Soma Prime Help

[MailboxMaGee]

Howdy, I'm relatively new to the forums.

I'm looking for a slow rate of fire/high crit build for my Soma Prime, but I don't even know where to begin looking for a great build for that sorta thing, could I get some help?

[Rowancroft]

I really don't recommend lowering the rate of fire on the Soma Prime below the base as you lose a good chunk of DPS; most standard builds include the 'Shred' mod which grants fire rate and punchthrough. Generally the problem people have isn't to do with the fire rate of weapons but with their recoil, so you could consider adding the 'Stabilizer' mod to your build. If you really want a lower fire rate and recoil reduction, you will need the 'Vile Precision' mod. This is my own build for the Soma Prime, and you probably won't find many builds that deviate from this one:

The last slot is up to you. In my build the last slot is for my Riven mod, but I would personally recommend 'Shred' or an element of your choosing (preferably 'Primed Cryo Rounds' for a Corrosive + Cold setup; if you don't own this I would opt for Corrosive + Heat). However, feel free to mix the elements up, or install a Stabilizer/Vile Precision mod if it helps you to enjoy the weapon more. Good luck Tenno!

Edit: You don't need this many forma, I've messed around with this weapon a bit since Rivens were released. I believe you will need 5 for a basic build (3 V and 2 -), and perhaps an additional D polarity if you have Primed Cyro Rounds.

Edited December 1, 2016 by Rowancroft

[Dragazer]

20 minutes ago, Rowancroft said:

I really don't recommend lowering the rate of fire on the Soma Prime below the base as you lose a good chunk of DPS; most standard builds include the 'Shred' mod which grants fire rate and punchthrough. Generally the problem people have isn't to do with the fire rate of weapons but with their recoil, so you could consider adding the 'Stabilizer' mod to your build. If you really want a lower fire rate and recoil reduction, you will need the 'Vile Precision' mod. This is my own build for the Soma Prime, and you probably won't find many builds that deviate from this one:

The last slot is up to you. In my build the last slot is for my Riven mod, but I would personally recommend 'Shred' or an element of your choosing (preferably 'Primed Cryo Rounds' for a Corrosive + Cold setup; if you don't own this I would opt for Corrosive + Heat). However, feel free to mix the elements up, or install a Stabilizer/Vile Precision mod if it helps you to enjoy the weapon more. Good luck Tenno!

Edit: You don't need this many forma, I've messed around with this weapon a bit since Rivens were released. I believe you will need 5 for a basic build (3 V and 2 -), and perhaps an additional D polarity if you have Primed Cyro Rounds.

You might want to think twice b4 using heavy cal on Soma prime,

As a crit weapon, you get a 4x dmg multiplier on head shots instead of the usual 2x, so to get the most out of crit weapons, headshots are crucial.

Heavy cal accuracy loss might really mess it up especially at range.

[Xzorn]

Soma lvl 70-140 Armored Grineer

Soma Corpus

Soma Infested

Soma CPx4 Grineer

Soma CPx4 Void

 

You can generally swap Heavy Caliber, Bladed Rounds and Shred as preference mods.

Primed Bane is a good sub for Heavy Caliber as it's only 5% less damage by comparison with no accuracy loss. It also gives more DPS than Bladed Rounds. I find shred is better for mid range content where head-shots are not as crucial since when you start going for head-shots the punch-through is mostly wasted. In addition there's usually some CC going on to keep enemies from taking cover.

Viral is better than Blast for Infested after lvl 200 or so. If you don't have Primed Cryo, go 90%x2 Corrosive.

I would recommend Carrier if ammo efficiency is in question. There's no way to slow Soma's rate of fire without dumping on it's damage output. Trigger Discipline is key.

[Rowancroft]

1 hour ago, Dragazer said:

You might want to think twice b4 using heavy cal on Soma prime,

As a crit weapon, you get a 4x dmg multiplier on head shots instead of the usual 2x, so to get the most out of crit weapons, headshots are crucial.

Heavy cal accuracy loss might really mess it up especially at range.

Soma Prime is a bullet hose/sweep weapon, it quite simply isn't designed for reliably getting headshots. The accuracy loss when using Heavy Caliber is barely noticeable, and this mod is a staple in any optimised build due to massive DPS increase it provides. If you want to play the Soma Prime as a headshot crit weapon that's fine, but there are FAR superior options for this playstyle.

[taiiat]

if you want low Rate of Fire, the best you'll really find is not putting any increased Rate of Fire on the Weapon, and focusing on Damage per Shot.

this will be more practical on other Automatic Weapons though, which have a naturally lower Rate of Fire.
either that or fire in bursts to avoid throwing ammunition at the wall.

2 hours ago, Rowancroft said:

it quite simply isn't designed for reliably getting headshots.

The accuracy loss when using Heavy Caliber is barely noticeable

yno, except for having no 'Recoil' experienced by the user, absolutely no Kick, and having some of the highest Crit Stats in the game.

it's quite substantial, as it's the difference between wasting your time with bodyshots, or mowing everything down with Weakpoint Crits.

 

an actually optimized Soma Loadout doesn't use Heavy Caliber. not using it is how Soma Series defeats the existence of most of the Guns in the game. by dealing Damage competing with light DMR's despite being a Bullet Hose.

feel free to find a Loadout without being able to walk forwards and get Weakpoint Crits all day that can get anywhere near ~5000-5500 Damage per Shot. or ~6700 with Shadow Debt Mods. you can't. not without hyper specializing for one Faction.
doesn't include Primed Cryo Rounds because it isn't usable on every Faction.

you can prefer to use Heavy Caliber if you don't want to shoot Accurately - but if that's so, there are better Bullet Hose choices, that perform better than Soma Series if one is wasting most of their shots either on the air or bodyshots.

 

unless, you only use a Soma at nigh point blank Range, where Shots won't be able to diverge away from Weakpoints before they hit the Enemy.

Edited December 1, 2016 by taiiat

[Xzorn]

I find Heavy Caliber is a preference mod.

Being an assault rifle it's strength is in being good at all ranges. You specialize it either way when it comes to Bladed Vs. Heavy Cal.

Zooming at something that's within short range even medium at times can be very inefficient and as Heavy Cal can completely miss shots at medium to long distance. If you prioritize kill rate over Damage as you kinda should, then there's not a lot of difference between the two. Zooming for short-medium, turning then zooming again is going to be slower than simply twitch shooting it while missing 1/3 of your head-shots at long range is going to cause a lot of lost time and ammo.

I personally hate zooming when I don't need to which result in me not making much use of Bladed, also there's often a presence of CC in high level groups which means you can afford to be closer to enemies but I still try to sub Primed Bane for either mod when possible.

 

[Rowancroft]

56 minutes ago, taiiat said:

if you want low Rate of Fire, the best you'll really find is not putting any increased Rate of Fire on the Weapon, and focusing on Damage per Shot.

this will be more practical on other Automatic Weapons though, which have a naturally lower Rate of Fire.
either that or fire in bursts to avoid throwing ammunition at the wall.

yno, except for having no 'Recoil' experienced by the user, absolutely no Kick, and having some of the highest Crit Stats in the game.

it's quite substantial, as it's the difference between wasting your time with bodyshots, or mowing everything down with Weakpoint Crits.

 

an actually optimized Soma Loadout doesn't use Heavy Caliber. not using it is how Soma Series defeats the existence of most of the Guns in the game. by dealing Damage competing with light DMR's despite being a Bullet Hose.

feel free to find a Loadout without being able to walk forwards and get Weakpoint Crits all day that can get anywhere near ~5000-5500 Damage per Shot. or ~6700 with Shadow Debt Mods. you can't. not without hyper specializing for one Faction.
doesn't include Primed Cryo Rounds because it isn't usable on every Faction.

you can prefer to use Heavy Caliber if you don't want to shoot Accurately - but if that's so, there are better Bullet Hose choices, that perform better than Soma Series if one is wasting most of their shots either on the air or bodyshots.

 

unless, you only use a Soma at nigh point blank Range, where Shots won't be able to diverge away from Weakpoints before they hit the Enemy.

 

Sorry but have you actually used the Soma before? Have you actually tried the Soma with and without Heavy Caliber?

a) the Soma has very noticeable recoil
b) the Soma has fairly low accuracy anyway; Heavy Caliber doesn't change that
c) the Soma is one of the best bullet hoses in the game without question
d) the Soma deletes pretty much everything you encounter (you don't need headshots AT ALL to wreck things, even in very high level content, but if you can get them that's cool)

I'm not saying you can't play the Soma this way if you want, but you're trying to force the weapon to be something it isn't in my opinion.

Edited December 1, 2016 by Rowancroft

[taiiat]

31 minutes ago, Xzorn said:

If you prioritize kill rate over Damage as you kinda should

Zooming for short-medium, turning then zooming again is going to be slower than simply twitch shooting it while missing 1/3 of your head-shots at long range is going to cause a lot of lost time and ammo.

only EHP we truly care about is Heavies, and more Damage means higher Kill Rate on them.

 

then don't bother. keep zoomed while you take out Enemies in an area. you can still move around fine while using Fine Aim, between that Sliding gives a Speed Bonus at all times and Et Cetera.
either way you're twitch shooting, you just use FineAim as you start shooting. it's not like Soma will do anything to throw you off Target anyways, so we assume you aimed at the right spot, and you shoot and use Fine Aim at the same time.

if you don't like doing that sobeit, other than reduced Spread and Shadow Debt bonuses you don't really miss out on much of anything.

26 minutes ago, Rowancroft said:

Have you actually tried the Soma with and without Heavy Caliber?

but you're trying to force the weapon to be something it isn't in my opinion.

absolutely. it's the same way nobody should use Heavy Caliber on Bows that aren't Cernos Prime. because the 'not too bad' reduction still means a lot of missed opportunity to drastically increase the Damage of almost all of your Shots.

all Crit Weapons are Marksmanship Weapons because of Weakpoint Crits.
if a Weapon does well with Crits, it does better with Weakpoint Crits.

[Rowancroft]

1 hour ago, taiiat said:

absolutely. it's the same way nobody should use Heavy Caliber on Bows that aren't Cernos Prime. because the 'not too bad' reduction still means a lot of missed opportunity to drastically increase the Damage of almost all of your Shots.

It really doesn't work like that. Comparing Heavy Caliber on bows vs. Soma Prime is an absolutely terrible point of comparison. On bows you can't afford to miss shots, and the accuracy loss is HUGE - it's not worth the added damage because if you miss a shot your DPS plummets, and with Heavy Caliber installed on a bow this has a good chance of happening. On the Soma Prime it's fairly inconsequential, and the DPS increase Heavy Caliber provides is too high to pass up. It's certainly worth the small accuracy loss (you seem to forget it buffs headshot damage an insane amount too).

Edited December 1, 2016 by Rowancroft

[taiiat]

9 hours ago, Rowancroft said:

It really doesn't work like that.

and the DPS increase Heavy Caliber provides is too high to pass up. It's certainly worth the small accuracy loss

it really does.

i think you overestimate how effective Heavy Caliber actually is - it's only effective once it reaches the last couple Ranks, otherwise an Elemental does more Damage than it.
don't be bedazzled by big numbers on a Mod, what it actually does matters most.

[Rowancroft]

2 hours ago, taiiat said:

it really does.

i think you overestimate how effective Heavy Caliber actually is - it's only effective once it reaches the last couple Ranks, otherwise an Elemental does more Damage than it.
don't be bedazzled by big numbers on a Mod, what it actually does matters most.

EDIT: We can agree to disagree I have other things to be doing.

Edited December 1, 2016 by Rowancroft

[(XBOX)Deflinek]

1 hour ago, Rowancroft said:

With Heavy Caliber in a standard build: 27835.509 Burst DPS; 21536.177 Sustained DPS
Without Heavy Caliber: 17154.442 Burst DPS; 13272.296 Sustained DPS

It would be better if you link actual build to at least what you refer to as "standard build". Assuming your "standard build" with Heavy Caliber is this then indeed when you remove Heavy Caliber you get also the numbers above. I would add that you get even less DPS if you remove also Serration :)

However if you replace Heavy Caliber with primed bane of something such as this build you get 26589.401 burst and 20572 sustained DPS. Still lower, but not that much and without any accuracy loss.

Further replacement of Shred for Bladed Rounds like this provides 31k burst and 25k sustained DPS after kill while aiming and still without accuracy loss.

I agree Heavy Caliber provides the greatest numbers on paper. But there is lower accuracy that trades more damage per shot for less shots on target - especially on medium to long range. In the end it just boils down to preference. 90% of the time it still doesn't matter because unless it's sortie 3 grineer with augmented armour each of those builds will shred everything at small tap of the trigger.

I don't use Heavy Caliber on my Soma Prime just because of that lower accuracy but I usually use it at longer range while aiming. If you prefer more close quarters combat without aiming for headshots than I guess Heavy Caliber works better for you.

Edited December 1, 2016 by (XB1)Deflinek

[Rowancroft]

51 minutes ago, (XB1)Deflinek said:

It would be better if you link actual build to at least what you refer to as "standard build". Assuming your "standard build" with Heavy Caliber is this then indeed when you remove Heavy Caliber you get also the numbers above. I would add that you get even less DPS if you remove also Serration :)

However if you replace Heavy Caliber with primed bane of something such as this build you get 26589.401 burst and 20572 sustained DPS. Still lower, but not that much and without any accuracy loss.

Further replacement of Shred for Bladed Rounds like this provides 31k burst and 25k sustained DPS after kill while aiming and still without accuracy loss.

I agree Heavy Caliber provides the greatest numbers on paper. But there is lower accuracy that trades more damage per shot for less shots on target - especially on medium to long range. In the end it just boils down to preference. 90% of the time it still doesn't matter because unless it's sortie 3 grineer with augmented armour each of those builds will shred everything at small tap of the trigger.

I don't use Heavy Caliber on my Soma Prime just because of that lower accuracy but I usually use it at longer range while aiming. If you prefer more close quarters combat without aiming for headshots than I guess Heavy Caliber works better for you.

Please don't post selective results. There is no situation where not using Heavy Caliber will net you more damage as your final statistics suggest. If you use Heavy Caliber & Bladed Rounds (over a Primed Bane & Bladed Rounds) you get 32529.675 burst DPS and 26554.837 sustained DPS that isn't limited to a specific faction. The vast, vast majority of people do not have fully upgraded Primed Bane mods anyway, so it's a moot point.

Heavy Caliber is best on paper, and I also find it best in practise, since the accuracy loss is MINIMAL (SP isn't an accurate weapon anyway) and the damage increase is huge. If you don't agree then that's fine, as you said SP wrecks pretty much everything anyway so it really doesn't matter in the end.