Heavy Attack builds

[White_Matter]

I've been playing a lot with Voruna since she came out. And I used to be a fan of heavy attacks back in the day when they were semi viable. Now with Voruna's heavy attack efficiency, some weapons are viable again for a heavy build but I find it a bit troublesome to build em. You have to throw in focus energy and/or sacrifical steel and or killing blow and amalgam organ shatter. What are quintessential heavy mods that you have to have in your build ? I feel like we have to have more variation though. I love melee but I think it still hasn't reached it's potential. At some point we had channeling attacks too, which were scrapped(they weren't really well thought out) but I'd love to see them put back in, in a different form. 

Also post your heavy builds.

 

[Berzerkules]

I dislike just straight heavy attack builds but I do like combo/heavy builds. It's basiclly the same as a regular melee which i enjoy but has huge burst damage as well. kind of the best of both worlds imo.

I run this on reaper prime. Riven is Range/CD/heavy attack efficiency/-infested and I'll run with arcane strike for more attack speed because it feels more comfortable. 

This is my Keratinos combo/heavy build. This is a cool weapon, you get extra 2-3m range for 3 minutes when you do a heavy attack at 12x combo. It also has a unique 7 hit heavy attack combo. The first 3 hits do 100% dmg, the next 3 do 100% with forced slash and the last hit is 300% with forced slash. 

I've tried a bunch of rivens and builds on this one and I decided I liked the attack speed/range/slash/-infested riven. It has more slash procs on regular combo that I use more often and scales better even though a corrosive build with primed fever strike and focus energy does just fine for several hours. Acolytes hate this thing.

And a 60% Heat Tenet Livia with attack speed/range/heavy attack efficiency/- riven. I also have a crit chance/crit damage/heavy attack efficiency/- riven for it that's better damage but this one works well enough and is more comfortable. I also go arcane strike on this thing because the stance is atrocious.

Basically all the exact same builds. I guess the riven is the flex slot that you could throw in Sac Steel, an attack speed mod like quickening for faster combo regen,  Spring loaded blade, dispatch overdrive, gladiator might/vice for cc combo multiplier and cd/speed, killing blow or life strike. Whatever you want to make it a little more unique and cater to the particular weapons weakness. 

[--END--Rikutatis]

1 hour ago, White_Matter said:

I've been playing a lot with Voruna since she came out. And I used to be a fan of heavy attacks back in the day when they were semi viable. Now with Voruna's heavy attack efficiency, some weapons are viable again for a heavy build but I find it a bit troublesome to build em. You have to throw in focus energy and/or sacrifical steel and or killing blow and amalgam organ shatter. What are quintessential heavy mods that you have to have in your build ? I feel like we have to have more variation though. I love melee but I think it still hasn't reached it's potential. At some point we had channeling attacks too, which were scrapped(they weren't really well thought out) but I'd love to see them put back in, in a different form. 

Also post your heavy builds.

 

If if this is strictly for playing with Voruna, you don't need focus energy. Voruna already has maximum hvy atk efficiency with her 3rd passive (it's capped at 90%). You can replace it for blood rush maybe. And even if it isn't for Voruna, I prefer reflex coil over focus energy since it has more efficiency. And personally I don't put viral on my hvy attack builds, I use it on primers instead. So instead of viral I'd add something like primed smite faction, gladiator might or even primed reach (helps build the combo faster back to 12x and makes a better hybrid build).

[ReddyDisco]

Heavy attack builds are viable when a weapon has forced slash procs(redeemer and stropha being exceptions because they just do so much damage). I usually run a heavy attack weapon if i plan to focus on guns and not worry about combo, pennant, quassus, reaper prime, machete wraith, karyst prime, glaive prime, redeemer prime, stropha, balla. all are quite strong

[gamingchair1121]

4 hours ago, White_Matter said:

Now with Voruna's heavy attack efficiency, some weapons are viable again for a heavy build

pretty much the only melees that will ever work for heavy builds are the ones that were already good for them, and cobra and crane is definitely not one of them, it has basically no crit, a ton of status, and no forced slash, exactly the kind of things you don't want on a heavy melee. find a melee that has the forced slash, it will do a lot better.

4 hours ago, White_Matter said:

You have to throw in focus energy

efficiency mods are only useful on hybrid builds, normal heavy builds are easier to use because you don't build combo, and with voruna, she already has max heavy efficiency so more efficiency does literally nothing.

4 hours ago, White_Matter said:

I think it still hasn't reached it's potential

that's because cobra and crane is exclusively a light melee, any melee without the forced slash just won't work as a heavy melee.

tldr find a melee that actually works with heavy builds and use that instead of trying to make a light melee into a heavy melee. my recommendations are:

destreza prime, atterax, pennant, glaive prime (has aoe but very slow to use, best for dealing with crowds instead of single targets), reaper prime, quassus, tenet livia (pain to farm tho), and exodia contagion zaw (I think the only heavy melee you build for raw damage, which would be corrosive).

also some general rules for building a heavy melee

• stats you want are (in most important order): initial combo (doubles your damage), heavy wind up (amalgam organ shatter and killing blow) damage, crit chance and damage, range (mostly depends on the melee type but most will need range), speed (except on rapiers because of melee spinning, where you spin and hit multiple enemies) 
• never build for elements, even slash. they do absolutely nothing.
• best riven would be: dmg, cc, cd, range, grineer (basically double damage against grineer which is the faction slash is best against), -efficiency (not using voruna), -ips (they do nothing anyway), and -infested (they die to the initial hit lmao who cares about the reduced damage)

 

btw here's the only melee I ever use (besides glaive with my damage cap setup) because heavy builds are just that strong

https://overframe.gg/build/383664/destreza-prime/best-melee-in-the-game/

[White_Matter]

50 minutes ago, gamingchair1121 said:

pretty much the only melees that will ever work for heavy builds are the ones that were already good for them, and cobra and crane is definitely not one of them, it has basically no crit, a ton of status, and no forced slash, exactly the kind of things you don't want on a heavy melee. find a melee that has the forced slash, it will do a lot better.

efficiency mods are only useful on hybrid builds, normal heavy builds are easier to use because you don't build combo, and with voruna, she already has max heavy efficiency so more efficiency does literally nothing.

that's because cobra and crane is exclusively a light melee, any melee without the forced slash just won't work as a heavy melee.

tldr find a melee that actually works with heavy builds and use that instead of trying to make a light melee into a heavy melee. my recommendations are:

destreza prime, atterax, pennant, glaive prime (has aoe but very slow to use, best for dealing with crowds instead of single targets), reaper prime, quassus, tenet livia (pain to farm tho), and exodia contagion zaw (I think the only heavy melee you build for raw damage, which would be corrosive).

also some general rules for building a heavy melee

• stats you want are (in most important order): initial combo (doubles your damage), heavy wind up (amalgam organ shatter and killing blow) damage, crit chance and damage, range (mostly depends on the melee type but most will need range), speed (except on rapiers because of melee spinning, where you spin and hit multiple enemies) 
• never build for elements, even slash. they do absolutely nothing.
• best riven would be: dmg, cc, cd, range, grineer (basically double damage against grineer which is the faction slash is best against), -efficiency (not using voruna), -ips (they do nothing anyway), and -infested (they die to the initial hit lmao who cares about the reduced damage)

 

btw here's the only melee I ever use (besides glaive with my damage cap setup) because heavy builds are just that strong

https://overframe.gg/build/383664/destreza-prime/best-melee-in-the-game/

One question. How viable is condition overload as opposed to prime pressure point when using Voruna(status bomb) ? Isn't it supposed to do more damage on paper? I didn't know voruna had 90% efficiency, when I first played her it was around 50%(maybe because I was leveling her up or maybe it was a bug early on don't know). 

Also I do have contagion builds and I am wondering whether condition overload works with it or not?

[Birdframe_Prime]

Well, that's interesting to me.

See, what I've found is that while build-and-burst combo builds for Heavy Attack are strong, the most consistent damage comes from using something that starts off with an average higher value, but also allows for combo building.

Voruna is one of the only frames that allows Condition Overload to be better than the Primed Pressure Point version, because it means that a cast will hit with that initial first hit being buffed by the Status. Swap out CO for PPP whenever you're not using her.

What I'd do on yours is drop out both Focus Energy and Vicious Frost. Since you're hitting for overwhelming raw damage with these Heavy Attacks, putting on Viral isn't necessary because you should be using Primers anyway even with Voruna for a Heavy Attack build, and I'm going to trade off your Combo Efficiency for better starting combo.

Put on Gladiator Rush for better scaling Crit and to extend your base Combo duration (this plays well with something like a Naramon Focus, but also means you need it less), and then add in Corrupt Charge.

Since Corrupt Charge reduces only the base Combo Duration, slotting on Gladiator Rush not only gives you better Crit, it also completely counters the lost second or so of Combo Duration.

This way you'll find it easier to build up any combo for the Heavy Attack, and you'll also hit for 2x the base damage that you usually would as a default function since you'll always be at 2x Combo minimum.

This same build will work wonders with plenty of other weapons too, and the ones I'll recommend are ones that can deal a forced Bleed proc with their heavy attack, or have just fun way of dealing damage, these include:

Venka Prime, Keratinos, Karyst Prime, Innodem, Rumblejack, Fang Prime, Nepheri (has a cool fireball for a heavy attack), Redeemer Prime, Stropha (big area), Vastilok (although the Vastilok is better used for armour ripping with Shattering Impact), Gazal Machete (for the curious synergy), Slaytra, Nikana Prime, Skiajati, Destreza Prime, Reaper Prime, Caustacyst (really fun launcher function there), Kronen Prime (make sure you use the Sovereign Outcast stance for combo building), Praedos, Pennant, Tatsu Prime, Tenet Livia, Quassus (for the ranged dagger launch), Arum Spinosa (also for the ranged dagger launch), Scoliac, Verdilac (also has ranged combo), Atterax aaaaaaand... the Tenet Agendus (the heavy attack is an Arca Plasmor shot).

Go have fun with them ^^ If you have Rivens and want to build Heavy Attack, try to get base Attack Speed, Crit Chance, and then a stat that can swap out one of the other mods. Initial Combo is an amazing stat, as you can either replace, or stack with Corrupt Charge to make for a really high base damage for every attack, regardless of whether you build the combo or not.

When you're not using Voruna, you can switch Quickening for Focus Energy and have nearly as good of a time with it.

But I hope that gives you some good results.

[(PSN)jaggerwanderer]

Voruna's 1st ability will add bleed to the melee so there's no problem there. Grab a Redeemer Prime for Voruna and see what happens. The big issue is keeping that high combo counter up as much as possible.

[gamingchair1121]

1 hour ago, White_Matter said:

One question. How viable is condition overload as opposed to prime pressure point when using Voruna(status bomb) ? Isn't it supposed to do more damage on paper?

on voruna use condition overload, all other frames use pressure point

1 hour ago, White_Matter said:

Also I do have contagion builds and I am wondering whether condition overload works with it or not?

tbh idk. try with and without voruna's status effect thing, if with status does a ton more damage then it does.

[ReddyDisco]

21 minutes ago, (PSN)jaggerwanderer said:

Voruna's 1st ability will add bleed to the melee so there's no problem there. Grab a Redeemer Prime for Voruna and see what happens. The big issue is keeping that high combo counter up as much as possible.

I tested it out, the ranged attack doesn't proc bleed, just the blade of redeemer touching the enemy will proc 1 bleed tick. Guess they anticipated this

[Toa_Ignika]

3 hours ago, gamingchair1121 said:

pretty much the only melees that will ever work for heavy builds are the ones that were already good for them, and cobra and crane is definitely not one of them, it has basically no crit, a ton of status, and no forced slash, exactly the kind of things you don't want on a heavy melee. find a melee that has the forced slash, it will do a lot better.

You're forgetting he is using Voruna, and her 1 add a slash proc and set your melee to 100% crit chance. So Cobra and Crane Prime works fine for that if he likes that weapon.

[(PSN)jaggerwanderer]

4 hours ago, ReddyDisco said:

I tested it out, the ranged attack doesn't proc bleed, just the blade of redeemer touching the enemy will proc 1 bleed tick. Guess they anticipated this

...Damn there goes my idea for melee weapons with special heavy attack. Like Zenistar. Guess I'll run with Innodem for the lols.

[0_The_F00l]

I have built a machete zaw using cyath ,

With the cyclone kraken stance ,

all other melees pale in comparison from a smoothness and power perspective for my personal playstyle.

It has a multihit heavy attack that procs slash on its third hit (so you also proc other elements ) and hits all around you while already being slash weighted.

It is also really fast ,

The biggest thing i like ? I don't always have to use heavy attacks , it functions well even with light attacks due to how i built it.

CO , primed reach , amalgam organ shatter , primed fever strike , voltaic strike, carnis mandible , corrupt charge , Riven (speed , crit chance and negative efficiency hah) .

I also have the exodia arcane for energy on heavy attack kills, 

It is just perfect all around.

With voruna it's even more lethal due to the extra slash , crit and status on her 1 (assuming you keep it active as much as possible) 

But with voruna pretty much any weapon with a strong heavy attack is lethal as it will proc slash (close range melee only, i dont think cobra cranes launch attack works with it) 

[Berzerkules]

33 minutes ago, 0_The_F00l said:

I have built a machete zaw using cyath ,

With the cyclone kraken stance ,

all other melees pale in comparison from a smoothness and power perspective for my personal playstyle.

It has a multihit heavy attack that procs slash on its third hit (so you also proc other elements ) and hits all around you while already being slash weighted.

It is also really fast ,

The biggest thing i like ? I don't always have to use heavy attacks , it functions well even with light attacks due to how i built it.

CO , primed reach , amalgam organ shatter , primed fever strike , voltaic strike, carnis mandible , corrupt charge , Riven (speed , crit chance and negative efficiency hah) .

I also have the exodia arcane for energy on heavy attack kills, 

It is just perfect all around.

With voruna it's even more lethal due to the extra slash , crit and status on her 1 (assuming you keep it active as much as possible) 

But with voruna pretty much any weapon with a strong heavy attack is lethal as it will proc slash (close range melee only, i dont think cobra cranes launch attack works with it) 

I have a cyath machete zaw too. That thing is pretty fn cool and can have a lot of uses. Only thing I dislike is that Exodia Brave  doesn't proc on kills from slash ticks. 

Used it on Saryn as emergency exodia brave energy regen while affinity farming ESO forever ago. 

I have a cc/cd/dmg/- riven that I used as a stat stick for Khora with exodia contagion. Was nice having a huge dps back up when I was low on energy with her. 

I also have a attack speed/range/heavy attack efficiency/- riven for a combo/heavy attack build that I run with exodia triumph for faster combo count. Quick and easy 12x heavy attacks.

edit: Totally not heavy attack related but another cool zaw I used with Khora was Sepfahn nikana stat stick + amalgam daikyu target acquired + exodia contagion for ranged melee heals. This was before shield gating and got me through some arbi.

[MqToasty]

12 hours ago, White_Matter said:

One question. How viable is condition overload as opposed to prime pressure point when using Voruna(status bomb) ? Isn't it supposed to do more damage on paper? I didn't know voruna had 90% efficiency, when I first played her it was around 50%(maybe because I was leveling her up or maybe it was a bug early on don't know). 

Also I do have contagion builds and I am wondering whether condition overload works with it or not?

Well, I only have CO instead of PPP on my melee, and when I see an Acolyte on SP with my Voruna, I press 2, press 1, then smash E.  It dies before my combo ends.  Mathematically, CO is stronger than PPP when you get at least 3 distinct status effects on the target.  Voruna's 2 dumps 5, so...

Incidentally, I have CO instead of PPP on all my melee builds for SP, but that's because I also use a status primer.  Yet my melee is essentially built as a variation of the COWBARF build and not a heavy attack build, so YMMV.

[(PSN)jaggerwanderer]

Voruna's 3rd passive makes heavy attack builder/spender build viable. I want to make a build with Amar's Contempt with lots of range. But it just can't compete with Ulfrun's Decent.

[schilds]

Thanks to Voruna's 3rd passive and the bonus crit chance, status chance and forced bleed of her 1, you can (and should) go with a regular melee build while still using heavy attacks.

The only question left is whether to include cc and sc mods, assuming you can mod for higher than the flat 100% cc and sc of her 1.

[White_Matter]

I'm bumping this with a question. Did they nerf contagion? Sometimes it feels like the damage doesn't register on stats window. Not sure if it is network related.