by Ignight — last updated 4 years ago
Overcome with Infestation, this bow's arrows now spread poisonous contagion to any surface they hit.
ITEM RANK
3060 / 60
APPLY CONDITIONALS
[Mutalist Cernos] is a bow with weak stats, but very interesting mechanics and a lovely 1.35 Riven Disposition. Every arrow shot from this bow is followed by a spore cloud akin to that of [Torid] or [Pox] that ticks rather frequently and with 49% base status chance! The cloud lasts for a long time and the best part is that the cloud follows the arrow!
As this can be a strange weapon to use, I reckon it might warrant an explanation.
There are few places and ways to use [Mutalist Cernos], while this weapon is viable for pretty much any levels (even 150+) It's best used against the Grineer or Corpus. It can work against the Infested, but only as a CC tool rather than the main killing implement. It works perfectly fine against the infested aswell. This beastie can one shot level 200 bambards :D
Also, [Mutalist Cernos] works best in stationary missions like Defense, Survival or Interception as a part of the weapons kit are the lingering clouds that work to your advantage when multiple mobs have to come in contact with them.
One word - Corrosive.
This thing shreds armor like there's no tomorrow. Slap a few arrow in a choke point, hit a couple of shots into a heavy gunner or a bombard and their health bar turns red within seconds.
As it is a bow it's not great against Nox, but any other Grineer will be stripped of armor and finished with a juicy headshot.
Focus on the heavy targets and eximus units, especially Arctic Eximus' as you can pop their bubble with one arrow.
While it may surprise some, I actually prefer to use corrosive even for Corpus. Why? Robotics. Especially armored robotics like the oxium osprey, much like the Grineer, [Mutalist Cernos] shreds their armor. But this only gets better.
Much like Arctic Eximus', the spore clouds absolutely destroy Nullifiers. When you hit a nullifier shield with the [Mutalist Cernos], the Arrow embeds itself into the bubble and the cloud following the arrow continues to follow the bubble as it shrinks. Popping the bubble and still dealing damage to the Nullifier just in one arrow.
This is where we swap out our corrosive elemental combo for something else. Due to innate toxin damage this a bit tricky as we're limited to toxin combos if we're only using one or two elemental mods. Gas povides the most damage, but its not a whole lot even then. Viral halves the health, which can be very good depending on your teammates or your warframe (Like if you're playing Survival with Pilfering [Khora], Viral [Mutalist Cernos] works quite well). And finally Radiation.. and oh boy does this thing apply radiation well. Stick a few arrows around a choke point and all the infested mobs will just fight among themselves!
So yeah.. While not ideal, you can still use [Mutalist Cernos] is either a Viral or Radiation configuration if you decide to take it into an infested mission, mostly focusing on Choke points rather than key targets.
Keep corrosive for infested missions aswell. Shredding armor of infested moas is invaluable
[Split Chamber], [Serration]: Yes.
[Vigilante Armaments]: Not only is his a great damage boost, but on [Mutalist Cernos] multishot is extremely important, as the more arrows you shoot, the more clouds you are going to create and therefore the more Status procs you are going to get.
[Malignant Force] + [High Voltage]: While [High Voltage] alone is enough to mix with the innate toxin damage to create corrosive clouds, [Malignant Force] adds not only extra damage, but also makes your status chance 100%, which is important because your cloud status procs work similarly to that of a shotgun.
[Point Strike] + [Vital Sense]: Simply put, this is the greatest damage boost for two mods you can get without ruining your elemental combo.
Is a riven required? Nah, not really, but it is highly recommended, as you can get decent rivens for [Mutalist Cernos] rather cheaply and the improvement over not having one is massive.
Critical Chance
Critical Damage; Base Damage (If Critical Damage, read Alternatives)
3.5. Fire rate and Reload speed are 4 by themselves, but become a 2 if they come together
Cold Damage
Heat Damage
Punch Through (At all costs)
If your riven has Status Chance, replace Dual stat mods with Single stat Elemental mods
You can replace Dual stat mods with Single stat Elemental mods if you replace [Vital Sense] with [Proton Jet]
If you do not have the Riven mod, You could try replacing the Dual stat mods with Single stat Elemental mods and put [Proton Jet] in its place. In which case also replace [Vital Sense] with [Argon Scope]
[Terminal Velocity] is a WONDERFUL mod. It was almost good enough to warrant a place in the original build and now as an exilus it's a great benefit.
I don't know if I wound spend another forma just to get that one last rank of it in there, but the mod is, genuinely a great help. It makes you kill faster, improves your practical accuracy AND makes it actually not painful to kill arbitration drones or other nimble pesky creatures!
Thank you for reading my guide and I hope you learned something from it! Check out other guides I've made on this website on the right hand side of the page or by clicking on my name at the top of the webpage. (:
