Topic: Warframe

Devstream tomorrow. Talking about October's Abyss of Dagath update. New frame, new weapons. Probably the return of the seasonal event, Nights of Naberus. Which reminds me that I do want the Ballroom simulacrum tileset that's exclusive to the event.

https://forums.warframe.com/topic/1366263-coming-soon-devstre...

Tomorrow's an exciting day. Players are being tasked with building a new mandatory dojo room. Which hasn't happened since the the vent kids room, I believe? Two new frames, Dagath and Grendel Prime, along with a handful of weapons.

Previously DE would spread out the introduction of a new frame and a new Prime Access. Give players time to work on one for a couple weeks then work on the next. But not this time. I hope acquisition of the Dagath frame isn't too difficult for newer players. Figure most platinum hunters and veterans will be chasing Grendel Prime for the first couple days of the new update.

Regardless, we're about to see a whole bunch of new Grendel mains, considering the prime version will certainly be easier to acquire than the normal version and he's a top-tier frame.

Tomorrow, usually before noon CST, is when the update should go live unless it's DElayed.

My online friends and I had tremendous rng yesterday. Prime Access done in twelve runs, in under two hours. I'll likely never experience that degree of good fortune in WF ever again. He'll go in oven today after work; out and ready for action after work on Monday.

Also did an hour's worth of runs for the new resource, vainthorns.

The new mission type is...fine. Basically randomized nightmare mode. Easy breezy.

But the companion rework is the biggest take away from the update. Sentinels are back, baby. Since the introduction of vulpaphyla, they've been the go-to companion because of their immortality. However, now sentinels are immortal as well, and with a shorter revive time if you possess primed regen.

Deathcube (coupled with helstrum) is arguably now the best companion. Why? Deathcube has access to the mod energy generator, where with every 10 assisted kills it'll spit out an energy orb. Since I run magnetic + toxic on my torid and corrosive + ice on my laetum, viral + electricity on the helstrum is an easy choice. The electricity procs chain to enemies within three meters of the targeted enemy, which will cause Deathcube to almost continuously be barfing up energy orbs.

If you were to add a couple yellow archon shards to a frame with energy economy issues and opt for 50% energy orb effectiveness, that setup would rival a full set of arcane energize.

Deathcube Build

Synth Deconstruct (increases frequency of health orb drops)
Synth Fiber (allows your sentinel to vacuum health orbs; helps build stacks for arcane blessing)
Regen / Primed Regen (mandatory)
Animal Instinct / Primed Animal Instinct (loot detection is still relevant)
Vacuum (mandatory)
Assault Mode (mandatory)
Spare Parts (increase resource drops)
Energy Generator (mandatory)
Guardian (mandatory)
Calculated Redirection (even though sentinels are immortal, with the changes to shield damage reduction this helps keep your sentinel afloat)

Helstrum Build (Viral + Electricity)
Split Chamber
Malignant Force
Rime Rounds
High Voltage
Primed Firestorm
Vigilante Armaments
Vigilante Fervor
Riven (status chance / multishot / fire rate)

To my knowledge, unlike the Gladiator set bonus that lost functionality on sentinels a while back, the Vigilante set bonus can still be leveraged. So if you run Vigilante Supplies on your primary, you get a 15% chance to upgrade your critical damage. Yellow crits to orange crits, orange crits to red crits, red crits to super-red crits, etc.

One change from my previous post. Instead of verglas (which is amazing for single-target) we're going with helstrum. RPG launcher that peppers a group of enemies more efficiently than verglas does. Proc energy generator more often.

It's kind of shocking how good hounds are after the companion rework. They are officially the best condition overload primers in the game now. In my eyes, the days of priming with Kuva Nukor are over. Null Audit + Synergized Prospectus + Manifold Bond passively AoE laces enemies with half a dozen procs. And Momentous Bond expands the range of procs enemies receive.

Add Mystic Bond into the mix and you'll also be using abilities without the need for energy, it's wild.

Hound Build
Null Audit (ability, builds stacks for Mystic Bond)
Synergized Prospectus (ability, builds stacks for Mystic Bond)
Evasive Denial (ability, builds stacks for Mystic Bond)
Manifold Bond (mandatory. adds hound weapon status procs to abilities)
Mystic Bond (once every five ability uses you get one zero-energy-cost frame ability)
Primed Animal Instinct (loot detector still feels necessary)
Vacuum (mandatory)
Calculated Redirection
Synth Deconstruct (great if you run Arcane Blessing as I do)
Momentous Bond (if your hound goes into a downed state, eximus kills reduce revive time...by a lot)

Bored. Lets rank the new Bond mods. I'm scaling 1/5 = poor to 5/5 = amazing.

Aerial Bond 2/5
I am not a fan of how this mod procs. But I imagine Wisp mains would like it.

Astral Bond 2/5
Might be worthwhile on the Zariman tileset, hunting Angels. Not much use otherwise.

Contagious Bond 3/5
Best used on sentinels equipped with Deconstructor or Verglas. Other companions wouldn't use this.

Covert Bond 1/5
Seems pointless. Now that companions are immortal, why would they need invisibility?

Duplex Bond 3/5
The clones don't draw aggro well enough and only sentinels equipped with weapons that kill proc the energy orb drops.

Manifold Bond 5/5
Has power crept using your secondary as a condition overload primer into irrelevance.

Momentous Bond 5/5
When paired with Manifold Bond, more status effects on enemies = more condition overload damage. Also best reduction in companion revive time.

Mystic Bond 3/5
Not as energy efficient as equilibrium, a couple yellow archon shards, or arcane energize. But it's nice.

Reinforced Bond 4/5
Super-strong, adds +60% rate of fire to your primary and secondary so long as your companion's shields are over 1200.

Restorative Bond 1/5
The increase to health orb strength means nothing and the revive from Momentous is better.

Seismic Bond 2/5
Cool on those frames with channel abilities (Ember, Hildryn, Equinox, etc), but otherwise useless.

Tandem Bond ???
Have yet to test. Guaranteed 12x combo with Ceramic Dagger?

Tenacious Bond 4/5
Super-strong, adds the +120% crit damage to your primary and secondary, but the qualifier cannot be reached by a majority of companions.

Vicious Bond 3/5
Useful, but is exclusive to Helios and his Deconstructor weapon.

Companion Rework Impression
Basically it boils down to one question. Would you rather have the guaranteed AoE splash primer and crowd control of the hounds or would you rather have increased single-target dps with conditional (your companion must score the kill) AoE splash primer in a sentinel? In a game like Warframe, where AoE damage and utility is the meta and boss types have invincibility phases, I feel hounds are the better choice.

Unless you're doing archon hunts. Then by all means run a sentinel and burn that motherlover down.

Allegedly, the hound's Synergized Prospectus also procs Archon Stretch.

Edit: I've changed my opinion of the Reinforced Bond. Turns out hounds can qualify for the boon but it requires the use of the Adlet core and the Calculated Redirection mod. +60% fire rate on your primary and secondary is very strong. So I will be building a new hound after work today.

Model: Hec
Core: Adlet
Bracket: Zubb
Stabilizer: Wanz

Also, on my first companion riven unveiling I managed to score a Batoten riven. My preferred hound weapon, how nice. So I'll be attempting to qualify for the Tenacious Bond, which requires your companion to have 50% crit chance. On paper, the best I should be able to achieve is 44% (true steel + the best riven crit chance roll), so probably not. It's too bad hound weapons don't have access to Sacrificial mods.

https://overframe.gg/build/new/5862/batoten/?bs=WzEsNTg2MiwzM...

The Plague Star event begins today. It's easily the best avenue for building a stockpile of forma.

Don't skip.

Plague Star event is still ongoing. I haven't spent as much time with the event as I would like. But I have managed to run enough to build my forma reserve back up to 100. At a rate of about four per day, I'll probably top out close to 130.

Beyond that, next week is a busy week for the game. A new nightwave goes live on the 21st which is always hype. And we're getting the last devstream of the year next Friday. The bulk of which will breakdown what's coming in the Whispers in the Wall update.

Good stuff for keeping the casuals invested, but as a veteran my question will always be, "any new power creep?" Mods? Arcanes? Weapons? Anything that increases the power ceiling is always engaging.

I spend my days hoping for infested liches that'll give me access to an innate radiation torid.

The last devstream of the year was very interesting. Lots of content coming with December's update, always nice. But my interest is specifically with the new archon shard colors. If the placeholders for the green archon shard are kept, there's the possibility for corrosive weapons to 100% armor strip non-boss enemies again.

It would require two archon shard slots (regardless of if it's tauforged or not), but theoretically corrosive stack +4 should be enough to qualify and have a corrosive torid 100% armor strip a trash mob in less than a second.

Which makes me even more eager for invested liches. Put a magnetic / corrosive torid in my hands, DE.

The Whisper in the Walls update is scheduled for launch today.

I am keen to discover the official stats for the new archon shards and what the melee arcane enhancements will be. Even though melee probably still won't be as effective as your primary or secondary after their introduction.

Well, after yesterday's update it's fair to assume that requests for an archon shard upgrade system will die down. Thanks to the new five-attempt weekly, archon shards are flowing like water.

Seems as though zaws got a quiet buff thanks to the new melee arcane, Melee Influence. Apparently Melee Influence and Exodia Force piggyback off of each other? Swing your melee weapon (with a good status chance percentage) once, proc MI, which procs EF, which procs MI, which proc EF. Swing your melee weapon a second time, repeat.

Group enemies together with either frame or companion abilities to enhance the damage.

Anywho, looks like I'll be rebuilding my Ooltha zaw after work today.

Last night I finally earned enough new syndicate standing to put the new frame and weapon into the foundry. MHR and friends commanding too much of my free time. No regrets though. Just...happy to be caught up (gear tight) until the next Prime Access. The new archon shard colors are a disappointment for a Trinity main such as myself.

The next Prime Access is set for launch on the 17th.

Gauss Prime, looking pretty in the trailer.

Considered a top-tier frame but one I haven't invested a whole lot of time with, so I'm mildly excited.

With Gauss Prime out of the oven and maxed out, I'm now legendary four.

The first devstream of the year is this Friday. I'm hoping for either companion rework 1.1 (as the bond mods, changes to other companion mods and companion stat changes late last year where only the first portion of the companion rework, according to Pablo) or Infested Liches. Infested Liches have been teased during Prime Time multiple times in the past. The time to bring more of the older infested weaponry into the current meta (like the torid) is now.

Sort of...caught here, in the quiet-time, between updates. Log-in reward, weeklies, dailies, repeat. DE have committed to appearing at PAX East on the 22nd. At which point I assume they'll either shadow drop the Dante update or announce it for the 29th.

Either would be fine. I am keen to learn more about the new endgame mode, Deep Archimedea. If players are able to lock in a tauforged archon shard as a reward, that would be cool. If not, I don't see legendary arcanes as a worthwhile reward for taking on level 325+ mobs with a randomized loadout.

I would rather continue running netracells.

Warframe's 11th Anniversary event begins on Friday.

Dex Nikana is this year's free weapon; more mastery xp, always welcomed.

Which runs up to the next major (Dante Unbound) update on the 27th.

Deep Archimedea released yesterday. This is the new endgame content. Level 250+ enemy mobs, with Duviri-like loadout restrictions, and netracell key-like negative boons. If you take all loadout restrictions and negative boons you qualify for all rewards and unlock access to Elite Deep Archimedea. EDA has even higher level enemy mobs, with more chances for tauforged shards and currency for arcane packs. Taking all loadout restrictions and negative boons in EDA gives you a new sumdali for your orbiter.

Veterans love the drip for their orbiter.

Now that the Inaros rework has come to pass, I wonder who's on deck for a rework?

Well...let us have a look at the play rates. Personally, I would qualify anything over 1% as "healthy".

https://www.warframe.com/2023stats

Banshee: 0.38%
Nyx: 0.38%
Atlas: 0.4%
Equinox: 0.62%
Oberon: 0.64%
Valkyr: 0.74%
Trinity: 0.8%
Chroma: 0.9%

Fair enough. Both Nyx and Banshee have fourth abilities that just don't belong in the game, as it is today. In a game where movement is a key selling point to the gameplay, abilities that cement you in place...are passe. Wildly out of date.