Feel free to rank up Adaptation but rank 0 works just as well, and you can save yourself some mod capacity/forma.

I personally run this build with [Amalgam Daikyu Target Acquired] and a Zaw [Nikana] for sustain.

Arcane [Guardian] is really nice to have but not exactly necessary.

Again, this build is solely for melee attacks. I find that regular melee weapons are much stronger than [Exalted Blade], and you also don't get interrupted by nullifiers