The Eternal’S Build (Week 2 Update)

[Austerity]

Last Week I released the Eternal's build. For anyone that was not interested in the journey of self-discovery, but would still like to understand the inner workings of the Eternal’s universal build (solo), I present to you this full disclosure of how and why the Eternal’s build (solo) works.

 

And now your guide to a near infinite caster Warframe. Enjoy!

 

 

Let me start by apologizing for the ginormous wall of text to come…

 

 

(Serious Spoiler)

How the ETERNAL’s build solo works

 

Unlike most contemporary builds that use shields to protect themselves and prevent damage, the Eternal’s build (solo) is designed to not only to want to take damage but also to further make the best use of all damage received (think EPIC TANK with but infinite casting skill). Some of the damage received is turned into damage against your enemies and some is used to reinvigorate you in a quasi-infinite (seemingly infinite) loop of health regeneration. This in short means that damage literally becomes fuel for the Warframe. The more you fuel your Warframe the greater results you will get. There are several key issues that arise however during the damage to health regeneration process. Gaps are created in the loop due to environmental factors and fixes for these gaps are necessary in order to keep the loop as complete as possible. If our quasi-infinite loop is disrupted at the wrong time then the Warframe dies. And generally speaking, no one wants a dead Warframe. Discussed below is the conversion method and the fixes used as stop gaps.

 

Firstly, how does one control the influx of damage? Imagine you want to fill a water balloon with a hose. If you fill the balloon too fast it pops (that’s you). So rather than turn the spigot on full quickly, an intelligent person might choose to turn it on gradually, slowly filling the balloon to the desired capacity without breaking the balloon. The same principal applies to the Eternal’s build. In order to regulate and reduce the speed at which damage intake happens and the Warframe is fueled, the build uses Reflex Guard (55% block rate). In addition, rather than waste the damage not taken through the use of Reflex Guard, the build makes the best use of that damage by Reflection which sends 96% back at the attacker. This means, as the Warframe begins fueling up (taking damage), weaker enemies may already begin dying even before the rest of the conversion process is initiated.

 

Secondly, what happens to the damage taken? As humans our bodies have a system in which when we hurt ourselves severely, our bodies produces a chemical called adrenaline. Our bodies use the adrenaline to produce energy to help us get out of whatever situation is causing us to get hurt. Similarly when the Eternal’s build (solo) takes damage, it uses Rage and converts 40% of that damage taken to Energy.

 

Thirdly, how does one now turn the newly gained Energy into Health? There are several viable options through skills, however, in order to keep the Eternals build (solo) universal for any Warframe, the conversion method chosen was Life Strike.  

 

Fourth, didn’t you mention gaps? There are several gaps created in the conversion process, some harmful to the Warframe and some not. For instance the removal of all enemies will halt the conversion process and stop the quasi-infinite loop, however this event will not kill the Warframe and subsequently is not looked upon as a vital gap. The most vital gap in the quasi-infinite loop, occurs when the a Warframe reaches 0 health, but has not yet activated Life Strike. At this critical junction, a normal Warframe would die. The Eternal’s build includes a safety measure to deal with this gap in the conversion process.

 

Fifth, how does one deal with the gap that is created between conversion of received damage into energy and the conversion of dealt damage into health? This gap in the quasi-infinite loop can vary to large degrees based on encounters from the Warframe’s environment. As mentioned earlier, if our quasi-infinite loop is disrupted at the wrong time then the Warframe dies. Although Reflex Guard works under most conditions to slow and regulate the influx of damage (fuel), under sustained heavy fire from enemies the Warframe may incur damage to rapidly to process (the bursting balloon scenario). Should the aforementioned situation happen, at the important junction when the balloon would burst, Quick Thinking stops the loop and reverses its direction, using Energy to supply Health in order to keep the Warframe in motion. This in most instances will provide the Warframe with enough time to react and either remove the threat that would destroy it or retreat to prevent destruction. Because the quasi-infinite loop is not designed to permanently go in a reverse order, the loop stalls out. Now that Quick Thinking has stalled the loop, the Warframe needs to find a means to re-engage the loop in its correct direction. Due to the relatively low Energy cost of Life Stirke, the Warframe can rest briefly and allow for Energy Siphon to refill energy to an acceptable level for its use before re-engaging the enemy.

 

Sixth, are there other gaps to be aware of? There are several additional gaps that allow for the loop to stop, the most prominent being the loss of incoming damage to health as mentioned previously. Due to the nature of this gap, there is no fix other than regularly engaging enemies. Another major gap, this one being preventable, is the period during which a Warframe may be knocked down or otherwise destabilized from being on its feet.  During this time a Warframe may still incur damage, however it will be unable to complete the conversion cycle of Energy to Heath. As a preventative measure, the combination of Sure Footed and Fortitude is used to provide 80% knockdown resist. This includes knockdown from Corpus laser doors, Leapers, Ancients, Bombards, Napalms, Scorpians, Shockwave Moa, Orokin traps, blast damage, and various others. While not 100% resistance, it is more than effective in most cases.

 

(Interlude)

 

Now let us do some MATH.  Let’s say you take 100 damage to your Health. Rage converts 40% to Energy, giving you 40 Energy. Life Strike at max “without channeling efficiency mods… will cost… a total of 12 Energy per strike” (Wiki), and converts 20% of damage dealt back to Health. In order to close the quasi-infinite loop we need a weapon that does at minimum of 500 damage in one strike or 167 (rounded up) damage within 3 strikes. This will give us a minimum net gain to Energy of 4 and a maximum of 28.

 

In order to keep this somewhat simple let us mitigate circumstances that might reduce a Warframe’s Energy to zero, such as Eximus, Hek, trap doors, etc. Over time after repeated cycling, a Warframe’s Energy reserves will fill to maximum.  When that time arrives, in order to not waste any potential Energy generated from our quasi-infinite loop, we must determine a means for expelling Energy at a constant rate. This is where a Warframe skill comes in. This means as long as our quasi-infinite loop remains running, the skill will be infinite cast at a constant rate. However unlike the example, there are unavoidable disruptions that throttle the conversion and slow down the rate of infinite cast, such as running out of Enemies.

 

(End Interlude)

 

Eighth, so, if this quasi-infinite loop regenerates Health and provides infinite Energy when running than why is there a need for Equilibrium? Machines are man-made and therefore subject to error. Namely there are unmitigated circumstances (see mitigated above) that will eliminate a Warframe’s Energy reserves. Additionally, there are unfortunate circumstances within the game code that can cause errors, such as glitches in melee (being unable to attack) or Life Strike not activating (enough Energy is present for the conversion and damage is dealt, however no health is gained). Additionally because the Eternal’s build, basically shares a combined pool of Health and Energy, with maximum Equilibrium the Warframe is netting over double on whichever is desired for use.

Ninth, oh, since the ETERNAL’s build works on a combined Pool of both Health and Energy, than that means Vitality boosts Energy and Flow boosts Health? Correct. And what an astute pupil you are.

 

Tenth. What are you waiting for Tenno?

[Darzk]

I can't resist: It's Rage + Life Strike. You didn't need to write a book.

 

:D

 

Constructively tho, while I understand the efficacy of using health damage to generate energy through Rage, and cycling it back in through LS, I still think it'd be easier to not health tank in the first place. If you aren't taking health damage you don't have to spend energy to heal, and therefore aren't locked into melee, and therefore don't have to run into melee range, and therefore take less damage overall.

 

I still think it's better to build for ability synergy rather than build to counter the effects of running up to an enemy wielding a sword. I suppose at massively high levels Reflection might begin to make up for the massive DPS loss suffered by staying in melee, but its doubtful.

 

It's also hard to call something a 'caster' warframe when you're not using a single mod slot to buff any abilities. While I understand you're pointing at the extra energy generated by Rage, its just more realistic to cut ability costs to 1/4 and rely on ES/EV/Orbs/Consumables.

 

 

The Eternal build, or something close to it, is a lot of fun. Its especially effective on Valkyr, with her high armor, although I would throw a few mods at keeping Warcry useful. By all means I'd say try it out; but I wouldn't bring it to challenging content. If nothing else, it completely destroys your frame's synergy with other teammates, and forces you to melee, wrecking your DPS.