Pages

Sunday, 28 April 2019

Prime Unvaulting: Volt and Loki

The next set of Unvaulted Primes has been revealed, with Volt and Loki Primes becoming available once more. For most platforms, the Unvaulting is scheduled to begin on April 30th, ending around July 2nd.



Volt Prime comes with currently the only Prime Archwing, Odonata Prime. An Electric themed Warframe, Volt Prime is a versatile Frame with many current meta roles.

Volt's Shock (1) deals a tiny amount of Electricity damage to enemies near the point of impact, with guaranteed Electricity proc for a short stun. Speed (2) increases the movement, melee attack and reload speeds of Volt and all nearby allies. Electric Shield (3) creates a shield that blocks all enemy projectiles, but increases the Crit Damage of all allied projectiles and adds Electricity damage. Discharge (4) zaps all enemies within range, stunning them and turning them into Tesla Coils which damage other enemies.

Volt's Augments are hit-and-miss. His 1 Augment adds Electric damage to allied attacks, which is very situational. His 2 Augment causes all Speed affected enemies to deal minor Electric damage with guaranteed proc to nearby targets, which can be quite useful. His 3 Augment allows allies to pick up Shields, not just himself, which is also quite situational. His 4 Augment generates (over)shields for himself and allies based on damage dealt by Discharge, which is extremely useful for Discharge-based builds.

Volt Prime has increased armour, but notably has double the Energy capacity of regular Volt. Overall Volt is in a fairly decent place. All of his abilities are useful to some extent, and he is useful in many high level activites, such as (Elite) Sanctuary Onslaught and Tridolon Hunts in the Plains.


Odonata Prime has higher health and shields than Odonata, as well as higher flight speed. Of its abilities, Energy Shell (1) is by far the most notable, absorbing enemy projectiles, adding Heat damage and increasing Crit Damage. It is very useful for the Jordas Golem Assassination, but otherwise pales in comparison to the Itzal and Amesha Archwings.

Loki Prime comes with Bo and Wyrm Primes (the latter itself including Prime Laser Rifle). Loki is a utility/deception themed Warframe, with abilities that hinder and deceive enemies to his benefit.

Loki's Decoy (1) creates a fake version of himself that draws enemy fire. Invisibility (2) cloaks Loki. Switch Teleport (3) switches Loki with the target, which can be an ally or enemy. Radial Disarm (4) disarms most enemies within range of their ranged weapon, forcing them to resort to melee attacks. Not all enemies are affected; those who are not disarmed take a small amount of damage.

Loki's Augments can all be useful depending on your build and playstyle. His 1 Augment saves you from lethal damage provided you have an active Decoy. His 2 Augment silences all weapons used while Invisibility is active. His 3 Augment makes Switch Teleported allies invulnerable for a short time. His 4 Augment also inflicts all affected enemies with a Radiation proc.

Loki Prime only has a slightly increased Energy pool over regular Loki. Overall, Loki is a decent non-offensive Warframe with many useful abilities, however is becoming increasingly less relevant in a game in which raw damage dealing is most desired.

Bo Prime is an improved Bo/MK1-Bo Staff, with high base Damage, Status Chance and Attack Speed. It is still however Impact based with no Slash, so pales in comparison to many other, more popular and powerful melee weapons.

Wyrm Prime, as usual for most Sentinels, comes with Prime Laser Rifle. Notably, it offers the most Mastery of any of the Unvaulted Prime items, as it awards Mastery for both itself and its weapon.

Wyrm Prime is one of the toughest Sentinels, with very high base Shields, decent Health and decent Armour. Its two signature Precepts, Crowd Dispersion and Negate, are both situationally useful. Crowd Dispersion knocks away nearby enemies, which can be useful if you don't intend to melee them, while Negate occasionally prevents a Status Effect. However, I (and many other players) generally consider other Sentinels more useful (mainly Carrier and Helios).

Prime Laser Rifle is a marginally less awful version of Laser Rifle, with higher (but still poor) base Damage, crit, Status Chance and RoF.


Ranking them in order of utility/priority, I would order them as such:
  1. Volt Prime
  2. Loki Prime
  3. Wyrm Prime
  4. Odonata Prime
  5. Bo Prime

No comments:

Post a Comment