What is the BEST build/weapon in your opinion?

[Justin_760]

Hello. I've been struggling with the game, and am wondering what in YOUR opinion is the best build/weapon type? I realize that a large part of it comes down to preference and taste, but there isn't a video game in the world that is perfectly balanced in regards to overall effectiveness of weapons and armor.

I guess this is my way of asking what the most OP stuff is. Surely there has to be SOMETHING that is noticeably more effective (in general) in regards to weapon types and individual gear. Thanks!

[Markralf]

Cerberus gear is top tier in every aspect, I love to use spears and one handed here, trying to use double duty but didn't get the double combos yet, I actually use the JA-27 Rainfall MKXIV and it is insane with the Cerberus gear (900DMG!)

[Justin_760]

Originally posted by Markralf:

Cerberus gear is top tier in every aspect, I love to use spears and one handed here, trying to use double duty but didn't get the double combos yet, I actually use the JA-27 Rainfall MKXIV and it is insane with the Cerberus gear (900DMG!)

Cerberus gear... I dont think Ive stumbled on that yet, where can I get it? And thanks for the tip!

[cKy]

Originally posted by Justin_760:

Originally posted by Markralf:

Cerberus gear is top tier in every aspect, I love to use spears and one handed here, trying to use double duty but didn't get the double combos yet, I actually use the JA-27 Rainfall MKXIV and it is insane with the Cerberus gear (900DMG!)

Cerberus gear... I dont think Ive stumbled on that yet, where can I get it? And thanks for the tip!

you get it from the enemies with the skull helmet ( painted a white skull on their helmet )

[Midnight77]

I'm playing this game differently than most. I was at level 5 exploring everything and unlocking all doors, etc. until I couldn't do anymore and then fought the first boss. I found a level 7 Cerebus at the top of the hospital. Unfortunately, there are no med stations anywhere to rez and quickly come back to slice and dice. It would be a long slog but you will keep rezzing at the apartments complex and then have to run back into the hospital to get back up there to get the parts. It's doable but you'd take a very long time to get them. Fighting the first boss was super easy at level 5 but the downside is you will not be able to get the "Mysterious Stranger" first part of the quest because you will meet the stranger at the hospital and it thinks you are meeting them for the second time (you are supposed to meet them for the first time after beating the first boss). Therefore, when you go to the hideout to meet them for the first time they are not there. There is also a chest there that is not unlockable as well as a door that you don't have the keycard for. Hopefully I'm not screwed but it just seems you are paid some cash for this quest so I'm not too worried. I finished the more important second quest for the stranger.

[Mango]

Staff is great, good range, fast combos and can stagger a bit. Also not high in the stamina consume.

The downside is it a bit hard to cut enemy armor with it

[SunfireKnight86]

Half Lynx/Half Iron Maus with the V2.0 weapon from General Loud Guy. Stack speed/stamina/energy to taste, and prepare to attack so fast and hard you can stuck lock and face tank bosses.

[Phishfood]

The best builds is YOU. Learn to parry everything and you'll be unstoppable. So basically anything heavy duty as the follow up hit does a lot of damage and equip all the parry based mods.

[Markralf]

I've give the try now to the double duty weapons and I AM IN LOVE! Man, what a moveset! Already got the Matriarch V2.0 and they hit way harder! btw, I face tank her and kill her first phase with the prostest sign... Is that how the boss fight is supposed to be? xD

[AndyPandy]

From my play-through most op build was getting "Brother Truman's Faith" (Electric Spear) early on, just kill him after first boss (only have one try, so copy your savegame). Than later rounding it out with 3-6 part of the "SPARK Galvanizer's Set". Than you also get some spear/ele centric implants and you can pretty much stun-lock any enemy, including bosses that are not immune to it. The main problem is you can only get the Galvanizer stuff after you get the hook and can access "Cathedral of the Spark", which is like 60% through the game.

The build i had the most fun with was a hammer/impact build, the run+smash combo is one of the best moves in the game and at around 90+ impact you can knockdown/stagger pretty much any enemy. This build can be farmed much earlier, you want the "RHINO Arm Gear" + "
A.I.D. Eclipse Leg Gear" and Helm, with the "JAGUAR" chest. As weapon use "A.I.D. Type-11 'Overseer'" or "A.I.D. Type-4 'Authority'" and later on "Codename: Parsifal". Than later grab the "Energetic Impact Intensifier" in "Cathedral of the Spark". This build will have like 90-170 impact and you can Hulk smash any enemy, only on Bosses i switched to Staff/Spear, since i was bad at blocking and had to rely on a Dodge/Evade playstyle.

PS: There is a trick/glitch to get a elevator activated by a enemy, which allows you to directly get the Rhino + A.I.D. Eclipse set, at the start of the game. So you can build the hammer build early on.

[DaZMaN76]

I struggled with parry timing early on, and was playing very SoulsBorneKiro(tm) - just dodging everywhere, which will eventually blitz your stamina regardless of how many points you spend there. Even though I eventually got the hang of parrying, I wound up with a build that somewhat covered the parry weakness with face-tanking when I needed it.

ARMOUR - full set of Scarab. Excellent defence and stability, good status defence, extra defence boost with full batteries, and reduced status effect times. The cost is extra stamina consumption, so you need good investment there to balance it. I quickly got sick of electricity stun, and Scarab helps a lot there. In terms of stats and bonuses, Scarab just about mirrors the pre-order URBN gear - but comes in metallic lime green instead of multi-colour paint warehouse explosion, if you don't like the latter.

WEAPONS - matching a simple electricity weapon like the MG Negotiator staff with the EMP drone, is very effective for clearing areas. The EMP pop gives 50% electricity buildup on many enemies, and with the right timing that's 100% and a stun after a charged attack with the Negotiator. As with the first game, highly upgraded weapons tend to empty health faster than they break armour - particularly boss/specials, and especially Nano weapons because of the build-up effect.

I deliberately kept the Negotiator around Mk VI or so, for cutting limbs like this. For fast kills, I switch between Helix of the Delver (attack speed and dodge potential) and either Defragged Splitcleaver, Infected Slashbrand or Parting Gift for the improved damage and impact. The nano Double-Duty weapons put out some serious damage, and are already highly upgraded when you eventually get them.

IMPLANTS - I found myself using maybe 10-15 through the game, with most being untouched. The key ones are building energy while taking damage, boosting energy gained while attacking, and preferably boosting defence and attack after parry. The latter is really useful when fighting multiple enemies, where you regularly take damage from around you shortly after parrying and riposting your target. And let's face it - the latter stages of the game are a tanky gank-fest for the most part, where even light and mid-armoured enemies keep attacking while you smash them in the face with a massive piece of metal. When you need it, this combo of implants makes you exactly as tanky as those enemies, as long as you (a) get at least some hits in yourself rather than turtling/backing off and (b) constantly hit/hold the injection button, to use/refill your heals. I didn't put all of this together until the final Delver Echo fight on the rooftop - which has almost enough incoming damage to stop a train.

[seligak]

For most part i use Mimetic Edge but when get MG Cerberus i start using Codename Valkyrie but in new game +3 and +4 i start to use icon of the spark v 2.0 and got nice almost perm suns if i combine it with my drone. MG Cerberus got the best armor and resist at XX. you can always use +250 nano.

so far at lvl 259
230 - 1413 Health
100 - 301 Stamna (in my opinion no need more)
168 - 551% battery

Stun FTW :)

[Baron01]

Is there really a build in Surge 1 or 2? It is really more a setup of gear, weapons and implants with some distribution of stat points between 3 stats.

I'm nowhere near as far as some of the above posters, I just got past AID lab so I have no experience with NG+.

My setup is the initial Scavenger gear because I like to be light and have low stamina consumption and the set bonus provides great sustain (100HP heal upon execution). I like to use staffs (I love those in Surge 1) as they have great move-set. My other weapon is spear for when I need to be fast and keep enough stamina to dodge out of harms way. Both staffs and spears have a long reach and great dash attacks that allows you to play safe.

My implant setup is again focused on sustain while farming normal enemies--healing injectable, defensive injectable, 2 batteries decay prevention implant, stamina regeneration when battery is filled implant and implant giving me 1 charge of currently equipped injectable upon execution.

I used implant that gives me additional 50HP upon execution but extra injectable upon execution is better as I get a lot more healing from it. This setup is good for keeping your charges maxed even when doing executions most of the time.

Another key implant is stamina regen on filling a battery as it greatly helps in fights where you have to dodge a lot. You can use implant reducing cost of dodging by 15% before you get the other one.

[DaZMaN76]

Originally posted by Baron01:

Is there really a build in Surge 1 or 2? It is really more a setup of gear, weapons and implants with some distribution of stat points between 3 stats.

That's exactly the definition of a build - there's no requirement for there to be more stats to tweak, especially since gear and implants are regularly either bolstering those stats, or improving regen to counter the need for bolstering. Weapons can also benefit from specific armour and implant choices, and vice versa.

[Dragoon]

I like the moveset for the spears a lot and when I got nano claws I was surprised with how good claws were in this game.

[AndyPandy]

If you farmed a lot, you can later respect and mainly use the 50% heal regen implant, instead of the direct heal one. That's because 50% of 1000-1200 HP are more efficient compared to 250-300 per use. On top the 10% heal on 5 attacks implant, also works very well this way, with fast hitting weapons like spear/claws. This way you have regen + heal 100+ hp every few seconds. You can also combine this with implants that activate on "low health", which is the last segment of your hp bar. With 1000+ hp this is still big enough to actually utilize such implants.

So i finished the last 30% of the game this way, with 100+ in health, 20 stamina and 25 energy. Would have done it earlier, but the regen implant looked bad at first glance. I also used the JAGUAR set, so stamina was no issue for me, so no real need for any other implant with high energy points.