The Feeding Frenzy

Virulence returns 15.5 energy per enemy hit, so hitting five enemies in a Larva refunds 78 energy against its cost.

Stacks drive everything: Virulence and Larva Burst damage, the Teeming Virulence crit chance on your primary, and the Parasitic Vitality health pool.

Arcane Persistence caps damage taken at 500/s while armour is above 700, which Nidus reaches with one Tauforged Azure shard on top of his 525 base.

Parasitic Link gives status immunity and a multiplicative damage buff to you and the linked ally.

1.

Cast Larva (2) to group, catching at least five enemies.

2.

Cast Virulence (1) into the ball for kills, stacks and energy.

3.

Hold Link (3) onto your companion once you have a stack, for the Strength and damage buff plus status immunity.

4.

Cast Ravenous (4) for crowd control, healing and AoE.

5.

Repeat 2 and 1 to max stacks, then Virulence every 10 to 15 seconds to refresh Teeming Virulence and recover lost stacks.

Duration is only for Link and Ravenous uptime.

Minimum Efficiency is fine because Virulence refunds energy and 4 is free.

Range is essential for Larva's pull and Link distance, and is pushed hard.

Strength scales Virulence, Larva Burst, the crit chance and the health pool.

Blind Rage is the Strength.

Overextended, Stretch are the Range for Larva.

Archon Continuity is Duration plus a corrosive spread.

Hunter Adrenaline is optional insurance energy if you fumble a Virulence.

Teeming Virulence, Parasitic Vitality, Larva Burst are the three augments and the flex zone: none is mandatory.

Corrosive Projection aura for a 1.8x lift on armored targets.

The augment slots are all swappable.

Drop Teeming Virulence if your primary has near-zero base crit, and reduce Strength to just clear the 180% DR threshold.

Abundant Mutation for a 500-stack health meme.

Stretch becomes Archon Intensify (more Strength via Ravenous) if you do not need max Range.

The exilus and aura are open.

Nidus has a synergistic kit and is best with no subsume.

If you must, subsume over 4:

- Roar to boost Virulence, Larva Burst (double-dips toxin), and your weapon.

- Nourish for viral and energy.

- Gloom for crowd control and healing, sustained by Virulence energy.

- Tharros Strike for a full shield and armor strip at 200% Strength, hitting the whole Larva in a cone.

Arcane Persistence for the 500/s damage cap, Arcane Bellicose for 72% Strength.

Arcane Grace is a strong swap if your max health clears about 8,334, since it then out-heals most incoming damage.

Any.

Madurai for Strength and cast speed, Vazarin for i-frames, Zenurik for energy.

Primaries benefit most from Teeming Virulence's crit chance and optional violet electric shards.

Parasitic Link's multiplier ignores Condition Overload, so favour weapons that do not lean on Galvanized Aptitude.

Coda Hema (headshot lifesteal, multiplicative Galvanized Aptitude) is a standout.

Zymos on a linked, stunned target spams homing spores.

The Parasitic Vitality health pool plus Arcane Persistence's damage cap plus Link status immunity.

It fails if you let stacks decay below the health threshold, or if you have no link active and eat a status you cannot cleanse.

Virulence into a five-plus Larva refills you.

Hunter Adrenaline is the backstop.

Mobile, low-density content where you cannot ball enough enemies to feed stacks.

Bosses.

The frame wants a static, dense mission to be at its best.

A max-Strength Roar variant.

A Viral Reave meme that one-shots inside Larva.

Strong: large primary crit buff, strong grouping, very hard to kill, status-immune, cheap on forma.

Weak: density-dependent, boss- blind, energy and stacks both punish sloppy play early.

Players who solo endurance survival and want a bruiser that also makes their primary weapon crit.