Remnant 2: The Star Shot Cheat Code (Explanation and Build)

Full credit to Random Spectator for being (as far as I know) the first person to point out the interaction between reapplying the max strength DoT with singular charges and Energized Neck Coil: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iImWioygh7SYfbM
Build using Star Shot's large DoT to create gigantic Energized Neck Coil procs, plus an explanation on how/why it works. In short, Star Shot, Energized Neck Coil, and some DoT mechanics interact in a unique way that allows us to get some pretty crazy damage at almost no cost. I went over this trinket setup in more detail in my explainer on how Energized Neck Coil works: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHrLk5RsgdqfqKc
You also might be interested in my guide to DoT damage scaling: kzbin.info/www/bejne/moCQp3qGpKaUrJo
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 vs. Bruin, Blade of the King
01:00 vs. The One True King
01:40 vs. Annihilation
02:42 vs. The Custodian's Eye (lol)
03:28 Why is Star Shot's mod unique?
04:02 Interactions with how DoTs work (IMPORTANT)
05:53 Enter Energized Neck Coil
06:38 The build
06:58 Relic choice (IMPORTANT)
08:27 The rest of the items
08:57 Damage numbers (I am bad at talking, check pinned for the equations)

[@Dainurian]

I misspoke a lot when listing all the numbers, everything starts to blend together lol. Check below for the exact calculations. === Links (numbers below) === Random Spectator's video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iImWioygh7SYfbM How Energized Neck Coil works: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHrLk5RsgdqfqKc Guide to DoT damage scaling: kzbin.info/www/bejne/moCQp3qGpKaUrJo === Damage Calculations === With Deathwish and Exposed going, plus the rest of our build, our relevant stats are: +90% All Damage +10% Elemental Damage +10% Status Damage +0% Explosive Damage +75% Mod Damage +300% Status Duration And we also get a multiplicative +15% damage to DoTs from Vile. DoTs tick twice per second, so we can get the exact base damage per tick by dividing the total damage by the duration and then again by 2. Star Shot's DoT has a base damage of 1125 at 5 charges, but the +20% All Damage granted by the mod applies multiplicatively to the DoT (but not the direct or explosive damage, where it is only additive), so we can just consider it to have 1350 base damage. This gives us 67.5 base tick damage. The tick damage from Big Bang at 5 stacks is calculated as (Base Tick) * (1 + All + Elemental + Status) * (1 + Mod) * (1.15 [Vile]), and with the above stats that comes out to: (67.5) * (1 + 0.9 + 0.1 + 0.1) * (1 + 0.75) * (1.15) = 285.27 damage per tick, or 570.54 damage per second. We get two of these thanks to Red Ring of Death, so that ends up being 1141.08 damage per second from Star Shot's burn alone. The Energized Neck Coil damage from a 5 charge Big Bang is calculated as (Base Total) * (1 + Status Duration) * (1 + Status + Elemental) * (1 + Mod) * (1 + All + Explosive) * 0.2, which comes out to: (1350) * (1 + 3) * (1 + 0.1 + 0.1) * (1 + 0.75) * (1 + 0.9 + 0) * 0.2 = 4309.2 damage Big Bang's direct damage for some number of stacks is calculated as: (Base damage) * (1 + All + Mod + (0.05 * (stacks consumed - 1))). The explosive damage has the same calculation, just with explosive as another additive term. It doesn't matter here though since we have no increases to that stat.

[@allseeingsage214]

Wow, super cool build! I would probably swap the mutator on Monolith to Maelstrom and Starshot to Failsafe for more damage and a chance to refund. Maelstrom works wonders on monolith now since it is considered pure elemental now.

[@Dainurian]

Last I tested, Maelstrom only affects damage from the weapon itself, not its mod, which is what we're interested in here. Either way though, Feedback is essential to generate mod power for Star Shot and enables using Ritualist prime over Archon. Even if you were using Archon prime, I'd still use Feedback on Monolith because each extra charge of Big Bang you can generate between casts is an extra 1000+ damage. Failsafe is not great on Star Shot because you still only have a 15% chance of proccing it regardless of how many charges you spend, meaning you pay much more mod power for the same chance of a free cast. Failsafe is best on mods with many charges and low cost (ex. Prismatic Driver, although that mod is straight garbage and should never be used when Anguish exists), so you can roll the dice as frequently as possible. The damage increase is nice, but other mutators give you more. Spellweaver gives you permanent uptime on Deathwish, and Bulletweaver gives you more mod power generation to get more charges. Just one extra charge generated is more damage than any other mutator.

[@allseeingsage214]

@Dainurian oh I should've been more specific, the R10 bonus for Maelstrom returns more mod energy than Feedback does and the damage bonus from Failsafe is more; the refund chance is just a bonus.

[@Dainurian]

@@allseeingsage214 I understood what you meant, let me clarify why what I selected here will work better. This is a lengthy explanation but bear with me. - Maelstrom: I have just retested this to be sure, and Maelstrom does not generate any mod power from mod damage, nor does it affect the damage of any mods, even if the mod deals elemental damage like Monolith's Sandstorm. This is very important because we're never doing anything with Monolith besides quickly firing off the mod. On the other hand, Feedback allows mod damage from Sandstorm to generate mod power (mod damage normally does not generate mod power) and feed it to Star Shot. - Failsafe: while the damage bonus does apply to the direct and explosion damage of Big Bang, it has no effect on the DoT or ENC proc and will be almost unnoticeable in practice. With only Deathwish active, a 5x Big Bang + ENC proc deals 9235 damage. With Failsafe, it deals 9819 damage. Failsafe is giving you 584 extra damage - only a 6.3% increase over no mutator at all. This will never make a noticable difference when the burn ticks alone deal over 1000 damage per second. It also provides even less value when using fewer than 5 stacks, since the unaffected ENC proc is an even larger portion of your damage. Having permanent uptime on Deathwish via Spellweaver or generating additional mod power via Bulletweaver (more mod power = more stacks = significantly more damage, over 1000 damage per extra stack) will be much more impactful than Failsafe.

[@allseeingsage214]

@@Dainurian thank you for the detailed explanation! That makes perfect sense!

[@meathir4921]

The classic Starshot DOT sustain build. I'm glad it survived the Archon rework. I wonder if you can switch Archon to prime to drop Stone of Mal. But then, I can't think of a ring that beats Vile prime for DPS (even a max stack Ahanae Crystal is 25 additive instead of 15 multiplicative). Might be easier for mobbing though.

[@Dainurian]

Which archetype is your primary is mostly a preference thing, I think, but I wouldn't take out Stone of Malevolence regardless because more mod power is also more damage. Vile is adding 37.21 damage per tick, or 148.84 DPS from just the burn DoTs. That's 744.2 damage between ENC procs, and you also get a little more from Tainted Blade and Krell Axe (let's just say ~800 for simplicity). However, you also get over 1000 damage per extra Star Shot charge consumed assuming you get the direct hit. Basically, if Archon prime is consistently getting you an extra charge, it's slightly more damage per Big Bang than you lose over the 5s period between shots, but you lose more extra DoT damage from Vile every extra second you wait between mod uses, so Vile can still win out. Archon prime is a bit better if you're on top of proccing ENC off cooldown, while Vile is more forgiving. For mobbing, nothing can beat Vile; the DoT spread is just pure insanity. I'd just swap over to Nebula or Hellfire for mobbing, since both their primary fire and mods will instakill most trash mobs thanks to the ENC procs.

[@binhvan4893]

I usually just use tainted blade for mobbing. Any elite or abberation will get instantly melted by starshot.

[@pu1391]

Is 'shadow of misery ring' good for this build?

[@shuouma7858]

Seems fun on solo

[@sPaCe_NiNjA187]

Easier on solo.

[@Dreadnaught98]

Build is great, but I have the reflexes of a dead whale so any build the relies on dodges is completely useless in my hands :/ Plus bosses like annihilation have BS timings on attacks, so it completely disrupts any rhythm I do have.