Understand Lavos
Useful when…
- Hold abilities to imbue casts with elemental damage and Status.
- Use Transmutation Probe to convert pickups and reduce other cooldowns when it shocks enemies.
- Use Catalyze against foes affected by multiple elements.
Elemental rules and abilities
Lavos has 0 Power and holds abilities to imbue casts with elemental damage and Status. Ophidian Bite’s hold imbues all abilities with Toxin; its tap strikes one target and heals Lavos. Vial Rush dashes through enemies and leaves an icy trail; holding imbues the next ability with Cold. Transmutation Probe converts Health and Energy Orbs into Universal Orbs that provide both, converts ammo pickups into Universal Ammo Pickups, and shocks nearby enemies. Each electrocuted foe reduces other ability cooldowns by 1.5 seconds; holding imbues the next ability with Electricity. Catalyze coats combatants in fiery gel, and its damage doubles for each element affecting an enemy; holding imbues the next ability with Heat.
Practical use
Choose the held-element input when you want a later ability cast to gain the named element; Toxin from Ophidian Bite applies to all abilities, whereas Cold, Electricity, and Heat are described as imbuing the next cast. Catalyze’s stated condition makes the number of elements on enemies relevant before using it. Transmutation Probe has both pickup utility and a cooldown interaction: each enemy it electrocutes reduces other ability cooldowns by 1.5 seconds. Energy and Universal Orbs also grant Lavos status immunity for an unspecified duration.
Build and tradeoffs
Lavos lists 540 Health, 270 Shields, 575 Armor, and 0 Power. His starting polarities are Vazarin and Naramon, with a Naramon Aura polarity. Since the ability descriptions center on cooldowns and elemental imbuement, Power is not listed as an innate resource. His passive grants status immunity after Energy or Universal Orbs, but the duration is unresolved. Investment should account for his cooldown-based casting and the elemental effects you actually use; no specific mod priority or numerical scaling is given.
Related frames
Lavos Prime has the same listed ability descriptions and 575 Armor, with 600 Health, 310 Shields, and different listed polarities. Chroma is described as using the same four elements while maintaining survivability; Citrine is described as supporting allies. These summaries establish broad thematic comparisons, not equivalent ability mechanics or an automatic replacement choice.
Limitations and tradeoffs
- Elemental imbuement requires holding ability inputs and choosing when to apply them.
- Catalyze’s damage benefit depends on how many elements afflict each enemy.
- Status-immunity duration is unspecified.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Treating all held imbuements as having the same scope; Toxin applies to all abilities, while the others imbue the next cast.
- Using Catalyze without considering its stated element-count condition.
- Assuming Transmutation Probe reduces cooldowns without electrocuting enemies.