Highlights
- The Advanced Va'ruun Inflictor rifle in Starfield is a powerful weapon with great potential due to its unique perks and high base damage.
- Va'ruun zealots can be found throughout the Settled Systems, and defeating them can drop unique Va'ruun weapons, including the Inflictor rifle.
- The build shared by SaltyMeatBoy on the Starfield subreddit enhances the Va'ruun Inflictor's damage with perk bonuses from the Laser, Particle Beam, Marksmanship, and Sniper Certification perks, making it a formidable weapon in the game.
Though there are plenty of broken builds to be found in Starfield during the late game, few can rival the potential of the Advanced Va'ruun Inflictor rifle. House Va'ruun in Starfield remains one of the game's biggest mysteries, as the religious faction is yet to feature prominently in the Settled Systems the way the United Colonies and the Freestar Collective have. While one Constellation follower in Starfield has ties to House Va'ruun, its capital city of Dazra has – perhaps wisely – been left for DLC content to explore.
That being said, Va'ruun zealots can be found all over the Settled Systems. Players can consult the Star Map in Starfield, pick a random planet or moon within their desired level range, and chances are that the first ship landing over the horizon while exploring will bring a few zealots with it. These enemies can drop unique Va'ruun weapons, which primarily come in three flavors: the Painblade knife, the Starshard pistol, and the Inflictor rifle. Outside the Painblade, these guns are one of the few Particle Beam weapons, and they can benefit from a wide array of perks.
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This is ultimately where SaltyMeatBoy's build shines, as it takes the baseline damage from an Advanced Va'ruun Inflictor and floods it with perk bonuses thanks to a few choice mods. The build was shared on the official Starfield subreddit, and even though the example rifle in the picture is of a Legendary quality, the Va'ruun Inflictor in the Advanced tier can still benefit from the build – the Legendary modifiers just happen to be the cherry on top, but are otherwise unnecessary.
The way the build works is that the Va'ruun Inflictor benefits from both Laser and Particle Beam perks from Starfield's combat tree. Obviously, it also benefits from Rifle Certification, but since it is not an automatic rifle, and can be equipped with a scope, it can also gain a bonus from the Marksmanship and Sniper Certification. The final rank of Marksmanship grants players a stagger on the next shot after a critical hit, while Sniper Certification grants them a critical strike chance bonus for every headshot. In practice, this Starfield weapon can grant a permanent stagger against any foe, and its base damage (over 1400) is nothing to scoff at either.
The Va'ruun Inflictor can further be upgraded by attaching a Spread Nozzle, which splits the main beam into three separate beams – all with a separate chance to crit with just one pull of the trigger. If even one beam lands a critical hit, the other two beams automatically stagger the enemy. The synergy between all the different perks in Starfield is what pushes this powerful weapon into the broken category. Unfortunately, there is no dedicated Va'ruun shotgun weapon in the game yet, but hopefully Bethesda will consider expanding on Starfield's weapon variety via future DLC.
Starfield is available on PC and Xbox Series X/S.