 3.0 rapiers became real deadly weapons. And with the latest change to how there are no damage types getting extra chance to proc over others, a base stat kripath (both polearms and rapiers) have some pretty sweet status distribution since the innate viral now counts for as much as slash and everything else on the weapon when deciding what it procs. And if you build a kripath rapier with more viral you'll have a very quick viral stacker with good forced slash procs from the stance.

Not a bad idea. I do remember enjoying Destreza Prime 

[Ikyr0]

Zaws are in a great place imo. You have 3 builds: 1) Crit heavy attack spam, 2) Crit heavy attack with combo stacking, or 3) hybrid combo stacking.

Crit heavy attack spam is basically a utility build for proccing Exodia Brave and Life Strike. I use it on my caster frames. Dagger is ideal for the super fast heavy animation.

Crit heavy with combo counter is amazing on weapons that build combo counter very quickly and have strong heavy attacks. Nikanas and scythes for example, but daggers are great as well. Inner Might from Zenurik + Focus Energy mod. 

Hybrid combo otherwise. This build will have CO, BR, and Weeping Wounds. I think this still remains the best build for the kripath, which should be built for viral/corr, the best elemental combo in the game. The hybrid kripath is still strong AF, but no longer top dog.

This is what I know about Zaws at this time. Hope it helps.

Edited March 19, 2020 by Ikyr0

[Ikyr0]

8 hours ago, Traumtulpe said:

Zaws honestly aren't that good anymore, as you have to choose between crit and status, while a number of regular weapons have both.

False. Hard disagree.

[XerviaV2]

my current zaw hybrid build

Aura mod: swift momentum / + 6 combo duration and 30% heavy strike speed

with Madurai focus school help to free up melee mod slot for Drfting contact

zaw weapon: 2 element mods + blood rush + weeping wound + organ shatter + primed reach + healing return (optional) + berserker

note:

1. healing return is optional for survival unity, if you have other ways to heal your warframe like operator arcane magus repair or elevate, you can replace the mod with other mods of your choice

2. if you use arcane strike +60% attack speed in warframe. it's also not needed to use berseker.

Edit: since this build only have additional 6s of combo duration (total 11s), you may find a little issue with building up combo counter. Hence Exodia Triump will be your good choice with 50% additional combo count

Edited March 19, 2020 by XerviaV2
add infor

[LoneWolveYoutube]

10 hours ago, Kebast said:

Returning player after about an 8 month break. All my old zaws were built with around 14 crit / 25 status. They still work OK, but I'm not dominating the damage list like I once was! 🙂

Seems like crit is the new king? What should I build? 

I put 4 forma into nikana prime yesterday, and that seems fun. I don't really care for the stances though, and would like to get back to my zaws, but with red numbers! 

full crit, keewar, scythe, heavy attack spam with initial combo or 90% efficiency

[Kebast]

I put 3 forma into Reaper Prime tonight... Might not bother with building another zaw :). 

Thanks for all the suggestions though, I certainly have plenty to play with. 

Edited March 19, 2020 by Kebast

[SneakyErvin]

10 hours ago, Ikyr0 said:

False. Hard disagree.

The only bonus of the zaws are the plague parts and certain arcanes. If you dont build for plague there is little benefit to the zaws since their stats are just lower across the board.

No reason to build a cyath polearm or machete for instance when you have Lesion, Orthos Prime and Machete Wraith as options with far better stats. Plague Polearms also take a backseat since Lesion is there and the passive of it outmatches any arcane you can slot into a zaw. 100% status on Lesion guarantees 2 statuses, anything above that results in a chance to double that. And the best part is that the way you can build it you are guaranteed viral stacks as the guaranteed extra proc. And it already has a crit/status distribution better than zaws.

[-HoB-AngelofRevenge]

try dokram condition overload build, viral dmg. arcane which give 200% dmg on status proc. it is good if you build basic dokram correctly, I do use hybrid crit-status combo.

Edited March 19, 2020 by -HoB-AngelofRevenge

[Kebast]

25 minutes ago, -HoB-AngelofRevenge said:

try dokram condition overload build, viral dmg. arcane ehich give 200% dmg with status proc. it is good if you build basic dokram, I fo use hybrid crit-status combo

Cool, thanks. I think dokram is one I haven't mastered anyway. 

[Luciole77]

21 hours ago, Kebast said:

Returning player after about an 8 month break. All my old zaws were built with around 14 crit / 25 status. They still work OK, but I'm not dominating the damage list like I once was! 🙂

Seems like crit is the new king? What should I build? 

I put 4 forma into nikana prime yesterday, and that seems fun. I don't really care for the stances though, and would like to get back to my zaws, but with red numbers! 

All weapons now with new mellee system is the same .....sad. Zaw was the best melle....now the game is even more easy than ever.

Edited March 19, 2020 by Luciole77

[Kebast]

2 hours ago, Luciole77 said:

All weapons now with new mellee system is the same .....sad. Zaw was the best melle....now the game is even more easy than ever.

I don't think the game is really any easier, there are now just many more weapons with top tier builds it seems. 

Edited March 19, 2020 by Kebast

[Redfeather75]

Melee 3.0 nearly tripled all melee damage significantly, including zaw blades, BUT it did not touch ZAW GRIPS... so if you are not using the fastest zaw grip in the game you are sacrificing speed for an insignificant damage increase. It will never get fixed considered how long ago this happened.

[Kebast]

47 minutes ago, Redfeather75 said:

Melee 3.0 nearly tripled all melee damage significantly, including zaw blades, BUT it did not touch ZAW GRIPS... so if you are not using the fastest zaw grip in the game you are sacrificing speed for an insignificant damage increase. It will never get fixed considered how long ago this happened.

Good to know, thanks! 

[Diavoros]

Dagger Zaw: Balla/Peye/Vargeet II Jai/Exodia Force
Nikana Zaw: Sepfahn/Peye/Vargeet II Jai/Exodia Force
Scythe Zaw: Plague Keewar/Peye/Vargeet II Jai/Exodia Force/Heavy Attack Build

Why Peye? fastest grip around, considering that U26 only buffed Zaw strikes and didn't touch grips or links, the damage that other grips give is negligible in comparison to a faster attack speed.
Why Exodia Force? 200% of base damage in an AOE when proc'ing status on enemies, before U26 200% of base was a joke but after melee got buffed across the board, that 200% now means something.