Plague Kripath - Help me understand why this weapon is so underpowered

[iesous27]

Hello everyone. So it was my first time doing the plague star event and I got my hands on the plague kripath which I heard is a really good zaw strike. I built it with the seekalla and vargeet jay ii links. In my opinion, this weapon seems a bit underpowered. I'm having difficulty killing enemies on bounties 30-50 in fortuna with it, and don't even get me started on steel path. 

 

Here's my build: https://overframe.gg/build/217583/

According to overframe, my plague kripath should be capable of 69k DPS, but it feels like I'm barely able to kill level 30 enemies. Can someone help me understand what's wrong with this weapon? Was it nerf'd to hell and that's why it's bad?

[Dauggie]

i'm not a zaw user but the hype for kripath zaw were because of their ability to equip the arcanes, those arcane use to do crazy dmg, which got nerfed over time but still are usable. try using the zaw with the arcanes in plauge star rewards, it's called contagia something.

[rapt0rman]

As tempting as it is to have viral+corrosive, TBH I'd just focus on viral, or at least tone down the corrosive so it doesn't dwarf the probability of viral quite so much. The stance has got forced slash procs and all (edit: apparently less so now >.>)

Also, as mentioned in the post below, corrosive has no real value against (most) Corpus anyways.

Beyond that, OG Kripath's claim to fame was having absurd melee reach with the previous percent based formula (and a decent riven disposition), so yeah it was nerfed sorta.

[Silligoose]

31 minutes ago, iesous27 said:

Hello everyone. So it was my first time doing the plague star event and I got my hands on the plague kripath which I heard is a really good zaw strike. I built it with the seekalla and vargeet jay ii links. In my opinion, this weapon seems a bit underpowered. I'm having difficulty killing enemies on bounties 30-50 in fortuna with it, and don't even get me started on steel path. 

 

Here's my build: https://overframe.gg/build/217583/

According to overframe, my plague kripath should be capable of 69k DPS, but it feels like I'm barely able to kill level 30 enemies. Can someone help me understand what's wrong with this weapon? Was it nerf'd to hell and that's why it's bad?

The 69k sustained dps you see is applicable when your conditionals are empowered, ie your Combo Meter should be at max (x12), your target should have multiple status types on it and Berserker's Fury is at max stacks (2 stacks = 75% increase in attack speed).

Based on the stats, the weapon should not have any issues against level 30 - 50 corpus enemies with some combo built, but your elements anre't really providing you the benefits other elemental damage types can: Viral procs won't affect damage against the enemies unless it is done to their health directly (shields are gone) and Corrosive procs only weaken armor, not shields, so only applicable against some units in Orb Vallis.

Some enemies, like Hyenas also have proto shields, that resist Corrosive damage by 50%.

You can try Toxin elemental, as toxin elemental bypasses shields and proto shields (though apparently it also does +25% damage to proto shields) and does extra damage against flesh (+50%), but robotic health resists it (-25%). You can also give magnetic a go, as it does extra damage to shields and proto shields (75%) and doesn't suffer resistance against flesh health or robotic health.

 

[Lutesque]

37 minutes ago, Dauggie said:

it's called contagia something.

Exodia Contagion....

 

And yeah The Plague Zaws are overhyped....  Their Good but their not Total Game Changers compared to the Regular Zaws....

26 minutes ago, rapt0rman said:

Beyond that, OG Kripath's claim to fame was having absurd melee reach with the previous percent based formula (and a decent riven disposition), so yeah it was nerfed sorta.

Aaaah yes... The good old days when you could smack enemies from all the way Across the Tile... Fun times.... 😁 

 

[iesous27]

40 minutes ago, rapt0rman said:

As tempting as it is to have viral+corrosive, TBH I'd just focus on viral, or at least tone down the corrosive so it doesn't dwarf the probability of viral quite so much. The stance has got forced slash procs and all.

Beyond that, OG Kripath's claim to fame was having absurd melee reach with the previous percent based formula (and a decent riven disposition), so yeah it was nerfed sorta.

Would you recommend going with the 60/60 toxic and cold mods to increase the status chance for viral? 

[iesous27]

15 minutes ago, Lutesque said:

Exodia Contagion....

 

And yeah The Plague Zaws are overhyped....  Their Good but their not Total Game Changers compared to the Regular Zaws....

Aaaah yes... The good old days when you could smack enemies from all the way Across the Tile... Fun times.... 😁 

 

Can you recommend a "regular" zaw I could try to build? This Plague Kripath is my first ever zaw, so I was sort of disappointed when it felt underwhelming. I personally like playing with polearms or swords. Anything you can recommend will be great. 

[rapt0rman]

40 minutes ago, iesous27 said:

Would you recommend going with the 60/60 toxic and cold mods to increase the status chance for viral? 

For armored enemies, either that or some combination of Carnis Mandible, primed faction mod, or Sacrificial Steel. There also shouldn't be much problem just running corrosive still.

For Corpus I usually just slap on either one or both toxic mods.

[Flannoit]

I use a Viral/Corrosive Kripath with Seekalla and Ekwana II Jai. Monstrous damage if they aren't immune to status.

Before I got Kripath, my main Zaw was a Cyath/Seekalla/Ekwana II Jai that filled the same purpose except with Viral+Heat.

I should probably state that the reason I don't build much crit is because I have a Smeeta, who guarantees orange+ crits when you get the crit buff.

[Lutesque]

53 minutes ago, iesous27 said:

Can you recommend a "regular" zaw I could try to build? This Plague Kripath is my first ever zaw, so I was sort of disappointed when it felt underwhelming. I personally like playing with polearms or swords. Anything you can recommend will be great. 

Honestly.... Just use a Normal Melee Weapon... They are stronger and look Cooler 😎....

The only time I explicitly need a Zaw is for Farming The Profit Taker Bounty on Fortuna.... And for that I use an All Crit Meewan Pole Arm.... I used that specific Strike because it had the most even Spread on its IPS Damage Distribution... It makes the Shield Phase alot more Consistent since I always only need one single Contagion to deal enough Damage... Something that may or may not be practical with The Kripath and Seekela Strikes....

As for which Normal Melee Weapons to use.... Well.... I'm not fond of Melee so I use Melee Weapons that Reflect that Preference: Telos Boltace (for its Passive), Glaive Prime, Zenistar (for Memes) and Tatsu/Skiajati for Role Playing... That being said... If Push comes to shove I do have a Reaper/Kronen Prime that I can whip out in short notice.... Mostly...

 

[MqToasty]

Well, there are several things in play over here.

1. Your build looks like it is geared towards high-level, high-armor enemies, but it will not perform quite as well against low-level enemies (basically, anything below Level 100+ Grineer).  The reason for this is because half of your mods are conditional -- Condition Overload is weaker than Primed Pressure Point until your target gets three different statuses on them; Blood Rush is weaker than Sacrificial Steel (without a Sacrificial Pressure) until your Combo Counter reads at least 7x (meaning after 120 hits); Weeping Wounds is weaker than Melee Prowess until your Combo Counter reads at least 4x (meaning after 60 hits); Berserker Fury is slower than Quickening until after your second kill.

2. Your build is way too heavily weighted towards one element.  So even at max combo's 61.6% (0.14 x 0.4 x 11) status chance, you have a 69% (488 / 705) chance to proc Corrosive (again and again) rather than any other element.  Remember how Condition Overload's bonus is per Status Type?  Yeah, it doesn't matter how many stacks of Corrosive you have on an enemy, it only counts as 1 for Condition Overload.

3. Twirling Spire is quite a bit slower and weaker than Shimmering Blight.  Check their wiki pages for details.  Unless you absolutely cannot stand Shimmering Blight's moveset for some reason, that is the most powerful polearm stance to go with.

4. As someone who really enjoys Zaws, I have to say that I did not find anything special about the Plague Kripath specifically.  Both Clashing Forest (Staff) and Blind Justice (Nikana) hit faster and harder than even Shimmering Blight.  Plague Keewar (Staff) even has a higher Riven disposition, even though it still cannot out-damage a Sepfahn (Nikana).  What makes all Zaws incredible is the Exodia Contagion Arcane, which you can get from this event.  Make sure you gather 10 for a max-ranked copy.

tldr; Get Exodia Contagion.  For low level enemies, mod for high Total Damage number.  For Steel Path Grineer, you need to spend more time tweaking your elemental balance, probably add (Primed) Reach, possibly add more Gladiator mods, and consider adding a primer weapon.

[taiiat]

1 hour ago, MqToasty said:

3. Twirling Spire is quite a bit slower and weaker than Shimmering Blight.  Check their wiki pages for details.  Unless you absolutely cannot stand Shimmering Blight's moveset for some reason, that is the most powerful polearm stance to go with.

i wouldn't say it's weaker perse, since it does have a lot more forced Status than the oth.....

wait a second.

Quote

Removed the forced Slash proc from the first hit of Cresting Peak's first attack.
Removed the forced Impact proc from the second hit of Cresting Peak's first attack.
Removed the forced Impact proc from Spiraling Pinnacle's first attack.
Removed the knockdown from Vaulting Apex's second atack.
Removed the forced Impact proc from the first hit of SSummit Plunge's first attack.

are you kidding me
welp, that Stance is basically useless now.

 

 

1 hour ago, Lutesque said:

just use a Normal Melee Weapon... They are stronger

correction: you like them more. not that Zaws are weak.

[Lutesque]

1 hour ago, taiiat said:

correction: you like them more. not that Zaws are weak.

I think the main thing Zaws have going for them is the Additional Modularity granted by Zaw Arcanes.... But in terms of Smacking Enemies around.... Normal Weapons get bigger Numbers.... Atleast that's the case for me.... My Galatine Prime and Tatsu run circles around all my Zaws.... Altbough I will say that my Seekela Staff did put up a convincing fight back during the Melee 2.5 Days... It was an awkward time....

[iesous27]

18 hours ago, MqToasty said:

Well, there are several things in play over here.

1. Your build looks like it is geared towards high-level, high-armor enemies, but it will not perform quite as well against low-level enemies (basically, anything below Level 100+ Grineer).  The reason for this is because half of your mods are conditional -- Condition Overload is weaker than Primed Pressure Point until your target gets three different statuses on them; Blood Rush is weaker than Sacrificial Steel (without a Sacrificial Pressure) until your Combo Counter reads at least 7x (meaning after 120 hits); Weeping Wounds is weaker than Melee Prowess until your Combo Counter reads at least 4x (meaning after 60 hits); Berserker Fury is slower than Quickening until after your second kill.

2. Your build is way too heavily weighted towards one element.  So even at max combo's 61.6% (0.14 x 0.4 x 11) status chance, you have a 69% (488 / 705) chance to proc Corrosive (again and again) rather than any other element.  Remember how Condition Overload's bonus is per Status Type?  Yeah, it doesn't matter how many stacks of Corrosive you have on an enemy, it only counts as 1 for Condition Overload.

3. Twirling Spire is quite a bit slower and weaker than Shimmering Blight.  Check their wiki pages for details.  Unless you absolutely cannot stand Shimmering Blight's moveset for some reason, that is the most powerful polearm stance to go with.

4. As someone who really enjoys Zaws, I have to say that I did not find anything special about the Plague Kripath specifically.  Both Clashing Forest (Staff) and Blind Justice (Nikana) hit faster and harder than even Shimmering Blight.  Plague Keewar (Staff) even has a higher Riven disposition, even though it still cannot out-damage a Sepfahn (Nikana).  What makes all Zaws incredible is the Exodia Contagion Arcane, which you can get from this event.  Make sure you gather 10 for a max-ranked copy.

tldr; Get Exodia Contagion.  For low level enemies, mod for high Total Damage number.  For Steel Path Grineer, you need to spend more time tweaking your elemental balance, probably add (Primed) Reach, possibly add more Gladiator mods, and consider adding a primer weapon.

Thanks for the super detailed response. I made a couple of more builds and this is where I'm at: https://overframe.gg/build/217583/

I don't think the website is accurate, cause in-game it says I have 86.4% crit chance and my total damage is 667.3. I need to farm more endo to upgrade sacrificial steel and primed pressure point, but I'll give shimering blight a try and see how it is.