Haven't made any Zaws before, I'd like suggestions how to build the Plague heads.

[Qriist]

I don't really have an interest in Zaws as a concept but I figure I'd finally start tinkering with them since the Plague weapons are here.

I have exactly zero experience with any of the modular weapons which means I have no idea which parts do what.

I'm requesting part combination suggestions that produce reasonably functional weapons. I'd like to avoid repeatedly building a given head to finally get something usable.

Plague heads are the focus for obvious reasons but feel free to drop any other stellar modular weapon combos, too.

Thanks in advance!

[taiiat]

the main 'mistake' you can make with Zaws lately is not picking +Speed parts.

the +Damage parts didn't get buffed in the last Melee overhauls, so the amount of Damage they offer is almost nothing. your Strike that has a base of like, 100-300 Damage, and you can add like.... 14. basically nothing. 
so let's take an example. Plague Keewar, 306 Damage reference. your maximum deltas here are:

• 302 Damage (98.6%), 1.0x Speed
• 334 Damage (109.1%), 0.783x Speed

21.7% slower, but only 10.5% more Damage. that's barely any extra Damage, and you'll definitely notice the Attack Speed more.

so pick the super fast Handles instead, they're just objectively better at this point.

for the accessory, it's kinda personal preference. you'd usually want good Crits and good Status, but which one you sacrifice a bit will depend on how you end up Modding it. you can compensate for deficiencies in one or the other depending on Modding style and/or Arcanes, Et Cetera - but you can't really do both. again, ignore the Damage stat on the accessory, just pick what balance of Crit/Status Chance will work for your use, and either impacts your Attack Speed as little as you can get away with, or actually increases it.

[Seele]

If you (very understandably) want to avoid rebuilding Plague heads, that's going to mean only using some of the highest-tier parts. I hope you're prepared for that grind if you haven't unlocked them yet.

Generally speaking, critical and speed are the preferred focuses, because Weeping Wounds can get everything to functionally 100% status and status does not "over"-scale as well as crit. Vargeet II Jai is pretty much always correct, and use whichever grip provides the weapon type you prefer and doesn't reduce Speed.

Of course it is more nuanced than that and you can make more advanced builds that prefer status and damage, but as general-purpose Plague-head zaws go, this is the solved formula.

[simonseang]

use this link https://semlar.com/zawcalc

it calculate all the zaw modular and what stat you going to end up.

 

[Hexerin]

13 minutes ago, simonseang said:

use this link https://semlar.com/zawcalc

it calculate all the zaw modular and what stat you going to end up.

No night mode in 2023 (soon 2024). Unusable.

[Pakaku]

I always built them one-handed because the scythe and rapier stances have guaranteed slash procs, which would obviously compliment the viral procs pretty well

[Zakkhar]

6 hours ago, Pakaku said:

I always built them one-handed because the scythe and rapier stances have guaranteed slash procs

So do Polearms.

To OP, it kinda depends what you want to do. Crit Combo, Status Combo, Hybrid Heavy, Exodia Contagion. Only build that does not work is  Crit/Status Combo, because they cannot reach base crit/status stats comparable to best hybrid weapons (30/30 ish).

I kinda prefer to have my Zaws at non scaling crit (no BR/WW/CO) full corrosive.  It compliments Exodia Contagion very well.

Edited November 14, 2023 by Zakkhar

[TurjanMi.ir]

A suggestion I heard from the Kengineer:

For the Link, use Vargeet II Jai for max DPS or Vargeet Jai II for 50% more status and 15% less DPS.

For the Grip, use Peye for one-handed weapon types or Seekalla for two-handed (both max speed).

Some zaw types are just subpar (hammers for example), but others are best in the category, like rapiers. Which still doesn't mean much, unfortunately. You have arcanes that help somewhat though.

The Kengineer has a video about that, if you are interested.

Edited November 14, 2023 by TurjanMi.ir

[Demogarose]

I personally made:

Kripath - Peye - Vargeet II Jai

Keewar - Seekala - Vargeet II Jai

and both are fantastic weapons. 
Vargeet Jai II is also viable. you're basically choosing between less, stronger slash procs, or more, weaker ones

[BethTheBean]

On 2023-11-13 at 9:49 PM, Qriist said:

I don't really have an interest in Zaws as a concept but I figure I'd finally start tinkering with them since the Plague weapons are here.

I have exactly zero experience with any of the modular weapons which means I have no idea which parts do what.

I'm requesting part combination suggestions that produce reasonably functional weapons. I'd like to avoid repeatedly building a given head to finally get something usable.

Plague heads are the focus for obvious reasons but feel free to drop any other stellar modular weapon combos, too.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Qriist]

Thank you to everybody for your suggestions!

[Zakkhar]

On 2023-11-14 at 2:18 PM, TurjanMi.ir said:

Some zaw types are just subpar (hammers for example), but others are best in the category, like rapiers.

If you are looking at stances, maybe. But what if you do not care about stances because you go for Contagion build?