Best Caustacyst Builds In Warframe

Warframe’s Caustacyst is one of those Infested weapons that offers more than just raw damage—it brings a unique playstyle with its toxic bile heavy attack, making it great for priming enemies or spreading status effects. With the recent Coda variant upgrade, this weapon gets even better, offering boosted base stats and new potential for endgame builds. In this article, we’ll walk you through how to get the Caustacyst, what makes it special, and how to build it for maximum effectiveness in high-level content like Steel Path.

How To Get The Caustacyst In Warframe

To get your hands on the Caustacyst, you’ll need to head to the Bio Lab in your clan dojo. The weapon’s blueprint is only available through clan research, so if you’re not in a clan, you’ll either need to join one or spend Platinum to buy it from the in-game market. Once you’ve got the blueprint, you’ll need some common Infested crafting materials to build it. Alternatively, if you’d rather wait for a stronger version, the Coda Caustacyst becomes available later in the game. After finishing “The Hex” quest, you can farm Live Heartcells from Technocyte Coda enemies and trade them with Eleanor in the Hollvania hub. The Coda version appears in Rotation B of her shop, which updates every four days.

Caustacyst Crafting Requirements:
• 4x Mutagen Mass
• 6,500x Nano Spores
• 1,200x Rubedo
• 2x Nitain Extract
• 30,000 Credits
• Build Time: 24 Hours

The Caustacyst is a scythe-style melee weapon built with heavy attacks in mind, offering a unique mechanic that sets it apart from standard slash-and-burn gameplay. Its heavy attack unleashes a wave of corrosive bile that travels forward, applying your equipped elemental effects and status chance to enemies it touches. While the wave itself doesn’t do massive damage, it’s fantastic for spreading status effects and softening up enemies for finishers—especially in crowded situations.

Caustacyst Stats And Features Explained

The upgraded Coda Caustacyst takes everything good about the original and dials it up. It has better base stats, with a noticeable boost to critical chance and multiplier, making it more versatile for both heavy attack builds and standard combos. The wave it launches is also slightly larger in size, giving you more room-clearing potential when dealing with packs of enemies. If you enjoy status-heavy melee combat with some added flair, this weapon definitely delivers.

Best Caustacyst Builds

Let’s break down a strong endgame build for the Caustacyst that turns it into a deadly Melee Influence powerhouse. This setup is built around spreading status effects with the weapon’s unique heavy attack, allowing you to soften up groups of enemies before diving in with your regular melee strikes. By combining multiple elemental mods, you’ll prime enemies with Viral, Heat, or Corrosive procs depending on your loadout—perfect for boosting both raw damage and survivability. The Caustacyst’s bile wave does an excellent job of setting the stage, and once your enemies are debuffed, your follow-up combos will hit even harder thanks to Condition Overload and other scaling mods. It’s all about spreading damage, keeping enemies weak, and staying in control of the battlefield.

Endgame Build

Forma: 2 (V, –)
Variant: Coda Caustacyst

This build turns the Coda Caustacyst into a status-spreading machine with massive crowd control and scaling damage. The core of the setup is Melee Influence, an Arcane that spreads all status effects within a 20-meter radius whenever you trigger Electricity. You’ll want either an Electricity progenitor bonus or the Voltaic Strike mod to make this effect consistent—it’s where most of your clear potential comes from.

To maximize status application, Weeping Wounds and Vicious Frost are essential, pushing your status chance even higher with Primed Fever Strike for Viral or Molten Impact for Blast. Add Galvanized Elementalist to boost both status chance and damage, allowing your toxic bile and regular hits to consistently apply 3–4 procs per swing.

For raw damage scaling, slot in Primed Pressure Point and Condition Overload—these will make each hit scale with the number of status effects applied. If you’re leaning into Blast, that scaling becomes even more impactful. Finish the setup with Primed Fury for attack speed, helping you maintain fluid combos and consistent pressure. This build excels in both AoE and single-target fights, making it a strong pick for high-end Steel Path content.

Conclusion

The Caustacyst is more than just a cool-looking Infested scythe—it’s a powerful melee weapon with great crowd control, strong scaling, and a unique bile wave that sets it apart from most others in Warframe. With the right build focused on status effects, Melee Influence, and heavy attack synergy, this weapon can shred through Steel Path enemies with ease. Whether you’re clearing mobs or setting up devastating combos, the Caustacyst proves that infested gear can absolutely hang with the best in the game.