I really really like sentient weapons, especially if they've got a unique effect like this one does! I immediately ran to play with the Haalvu after getting my hands on it and I'm quite happy to say that it's pretty good! And cool! And strong! And...
This build needs 3 forma.
THE BUILD
Roles: Average, CC, Primer.
Target: Multiple.
Spot: Any.
Style: Specific (Toggled fire modes).
Ramp: Short.
Sustain: Self.
This build is focused on the Haalvu's alt fire mode, which turns it from a point and shoot minigun into a floating array of auto-aiming guns. It's a lot like Xaku's Grasp of Lohk, but as a gun!
This is a crit-leaning dual build, with Critical Delay and Vital Sense to boost our crit chance and damage respectively. As with any crit build, we want to build up our Base Damage for stronger crits (Primed Cryo Rounds, Galvanized Chamber, Galvanized Aptitude).
Our Status is boosted (Galvanized Aptitude), and both are served by the dual stat mods (Malignant Force, Thermite Rounds). We don't need to worry about boosting Status a ton directly, as the Haalvu has built-in Tau damage— which increases the Status chance of all subsequent shots on enemies afflicted by it.
The build's Status effects are Viral (Primed Cryo Rounds, Malignant Force) and Heat (Thermite Rounds), for Viral's damage multiplying, and Heat's armor strip.
Our arcane, Primary Debilitate, helps apply a wider array of Status effects on our targets. Debilitate requires 10 stacks of a combo'd effect to trigger, and since we're firing quite fast via Primed Shred, those stacks are very quick to build up. These extra Statuses help boost our Base Damage further via Galvanized Aptitude's bonus effect.
Primed shred also helps increase the Haalvu's crowd clearing capabilities with its bonus punch through, which can make the primary fire mode viable with this build, if you prefer it.
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PLAYSTYLE
Kill an enemy or two with the primary fire mode to ramp up both Galvanized mods, then switch to the alt fire mode.
From there, you're free to just hold down the fire button and watch your new gun friends do the work! If you ever need to take down a tough single target like an eximus or acolyte, just switch back to normal!
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OPTIONS
Primed mods can be swapped for regular if needed.
It is worth noting that while Primary Crux seems match-made for the Haalvu, it is not super great on the alt fire. The auto-aim attempts to seek out weak points but is a bit inconsistent in practice, so whether or not you'd see the boost at any given moment is pretty uncertain unless you want to manually switch back and forth between the primary fire mode to get headshots yourself.
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SCORING
Fun: S
Funny sentient gun go spinny. Gun friends go swhoosh bang bang, with pretty laser light show. Many Status everywhere.
You understand.
Performance: A
The Haalvu is very strong, self primes itself, and has some great potential as a primer for other weapons, too, especially when using Debilitate in this build. It's great for clearing out crowds, even things behind you, making it fantastic for relaxing play sessions.
Its numbers don't quite stack up high enough to make it something I'd expect to see in the meta, and its lack of AoE or built in punch through make its primary fire mode not super great outside of single-target scenarios. Even as a primer, it's still outclassed by the Epitaph. But it is one of a very few weapons with built-in Tau status.
For this to really shine, I think the alt fire is where it's at!
I was told this gun sucked but it very much does not. Spearguns are fun! This is fun! I always 5 forma nemesis weapons for valance-ing, but this build only needs 2 forma. (I think. I forgot to keep track!)
THE BUILD
Roles: Average, CC, Primer.
Target: Multiple.
Spot: Weak points.
Style: Both main + alt attack.
Ramp: Medium.
Sustain: Self.
This is a crit-leaning dual build. Our valence bonus is Electricity, to boost the alt-fire's damage, and add some extra CC to offset the somewhat weak pull. We dip further into this with High Voltage to ensure we actually see those procs.
This is crit focused, so we want to boost our base damage as much as possible to maximize damage after crit multipliers. Primary Deadhead gives us a significant boost on headshot, which is much further boosted after we start getting headshot kills. It's worth mentioning that Electricity procs can trigger headshots on their own, and gain extra damage from Deadhead.
We further increase Base Damage (Galvanized Chamber, Galvanized Aptitude, Primed Cryo Rounds, Infected Clip), and multiply it further with Viral (Primed Cryo Rounds, Infected Clip).
Critical Hits are then boosted (Vital Sense, Point Strike).
Vile Acceleration boosts fire rate, which not only boosts basic shooting, but also the frequency of the thrown spear's pulses for extra damage and pull effectiveness.
And, finally, Vigilante Supplies helps with ammo sustain with occasional crit boosting.
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PLAYSTYLE
Throw down the spear every now and then for CC, priming, and damage. You can toss it into enemies to create overlapping fields of electric procs.
Point and shoot, aim for weak point kills.
Manual shooting and throwing will be the bulk of usage, but the thrown spears will do a notable bit of damage and even kill enemies themselves.
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OPTIONS
Primed mods can be swapped for regular if needed.
Rifle Elementalist will boost the Electric proc damage, if you'd like to focus on that. What you replace it with is your call.
You may choose to swap Point Strike with Critical Delay for 50% more crit chance, but you'll lose 20% fire rate. Up to taste, here.
If you want to save resources, Vigilante Supplies is not at all essential. I don't often use exilus mods unless I super love a weapon, or I have extra capacity— as I often do with nemesis weapons since they tend to require more forma than is actually necessary for a proper build.
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SCORING
Fun: A
Spearguns are inherently fun to me. This is fun! I like it! It also looks really cool and sometimes aura adds to a weapon's fun!
Performance: A
If you know how to build it, the Tenet Ferrox performs quite strongly. It'll melt crowds of enemies with ease well into Steel Path. It is held back from S status by its slow reload, base damage, and the pull's almost-greatness.
