General melee modding for SP and sorties

[neozumm]

Im curious if i should max out as much status damage as i can (with primed fever strike) on a melee weapon (like nikana prime\reaper prime\guandao prime) or should i do the "get viral as close to slash as you can" thing if i dont plan on using this build for anything over level 100 and or using a primer weapon.

Also a separate question, does a zaw nikana with exodia hunt\force and the cookie-cutter build hold up for that level of enemeis?

[MqToasty]

If you do not plan to tackle anything above Level 100, then my personal suggestion is to go for the high "Total Damage" number, Crit Chance and Crit Multiplier.  Toss in more Speed and Range for good measure.  Maybe Shattering Impact to soften up status-immune bosses.  Most enemies below Level 100 will not survive more than a hit or two, so you neither need to nor will be able to comfortably ramp up to max combo and benefit from the conditional Combo Multiplier mods.  I would not even use Condition Overload because you need 3 different status procs before it outperforms Primed Pressure Point, and enemies usually do not survive that long at lower levels, especially if you are not using a primer weapon.

Is a Nikana Zaw viable?  Absolutely.  My strongest melee weapon is a Nikana Zaw modded for Crits (Sepfahn, Peye, Vargeet II Jai).  I have a pre-Steel Path config as described above, and a Steel Path config mostly loaded with conditional mods like Condition Overload, Blood Rush, Weeping Wounds and Gladiator Mods on it.  In the Upgrades screen, the Steel Path config only has 1/4 the Total Damage and 1/3 of the Crit Chance of the pre-Steel Path config.  These numbers are accurate for the first hit, but once I get to 12x and prime Steel Path enemies with some procs, I'm regularly hitting for 6-digit red crits on the Steel Path config, which is impossible for the pre-Steel Path config.

Finally, when it comes to Arcane selection, I highly recommend a maxed Exodia Contagion (which you will be able to farm for in the event that starts in 2 days).  Once you get the hang of that arcane, you will regularly out-damage even your primary weapons at range.

[Lutesque]

That depends... Do you have Condition Overload ?

[Flannoit]

High status with slash and viral damage is ideal. I personally run slash+viral+heat. Higher slash and viral than other elements is preferred so you're more likely to inflict them, but as long as the stat is at least present with a decent status chance weapon, you'll still be able to inflict it.

I run a Cyath/Seekalla/Ekwana II Jai Polearm zaw myself, and tbqh... Most melee weapons you can build to be almost identical.

If you run a Smeeta, you'll still get orange or better crits every time you get the buff for it as long as your crit rate is above 0%.

[neozumm]

10 минут назад, Lutesque сказал:

That depends... Do you have Condition Overload ?

I sure do, im not that new xd.

9 минут назад, Flannoit сказал:

High status with slash and viral damage is ideal. I personally run slash+viral+heat. Higher slash and viral than other elements is preferred so you're more likely to inflict them, but as long as the stat is at least present with a decent status chance weapon, you'll still be able to inflict it.

I run a Cyath/Seekalla/Ekwana II Jai Polearm zaw myself, and tbqh... Most melee weapons you can build to be almost identical.

If you run a Smeeta, you'll still get orange or better crits every time you get the buff for it as long as your crit rate is above 0%.

What do you sacrifice for heat?

Also the core thing im interested in is this: is stacking the status damage vs status chance\usage of 6060 mods is the way to go for the enemies around level 100. Because the thing is - without stuff like arcane fury or primers nikana and others feels kinda awkward on enemies around that level (highest sorties and occasional short SP missions) with the cookie-cutter-CO-bloodrush-weepingwounds build with viral, requiring 2-3-4 hits to kill most enemies. Is it supposed to be like this without the primers and CO? Should i just tought it out and get primed pressure and the status balance is not the problem here?

[Flannoit]

Just now, neozumm said:

I sure do, im not that new xd.

What do you sacrifice for heat?

Also the core thing im interested in is this: is stacking the status damage vs status chance\usage of 6060 mods is the way to go for the enemies around level 100. Because the thing is - without stuff like arcane fury or primers nikana and others feels kinda awkward on enemies around that level (highest sorties and occasional short SP missions) with the cookie-cutter-CO-bloodrush-weepingwounds build with viral, requiring 2-3-4 hits to kill most enemies. Is it supposed to be like this without the primers and CO? Should i just tought it out and get primed pressure and the status balance is not the problem here?

I don't use Blood Rush or Weeping. I gotta head to work in a few mins, if I remember I'll try to post a pic of my zaw when I get home.

[neozumm]

1 минуту назад, Flannoit сказал:

I don't use Blood Rush or Weeping. I gotta head to work in a few mins, if I remember I'll try to post a pic of my zaw when I get home.

id like to see that, also thank you for your help :)

[Flannoit]

5 hours ago, neozumm said:

id like to see that, also thank you for your help :)

There you are, this is what I usually use for melee builds, ofc barring the riven if I don't have one for the weapon. 

For crits, I have a Smeeta.

[Soy77]

The general? The general is slapping blood rush and condition overload.

SP also need speed & cc. People swears by berserker fury but imho just slap your favorite speed increase mod. Range is always primed reach.

Lastly build some crits in there so when blood rush kicks in, you'll actually do some damage.

The rest are not too "general". People have their own opinions. Some like 60/60 because they don't do weeping wounds. Some put up to three elements in there, viral+heat is pretty popular. Some swears by primed bane mods and do their statusing via guns.

1 hour ago, Flannoit said:

There you are, this is what I usually use for melee builds, ofc barring the riven if I don't have one for the weapon. 

For crits, I have a Smeeta.

I thought by now it's generally agreed that putting CO and PPP will give you diminishing returns. 

I'm not saying that you're wrong, by all means that combo still do damage, and everyone should do what they believe. Just wondering about the thought process that took you there?

[Flannoit]

1 hour ago, Soy77 said:

The general? The general is slapping blood rush and condition overload.

SP also need speed & cc. People swears by berserker fury but imho just slap your favorite speed increase mod. Range is always primed reach.

Lastly build some crits in there so when blood rush kicks in, you'll actually do some damage.

The rest are not too "general". People have their own opinions. Some like 60/60 because they don't do weeping wounds. Some put up to three elements in there, viral+heat is pretty popular. Some swears by primed bane mods and do their statusing via guns.

I thought by now it's generally agreed that putting CO and PPP will give you diminishing returns. 

I'm not saying that you're wrong, by all means that combo still do damage, and everyone should do what they believe. Just wondering about the thought process that took you there?

I just slapped it on *shrug* I got PPP not too long ago and decided I may as well use it

[neozumm]

9 часов назад, Soy77 сказал:

The general? The general is slapping blood rush and condition overload.

SP also need speed & cc. People swears by berserker fury but imho just slap your favorite speed increase mod. Range is always primed reach.

Lastly build some crits in there so when blood rush kicks in, you'll actually do some damage.

The rest are not too "general". People have their own opinions. Some like 60/60 because they don't do weeping wounds. Some put up to three elements in there, viral+heat is pretty popular. Some swears by primed bane mods and do their statusing via guns.

I thought by now it's generally agreed that putting CO and PPP will give you diminishing returns. 

I'm not saying that you're wrong, by all means that combo still do damage, and everyone should do what they believe. Just wondering about the thought process that took you there?

So its pretty divided then? I guess i gotta try and test stuff myself. Thank you for clarifying.

[neozumm]

33 минуты назад, MqToasty сказал:

If you do not plan to tackle anything above Level 100, then my personal suggestion is to go for the high "Total Damage" number, Crit Chance and Crit Multiplier.  Toss in more Speed and Range for good measure.  Maybe Shattering Impact to soften up status-immune bosses.  Most enemies below Level 100 will not survive more than a hit or two, so you neither need to nor will be able to comfortably ramp up to max combo and benefit from the conditional Combo Multiplier mods.  I would not even use Condition Overload because you need 3 different status procs before it outperforms Primed Pressure Point, and enemies usually do not survive that long at lower levels, especially if you are not using a primer weapon.

Is a Nikana Zaw viable?  Absolutely.  My strongest melee weapon is a Nikana Zaw modded for Crits (Sepfahn, Peye, Vargeet II Jai).  I have a pre-Steel Path config as described above, and a Steel Path config mostly loaded with conditional mods like Condition Overload, Blood Rush, Weeping Wounds and Gladiator Mods on it.  In the Upgrades screen, the Steel Path config only has 1/4 the Total Damage and 1/3 of the Crit Chance of the pre-Steel Path config.  These numbers are accurate for the first hit, but once I get to 12x and prime Steel Path enemies with some procs, I'm regularly hitting for 6-digit red crits on the Steel Path config, which is impossible for the pre-Steel Path config.

Finally, when it comes to Arcane selection, I highly recommend a maxed Exodia Contagion (which you will be able to farm for in the event that starts in 2 days).  Once you get the hang of that arcane, you will regularly out-damage even your primary weapons at range.

Thank you, that makes sense.

[Soy77]

3 hours ago, neozumm said:

So its pretty divided then? I guess i gotta try and test stuff myself. Thank you for clarifying.

yeah different people will swear by their preferred "metas", but in the end most of them works just as well. just need to find the style that you have fun more.

personally i found warframes with damage enhancing abilities like rhino or saryn works well with elemental builds i mentioned in my previous reply. you can just keep slashing your way through the mobs.
as for frames without such abilities, i slap primed bane mods instead, and proc using my guns. it's slightly more work, and more buttons to press, but the damages are pretty sick. also, you gotta have different setups for different enemies which can be quite troublesome. again, just try and see which you like better.

==============

my main man toasty there know what he's talking about.
for non-SP or stuff below lv100ish enemies, you'll want those green numbers on the left of your modding screen. because you'll one-shot everything, speed nor range doesn't matter much. of course to reach those green numbers, mods like PPP or the 90 element mods are the easiest route to take.

but in SP, you'll kill enemies using bonus that doesn't show up on your modding screen, ex: blood rush. you'll want those combo bonus to activate as soon as possible, your first couple of hits won't matter, you'll want to reach the 12th slash or 20th slash faster instead. hence speed and range is way more crucial.
if you compare your modding screen numbers, your SP builds should have more pathetic numbers than your normal starchart builds.

good luck, tenno
don't forget to always have fun!