INTRODUCTION

This Steel Path build is focused around switching forms to take advantage of the survivability/crowd control of night form and [Maim] nuking of day form. Night mode allows you to crowd control entire maps by putting them to sleep with Rest, allowing you to kill them at your leisure to store damage as well as restore shields with Mend for shield gating. With the augment [Energy Transfer], switching to day mode preserves the stored damage. Once you have stored sufficient damage and there is a good enemy density, switch to day form and deactivate 4 to nuke the map.

Resonator is an optional helminth subsume over 2 or 3 which makes everything just easy mode by turning off enemy AI in a 42m radius so you don't even get shot anymore. No need to bother even casting 2 in the case. If you do run resonator, then switch [Transient Fortitude] out for [Augur Reach] since resonator is all you need for survival.

Note that the damage of [Maim] is affected by armor, and falls off hard against higher level steel path without armor strip.

If you want to add forma, adding - polarities is a good idea.

Alternative Builds
Gloom time freeze build: https://overframe.gg/build/235332/equinox-prime/longest-day-and-eternal-night-gloom-equinox-day-maim-stun-night-99-slow/
Silence Night mode crowd control god: https://overframe.gg/build/279616/
Pure Day form Nuke (with Terrify): https://overframe.gg/build/264320/equinox-prime/pillage-equinox-full-armor-strip-maim/
Rest Focus/XP farm: https://overframe.gg/build/218823/equinox-prime/rest-equinox-stealth-xp-focus-farm/
Duality AFK: https://overframe.gg/build/207021/equinox-prime/eclipse-equinox-duality-clone/

PLAYSTYLE

1. Start off in DAY form and activate 3 followed by 4 at the beginning of the mission (this boosts the strength of [Maim]). Then switch to NIGHT mode immediately with 1, which means the boosted strength [Maim] is converted into mend, and you will be able to fill shields with just 3 kills rather than 4. Reactivate 3 for a small damage reduction boost.
2. Crowd control enemies with 2 (either rest or resonator) - remember rest can be cast through walls. Use this to your advantage.
3. Kill enemies with your weapons while in night form to both [Regen] shields and store damage
4. Use [Rolling Guard] and shield [Regen] from kills to shield gate for survivability
5. Once sufficient damage is stored, swtich to day form by pressing 1, and deactivate 4 to nuke
6. Immediately reactivate 3 and 4, then switch back to night form and reactivate 3

Here is a video example of shield gating with night form to survive and crowd control with rest:

SURVIVABILITY

Use a combination of crowd control from Rest, i-frames from Shield gating via shield restore from mend and maim and i-frames from [Rolling Guard]. While Mend is active, you can passively shield gate by just getting kills. At max strength, each kill gets approximately 46 shield. Without [Catalyzing Shields] this is ultimately equal to approximately 0.6s shield gate after 1 kill, 0.75s shield gate after 2 kills, 0.87s after 3 kills and 1s after 4 kills. Adding [Catalyzing Shields] makes this approximately 0.9s after 1 kill and 1.33s after 2 kills, which an optional choice if you prefer. As you store damage in Mend and [Maim], releasing charge while in night form also fully restores shields.

Vazarin Protective Sling is the ultimate backup source of i-frames giving 5s immortality with zero cooldown on demand.

BUILD SPECIFICS

Duration
A low duration does not really affect the build since you will still be hitting the efficiency cap, giving minimal chanelling cost on 4. This gives rest & [Rage] a sleep time of 15s which is more than sufficient and the buffs from 1 are usually inconsequential. 3 is not affected by duration.

Efficiency
Max efficiency of 190% is recommended to hit the minimal drain cap (at negative duration) so you can maintain 3 and 4 at all times. This also makes casting all abilities very cheap allowing you to spam 2 for crowd control. NOTE: The efficiency cap for channeling abilities is NOT 175%, this is just because the in game UI cannot display above 175%. When you are below 100% duration, you must exceed 175% efficiency to hit the minimum drain.

Range
High range of 250% for an insane 45 m through-wall radius for maim, 12.5m for rest, and 37.5m for resonator if you use it. Put Augur Reach over transient fortitude for non-steel path content to hit max range of 280%.

Strength
The damage of [Maim] is 75% of the damage done to enemies and this does NOT change with strength. Strength does however affect the buffs from metamorphosis, the amount of shields you gain per kill in night form as well as the damage reduction from 3 in night form, so maintaining near neutral strength is good for increasing survivability. If you run resonator however, you can drop [Transient Fortitude] completely for more range with [Augur Reach]. After 250 kilils for molt augmented, we can hit 155% strength. Boosting this with Provoke further gives 186% strength, which allows you restore about 46 shield per kill.

Arcanes

• Energize - pretty crucial for energy regen while chanelling

The second arcane is completely up to preference:

• Augmented - more strength helps with shield gain in night form mend, and buffs you gain from metamorphosis
• Avenger - for flat crit boost
• Aegis - Additional safety net in addition to night form shield gain

Augment
If you want to focus only on day form nuking in lower level content, then switch [Energy Transfer] for [Natural Talent] to speed up cast speed.

Helminth
Pacify and Provoke (3) will be your least used ability which cancels whenever you swap forms, so you can swap this out for one of the following:

• Resonator - as mentioned, with extremely high range, resonator just shuts off AI across the map making the game easy
• Terrify/Fireblast/Pillage - since [Maim] is blocked by armor, using armor strip can greatly improve the damage of [Maim]. Running [Corrosive Projection] reduces the full strip strength requirement of terrify to 137%, whereas Pillage and Fireblast still need at least 2 casts to full strip armor.
• Ensnare/Larva/Airburst/Coil Horizon - grouping abilities provide good crowd control and can group enemies so you can shoot them OR use Unairu to full strip them before using maim.
• Breach Surge - reasonable crowd control (although not ideal due to line of sight requirement) and creates surge sparks on damage

Aura

• Corrosive projection -good for when you use terrify helminth to reduce strength requirement of full strip

Exilus
Flexible depending on preference:

• Cunning drift to maximise range
• Power drift if needed
• Primed sure footed or handspring for knockdown

Flexible mods
Streamline, Rolling Guard, Transient Fortitude are flexible for:

• Calm and Frenzy augment - lets you upkeep rest (or rage) passively
• Primed Flow - more energy reserve
• Augur Reach - even more range
• Equilibrium - for better energy economy particularly if you don't own arcane energize

Archon Shards

• Amber shards: at least 2 cast speed shards
• Azure shards: rest into energy max shards if you like more energy pool
• Crimson shards: +strength shards optional

ARSENAL

WEAPONS
A fun weapon that kind of matches Equinox's 'theme' is Zenith, an atronomically related term. Zenith's alt-fire mode also has infinite punchthrough but the enemy indicator built into the weapon only has a 20m range. [Equinox] [Maim] has a 45m range and the slash procs generated by [Maim] create a visual indicator of enemy position allowing you to target enemies through walls up to 45m away even without the inbuilt indicator.

Zenith build : https://overframe.gg/build/237176/zenith/zenith-viral-hm-anti-grineer/
Sigma and Octantis : Another 'astronomy' theme related weapon, but which can also use the Equinox Deluxe sword and shield skin! https://overframe.gg/build/285967/

COMPANIONS
Helios is the best sentinel for a non-helminth [Equinox] build. [Helios] can use [Vicious Bond] to give passive AOE armor strip as enemies get damaged and can also use [Seismic Bond] which gives [Equinox] a free 30% efficiency with near continuous uptime. This allows you drop Streamline for Primed Flow, Augur Reach or an augment like Calm and Frenzy.
Helios Build: https://overframe.gg/build/542050/