Melee Warframe

[BigPeedge]

I was wondering if people were willing to share opinions, with explanations and builds (screenshots of builds), of the best warframes they would chose to go on a mission using nothing but a melee weapon.

I'd like to know in a scenario where I have a long range melee weapon (ex: guandao), what would be the best warframe to use. This of course means what warframes such as valkyr and titania kinda get the boot since they have exalted weapons.

 

PS: I know it has been discussed a few times before. I'd like a refreshed page with all the updates and changes.

[Ada_Wong_SG]

I guess it is down in individual preference for choice of melee frame, usually anything tanky enough like Rhino, Nezha, Inaros.
Would be good for meleeing without. Harrow can boost crit so very good with crit based melees.

Not counting exalted weapon, but from purely using melee weapon in open combat.

My personal combination goes with Trinity Prime + Naramon Focus
Since the combo counter bleedout by 5 instead of emptying, it means I can use the mod slot for
Body Count to fit in another mod. Primed Fury + Berserker Nikana Prime/ Skiajati build with channeling to increase the damage.

With other frames it might be necessary for mods like Life Strike or Zenurik for energizing dash, but
Trinity is self-contained in terms of healing HP and restoration of energy, while Link basically provide knock down immunity.

The extra slots taking out Life Strike and Body Count on a crit weapon can use other mods which boost the base damage, 
Guandao can be modded for crit, so I guess it's a good choice.

[LarryYourWaiter]

Guandao is a good weapon.  But there’s no reason you can’t use it on valkyr etc.  one of my clannies swears by a valkyr warcry build.  The hysteria claws are only ever used if he’s getting beaten hard and needs to save himself.  This build allows for a slow, heavy hitting weapon which then gets the attack speeed from valkyr.

i recommend Inaros though.  You get to see your cool finishing move all the time. 

[CrazyValkyr]

Valkyr, built for Warcry (with Eternal War augument), with high Power strength (speaking 200 and higher), with a well-modded melee weapon with a decent range & Naramon Focus tree as Primary. Nothing will be able to kill you in a regular ingame content & you'll sweep rooms of enemies in matter of seconds. There's not a mission type I personally can't do with her with ease of use and lots of fun.

Others have already pointed out alternatives.

[0_The_F00l]

There is no best but there are frames which can improve you overall melee damage (and utility) 

1) Frames that can go invisible - loki, Ash, Octavia (Ivara is not that great due to the speed limitation but could still work) invisible frames do bonus stealth damage hence suggested. 

2) frames that can put enemies to sleep or stun or suspend - Equinox, Ivara, inaros, Excalibur , Rhino - same reason as above. 

3) frames that can proc multiple elements - Saryn, Oberon, as that will boost your condition overload. 

4) frames that boost attributes like damage or speed - valkyr, rhino, Saryn, harrow, chroma, Nezha, Octavia. 

These are my suggestions specifically for melee,

there can be others which are more suited to your playstyle that are not even mentioned here. 

Of course you need to build em right, let me know if you want specific inputs for any specific frame. 

Edited October 26, 2018 by 0_The_F00l

[Lysithea.Nya]

I personally feel that if you want to melee everything, rhino is the best option. It has iron skin which will help you survive in melee combat, roar which will boost your damage and stomp which will help you control enemies. Build duration+strength mainly for it, with some range and efficiency as well.

Edited October 26, 2018 by rsod25

[Maryph]

Atlas with a good melee and 1

[BigPeedge]

19 hours ago, Ada_Wong_SG said:

I guess it is down in individual preference for choice of melee frame, usually anything tanky enough like Rhino, Nezha, Inaros.
Would be good for meleeing without. Harrow can boost crit so very good with crit based melees.

Not counting exalted weapon, but from purely using melee weapon in open combat.

My personal combination goes with Trinity Prime + Naramon Focus
Since the combo counter bleedout by 5 instead of emptying, it means I can use the mod slot for
Body Count to fit in another mod. Primed Fury + Berserker Nikana Prime/ Skiajati build with channeling to increase the damage.

With other frames it might be necessary for mods like Life Strike or Zenurik for energizing dash, but
Trinity is self-contained in terms of healing HP and restoration of energy, while Link basically provide knock down immunity.

The extra slots taking out Life Strike and Body Count on a crit weapon can use other mods which boost the base damage, 
Guandao can be modded for crit, so I guess it's a good choice.

How would you build a nikana prime and your trinity prime to make it at smooth as possible for high levels? (level 50 to 120)

[DatDarkOne]

Accept no substitutes.  Use the Above.  

[Ada_Wong_SG]

3 hours ago, BigPeedge said:

How would you build a nikana prime and your trinity prime to make it at smooth as possible for high levels? (level 50 to 120)

Still need 1 more forma to actually drop Rejuvenation and go for Steel Charge/ Corrosive Projection Aura 
without ending up with no mod space.

Fleeting and Streamline is kind of not using fully ranked to reach 175% effy.
 

As of currently Skiajati is stronger than Nikana Prime in terms of base damage by slightly, but on the crit and status hybrid
the Nikana Prime is actually stronger with sacrificial mods since the crit got much higher than
True Steel + Primed Pressure Point combo.

The regular Nikana Prime build is exactly like Skiajati except True Steel + Prime Pressured Point replacing the sacrificial mods.

The thing is going as fast as possible with multiple hits to raise combo count fast enough to get the crit to operate on 
a reliable level. Even without body count/ Naramon Power Spike they can still cut down level 50 - 60 enemies pretty easily.

[hooperinius]

Nezha or Rhino with Cleavers

Valkyr too

Wukong or Ash with a Zaw dagger

[BigPeedge]

On 2018-10-26 at 7:13 PM, DatDarkOne said:

Accept no substitutes.  Use the Above.  

Why Ivara? How would you build her and the venka primes?

[BigPeedge]

On 2018-10-26 at 10:33 PM, hooperinius said:

Nezha or Rhino with Cleavers

Valkyr too

Wukong or Ash with a Zaw dagger

How would you build them?

Nezha and Rhino for the cleavers? Which cleavers do you recommend, and how would you build it?

Valkyr for warcray or hysteria?

Wukong and Ash for the Zaw dagger? And how would you build it? I built a zaw dagger to utilize the forced finishers

[(PSN)CoolD2108]

I'd vote for Ash..

Since he's got Invisibility+ multipliers (potentially from his kit or Arcane Trickery) what's excellent for melee range, Seeking Shuriken, that skyrocket your damage on scaling enemies, Finishers on demand (i recommend against it's augument if you're actually playing melee) and Bladestorm, what in a way compliments your melee prowess too by beeing able to take care of single enemies you pass so you can concentrate on groups.. not the most passive frame (compared to let's say Volt or Saryn) but he's among the strongest who has abilities that go well with melee, the survivability to back it up while also adressing its biggest issue - the range limitation, what gives him a wast advantage over straight up tanks and buffers.

 

Oh and Excal and Atlas are also worth a honorable mention... more of exalted weapon user then melee frames but they're pretty darn amazing in theyr own way.

Edited November 5, 2018 by (PS4)CoolD2108

[DatDarkOne]

1 hour ago, BigPeedge said:

Why Ivara? How would you build her and the venka primes?

Simple, just completely forget that spin2win bull!@#% and have fun in Prowl.  Build is just efficiency, power strength, and range.  Venka Primes because of style.  They are easy to build for hybrid crit/status with an innate insane combo multiplier.  Gas/slash to take full advantage of the stealth multipliers and AoE procs to power up both Condition Overload and Healing Return at the same time.  

There, you have a frame that doesn't draw enemy fire, while bosting damage and self healing.  😄
 

[(PSN)CoolD2108]

vor 3 Stunden schrieb DatDarkOne:

Venka Primes because of style. 

It's worth noting that Ivara is also among the stronger damage buffers in the game.. with a vectis prime, on a build that's focused on single bullet damage (crit, damage, no multishot), her focused on Navigator (+Strength, ++duration, quiver augument) you're able to rival the damage of a buffed chroma in eidolon runs(similar/stronger damage buff, additional crit buff)...basicly using similar polarities (just switch overextendet for narrow mindet, mount strength snd replace the prowl augument with quiver) so it's a good idea to have her ready eather way.

And i mean stealth multipliers on a vectis are cool but melee that's affected by her navigator something else entirely. Have a glaive type weapon or a Zenistar and she's ridiculous.

She's somewhat of a overseen gem simply because she's somewhat slower then frames in similar roles.

Edited November 5, 2018 by (PS4)CoolD2108

[(XBOX)ZAYNE 79]

Inaros with Atterax, Inaros with Galatine Prime, Inaros with Paracesis.

Basically Inaros lol

(I personally prefer Valkyr Warcry build tho but you said she is excluded)

[Veridian]

For solo melee - Ash, if you don't want to spam finishers, unalerted enemies receive a damage multiplier (x8 if I'm not mistaking) or Ivara if using CL.

For group melee - what matters most is range and speed, so as ridiculous as it sounds, Volt with Aterax?

For long survival runs - Valkyr is #1, followed by any other tank frame, Inaros, Nezha, Oberon, Rhino. 

[Zi-Sui]

On 2018-10-26 at 6:02 AM, Ada_Wong_SG said:

I guess it is down in individual preference for choice of melee frame, usually anything tanky enough like Rhino, Nezha, Inaros.
Would be good for meleeing without. Harrow can boost crit so very good with crit based melees.

Not counting exalted weapon, but from purely using melee weapon in open combat.

My personal combination goes with Trinity Prime + Naramon Focus
Since the combo counter bleedout by 5 instead of emptying, it means I can use the mod slot for
Body Count to fit in another mod. Primed Fury + Berserker Nikana Prime/ Skiajati build with channeling to increase the damage.

With other frames it might be necessary for mods like Life Strike or Zenurik for energizing dash, but
Trinity is self-contained in terms of healing HP and restoration of energy, while Link basically provide knock down immunity.

The extra slots taking out Life Strike and Body Count on a crit weapon can use other mods which boost the base damage, 
Guandao can be modded for crit, so I guess it's a good choice.

Or you can get 2 magus elevate for total of 600 platinum or some grind and widen your choise of frames without sacrificing a mod slot. Granted it's a bit more laborous to use it but works for me.

[(PSN)Herrwann69]

Valkyr because of the speed boost that the 2 give you. You can use a pretty slow weapon more easily with it.

[BigPeedge]

On 2018-11-05 at 12:27 AM, (PS4)CoolD2108 said:

It's worth noting that Ivara is also among the stronger damage buffers in the game.. with a vectis prime, on a build that's focused on single bullet damage (crit, damage, no multishot), her focused on Navigator (+Strength, ++duration, quiver augument) you're able to rival the damage of a buffed chroma in eidolon runs(similar/stronger damage buff, additional crit buff)...basicly using similar polarities (just switch overextendet for narrow mindet, mount strength snd replace the prowl augument with quiver) so it's a good idea to have her ready eather way.

And i mean stealth multipliers on a vectis are cool but melee that's affected by her navigator something else entirely. Have a glaive type weapon or a Zenistar and she's ridiculous.

She's somewhat of a overseen gem simply because she's somewhat slower then frames in similar roles.

If I get this right you'd have to shoot out cloak arrows around, and then run around with the venka?

 

And as for the vectis build, im assuming with the dashwire augment mod right?

[(PSN)CoolD2108]

vor 5 Stunden schrieb BigPeedge:

If I get this right you'd have to shoot out cloak arrows around, and then run around with the venka?

 

And as for the vectis build, im assuming with the dashwire augment mod right?

Eather cloak arrows or prowl (the movement penalty doesn't exactly affect melee animations) and for eidolons cloak for the shield phase, rope for damage.