Prime Unvaulting: Ember and Frost Primes (2020)

The next upcoming Unvaulting is a classic, Ember and Frost Primes. They will take the place of the current ones, Nova and Trinity Primes, on the 29th of September.

Ember Prime comes with Sicarus and Glaive Primes. Ember is, as you might expect, a fire-themed Warframe. Having undergone an ability overhaul in U26, alongside a massive Heat proc buff, she is an effective and versatile offensive caster Frame.

 

Fireball (1) throws a projectile forward, exploding on impact dealing a tiny amount of Heat damage, with high Status Chance. Its main uses are for triggering Ember's passive, and building up heat for her (2). Immolation (2) gives Ember damage reduction scaling with a special heat meter. At maximum heat, it offers the highest damage reduction of 90%, but also begins to drain energy-over-time. Fire Blast (3) creates an expanding wave of fire, dealing a little Heat damage with guaranteed proc, knocking down enemies, and permanently stripping enemy armour scaling with the heat meter. It also reduces the current heat meter level, as well as the rate of heat generation. Inferno (4) calls down meteorites to strike every enemy in range, dealing Heat and Impact damage, as well as surrounding all affected enemies with a persistent ring of fire, dealing additional Heat damage-over-time. Inferno increases the heat meter accretion speed, as well as its damage scaling with the heat meter.

All of Ember's Augments are useful to some degree. Fireball Frenzy (1) allows Ember to add a significant amount of Heat damage to her own and nearby allies' weapons. Immolated Radiance (2) gives half of Immolation's damage reduction to nearby allies. Healing Flame (3) heals Ember for each enemy hit by Fire Blast, based on heat meter. Purifying Flames (3) is a former PvP-only Augment that cleanses allies of Status procs, and provides Status immunity for a short time. Exothermic (4) gives a 15% chance for enemies affected by Inferno to drop an Energy orb.

Ember Prime has increased Shields and Armour compared to regular Ember. Overall, Ember is a fairly powerful Heat-based Warframe who has decent damage output and debuffing abilities, while still retaining reasonable survivability. She has retained her ability to effortlessly wipe lower level tiles (albeit with more button pressing), while scaling much better at higher levels.

Sicarus Prime is an MR14 Burst-Fire Secondary. With high Crit and Status Chances, it is capable of dealing quite good damage, with frequent Status procs. Its main weaknesses are a bias towards Impact damage, a very poor Reload Ratio of just 1.28, and being one of many victims of powercreep. It is not especially good against large groups due to its middling Mag Capacity. Though certainly not weak, it faces extremely stiff competition from the other strong Burst Secondaries, the Kuva Kraken and Sepulcrum. Additionally, the Secondary slot is filled with many really strong options, like the Kuva Nukor, Kuva Twin Stubbas, Pyrana Prime, the list goes on. While the Sicarus Prime is a fairly strong weapon, in my opinion it does little that these other such Secondaries cannot match or exceed.

The Glaive Prime is an MR10 Thrown Melee. With great Crit, Status Chance and majority Slash, it is a contender for the best Thrown Melee currently in the game. That said, Thrown Melees are not in a great spot since Melee 3.0, as there are a number of long-standing issues with their throw attacks, and they are not great as regular melees.

Frost Prime comes with Latron and Reaper Primes. Frost is, naturally, an Ice-themed Warframe with a set of defensively-focused abilities. He excels at holding and defending positions and objectives.

Freeze (1) throws a snowball forward, dealing Cold damage and freezing any enemy it hits. Nearby enemies are inflicted with stacked Cold procs. Ice Wave (2) sends forth an expanding wave dealing Cold damage with guaranteed procs. Snow Globe (3) creates a protective sphere around Frost's current location, with health scaling with armour and absorbed damage. This can be stacked, with a maximum of 1,000,000 health. Up to 4 separate Snow Globes can be active at any one time. Enemies caught inside the Snow Globe upon cast are frozen and flung outwards, receiving scaling True damage if they hit a hard object. Snow Globes can be destroyed by casting Freeze on them. Avalanche (4) freezes all nearby enemies, dealing damage to them and temporarily reducing their armour.

Most of Frost's Augments are useful, and worth considering in appropriate builds. Freeze Force (1) adds a significant amount of Cold damage to all nearby allies' weapons. Ice Wave Impedance (2) leaves a cold patch where Ice Wave was cast, slowing any enemies who touch it. Chilling Globe (3) has a 50% chance to freeze any enemy who enters a Snow Globe. Icy Avalanche (4) grants all nearby allies a small Iron Skin-like barrier based on the number of enemies hit.

Frost Prime has increased Shields compared to regular Frost. Overall, Frost is a solid defensive Warframe, with a top-notch defensive ability and several close-range enemy CC/debuffs.

The Latron Prime is an MR10 Semi-Auto Rifle, with very good Crit and solid Status Chance. It also recently got access to a previously PvP-only Augment, Double Tap, which in regular gameplay can provide an enormous damage multiplier, so long as you land consecutive shots. However, it has a fairly small Mag Capacity of just 15 rounds, and also has a rather poor Reload Ratio of just 1.5. It faces immense competition from many other Rifles and Primaries. Weapons like all good Snipers, the Kuva Hind in Semi-Auto, the Prisma Grinlok, and the Kuva Chakkhurr are all much more powerful. Additionally, the Latron Prime is a precision weapon in a game largely about crowd clearing. Especially with its Augment it is neat and fun, but offers little that is not done better by other weapons.

The Reaper Prime is an MR10 Scythe Melee with great Crit, Status Chance and Slash bias. It is easily the best Scythe in the game, and a very strong Melee weapon overall.

If I were to prioritise getting the items from this Unvault, I would order them as such:

1. Ember and Frost Primes - both are useful and effective Frames
2. Reaper Prime - strongest Scythe currently in game and a generally very good Melee.
3. Glaive Prime - it is (probably, I don't use its class much) the best Thrown Melee in the game currently, but Thrown Melees are not in a great spot right now.
   
4. Sicarus and Latron Primes - Neither is a bad weapon as such, but they face very stiff competition from many arguably superior weapons.