Good melee weapon for Lavos?

[M.T. Fish]

I've been using Sydon because of its high status chance and style but if I want to put Condition overload on it I'm going to need to use a second Forma.

Is this worth investing or is something else going to synergize better?

[Thundercracker]

generally speaking, i stick with a kuva shildig for almost every frame.

[Skeleton]

While you do have the defenses to be fine in melee, the whole point of Lavos is to spread status in as wide an area as possible with Bite/Rush/Cedo/other AoE ranged and then proceed to nuke the map with Catalyze.

With that mindset, if you ever have to use a melee weapon it's because something is resistant to status or just survived your Catalyze. High damage/high critical weapons work well to fill that gap; I use a Kuva Shildeg as well but I can easily see gunblades working well. Note that you can put Condition Overload on these as well to take advantage of your ability statuses.

If you absolutely need to spread status with a melee weapon, find one that can inflict multiple statuses at once. Infested weapons usually have IPS + Toxin and Kuva/Tenet weapons with a Magnetic/Radiation progenitor can reach 5-6 statuses,

[BoxxyB]

You can make a zaw Sephfan staff or nikana crazy good without much effort. thats what I use when playing lavos but it really just boils down to what you like

[M.T. Fish]

Originally posted by Skeleton:

While you do have the defenses to be fine in melee, the whole point of Lavos is to spread status in as wide an area as possible with Bite/Rush/Cedo/other AoE ranged and then proceed to nuke the map with Catalyze.

With that mindset, if you ever have to use a melee weapon it's because something is resistant to status or just survived your Catalyze. High damage/high critical weapons work well to fill that gap; I use a Kuva Shildeg as well but I can easily see gunblades working well. Note that you can put Condition Overload on these as well to take advantage of your ability statuses.

If you absolutely need to spread status with a melee weapon, find one that can inflict multiple statuses at once. Infested weapons usually have IPS + Toxin and Kuva/Tenet weapons with a Magnetic/Radiation progenitor can reach 5-6 statuses,

These are really good points. I mostly use my Cedo and only use melee or my secondary when I absolutely have to.

[M.T. Fish]

Originally posted by BoxxyB:

You can make a zaw Sephfan staff or nikana crazy good without much effort. thats what I use when playing lavos but it really just boils down to what you like

I've seen the zaws but I hate the bounties so much I haven't really built up enough rep to get one. If it's worth it I might try to build up my rep enough to get a few parts.

[IRMcG]

If you want Status heavy and don't want to go down the Zaw route, take a look at the Lacera sword/whip. 45% base status, pretty easy to get that over 100%. Dark Sword's a bit lower but another option.

[Pakaku]

I find that a Falcor with Volatile Rebound is an easy way to proc a group of enemies at range pretty quickly. Almost like a second Cedo glaive.

[M.T. Fish]

Originally posted by IRMcG:

If you want Status heavy and don't want to go down the Zaw route, take a look at the Lacera sword/whip. 45% base status, pretty easy to get that over 100%. Dark Sword's a bit lower but another option.

I was considering a whip since I got the stance as a random drop and Lavos has a snake theme.

[M.T. Fish]

Originally posted by Pakaku:

I find that a Falcor with Volatile Rebound is an easy way to proc a group of enemies at range pretty quickly. Almost like a second Cedo glaive.

I considered it but the Corpus quest where I was forced to use the glaive turned me off to them a bit.

[Skeleton]

Originally posted by MagnificentTunaFish:

I was considering a whip since I got the stance as a random drop and Lavos has a snake theme.

Verdilac might be what you're looking for then.
It's the highest-damage whip, and it even comes from Archon Nira, the snake-headed one.

Only drawback is that you'll have to do Narmer bounties for the BP and isoplasts.

[M.T. Fish]

I've settled on the Krohkur for now as it seems to be a good crit weapon and fits my color scheme nicely, however when my MR is high enough the Verdilac has me curious.

Thank you all for your suggestions!

[Nolo Contendere]

Originally posted by MagnificentTunaFish:

Originally posted by BoxxyB:

You can make a zaw Sephfan staff or nikana crazy good without much effort. thats what I use when playing lavos but it really just boils down to what you like

I've seen the zaws but I hate the bounties so much I haven't really built up enough rep to get one. If it's worth it I might try to build up my rep enough to get a few parts.

Zaws are nice in that you can customize them to what you want (I have 2 serious zaws, one as a crit/status hybrid and another for pure crits). As for rep grinding, there are a variety of ways (I recommend fishing) to do so without doing bonties (though they can be fun with a good group)