People liked my explanation of [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/242915827?sort=0&page=0]Foetracer[/url], so I decided to do another one! This time Sythoceps are up! Their perk, Biotic Enhancements, states: [quote]Increased melee lunge range. Improved melee damage when surrounded.[/quote] So let's tackle melee range first. The Titan's basic melee range is 5m. Being within 5m of your target cause you to lunge forward fist-first to meet them. Sythoceps increases that range by 1.5x. Which is to say up to 7.5m. As I was greatly saddened to learn (although I had suspected this to be the case anyway) the Striker ability [i]Knockout[/i], which also increases melee range, does not stack with Sythoceps. Knockout's range increase is also 7.5m, the same as Sythoceps'. Combining them your lunge range is still only 7.5m. The damage aspect though is something interesting that I hadn't realized before. If you've ever noticed how your arms will glow when enemies are near (Blue for Striker, Purple for Sentinel, and Orange for Sunbreaker) that has a purpose. This is your "surrounded" range. Let's call it the "[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siwpn14IE7E]Danger zone[/url]". If any enemy is with 15m of you the arms glow to indicate that they have entered the Danger zone. If only one or two enemies are in the Danger zone simultaneously, there is no damage increase. As soon as there are three simultaneous enemies within the Danger zone you become "surrounded" and you gain an increase to your melee damage. (outdated)[spoiler]What's interesting though is that for each extra enemy within the Danger zone the damage buff increases again. For three enemies the buff is a strangely specific 1.138x melee damage, which isn't a whole lot. Every new enemy however adds an extra 0.7x to the multiplier. So for four enemies it's 1.8x melee damage. For five enemies it's 2.5x melee damage. For six enemies it's 3.2x melee damage. And so on and so on. The highest I was able to get was eight enemies at once. But knowing programmers they probably stack up to ten enemies where the buff would be an even 6x melee damage (That's just my guess though, don't cite that as fact).[/spoiler] [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Explore/Detail/News/46900]Update 1.2.1[/url] [quote]• Synthoceps • Now grants a flat melee damage bonus for 8 seconds when you are surrounded by three or more enemies (3x in PvE, 2x in PvP). • This buff also increases Super damage while active (+50%).[/quote] These buffs stack [u]multiplicatively[/u] with the melee damage buffs from the Striker's [i]Knockout[/i] ability (1.25x) and the Sentinel's [i]Turn the Tide[/i] ability (1.5x). [i]Edit: Sythoceps has zero affect on any charge attack (Seismic Strike, Hammer Strike, Shield Bash) and does not increase either the range or the damage.[/i] Sythoceps would be most advantageous while using the Striker's [i]Code of the Juggernaut[/i] or the Sentinel's [i]Code of the Protector[/i] as both will restore health on melee kills and as mentioned have abilities that further increase melee damage. Using the Juggernaut will likely result in more damage output, as although the Protector has a stronger buff, it is short-lived compared to Knockout. However I like to play as the Protector, rushing into the fray, healing my whole team as I go. For a more in-depth guide about how to best utilize Sythoceps check out Makeshyft's [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/243779187?sort=0&page=0]Striker Titan PVE "Build"[/url] guide.