INTRODUCTION

This is a [Gara] build focused around splinter storm and building the splinter storm damage as quickly as possible so that you can melt high level enemies on Steel Path and other end game content. The top three helminth options for this build are Eclipse, Nourish and Pillage.

UPDATE JANUARY 2026
Added Arcane Circumvent so you can roll through enemies, strip defenses and steal defenses, then kill them immediately with splinter storm. Maximised range so when you roll through enemies and strip armor in 4m, you can still hit them with 7m splinter storm. [Narrow Minded] is flexible over [Augur Message].

UPDATE JULY 2024
Full armor strip is no longer mandatory for [Gara] abilities to kill in high level SP and endurance, as just having corrosive + heat without any green shards is enough to allow Splinter Storm to easily kill levelcap enemies after a few stacks.

ALTERNATIVE BUILDS:
Hybrid nuke + splinter storm: https://overframe.gg/build/204674/
Pure splinter storm variant : https://overframe.gg/build/213287/

BUILD SPECIFICS

Duration
High duration helps the uptime of Splinter Storm so it doesn't run out prematurely and you lose all stacks. Augur Message/[Reach] is flexible for [Narrow Minded].

Range
Maximum range is needed to maximise splinter storm radius to 7m.

Efficiency
Assuming you only refresh splinter storm every 30 seconds, casting mass vitrify followed by [Shattered Lash] costs exactly 95 energy. Even without Arcane Energize, this should be easy to come by within 30s given the speed at which [Gara] can kill enemies. [Streamline] is flexible with [Primed Flow]. Consider additional energy boosters like [Equilibrium] +[Synth Deconstruct], [Dethcube] with [Energy Generator], [Grimoire] with [Xata Invocation], Zenurik if needed.

Strength
Strength is important since it affects [Shattered Lash] damage, which subsequently feeds into both Mass Vitrify damage and Splinter Storm stacking. In addition, strength also boosts the damage vulnerability of crystallized enemies via 4 and the effect of any helminth abilities such as Nourish.

Options
Aura slot is flexible :

• Stteel Charge provides the most mod capcity and adds about 5-10% to shattered lash/splinter storm damage.
• [Brief Respite] for endurance runs where you need to abuse shield gating (in addition to decaying dragon key, you may want to change fleeting expertise to streamline to reduce efficiency further)

Exilus slot is flexible - If you don't have primed sure footed, can use handspring, vigilante pursuit, power drift etc

Flexible options:

• Rolling Guard - useful mod for high levels giving i-frames on roll, but if you don't like the playstyle.
• Adaptation - for casual tanking, increases the tankiness of shields gained (90% splinter storm DR + 90% adaptation + 50% innate shield DR = 99.5% DR), giving a shield EHP of approximately 300k at max overshield.

Arcanes

• Molt Augmented - gives more strength up to 60% at 250 kills
• Arcane Blade Charger - if you have a strong primary eg [Torid] Incarnon, [Felarx],etc you can easily get this buff which will more than double splinter storm stacks. Even a sentinel equipped with Verglas can proc this for you!
• Arcane Fury - similar to blade charger but doesn't require a primary, is easier to proc but provides slightly less stack
• Arcane Aegis - If you have problems with surviving

Helminth

• Nourish: Gives Viral damage boost which applies to [Shattered Lash] (additively to elements so much less bonus than eclipse) but also gives huge energy multiplier to allow you to sustain energy, possibly even without arcane energize.
• Silence : Provides passive CC, blocks eximus abilities and acolyte abilities, particularly against Violence so you don't lose all your stacked splinter storm. This is the number one choice for Endurance Steel Path. Will need to run with higher energy economy without Nourish, for example swapping Blind Rage for streamline.
• Pillage, Fire Blast : both allow full strip in two casts without a huge invesment in range
• Roar: Gives a damage buff to Shattered Lash.

Archon Shards

• Two Amber Cast Speed
• Three Crimson Duration Shards

PLAYSTYLE

• Cast 2 on yourself (making sure you don't aim at an enemy, object or companion) to initiate splinter storm and achieve 90% damage reduction
• Cast 2 on your companion for 90% damage reduction
• Cast 3 to activate Nourish/other helminth
• Optional Build up combo counter to maximum
• Kill some enemies with your primary to proc arcane blade charger
• Cast 4 and quickly stop it from expanding by pressing 4 again
• Tap or hold 1 to shatter the wall (tap for puncture if you modded stat stick with puncture, hold for slash if stat stick modded with slash)
• Repeat 4 + 1 combo every 30-40ss, also making sure 3 is active at all times

OTHER TIPS

Use a sentinel as a companion rather than a moving pet. You can cast splinter storm on your sentinel and give it 90% damage reduction as well as creating a second damage source that gains the same stacks as [Gara]. Since the sentinel moves with you and overlaps your splinter storm radius, you effectively do twice the damage per tick compared to when splinter storm is on [Gara] alone. To cast on your sentinel, point your cursor directly up and press the reverse camera key (check key bindings) then spam 2 as the crosshairs pass over the sentinel. Furthermore, since the sentinel never runs away like other pets, you can keep 100% uptime on its splinter storm whenever you cast mass vitrify.

Recommended sentinels:

• Diriga - passive primes in close range and helps consistently produce health orbs for equilibrium
• Nautilus with Cordon and Manifold bond - allows you to passively group enemies so you can kill them quicker with splinter storm. https://overframe.gg/build/540870/
• Wrym prime with negate - prevents status procs including knockdown, very useful if you don't own primed sure footed. https://overframe.gg/build/545608/
• Dethcube prime with energy generator - makes energy orbs every couple of kills, very useful if you don't own a full set of arcane energize. https://overframe.gg/build/224301/
• Helios Prime with Vicious Bond and Deconstructor - allows you to passive armor strip enemies recently damaged by abilities, which is exactly what [Gara] specializes in. This allows you to use Nourish as subsume instead. You can also equip Seismic Bond which will trigger while Mass Vitrify is expanding, giving free 30% efficiency for 12s. https://overframe.gg/build/542050/