Review: Shedu (U27.3.11)

The Shedu is an MR13 Sentient Arm-Cannon Primary. A new type of Primary weapon, it is quite different from anything else in the game currently. With solid all-round stats, it is a decently powerful and fairly novel weapon.

Acquisition

The Shedu's blueprint is acquired by viewing the Erra mini-quest in the Codex. This can only be viewed after the Chimera Prologue, which in turn is only available after The Sacrifice mainline quest.

The parts for the Shedu drop from Symbilyst enemies, which can be found either in Sentient Anomalies in the Veil in Railjack, or in Murex Raids in Operation: Scarlet Spear. Notably, Shedu parts can also be traded.

Stats

The Shedu has a solid combination of both Crit and Status. This combines well with its base Heat and Electric damages, for some potent combinations. It fires explosive projectiles, dealing Heat damage on direct impacts, and Electric on its explosions. These explosions are a very sizeable 6.6 metres in radius, however damage drops down to 40% at the edge of the explosion.

As an explosive weapon, the Shedu now deals self-stagger/knockdown if you are within the xplosion radius. Previously, it did not deal any self-damage.

The Shedu uses a recharging magazine. When partially empty, it has a recharge delay of just 0.4 seconds, which is exactly the same time as the time between shots. As such, if you are firing at any RoF even slightly below maximum, the Shedu will basically never empty. When completely empty, it has a recharge delay of about 1 second, and emits a pulse that resets the resistances of all nearby Sentients. It recharges ammo at about 25 rounds-per-second.

Augments

None.

Builds

0-Forma:

The Shedu has two innate V polarities, allowing it to fit in all the essentials, with 11 capacity for a seventh mod (Vigilante Armaments in this case). This offers a fair bit of versatility even without Forma, provided you have the 60/60 elemental mods to save mod capacity. I'll discuss the options for the seventh (and eighth) mod slots further below.

As is tradition, my go-to recommended element is Viral. Its proc is at least somewhat useful against every enemy, and quite useful against most. Its damage multipliers are also decent. Corrosive is strong against a variety of targets, particularly armoured enemies and heavy Infested units. Some extra Heat damage alongside the aforementioned two can be really strong as well, for its extra armour strip and DoT. Notably, the Heat may combine with the innate Electricity on explosions to give Radiation. Radiation is also decent, mainly against certain Alloy armoured enemies.

Recommended Setups: Viral (+ Heat) vs everything, Corrosive (+ Heat) vs armour, Infested, Radiation vs some bosses

1-Forma:

One added V polarity allows inclusion of a third 60/60 mod in the eighth mod slot, with 1 mod capacity spare. Again, I'll discuss other options for the seventh and eighth mod slots below.

Recommended Setups: see above.

2-Forma:

Another added V polarity allows the use of Heavy Caliber alongside another mod, which adds a hefty amount of direct damage. The accuracy penalty can be troublesome for landing headshots precisely. As an explosive weapon, the Shedu does not like having Punch Through, which causes shots to not explode if they penetrate the object. Some extra elemental mods can give solid extra damage and procs. As a decent Crit weapon, Argon Scope and Bladed Rounds can be effective if you can maintain their trigger conditions.

In the Exilus slot, really the only noteworthy mod is Terminal Velocity for increased Projectile Speed.

Recommended Setups: see above.

My Builds

Simple Viral + Heat build, nothing fancy. I don't really enjoy using the Shedu.

Combat Use and Summary

With a decently sized AoE and good direct damage, the Shedu is quite effective against groups. Any direct hits take serious damage and die easily, while nearby enemies are significantly weakened, especially if inflicted by Viral procs. Its lightning fast recharge time is very helpful here as well. The self-stagger/knockdown can be troublesome in close quarters.

Dealing quite good direct damage between high base Damage and very solid Crit, the Shedu is quite effective against unarmoured heavy enemies. It also regularly inflicts Status procs, which with the massive Viral buff in U27.2, weakens such enemies significantly.

With innate Heat damage on direct hits and good Status Chance, the Shedu is quite capable of stacking up Viral/Corrosive and Heat procs to greatly weaken armoured enemies. With solid Crit, it deals more than enough direct damage to finish them off, and can also utilise Hunter Munitions quite effectively to bleed them to death.

As a one-handed Arm-Cannon, the Shedu can be used in situations where most Primaries cannot. For instance, it can still be used while downed, as well as while holding a Datamass or Excavator Power Cell.


The Shedu's use of projectiles can make it a tad troublesome to use at longer range. It is reasonably precise, so only requires good leading of targets. Its very fast partial reload is great for maintaining combat rhythm, and its empty reload can be useful when facing Sentients, though the delayed recharge can be a little annoying.

With the removal of self-damage and introduction of self-stagger/knockdown in U27.2, the Shedu received a notable nerf. It did not used to deal self-damage, but can now inflict self-stagger/knockdowns. Additionally, though its explosion radius was increased, it also received explosive damage fall-off, dropping to just 40% at the edge of the explosion.


Overall, the Shedu is a fairly solid and novel weapon. It is quite different from most other weapons in the game. With a strong spread of stats and a decent AoE, it handles most enemies in the game reasonably effectively. Its ability to strip Sentient Resistances on an empty reload is very rare and could be quite useful.

If you want to get the Shedu, now is the perfect time to farm. With Operation: Scarlet Spear, you can now farm Shedu parts with almost no downtime in Murex Raids and Ground Assault. Many players (including myself) will also collect the parts naturally. As such, Shedu part prices have plummeted recently, and will likely bottom-out around the end of the month, as the Operation comes to an end.

Scores

Vs Trash Mobs: 4/5 - Solid AoE and very fast recharge time make the Shedu quite effective at taking down groups. It is hindered slightly by the threat of self-stagger/knockdown at close range.
Vs Unarmoured Heavies: 4/5 - Good direct damage thanks to solid Crit gets through unarmoured heavy enemies with reasonable efficiency. Projectile travel time and visual obfuscation from the explosions can make landing headshots a little harder.
Vs Armoured Heavies without Hunter Munitions: 4/5 - Innate Heat damage and high Status Chance allow the Shedu to inflict Status procs regularly, particularly Viral/Corrosive + Heat, to greatly weaken heavily armoured enemies.
Vs Armoured Heavies with Hunter Munitions: 4.5/5 - Solid Crit and a decently large AoE allows the Shedu to proc Slash via HM in an area quite effectively.

Vs Variants

None.

Competitors

There aren't many weapons that really compare to the Shedu in terms of firing style. Most AoE weapons are either fast-firing and low damage-per-shot (e.g. Acceltra, Basmu), or slow-firing and high damage-per-shot (e.g. Kuva Bramma, Kuva Tonkor, Kuva Chakkhurr). The best comparison I could come up with is the Astilla Shotgun, which has a similar RoF and damage output, but it has much smaller explosions, pure physical damage, and damage fall-off. The Shedu fits in a slot between higher RoF, spammier explosive weapons, and the slow-firing, heavy-hitting ones.

Rivens

The Shedu currently has a slightly below neutral 3/5 (0.9) Riven Disposition, having dropped in the most recent Hotfix. It's a decently powerful weapon for sure, but nothing gamebreaking (cough Kuva Bramma cough).

Of course, +Damage/Multishot/Crit Chance/Crit Damage are the top stats to aim for. +Elemental damage can be useful for more damage and/or saving mod slots. +Mag Capacity can be useful for giving more tolerance for triggering the faster reload (ie reload from partial), and barely increases Reload Time. +Projectile Speed makes long range combat a little easier.

-Faction Damage to a faction you're not worried about (e.g. Infested) can be ideal. -Mag Capacity is not an issue if you don't often fire the Shedu at max RoF, as it tops up with ease otherwise. It can also be useful to trigger the Sentient Resistance removal pulse more frequently. -Ammo Max has no effect. -Reload Speed is a minimal issue for partial reloads, but much morre noticeable on empty reloads. +Recoil is quite manageable on a relatively slow firing weapon. -Zoom is great for close quarters combat, though beware of self-stagger/knockdowns.