How Vex actually scales (and why your element matters)

Vex’s kit pivots on Phase Covenant: your equipped gun’s element attunes your action skill and melee. That single lever drives three clean progressions.

  • Early: Dead Ringer spectres do the heavy lifting while you stack gun, crit, and fire‑rate kill skills.
  • Midgame: lifesteal and shields combine into a sustained amp loop that turns every accurate shot into a spike.
  • Endgame: Kinetic bleed becomes the centerpiece, with short windows of guaranteed crits to force massive, stacking damage over time while Incarnate keeps your lifesteal and gun bonuses rolling.

Element swapping isn’t optional. Carry at least Incendiary, Shock, and Corrosive to attune clones for boss bars and to keep random rooms from stalling.

Skill path (level 1–50) that doesn’t waste points

Level range Tree Priority skills and augments What this unlocks
1–7 The Fourth Seal (Dead Ringer) 5 points into Cold Iron; equip Coven after your first augment. Flat gun damage for you and spectres; Coven adds crit chance on spectre spawns and regen on reapers.
8–12 Fourth Seal + Vexcalation Grave Assault (kill skill fire rate); start crit scaling with a small investment in early crit/kill skills. Clones fire faster, your guns feel snappier; easier momentum between packs.
13–20 The Fourth Seal Blood Sacrifice (kill skills trigger when a minion dies) → points into Grave Fiends and Grave Quickening. Kill skills stay up via clone turnover; faster action skill cooldown for constant spectres.
20–27 Vexcalation Essence Leech and Leeching Attunement (lifesteal and reload while Kinetic); add Conjunction later. Midgame sustain comes online; sets up shield amp loop while keeping DPS consistent.
28–35 The Fourth Seal Round out sustain and damage nodes to stabilize spectres; if you’re clone‑focused, pick up Dark Pact capstone and Wither augment. Dark Pact pauses clone decay and accelerates their attacks; Wither adds status damage and an “increased damage taken” window.
35–42 Vexcalation Material Components (Kinetic damage + Kinetic DoT damage), Bloodletter (crits apply Bleed), Grave Vitality. Bleed becomes a primary damage source; lifesteal and Kinetic bonuses stack on top.
42–50 Vexcalation + Fourth Seal Max remaining Bleed/status picks; add one‑point Attunements (e.g., Burning Attunement) and finish Grave Fiends. Optional: Diener (extra Dead Ringer charge). Endgame bleed uptime with crit windows; flexible swap back to clones for mobbing or boss phases.

Alternate endgame path: a “Blood Shot” route uses a class mod that procs a Kinetic shot conversion on crits; pair it with multi‑projectile weapons that count as multiple gun types to trigger it every shot. It trades DoT ramp for instant burst and is especially potent on bosses.

Early game (1–20): Dead Ringer spectres that clean rooms

Start with spectres, not reapers, and place them where they can see lanes. You’re stacking basic multipliers: gun damage (Cold Iron), crit chance (Coven on spectre spawn), fire rate (Grave Assault). Use Maliwan element‑swap guns to quickly retune your action skill before each summon.

  • Weapons: Maliwan for quick attunement and status uptime; Vladof ARs with extra barrels or launcher underbarrels for burst.
  • Ordnance: a basic Throwing Knife with a damage‑amp payload marks targets and accelerates your first kill skill chain.
  • Shield/repkit: any comfortable capacity or utility shield; repkits that grant cooldown or a single shot of Amp are already valuable here.

Rotation: drop spectres at elevation, tag a target with your knife for the damage‑taken window, swap to the best element, and keep kill skills active by moving your clones and finishing weakened targets.

Midgame (20–35): the Teen Witch + Sparky amp loop

This phase is a simple loop: lifesteal fills shields, shields feed Amp, Amp spikes your next shot, and short‑range engagements chain lightning arcs for incidental AoE.

Component What to look for Why it matters
Class mod Teen Witch with points in lifesteal/kinetic picks Converts lifesteal to shields/overshields while you’re at max HP, making Amp uptime trivial.
Shield Amped Sparky with a high Amp roll; “Short Circuit” behavior is a plus Reliable Amp on hit; the arc chains clean mobs and reset the loop.
Skills Essence Leech, Leeching Attunement, Conjunction, continued Grave Assault Locks in sustain and raises gun damage at full shields to maximize Amp value.

Play it tight: maintain accurate, close‑range hits to keep Amp shots cycling; stay near clusters to let arcs do ambient work; refresh kill skills via clone attrition or quick pickoffs.

Endgame (35–50): Bleed windows and Incarnate uptime

At cap, Vex can delete bosses by forcing a short critical window and flooding Bleed stacks. The simplest trigger is a Throwing Knife with a Penetrator augment—damage to the tagged target crits for a few seconds. That window pushes Bleed into critical ticks and accelerates stacking on tanky enemies. Keep your main gun Kinetic during these windows to leverage lifesteal damage bonuses and the Kinetic status scaling you’ve invested in.

Two viable finishers:

  • Bleed + Incarnate sustain: Activate Incarnate for doubled lifesteal and kinetic damage bonuses; tag the boss with your knife; swap to a high‑impact Kinetic gun (Jakobs shotgun or fast AR) to stack Bleed while you keep Repkit and kill‑skill cycles moving.
  • Blood Shot burst: Use a class mod that converts shots to Kinetic on crit and weapons that count as multiple gun types (multi‑projectile shotguns, or a flexible legendary “counts as all” gun) to trigger it on every shot. It’s a straight burst alternative to bleed ramping and pairs well with a flat HP shield to scale the passive.

Keep clones in your pocket for rooms and certain boss scripts: Dark Pact refreshes and hurries them, Wither adds a short “take increased damage” debuff, and Diener grants a second charge for repositioning spectres mid‑phase.

Weapons and gear that consistently work on Vex

Slot Best bets Notes
Guns Maliwan (element swap), Jakobs shotguns/pistols, fast Vladof AR/SMG Maliwan lets you attune clones instantly; Jakobs ricochets and high single‑shot damage are ideal for knife windows; Vladof alt‑fires (spread/knife/shotgun) deliver boss spikes.
Ordnance Throwing Knife with Penetrator (boss) or a Damage Amp payload (general) Penetrator creates forced‑crit windows; amp payloads are reliable for wave clear.
Shields Amped Sparky loop; Firewerks for on‑kill rockets Pick Amp for single‑target bursts; Firewerks shines while mobbing or drill sites.
Class mods Teen Witch (midgame amp loop), Illusionist (clone damage/uptime), Undead Eye (Blood Shot burst) Choose based on your phase: sustain loop, minion pressure, or instant bossing.
Enhancements Jakobs Bounce Pass / Sequencer; general gun crit/reload/ricochet rolls Extra ricochets and stacking crit damage benefit both gun and on‑kill effects.
Firmware Deadeye 3‑piece; optional 2‑piece Trickshot or other gun‑centric sets Deadeye’s accuracy and crit damage stacks line up with Bleed windows and Jakobs play.

Specializations that map cleanly to each phase

Phase Core picks Why these
Early clones Riddle You This, In The Zone Stacking gun damage while aiming complements spectre crit chance from Coven.
Mid shield loop The Best Defense Damage scales off the larger of shield/health pools; perfect during overshields.
Endgame bleed Riddle You This, In The Zone, Contamination Gun damage and crit stacks feed Bleed application; Contamination pushes status chance.
Cooldown cycling Now With Caffeine (Daredevil) Repkit usage cuts action skill cooldown to keep spectres/Incarnate available.

Rotations that cut through rooms and bosses

Rooms and drills

  • Place spectres high with clear sightlines; avoid melee range placements.
  • Open with a throwing knife to prime buffs, then swap to the right element before firing.
  • If you’re in the shield loop, stay close and accurate to sustain Amp and let arcs chain.

Bossing

  • Knife‑tag the boss to open a guaranteed crit window; swap to your highest real DPS gun.
  • Pair an Amp repkit with a single‑hit alt‑fire (spread/launcher) or Jakobs burst for the first spike.
  • Use Dark Pact on clones for scripted burn phases, or keep Incarnate up for lifesteal‑fed gun bonuses.

Smart farms while leveling

  • Splashzone: forgiving farm for strong shotguns and fireworks‑style shields; a good reset spot mid‑campaign.
  • Shadowpelt (Encore): target solid Sparky shield rolls to set up the amp loop before 35.
  • Radix (Carcadia vault): source for Teen Witch to convert lifesteal into shields/overshields.

Keep up with Bounty Contracts and Side Quests to stay on level; cycle the Encore machine when your gun pool falls behind the zone.

Common mistakes that stall Vex

  • Not swapping elements: your attunement is your lever; carry Fire/Shock/Corrosive at minimum.
  • Riding early skills into late game: respec around 30–35 to convert into lifesteal/shield or early bleed.
  • Ignoring repkits: Amp or cooldown kits dramatically change boss TTK and action skill uptime.

Vex’s strength is that she doesn’t lock you in: clones speed up story, the shield loop flattens midgame, and bleed wins the arms race at 50. Build around the phase you’re in, keep your attunement honest, and swap confidently between mobbing and boss delete tools as the fight demands.