Melee/Ult Hybrid Interceptor

Meet Scuba Steve.  Scuba Steve likes to kill things, and he’s REALLY good at it. See, Scuba Steve is basically an ult interceptor. And no other javelin can do the amount of pure single target damage that the ult Interceptor can. But Scuba Steve also has a secret - he’s pretty good at melee, too.  See, because Steve can’t ALWAYS use his ult to kill things, he wanted to have a secondary source of damage so that he wouldn’t have to stop killing things. Some might say this makes Scuba Steve a sociopath. And they might not be wrong. But when you’re out in the wilds, and you encounter a Legendary Ancient Ash Titan, you want Scuba Steve’s sociopathic ass on your side.

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This particular build is focused around maintaining a strong amount of melee damage, and then having an ult that can take down any target in your way. This is the build that I bring into Strongholds and Conjunctions when I don’t know if I’m going to have any other players that have high DPS, because I don’t need any other damage sources. Components are mainly selected for their ability to increase ult damage, although 2 components are switched from pure ult damage to a combination of melee and ult damage inscrriptions. Guns and gear are focused on increasing melee damage in between ults, while also generating ult charges through use of Viper’s Bite, so you can slice and dice your way through anything in your path.

Weapons

Close Encounter

• Close Encounter is a great weapon for Interceptor. Apart from whatever stats yours happens to roll with that can increase your melee damage, you also have a MW perk that increases your weapon damage (which includes melee) by 125% when you dash. And considering that is the main form of movement for an Interceptor, this buff is almost always up. Other weapons can offer higher buffs, such as Glorious Result or Unending Battle, but they are shorter lived and require you to actually fire the weapon and hit a weak point or from a certain distance. Close Encounter will not interrupt your normal flow. This one has 27% Dmg, 25% Gear Recharge and 10% Weapon Damage. 

Glorious Result

• Whatever gun you put in this spot is typically going to be a stat stick. This is my ultimate stat stick, which is why I’m using it, as the weapon itself is trash.  This version has 180% Armor (100% and 80%), 25% Gear Recharge and 13% Elemental damage.

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Melee Weapon

Deathstalker Blades

• Deathstalker Blades are the Interceptor priming melee. The damage done is acid, which applies a 25% debuff to all enemies, although it does not do as well against shields. It also has an MW perk that states it “increases damage against an enemy below 50% health”. This does not increase the damage done on each swing. Instead, it increases the speed with which the melee hits come by 100%, which effectively doubles their damage. It also has the advantage of not stealing combos from Rangers and Colossus in your group, which will make them like you more. On this one I have 350% weapon damage. 

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Gear

Serpent’s Veil

• This is a pure stat stick ability. The actual utility as a direct source of damage is minimal, although it is a very effective AoE acid primer. The major advantage that it has is that it increases acid damage by 200%, which means that if you are using Deathstalker Blades, you get an additional 200% melee damage whenever you apply acid to something. And since Deathstalker Blades apply acid, it’s on pretty much anytime you are attacking anything. If you’re using Deathstalker Blades, it’s basically a must. This one has 200% Charges and 23% [E] Dmg.

Viper’s Bite

• This is how you build your ult with this build. Every enemy that you hit with Viper’s Bite will generate 7 ult charges for you. So you want to spray it into groups as much as you can, because that will build your ult quickest. Charges are the most valuable component on this item. It does decent damage on its own, but you really want to be able to throw multiple charges without having to wait for a recharge. Mine has 200% charges. 

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Support Item

Slayer’s Furor

• This item applies a debuff enemies in a small AoE, and makes them take an additional 33% damage, which is its main utility. It will also hop to other nearby enemies once the initial debuffed enemy is defeated. This one has 200% charges and 23% [E] Recharge.

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Components

Emergency Power

• I have this here because it adds more ult damage than any other component that I have. It starts with a 30% base ult damage increase. Then I have a double ult damage roll on it- 48% and 35%, for a total of 113% ult damage from this one component. The complete refill of your ult meter when your armor gets too low is a nice “oh shit” button to have, especially with how much ult damage this build puts out. If you’re in danger of dying, and you use an ult with this build, anything that was damaging you other than Stronghold bosses is going to be dead by the time you’re done.

Softened Blows

• This is without a doubt the best defensive component in the game, thanks to its MW perk. Because the shields on an Interceptor are tissue paper thin, despite the large boost to your shields which this component provides, you will really appreciate the 75% damage reduction that should last until your shields start to regenerate themselves. You can run Interceptor, Storm or Ranger without Softened Blows, but it’s a huge handicap if you don’t. Additionally, this one has 48% Ult Damage and 35% Ult Damage, which makes it probably the most valuable component in my entire vault. 

Extended Special Arms Magazine

• This is a nice component on a Colossus if you’re running a grenade launcher, but it’s not particularly useful for this build, since you aren’t going to be shooting your guns that much. It does increase your magazine size on both guns, since they are heavy pistols, but I mainly have it here because it gives me the best combination of melee and ult damage. This one has 75% Melee Damage (which is 5% less than the maximum possible roll in that slot) and 35% Ult Damage (which is also 5% less than the maximum possible roll in that slot).   

Symbiotic Surge

• This is possibly the best offensive component in the game, thanks to it’s MW perk. It also gives you a large boost to your armor, which comes in handy, given how squishy the Interceptor is. The MW perk that gives you 50% damage increase when you pick up a health pack applies to all damage (including ult and combo). Because it is a universal component, you would ideally want double Ult Damage rolls for this build, although a single roll is fine, since the MW perk basically acts as an additional ult damage inscription. For this build, having a Melee / Ult combo roll is ideal. This one has 65% Melee Damage and 35% Ult Damage. 

Thermal Cooling

• I have this here because I have a double Ult Damage roll on it. It also happens to be my favorite QoL component in the game. Once you get used to having the extra flight time, you will really miss it when you go back to something else. This one has 40% Ult Damage and 38% Ult Damage. 

Bloodlust

• All of these components are selected because they increase Interceptor ult damage, either via inscriptions, MW perks, or both. Because this build is focused on increasing melee damage in between the times your ult activates, Bloodlust is a must. The base perk itself gives you an additional 30% melee damage base, plus another 75% melee damage after a melee kill. With how often you are using your melee attack, it adds some extra utility for those times when you are not in your ult. This one has 50% Ult Damage and 38% Ult damage.

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Overview

The Perfect Build

This is one way to build an hybrid melee/ult Interceptor, but it is certainly not the only way. It’s also, in my opinion, the most effective build for Interceptor in general. The total melee damage with all buffs active totals out to 1007% without ever shooting Glorious Result, which could give you another 150% if you want to try juggling weapons to maximize your buffs. But since Close Encounter activates its buff when you dash, Serpent’s Veil activates its buff when you hit something with acid, Bloodlust activates when you kill something with melee and Symbiotic Surge activates when you pick up a health pack, you’re going to have those buffs active most of the time. And you will still be hitting stupid total damage and killing anything is your path with your ult. This is also as close to perfect as I can get this build with the components that I have. Every component serves a function, both in terms of inscriptions and base effect, although the benefit from Extended Special Arms Magazine is dubious at best, but I am running 2 heavy pistols, even if I won’t be shooting them much. Because we’re not using a shotgun, we don’t need Acid Slugs. Or any of the other gun related components. Rejuvenating Ammo could potentially be useful, but it might also be detrimental if my armor gets refilled via an ammo pickup and that keeps me from being able to pick up a health pack which would activate the damage boost from Symbiotic Surge. There is probably room to add a little more melee damage in exchange for some ult damage, but it’s probably not necessary. This build still has more than enough damage to kill anything short of Stronghold bosses.

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The Downsides

The toughest part about playing Interceptor in general is that you are squishy as hell. Compared to every other javelin, you’re going to be like a wet paper bag. That means that you have to stay moving constantly in order to not die, even if you have a lot of armor (shield is basically crap). It makes learning how to play Interceptor one of the more challenging javelins. You also don’t have any good burst damage when you’re not in your ult, so you’re going to have to dodge around higher HP enemies as you attack them.

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The Upsides and Build Options

But the upside is that you’ll be able to basically kill all enemies with a single ult. Legendary Enforcer walking around? Hit him for 5 seconds with your ult then go on to something else, because he’s dead. 2 Legendary Enforcers hanging out with a Legendary Escari- none of them will be there by the time your ult is done.  And Interceptor ult damage is null, so it does not scale up or down against armor or shields- it does all of its damage regardless of the enemy type. You can even kill a Bristleback with a single ult once you have enough damage. I’ll typically run this build because I have enough melee damage that enemies die a little bit faster than in my pure ult build. This is important, because survival is easier when I can stay moving without having to leave little enemies alive after my initial attack. Basic and Elite non-armored enemies can be killed before the javelin comes to a complete stop, which helps me stay alove. This is the main build that I can confidently take into any situation where I might be solo, or I might have to carry low DPS players. Most other ult builds don’t really have that option, they either lack room clearing speed or boss killing speed. {BodyText}

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Build Variations and Sigils

I typically run this build with an Epic Acid Sigil and an Epic and a Rare Ultimate Sigil. The extra 10% from an Uncommon Ultimate Sigil is not worth losing out on the 30% acid damage, because the acid also increases your melee with Deathstalker Blades. With only acid and Slayer’s Furor debuffs and Symbiotic Surge, this build can hit 178k small hits and 356k big hits when I run 2 ult sigils. The 2 ult sigils are probably overkill for this build, but this whole build is centered around having so much DPS that you don’t need to worry about anything else. Could probably swap one out for a melee sigil or a gear sigil, but I’ve never really found a situation where I need to. 

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