Acquisition
Stats
Abilities
Passive: Explosive Counter
When knocked down, Nova will herself emit a wave that knocks down and does minute damage to enemies in a 6 metre radius.While this passive sounds decent in theory, giving you a momentary reprieve if you get into trouble, more often than not, the enemy who knocked you down is in an uninterruptible animation, and cannot be knocked down anyway. As such, this passive more often than not ends up doing absolutely nothing for Nova. If enemy behaviour was altered such that they could be knocked down from such a state, this passive would be a bit more useful, but still quite poor compared to the passive some other Warframes get (see for instance Ash, Excalibur, Saryn, Octavia).
1: Null Star
For much of my play time, I was unaware of the DR provided by Null Star, so considered it a worthless ability. Its damage output is pitiful beyond low levels, and it cannot be readily refreshed. However, the damage reduction it offers makes it a rather useful ability, as Nova is a relatively squishy Warframe. Unfortunately, the two functions of Null Star conflict with one another. For the DR, you want the stars to remain orbiting around you, while the stars will try to throw themselves at any enemy they see. Nonetheless, up to 90% DR to health is quite significant, and makes Null Star absolutely worth casting and maintaining where possible.
2: Antimatter Drop
Antimatter Drop is a decent room clearing ability. In the chaos of combat, it can be difficult to charge up and direct to the desired detonation spot, but its sheer power makes up for any inconvenience. Fully charged, AMD deals roughly 200,000 Radiation damage, enough to easily kill most enemies at level ~110. Since its explosion penetrates walls, it is particularly useful for clearing out a room without having to actually enter it, or blasting away enemies in a congested space with many obstacles.
AMD's inability to absorb crits is a little unfortunate, since many weapon rely on crit to reach their maximum potential. Most of the weapons I use are crit capable ones, though thankfully you don't need a lot of charge in an AMD orb to do good damage. Even with my Battacor, as pictured above, each pellet was only dealing 566 raw damage and I wasn't getting anywhere near full charge, yet the orb would easily obliterate anything that wasn't a Heavy Gunner or Ancient in Sortie 2/3.
3: Worm Hole
Worm Hole is pretty simple, it creates a portal that teleports you 50 metres (+Ran) forward, in the direction you are currently aiming. It's great for covering long distances quickly, especially with increased Range. Notably, it can also be used to speed up Kavor defectors in Defection, and Drones in Drone Escort missions on the Plains. My main complaint about Worm Hole is that it costs 75 Energy, which seems rather expensive for something that gets used up rather quickly, and often only gets used once.
4: Molecular Prime
Primed enemies are slowed by 30% (additively +Str, to a maximum of 75% slow), and receive double damage from all sources. Upon death, primed enemies explode, dealing 800 Blast damage (+Str) in a 10 metre radius (+Ran). Molecular Prime does not stack, and recasting it while it is still propogating will dispel the old wave and create a new one at Nova's location. Casting Molecular Prime interrupts actions, and costs 100 Energy.
Molecular Prime is one of the best abilities in the game. With boosted Duration, it covers a massive area and can affect the majority, if not entirety, of enemies in a smaller map (e.g. Interception, Defence). Double damage on enemies is never a bad thing, and the explosion on death, though negligible at higher levels, is a nice help at lower levels for quickly killing groups. Additionally, the ability to speed up or slow down enemies depending on Strength is a great help in many mission types.
The slow of MPrime has a base value of 30%, scaling additively with Strength. For instance, +30% Str from Intensify gives MPrime a slow of 60% (30+30) rather than 39% (30 x 1.3). This maxes out at 75% slow, achieved with +45% Str or more. Additionally, negative Strength, from Overextended and/or Power Donation, will reduce the slow, and even speed up enemies. -30% Str will reduce the slow to 0%, for no enemy speed changes, and beyond -30% Str will speed up enemies. For instance, -60% Str from a max rank Overextended will speed up enemies by 30%. Both speeds have good uses. Slow MPrime is great for defensive mission types where killing is less or not necessary, such as Mobile Defence and Interception. Speed MPrime is great for times when you want enemies to come to you as quickly as possible, such as Hydron affinity farming.
Each one of MPrime's elements can be seen, often to a greater degree, in other abilities. For instance, Banshee's Sonar increases direct damage dealt by 5x (+Str), while abilities like Rhino's Stomp can completely disable enemies in a fairly large radius. What makes MPrime so good is its ability to apply all of its debuff effects in a massive radius, lasting for a very long time, with just a single ability cast. By far the most annoying part of MPrime is its propogation period, as further away enemies will not be affected for a couple of seconds.
Augments
1: Neutron Star
Like with so many recasting Augments, the damage from Neutron Star is basically negligible, though the Blast proc can be useful in a pinch. More importantly however, this Augment lets you detonate all Null Stars - allowing you to immediately recast it to full star count for maximum Damage Reduction. That addition makes this Augment very useful for survivability at higher levels. One unfortunate consequence of Nova's ability design is that you often want absolute minimum Range, so that your Null Stars stay orbiting you as long as possible, but more Range makes Neutron Star more useful as an emergency CC.
I ran with Neutron Star for quite a while in my Slowva build, until Molecular Fission (4) was released. Neutron Star allows relatively convenient maintenance of Null Stars, ensuring that you have as much damage reduction as possible at all times. However, I find Molecular Fission to be far more effective and convenient for this purpose, so it has since been replaced with that Augment.
2: Antimatter Absorb
Especially with high Range, Antimatter Absorb makes AMD useful as a protective ability, allowing it to simply absorb enemy fire, keeping you completely safe. It makes AMD a great panic-button ability, and can also allow you to approach enemies safely. Personally, I don't use AMD much, nor do I have the mod slots available for Antimatter Absorb. However, it is a rather fun and useful Augment, definitely worth considering if you do enjoy using AMD.
3: Escape Velocity
Pretty self-explanatory, Escape Velocity further increases the mobility offered by Worm Hole, great for speed-running through missions and traversing long distances quickly. Notably, it is an Exilus mod. Again this is a mod I don't use because I don't use Worm Hole much, but if you do, this mod is definitely worth a look.
4: Molecular Fission
Molecular Fission allows you to pretty much permanently have maximum Null Stars and thus damage reduction, provided you use Molecular Prime with reasonable frequency. It does not care who kills primed enemies, any primed enemy kill from anyone will restore stars. It does not allow you to exceed your Duration-determined maximum, so unfortunately it does not let you consistently reach the 90% DR maximum, unless you have +200% Duration.
Personally, I really like this Augment. As I use Nova primarily for Molecular Prime, I am casting it constantly, so there are always primed enemies around. In my experience with the Augment so far, I have almost never dropped below 13 (from a maximum of 15) stars for more than a split second unless I am actively avoiding killing enemies. Even then, if my allies are killing primed enemies, stars are restored anyway. I really like this Augment, and I find it far more convenient than Neutron Star for maintaining Null Stars.
Builds
There are three directions you can build Strength for. For a typical Nova build for slowing down enemies (typically called "Slowva", ideal for defensive missions), you want around +45%, to reach the maximum 75% slow on Molecular Prime (4). Any more Strength is not really useful, only boosting Null Star damage (which is poor) and the insignificant parts of Antimatter Drop (2) damage. To have no effect on enemy speed, you want -30%. For a build intend to speed up enemies (often called "Speedva" or "Go-va", ideal for affinity farming on Hydron and such), you want as much negative Strength as you're comfortable with. -60% from Overextended gives +30% speed, while adding in Power Donation as well puts it to -90% Strength, for +60% speed. Personally, I am much more comfortable with just +30% speed.There are a number of ways to reach +45% Str. Both Transient Fortitude and Blind Rage will easily reach that threshold and take only one mod slot, but cost you some Duration or Efficiency respectively. Umbral Intensify gives +44% Str at max rank, and will exceed it alongside another Umbral mod, but (currently) cannot be polarised for with Forma, as you can't currently insert Umbral polarities. Intensify + Power Drift or Augur Secrets will reach +45% Str without reducing another stat, or being un-Forma-able, but of course uses two slots. Power Drift notably can go in the Exilus slot.
You typically want as much Duration as possible. Duration increases the number of Null Stars (1) generated, increasing the damage reduction provided. It also increases the lifespan of Worm Holes (3), but most importantly increases the propogation time and length of Debuff of Molecular Prime. Maximum damage reduction from Null Stars is reached with +200% Duration.
Narrow Minded + Primed Continuity gives you +154% Duration, for 15 Null Stars and thus 75% DR. NM + PC + Constitution + Augur Message gives +206% Duration, for 18 Null Stars and thus the maximum of 90% DR. NM + PC + Constitution or Augur Message will give 16 Null Stars, for 80% DR.
Range is used by all four abilities, but is often used as a dump stat. It increases the range at which Null Stars will shoot themselves at enemies, which considering you want them to stay orbiting you, is undesirable. Antimatter Drop's explosion radius is not affected by Range. Worm Hole is the main ability that wants high Range, as it allows Worm Holes to cover very long distances. The explosion radius of enemies affected by Molecular Prime is also affected, though this is merely a bonus on top of everything else MPrime does.
Efficiency is always helpful, since Nova wants to be casting abilities reasonably frequently., especially for Worm Hole builds.
For just about every build, you will probably want at least one of Nova's four Augments, depending on which build you're going for. For a typical high Duration Slowva/Speedva, you'll want Neutron Star (1) or Molecular Fission (4) to allow you to maintain maximum Null Star damage reduction. For a fast-travel Worm Hole-focused Nova, Escape Velocity (3) can be a fun and useful addition, especially as it can fit in the Exilus slot. Antimatter Absorb (2) can be a fun Augment as well if you use AMD frequently, and also makes AMD an even better panic-button ability.
For survivability, since Null Star damage reduction applies only to health, you will likely want to include either Vitality or Quick Thinking (to which Null Star DR also applies). Notably, Nova (Prime) has a pretty large energy pool, making Quick Thinking extremely effective, though I don't like it personally. Adaptation can further increase the toughness of your health if you have space for it, and Null Star's DR gives you the safety to actually build up its resistances.
I also consider +Casting Speed, mainly from Natural Talent, very helpful for Nova. MPrime has a roughly 1.5 second cast time that locks you in place (unless in air, in which case it restricts your mobility). The other Frames I've covered so far have had similarly long cast times on various abilities, however none of them have the propogation delay that MPrime has. With the time it takes MPrime to actually reach enemies at longer range, the bit of time saved from a shorter cast means reaching those enemies a little bit faster, which for Slowva, can be very valuable for survival, on top of the convenience of course.
Nova has two native V polarities, with Nova Prime having an additional V polarity. Both have a - polarity in the Aura slot.
Basic 0-Forma:
If you don't have access to Corrupted and Primed Mods, this is the sort of build I'd recommend trying out. +30% Str still gives a 60% slow on MPrime, a significant and useful amount. Reasonably high Duration gives for a roughly 55 metre radius MPrime, which is enough for a lot of rooms and tilesets. Neutron Star has been included as a placeholder for any Augment. Neither Neutron Star nor Molecular Fission are especially effective in this build, as the maximum DR from Null Stars with this Duration is only 55%, roughly halving incoming health damage. Null Star only really becomes valuable at very high Duration. Vitality is a simple and reliable survivability mod that can be switched out if desired. Corrosive Projection is the chosen Aura, as the most powerful of the - polarity Auras. There are of course several other decent options, like Enemy/Loot Radar, Speed Holster and Sprint Boost. Energy Siphon is also a solid option if you are struggling for energy.
I feel this build gives a reasonable demonstration of many of the things Nova is capable of. AMD is largely independent of +Ability stats, and even with mediocre modded weapons, can comfortably wipe out groups of enemies with a little bit of damage absorption. Wormhole retains its 50 metre range, enough to make good use of it in many tilesets - most Warframe maps are pretty tight anyway. MPrime has a pretty large area of effect, and has most of the benefit of a typical Slowva build. Null Star is the ability that suffers most, only offer 55% DR, and with 100% Range, will shoot itself off quite quickly.
If you want more Range for a better Worm Hole, Stretch can easily substitute for one of the other mods, like Constitution or Augur Message. Similarly Natural Talent for shorter cast times can also be replace one of those mods.
Narrow Minded 0-Forma:
Speedva 0-Forma:
The only difference between Speedva and Slowva builds are slotting in Overextended instead of +Str.
Range 0-Forma:
Primed Mods Slowva 1-Forma:
Ideally, you want space to move Power Drift to the Exilus slot, so you can make use of that mod slot. Extra D and - polarities will let you fit that comfortably, allowing you to put another mod in that last slot, like Augur Message or Natural Talent. If you want maximum DR, you can switch Streamline for Constitution as well. Umbral Vitality + Intensify is a decent combo that easily reaches the +45% Str threshold, while also adding health to take full advantage of Null Star's health DR. It however will require polarising pretty much every other slot, since the Umbrals are very high drain, and cannot be polarised for.
My Builds:
Similarly, my Speedva build isn't too special. Same duration as the Slowva build, with Overextended for +30% enemy speed. I don't like Power Donation for +60% enemy speed, as it feels a little too fast and too dangerous on what is primarily a weapon levelling build. Power Donation would also require extra Forma, which I am too lazy to apply. Handspring is one of my favourite mods, reducing the severity of Warframe's many knockdowns. Arcane Guardian and Molecular Fission give this build reasonable survivability, with Arcane Victory offering surprisingly reliable healing for a build that takes a lot of chip damage from fast enemies.
Roles
Similarly, Antimatter Drop (2) can be a powerful room clearer, but is also rather inconvenient to use at times, and is limited in range. Though it has elements of a DPS ability, I consider it to have enough drawbacks for Nova to not be considered a DPS Frame. Worm Hole is a support ability, allowing allies to traverse long distances instantly. Again however, it is too limited in use for me to consider Nova a proper Support Frame.
Combat Use and Summary
If you have reasonably high Duration, Null Star (1) should be casted immediately, and maintained as much as possible. The damage reduction it offers is invaluable to Nova's survival, especially if you don't have a slowing Molecular Prime (4). Speaking of which, most of the time, you want to make sure that every enemy around is affected by MPrime, especially if you're running the Molecular Fission Augment. As a mass CC and Debuff ability, it is often a major contributor to Nova's usefulness in a given mission type.Antimatter Drop (2) is a decent room clearer, ideal if you need to quickly kill a large group of enemies. With its Antimatter Absorb Augment, it can also serve as a panic-button ability in case you're being overwhelmed, drawing enemy fire away from you and absorbing it. Personally, I use it a lot during Interception to quickly clear out a point. Worm Hole (3) is purely a mobility ability, offering instant long range transportation. Escape Velocity makes Worm Hole useful for mobility even when straight-line teleportation is not useful/possible.
If you're looking for a Warframe with a diverse set of abilities, useful in almost every mission type, Nova is a great one to farm. She can offer a lot to a mission, has a lot of variety, and can be built in a number of different ways depending on what abilities you like most. I strongly recommend acquiring her, she is my second-most used Frame currently, and one of my favourites.
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