Understand Tenet Livia
Useful when…
- Use its normal attack for a slash-heavy melee profile with listed critical and status chances of 28%.
- Consider it if you regularly holster your melee weapon and want its combo timer to pause.
- Use blocking with the understanding that an angle increase is a chance, not a guaranteed effect.
What does its normal attack do?
The normal attack deals 198 listed damage: 178.2 Slash, 9.9 Impact, and 9.9 Puncture. It has 28% critical chance, a 2.2× critical multiplier, 28% status chance, and listed attack speed of 1.08. Its 2.5 m range and 0.7-second wind-up describe its handling.
How do the slam attacks differ?
A regular slam deals 396 Impact in an area, with listed falloff from 0 to 7 m and 50% reduction. A heavy slam deals 594 Blast in an area, with falloff from 0 to 8 m and 30% reduction. The separate heavy-attack damage listing is 1,188; it is not the heavy-slam value.
What should guide investment?
Tenet Livia requires Mastery Rank 14 and has a listed rank cap of 40. Its 28% critical chance and 2.2× multiplier can inform a critical-focused mod direction; its high Slash share and 28% status chance can also inform status-focused experimentation. These are build considerations, not guarantees of final damage. The combo convenience is specifically that the timer pauses while holstered; it does not mean combo builds faster.
When might another melee weapon fit better?
Tenet Grigori shares the holstered combo-timer pause, but its Heavy Slide Attack launches a ricocheting energy disk whose lifetime depends on combo-counter size. Tatsu builds charges on kills and releases seeking projectiles with a Slide Attack; Revenant increases its charge cap. Sarofang instead creates a Heavy Slam vortex at an 8× combo multiplier, or 5× in Voruna’s hands. These mechanics suit different attack conditions than Livia’s blocking trait and holster behavior.
Limitations and tradeoffs
- The regular attack is strongly Slash-weighted, while the two slam modes deal Impact and Blast respectively.
- The blocking-angle increase is conditional, and its size is unspecified.
- Holstering pauses combo time but does not itself build combo.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Do not treat the 1,188 heavy-attack damage listing as the 594 heavy-slam value.
- Do not assume blocking always increases the angle or that the increase has a known size.
- Do not expect combo to build while holstered; the timer pauses.