Crazy burst-damage Power Surge Build – Once Human (early & late game)

A new season has arrived, and with it we’ve seen new challenges and harder bosses. The old “use what you have” strategy might not work quite as well this time around. So, to help you along — whether you’re a new player or a seasoned veteran — here’s an insane Power Surge build I’ve been using that makes the game almost too easy — even on Hard mode.

Enjoy.

Power Surge guide index

• What does the Power Surge build excel at
• Gear set with mods
• Which is the best Weapon Calibration for the Outer Space?
• Where to find all the Legendary Power Surge build mods
• Which cradle overrides to use with Power Surge
• Which weapon accessories to use with Power Surge
• Which Deviation is best for Power Surge
• How strong is the early game Power Surge build
• How Strong is the Power Surge build in the late game
• How to set up your Power Surge build in the early game
• The Zero Starchrom Power Surge build
• When to use the Outer Space Power Surge build

What is the Power Surge Build good at in Once Human?

The first thing to note is that tests on the dummy can be deceptive regarding builds in Once Human. I have a Burn build using the KVD Boom Boom, and it gets over 50k in Damage per second (DPS) against the dummy.

This Power Surge build only gets about 35k in sustained damage, peaking at 40-60k. Yet it takes me around ten minutes to clear Securement Silo Alpha on Hard with the Burn build, and it only takes me five minutes with the Power Surge build.

That’s because the Power Surge Build excels at taking down enemies very quickly with wild burst damage, and the Burn build is better over time. In fact, this Power Surge build even outperforms my Shrapnel build, so it means business.

You won’t regret giving it a try.

The Power Surge Build guide for crazy burst damage

I’ll start you out with a full breakdown of the build, showing you which gear and mods I’m using in the late game, as well as the cradle. After these tables, I’ll show you what this build is capable of before I break it down further and teach you how to use the build and which mod variations you can use.

You’ll want to prioritize elemental and status DMG sub stats for all your mods. Mag capacity, weapon DMG, and damage against enemies are secondary. Crit and defensive stats are least important.

If you can find mods with the Power Surge suffix, they’re worth testing, but you’ll almost certainly have to upgrade them to make them useful.

Gear Set with mods

Which Weapon Calibration is best for the Outer Space?

There’s some debate about which calibration is best, so I did some testing. Each test was conducted over ten, twenty, and thirty seconds to see which build dealt the most damage. All calibrations utilize double elemental attributes.

Now, keep in mind that these tests — especially for Power Surge — can vary, so I ran each test a few times to be sure I’m getting similar numbers. These are all within a reasonable range of what you can expect, and I’m surprised.

I expected the Assault Calibration to be the best, but I was clearly very wrong! There is one mod that we change out to test the smaller mag capacity guns, and that’s the Precision Charge mod on the Bottoms. That’s because if you’re running a smaller mag, Status Amplification is a far more effective mod.

Apart from that, I kept the builds as is and those are the numbers. I’m keeping my Heavy calibration for now!

Where to find all the Legendary Power Surge Build mods

You can also find a lot of these mods by completing Prime Wars, in the Forsaken Giant boss fight, or in the LEA Labs dungeon.

Core Cradle Overrides

Along with these cradle overrides, you can select one more. There are plenty of situational options. If you’re clearing strongholds, you may want to use the Anti-Balance: Sniper in case you run into a Balance enemy.

You may also want to pick up the Side by Side or Lone Walker options, depending on whether you’re in a team or not. Here’s how I have my cradle set up at virtually all times:

The only change I ever make is when fighting in a team, then I’d swap Lone Wolf for the Side-by-Side override. Now, let’s move on to Weapon Accessories, shall we?

Weapon Accessories

These accessories provide a good balance between accuracy and stability. You are, of course, free to play with the accessories and set them up according to your preference. In fact, I highly recommend this.

Which Deviation to use with the Power Surge build?

You can honestly use just about any Deviation with Power Surge. Unlike the Frost Vortex build, Power Surge users don’t have a special shock Deviation.

I highly recommend using the Lonewolf’s Whisper for an offensive option, since the wolves deal a lot of damage and take enemy aggro off you. If you’re using the Rejuvenating mod on your top, you should have more than enough healing, but either way the Festering Gel is another good option to use.

You can get the Lonewolf’s Whisper from the Shadow Hound boss fight, and you can get the Festering Gel from the Ravenous Hunter boss fight.

How strong is the Power Surge build in the early game?

With this build, you’ll be able to solo all the bosses in Phase 1 with ease, without calibrating any gear or applying any special weapon calibrations (they’re expensive at this point in the game). I don’t even have the full Shelterer set here (I’ll show you the exact build I’m using below).

Beating the Ravenous Hunter on Normal only took me 2 minutes, using all tier one gear and copper ammunition.

Beating The Treant with tier 2 gear in about a minute (the Treant himself lasted only 21 seconds), without even leaving the starting platform. The nice thing about Power Surge is that the shock damage doesn’t decay with distance as severely as in other builds.

Finally, the Spider. She’s quite a bit tougher in a hard server than on normal, but we’re still taking her down solo. Her immunity phases make this a more challenging fight, but we’re still done in just over two minutes.

I did calibrate my gear at this point in the game, which shouldn’t be expensive if you’ve been clearing all of the strongholds. You should have more than enough resources to get all your gear up to +4 calibrations.

This build is extremely powerful, and carries well into the late game as well. As soon as we unlock Hard and Pro mode dungeons, you can bet I’ll solo those and show you the results here as well.

How strong is the Power Surge Build in the late game?

If you’re planning on farming LEA Labs, this is your build. This build consistently tops the leader board in this dungeon and excels at clearing the additional enemies. It bursts down everything in a matter of seconds, and it also really handy against the Mother of Life.

You’ll be able to solo LEA Labs using this build (and considerable skill), or deliver a valuable contribution as part of a team.

How to set up your Power Surge build in the early game

If you’re building this set in the late game, definitely follow the guide at the start of this article. However, if you’ve entered the new season and want to build it up like me, here’s how I’ve done it.

I’m using all the same mods as the build requires, but I’ve adapted the gear set to suit what I have. If you have the Outer Space MPS7, you should have access to the Heavy Duty set, at least.

Finally, if you don’t have access to the mods listed here — for example, if you scrapped all your mods last season — then I advise looking for anything that offers elemental damage. The green or blue Munitions Amplifier mods can still work in the early game if you’re able to get good sub stats.

I wouldn’t recommend farming for these, however. You’ll want to save your controllers for the late game, so you can tailor your most powerful builds according to your needs.

As for your weapons, the blue Flame Resonance mod works well on the MPS7, and the Munitions Amplifier is good on the DE.50 Wildfire (or AWS.338 Bingo, depending on what you have).

In case you don’t have access to any Starchrom (the above build requires you to spend at least 16k), then there’s a free option, as well. It uses all the same mods, but the gear is a little different.

The no-Starchrom Power Surge build

For this gear set, your primary weapon is the SOCR – Outsider, and your secondary weapon would be the Recurve Crossbow. As for you gear, here’s how that looks.

If you can replace the Agent set with two Lonewolf pieces, even better. If you can’t, this build is perfectly fine until you can afford the Outer Space build. It’ll carry you for a long time, and you shouldn’t have any trouble in the overworld, or even in farming silos alone.

You can find the fragments for the Heavy Duty set in Mystical crates in the Chalk Peak region, and you’ll find the fragments for the Agent set in the Iron River region (also drops from Mystical Crates).

In any case, you should always explore all the settlements you can, since they’re great for both loot and leveling up faster.

When to use the Outer Space Power Surge build

If you’re on a server with Void enemies, the Power Surge build makes a great primary option for dealing with them fast. It’s also a great build for clearing silos and defeating bosses with ease. As for the over world, a quick burst is usually enough to melt any normal enemies.

Against bosses with high HP, it’s still viable, but you’ll have to be on your guard and be ready for a tough fight.

This build still belongs to the S-tier when it comes to PVE, and it’s at least A-tier in PVP. It’s a versatile build that’s not difficult to understand, tweak, and flesh out according to your preferences.

As an ex-Shrapnel user, I thoroughly enjoy this build and think it’s a lot more fun, so try it out and see how you like it!

If you’d like to check out my other guides, here’s a weakspot damage Fast Gunner build guide (which is great for farming Shadow Hound and Treant), or you could check out this infinite ammo Shrapnel build guide.