Baruuk: Tharros wraith

Baruuk: Tharros wraith

Baruuk is a pacifist monk, embodying the philosophy that the best defense is a strong offense. Using restraint as a resource, he depletes it to unleash Serene Storm, delivering a remarkably powerful offense. His playstyle seamlessly blends defense and offense. Defensively, his abilities provide unparalleled utility, including damage reduction, projectile evasion, enemy disarmament, and crowd control through sleep effects. Offensively, his Serene Storm and exalted melee weapon, Desert Wind, take center stage.

Desert Wind doesn’t consume energy but instead relies on restraint management, delivering devastating wave-like area attacks capable of clearing entire rooms. This means he can easily handle Steel Path and beyond, effortlessly tackling level-cap enemies. Restraint regenerates while using Serene Storm but can be decreased by using his other abilities.

Counters

Hard Counters

Nullification of ability damage or crowd control significantly reduces your effectiveness, potentially leaving you unable to decrease restraint.

Baruuk’s reliance on restraint makes him vulnerable in low-enemy-density missions, where it’s difficult to deplete restraint quickly enough. This is why he thrives in Steel Path and endgame content, where enemies spawn constantly. A lack of enemies is his real final boss.

Soft Counters

Damage-over-time effects and stray hits are dangerous due to his squishy nature. Tick damage, in particular, is a persistent threat. Melee attacks are another concern to keep in mind.

Build Path

A friend of mine once called this frame a god of destruction. When I showed them the damage numbers, their jaws hit the floor. This build focuses on Serene Storm, elevating its damage to absurd levels, regularly reaching hundreds of millions. With this setup, you’ll be one-punching the strongest units in the game—they’ll be begging for mercy.

This build is undeniably expensive, but the good news is that you don’t need to hit this level of power to make Baruuk shine. You’ll need to invest in both Baruuk and Desert Wind, which requires quite a few forma. However, if you want to wield this kind of overkill, it’s worth the investment. I’ll also cover the stat stick melee build—not necessary, but useful to understand this hidden mechanic.

You’ll need to decide on your playstyle: low duration for spamming Lull to reduce restraint quickly or higher duration for a slower but safer approach. Personally, I lean toward a high-risk, low-duration playstyle, focusing on high power strength, decent range, and just a touch of efficiency to offset Blind Rage.

Build: Baruuk, Serene Storm, and Stat Stick

Stat Sticks

Stat sticks allow you to gain bonuses from other weapons and apply them elsewhere. Here, I’m using Venka Prime mods to boost Desert Wind. This hidden mechanic is something most players won’t know about. However, it has limitations; not all bonuses are applied universally.

Desert Wind doesn’t benefit from raw damage mods but does from quality-of-life mods like combo count and combo duration. The stat stick applies its combo bonus to Serene Storm, but you’ll need to keep refreshing the combo duration. This can feel awkward, but it enables higher uptime for red critical strikes, which deal significantly more damage than yellow or orange.

Build Options

You can focus on:

  • Slam attacks
  • Hybrid quick attack with slam build
  • Heavy attack-focused Serene Storm

I prefer the hybrid build, but all three are viable.

Mod Recommendations

Core Mods

  1. Reactive Storm (Augment Mod)
    • Effect: Increases Desert Wind’s damage and grants additional bonus damage based on the enemy’s weaknesses.
    • Why it’s used: Enhances Serene Storm by adapting to enemy resistances, making it more effective in various missions.
  2. Primed Flow
    • Effect: Increases energy capacity significantly.
    • Why it’s used: Provides a larger energy pool, essential for casting abilities frequently.
  3. Fleeting Expertise
    • Effect: Reduces ability duration but increases efficiency.
    • Why it’s used: Works well in builds focused on spamming abilities like Lull to deplete restraint quickly.
  4. Stretch and Augur Reach
    • Stretch: Increases ability range.
    • Augur Reach: Increases range and provides a shield bonus when casting abilities.
    • Why they’re used: Boost the range of abilities like Lull for better crowd control and synergy with shield-gating mechanics.

Flex Mods

  1. Primed Sure Footed
    • Effect: Provides complete immunity to knockdowns.
    • Why it’s used: Ensures uninterrupted gameplay during intense combat, crucial for maintaining combos.
  2. Nira’s Hatred
    • Effect: Increases health and ability duration.
    • Why it’s used: Offers survivability and slightly boosts duration for abilities, useful in certain builds.
  3. Precision Intensity
    • Effect: Increases ability strength while reducing duration.
    • Why it’s used: Amplifies damage output for Desert Wind while aligning with negative-duration builds.

Alternative Mods

  1. Umbral Mods (Umbral Vitality, Umbral Intensify)
    • Umbral Vitality: Boosts health and synergizes with other Umbral mods for set bonuses.
    • Umbral Intensify: Increases ability strength significantly.
    • Why they’re used: Provide survivability (Vitality) and damage amplification (Intensify) for a more robust build.
  2. Adaptation
    • Effect: Grants resistance to damage types upon being hit, stacking over time.
    • Why it’s used: Enhances survivability, especially for Baruuk’s “squishy” nature.
  3. Steel Charge (Aura Mod)
    • Effect: Increases melee weapon damage.
    • Why it’s used: Boosts Desert Wind’s damage and provides additional mod capacity.
  4. Augur Secrets
    • Effect: Increases ability strength and contributes to shield-gating with energy conversion to shields.
    • Why it’s used: Improves power strength and enhances survivability through shields.
  5. Natural Talent
    • Effect: Speeds up ability casting animations.
    • Why it’s used: Improves gameplay fluidity by reducing downtime during casting.

Helminth Abilities

You don’t need Helminth abilities, but some great options can replace Elude, which is slow at reducing restraint. Lull is far better for quick restraint reduction with a negative duration setup.

  • Tharros Strike (Styanax)
    • Effect: Strips enemy armour and shields while restoring health.
    • Why it’s used: Addresses Baruuk’s lack of healing and armour/shield stripping, enhancing both survivability and offensive potential.
  • Pillage (Hildryn)
    • Effect: Restores shields and armour while stripping enemy defences.
    • Why it’s used: Similar to Tharros Strike but focuses more on shields. Adjusts build dynamics depending on personal preference.
  • Nourish (Grendel)
    • Effect: Provides energy regeneration and boosts Viral damage.
    • Why it’s used: Amplifies Desert Wind’s damage potential and supports energy economy.

Synergies

Companions

Pick a companion that complements your playstyle:

  • Wyrm: Blocks lethal status effects.
  • Panzer Vulpaphyla: Great universal option.
  • Dethcube: Helps manage energy issues caused by Blind Rage.
  • Adarza Kavat: Boosts critical strike chance for higher damage numbers.

Archon Shards

  • Red Critical Damage Shards: Boost Desert Wind’s critical multipliers.
  • Violet Critical Damage Shards: Provide similar boosts but require energy levels above a threshold.

Arcanes

  • Molt Augmented and Molt Strike: Boost attack speed and synergize with Serene Storm.

Conclusion

Baruuk is a hidden reservoir of unimaginable strength, embodying the calm before the storm. Locked behind a Fortuna (Venus) syndicate that many players overlook lies one of the strongest Warframes in the game.

With this build, you’ll unlock his full potential, shredding enemies with the ferocity of a Kamehameha unleashed at full power. With a frame like this, you’re not just a rider of the storm—you are the storm. Now go, and remind your enemies why pacifists should never be underestimated.