With the arrival of the Season of the Void Brethren comes another balance package of greater volume, this one focusing on the Tech-Adept class. The list of changes are too long to be discussed here in detail, but other more significant ones are going to be covered in the guide below. To make things easier, we prepared an example build for you to try - and adjust on the run, of course. Have fun!

Construct weapon items are gone as we knew them, replaced by a simple resource-based upgrade system. Two module types have been removed which means less inventory management, but a larger pool of Godlike enchants on the remaining modules compensates. Weapon items’ powerful Godlike enchants like “Electric arcs on melee hit” or “Chance to trigger a Fabricator Scatter Field” are now available in two main enchant-pools (defensive and offensive) on Construct modules instead. 

Another substantial change is the complete renewal of the class-specific passive trees of the Tech-Adept. You’re no longer required to spend passive points to unlock construct weapons (they come by reaching a fairly low level requirement), but certain skills which affect construct behavior (like charging, or extra AoE attacks) still remain optional and can be specialized towards. There are more passives to choose from, more ultimate passives to reach and a new requirement system in work: instead of following certain paths of passives, you only have to reach a set number of minor passives to be able to choose ultimate passives from the tree.

Here is the first of many build variants we think are viable at higher levels.

Flamer Tarantula Specialist

This kit is based on the new turret-arrive mechanism – this does AoE damage, slows/knocks down, and receives bonuses from any affix with physical or AoE bonus. Combining its effect with the new unlockable passive ability “Inextinguishable Promethium” (which gives Tarantula Flamer’s attack a Flee tag) grants you the tools to keep all enemies under constant crowd control.

Important note: The turret's impact damage is calculated based on the TA's own stats, including the character's AoE damage bonus and the character's physical damage bonus, so we're going to try to increase these two stats as much as possible.

Equipped Constructs:

Starting on a map you can basically set up any Alpha weapon to use its extra slot to summon your Kataphron Destroyer, then immediately switch to your secondary set, a Voltaic Axe Beta from where you can summon the rest: 3 Flamer Turrets and a Gamma Turret.

Itemization:

• Any Alpha weapon for primary, Voltaic Axe Beta as your secondary weapon - you’ll use this during combat.
• Technomartyr Girdle and Technomartyr Vestment for extra summon slots

Psalm Doctrines:

• Alpha weapon: +125% Heat Damage. Affects Constructs as well.
• Main Implant: +70% Heat Damage. Affects Constructs as well.
• Inoculator: +70% Physical Damage. Affects Constructs as well.
• Technomartyr Vestment: All AoE attacks affect a 30% smaller area but gain +150% Damage
• Voltaic Axe Beta: +200% Damage against Shocked, Slowed or Stunned enemies

Main Enchants:

• “+x Shield Charge gained for every point of Dataflux spent” – You can find this on an Archeotech Purity Seal, or Ancient Relic Technomartyr Girdle. That’s the only enchant we consider essential on really high level. 
• Seasonal Enchants like the Static-Flux Armor’s “+x% chance to trigger Thunderbolt of Authority” work nice too. 
• We used the “+x HP Regeneration for every Vulnerability stack Inflicted” Godlike on our Relic Inoculator.
• Other than that, you should have damage bonus for AoE skills, Debuff-based damage bonuses, HP and max. Dataflux Enchants.

Attributes:

Perks:

• Artificial Organs + Self Flagellation for extreme Dataflux regen. Infoslave Protocols as the third equipped Perk.

Passives:

• All the Tarantula-related passives on the right side of the Construct Specialization tree. On the Construct Ability tree you need to have Inextinguishable Promethium. I picked all points on the Area Effects passive tree, and the right side of the Construct Offense tree. Pick at least 6 points for Cooldown reduction on the Movement tree (including Cerebral Feedback)
• The Support tree’s “Invigorating Faith” is pretty much a must for every TA build.
• Basically these are the main pillars you can build towards when developing your character if you would like to use this AoE-smash/heavy cc playstyle. It’s viable on 10+ difficulty missions, fun to play and is quite safe.