Dark Sectors < Hydron?

[SuperPiatos]

Dark Sectors is better than Hydron. Change my mind.

So when I first started playing Warframe, which was roughly 4 months ago, I barely even know that I could go on pub games. Did not even know about the more squad members = more exp&loot.

I played with a friend that introduced me to Warframe but also fairly new and we did our first "strength test" at Romula, Venus (Dark Sector Defense) because of the exp and loot bonus. And yea we were having a hard time at Wave 10 since we were like MR4 or something back then. But after a while, I discovered Gabii, Ceres (Dark Sector Survival) that spawns more enemies and gave more exp and loot bonus (35% Resource Bonus, 26% Exp Bonus and 21% Exp Bonus on Melee Kills) and it worked wonders for me. I started there at around MR6/7/8 and only discovered Hydron at MR12/13 which was pretty late.

I was shocked at how Hydron like really gave me a lot of EXP on the first 15 waves. And I did that ever since I wanted to level up weapons and/or warframes. And yes, I know about ESO. But ever since I wanted to like farm resources for pizzas and ciphers, I was looking for ways to farm for resources again. And then I checked my resources and found out that I have like 1.9million Salvages & 200/300+ Orokin Cells and wondered how I got it. That is when I remembered about the Dark Sectors. And last night I wanted to do Kelashin, Neptune (Dark Sector Survival) to get more loots but since people, or to be specific, lower MRs, only want to go to Hydron. But luckily, a MR12 player posted in Recruitment Chat that he wants to do something with someone so I told him about my plan. He agreed to come with me so I recruited more saying "H EXP/Nano Spores/Ferrite Farm" and 2 other players joined me. A MR20+ Nekros and a MR6 Frost. We did the run for 25minutes and the MR6 Frost said that he got so much exp and I believe that all his weapons were maxed after the run. His 3 weapons was like Rank 12-16 when we started and we got 90k+ Nano Spores which made me happy.

My point is, why do people spam Hydron if they want to level up? Hydron takes a lot of time if you don't have a well built squad. You need Speedva and Saryn or other DPS for it to be quick. 20waves of Hydron if the squad is not that good would take like 23-28minutes. Dark Sector Survival is better for those even without Speedva, all you need is a good weapon and a narrow place to camp. Resources are also important to build those equipment and miscellaneous. They should do both at any Dark Sectors.

Here are some Dark Sectors that people could try out that gives a bunch of EXP (source: https://warframe.fandom.com/wiki/Dark_Sectors) :

•  Gabii, Ceres - 35% Resource Bonus, 26% Exp Bonus + 26% Exp Bonus for Melee Kills
  • Good for Alloy Plate, Circuits, Orokin Cell, Detonite Ampule farms
  • Level 15-25
• Kelashin, Neptune - 30% Resource Bonus, 23% Exp Bonus + 18% Exp Bonus for Rifle Kills
  • Good for Nano Spores, Ferrite, Control Module, Fieldron Sample farms
  • Level 30-40
• Zabala, Eris - 30% Resource Bonus, 23% Exp Bonus + 18% Exp Bonus for Pistol Kills
  • Good for Nano Spores, Plastids, Neurodes, Mutagen Sample farms
  • Level 35-45
• Assur, Uranus - 25% Resource Bonus, 18% Exp Bonus + 13% Exp Bonus for Melee Kills
  • Good for Gallium, Plastids, Polymer Bundle, Detonite Ampule, Tellurium farms
  • Level 25-35

Edited May 15, 2019 by SuperPiatos

[Aldain]

15 minutes ago, SuperPiatos said:

My point is, why do people spam Hydron if they want to level up?

Because Grineer tend to give more experience than Infested, as Infested are primarily large amounts of weak units that give very limited amounts of Affinity (even at Hydron comparable levels) whereas the Grineer at Hydron give much more affinity per kill, which in turn also stacks with affinity boosters better.

Overall the reason why people favor Hydron is that it gives the fastest amount of affinity for time investment, whereas even with the Dark Sector exp boost Infested tend to lag behind.

It all comes down the the affinity inequity between enemy factions and time investment to reach rank 30 when fighting them.

Edited May 15, 2019 by Aldain

[SuperPiatos]

1 hour ago, Aldain said:

Because Grineer tend to give more experience than Infested, as Infested are primarily large amounts of weak units that give very limited amounts of Affinity (even at Hydron comparable levels) whereas the Grineer at Hydron give much more affinity per kill, which in turn also stacks with affinity boosters better.

Overall the reason why people favor Hydron is that it gives the fastest amount of affinity for time investment, whereas even with the Dark Sector exp boost Infested tend to lag behind.

It all comes down the the affinity inequity between enemy factions and time investment to reach rank 30 when fighting them.

wooo I did not know that. But thanks for the information. I guess lower MRs also doesn't know that but since they see that people are saying Hydron all the time makes them assume that Hydron is the only place to farm. But with what you said about "weak units" might help lower MR players since grineer has the highest armor faction in the game. The only problem with farming via infested is the ancients. They are annoying as cockroaches.

[Aldain]

9 minutes ago, SuperPiatos said:

But with what you said about "weak units" might help lower MR players since grineer has the highest armor faction in the game. The only problem with farming via infested is the ancients.

It does, the Survival Dark Sector on Eris is significantly better for lower level players as it tends to take 10-15 minutes before legions of Ancients tend to start showing up, its also pretty early in the star chart (around mid tierish) so it is often a better option than most.

But by the time you're to the end of the star chart Hydron becomes the most viable grind spot because most players will have the baseline mods to take on enemies up to level 50-60ish with minimal issues.

[(PSN)Viveeeh]

On 2019-05-15 at 2:40 AM, SuperPiatos said:

Gabii, Ceres - 35% Resource Bonus, 26% Exp Bonus + 26% Exp Bonus for Melee Kills

• Good for Alloy Plate, Circuits, Orokin Cell, Detonite Ampule farms
• Level 15-25

Thanks for this! I often farm orokin cells, and I'm using melee with my Nekros, so Gabii seems to be a nice choice for a cell farm + levelling. No idea how I overlooked it before, will try next time 😊

[Zelmen]

On 2019-05-14 at 8:40 PM, SuperPiatos said:

Dark Sectors is better than Hydron. Change my mind.

Quote

Dark Sectors < Hydron?

Your opening remark and title say opposite things. Not sure if you were try to be sarcastic or something but your title should say "Dark Sectors > Hydron?"

As per the topic, I treat Dark Sector, Hydron, and OS all about the same. Depends on what I want to do and if I put the energy into making a pre-made for leveling. When it comes to Raw XP, weapons have it the best with ESO.

Edited May 16, 2019 by Zelmen

[(PSN)Viveeeh]

1 minute ago, Zelmen said:

Quote

Dark Sectors < Hydron?

Your opening remark and title say opposite things.

Not necessarily. OP thinks that Dark Sectors are better than Hydron, but found out that a lot of people prefer Hydron over DS. So, the title asks: "Is Hydron really better than Dark Sectors?" Then they proceed to express an opinion different from the masses. It's an OK title IMO.

[Zelmen]

Just now, (PS4)Viveeeh said:

Not necessarily. OP thinks that Dark Sectors are better than Hydron, but found out that a lot of people prefer Hydron over DS. So, the title asks: "Is Hydron really better than Dark Sectors?" Then they proceed to express an opinion different from the masses. It's an OK title IMO.

I guess depending on which way you look at it both can be correct. My comment would suggest Dark sectors are better as confirmation question but the other way is asking why is hydron better.

[(PSN)Viveeeh]

1 minute ago, Zelmen said:

I guess depending on which way you look at it both can be correct. My comment would suggest Dark sectors are better as confirmation question but the other way is asking why is hydron better.

Yup 😊

Look like OP and I think alike!

[(PSN)death404]

I personally find Hydron and Helene extremely boring and only go in when I want to rush then delete a base frame. 

Dark sectors are good early on but endless relic missions are my go to for leveling. After you open your first relic you get a 25% affinity bonus for the duration of the mission. Also relics!