Citrine is a new Warframe, only just released in U32.3. A gemstone/crystal-themed Frame, Citrine is an incredible tanky Support that also offers a degree of CC and debuffing. With a wide range of strong and useful Abilities, she is very well-rounded and offers something in most mission types.
Acquisition
Citrine's blueprints are potential drops from the Mirror Defence mission type on Tyana Pass, Mars.
Stats
Abilities
Passive: Geoluminesence
While Geoluminesence is not at maximum, Citrine can also collect Health Orbs even when at full Health. This increase lasts for the entire mission. The current heal rate is displayed in the top half of a unique UI element.
This an amazing Passive. Access to reliable healing is valuable in all but the absolute highest levels of content, and Citrine gives it to the entire squad as well as nearby non-Warframe allies. The ability to pick up Health Orbs while still being at full Health can be useful for certain mod interactions as well, notably Health Conversion and Equilibrium.
Citrine throws projectiles forward to a range of 14m (+Ran), that hits all enemies in a cone in line-of-sight of her (the line-of-sight check is a bit odd and I've had it hit through walls). All enemies hit are dealt a little Impact and Slash damage (+Str), with guaranteed procs of each. If an enemy dies while suffering from Slash procs inflicted by Fractured Blast, they will have an additional 50% chance (+Str) of dropping a Health Orb, and 20% chance (+Str) of dropping an Energy Orb. Such affected enemies will have a crystal hovering above their head as pictured above.
1: Fractured Blast
Citrine throws projectiles forward to a range of 14m (+Ran), that hits all enemies in a cone in line-of-sight of her (the line-of-sight check is a bit odd and I've had it hit through walls). All enemies hit are dealt a little Impact and Slash damage (+Str), with guaranteed procs of each. If an enemy dies while suffering from Slash procs inflicted by Fractured Blast, they will have an additional 50% chance (+Str) of dropping a Health Orb, and 20% chance (+Str) of dropping an Energy Orb. Such affected enemies will have a crystal hovering above their head as pictured above.
Fractured Blast costs 25 Energy to cast, and will interrupt some actions such as Reloading, but does not inhibit movement.
Fractured Blast is a very useful cheap ability. Reliable methods of spawning Health and Energy Orbs are always appreciated, especially with Geoluminesence, and FB does so very well at a low Energy cost and with reasonable range.
2: Preserving Shell
The current DR is displayed in the bottom half of a unique UI element, and the remaining duration of Preserving Shell is also displayed in a bar underneath. Allies who leave Affinity Range will lose the buff, and regain it when they re-enter.
If Preserving Shell is recast while active, it will retain its current DR. If it expires, the DR will decay in the background as normal, and if recast while the background DR is still above the base cast level, will start at that DR.
Preserving Shell is an incredible Ability. 90% DR is huge for any Warframe, let alone being able to provide it to the whole squad as well. The need to stack the buff up for maximum effect is largely a non-issue. It is extremely easy to do since it stacks on kill assists (including hitting enemies with any of Citrine's other Abilities), not just direct kills by Citrine. If you are unable to tag enemies to even achieve kill assists, odds are that you're playing content where you don't need the DR in the first place.
3: Prismatic Gem
When Citrine or her allies (including Companions) are within the aura and attack any enemy using weapons or Fractured Blast, the gem will also attack them with a light beam. These beams deal some Cold + Electric + Heat + Toxin damage (+Str) with guaranteed proc of each. Each ally will get one unique light beam that will shift targeting between any enemies attacked by that ally. These beams have unlimited range and bypass anything including walls. The light beams will also target enemies who are within the aura, and are attacked by any ally from anywhere.
Only one Prismatic Gem may be active per Citrine player. Casting Prismatic Gem costs 75 Energy and interrupts all actions and movements.
Affected enemies will also spawn a large crystal growth that serves as a weakspot. Directly hitting these weakspots with a weapon (explosions will not count) will cause guaranteed 300% Crit Chance for tier 3 crits (red crits using default text colours).
Prismatic Gem is an unusual Ability. While its damage output is negligible at higher levels, its Status support is massive, drastically increasing Status Chance and also adding each of the base elemental procs to its victims. Its turret-like behaviour is limited by only attacking enemies that allies also attack. Prismatic Gem is especially strong for any equipment/Abilities that inflict Status procs and/or scale with number of unique procs on an enemy.
4: Crystallize
Citrine jumps into the air for a moment, before slamming down and causing crystal fissures to rapidly propagate to any enemy within 30m (+Ran) in line-of-sight. Enemies hit will be dealt a tiny amount of Impact damage (+Str), and frozen for 8 seconds (+Dur).
Crystallize is a short-lasting CC that drastically increases the firepower of most non-AoE weapons built for Crit used against its victims. Very few weapons can get close to 300% Crit Chance without highly specialised builds and/or immense buff-stacking, so forcing tier 3 Crits will be a significant damage boost for almost all of them. The obvious exception is any Incarnon weapon built for their anti-Crit Evolution, however in these cases you can simply aim towards the body of the enemy and away from the crystal.
Augments
None yet since she's brand new. I'm sure she will receive some in due course.
There are a lot of Arcanes you can consider. For survivability, Arcane Guardian/Tanker drastically increase Armour, greatly increasing Citrine's Health-based survivability. Arcane Blessing is a perfect fit, easily stacking from the many Health Orbs spawned by FB to drastically increase Health, eliminating the need for any +Health mod. Arcane Aegis/Barrier can be used for Shield-based survivability. All are completely viable options on Citrine, whose base survivability is already very good.
Citrine is highly customisable and adaptable, so you should absolutely experiment to your own playstyle and preferences. This example build showcases an ability-heavy Citrine, with massive Range to hit as many enemies as possible with her Abilities, and fairly high Strength. The low Efficiency is mitigated by Equilibrium and FB's significantly increased Orb spawn rate.
I've opted for a relatively balanced tanky build.
Builds
Citrine appreciates all Ability stats, but at the same time her base numbers are already good enough to use in most content. Strength is notable for directly increasing the Orb generation rates of Fractured Blast (1), as well as the Status buffs from Prismatic Gem (3). +100% Str will guarantee Health Orb drops from any enemy hit by FB, but I don't think getting the exact 100% drop rate is strictly necessary. +125% Str will make Preserving Shell (2) start at 90% DR, but again given the DR easily stacks up with kills/kill assists, and will still decay over time, I don't think that's a big deal.
Duration simply makes Citrine's abilities last longer, thus allowing less frequent recasting. Of note, it will minimise the amount of time spent recasting Preserving Shell, as well as lengthen the CC aspect of Crystallize (4). Range as expected simply increases the distances at which FB, PS, and Crystallize work, although this is of course very useful. So long as your Strength is reasonable, I'd argue that Range is Citrine's most useful Ability stat.
I'd argue that Efficiency is the least important stat for Citrine, at least once you have a good setup. FB generates a crazy amount of Energy Orbs with even moderate Strength and reasonable enemy density, and can easily generate hundreds of Energy per cast.
When you eventually acquire them, the Archon mods are solid options for Citrine since PG deals and inflicts all the single elemental damages and procs. Archon Stretch and Continuity are standouts, the former for free Energy and the latter for free Corrosive procs.
Equilibrium is a perfect fit for Citrine. Since FB generates both Health and Energy Orbs at a greatly increased rate, Equilibrium will drastically increase Citrine's overall Health and Energy recovery. With reasonable enemy density and Strength, it is completely possible to forgo Efficiency and other Energy saving/regenerating equipment and Abilities entirely. With Equilibrium and regular use of FB, Citrine will essentially always be maxed out on Energy, Health, and healing from Geoluminesence.
Several of Citrine's Abilities have relatively long casts that restrict actions and mobility. Natural Talent can be a great help to shorten these significantly, if you can spare the mod slot. Alternatively, if you are at that stage, Amber Archon Shards can be installed to do the same thing without using a mod slot.
With Preserving Shell providing 90% DR, Citrine has a lot of viable survivability options. Adaptation is a great option. PS gives enough DR for you to survive long enough to build up Adaptation stacks. Adaptation and PS multiply to give up to 99% DR, making Citrine nigh-invulnerable in any content that a typical player might experience. It functions effectively even up to base level final Steel Path Void branch, which has a massive enemy damage multiplier.
With the survivability to take a few hits, you could consider
With such high DR, Citrine can use both Health or Shield mods effectively, although you could also forgo them entirely and just survive on her base Health and Shields as well. If going the Health route, Health Conversion is a perfect fit for an essentially permanent massive Armour increase, though I found it to be totally unnecessary even half an hour into Steel Path Mot. Rolling Guard is of course a great option if you plan to do extended endurance runs, but probably isn't necessary until levels in the thousands, far beyond what I've experienced.
Stagger and Knockdown resistance/recovery/immunity is always appreciated for any Frame who cannot natively block them. Depending on your available mods, Handspring, Pain Threshold, (Primed) Sure Footed, etc are worth consideration if you have the spare mod slots.
Arcane Eruption is an entertaining option that can CC enemies quite reliably, again because FB reliably spawns Health Orbs. It could potentially offer better survivability than a traditional survivability Arcane, particularly at super-high levels, since knocked down enemies do not attack at all. I find Arcane Energise to be completely unnecessary with a bit of Strength and Equilibrium. Molt Augmented/Vigor/Efficiency could be used to increase Strength or Duration respectively, both of which Citrine can make use of.
Otherwise, any of the weapon or mobility buffing Arcanes (e.g. Arcane Avenger, Agility, Phantasm) are worth consideration to personal preference and playstyle.
Citrine has one each of V and D polarities natively, and - in the Aura slot. The usual suspects for - polarity Auras are all decent options. Corrosive Projection is effective against any high-level armoured enemies, while Sprint Boost offers a little extra mobility, and Loot/Enemy Radar offer greater situational awareness. Energy Siphon is not necessary with a decent build as Citrine can generate so much Energy between FB and Equilibrium.
Looking at other polarity Auras, Growing Power is useful if you want more Strength, Swift Momentum can be useful for Melee-focused gameplay, and Brief Respite is worth consideration at ultra-high levels if you need shield-gating for survivability. Finally, Combat Discipline can be used to trigger on-damage effects like Arcane Avenger much more reliably, and Citrine easily heals up the lost Health.
Basic 0-Forma:
Citrine works very effectively with just basic mods, although I strongly recommend seeking out a copy of Equilibrium. Even at a relatively low rank, it drastically increases the value of FB, and makes Energy significantly less of an issue. This is especially impactful earlier in game progression when the Energy economy is much tighter.
Even if you are struggling to make full use of your Abilities, Citrine's Passive is already among the best Passives in the game, offering constant healing-over-time. Healing can also be limited in early game, so having unconditional, constant healing can be very valuable even on its own.
Ranked Up 0-Forma
This build is only marginally different, maxing out the Ranks on Equilibrium, and replacing Continuity with its Primed version. Realistically, there are much better things to invest your resources than maxing out a few specific mods - you will get much more value out of leaving the high-rank mods a few ranks below max.
Adaptation 1-Forma:
As mentioned previously, Adaptation is a significant boost to survivability, and can comfortably take Citrine well into the hundreds of levels without getting even close to dying. It synergises well with any +Health/Shield mods, but you could also forgo them entirely and live on just base Health and Shields with the up-to-99% DR.
High Stat 3-Forma:
My Build
Umbral Vitality and Adaptation combine with Citrine's Abilities to make her comically tanky, to the point where I could stand motionless in base level Steel Path Mot without getting remotely close to dying. Adaptation and Preserving Shell also work on her Shields, and with Arcane Aegis make it nigh impossible for enemies to even deplete her Shields. I tried Health Conversion as well for some time, but found it hilariously overkill alongside everything else and eventually dropped it.
A general positive mix of Strength, Range and Duration makes all of Citrine's Abilities overall better and stronger. I've leaned towards Strength for higher Orb generation chance and Status buffs from PG, and Range particularly for longer ranged FB and PG.
Equilibrium makes Efficiency and even Arcane Energize completely unnecessary with the number of Orbs that Fractured Blast prints out. Primed Flow isn't all that necessary either, and could be easily replaced with a few Azure Archon shards.
Roles
Citrine can perform a number of roles to varying degrees of effectiveness, excelling in Support. Geoluminesence (Passive) and Preserving Shell (2) makes herself and all allies fairly tanky and able to take quite a beating in most content. Fractured Blast (1) generates Energy and Health orbs at a good rate for the whole team.
Prismatic Gem (3) offers increased Status capabilities as well as spreading base Elemental procs, ideal for any equipment that scales with the number of unique procs. Crystallize (4) is a short CC that also offers a major damage boost for any direct hit Crit weapon.
Citrine's Debuff role is arguable. The primary debuffing that she does is inflicting Impact, Slash and base elemental procs on enemies. There are definitely some useful effects, such as Heat proc's Armour reduction and the light CC effects of Cold and Electric, but not as impactful as a lot of other Abilities. Perhaps most importantly, these free procs are very helpful for all the equipment and mods that scale with unique procs on the enemy (e.g. Condition Overload). There are definitely other Frames and Abilities that are more distinctly Debuffers than Citrine.
Citrine is not much of a DPS, as none of her Abilities deal significant damage at high levels.
Combat Use and Summary
Citrine should keep Preserving Shell (2) active at all times, and should aim to tag as many enemies with Fractured Blast (1) as possible for Orb generation. Prismatic Gem (3) is best set up in an area that allies will be staying within for maximum benefit, but is also useful in a chokepoint that enemies will need to pass through for partial effect. Crystallize (4) is ideal for stopping a group of highly threatening enemies long enough to kill them with enhanced Crits.
Citrine is useful in most mission types, but is perhaps most effective when players will not be moving much, for maximum benefit from Prismatic Gem. As most of her Abilities benefit the whole squad, she also prefers to be near her squadmates to offer them maximum support.
Overall, Citrine is a great Support Warframe who excels in team survivability. With a decent build and active play, she can make the entire squad nigh-unkillable in most content. She also offers impressive Health and Energy Orb generation, greatly improved Status capabilities for the team, and even a short CC that buffs direct hit Crit weapons.
Weapon Combinations
Citrine offers special benefit to her signature weapons, Steflos and Corufell. Steflos gets increased Projectile Speed, while Corufell gets increased Heavy Attack Wind-Up speed.
Outside of these, Citrine's Abilities have two notable interactions that weapons can benefit from. Firstly, Fractured Blast (1) and Prismatic Gem (3) spread up to 6 unique Status procs (Impact, Slash, Cold, Electric, Fire, Toxin) to affected enemies. This allows weapons using Condition Overload or Galv Aptitude/Shot/Savvy (and especially the Cedo) to gain a massive amount of extra damage. Healing Return Melees also benefit greatly.
Secondly, Crystallize (4) adds weakspots to affected enemies that causes direct hits to have a fixed 300% Crit Chance for guaranteed tier 3 crits (red when using default text colours). This naturally makes it a strong boost to any direct hit weapon with a high Crit Multiplier, especially those with low Crit Chance. Of note, weapons like the Ambassador, Sporothrix, Kuva Nukor, and Catabolyst (Primary Fire) all have a high Crit Multi but fairly low base Crit Chance.
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