Review: Plinx (U24.2.6)

The Plinx is a new MR6 secondary, released in U24.2 alongside the Profit Taker Heist. It is one of the rare battery-powered weapons. It is an alright sidearm blaster and can be fun to use, but as suggested by its low MR lock, is overall outclassed by many other weapons.

Review: Hema (U24.2.6)

The Hema is an MR7 Infested Burst-Fire rifle with notoriously high Dojo research requirements. It has many rare and unique features, including pure Viral base Damage, lifesteal and health draining. Though not the easiest weapon to acquire or the most powerful by any means, I find it to be a very different and fun rifle.

Baro Ki'Teer: 28/12/18

Last Baro visit of the year. He's brought some good stuff this time round. Unfortunately, my potato laptop can't actually load into Larunda Relay, so the images are from Lord_Dust_Bunny on Reddit.

[OBSOLETE] Game Mechanics: Status Chance and Shotgun Status (U24.2.5)

IMPORTANT NOTE: As of U27.2, this post is completely obsolete. Shotgun status behaves like every other weapon, and physical procs have equal bias as elements.

Deciding if a weapon is worth building for status is generally pretty simple. You usually want a base Status Chance of at least 15%, ideally alongside desirable status types like Slash or Corrosive. For most weapons, the difference between 95% Status Chance and 100% Status Chance is pretty much negligible. For shotguns, it can mean the difference between being a status monster, and being essentially status unviable.

Review: Grinlok (U24.2.2)

The Grinlok is an MR7 lever-action Semi-Auto rifle originally released in U12.1. It received a substantial buff along with many other weapons in the U22.12 Balance Pass, though still suffers from several notable flaws.

Review: Atomos (U24.1.5)

The Atomos is an MR5 beam secondary available directly from the Market. It has a mostly-unique chaining mechanic, whereby the primary beam will chain to enemies nearby the primary target, dealing partial damage. This is shared with the primary rifle Amprex. Having received a massive buff during the Beam Weapon Balance Pass in U22.13-14, the Atomos is a powerful and highly versatile weapon.

Baro Ki'Teer: 14/12/18

PRIMED FLOW! This Baro visit also has some other good stuff.

Review: Rhino (Prime) (U24.1.4)

Rhino is one of the original Warframes, being available since the Closed Beta. Rhino Prime was released in U12.4, alongside Boltor and Ankyros Primes. With a diverse set of abilities, he is a fairly simple but very effective and versatile Warframe.

Review: Veldt (U24.1.3)

The Veldt is an MR8 Semi-Auto rifle, released in U22.18. Its most notable feature is its toggle-able zoom, with two zoom levels akin to the sniper rifles. That an adjustable zoom is the most notable part of a weapon says a lot about it - the Veldt is a very mediocre rifle.

Review: Arca Plasmor (U24.1.2)

The Arca Plasmor is an MR10 shotgun that fires single large waves of plasma, rather than multiple pellets. Relased in U21.7, it is a unique, rather powerful, but most importantly, very fun weapon that excels in the majority of Warframe's combat.

Review: Prisma Twin Gremlins (U24.1.2)

The MR11 Prisma Twin Gremlins was originally released in U23.4.2 in Baro's stock, though has not been stocked since. It is only the second Prisma secondary in the game, and the first dual secondary. With major improvements over its base model, the Prisma Twin Gremlins is a fantastic Full-Auto secondary, and an overall great weapon.

Baro Ki'Teer: 30/11/18

Some good stuff this visit, though still no Primed Flow.

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.

Review: Dread (U23.10.8)

The Dread is an MR5 bow whose blueprint is commonly dropped from (Shadow) Stalker. It is something that you'll most likely get many blueprints of if you play a decent amount of Warframe. Despite its low MR lock, the Dread is a very solid all-round bow and will do fairly well for most content, at least by bow standards.

Review: Rubico Prime (U23.10.8)

Released with Chroma and Gram Primes in U23.9, the Rubico Prime is a relatively newly released Prime sniper. With across-the-board improvements from the base Rubico, the RubicoP is a very solid and quite effective sniper rifle.

Review: Supra Vandal (U27.3.16)

Last updated: U27.3.16

The Supra Vandal is an MR14 rifle originally given away as a reward during the Ambulas Reborn event, in U20.4. Back then, it was a very slight improvement over the thoroughly mediocre base Supra. The Balance Pass in U22.12 buffed the Supra Vandal into a high level, extremely powerful weapon. Thankfully for everyone who didn't complete Ambulas Reborn, almost a year later, it was released in Baro's stock. In my opinion, the Supra Vandal is one of the best Rifles in the game.

Review: Latron Prime (U23.10.8)

The Latron Prime is an MR10 Semi-Auto rifle that was released way back in U8.0, and is currently bundled together with Frost and Reaper Primes. The Balance Pass in U22.12 gave it a new lease of life in the form of a substantial buff, but it remains a victim of powercreep, and is also a little out-of-place in a game focused on crowd killing.

Review: Staticor (U27.3.16)

Last updated: U27.3.16

The Staticor is an MR10 Thrown Secondary introduced in U18.4.7. It is quite unusual even by throwing weapon standards, firing slow-moving explosive energy bolts from its gauntlets. Though annoyingly requiring 10 Fieldron to make, this Clan-tech weapon is easily among the best Secondaries in the game for the majority of content.

Review: Prisma Grakata (U23.10.7)

The Prisma Grakata is an MR11 weapon that was introduced in U16.8.3 in Baro's stock. An improved version of the standard issue Grineer Grakata, it is a powerful, though ammo hungry and inaccurate rifle.

Review: Tiberon Prime (U27.3.16)

Latest Update: U27.3.16

Released with Zephyr and Kronen Primes in U22.16.4, the Tiberon Prime is the first true select-fire Rifle with three firing modes. With improvements over its base model in every stat except ROF, the MR14 TibP is great all-rounder and is one of my favourite Rifles.

Welcome!

Hello there!
This is a Warframe blog with a couple of intended purposes:

• To discuss my thoughts on weapons, Warframes, and other aspects of Warframe
• To offer some guidance to newer players
• To act as a log of some of the things I've done in Warframe

I go by Admiral_Ackbar47 in-game. As of writing this post, I'm MR25 (almost 26) with something like 2500+ Steam hours logged. I started in late 2016 at the insistence of a friend, and have been hooked ever since.