Acquisition
Stats
As a Beam weapon, the Synapse consumes ammo at only half its Fire Rate. This gives it a fantastic Reload Ratio of 7.78. However, this also means it has a limited range of 27m, and has a short damage ramp-up time.
Interestingly, the Synapse deals an extra 20% more Headshot damage, for a 2.4x multiplier instead of the usual 2x.
Augments
None.
Recommended Setups: see above. Also consider: Viral + Heat vs everything, Radiation/Magnetic + Toxin vs Corpus
Overall, the Synapse is a strong single-target weapon. It can cripple armoured, Status-vulnerable enemies with ease and tear right through them with either brute force or armour-bypassing Slash procs (with Hunter Munitions). Amazing Crit gives it solid direct damage as well, effective against Status-resistant/immune enemies. Its primary flaw is a lack of AoE, though this is mitigated by a high Fire Rate and great Reload Ratio, and can be further improved by modding on Punch Through. The Synapse is one of many strong, underappreciated weapons, and is definitely worth of your attention if you have any interest in capable, non-meta weapons.
Builds
Basic 0-Forma:
Irritatingly, despite requiring 2 Forma to build, the Synapse does not have any innate polarities. This makes even basic builds difficult to fit, depending on the Ranks of your mods. These above builds display some options you have - downgrading Split Chamber to Vigilante Armaments saves a good chunk of mod capacity for more elemental mods, particularly useful if you don't have the 60/60s.
For single element setups, both Heat and Toxin are worth looking at. Heat is the better general-purpose, being much stronger against armoured enemies as well as the Infested. It also combines extremely effectively with the innate Corrosive. Toxin is much stronger against unarmoured Corpus, bypassing their Shields entirely.
For more standard two-element setups, Viral is the obvious usual combo, effective against most targets and especially brutal alongside the innate Corrosive against most armoured targets. Radiation is strong against Alloy-armoured enemies, particularly the Status-resistant/immune ones. Magnetic is an interesting setup against the Corpus, as combined with the innate Corrosive it will cripple both Armour and Shields.
Recommended Setups: Viral or Heat vs everything, Radiation vs Alloy-armour, Magnetic or Toxin vs Corpus
General Purpose 1-Forma:
One added V polarity lets you have max-Rank Split Chamber alongside two elemental mods, so long as one of them is a 60/60. Besides that though, you'll still be pretty starved for mod space.
Recommended Setups: see above.
General Purpose 4-Forma:
To fit a full build in with max-Rank mods, you will need to use around 3-4 Forma, depending on the mods chosen for the last two slots. Vigilante Armaments is a simple, no-fuss Multishot boost, though it becomes far less valuable with Galvanised mods in the mix. Heavy Caliber offers more damage and its Accuracy penalty is not a big deal, but again becomes obsolete with Galv mods and Arcanes in the mix. Shred is a long-time favourite of mine, the +Fire Rate is nice on a lot of weapons and the added Punch Through gives many weapons a small degree of AoE.
Hunter Munitions 4-Forma:
One major option to look at is Hunter Munitions, which allows the Synapse to inflict Slash procs. This is rather inefficient at lower levels, but it is the best scaling way to deal with extremely heavily armoured enemies. The Synapse in particular is less reliant on it as its innate Corrosive coupled with Viral will comfortably take down most armoured enemies that a typical player will encounter.
A third elemental mod is also a solid option. The best general options are in effect combining the ones mentioned above - Viral + Heat is a fantastic all-rounder and even better against armoured enemies. Toxin added to Radiation or Magnetic hits just about everything Corpus effectively with either direct damage or procs (or both!).
Critical Delay is worth consideration over Point Strike. It offers noticeably higher Crit Chance in exchange for a little Fire Rate, which can be easily offset with a +Fire Rate mod. Speaking of, other +Fire Rate mods besides Shred (primarily Vile Acceleration) can offer more DPS, at the cost of no Punch Through and even higher ammo consumption rate.
For very high level content, a (Primed) Bane is definitely worth the slot. Its effect is applied twice to damage-over-time procs, so scales much better in a Heat or Slash build than its values might suggest. Bladed Rounds and Argon Scope are decent conditional Crit mods. Hammer Shot is a weaker but unconditional Crit and Status boosting option.
For the Exilus slot, there are two main options. An Ammo Mutation mod eliminates any ammo concerns, and Vigilante Supplies in particular also marginally increases damage output with its mod set bonus. Sinister Reach increases Range by 12m, which is a significant improvement.
Galvanised Build and Arcane
Galv Chamber.
Galv Aptitude can be a good substitute for Serration. The Synapse's innate Corrosive does not combine with any elements, allowing a typical build to achieve three unique procs (e.g. innate Corrosive + modded Viral + Heat/Hunter Munitions Slash), which is enough for Galv Apt to beat out Serration. The Synapse is also very capable of inflicting a decent number of procs on enemies for full Galv Apt benefit.
Galv Scope is a great option if it suits your playstyle. The Synapse's Crit is exceptional and benefits greatly from being amplified even further. Additionally, its beam nature makes it fairly precise, making Headshots easy to land. The only flaw is it stacks only on direct damage kills and not from damage-over-time procs like Slash and Heat.
For Arcane choice, Fracticalised Reset is not worth looking at. The Synapse's Reload Ratio is already great so significantly increasing Reload Speed doesn't do much. Choosing between Merciless and Deadhead is largely personal preference. Merciless will stack on any kill, though its secondary benefits are of limited value. On the other hand, Deadhead stacks much faster, and its extra Headshot damage is always nice, though slightly less impactful here as I think it stacks additively with the Synapse's innate Headshot bonus.
My Builds
Pretty ordinary Viral + Slash build. In the content I usually play, Heat is probably more efficient but the difference between the two is quite small.
Combat Use and Summary
Heavily armoured, Status-vulnerable targets are the Synapse's best victims. Its innate Corrosive is an automatic good start, as its proc will weaken any kind of armour and it is especially effective against Ferrite-armour. Adding on Viral and Heat to further amplify damage can shred through almost anything armoured with ease.
Hunter Munitions is a very strong option that scales better than Heat, since Slash procs ignore armour entirely. The Synapse naturally uses it extremely well with its amazing Crit. HM is not usually needed in most content that the typical player will experience though, as the Synapse already does so well naturally against armoured targets.
The Synapse is still reasonably effective against Unarmoured and Status-resistant/immune targets, thanks to its amazing Crit giving solid Burst DPS.
The Synapse is least effective against large groups of enemies. It has no AoE to speak of, nor any innate Punch Through. As a beam weapon, it also suffers from a short damage-ramp-up time that becomes more noticeable at higher levels. A high Fire Rate allows it to efficiently switch targets, and its great Reload Ratio means it has very little downtime.
Being a beam weapon, the Synapse has a limited range of 27m at base. This is enough for most of the smaller rooms and tiles, but can be problematic in the larger ones and particularly the open worlds. That said, this can be mitigated by using Warframe's incredibly fast movement system. Ammo economy can also be an issue in longer missions, particularly with any +Fire Rate mods or effects. This can be easily mitigated with one of Ammo Case/Mutation/etc.
Scores
Vs Trash Mobs: 3.5/5 - With no AoE to speak of and the short beam damage ramp-up time, the Synapse is not as efficient against groups as more popular meta weapons. It functions about as well as a traditional Full-Auto Rifle with high Fire Rate and great Reload Ratio. Any added Punch Through is greatly appreciated for tight groups.
Vs Unarmoured Heavies: 4/5 - Immense Crit makes up for the Synapse's low base Damage, giving the Synapse very solid Burst DPS. Its Crit Chance in particular guarantees massive Headshot damage, since Crits gain an extra 2x multiplier on Headshots.
Vs Armoured Heavies without Forced Slash: 5/5 - Innate Corrosive with reasonable Status Chance and high Fire Rate are extremely potent against Status-vulnerable armoured enemies. The procs from a Viral + Heat build drastically weaken armour, thus massively increasing damage dealt. This is the strongest pure-elemental combo possible against armour.
First up are the MR10 Quanta Vandal and a Max Crit Gaze-Shrewd-Splat Kitgun.
The MR10 Amprex and especially a Max-Crit Vermisplicer Kitgun offer much tougher competition.
Vs Armoured Heavies with Forced Slash: 5/5 - Immense Crit Chance allows the Synapse to make excellent use of Hunter Munitions. While not necessary in most content that a typical player will experience, there is a very high threshold at which point the armour-bypassing nature of Slash procs will eventually outscale a pure elemental build.
Vs Variants
None.
Competitors
There are a number of other decent Beam and Full-Auto weapons that the Synapse has to contend with.
The QuantaV has drastically higher Status Chance, but with base Electric damage cannot make use of it as effectively. In exchange, it has much lower Crit, resulting in the Synapse taking a clear advantage in DPS. The QuantaV can use its explosive Alt Fire for a degree of AoE, but it is not particularly strong.
This particular Gaze setup has maximum Crit, with Grip chosen for 26m range which is almost identical to the Synapse. The Fire Rate difference results in the Synapse having both superior DPS as well as Status output, and innate Corrosive is probably generally more useful than innate Radiation. Reload Ratio is also clearly in the Synapse's favour, regardless which Loader is used. A shorter-range Grip can be used to bring the Gaze's DPS more up-to-par. Undeniably in the Gaze's favour is its small radial AoE (roughly 3m radius around point of impact) that gives it superior (albeit still relatively minor) anti-crowd capabilities.
The Amprex falls well behind in Crit for overall worse DPS, and its higher Status Chance is offset by base Electric being a worse base Damage type. Its main advantage is its chaining mechanic, damaging up to three other nearby enemies to the main target. This gives it far superior anti-crowd capabilities.
The Vermisplicer shares most base stats with the Gaze. The pictured Vermisplicer build is Vermisplicer-Steadyslam-Splat. This build has a Range of only 20m, noticeably shorter than the Synapse. In exchange, it is able to compete in terms of DPS, and it also chains to three secondary targets for far superior anti-crowd capabilities. A Max-Crit Vermisplicer is essentially a better Amprex.
Finally, I've included the MR11 Prisma Gorgon and MR14 Tenora Prime here. The two are Crit-leaning, (spool-up) Full-Auto Rifles, and offer a decent comparison as far as non-Beam Rifles are concerned. The MR10 Baza Prime is probably also worth a shout. All offer slightly lower Burst DPS than the Synapse, dealing base Physical damage instead with slightly higher Status output.
While many other weapons compete for a similar role to the Synapse, often with superior anti-crowd capabilities, it retains a unique niche with its innate Corrosive damage and great single-target DPS.
Rivens
The Synapse is currently sitting at a high 5/5 (1.31) Riven Disposition, which is emblematic of Warframe's meta. It is by all accounts a great single target weapon, however its lack of AoE makes it less efficient and popular for most of Warframe's typical gameplay.
+Damage/Multishot/Crit Chance/Crit Damage are all great, with the latter two being the most valuable with Galv mods and Arcanes involved. +Elemental Damage can be useful to save a mod slot. +Faction Damage can be nice against the Grineer, who are typically the toughest of the three core Factions due to their armour. +Fire Rate is a significant DPS increase but also greatly increases ammo consumption rate. +Punch Through is very helpful against tightly packed groups.
-Faction Damage to the weaker Factions (Corpus and especially Infested) can be quite manageable against all but their toughest units, and of course has no impact on other Factions. -Fire Rate can be offset by a strong +Fire Rate mod. -Mag Capacity/Reload Speed in small amounts are manageable thanks to the great base Reload Ratio. -Ammo Max can be negated by one of Ammo Case/Mutation/etc. Neither -Projectile Speed nor +Recoil have any effect. -Zoom is ideal in close quarters.
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