Game Mechanics: Damage Types and Status Effects (U24.1.1)

There are 13 main damage types in Warframe currently. As is currently however, only half of them, if that, get regular use. I'll be discussing each of the damage types and their status effects, as well as some suggestions on how I think different damage types could be made more popular and useful.

TL;DR: Corrosive, Viral and Slash are king because armour is absurd at higher levels. A lot of the other damage types have poor damage bonuses and/or procs, and are often not worth building for even against their intended targets.

Review: Saryn (Prime) (U24.1.1)

Saryn is a toxin-themed Warframe who was released way back in U7, and has received several reworks since. Saryn Prime was released alongside Spira and Nikana Primes in U18.4.12. As she is currently, Saryn is a surprisingly survivable and quite powerful AoE Warframe who excels at destroying rooms of enemies.

Note: This is I believe the third version of Saryn, having already seen a rework before her more recent one. I have only experienced the second and third versions, and both work very differently.

Review: AkVasto Prime (U24.1.0)

Having been only just released in U24.0.6 with the Mag and Nova Unvaulting, the MR12 AkVasto Prime is of course a dual version of the Vasto Prime. With only a couple of stat differences between the single and dual version, the AkVastoP is not functionally very different to the single VastoP. Like AkLex Prime, it is available in its own unique relic, the Axi A5, which contains all the necessary Vasto and AkVasto Prime parts.

Review: Battacor (U24.0.9)

The MR10 Battacor is a Corpus rifle with integrated Sentient tech, like the Ocucor, released with Fortuna in U24. It has many special features, including a currently unique "Auto Burst" trigger, and a powerful Opticor-like secondary fire. It has quickly become one of my favourite weapons, and is an overall solid and fun weapon.

Review: Ocucor (U24.0.8)

The MR8 Ocucor is a Corpus beam secondary adapted from Sentient components. It has a unique feature of emanating energy tendrils that attack additional targets upon achieving kills. Though fun, the tendrils resetting on reload really kills much of the weapon's special functionality at higher levels, and the weapon itself is not exceptional.

Review: Soma Prime (U27.5.6)

Last updated: U27.5.6

The Soma Prime is an MR7 assault rifle available from the current Unvaulting. It was originally released alongside Nova and Vasto Primes in U15.7. A highly popular spool-up rifle, it was left behind in the U22.12 Balance Pass, but is still a solid and reliable weapon.

Baro Ki'Teer: 16/11/18

It's been a long time since Primed Flow has been available, and the stuff in this visit doesn't do much to alleviate that. A lot of cosmetics this time round.

Loadouts: Fortuna/Orb Vallis Nezha (U24.0.8)

Another type of post showcasing the loadouts I use. Again, these are by no means the best loadouts, just ones that I enjoy and have found to work well. In this post I'll be covering my current go-to Fortuna/Orb Vallis loadout, featuring Nezha.

Prime Unvaulting: Mag + Nova (2018)

Trying out a new type of post, this one will give a quick rundown of all the stuff that has just been Unvaulted. They'll skip out on a lot of details, but I hope to still provide a reasonably accurate overview of the items. This time around it's Mag Prime and finally Nova Prime.

Review: Vasto Prime (U27.5.6)

Last updated: U27.5.6

The recently Unvaulted Vasto Prime is an MR10 secondary released with Nova and Soma Primes un U15.7. Having received a few buffs in the past, it is a powerful and rather fun revolver.

Review: Tenora (U24.0.3)

The MR10 Tenora is Octavia's signature rifle, released in U20. A spool-up rifle with unique behaviour and a powerful secondary fire, the Tenora is a versatile and fairly powerful weapon.

Review: Nagantaka (U24.0.2)

The Nagantaka is Garuda's signature primary, an MR9 crossbow very recently released in U24. It is quite unique among current bows, being semi-auto with a special secondary fire. With 90% Slash damage and solid base stats, it's a fairly powerful bow that can do some good damage to most enemies.

Review: Pandero (U24.0.2)

Octavia's signature secondary, the MR 8 Pandero was released in U20 alongside the Tenora. In the U22.12 Balance Pass, it was one of the few weapons to receive stat changes that weren't an overall buff. Nonetheless, it remains a powerful and fairly versatile pistol with a fun and mostly unique secondary fire.

Review: Vectis Prime (U23.10.8)

The Vectis Prime is an MR14 sniper rifle, originally released with Ash and Carrier Primes in U16.11. It has since been made available again multiple times in Twitch promotions, though is currently vaulted. The Vectis family is unusual compared to other Warframe snipers, with a tiny mag size, in exchange for a much faster reload.

Review: Rakta Cernos (U23.10.8)

The Rakta Cernos is Red Veil's signature primary weapon, an MR12 bow. Released in U17.3 with the other Syndicate primaries, it is notably the fastest firing traditional bow currently in the game. This combined with solid base stats makes the Rakta Cernos a favourite bow of many players.

Review: Boar Prime (U23.10.8)

Released with Mag and Dakra Primes way back in U10.0, the MR11 Boar Prime is one of the earliest Prime weapons in the game. A relatively uncommon weapon, the BoarP is a reasonably effective shotgun, with a high ROF and being capable of 100% status

Baro Ki'Teer: 2/11/18

These posts will be a summary of what Baro brings, how good I consider each of them to be, and how I would prioritise their importance if you're on a limited budget. Not a great Baro visit to start these posts on, if I'm honest.

Review: Mara Detron (U27.3.16)

Last updated: U27.3.16

The Mara Detron is an MR9 Secondary Shotgun that was introduced back in U15.6.3. It has seen a few significant buffs throughout its existence, though really rose to prominence with the U22.12 Balance Pass, and a subsequent hotfix fixing certain status calculations. However, it was one of the worst hit weapons by the U27.2 Revisited update, resulting in a massive fall for what was arguably the best armour stripping weapon in the game.

[PARTIALLY OBSOLETE] Game Mechanics: Armour (U23.10.8)

IMPORTANT NOTE: As of U27.2, enemies have far, far slower health and armour scaling at high levels. I have read other players calculate that a current level 9999 Bombard is roughly equivalent to an old level 280 Bombard for EHP. As such, the formulae in this post are no longer accurate, though armoured enemies still easily eclipse unarmoured enemies for EHP. Additionally, Viral and Corrosive procs have been altered, Viral being made more powerful and Corrosive being weakened.

REST OF ARTICLE

In my posts and indeed in much of Warframe's content, a lot of fuss is made about armour, specifically enemy armour. Things like veterans always recommending Corrosive Projection as an aura, and defaulting to Corrosive or Viral + Slash for elemental setups. It is not immediately obvious to newer players why armour is so important. With the help of Warframe's always useful Wiki and some maths, I hope to give a better idea of why armour is the one of the biggest problems at high levels.

TL;DR: The effective health of unarmoured units grows at a quadratic rate with level, while the effective health of armoured units grows at nearly a quartic rate. Armoured unit effective health grows far faster than unarmoured unit effective health, thus at high levels, armoured enemies are far, far tougher.

Corrosive reduces both types of armour with its status proc, and is super effective against one type of armour. Radiation is super effective against the other but does not strip armour. Viral + Slash/HM uses Slash procs to bypass armour entirely, dealing damage directly to health.