Can Excalibur make it to the "end game"?

[BloodForCavalero]

Good morning.

With all the crazy, "I can do anything" builds, I decided to stretch my fingers and revisit Excalibur -- my first warframe.

I'm curious to know, how he would fair in end-game environments. Kuva, World Bosses, Sorties, and general farming in high leveled missions. I do have Umbra, but I'm not fond of his abilities. 

I'm interested in, I guess, a balanced build since he's pretty much a balanced frame.

Thank you for your time and consideration. 

[Xaero]

Edited August 11, 2019 by Ksaero

[Lutesque]

For end game Excalibur does better with Chromatic Blade than he does with Balanced... as for Bosses.... well if your doing The kuva flood/Sortie 3 versions of star chart Bosses then I guess he will be fibe.... but for Cetus and Fortuna theres just not much advantage Excalibur has in those areas.... im not saying he can't do them.... im saying functionally none of his abilities do anything.... he's just a gun Platform.... like Inaros.

For Stuff like Arbitrations... well he can't baby Sit Excavators/Operatives/Defectors.... soooo.... I guess tgat just leave hin with tge role if Killing stuff....

[Grey_Star_Rival_Defender]

Kuva Missions? Never played a Kuva Flood or Survival with Excalibur, but he works well enough on siphons (because really all you need is to know how to use your Operator). From the fact he survives well in Sorties, I'd wager that he works well in Floods. With the proper amount of power.

World Bosses? Well, there was one video of a guy taking on Profit-Taker with both Excal and Umbra. I don't think he's ideal for it though. He also sucks against Eidolons. Just don't. Don't.

Sorties? I take Excal to literally anything except enemy enhancement mobile defense or assassinates. Even regular defense. But he's good for literally anything but those. Elemental enhancement? Take off Chromatic Blade. Physical enhancement? Put on Chromatic Blade. Enhancement mobile defense or Assassinate that involves specific weakpoints (Ruhk)? I take Gara. Because the mobile defense console dies after I do.

High levels? He works in Sorties. Beyond? Not very good in ESO.

[punish_me]

Yes. With correct build its undying and unstoppable killing machine. Usual EX needs more formas then umbra, but same powerful as Umbra. 

 

Adaptation, chromatic blade, condition overload, life strike/healing arcanes. 

[Lutesque]

7 hours ago, Grey_Star_Rival_Defender said:

Not very good in ESO.

I mean... you could try it first.... I thought Baruuk sucked for Sanctuary Onslaught.... but then I found out that his restraint doesn't reset when he jumps into a new zone.... as soon as I Forma  Desert Wind then I can test drive him ib ESO.... and since everybody thinks Excaliber is just a better Baruuk.... he should be able to do it right ? 

 

[SkyCap105]

Well you can make every frames and weapons to end game but the time taken and effort it takes also necessary. I've been playing this game for almost a year now and I still have some Warframe need Forma

[Grey_Star_Rival_Defender]

3 hours ago, Lutesque said:

I mean... you could try it first.... I thought Baruuk sucked for Sanctuary Onslaught.... but then I found out that his restraint doesn't reset when he jumps into a new zone.... as soon as I Forma  Desert Wind then I can test drive him ib ESO.... and since everybody thinks Excaliber is just a better Baruuk.... he should be able to do it right ? 

 

Unless you’re highly skilled with Umbra and make a dedicated ESO build, he dies too quickly for my taste in ESO (I do not have the Umbra mods maxed), requires Life Strike to remain alive or spamming Radial Blind (both of which cost energy), and the energy getting reset to the default 100 means you need 175% efficiency in order to make it last the 170 something seconds per zone, in addition to the regular casting cost of EB, any other ability use, and the RNG nature of energy orbs in ESO means either extremely skilled energy management, or playing a dangerous game of Rage/Hunter Adrenaline and Life Strike.

Personally I just take Trin Prime, spam Blessing and Energy Vampire, and hope a Nuke Frame kills everything for me.

[punish_me]

18 minutes ago, Grey_Star_Rival_Defender said:

playing a dangerous game of Rage/Hunter Adrenaline and Life Strike.

Its not dangerous with adaptation because there is no oneshots 🙂 If you take damage = you have mana to heal/control/dps. Also this isnt the only way to get mana (zaw arcanes for example) or heal. 

Ex not for eso because he cant kill the entire room in a second, thats all. 

[Srovy]

If you’re running healing return you can keep your health full at lvl 200+ so you can keep 4 up with rage/adrenaline and still have some leftover for 2 spamming

Edited August 11, 2019 by Srovy

[MPonder]

16 hours ago, Ksaero said:

isn't there supposed to be 2 umbra formas there on that sword? Or it is on the last 2 slots?

[Lutesque]

4 hours ago, Grey_Star_Rival_Defender said:

Unless you’re highly skilled with Umbra and make a dedicated ESO build, he dies too quickly for my taste in ESO (I do not have the Umbra mods maxed), requires Life Strike to remain alive or spamming Radial Blind (both of which cost energy), and the energy getting reset to the default 100 means you need 175% efficiency in order to make it last the 170 something seconds per zone, in addition to the regular casting cost of EB, any other ability use, and the RNG nature of energy orbs in ESO means either extremely skilled energy management, or playing a dangerous game of Rage/Hunter Adrenaline and Life Strike.

You don't have to tell me... I actually did try it once... and that's exactly what happened. LoL.... ESO Screws over alot of Frames.... I think Nidus is one if the more annoying ones.... I heard he loses his stacks at each zone.

4 hours ago, Grey_Star_Rival_Defender said:

Personally I just take Trin Prime, spam Blessing and Energy Vampire, and hope a Nuke Frame kills everything for me.

I want to Try an abating Link build for trinity.... see if Its Still worth it....

 

[Xaero]

8 hours ago, MPonder said:

isn't there supposed to be 2 umbra formas there on that sword? Or it is on the last 2 slots?

Yes. Saved them for alternative anti-Sentient build.

[0_The_F00l]

Excalibur is good enough for any content that exists in the game. 

Umbras passive can get him killed for simply being dumb AI though so careful with that on high levels.

I have run multiple arbitration, eso, flood missions with umbra and he can manage just fine. 

[Lutesque]

9 minutes ago, 0_The_F00l said:

Umbras passive can get him killed for simply being dumb AI though so careful with that on high levels.

Even 2 Magus Repairs can't keep him alive....

I know spectres that can Take a bigger beating than Umbra....

Luckily he once his HP Runs out he becomes a normsl warframe and  becomes invincible. 

 

[0_The_F00l]

8 minutes ago, Lutesque said:

Even 2 Magus Repairs can't keep him alive....

I know spectres that can Take a bigger beating than Umbra....

Luckily he once his HP Runs out he becomes a normsl warframe and  becomes invincible. 

 

Once transferred back to umbra and he had less health than when I left him and I was like "dude you are supposed to be healed by now! What the hell?" 

But its very rare, he always uses his blinding roar when I transfer out, most enemies are rubbing their eyes with one hand and closing their ear with other with little success and that leaves enough time to get healed up by one means or another. 

[Xzorn]

Hehe, I wouldn't say Excal is a balanced frame. He's like 90% Offense 10% Defense.

Most builds you'll see made to last have almost all Defensive mods on as a result. OP has it pretty much on point. I personally do Fleeting + Primed Cont Guardian x2 and rely on Blind more but you won't need to do this till you go well beyond lvl 100 and he still doesn't have a good answer to Nullifiers outside hiding behind a wall.

In the end Excal is still a bit squishy. Using Blind more also lets him ramp up his Combo more with Drifting Contact on those higher level enemies and as a bonus Slash Dash hits for around 500k per which is fun. "Typical" end-game, he's all good. Massive DPS. Endurance runs end-game; he's gunna need some help surviving.

I also use base Heat damage which gives Corrosive + Heat on EB. The Umbra Crit based build might look like less DPS on paper but remember EB waves head-crit and with the addition of Glad mods / Combo meter it will hit about 75% Crit chance at x3 combo. I also personally hate Blast procs over Heat. Of course you should also use Naramon for this particular strategy otherwise keeping combo is too difficult and the basic non-crit Primed Pressure Point Status build is better.

Side Note: If you go the route of healing with Magus Elevate use a Shield as your stat stick with the Glad mods. Drives me crazy but Umbra drops EB when you try to make use of Elevate. Thankfully Shield block mitigation is even higher than EB so not more than a nuisance to re-cast.

[uAir]

I go with life strike and I don't need to rely on blind at all until levels 200+.
Before that, life strike will keep you plenty alive and plenty healthy.
You can throw in the occasional blind just for some extra damage but with the amount of damage that he has it's really not necessary.

=========

To me, the three melee frames are Valkyr, Wukong, and Excalibur.

Valkyr is all but dead to me.
Excalibur has the coolest concept to me.

But Wukong is undoubtedly the new king of melee. The fluidity of his skills. His damage output and melee attack range. And his overall survivability. This is the frame to go if you want to do 3+ hour arbitrations and while Valkyr and Excalibur can also get you there and beyond as well it's just much easier with Wukong.

Your other bet is hushed Loki with Redeemer Prime. 🙂