Nulla. Quick Rundown:

Introduced: 14/05/2023.

• 19/01/2024: still alive, just writing and calculating the DPS b/w arcanes and constantly checking my calculaions. i know numerous parts of the guide now do not make sense due to the placeholder influence build i have posted at the moment, i just have it there since the arcane is so busted at the moment. apologies, a link to the old build can be found here in the meantime: https://overframe.gg/build/592460/

How does it hold up against the other melees? Well it's quite literally one of the best toxin melees in the game, especially given its high critical and status stats. A number of builds to showcase: 12x Light Slash/Toxin/Both and 12x Hybrid Heavy. Additionally great as a stat stick given how easy it is to build combo, however, that build will not be showcased here.

UPDATE: NEW NOTES AT THE BOTTOM.

I. Unlisted Recommendations:

• Primary/Secondary AoE Primer:
A primer is the term used to describe another weapon (external source) that is allotted to the role of applying multiple status effects before using your primary weapon of DPS. Most melee builds will heavily benefit from not only the viral status effect but also from additional unique statuses since they will be running the mod Conditional Overload resulting in a significant increase of DPS.

II. Flex Slots:

• [Crossing Snakes]: [Swirling Tiger].

• To clarify, [Crossing Snakes] is the better stance and leads to better DPS, but the differnce isn't extremely drastic and since it fits the polarity of the stance, Swirling Tiger is also a viable option. All in all, don't use Carving Mantis.

• Primed Reach: Reach, [Spring-Loaded Blade].

III. Setups Rundown:

• 1. 12x Light Attack (Toxin):

Evolutions:
Evo II: Ronin's [Rush]: On striking target with final move of Neutral Combo: +30% Attack Speed for 33s.
Evo III: Resolute Force: +7s Combo Duration.
Evo IV: Absolute Valor: Increase Status Chance by +34%.

Refer to the default config above.

• 2. 12x Light Attack (Slash):

Evolutions:
Evo II: Ronin's [Rush]: On striking target with final move of Neutral Combo: +30% Attack Speed for 33s.
Evo III: Resolute Force: +7s Combo Duration.
Evo IV: Absolute Valor: Increase Status Chance by +34%.

Remove: [Primed Fever Strike]
Substitute: [Carnis Mandible]

• 3. 12x Heavy Hybrid (Toxin):

Evolutions:
Evo II: Alchemist's Wrath: +5 additional Combo on targets affected by Toxin.
Evo III: Resolute Force: +7s Combo Duration.
Evo IV: Absolute Valor: Increase Status Chance by +34%.

Remove: [Gladiator Might], [Organ Shatter].
Substitute: [Sacrificial Steel], Amalgam Organ Shatter. Needs additional forma.

• Use Ronin's Rush instead of Alchemist's Wrath if kills are not consistent and/or not fully upkept. If kills are consistent however, the setup relies very little on light attacks because of how fast combo is gained from the present Toxin Fields and Alchemist's Wrath (see more information in V. Final Notes) making it difficult to justify the bonus and instead focusing on increasing the damage of heavy attacks by using [Sacrificial Steel] which is a higher increase of DPS on average (considering a mix of heavies and lights).
• To reiterate, this setup needs additional forma.

• 4. Bonus Field DPS Build (Gas & Electricity) (AoE):

Evolutions:
Evo II: Ronin's [Rush]: On striking target with final move of Neutral Combo: +30% Attack Speed for 33s.
Evo III: Any.
Evo IV: Absolute Valor: Increase Status Chance by +34%.

Remove: Everything except Primed Smite.
Substitute: [Primed Pressure Point], [Volcanic Edge] (r0), [Virulent Scourge] (r0), [Shocking Touch], [Voltaic Strike], [Focus Energy], [Spoiled Strike].

• Exponentially stronger if grouping is involved.
• Not my original build.

IV. Other Factions:

• Grineer:

Remove: [Primed Smite Corrupted].
Substitute: [Primed Smite Grineer].

Note: use the Slash build variant against the Grineer.

• Corpus:

Remove: [Primed Smite Corrupted].
Substitute: [Primed Smite Corpus].

Note: use the Toxin build variant of builds against the Corpus.

• Infested:

Remove: [Primed Smite Corrupted], [Primed Fever Strike].
Substitute: [Primed Smite Infested], [Shocking Touch] ([Focus Energy] if 12x heavy attacking).

• Sentient:

Remove: Primed Smite Corrupted.
Substitute: Sacrificial Steel.

• Factionless:

Remove: Primed Smite Corrupted.
Substitute: Sacrificial Steel/[Gladiator Might].

V. Final Notes/Calculations (%) (Non-Quantised):

New Notes:
• Incarnon Dual Ichor Residue 2nd Round (U33.5.3)(27-06-2023):
• Editor's note: since the update, they've been renamed "toxin residue" to "toxin field(s)."
• Tested against Overguard of various Eximus Units.

• Damage Related:

• Residue is 100% Toxin (unchanged since update).
• 350 base damage (de-calculated from the +100% melee damage on transform + evo perk 2), the base damage value of: 440 will be used (removing only the +100% bonus) throughout the rest of the notes.
• w/ PPP; expected: 440 (1 + 1 + 1.65) = 1,606, result: 1606.
• w/ Arcane Arachne; expected: 440 2 = 880 (it does not affect melees). expected if additive: 1,540. expected if multiplicative: 2,200. result: 880.

• therefore, Arachne does not affect the residue damage.

• w/ Shooting Gallery (21%) + PPP; expected: 440 * (1 + 1 + 1.65 + 0.21) = 1,698.4. result: 1,698.4

• Therefore, Base Damage Bonuses sourced from abilities are additive to Base Damage Bonuses sourced from mods (no presence of double dip/multiplicative bugs).

• w/ [Vigorous Swap] + PPP; expected if additive: 440 (1 + + 1 + 1.65 + 1.65) = 2,332. expected if multiplicative: 440 (1 + 1 + 1.65) * (2.65) = 4,255.9. result: 1606.

• Therefore, [Vigorous Swap] does not affect the residue damage.

Does not benefit off critical mods: Blood Rush, Sacrificial Steel, Organ Shatter and Gladiator Set bonuses.

• Arcane Avenger does not affect the residue damage / cause it to crit.
• [Adarza Kavat] has not been tested, as I do not own it.

• Does not benefit off Condition Overload.
• Does not benefit off stance multipliers / heavy attack bonuses.
• Does not benefit off status chance mods: Weeping Wounds, Virulent Scourge (+60% SC), Melee Prowess.
• Benefits from elemental mods: 165s, 90s, 60/60s. Elements will merge with its base element of Toxin.

• w/ [Voltaic Strike], [Vicious Frost], [Volcanic Edge] and [Virulent Scourge]; expected: 440 (1 + 1) ( 1 + 0.6) = 1,408. result: 1,430. (quantisation most probable cause).
benefits off faction damage bonuses: smite mods, Roar.
• DoTs procced from residue benefits from status duration mods: [Lasting Sting].

• Eclipse: Yes.
• Toxic Lash: Yes.
• [Xata]'s Whisper: Yes (single instance). Expected: 440 (2) (0.26) * (1 + 0.5) = 343.2. Result: 343.
• Furious Javelin: Yes.

• Utility Related:

• Can proc statuses (proc chance is reflected upon the weapon arsenal stats: 49% w/ Absolute Valor).
• Can contribute to combo gain as it activates Alchemist Wrath (not including toxin procs, just hits).
• Toxin is not a forced proc, this means if +elements are modded on / casted, it will no longer contribute combo gain.
• "5 additional combos on targets affected by Toxin": hit by toxin, residue's hit does not count.

• e.g. On regular melee hits, 1 hit (+5 from Alchemist Wrath) = 6 combo count. On residue ticks, 1 tick (+5) = 5 combo count.
• Toxic Lash acts as an additional instance of Toxin, resulting in doubling the combo gain from residue ticks.
• Benefits from sources of additonal combo gain: [True Punishment], [Quickening].

• Old, but relevant:

• Residue ticks (deals damage) every second (rate not affected by attack speed mods).
• Residue lasts 7s (not affected by status duration).
• Residue has a range of 5m AoE (not affected by range mods).

VI. Legacy Writing:

Old Notes, Only Read For Comparison Before [Kullervo] (U35):
• [Dual Ichor] Residue (Simulacrum Notes):

• Damage:

• Base dmg: 350 toxin (100%), no IPS.
• Status Chance is reflected upon arsenal numbers (not 100% procs).
• Residue is forced toxin and can not merge elements (mods, abilities).
• Residue is not affected by (mod list): Base Damage Multipliers (sac/primed pressure, killing blow), Critical Multipliers (cc/cd), elemental mods (toxin included), Heavy/Combo Multipliers, [Condition Overload], Faction Multipliers (including Roar)...
• Residue is not affected by (abilities version): Viral, Elemental (nourish), Toxic Lash (ikr surprising), Base Damage Arcanes/Mods (Arcane [Rage], [Vigorous Swap]), [Xata]'s Whisper...
• Residue is affected by: Eclipse.

• Utility:

• Residue ticks (deals damage) every second (rate not affected by attack speed mods).
• Residue lasts 7s (not affected by status duration).
• Residue has a range of 5m AoE (not affected by range mods).
• Toxin status procced from residue will not be counted by Alchemist Wrath (either on death or subsequent procs) (tripled check this).

• Evolutions (no longer specific to residue):

• Alchemist Wrath (tox counter evo): hits + tox procs*5 = combo gain result.
• Reference: 44 toxin procs alone will result in 12x combo gain (excluding hits from the weapon itself).
• Additional combo count chance does affect Alchemist Wrath (tested with [Quickening] and Naramon: Opening Slam).

• If it does look familiar, yeah it's essentially [Contagion Cloud] (this was noted before the elemental changes).

VII. Log (dd.mm.yyyy):

• 15/05/2023 - build made.
• 18/05/2023 - guide and format update (new notes).