Salvo build for going deep in Annihilation
Introduction
A common reaction to the Enemies 2.0 update is to call it unfairly difficult. I disagree. If you don’t mind making use of the strongest tools the game offers, you’ll be able to deal with anything it throws at you, which makes for a fun challenge. Then, dying is almost always the result of your mistakes, which is the highest praise you can give to a roguelike.
Almost everything this build uses was nerfed at one point or another. Turns out, it’s still possible to assemble a more than competitive powerhouse. Kudos to Jeffrey for not nerfing stuff into oblivion.
Without further ado, The Build
Shield: Amp
Weapon: SalvoCore mods to prioritise early
Ataraxia (for exp gain)
Magnitude tree
Targeting tree without Homing Strike
Rapid Fire tree
Velocity, Snipe
Blast Radius, Concentrated Blast
Bravado
Ally Specialist
Revelation
Grandeur (5-8 total, with eventual Explosive Growth ideally)
Rest of the core mods
Propulsive Munitions
Rampage x3
Mastery
Improved Thrusters tree without Streamline, Warp Strike
Kinetic Boost tree without Celestial Lance
Flash Shielding, Shield Cooldown, Tempest Break
Hull Strength tree
Skirmish tree without Blitz
Ally tree without Evasion
Interceptor tree without Outmaneuver
Priority Zero tree
Optional and luxury mods
Antimatter Rounds
Rancor
Streamline, Leaf on the Wind
Blitz
Elegant Construction
Efficiency
Volatile Shields
Adaptive Armor tree
Stabilization tree, Apotheosis, Displacement
Quantum Decoherence
Defiance
Discord
Double tap
Explanation for some mod choices
The inconspicuous centerpiece of this build, and the biggest change from old Wingman builds. In 2.0, worst threats do high burst damage, in particular, these delightful fellows:
Almost a second of invulnerability on having our shield broken gives invaluable opportunity to avoid many otherwise certain deaths.2. Tempest Break
Given 1, the shorter our shield’s cooldown the better. Other perks are welcome too.
3. No Apex Machinery
Emergency Systems don’t work with Shielded Constructs. We don’t really need it anyway, our Allies are strong enough as is.
4. No Overseer
Nowadays it only gives +1 to advanced constructs, so not much point in swapping our weapons for another Ally, and considering 3, we’d have to take a filler mod too. In general, two Allies clear out small fry by themselves just fine, so keeping weapons means we can stockpile rockets to deal with bosses and other troublesome waves.
Miscellaneous tips
As usual, for improved consistency you can take Research first to banish useless mods.
Always try to be moving around in the central part of the battlefield to have time to react to dangers from any direction, but having taken Warp Strike don’t be afraid to escape various nasties by screenwrapping.
Avoiding dangers is by far the top priority, especially while the shield is broken. Shoot once you got to a safe-ish position, and dont fret about losing some exp orbs.
