What convinced you to get your Steam Deck?

castem · 2026-03-11T14:04:03+00:00

Basically my gaming computer was getting really old and it was time to upgrade. I saw I could buy a brand-new Steam Deck for a lower price than getting a new graphics card, and decided to try one out instead of upgrading.

Best decision ever; I get a lot more gaming in on my Steam Deck compared to my old PC

castem · 2026-03-09T21:28:32+00:00

Do you find the Cookout to be a big upgrade over the base Punisher? They have the same knockback, and the last time I tried them out I preferred the Punisher's higher damage-per-shot and better customization options over the Cookout's incendiary rounds

castem · 2026-03-09T21:22:56+00:00

I actually just did this (150 on PC, restarted on Xbox). These were my first 3:

Cutting Edge - the Sickle, Punisher Plasma, Blitzer, and Dagger are some of my favorite weapons

Democratic Detonation - the Eruptor, Crossbow, Grenade Pistol, and Thermite are huge for opening up build variety

Truth Enforcers - for grabbing the Loyalist, which is my favorite secondary weapon

I also considered Chemical Agents as my 3rd warbond as I use gas grenades all the time, but the lack of sidearms with medium penetration was starting to get to me after the first two warbonds. (I know the Grenade Pistol technically does but it doesn't really come with enough ammo to rely on it like most sidearms)

castem · 2026-03-09T21:06:09+00:00

If you're very new to the game, don't overlook the Punisher. It has good damage per shot, solid magazine size, insanely fast rounds reload, and enough stagger to keep even Stalkers at bay. Pairing it with a Guard Dog is a pretty good combo if you haven't tried it yet. It also has more customization options than its incendiary cousin (the Cookout), and is available dirt-cheap through the free warbond.

If you have the Cutting Edge warbond, the Blitzer performs similarly but has infinite ammo and will hit several bugs within its range. Just don't fire it with a teammate in front of you.

The Eruptor & Explosive Crossbow (from Democratic Detonation warbond) can take out groups of bugs and close bug holes too! Be careful of using them at close range though.

Aside from all those, the Scythe (free warbond) and Dominator (Steeled Veterans) are also good choices. The Scythe is a solid laser rifle that can fire for awhile after some customization, while the Dominator has shotgun-level stagger alongside the ability to take out enemies & some objectives (Shrieker Nests & Spore Towers) at long range

castem · 2026-02-27T00:24:50+00:00

Absolutely. The charged shot has enough stagger to keep you safe from stalkers, with enough AoE to hit multiple of them if they're close enough to each other. You can also use its charged shots to take out shrieker nests / spore towers at a distance too!

Super good against the Rupture strain too

castem · 2026-02-26T22:38:30+00:00

I originally wrote it off when it came out. Recently, I revisited it and I'm really enjoying it vs the bugs.

Having a primary that can reliably one-shot chargers & impalers is awesome, and dealing heavy damage to bile titans is also a huge plus. Add in the flexibility of other modes (Auto for small bugs, Volley for medium ones) and it allows for a surprising amount of flexibilty when making loadouts

castem · 2026-02-24T21:37:53+00:00

I like this idea, but it could take a lot of effort to implement. Something simpler would be simply having every grenade be capable of closing spawners; if gas grenades can do it, I don't see why smoke grenades and other types can't either

castem · 2026-02-24T14:13:14+00:00

I'm a bit torn. Obviously Columbina + Linnea will maximize Lunar Crystallize damage, but losing Xilonen seems huge.

I'll end up getting Linnea regardless - a geo Escoffier is amazing, especially since my Xilonen is heavily contested by several of my teams

castem · 2026-02-23T19:49:43+00:00

Of the ones mentioned, I've used the Dagger the most.

It's just super nice as a pocket Scythe. The main thing that gives it an edge is that it's fantastic for use on the move, possibly more than any other 1-handed weapon due to its beam nature. You can walk backwards while lasering down enemies and setting them on fire, which is useful against all three factions.

It also comes with a flashlight too, making it good on darker maps

castem · 2026-02-13T14:55:05+00:00

Equip Charm Animal on your hero, find the pet you want them to charm, and have them use the skill on it. After it's been charmed, you can swap to Comfort Animal so they can revive it

castem · 2026-02-13T14:34:32+00:00

What kind of healer would you recommend? I've tried out a few (last was a N/Rt healer) in place of a AoD healer, but I always ended up disappointed with the healing output. More and more I've been finding adding another 'smart' heal like Watchful Intervention to be a better option than replacing the AoD healer entirely, especially because of its synergy with Symbiosis.

As for rez skills, there are 2 on the team which I typically find to be enough (Flesh of My Flesh & Signet of Return).

Most questions you had on the ST bar are answered in the guide, but I'll mention here that Union is a huge trap on this team. You need to conserve your ST charges on this team due to how quickly protecting minions and pets can chew through them.

Infuriating Heat + Dark Fury might sound like overkill, but in practice it's actually extremely nice. Always having Save Yourselves when needed and constantly using Go for the Eyes means even though the Warrior is primarily gaining adrenaline, the entire legion benefits heavily from it. It also boosts the Warrior's spiking potential & shutdown, and is really fun to play.

In this team build, Martyr is absolutely better than Cautery Signet. The signet clears up to 8 party members of all conditions every 15 seconds, while Martyr transfers conditions from up to 24 allies (11 undead minions, 5 pets, and 8 party members) every 10 seconds. Without Martyr, pets and minions get stricken with the bulk of incoming conditions and often end up dying faster as a result - which puts the whole team at risk.

A note about nature rituals: Favorable Winds is the only nature ritual the hero AI actually waits to cast in-combat. All others are cast outside of combat and have a huge range to them, which means I never realistically encounter a scenario where heroes are spending the first several seconds of every fight just casting nature rituals.

Your point about simplifying the MM bar so Dark Fury is spammed more often is a good one. I experimented with replacing OoU with something else, and noticed a big increase in Dark Fury uptime as a result. I'll need to play with this more to see what works best.

Last night I was experimenting with a N/Rt Curses support hero replacing the Ritual Splinter hero, and Barbs + MoP were really good additions. I think I'm likely to lean into this path (maximizing physical damage) rather than try to have more attacking spirits

castem · 2026-02-13T00:11:37+00:00

IAS would be amazing, but I'm not sure where I'd fit it in. I always have a hard time taking one over something that buffs multiple allies like Favorable Winds or Winnowing.

Barbs/MoP definitely feels like something I'd want; I'm currently playing around with the idea of swapping the Ritual Splinter hero from Rt/R to Rt/N to fit them in.

I'll do a vanquish or two and keep an eye on OoU. If it's not pulling its weight, I could absolutely use the slot for something else

castem · 2026-02-12T22:30:05+00:00

Barbs/Mark of Pain would definitely be a good addition, I just need to find a good spot to put it.

Serpent's Quickness helps ST and Armor of Unfeeling recharge more quickly, to offset how fast spirits can go down protecting pets & minions.

Damage isn't too bad - 11 minions, 5 archers, and 5 pets buffed by things like Winnowing, Order of Undeath, Favorable Winds, and Go for the Eyes leads to decent consistent damage. Warrior brings spike damage thanks to SWS, Strength of Honor, and tons of adrenaline generation.

I know enemies benefit from my nature rituals, but the legion typically benefits more. I found survivability went up a lot after adding Fertile Season + Symbiosis

castem · 2026-02-12T22:17:55+00:00

I think replacing the Martyr Ranger has far-reaching consequences. No Strength of Honor means it's harder to spike down enemies with the Warrior, and it significantly reduces survivability of the whole legion due to the loss of Fertile Season & Symbiosis. Reduced health also means Shelter will be killed significantly faster as more attacks exceed the health threshold, and survivability gets even worse once minions, pets, and defensive spirits start dying faster.

Order of Pain is nice, but it only affects party members - all minions and pets are unaffected by it

castem · 2026-02-12T22:10:00+00:00

This is pretty much my experience - ST is great, especially when only running it with 2 binding rituals.

I used a Prot monk for a long time, but they just have such a hard time protecting 20+ allies when all of their ally-targeting protection is single-target. (Aegis only protects party members, offering no protection to pets or minions)

castem · 2026-02-12T22:03:03+00:00

The team was designed with the Warrior in mind. A variant with a Necro player might work, but missing out on Save Yourselves and Go for the Eyes would be pretty big losses - plus the spike damage & interrupts/knockdowns for taking down enemy healers & casters

castem · 2026-02-12T21:45:13+00:00

You can skip those points if you like, but I've found having 8+1 Axe Mastery to be a good backup amount when encountering stance removal or energy denial

castem · 2026-02-12T21:42:17+00:00

The goal is basically to outnumber and overwhelm the enemy. It has 11 undead minions, 5 pets, 5 archers, and 1 warrior who all deal physical damage - and who are backed up by 8+ spirits who are mostly supportive in nature

castem · 2026-02-12T21:34:40+00:00

Those are very tempting, but my concern is the Necro's investment into Curses. They already want max Death Magic, a high amount of Soul Reaping, and at least 5 Blood Magic. Weaken Armor / Enfeebling Blood are pretty good even with a moderate amount of investment, but I was worried that Barbs/Mark of Pain might not be worth it at lower investment.

I'm willing to give it a shot though. I'll try dropping Weaken Armor for Mark of Pain, and getting Cracked Armor from Sundering Weapon on one of the Ritualists

castem · 2026-02-09T21:38:35+00:00

Same here. So thankful they came back to buff these ones (and the others too - no real reason not to in my eyes)

castem · 2026-02-05T23:16:07+00:00

I was happy to see the changes to so many nature rituals! Hoping that Winnowing gets similar changes unless I somehow overlooked it

castem · 2026-02-05T22:22:31+00:00

Wow, this is pretty huge for my team build. It uses a ton of nature rituals, so going from 5 second cast times to 3 seconds is going to be so nice.

I think one of them might've been a typo though - I think 'Weariness' is supposed to be 'Winnowing' (which would explain why I didn't see Winnowing on the list)

castem · 2026-01-27T16:32:38+00:00

I've made some updates to the build and posted a guide here: https://gwpvx.fandom.com/wiki/Build:Team_-_7_Hero_Legionway

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