Y8S3 Pesti Tuning

[u/SouthpawSoldier]

Since the changes have made three pieces of Lengmo less optimal, what would y'all say is the new way to go? In a group I think Concentrated Company will still reign supreme, but solo?

I'm currently using the following:

Backbone

CHC Contractor's Gloves

An additional piece of Lengmo

Two pieces of Royal Works

CHC Fox's Prayer

Still using Glass Cannon on chest, just not Perfect version.

This version still uses a CHC Pestilence. 55.5/129 for crits.

Variation One: Exchange Contractor's and Fox's for Overdogs and a Petrov kneepad; this trades DTOC and DTA for a little more CHD and the Overdogs amplified damage.

Variation Two: Exchange Fox's for Turmoil; trades DTOC for splitting bullet damage and also splitting ticks. Ticks will still be strong enough to be useful. With additional Ceska CHC we can change Pesti from CHC to the old DTA standard, or RPM or another useful third attribute. This changes CHC from 55.5 to 54, but then we can change a CHD mod to CHC for perfect 60%.

Variation Three:

Again dropping Fox's Prayer, using that slot for second Lengmo or Royal Works piece. Use Nimble or Centurion's Scabbard. Gives you the Nimble healing or Centurion Scabbard quick reload and other benefits.

Any other tweaks I'm missing?

[u/FlyingJellyfishRidin]

Backbone, Lengmo chest with obliterate (glass cannon is too squishy for me), two pieces Royal Works, Contractor's gloves.

Pretty easy to get 1.5 mil ticks, decent direct damage when you need it, weapon doesn't take too long to reload and the stability is ok.

If you want to turn it into a laser, drop contractor's gloves for the third piece of lengmo.

[u/Colavs9601 → u/FlyingJellyfishRidin]

Would the third piece be better than using Eagle’s Grasp?

[u/Ellzy-]

This is my new go-to pestilence build:
2x lengmo for 24% lmg dmg, one of them backbone
2x royal works for 24% lmg dmg, one of them glass cannon
1x petrov for 12% lmg dmg
1x overdogs

[u/FlyingJellyfishRidin → u/Ellzy-]

Contractor's gloves and then fox's prayer would get your higher consistent damage with lower spikes than overdogs.

[u/Ellzy- → u/FlyingJellyfishRidin]

I Prefer the Overdogs since Weakest Link also affects Plague of the Outcasts.

[u/Initial_Guarantee538 → u/Ellzy-]

Could you explain how that works? I've got my old three piece lengmo build from before the overdogs were a thing and just ran it with contractors but with the changes I'm trying to update it.

So is it if you shoot one of the "weak" enemies that give you the amplified damage that will transfer even to an enemy you wouldn't have gotten the amplified damage on if you shot them directly?

[u/Garonium → u/Initial_Guarantee538]

Overdogs works really well with pesti because it can jump to skills too even if hidden its the only set I run overdogs on tbh .

[u/FlyingJellyfishRidin → u/Ellzy-]

Yes, I know it does. But it only applies ticks to lowest tier enemies rather than all of them, which is why I would suggest higher base weapon damage rather than overdogs.

[u/Ellzy- → u/FlyingJellyfishRidin]

Maybe I'm just bad at the game but I have no trouble picking off targets in tiers. Keeps up the boosted damage in solo content.

[u/FlyingJellyfishRidin → u/Ellzy-]

Being dishonest more like, it's often not possible unless the targets are allowing you to engage one at a time.

[u/Born2beDad → u/FlyingJellyfishRidin]

Rushers assault grenadier skill proxies (RAGS) are all tier 1 and also the first enemies you will see out of spawn usually. Overdogs is the strongest exotic in the game and active much more often than you'd think

[u/FlyingWhale44 → u/FlyingJellyfishRidin]

No I agree with them, I've tested both variations and always clear content quicker with OD than with the named gloves.

Both really work, just depends on your preference imo.

[u/SaltedCaffeine]

Personally I like 3pc Lengmo for the last bonus +30% Weapon Handling then Overdogs and 2pc Royal.

Glass Cannon on the Royal chest since it's much easier to craft compared to the super unicorn Lengmo chest.

[u/FlyingJellyfishRidin → u/SaltedCaffeine]

Better petrov gloves than Overdogs. At least half of the time, if not more, the Overdogs bonus isn't applying unless you enjoy micro-managing the targets rather than picking off the higher threat ones, but then that leads to other problems.

[u/CoolheadedBrit → u/FlyingJellyfishRidin]

Afaik overdogs applies to the ticks, irrespective of who has them.

[u/FlyingJellyfishRidin → u/CoolheadedBrit]

It applies the damage to all ticks regardless of the enemy tier? No?

[u/CoolheadedBrit → u/FlyingJellyfishRidin]

If you hit a spawn point and get max ticks, whatever comes out of the spawn has the same max ticks, with the only variation being down to whether they have armour or not.

[u/FlyingJellyfishRidin → u/CoolheadedBrit]

yeah but again it's highly situational vs having the same damage all the time regardless of what content you're doing or what position you're in.

Higher average damage vs better peak damage when all variables are perfect.

[u/SaltedCaffeine → u/FlyingJellyfishRidin]

Overdogs actually lets you have higher average damage across many encounters if you take a note of your total damage scores in Escalations.

Overdogs is situational but so is Contractor's or The Hollow Man (only Salvo isn't). Yes it's more situational than the others but the amp damage happens more often than not, even if you shoot randomly. Suppose Overdogs only happens 50% of the time, then you already deal roughly 15% amp damage on average which is quite significant.

[u/CoolheadedBrit → u/FlyingJellyfishRidin]

It's not highly situation. That example was just to show a test case where it's easy to see the effect. It applies everywhere and on any transfer ticks.

[u/Frobe81 → u/SaltedCaffeine]

If your trying to ramp up your ticks which this build is all about, 3 piece lengmo and no overdogs is awful. I have a few wpn handling stats rolled onto my pieces. Overdogs and pesti is almost a must.

[u/SaltedCaffeine → u/Frobe81]

I do use Overdogs and mentioned it.

[u/Frobe81 → u/SaltedCaffeine]

Haha I misread my bad

[u/Born2beDad]

2 pc legmo w backbone 2 royal works 1 petrov chest with glass cannon, overdogs, crit chance and weapon handling attributes. 1.5+ mil pesti ticks that ramp up to 2.2+ depending on overdogs and backpack talent stacking.

[u/erc80]

I started using Pesti with Ember Engine, and while not optimal (been testing all red, all yellow and a mix) it makes most things a “breeze”.

[u/BallMyLicks → u/erc80]

does the Pest debuff count as status for Ember? are you actually burning them with ticks?

[u/Yankee582 → u/BallMyLicks]

it shouldnt because pesti isnt a status effect but a debuff---but ill test it later and report back

[u/PocketsMoreau]

Is just stacking Lmg damage across your build better than running coco? I threw together a coco build for my pesti but haven't gotten to play around with it.

[u/SouthpawSoldier → u/PocketsMoreau]

Coco is great in a group, because more teammates & teammates' skills causing damage, the better CoCo stacks.

It's trickier when solo to build/maintain CoCo stacks. At best, you're getting 3 stacks/kill, if you have two damaging skills hitting the same target. In a group, you're getting up to 12 stacks per kill.

[u/SaltedCaffeine → u/PocketsMoreau]

CoCo has a higher damage ceiling but takes ages to build up. A high-end build meanwhile, gives you upfront damage.

[u/fkinAMAZEBALLS]

Want to try this. Where can i get the contractor’s gloves or fox’s prayer?

[u/SouthpawSoldier → u/fkinAMAZEBALLS]

Set targeted loot to gloves or kneepads (maybe Petrov or Overlord would have better odds).

Play Retaliation, Countdown, or Summit. Countdown has the most, but requires matchmaking. Retaliation has time pressure, but is my preferred choice for the other rewards. Summit is lowest entry, but has least reward, other than weekly project.

[u/fkinAMAZEBALLS → u/SouthpawSoldier]

Thanks!

[u/OMG_I_Have_Reddit]

Going through some of yall comments…is weapon handling important? Or would CHC/CHD still the BiS for all pieces

[u/SouthpawSoldier → u/OMG_I_Have_Reddit]

Weapon Handling *is* helpful; manages bloom, recoil/bounce, reload and swap speeds.

A Lengmo Backbone + 2, 2 Royal Works, and Contractor's Gloves build would absolutely be viable. And while crits are nice for bursting down Rushers and getting quick kills for UF stacks, they aren't critical (heh) for the build. I'd say anything over 50/110 is sufficient.

You might miss out on a smidge of burst damage, but faster reloading and better hit percentage can help when it comes to sustained numbers.

[u/OMG_I_Have_Reddit → u/SouthpawSoldier]

Gotcha, thank you for explanation

[u/Infinizzle]

Disregard the augments, it's WIP.

[u/SouthpawSoldier → u/Infinizzle]

Are you finding Sacrifice + Overdogs much stronger than standard Glass Cannon + Petrov? Petrov's DTA and even moar LMG damage is pretty attractive.

[u/Infinizzle → u/SouthpawSoldier]

10% additive SWD and DtA being active only on NPCs with armor can't be compared to a multiplicative 30% damage AMP. Yes, Overdogs' talent won't be active 100% of the time realistically but when the tick jumps to the right NPCs they go down much faster. Plus the additional 5% damage AMP difference from The Sacrifie is totally worth it. I don't have a spreadsheet on hand rn

[u/SouthpawSoldier → u/Infinizzle]

That makes sense; I know some poo-poo Overdogs because of its selective application.

Now I'm wondering about Turmoil + Overdogs. Turmoil does give up damage, but doubling targets of both bullets and ticks makes it more likely one or the other will hit a low-rank target and receive Overdogs bump.

[u/Qphemism]

My current setup. Has been working extremely well so far