RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
Tear off the chains and the entire world will be free.
INTRODUCTION
The Monarch is arguably the strongest assault weapon in the game if you’re not being specific about who is using it. But Vladof certainly did not craft it with a certain ex-soldier of theirs in mind. It’s non-splash for starters, it spews lots of projectiles per shot, has a pretty high fire rate and its superior DPS via its bipod mode prevents Rushin’ Offensive from being active.
Russian Revolution is Moze’s way of flipping the bird to her former employers and wringing the absolute hell out of their most prized assault rifle. Because the Demolition Woman skill tree plays no part in this build, Iron Cub + Baby Nukes is equipped with Salamanders + Molten Roar for both swift self-destruction and for leaving behind lava puddles that can do significant ticks of damage. We are prioritising all the skills that will give us plenty of gun damage and fire rate.
In a previous iteration of the build, Forge was active and provided great assistance. But in further testing, I found out that this build can perform even better in DPS by investing enough in all three of the featured skill trees to reach the 5th tier as each of them has a key skill. Some for the Road is absolutely vital, Phalanx Doctrine in this build can promote more DPS and survivability in totality than what the skill’s card suggests, and Superior Firepower warrants making sure The Monarch is either cryo or anointed with cryo damage N2M after ASE.
GEAR
Eternal Flame is the only viable class mod for a constant ASE build. Although Nitrotrinadium Engines can give you a cooldown boost when RNG isn’t being kind to you, the featured weapon tends to be pretty reliable in terms of igniting enemies. Focus on farming for one that drops with passive bonuses such as assault rifle damage and Vladof weapon fire rate.
Vladof Company Man is required to get the most performance out of the assault rifle of the hour. Pretty much any bonus stat will be worthwhile. Obviously the best three are gun damage, crit damage and fire rate. If you can get magazine size as a passive bonus, then even better.
Super Soldier anointed with shield effects activating on action skill start is what you need if you want to spray and pray without concern for your survivability. Provided you are consistent with your input, you should be sitting pretty in bubble after bubble.
Mesmer is great if you need to take the heat off of yourself at any given moment. You will want this with 50% bonus elemental damage after ASE for certain.
FINAL NOTES
There are of course other ways besides an ASE build in which Moze can use The Monarch but I specifically wanted her to go the non-splash route in order to justify the disgustingly fast fire rate and heaps of gun damage on offer. I’ve always struggled to put together an AR build for Moze that was powerful enough for all content and at the same time, feeling fun enough to run regularly and sustain my interest for longer periods of time. After successfully clearing the Guardian Breach on true takedown difficulty and slaying Hemovorous, even with just a shock AR anointed with 100% cryo damage N2M, I am certainly content with the finished article.
The Monarch is actually a very reliable weapon for triggering the COM’s special effect with Big Surplus so either you get your cooldown refunded very quickly, or you get massively compensated with Mayhem-scaled bonus incendiary damage on top of the most powerful assault rifle in the game: win-win. The quicker you can cycle through summoning Cub and getting him to self-destruct, the quicker you can refresh Some for the Road to use with the shield’s 50% bonus fire rate. Combine this with how much Phalanx Doctrine synergises with the Super Soldier and you may as well be living in your own bubble. Having some form of cryo damage for Superior Firepower to double is the icing on the cake!
