Best frames for steel path

[__Kazizty__]

I have recently unlocked steel path and have quite a bit of plat to spend since i got a discount pretty recently. i was judt wondering what are the key frames to use for steel path. currently got gauss, mesa p, equinox p, wukong p, octavia p and nidus p. looking at zephyr, mirage, wisp, banshee and ash and hildryn maybe baruuk rn. also for weapons, what is the real secret to damage. is it the modding or the weapon. i see many weapon builds online and i realise that most of them have a riven and i dont have that much plat to spend to buy multiple rivens but then i get other people saying if you use this build you should be able to do steel path and they give me a build that accompanies my situation and it doesnt do the damage i see online. then there are others saying that it is purely modding of the weapon even if you dont have a riven? just generally really confused. 

[RazerXPrime]

Just now, (PSN)isbergen said:

Disgustingly good against all factions (flexible too). However ammo efficiency can be an issue on SP.

I do use ammo mutation on it. And the Primary Merciless Arcane helps offset the small ammo capacity too.

[(PSN)isbergen]

Just now, RazerXPrime said:

And the Primary Merciless Arcane helps offset the small ammo capacity too.

Yep, even with merciless you need mutation (or carrier) for a comfortable buffer on SP. Too bad because Galv Acceleration is best-in-slot. I just switch to melee for a bit or pop an ammo pad.

[Alpheus]

Weaknesses and debuffs play a much bigger role in the Steel Path starchart. A suboptimal mod setup in the 1-30 range can be passable simply because most things don't have enough defenses to protect them from much. Status effects like Corrosive on Grineer, Magnetic on Corpus, and Gas/Heat on Infested can make a huge difference in TTK at higher levels, even moreso when used in conjunction with frames/abilities that synergize with their effects, ie. Mag's Magnetize and the Arca Plasmor.

Survival requires much more situational awareness and investment, so you may need to Forma a frame a few times so they don't crumple under pressure. Wukong is probably the most SP-beginner-friendly frame you have because of his forgiving rezzes, access to a reliable heal, and armor-boosting capabilities, not to mention his staff can be a monster. I don't know exactly what you have at your disposal, but Condition Overload and a Kompressa on Wukong is enough if you're just looking to not fail the missions.

I'd start off by running the incursions in pubs to build up a collection of essence for arcane adapters and the Umbra Forma next month. That way you're not getting stomped on by acolytes by yourself as an introduction, and if they're killed during the incursion you'll get more essence plus an arcane. Just keep an eye out for Malice. He can easily get you to kill yourself if you don't roll out of the bubble.

Also, look into getting access to Helminth at some point. It opens up a ton of possibilities in doing SP missions.

[(PSN)slightconfuzzled]

19 hours ago, Lutesque said:

There it is again.... 🙄

 

19 hours ago, Lutesque said:

I take other People's Claims with a Grain Of Salt

 

 

[kgabor]

Beside the obvious picks, Revenant is cheesy af. in Steel Path.

Pretty much any mode beside maybe the ones where you have to kill fast or where Rev-s kit is blocked by some gimmicks.

Even then Revenant can tank, get mobs out of the way and turn off Acolyte AI with Enthrall.

Probably the laziest frame to run the majority of SP modes.

[(PSN)slightconfuzzled]

You don't need Rivens. Weapon modding is going to be of greater value. You don't necessarily need to be optimal in all areas, and understanding why that is, can help you when making your choices. What I mean by that is, a good Melee can carry you, or a good Primary, and thus you could use a less optimal Warframe. Alternatively a Warframe thats strong at certain mission types, can let you get away with average weapons. 

There are also playstyle preferences, and worth mentioning, that there are intermediary levels of game difficulty. Like for example, I wouldn't recommend going from the standard Star Chart straight into Steel Path. I would recommend doing some Lich/Sister content instead, doing Sorties, so on. Steel Path Incursions are also good as far as playing with others. Arbitrations as well. You will want Galvanised Mods. 

Also, unless I misunderstood, I wouldn't spend any Plat to buy Warframes. Some of the Warframes you mentioned, can be a grind to get, like Wisp, but being able to do Ropadoparollyropalyst casually, can help you prepare for Steel Path. Plus its generally just not worth it. Might be nicer to get cosmetics or something, anyway, I don't mean to tell you what to spend your Plat on. 

Personally, I like use and like a lot of different Warframes for Steel Path, so mix it up a lot. I really like Lavos against Corpus and Infested for example, because I just don't have to worry about Nullifiers or being drained of Energy, plus his abilities can hit a lot of them, I can take in some of my favourite single target guns, to finish off enemies my powers don't kill. Nidus I like against Grineer and Infested, especially Survival because building stacks is easy, you are tanky, and you can clump enemies together, which males some of my favourite weapons even better. Vauban I like for Interception, Excavation and Mobile Defence, Zephyr too. Their abilities are great CC, which can assist in killing, or just letting you ignore the enemy to get the objective done, or focus on priority enemies. 

Gauss, Mesa, Equinox, Wukong, Octavia, Nidus the Warframes you mentioned are a good selection. These Warframes have good damage mitigation, so its just about your mastery/understanding of them, and whether you enjoy them. 

Weapons that are generally popular, would be weapons like Kuva Bramma, Kuva Zarr, Cedo, Tenet Arca Plasma, Glaive Prime, Redeemer, Stropha. I would also recommend some (relatively) underrated weapons like Phantasma, Probiscus Cernos, Tenet Flux Rifle and Kuva Hek (though with some of the latter, its more single target focused). If you are struggling, you are going to want to mod for enemy weaknesses as well. Like, if I take Lavos against Corpus with a Phantasma or Cedo, do I need to mod it for just Toxin? No, not really, if its viral or corrosive, it can usually kill, build Galvanised and Arcane buffs etc to kill even better. Some weapons like say, Aeolak, was better to go Toxin, especially as I had not Forma-ed it, and if I don't have a Warframe that can kill with abilities, then... 

Again though, if some of what I am saying is confusing (Galvanised Mods? Why mod Toxin for Corpus? etc) could also just mean some of that other mid tier difficulty content might be better. Liches are a step up from regular enemies, especially if they hit rank 5, its good practice IMO for Steel Path. 

Good luck! 

 

[__Kazizty__]

I am doing quite a bit of lich content right now but I feel like i should be able to do steel path with the stuff I have right now. I am having some trouble dealing damage with primaries even when I use riven alternatives. I am looking to get the proboscis cernos and phantasma right now and im trying to max my phage with formas. I understand alot about damage and faction damage and how different elements affect each faction differently. I am also gonna try to get the kuva zarr, but I dont think i will be able to use it much because I dont have primed sure footed. I am able to use wukong and octavia and nidus pretty well but my mesa is a bit squishy and so is equinox since i havent really studied synergies with equinox. I just see other people shredding steel path enemies and I am wondering if because I am using riven alternatives, it makes that much of a difference.

 

9 hours ago, (PSN)slightconfuzzled said:

You don't need Rivens. Weapon modding is going to be of greater value. You don't necessarily need to be optimal in all areas, and understanding why that is, can help you when making your choices. What I mean by that is, a good Melee can carry you, or a good Primary, and thus you could use a less optimal Warframe. Alternatively a Warframe thats strong at certain mission types, can let you get away with average weapons. 

There are also playstyle preferences, and worth mentioning, that there are intermediary levels of game difficulty. Like for example, I wouldn't recommend going from the standard Star Chart straight into Steel Path. I would recommend doing some Lich/Sister content instead, doing Sorties, so on. Steel Path Incursions are also good as far as playing with others. Arbitrations as well. You will want Galvanised Mods. 

Also, unless I misunderstood, I wouldn't spend any Plat to buy Warframes. Some of the Warframes you mentioned, can be a grind to get, like Wisp, but being able to do Ropadoparollyropalyst casually, can help you prepare for Steel Path. Plus its generally just not worth it. Might be nicer to get cosmetics or something, anyway, I don't mean to tell you what to spend your Plat on. 

Personally, I like use and like a lot of different Warframes for Steel Path, so mix it up a lot. I really like Lavos against Corpus and Infested for example, because I just don't have to worry about Nullifiers or being drained of Energy, plus his abilities can hit a lot of them, I can take in some of my favourite single target guns, to finish off enemies my powers don't kill. Nidus I like against Grineer and Infested, especially Survival because building stacks is easy, you are tanky, and you can clump enemies together, which males some of my favourite weapons even better. Vauban I like for Interception, Excavation and Mobile Defence, Zephyr too. Their abilities are great CC, which can assist in killing, or just letting you ignore the enemy to get the objective done, or focus on priority enemies. 

Gauss, Mesa, Equinox, Wukong, Octavia, Nidus the Warframes you mentioned are a good selection. These Warframes have good damage mitigation, so its just about your mastery/understanding of them, and whether you enjoy them. 

Weapons that are generally popular, would be weapons like Kuva Bramma, Kuva Zarr, Cedo, Tenet Arca Plasma, Glaive Prime, Redeemer, Stropha. I would also recommend some (relatively) underrated weapons like Phantasma, Probiscus Cernos, Tenet Flux Rifle and Kuva Hek (though with some of the latter, its more single target focused). If you are struggling, you are going to want to mod for enemy weaknesses as well. Like, if I take Lavos against Corpus with a Phantasma or Cedo, do I need to mod it for just Toxin? No, not really, if its viral or corrosive, it can usually kill, build Galvanised and Arcane buffs etc to kill even better. Some weapons like say, Aeolak, was better to go Toxin, especially as I had not Forma-ed it, and if I don't have a Warframe that can kill with abilities, then... 

Again though, if some of what I am saying is confusing (Galvanised Mods? Why mod Toxin for Corpus? etc) could also just mean some of that other mid tier difficulty content might be better. Liches are a step up from regular enemies, especially if they hit rank 5, its good practice IMO for Steel Path. 

Good luck! 

 

[kgabor]

4 hours ago, __Kazizty__ said:

I am doing quite a bit of lich content right now but I feel like i should be able to do steel path with the stuff I have right now. I am having some trouble dealing damage with primaries even when I use riven alternatives. I am looking to get the proboscis cernos and phantasma right now and im trying to max my phage with formas. I understand alot about damage and faction damage and how different elements affect each faction differently. I am also gonna try to get the kuva zarr, but I dont think i will be able to use it much because I dont have primed sure footed. I am able to use wukong and octavia and nidus pretty well but my mesa is a bit squishy and so is equinox since i havent really studied synergies with equinox. I just see other people shredding steel path enemies and I am wondering if because I am using riven alternatives, it makes that much of a difference.

 

Mesa has a built in Damage Reduction with Shatter Shield.

Also you can use Adaptation, which should be enough. (for a good build, Umbral mods don't hurt either as they stack Ability Strength, Armor and Hp)

I also use a Decaying Dragon Key on all my frames for faster shield-gate regens.

 

Equinox, i just use it to cc everything in night form. Maybe consider Rolling Guard with day form.

[(PSN)slightconfuzzled]

10 hours ago, __Kazizty__ said:

I am doing quite a bit of lich content right now but I feel like i should be able to do steel path with the stuff I have right now. I am having some trouble dealing damage with primaries even when I use riven alternatives. I am looking to get the proboscis cernos and phantasma right now and im trying to max my phage with formas. I understand alot about damage and faction damage and how different elements affect each faction differently. I am also gonna try to get the kuva zarr, but I dont think i will be able to use it much because I dont have primed sure footed. I am able to use wukong and octavia and nidus pretty well but my mesa is a bit squishy and so is equinox since i havent really studied synergies with equinox. I just see other people shredding steel path enemies and I am wondering if because I am using riven alternatives, it makes that much of a difference.

 

Nice!! Good stuff! 

Prime Sure Footed is a really great mod, thats convenient for weapons like Zarr and just in general dealing with certain enemies... However you don't need it, to use weapons like Zarr. Lots of players like myself don't. Like personally, I would probably die more with PSF than without, because if I thought I could face tank more damage, I would jump around and practice careful aiming less. Zarr and Bramma type weapons are powerful, and Warframes are really mobile, with so many evasive techniques, like bullet jumping, gliding and rolling. Techniques which can give you damage reduction (rolling), create distance, and help line up shots to be more accurate. Which will help avoid self staggers from such explosive weapons... but also keep you alive longer/survivable. Like they are techniques, one should use even with PSF, but in lower difficulties (and most of Warframe in general, you do not) and if you do have PSF, you can bypass some of the inconvenience, which can be nice, but can be a crutch. Depends on the player and what they want out of the game/playstyle differences. My main point though, lots of people are running around solo in Steel Path using Zarr/Bramma without PSF, don't feel like you need it.

Mesa can be squishy, I personally use to undervalue her 2 and 3, and over rely on her 4 . A general popular strategy people often use with Mesa to make her more tanky, is to use the Helminth to subsume her 1, and either use Pillage or Gloom. Both will make her tanky in different ways. My personal experience is more with Pillage, but if you find difficulty with Infested that might be less effective. Worth checking out both! 

Equinox, I don't have much experience with solo in Steel Path, unless its the Eris mission with the infested boils/tumours. She is really convenient in that mission, as her 4 will work on the boils. Otherwise I personally find Equinox most useful with at least one other player who is doing a lot of damage, on static maps like Defence/Mobile Defence. Thats just me though. 

Thing about Rivens, is most of the really good weapons that can shred enemies, are going to have low dispositions, that makes a decent roll with the stats with replacing a normal Mod difficult. Often they are just side grades, often they can be inferior. Like I had a Nukor riven which was just an inferior version of Lethal Torrent basically. Especially since Galvanised Mods were added. On some weapons like Phantasma, it can make a difference, but that weapon is so good it does that without a Riven. Personally, I think Rivens will help weapons like Phage, Tenora Prime, Convectrix, from decent to better. My main point here, is if you see players shredding enemies, its more likely to their familiarity and basic modding understanding, and gear than Rivens so specifically. One of the new Angels of Zariman weapons for example, is really potent and great at killing Steel Path Acolytes fast. Without Rivens. Its just really strong on its own.

Hope you have fun with Probiscus Cernos and Phantasma! If you have experience with Phage, you will probably like Phantasma a lot too!! 

[schilds]

Anything works if you know what you're doing.

Just like regular starchart, what is most efficient comes down to mission type, something like:

• Speed for spy/rescue/capture.
• Speed + AoE for exterminate.
• High single target DPS for disruption and bosses.
• CC/Defense/Healing frames for defending objectives
  • ^{Sure there are eximus, but if you have trouble defending an objective with a cc/defence frame that keeps everything except a couple of eximus disabled, then you're not going to do any better with Wukong + launcher.}
  • ^{You can stick a launcher on a CC/defence frame too and get *both* persistent, wide range disabling of trash mobs *and* easy AoE dmg.}
  • ^{Wukong + launcher has not suddenly become meta in excavation.}
• Defense missions specifically are most efficient with AoE if you can keep the objective alive without CC (because rounds go faster the faster you kill stuff).
• Surivival pretty much anything goes. There's no way to speed it up.
  • ^{Yes kill rate is important, but people overestimate how much they need, mostly because they develop the habit of only ever using the small life support dropped from enemies and avoiding the large life support towers.}
  • ^{Hint, not using the large life support towers is not actually an objective :-P.}
• Your standard farming squad for farming resources.
• Long range for open world bounties (or Loki/Nova for moving those drones :-P).

[cha0sWyrM]

like everything else, the best steel path frames depend on what you are doing....and how you want to do it.

personally...if im playing steel path its to farm it...so i really only play steel path survival. for that...khora with subsumed resonator is easily the best. i find a small room somewhere and set up my domes, then cast resonator and mostly just sit there and spam whipclaw. when the acolyte shows up..i .do a quick dash (sling now) to catch it with lockdown and then just melt it with whipclaw. takes 2 seconds.

if farming isnt that important and i just want a fun way for me to play steel path, i go with gloomdryn....obv. a hildryn with subsumed gloom on her. since her abilities cost shields....and she can replenish her shields whenever she wants...gloom never runs out....a near permanent 95% slow on everything is amazing. use blazing pillage and arcane eruption for even more laughs. nothing is better than watching a room full of bad guys fly into the air and fall in 95% slow motion.....its free cc for like 20 seconds as the entire falling/getting up animation is slowed. i like to pair it with the nataruk for acolytes or other high priority targets.

saryn with subsumed resonator is also an absolute beast in steel path. the sheer number of enemies and their high health makes them easy prey as she mostly just stands around being ignored because of resonator while her spores get stronger and stronger.

xaku is pretty fun in steel path also, though...after about 30-40 minutes it starts to get pretty dicey. xaku is great at killing everything in the room...but at higher levels of steel path they just get overwhelmed. that dodge passive just cant keep up with the amount of incoming fire, and xaku doesnt have much else in the way of surviveability (though the passive works great for non steel path stuff). if i put resonator on it would probably be pretty good, but i have pull instead for collecting all the stuff that breaks from vast untime and to bring enemies closer to the guns (which have abysmal range).

those are my personal fave steel path frames. if i was doing other mission types id have a somewhat different list. ivara for spy...titania for rescue/capture. it basically boils down to this for me:

khora for farming
hyldryn for staying alive
saryn for killing lots of things
titania for speed runs
xaku for any combination of 2 or more of those things

ivara (with infiltrate and perspicacity) for spy

 

 

[Lutesque]

On 2022-05-13 at 4:50 PM, __Kazizty__ said:

also for weapons, what is the real secret to damage.

The Real Secret is.... Rivens....

You see Tenno... There are more Multipliers in The Game than there are Mod Slots on Weapons.... A Riven Can Help You Free Up Slot put on Primed Faction Mod that will Double Dip on your Status Effect Damage ...

Specific Arcanes can also Do that but I'm going to Assume you just don't Have Those Yet...

On 2022-05-13 at 4:50 PM, __Kazizty__ said:

but then i get other people saying if you use this build you should be able to do steel path and they give me a build that accompanies my situation and it doesnt do the damage i see online.

Story of My Life, Tenno....

One thing I can Tell with Absolute Certainty is The Simulacrum Is Garbage....anything I kill there is Only Half as Tanky as anything I've killed in Actual Missions at Half The Level....

Level 90 Heavy Gunners in Actual Missions are Tankier than Level 180 Heavy Gunners In The Simulacrum...

On Top Of That....sometimes Damage is just Bugged For Clients where Damage Either Registers Late or Doesn't Register at All....

But yeah.... I take other People's Claims that they can One Shot The Sun at Level Cap with No Buffs with a Grain Of Salt.... I have legit Copied a Build Exactly as it was Shown to me and It wasn't even Enough for The Sortie....

These Days I use Other People's Builds as Starting Points and Change whatever Works out Better for me....

On 2022-05-13 at 4:50 PM, __Kazizty__ said:

then there are others saying that it is purely modding of the weapon even if you dont have a riven? just generally really confused. 

Me too....

I don't get it Either....

On 2022-05-13 at 6:03 PM, Duavey said:

The primary power of weapons come through modding, though having good base stats matters as well. You don’t need Rivens.

And Here We Go.... 🙄

On 2022-05-14 at 3:49 AM, (PSN)slightconfuzzled said:

You don't need Rivens.

There it is again.... 🙄