Viral Heat for Grineer/Corrupted. Use Corrosive Heat with [Primed Convulsion] + [Pistol Pestilence] if using Nourish to make Viral Corrosive Heat.

UPDATE JULY 2024
New armor and health scaling changes make Viral Heat more potent than Viral Slash even in endurance. This is because partial strip with heat status now applies a much higher effective damage multiplier compared to previous, giving about 1.7x at 0.5s and 3.6x after 2s.

EVOLUTIONS

Evo II: Hoplite Virtue - +dmg and +dmg from shield break for 8s
Evo III: Personal preference - Ready Retaliation gives quick reload AND transform speed, but lex talionis gives free -80% recoil which stacks with steady hands to give zero recoil
Evo IV: Critical Parallel - Increase base CC to 54% and CD to 3.4x

MOD BREAKDOWN

Galv Shot - added back in because although it ignores base dmg evo 2, the evo only adds 2% of total damage.
Galvanized Diffusion - mandatory for multishot giving 3.3 final multishot
Primed Pistol Gambit - boosts CC to 155%
Primed Target Cracker - boosts CD to 7.1
Viral 60/60 mods - Modded viral status boosts all damage to health, which includes the heat procs on the same shot that created both statuses. [Lex Prime] has a high base status chance of 44%, with a final SC of 132% after Galv Shot and Virals. This means with 3 multishot, you are getting approximately 2-3 viral procs per shot. This boosts the subsequent procs by over 2x (up to 4.25x at 10 stacks).
Primed Heated Charge - raw heat dmg and allows you to proc heat status effect which deals more damage over time

ARCANES

• Secondary Flare gives 480% base damage
• Secondary Fortifier gives overguard for comfort
• Secondary Outburst gives the highest possible DPS but requires a melee and a way to sustain combo (e.g. [Ceramic Dagger], [Furax] with crescendo, [Magistar] slam)

Ideally use with external fire rate buffs since it is SO SLOW.

If running NOURISH, drop viral mods for Magnetic Might and Anemic Agility.

FLEXIBLE OPTIONS

Magnetic Might - good for thrax/eximus overguard and adds additional element for Galv Shot
Primed Expel Corrupted/Grineer - Primed faction is optional but double dips DoTs for up to 2.4x multiplier.
Anemic Agility - more fire rate
Galvanized Crosshairs - allows you to red crit
Creeping Bullseye - if you dont own primed pistol gambit, use this
Hornet strike - if you don't own galv shot
Augur Pact- if you have free slot with no other options available