Alternates

If you dont like the idea of getting headshots, or just want to use the main fire for low level content, using a generic heat setup might be better for you..

This build below should work for heat instead; vv

The Crowdpleaser - by Helter

Hybrid Strat

On fodder enemies just main fire works well enough. After building initial deadhead w/ alt fire, simply remember to aim above enemy heads and you should be able to maintain full deadhead stacks passively despite "main fire cant headshot"

On tougher enemies such as thrax or demolysts, use main fire to 'prime' targets with gas/viral, and then alt fire burst to the head for massive damage via abusing gas/electric headshot scaling

This build is designed to be as economical as possible while still optimizing damage efficiency for both firing modes. It is a hybrid setup with the idea of both firing modes being used in mind.

Why do we use?

Aptitude? This is multiplicative to Deadhead on both firing modes.

Expel - Default multiplicative faction bonus that applies twice to status dots. Effectively allows Gas + Electric to 'triple dip'

• This mod can be replaced with [Jolt] or [Hornet Strike]

[Pistol Elementalist] gives multiplicative status damage. This also cuts reload time useful in general

Ice Storm + Pistol Pestilence = Ice Storm actually gives more alt fire burst damage than Frostbite thanks to G-Shot giving us chance, but also because it allows us to sustain an alt burst slightly longer, while also marginally increasing electric weight over [Frostbite]. An alt fire burst will last around 1.3 seconds with [Ice Storm], which is still short enough that it is not restrictive, but unloads enough ammo to erase majority of enemies in one burst instead of having to reload. [Ice Storm] is also a more economical option in general due to [Cyanex] low [Mag] in either mode

Crit even with puncture is to minimal to be worth modding for, ignore it on this weapon.

__

Deadhead?

Main fire will prioritize body, however, we can aim above enemies to often hit the head anyways. Deadhead is specifically useful for alt fire burst damage, because alt fire CAN headshot, fires extremely fast, and has virtually zero recoil.
Main fire alone will only take you so far and you will eventually encounter tougher eximus units that main fire alone cant deal with.

This is where alt fire comes in. Alt fire loses explosion and adds damage to direct hit. Aptitude has multiplicative scaling here so all the damage it had previously ignored on main fire radial basically gets added here.

The important thing to note is that gas + electric can headshot by themselves, which is why deadhead is so powerful;

__

Gas + Electric / Deadhead

The status effect of gas + electric activates instantly, and electrics 'Tesla Chain' mechanic alongside gas s 'Gas Cloud' function as their own instance of damage. This essentially says that in order for electric and gas to functionally spread not only their damage but their status effect to additional enemies, electric and gas must inherit their own set of 'enemy body part multipliers'.
This in full tells us that Tesla Chain and Gas Clouds are not just predetermined values at a set radius like other aoe effects (i.e. 'Blast'), but actual physical objects with radial hitboxes. We can abuse this with anything that alters said multipliers, (such as the 30% headshot bonus from Deadhead), in which electric + gas will apply the respective bonus to themselves a second time

__

Formula for Gas + Electric: vv