Review: Vaykor Hek (U24.2.7)

The Vaykor Hek is an MR12 shotgun released back in U17.3. A Steel Meridian variant of the Hek, it is a rather powerful shotgun with several improvements over its base model.

Acquisition

The Vaykor Hek can be acquired from the Steel Meridian Syndicate for 125,000 standing, provided you are at max rank. Vaykor Heks can also be traded, provided they are completely unranked, and do not have Orokin Catalysts or Forma installed.

Stats

The Vaykor Hek has very respectable crit stats, alongside fairly high base Damage, allowing for very high damage-per-shot. It has a reasonable RoF and Mag Capacity for a shotgun, though has a very poor 1.16 Reload Ratio. Its Status Chance is unfortunately too low to pull off a 100% Status build without a Riven or Nano-Applicator.

Like all shotguns, the Vaykor Hek has damage fall-off. For the Vaykor Hek, it occurs starting at 10 metres and ending at 25 metres, to a maximum damage loss of 73.33% at long range. Notably, the Vaykor Hek has a very tight pellet spread, among the tightest of all shotguns.

As a Steel Meridian weapon the Vaykor Hek can make use of the Justice Syndicate proc. Upon gaining sufficient affinity, it will deal 1000 Blast damage with guaranteed proc to all enemies in a 25 metre radius. It will also restore a portion of your health, and temporarily increase your armour slightly.

Augments

None. The Augment Scattered Justice works only on the regular Hek.

Builds

0-Forma:

With innate V and D polarities, the Vaykor Hek can fit in a basic build without Forma. Hell's Chamber and Point Blank as standard, Chilling Grasp to make use of the D polarity, and Contagious Spread to make Viral. Blunderbuss and Ravage have also been added to take advantage of the Vaykor Hek's solid crit.

There are several ways to make use of the remaining 8 mod capacity. There is space to upgrade one of Point Blank/Ravage to its Primed version. Downgrading Contagious Spread to Toxic Barrage (90% Toxin to 60/60) loses a bit of damage, but opens up the build for the many 9-point mods, such as Vigilante Armaments, Blaze and Hunter Munitions. Chilling Reload is another option for a bit more damage, but notably a much faster reload. You can also fit in another 60/60 mod, either to stack up on one elemental combo, or add in another element for coverage. If you don't want to use the D polarity, you can of course fit in a 60/60 or 90% mod with the capacity, though of course this leaves much less space for anything else. You can fit a 90% alongside two 60/60s if you want that extra element.

Against armoured enemies, a Viral + Hunter Munitions build is by far the most effective, even without Primed Ravage. Unable to normally reach 100% Status Chance, the Vaykor Hek has no other option for effectively dealing with armour. Against Infested, a Corrosive or Corrosive + Heat combo is the most overall effective. Against unarmoured Corpus, I generally find a Viral or Viral + Electric build to be the best. Against armoured Corpus, Radiation or Radiation + Toxin/Cold are all effective, each having their own advantages.

Recommended Setups: Viral + HM vs Grineer, Corrupted, Viral or Viral + Electric vs unarmoured Corpus, Radiation or Radiation + Toxin/Cold vs armoured Corpus, Corrosive or Corrosive + Heat vs Infested

General Purpose 2-Forma:

Two added V polarities lets you comfortably slot in both Primed Point Blank and Primed Ravage, while still having good space for a seventh mod. As I frequently mention, I love Punch Through, so Seeking Fury is a mandatory mod for me. If you don't want it, there are many other options you can easily slot in, like Vigilante Armaments or Blaze.
Again, the D polarity is helpful for any elemental combo that uses Cold, but useless for anything else. Forma-ing it out is definitely a good idea, which I've done in the next builds.

Recommended Setups: see above.

General Purpose 4-Forma:

Another V polarity, and replacing the D with a much more versatile - polarity, offers great build diversity. You can easily fit in any elemental combo, as well as supporting mods. The top build for instance is the same effective Viral + HM build, while the bottom is a Corrosive + Heat build great against Infested. Again Seeking Fury has been slotted in, which can be switched with something like Vigilante Armaments if you would prefer more raw damage.

Recommended Setups: see above.

General Purpose 5-Forma:

Another polarity (in my case V) lets you slot in two 90% elementals alongside most other mods you might want to equip. The only notable mod that would need further Forma-ing for is Primed Charged Shell, which offers even more damage for anything with Electric in it (e.g. Corrosive). My builds just below have an example of a 6-Forma setup that fits just about anything.

Recommended Setups: see above.

My Builds:

My builds are nothing special, the first one is a typical Viral + HM build, while the other two are built for maximum direct damage. The Corrosive + Heat build is ideal against Infested, while the Radiation build is best against Alloy armoured bosses, for instance pretty much all Corpus bosses. Note in the last build that thanks to Primed Charged Shell, Blaze and the Vigilante set bonus, Vigilante Armaments ends up adding very slightly more damage than Incendiary Coat (+90% Heat). The difference between the two is a few hundred DPS, on a weapon that deals over 100,000 DPS with a good build.

Combat Use and Summary

The Vaykor Hek functions pretty much what you'd expect from a semi-auto shotgun-type weapon. It deals a lot of damage in a single shot, though its damage output drops significantly at longer range. With such high raw damage and a tight spread, naturally it performs exceptionally well against a few unarmoured heavy targets, easily tearing through their raw health. With solid crit but insufficient Status Chance to reach 100% status, the Vaykor Hek relies on Hunter Munitions to handle heavily armoured enemies. Again with solid crit and such high base damage, it is capable of inflicting a significant number of fairly large Slash procs, easily eating through most armoured enemies.

Where the Vaykor Hek struggles most is against groups. With relatively tight spread and low RoF, it relies on added Punch Through and the occasional syndicate proc to deal with large numbers of enemies. It does fare better than most of the other high damage shotguns, but mainly thanks to its higher capacity.

With rather high recoil from each shot, the Vaykor Hek can be difficult to land quick follow-up shots with. With rather tight spread, it can land surprisingly precise hits on enemies at longer range, though loses significant damage due to its damage fall-off. These combined with its Semi-Auto nature lean towards the Vaykor Hek being a precise priority target killer.

The Justice Syndicate effect is fairly useful. Health restoration is appreciated on the majority of frames, and a small increase in armour is not worthless, though is not too significant. The radial Blast damage is not particularly effective, since Blast is a poor damage type, but the Blast proc can give you reprieve from nearby enemies, especially if you're being overwhelmed.

Overall, the Vaykor Hek is a pretty solid heavy-hitting shotgun. It will comfortably kill the majority of enemies you're likely to come across, and will hold its own in most content. With rather tight spread, it also fares surprisingly well at longer range. Like with most of the hard-hitting shotguns however, it does struggle somewhat against larger groups, especially without Punch Through. If you're looking for a versatile hard-hitting shotgun, the Vaykor Hek is an excellent option and well worth the investment.

Scores

Vs Trash Mobs: 2/5 - Relatively low RoF and limited Mag Capacity, the Vaykor Hek does not handle groups particularly well. It does fare better than the base Hek, and the Syndicate effect, when it procs, is also a helpful, but overall does not handle groups all that efficiently.
Vs Unarmoured Heavies: 5/5 - Very high damage-per-shot and burst DPS, with good crit, the Vaykor Hek deals with unarmoured heavies very easily.
Vs Armoured Heavies without Hunter Munitions: 2.5/5 - High damage, but lacks the Status Chance to be an effective status applicator. As such, against heavily armoured enemies, the Vaykor Hek does not fare especially well, relying on raw damage, which does not scale very well.
Vs Armoured Heavies with Hunter Munitions: 4.5/5 - Good crit stats with high damage output, the Vaykor Hek can inflict a lot of powerful Slash procs with Hunter Munitions installed.

Vs Variants 

The Vaykor Hek is a majority improvement over the MR4 Hek. It has boosted Crit Chance, as well as a doubled magazine and higher RoF, at the cost of a slightly slower Reload Time. Notably however, the Hek can equip the extremely powerful Scattered Justice Augment where the Vaykor cannot. This keeps it competitive with the Vaykor in most content (especially if you don't have Primed Ravage), except against heavily armoured enemies. On the other hand, the Vaykor can make good use of Hunter Munitions, where the regular Hek cannot. For an MR4 weapon, the Hek is exceptionally good.

Competitors

Besides the aforementioned Hek, which is especially good with Augment, and if you don't have Primed Ravage, the other notable competitor to the Vaykor Hek is the Corinth. The Corinth is also a crit-based shotgun, dealing a lot more damage-per-shot but with a much slower RoF and smaller magazine. Notably, the Corinth has a high-status secondary fire that launches an air-burst grenade detonating at 20 metre range, dealing AoE damage in an 8 metre radius. With this, the Corinth fares much better against groups if you can distance yourself for maximum air-burst effectiveness. Personally however, I find the Vaykor Hek to handle much better of the two as shotguns. The higher RoF and Mag Capacity make it much more forgiving to use, and more effective against multiple targets when the Corinth's air-burst is unsuitable. On the other hand, the Corinth also has some of the best sound design of any weapon in the game. Both are pretty good shotguns overall, and which is better for you comes down primarily to personal preference.

Rivens

The (Vaykor) Hek has a low 2/5 (0.7) Riven Disposition, recently increased in U24 from 1/5 (0.55). Given it is a pretty powerful shotgun that does not need any help to be competitive, I see this as a relatively fair disposition.

Naturally, Damage/Multishot/Crit Chance/Crit Damage are all great positives to have. An element like Toxin can help save a mod slot for something else. Personally I would highly rate +Punch Through as well, helping significantly against crowds. If you really want to go for a status build, a minimum of +60% alongside the four 60/60 mods will reach 100% Status Chance, though of course takes up a lot of slots. Personally I wouldn't bother with the (Vaykor) Hek's low disposition. +Flight Speed increases the damage fall-off distances. -Recoil may be helpful for landing follow-up shots, but I don't find it to be a big problem.

-Max Ammo is generally not a problem since the Vaykor Hek is pretty ammo efficient. -Status Chance can be alright since the Vaykor Hek isn't a status shotgun, and won't be severely affected by it. -Faction Damage to a faction you're less concerned about (e.g. Infested and Corpus are both generally weaker) can be quite usable. -Fire Rate if you find yourself only firing slowly can be tolerable. +Recoil can be tolerable.