Review: Zymos (U29.0.6) [MISLEADING]

The Zymos is a new MR11 Infested Pistol, released in U29: Heart of Deimos. A slow-firing, explosive Secondary, it rewards precision with many powerful effects on headshots, but suffers from several usability issues.

EDIT 02/09/2020: U29.0.6 increased the Zymos' Mag Capacity from 9 to 17, and spare ammo from 27 to 51. Since these are relatively small, easy changes to cover, I've amended the article accordingly.

EDIT 01/11/2021: The Zymos has some very unusual Crit-mod interactions which I've only recently begun to understood, and these interactions significantly change how it should be modded. Until I have a chance to test it again myself, I'll leave a "misleading" tag on this review.

Acquisition

The Zymos' blueprint and its component blueprints can be purchased from the weapon vendor in the Necralisk, on Deimos. You must be at least Rank 1 (Stranger) to access them.

Stats 

The Zymos is clearly geared for Status application, though oddly has an above-average Crit multiplier of 2.3x. Its base Damages are also quite low for a weapon with such a low RoF. With a capacity of 17 rounds and a base Reload Time of 3.2 seconds, it has a fairly good Reload Ratio of around 3.99.

The Zymos fires projectiles that explode on impact, dealing a decent amount of Toxin damage in a small radius. It does not suffer significantly from damage fall-off, losing only 30% of its damage. Naturally, these explosions can inflict self-stagger/knockdown.

If you land a headshot, it behaves very differently. The projectile embeds itself in the target's head, causing them to panic for about a second, before detonating. This explosion deals massively more damage than usual - in my (rudimentary) testing I was seeing at least 15x the damage compared to the regular explosion.

Additionally, upon detonating, the projectile will release a number of additional projectiles that home in on enemy heads, much like the Pax Seeker Arcane. Also much like Pax Seeker, these projectiles can all inflict Status procs, and deal a surprising amount of damage.

Augments

None, it's a new weapon.

Builds

NOTE: The pictured builds below appear to show both non-headshot and headshot damage numbers. Specifically, the first Radial Attack is the default explosion, while the second Radial Attack is the headshot-only explosion.

Also note that these build screenshots were taken before U29.0.6, when the Zymos' Mag Capacity and Spare Ammo were increased significantly.

0-Forma: 

One native V and - polarities allows you to fit in a decent basic build, with the pictured build having 4 spare capacity.. Besides the requisite Damage/Multishot mods, this build includes three elementals and Quickdraw for +Reload Speed. The Zymos' Reload Time of 3.2 seconds is quite long, and reducing it greatly improves the usability of the weapon. Primed Quickdraw is of course better if you have it, but is much harder to get a hold of and max out.

The Zymos greatly benefits from a triple elemental build. With its ability to inflict an incredible number of Status procs, it is most effective when combining a damage increasing element (e.g. Viral, Corrosive, Magnetic) with a damage-over-time element (e.g. Heat, Toxin, Electric).

 

Viral + Heat is a strong catch-all, being particularly effective against unshielded organics and armoured enemies. Corrosive + Heat has stronger direct multipliers against the Infested, and is an even better armour-weakener. Viral + Electric or Magnetic + Heat/Toxin are very effective against unarmoured Corpus, depending on whether you want to focus on their health or shields.

Recommended Setups: Viral + Heat vs everything, Corrosive + Heat vs Infested, armour, Viral + Electric or Magnetic + Heat/Toxin vs unarmoured Corpus

1-Forma:

One added V polarity allows reasonable use of all eight mod slots, with this build having 2 spare capacity. As mentioned previously, Primed Quickdraw greatly improves the Zymos' Reload Time. Augur Pact provides a no-fuss damage boost.

Recommended Setups: see above.

Primed Heated Charge 2-Forma:

PHC is a large damage boost that also biases procs towards Heat, which is ideal as Heat is among the strongest procs in the game currently. This pictured build fits with 1 spare capacity. The downside of this build of course is that it sports a lower Status Chance than the others, thus while it will proc large Heat procs frequently, it will not inflict as many of the other procs.

 

There are a few other options to consider for the Augur Pact/Primed Quickdraw slots. Magnum Force is stronger than Augur Pact, however its accuracy penalty can be particularly troublesome since the Zymos really wants to land precise headshots. A (Primed) Expel mod drastically increases the damage dealt by the Zymos, as its effect is twice applied to damage-over-time procs like Heat. This of course has the downside of needing to be switched around for each faction. Fulmination is an option that increases explosion radius, slightly improving its coverage, though the extra projectiles from headshots generally provide better coverage anyway.

For the Exilus slot, there are two main options. The first is (Primed) Pistol Ammo Mutation, to counteract the Zymos' rather small 51 spare ammo count. The second is Lethal Momentum for increase Projectile Speed, which makes landing headshots at longer range easier. Targeting Subsystem for improved accuracy isn't completely worthless either, again making landing headshots easier, but in my opinion it doesn't compare to the other two.

 

Recommended Setups: see above.

My Builds

Nothing special, classic Viral + Heat with increased Reload Speed.

Combat Use and Summary

The Zymos is an odd weapon. If not landing headshots, it is thoroughly unexceptional and actually fairly weak. However, a single headshot can severely weaken a group of even tough enemies, and easily tears through weaker ones. It deals more than enough damage to instantly kill most trash mob enemies, with the high Status Chance and extra projectiles doing a great job of proccing Status on any survivors. Added Heat allows it to stack up very powerful Heat procs, which can eat through an enemy already weakened by Viral or Corrosive.

With a focus on Status, the Zymos is least effective against unarmoured and especially Status-immune enemies, though still packs quite a punch. The main disadvantage is detonation delay of headshots limits its efficiency - by the time it has actually detonated and the projectiles have sought out their targets, more conventional weapons could have easily killed the targets.

 

Delayed explosions are almost always a downside for explosive weapons, and the Zymos is no exception. It is always frustrating to land the perfect headshot, but then have to wait for the damage to actually be applied. All the while, enemies are still alive when many other weapons could have simply killed them.

Rather frustratingly for a precision-focused weapon, the Zymos fires relatively slow projectiles which have noticeable spread. Beyond close range, this can make it quite difficult to land headshots reliably, especially when under fire. This is especially unfortunate as the Zymos' explosions can inflict self-stagger/knockdown, making point-blank combat dangerous. Between the two, assuming you are not stagger/knockdown immune, this leaves a relatively small range band in which the Zymos is unlikely to stagger you, but still has a very good chance of landing headshots.

Ammo consumption can be an issue for the Zymos, as it has a spare Ammo count of just 51, or 3 spare mags worth. As such, I strongly recommend at least one of Ammo Case/Mutation/etc. Without them, a few unlucky ammo drops can quickly leave it impotent.

Overall, the Zymos is a novel, rather unusual weapon. If not landing headshots, it is very much underwhelming and easily outclassed by most weapons. A single headshot however can deal massive damage to even very tough enemies, between its huge damage multiplier and extra homing projectiles.

If you enjoy using weapons that reward precision, the Zymos is a unique and quite powerful option. If you prefer simpler, easier to use weapons however, I'd recommend looking elsewhere.

Scores

NOTE: In all cases, the Zymos' scores are based on being able to land headshots at least somewhat reliably. If not, as has been discussed throughout this article, it is little more than a pea shooter.

Vs Trash Mobs: 4/5 - Landing a headshot results in a very powerful, though relatively small, explosion, that also releases additional homing projectiles. This combination is quite effective at working through smaller, tightly packed groups. It is somewhat held back by low RoF, and of course requiring headshots to be at all effective.

Vs Unarmoured Heavies: 3.5/5 - Consistent headshots can deal quite good damage to a few heavy targets, especially taking into account the extra projectiles spawned.

Vs Armoured Heavies: 4.5/5 - High Status Chance and a plethora of extra projectiles on headshots allows the Zymos to inflict a large number of procs on enemies. Viral or Corrosive significantly weaken heavily armoured enemies, with stacked Heat procs doing great damage-over-time to them.

Vs Variants

None.

Competitors

There are few weapons that reward headshots as much as the Zymos. The Knell, Athodai and Dual Toxocyst are all significantly improved from landing headshots, though they all give a period of buff time, rather than simply having a significantly superior attack. The closest weapon in statline and firing style is the Zakti.

 

The Zakti sports a much faster Fire Rate and Reload Time, as well as higher base Damages. The Zymos has a much larger Mag Capacity, higher Status Chance and far less recoil. Additionally, its headshots, though slow to detonate, deal far more damage than either weapon is normally capable of.

If you are capable of landing headshots with any reliability, the Zymos will naturally be the far superior choice.

Rivens

Like with all new weapons, the Zymos has started with a minimum 1/5 (0.5) Riven Disposition. I would not be surprised to see this rise up to at least 3/5, possibly even higher. Though it has strong potential when landing headshots, non-headshots are comparatively pathetically weak, and I feel there are a number of weapons with similar killing power, for far less effort.

As always, +Damage/Multishot are strong positives to have. +Elemental Damage is a solid option for various purposes. +Status Chance can be helpful for maximising proc infliction. +Faction Damage drastically increases the damage dealt by damage-over-time procs like Heat, which is notably useful against the Grineer. +Fire Rate can help to mitigate the otherwise very slow RoF. +Mag Capacity helps to reduce time spent reloading, though I'd personally prefer +Reload Speed instead. +Ammo Max isn't worthless considering the Zymos' miniscule spare ammo count. +Projectile Speed makes landing headshots beyond close range a fair bit easier.

-Impact/Puncture/Slash are all solid negatives. The former two are poor damage types and procs, while the latter is not a component at all. -Crit Chance is not a big deal as 5% is very, very low. -Crit Damage isn't awful either in the same vein, but additive Crit Chance bonuses like Arcane Avenger make it much less desirable. -Faction Damage to a faction you care less about (e.g. Infested) can be a good negative. +Recoil is solid as the Zymos has very little recoil by default. -Zoom is great for close quarters.