Table of Contents
Class
Weapons
Decimator
Continuously chaining more than 2 attacks gives +5% Power. Stacks 10 times.
Shock & Awe
-60% Enemy Hit Mass for 3s on Kill.
Run 'n' Gun
You can Hipfire with this weapon while Sprinting. 15% Close Damage while Sprinting. Also reduces weapon spread at all times by -30%.
Stripped Down
Gain Ranged Attack Immunity while sprinting with over 50% Stamina.
Curios
+1-3 Max Stamina
+1-3 Max Stamina
+13-17% Toughness
Talent Tree
Stimm Lab
Description
THE VIRUS is a DOT-focused Hive Scum build, utilizing the Chem Toxin status effect's excellent damage capabilities into all enemy armour types, whilst offering significant team support/utility with the Stimm Pack ability.
RECOMMENDED WEAPONS:
Melee: Bone Saw, Tactical Axes, Shivs, Combat Knives
Ranged: Needle Pistols, Bolt Pistols
This variant of THE VIRUS opts for the Bonesaw with Shock & Awe & Decimator blessings. The bonesaw is the quintessentially thematic tox weapon and we use this to great effect. We take Shock & Awe for the additional cleave, something the bonesaw is really hungry for and helps it feel good to use in combat. We also take Decimator for the accessible additional power, boosting our damage, impact, cleave and DOT damage.
BLITZ: CHEM GRENADE
Strong anti-everything grenade. Best used on mixed hordes.
Warning: Be conscious of bursters detonating due to the AOE. This can and will wreck your teammates if unexpected. The AOE vfx can also obscure other ground effects e.g. blight and fire making them hard to see.
ABILITY: STIMM PACK
Stimm pack brings significant team utility with anti-corruption and combat boosting capabilities. We take all 3 modifiers here, adding strong offensive capabilities to the ability through Booby Trap, effectively turning the stimm pack into a regenerating Chem Toxin bomb.
The Stimm Lab set up is really down to preference and should be adjusted to suit the team comp and/or map modifiers. I choose strength & rending for the most universally useful team buff vs. dangerous enemy types. On blight maps, you may choose to drop nodes for a faster stimm cooldown etc.
KEYSTONE: CHEM DEPENDENCY (CD)
CD provides crit chance, toughness damage reduction and ability cooldown (this is less useful for us on this build due to Practiced Deployment). With a max. 45s stimm, maintaining 3 stacks is a breeze and allows you to be more intentional with Stimm Pack usage.
ALTERNATE TALENTS:
This talent tree is 30/30 and is my preferred way of running this build.
To free up talent point(s), I'd suggest dropping: Booby Trap / A Tertium Welcome / Virulent Strain.
CURIOS:
The curios listed above are my preference for this build however this is based on how I like to play.
Use whatever best fits your playstyle however I find the most value in the set ups below, YMMV:
2 x Toughness / 1 x Stamina
2 x Toughness / 1 x HP
3 x Toughness
(Minor node priority picks are +toughness / +gunner res / +revive speed / +stamina regen).
Other builds by Mezrah
