Vassa's Arc

Vassa’s Colossus is my favorite build in Anthem. It is the mirrored image of the Voltaic Build. I highly suggest reading Soggy028’s guide on said build as well, being the person who taught me Colossus movement and tech theory, his insights are certainly worth a look.

Regardless both builds sit among the very highest DPS potential in the game. They are perhaps one of, or even the only example of two builds actually having identical damage output in this game. However, the way in which they deal that damage is quite different. Before we get into that though, here’s the rundown.

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Weapons

Sentinel’s Vengeance

• Imagine a grenade launcher that can prime acid in .5 of a second, and if you miss, one second later the entire area gets primed instead. Yes, it’s an incredible gun, but only the colossus is given such a privilege. Land two stickies on the target or wait for the AoE explosion to prime acid. Mine has a good physical damage roll and weapon aim, but really we are using the gun’s utility as a component of our combo loops so inscriptions are really supplementary here. Though look out for %weapon mag size, both on the gun and across your build as it will help a lot to alleviate the constant reloading that you have to work into your movement due to the 3 burst standard magazine

Renewed Courage

• Perhaps the most important piece of the puzzle. Selected for two reasons, it’s an LMG which means Focused Freeze will proc an ice prime on a 10 hit streak and It has the highest rate of fire among LMG’s and will thus reach that hit streak in about the same time as it takes for a Ralner’s to prime. I call it the ice Ralner’s. This ability to quickly freeze will be crucial to our devastating fire/ice infinite combo loops. Its worth noting as well that when decently rolled, Renewed Courage is among the 3 or 4 guns that do meaningful damage in GM3. It excels at shield breaking and we will use it to do just that. In addition to using the incredible shield breaking power of running/flying Colossus shield collision’s as well. Mine has: a total of 218% weapon damage / 35% repair drop rate / 25% weap reload speed. (actually useful in this case considering how much we need to reload and LMG reload times)

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Melee Weapon

Meteor Smash

• This makes up the other half of those fire/ice loops I mentioned. This is a gigantic fire primer, but the part we’ll be abusing here is that it leaves a large puddle of fire on the ground that continues to prime whatever unfortunate thing you’ve selected as a target. Combine that with a continuous and persistent detonator striking in the background and constant freezing?…Well, you’ll see. Mine has: a total of 47% Dmg / 10% repair amnt

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Gear

Solvent Green

• If you’re running a combo Colossus, take it from me, don’t run anything else in this slot. Just don’t…if you have questions, read the yellow text in its description. Mine has: 25% Dmg / 30% Repair Drop Rate / 19% Grenlaun Ammo (does not affect mag size FYI)

Vassa’s Arc

• This fires a medium range, auto seeking lightning bolt in the direction you are looking, once every second. In some ways this gear is totally unique because it operates differently from anything else. For one thing, activation works like an on/off switch. Which means flip it on, and it won’t stop until it runs out of charges, or you switch it off, whatever comes first. This presents a unique challenge when it comes to charge management, Especially if you don't have extra charges, but also incredible rewards if you are prepared to face that challenge. Namely, it is the only gear in the game which will continue to fire regardless of ANYTHING happening. This means once switched on, you can fire your gun, melee, fly, shield, and even use your ultimate, without it ever stopping. The ONLY thing that cancels it, and I mean only, is use of your support, due to how support cancelling works. Mine has: 60% Gear Charges / 40% Support Recharge / 150% Gear Dmg

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Support Item

Berserker’s Cry

• Perhaps the best support in the game. Anything (for quite some range) in front of you is debuffed from ALL damage by 33 percent. This crucially includes combo’s and ultimate damage. If you don't have extra charges you’ll have to use this only on the strongest targets, as its recharge time is incredibly slow, but in my case with 200% charges I use it on any enemy that won’t die in one combo. I’ll show you how I incorporate this into my loops at the end of this guide. Mine has: 200% Gear Charges / 35% Ammo Drop Rate / 23% Ordinance Launcher Recharge

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Colossus Components

We always want to get rid of as many javelin specific components as possible since they cannot roll any of the most critical inscriptions in the game (ie: armor, jav dmg, melee dmg, ultimate damage, combo blast/impact dmg) but nonetheless every class has its javelin specific components that have perks that outweigh its more “supplementary” rolls.

Shock Treatment

• Again colossus privilege, one of the best components in the game. Just become 80% stronger for free. All the time. Includes combo’s and ult. IMPORTANT NOTE: Unless you have a universal with a total of more than 50% combo blast, or maybe one with very good combo blast roll and a very good ultimate roll. You should use catalytic overdrive in place of either the Thermal Cooling, Softened Blows, or Feedback Loop that are outlined here as it is a free combo blast double roll.

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Universal Components

Here we just want to stack as much %Combo Blast Dmg as possible. You’re free to strike your own balance of %Combo Blast Dmg to %Ult Dmg, but having optimized Colossus Ult builds before, I would recommend leaning heavily toward Combo if you are looking for DPS, only putting Ult rolls where it would not take away Combo rolls.

Since Symbiotic Surge and Focused Freeze are absolutely critical universals to this build, you should keep them regardless of their rolls until you get better ones in my opinion.

Thermal Cooling

• Just a stat stick. Use whatever ‘uni’s’ have the best rolls. Mine has: 45% Ult Dmg / 23% Combo Blast Dmg

Feedback Loop

• Just a stat stick. Use whatever ‘uni’s’ have the best rolls. Mine has: A total of 50% Combo Blast Dmg

Symbiotic Surge

• This is always procced in Colossus’ case. And it functions as a double roll of Ult and Combo damage. A must have. Mine has: 85% Armor Max / 21% Combo Blast Dmg

Softened Blows

• Though this is usually a great component, Colossus, (at least in these kinds of aggressive DPS builds), rarely uses its shield. Instead you rely on fast kill times and some repair drop rate rolls to survive as you go, so this is basically just a stat stick. Use whatever ‘uni’s’ have the best rolls.Mine has: 33% Combo Blast / 33% Ult Dmg

Focused Freeze

• This allows your LMG to prime ice with a quick burst of shots, I’ll explain how to best use this ability shortly. Mine has: 31% Combo Blast / 30% Ult Dmg

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Playstyle and Benefits

This build is a beast. It really has everything. The main things it challenges the player with are:

1. Movement

Tips: as with any medium to close range Colossus build, movement is a challenge, but not one that can’t be overcome. A well piloted Colossus is hardly any slower around the battle field as any other Javelin, and really should only be feeling its speed deficit in between rooms or during a long stretch. Some good practices would be:

   • Jump and immediately fly at a low altitude to the next enemy after a kill.

   • Learn to short hop melee (cancels melee startup animation) and activate shield after melee (cancels melee standup animation) consistently, as it saves about a 1/2 second per melee, which over the course of a large stronghold room where you are possibly melee’ing 50 or so times, could add up to you finishing the room 20 seconds earlier.

2. Vassa’s Charges

Tips: the only time you should let Vassa’s run is when you’ve decided to begin a juggle. Otherwise on things that will die in one combo, your loop will be: Melee>turn Vassa’s on>wait for the spark and detonation>turn it off.

This way you really shouldn’t ever be running out of charges even if you don’t have any extra charges. Those rolls are really just to help you have some left after you perform a long juggle.

3. Juggle Loops

Tips: when it’s time to take down an enemy with a large health pool, this build lives and dies by its combo loops. You will either fumble around with all its options, or let it really open up what it can do. It all depends on how well practiced you are with your loops.

The most optimal that I have found is:

On your flight to an enemy activate melee and Vassa’s simultaneously (Yes, Vassa’s will receive inputs while other moves are input. It’s weird.) If you were flying low as I mentioned, the melee will prime right as Vassa’s sparks, detonating your fire prime instantly>support cry (this will cancel your Vassa’s so turn it back on as the cry is finishing)>fire Sentinels Vengeance>switch guns>fire LMG non-stop until its dead.

If you did all that correctly, you will have landed with a fire detonate, weakened them, detonated your strongest combo (acid), and then Vassa’s detonated constantly as the enemy’s prime status was continually flipped between ice and fire due to the LMG and the puddle of fire they were standing in.

With a little practice, these challenges will melt away in huge explosions and whatever weird sound Colossus yells out. Have fun!

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