Rush Through Star Chart with One Frame, or Level Multiple?

[(PSN)vashkor]

Hi there, I'm still new to the game, MR6, almost done with Europa.

By now I've got my hands on these guys, and in this order:
- Excalibur (starter)
- Trinity Prime (from Twitch Prime)
- Rhino
- Frost
- Volt
- Nekros (clan member helped)

(Without even trying) I have all resources and blueprints for:
- Oberon
- Nyx

The thing is, I have collected all these (except Excalibur) just over the last week. Before that, I hadn't progressed in the star chart enough to have access to the right resources.

Sounds great, time to try some new frames. BUT, I only have Orokin Reactor on my maxed Excalibur, all my mods are built for him, and he is WAY stronger than everything else. So whenever I am trying new frames, the experience is quite disappointing. My progress through the chart is slow as I constantly need help from other players.

So I am conflicted right now. I still have half the star chart to clear. Should I just rush it with Excalibur and not worry about mastery rank right now? Or should I take it slow and level some other frames while I am progressing? Or maybe I will find some reactors. But at the moment it's just too dull to play frames with no reactors...

What do you suggest?

[RogDodge]

It depends on what you want, honestly.  I personally have a few frames that I ran the start chart with (Loki for stealth ones, Inaros w/ Lesion and Pox for most others, Excal Umbra when I finally got him and built him right.)  

MR should come as you get more into the star chart, but if you are pushing, you may find a few of the missions a bit more of a challenge if you try to diversify your frames. (The Void can be heck for new people.)  I'd recommend not skipping out on the quests too, since you need to unlock a good portion of the SC to do some of them.  The "main story" ones will lead you to some good things, and also you will be able to pick things from the junction that will also help with MR.

 

Make sure you know what build you are looking for and use Forma when you can/need to.  I'd not recommend formaing your "main" frame and then trying a level 20 mission, unless you have a weapon that can handle it, especially if you are using your abilities to survive.

[(PSN)Viveeeh]

I think this choice mainly depends on you. When I was a new player, I wanted the very best Warframe, reading the stats I decided that was Valkyr, and I haven't touched any other warframes for an embarrassingly long time. Now I know there isn't a best, it all comes down to different situations and personal preferences. I think in your situation it's a good idea to try all your new frames (maybe on lower levels if you feel your current planet daunting) and find out which ones you like. When you have your favourites, check if there's a prime variant currently obtainable, short on resources, you want to invest in the best.

You can slowly gather potatoes without paying for them with plats, always check alerts and invasions. I recommend installing the Warframe companion app as well and set it to notify you if there's a potato alert. Most primes need a potato and 2-3 formas, and (with proper modding of course) you are ready to breeze through the star chart 😎

But most importantly, do what you like, this is a game after all. If you feel like progressing to newer planets and unlock quests with your Excalibur rather than leveling new stuff, do that! There's no shame in playing your favourite frame knowing it's strong enough on its own and nobody will have to carry you through content.

[Yxivi]

If you want to save up resources, just use Excalibur for star chart, since he already have a reactor installed, which means he can deal with most of the star chart content no problem.

And as stated above, do your main quest too and not just focus on MR grind and star chart completion. Some quests reward you with weapons that can help you progress through the star chart easily.

Frames that are below rank 30 are weak because they don't have enough mod capacity to deal with higher level enemies. Try to get them to 30 but again, if you're gonna use a frame with only 30 capacity, it's still gonna be weak on higher level planets. If you just wanna have fun with new frames because of the different experience they offer, play them when you're trying to farm resources on lower level missions. But if you're gonna do a higher level mission, use your Excalibur or put a reactor on some frames that you really like (oh and if it has a prime version, maybe try to get that and install the reactor on the prime), so you have more options when playing higher level missions.

[(XBOX)GearsMatrix301]

Rushing through the game will create a major wall for you to climb upon when you try and access the high level content as you don’t have the proper gear to tackle it. Take your time with the game.

[(PSN)AbBaNdOn_IGN]

Well......

I would say to use every new weapon/frame you can ASAP to go up in MR quickly.  This helps in several ways.  + standing cap, +loadout slots for every 2 mastery, + void trace cap, +MR which u need for mastery locks, + minimum mod cap (the mod cap ur frame/wep has at Lv. 0)

Nobody installs potatos in junk gear to level them up so not having more potatos is not an excuse.  When burning through mastery fodder you need to be careful though.  Some stuff gets used to make other stuff, so make damn sure its ok to delete something before you do.   Most single pistols are used to make double pistols,  a few things from dojo that take forma to build are also used in other things and you dont want to waste forma lol.   

What you should also be trying to do is farm and pop relics (stick to current ones primarily unless u have friends) to unlock the latest prime weapons/frames.  Thats the only stuff you should use reactor/catalysts on.  

While your doing that try to save your credits so you can start maxing out mod ranks.  I recommend getting everything to R8.   Then when you have prime weapons/prime frames start trying to max out your mods the last 2 ranks.  

By the time you get around to Ranking mods/Maxing them you should have TONS of crap mods and junk blueprints,  go into your inventory and sell duplicate mods and non prime frames for credits to afford the mod ranking.  

Rushing through star chart may new you a few mods to enjoy, but its not really going to help you be more powerful.  Thats only going to come from using catalyst/reactors on primes.   Trying to pop relics for primes will also let you build up a supply of prime parts you can sell to make DUCATS which you need to buy stuff from the Void trader Baro Kiteer.  Who is the main source of PRIME MODS.    

You have been through atleast two paths of Void right ???   Its also probably a good time for you to start running Dragon Key vaults/corrupted mods.  Grab your dragon key blueprints for your orokin lab in your dojo and build 2 of each.   Oh you also need to buy orikin derelict key blueprints from market?(capture mainly).  Then just grab others and goto Orokin Derelicts with each person wearing a different key.   Then you split up and look for the dragon vault door,  if you cant open it, mark it and tell people what key it takes and then book it for extraction.  At the end of the mission you all get the rare mod inside.   These make a HUGE difference to warframes and weapons potentially.   They can also be worth a pretty platinum to others.    But vault runs are pretty freaking easy if you can handle lv10-20 infested and or Lv10-20 corrupted (void stuff).

[Razorv2]

Dont rush and do not try to lvl all of warframes. Unlock saturn, helene. Then start to lvl all of them. Join public squads, only equip one weapon. İt wont take long to max warframes (15-20 min, depends on groups, always try to go at least wave 10). When warframe is maxed, you will get better feelings for it. 

[H0B0Z]

4 hours ago, (XB1)GearsMatrix301 said:

Rushing through the game will create a major wall for you to climb upon when you try and access the high level content as you don’t have the proper gear to tackle it. Take your time with the game.

On the other hand....

I started to struggle just a little bit on the star chart after Jupiter, but didn't like being carried by others, so I ran void fissures, got some forma/decent gear from relics, bought weapons off the market that were highly recommended and leveled it all up on Helene, Jupiter until I was just about burnt out. Worked on Syndicates to get good augments. Watched plenty of youtube videos to learn what gear was best and how to mod it. etc. etc.

When I returned to the star chart I blew through it solo so easily I was kind of disappointed.

For better or for worse, Warframe lets you set your own pace. It's up to you to maintain the optimal challenge.