Review: Sporothrix (U29.5.6)

The Sporothrix is a new MR13 Infested Sniper Rifle. Firing delayed explosive rounds with innate Viral damage and immense Status Chance, it is quite different from most other Snipers in the game.

Acquisition

The Sporothrix's blueprint and components are obtained from Tier 3 Underground Bounties - available only after completing the Tier 3 Isolation Vault.

Stats

The Sporothrix has a very high base damage with a slight bias towards Slash, a good complement for its incredibly high 53% Status Chance - one of the highest in the game. It also has a high Crit Multiplier of 3x, though this is let down by 1% Crit Chance - the worst Crit Chance in the game (besides the Deconstructor [Prime], which has 0%). Like with other Snipers, the Sporothrix has Damage Fall-Off starting at 400m - ordinary weapons have a limited range of 300m.

A base Fire Rate of 1.83 is quite slow, fitting for a Sniper. With a Mag Capacity of just 9 rounds and a fairly long Reload Time of 2.7 seconds, this gives a fairly poor Reload Ratio of 1.82.

The Sporothrix fires small explosive rounds that detonate 0.9 seconds after impact. These deal a mix of Slash and Viral damage, in a relatively small 1.7m radius.

The Sporothrix's scope is quite a low zoom, at only 2.7x, giving +50% Headshot damage.

Augments

None.

Builds 

0-Forma:

A single D polarity is the Sporothrix's only native polarity, only really matching (Primed) Cryo Rounds. In most builds, if you don't want Cryo Rounds, there is space to drop it for an alternative 60/60 mod instead.

Besides the essentials (Serration, Split Chamber, two elements), I've filled up the first example build with Vigilante Armaments and an extra elemental. VA is a solid, no-nonsense boost, and the third elemental mod can offer some powerful combos.

 

In the second build, I've slotted in Heavy Caliber. I've personally found that when zoomed-in, the accuracy penalty from Heavy Caliber is minimal, making it a strong option for one of the remaining mod slots. Naturally, its zoomed-out accuracy is atrocious with or without HC.

 

The Sporothrix's penchant for inflicting Slash procs, as well as innate Viral damage, gives it a lot of strong elemental options. Focusing on just more Viral is a solid option if you want to capitalise on Slash or Heat procs. Speaking of, Heat is a very strong addition, as its procs are very useful especially when augmented by Viral. Against more heavily armoured enemies, adding some Corrosive is very helpful, not only for its proc but also for its great damage multiplier. Corrosive also has great multipliers against the Infested. Once again, adding in Heat is very strong.

Against unarmoured Corpus, there are two main options. Pure Toxin is a very strong option, eating through enemy health, ignoring their Shields. It is greatly augmented by the Sporothrix's innate Viral. Alternatively, going for Magnetic allows you to massively increase damage dealt to both enemy Shields and Health. Of course, the two can be put together as well.

 

Recommended Setups: (Viral or Corrosive) + Heat vs Grineer, Corrupted, Corrosive + Heat vs Infested, armoured Corpus, Toxin and/or Magnetic vs unarmoured Corpus

2-Forma:

Two added V polarities account for most of the essentials, giving a lot more space for extra mods. If you run with Heavy Caliber as well, a third V is a no-brainer. 

For the last slot(s), there are a few notable options. As a Status-focused weapon, the Sporothrix is greatly enhanced by a (Primed) Bane mod, which is applied twice to its damage-over-time procs. Fanged Fusillade is a legitimate option, significantly increasing Slash damage and bias. Slash procs are the Sporothrix's main weapon against heavily armoured enemies, and FF causes it to inflict more Slash procs, at the cost of other Status types.

If you find the low Fire Rate troublesome, a +Fire Rate mod like Vile Acceleration can be worth considering, though it will of course make you burn through your minimal ammo even faster. Similarly, a +Mag Capacity or Reload Speed mod can be make the Sporothrix more comfortable to use.

As a Sniper Rifle, the Sporothrix uses the rare Sniper ammo type. With only 45 spare ammo, it can be rendered impotent quite quickly if you are unlucky with ammo drops. As such, Sniper Ammo Mutation is a great option for the Exilus slot. Vigilante Supplies adds a weaker Ammo Mutation effect, but of course adds to the Vigilante mod set bonus, which is quite useful thanks to the Sporothrix's high Crit Multiplier. Terminal Velocity is a final alternative, increasing Projectile Speed for easier long-range combat.

Recommended Setups: see above.

My Builds

Since its explosion already deal Viral damage, my go-to build slots in Corrosive + Heat, for exceptional anti-armour capabilities. I would personally slot in (Primed) Fast Hands into the free slot if I were to spend more Forma.

Combat Use and Summary

As a Sniper, the Sporothrix naturally fares better against fewer, heavier targets than large numbers of weak enemies. Not only is it slow firing, but its explosive rounds have quite a small radius and have a frustrating 0.9 second delay. Though certainly better against groups than conventional Snipers, it is still far less convenient than more conventional weapons.

Against heavily armoured enemies, the Sporothrix shines brightest. Its incredibly high Status Chance and good Slash bias allow it to stack up Slash procs very quickly, rapidly eating through such enemies. The innate Viral coupled with being able to mod for Corrosive + Heat as well offers even more damage multiplication against armoured enemies.

With abysmal Crit Chance, the Sporothrix does not deal anywhere near as much direct damage as the typical Crit-focused Snipers. Its base Damage is high for sure, but it relies far more on Status procs and damage-over-time to kill its enemies. Naturally, any enemy who is resistant or immune to Status procs will give it even more trouble.

 

 

As is pretty much always the case, the Sporothrix's delayed explosives are nothing but a hindrance. It introduces a significant delay and overall increase in its kill time, which is particularly troublesome against the groups you would want it most against.

With a spare Ammo count of 45, one of Ammo Case/Mutation/etc is very useful, especially as it uses the rare Sniper ammo. Despite being a Sniper, the Sporothrix is a projectile weapon, which is a hindrance at longer ranges.

 

Overall, the Sporothrix is a novel, though not exactly amazing, Status Sniper. Its explosive rounds make it better against groups than the average Sniper, though its delayed explosions are ever frustrating, and it still pales in comparison to most other weapons. An immense Status Chance with a large Slash component makes it extremely effective against heavily armoured enemies. Personally, I wouldn't really recommend the Sporothrix. As far as single-target weapons go, it is outclassed by more conventional Snipers, and against groups it does not remotely compare to regular weapons. It is notably potent against heavily armoured enemies, but again there are weapons just as capable that are also way better against other targets.

Scores

Vs Trash Mobs: 1.5/5 - Firing explosive rounds, the Sporothrix handles slightly better against groups than a conventional Sniper. However, it is still quite slow firing and its explosions are still fairly small, so it falls well behind conventional weapons. Additionally, its rounds have a 0.9 second explosion delay, which is very annoying.

Vs Unarmoured Heavies: 2.5/5 - Status-focused, the Sporothrix falls well behind more conventional Crit-focused Snipers for single-target damage, even with its zoom-in Headshot bonus. The Sniper combo does help, but it takes time to build up.

Vs Armoured Heavies without Hunter Munitions: 4.5/5 - Solid Slash bias and incredible Status Chance allows the Sporothrix to stack up Slash procs extremely quickly. These are readily augmented by Viral procs, and can be supplemented by Heat as well. Added Corrosive can also help to greatly increase your direct damage dealt.

Vs Armoured Heavies with Hunter Munitions: NA/5 - Has quite literally the lowest Crit Chance of any Primary.

Vs Variants

None.

Competitors

The main competitor to the Sporothrix is its fellow Sniper Rifle, the Komorex. Fully zoomed-in (3.5x), the Komorex explodes on impact, with a larger, more powerful explosion (66 vs 41 damage, 3.5m vs 1.7m) of pure Viral damage. It also has usable Crit, which partly makes up for the Sporothrix's much higher Base Shot Damage. In exchange, the Sporothrix has an even higher Status Chance (53% vs 35%), slightly higher Fire Rate, deals Slash as well as Viral on its explosions, and explodes regardless of zooming.

Its larger explosions make the Komorex much more effective against groups, and exploding on impact is a big advantage as well. On the other hand, with its much higher Status Chance and superior Slash inflicting ability, the Sporothrix will scale better against heavily armoured enemies.

When it comes to dishing out damage to high-health enemies, more conventional, Crit-focused Snipers come out hilariously ahead for direct damage output. Hunter Munitions even allows them to inflict their own Slash procs with surprising regularity.

Rivens

As standard for new weapons, the Sporothrix starts with a minimum 1/5 (0.5) Riven Disposition. I expect this to shoot up very quickly, as Snipers are generally not popular outside of very high health single target environments (primarily Eidolons), and the Sporothrix will not fare well in that environment anyway due to its Status focus (which Eidolons are immune to).

Obviously, +Damage/Multishot are ideal. +Slash can be useful if you want to focus on inflicting Slash procs. +Crit Damage can be good if you equip additive +Crit Chance equipment (e.g. Arcane Avenger). +Elemental Damage is solid for extra damage and shifting bias. +Status Chance stacks one of the Sporothrix's best traits even more. +Faction Damage is exceptionally effective for boosting damage-over-time procs like Slash and Heat. +Fire Rate can be useful for increasing overall damage output, particularly against groups, but of course eats through the small Mag Capacity quite quickly. +Mag Capacity/Reload Speed are great QoL stats. +Projectile Speed improves long range combat, though I find its Projectile Speed to be fairly fast already.

-Impact/Puncture are great negatives. Neither is a major component of Base Damage, provides a useful damage type or a useful proc. -Crit Chance has essentially no effect. -Crit Damage is not as good but is not significant if you do not run additive +Crit Chance equipment. -Faction Damage to a weaker faction (e.g. Infested) is manageable. -Ammo Max is largely a non-issue with Ammo Case/Mutation/etc. I find the Sporothrix's base recoil to be pretty much negligible, so I would consider +Recoil a non-issue. -Zoom is ideal for close range combat.