Steel Path Tips?

[bobojoeho]

I am very close to unlocking Steel Path, and am wondering what some good warframes and weapons are, with builds, that will work for Steel Path.  I have some platinum saved if I need to buy a frame or two for Steel Path, so don't worry about whether or not I have the item.  Anyways, I am not looking for the absolute best meta, just some suggestions to get me started.

[(PSN)iuvenilis]

Arbitrations are the typical stepping-stone before Steel path. I'd suggest you invest some time to get some of the galvanized mods. Without those, you're basically limited to melee.

Once you get into Steel path, since the first missions start with Grineer, prepare yourself. Set your expectations. They will take a beating, and with the full 4-player spawn regardless of squad size, they can pump out some pretty serious damage. It will likely feel very difficult at first (especially if you're used to playing solo on the normal starchart).

Viral+slash will make short work of grineer. Get yourself a nice condition overload+bloodrush+weeping wounds melee, and combined with different status effects (usually applied by using primary/secondary weapons, companions and abilities), you can tear through them.

If you're already familiar with modding and stacking different damage multipliers, you'll probably be able to work it out without too much issue. But most people go through the starchart with limited understanding of the deepness of the modding system. So Steel path can feel like a huge step-up for many.

[(PSN)Madurai-Prime]

You need to get a defense frame ready and the rest can be dps. 

So Khora/Frost and maybe Saryn or Revenant or Nyx. 

You need a melee with Condition overload and 2 guns with separate status, so you can shoot enemies then melee them.

Make some specters of whatever frame you choose, they use their abilities and help you, for example Protea frequently drop Dispensary to give you health, energy and ammo, or Wisp who drops all 3 motes for a small speed boost and healing.

[(PSN)slightconfuzzled]

Don't want to overload you with info, but my general advice is to take it a bit slow, and don't feel bad if you hit a wall. You might not hit a wall, but some do, and thats okay. Depends on how you play the game. The increase in enemy levels, and certain other attributes, namely armour can, can make weapons and Warframes that seemed very effective, much less effective, and weapons and Warframes that seemed average, pretty decent. 

Your own play style preferences also matter too. Are you the type that wants to stick with your favourites and find ways to make them work? Or start to test around with other Warframes and weapons, that might find it easier, or even just to experiment with new builds for fun? I consider modding one of the most important aspects. Knowing which elements work best against different enemy types, why, how they can depend on the strengths/weaknesses of a weapon (like say why fire is great for high status beam weapons, but maybe not slow firing high crit pistols), knowing why slash and viral together is strong, etc also how to synergise your build. Like if your Warframe can remove armour, then building weapons to deal with high armour is less important. So on. 

Most weapons and Warframes can do Steel Path okay, but some will find it easier than others. My personal fav weapons for Steel Path, include the Cedo. It will prime enemies, and soften them up for your primary fire. Its alt fire is strong at status, and the primary is good for crit, so it can scale well. Also like Phenmor, Tenet Arca Plasma, Tenora Prime, Probiscus Cernos, Phantasma. If you are unsure how to build them or why they might be strong, feel free to ask! Secondaries, like the Epitaph for the same reasons I like Cedo. Laetum is very powerful, Kuva Nukor, Tenet Cycron are also great. There are a bunch of great melee... but I tend to make it my Acolyte killing weapon, so usually stick with what I consider the best/my favourites. So Stropha, Glaive Prime, Redeemer. 

Warframe's, I like to change based on mission type. Interception and Excavation have different fail conditions than say Capture. So I value CC more, so like using Vauban, Khora. Survival, I really like Nidus, Lavos, Wisp, Saryn, Baruuk, Ivara. Most of those work great for Exterminate and Capture. Rhino, Sevagoth, Wukong and Nezha are also generally popular because of their tankiness. I quite like Mag and Lavos against Corpus, Nidus and Ember for Infested. Gara and Equinox for Defence. 

Good luck and hope you have fun! 

[TheSixOfDiamonds]

Experiment.

A lot of what I normally use is sub-par for SP, even if others have made them SP mulching machines. Check your kit, see what does best, and if needed, refine it. You may stumble onto a combo like I did. I found that my super-nonmeta Mesa (two augments, but 2/3 Umbral) just... mulches everything once I swapped Shooting Gallery for Eclipse. Not even running mostly useful damage (rad + tox), and ignoring any kind of stat sidearm.

I've had a Phoenix renewal Oberon work, and I think I'm running a viral + heat Kuva Hind (with riven) as my primary.

[Leqesai]

A good rule of thumb is to sort out a solid tank + slow build for Nova. That's what I used to clear like 90% of Steel Path when it first released. Nova is super tanky and her slow is a very useful source of CC. With the eximus/overguard changes this might be a little less effective but I'm guessing it still works fine.

[(PSN)Silver1593]

For steel path i used chroma p , nova , wisp , saryn and kuva nukor with cold bonus 

[bobojoeho]

On 2022-09-02 at 9:48 PM, (PSN)iuvenilis said:

Arbitrations are the typical stepping-stone before Steel path. I'd suggest you invest some time to get some of the galvanized mods. Without those, you're basically limited to melee.

Once you get into Steel path, since the first missions start with Grineer, prepare yourself. Set your expectations. They will take a beating, and with the full 4-player spawn regardless of squad size, they can pump out some pretty serious damage. It will likely feel very difficult at first (especially if you're used to playing solo on the normal starchart).

Viral+slash will make short work of grineer. Get yourself a nice condition overload+bloodrush+weeping wounds melee, and combined with different status effects (usually applied by using primary/secondary weapons, companions and abilities), you can tear through them.

If you're already familiar with modding and stacking different damage multipliers, you'll probably be able to work it out without too much issue. But most people go through the starchart with limited understanding of the deepness of the modding system. So Steel path can feel like a huge step-up for many.

 

On 2022-09-02 at 10:24 PM, (PSN)Madurai-Prime said:

You need to get a defense frame ready and the rest can be dps. 

So Khora/Frost and maybe Saryn or Revenant or Nyx. 

You need a melee with Condition overload and 2 guns with separate status, so you can shoot enemies then melee them.

Make some specters of whatever frame you choose, they use their abilities and help you, for example Protea frequently drop Dispensary to give you health, energy and ammo, or Wisp who drops all 3 motes for a small speed boost and healing.

 

On 2022-09-02 at 10:36 PM, (PSN)slightconfuzzled said:

Don't want to overload you with info, but my general advice is to take it a bit slow, and don't feel bad if you hit a wall. You might not hit a wall, but some do, and thats okay. Depends on how you play the game. The increase in enemy levels, and certain other attributes, namely armour can, can make weapons and Warframes that seemed very effective, much less effective, and weapons and Warframes that seemed average, pretty decent. 

Your own play style preferences also matter too. Are you the type that wants to stick with your favourites and find ways to make them work? Or start to test around with other Warframes and weapons, that might find it easier, or even just to experiment with new builds for fun? I consider modding one of the most important aspects. Knowing which elements work best against different enemy types, why, how they can depend on the strengths/weaknesses of a weapon (like say why fire is great for high status beam weapons, but maybe not slow firing high crit pistols), knowing why slash and viral together is strong, etc also how to synergise your build. Like if your Warframe can remove armour, then building weapons to deal with high armour is less important. So on. 

Most weapons and Warframes can do Steel Path okay, but some will find it easier than others. My personal fav weapons for Steel Path, include the Cedo. It will prime enemies, and soften them up for your primary fire. Its alt fire is strong at status, and the primary is good for crit, so it can scale well. Also like Phenmor, Tenet Arca Plasma, Tenora Prime, Probiscus Cernos, Phantasma. If you are unsure how to build them or why they might be strong, feel free to ask! Secondaries, like the Epitaph for the same reasons I like Cedo. Laetum is very powerful, Kuva Nukor, Tenet Cycron are also great. There are a bunch of great melee... but I tend to make it my Acolyte killing weapon, so usually stick with what I consider the best/my favourites. So Stropha, Glaive Prime, Redeemer. 

Warframe's, I like to change based on mission type. Interception and Excavation have different fail conditions than say Capture. So I value CC more, so like using Vauban, Khora. Survival, I really like Nidus, Lavos, Wisp, Saryn, Baruuk, Ivara. Most of those work great for Exterminate and Capture. Rhino, Sevagoth, Wukong and Nezha are also generally popular because of their tankiness. I quite like Mag and Lavos against Corpus, Nidus and Ember for Infested. Gara and Equinox for Defence. 

Good luck and hope you have fun! 

 

On 2022-09-02 at 11:42 PM, TheSixOfDiamonds said:

Experiment.

A lot of what I normally use is sub-par for SP, even if others have made them SP mulching machines. Check your kit, see what does best, and if needed, refine it. You may stumble onto a combo like I did. I found that my super-nonmeta Mesa (two augments, but 2/3 Umbral) just... mulches everything once I swapped Shooting Gallery for Eclipse. Not even running mostly useful damage (rad + tox), and ignoring any kind of stat sidearm.

I've had a Phoenix renewal Oberon work, and I think I'm running a viral + heat Kuva Hind (with riven) as my primary.

 

On 2022-09-03 at 1:34 AM, Leqesai said:

A good rule of thumb is to sort out a solid tank + slow build for Nova. That's what I used to clear like 90% of Steel Path when it first released. Nova is super tanky and her slow is a very useful source of CC. With the eximus/overguard changes this might be a little less effective but I'm guessing it still works fine.

 

On 2022-09-03 at 2:01 AM, (PSN)Silver1593 said:

For steel path i used chroma p , nova , wisp , saryn and kuva nukor with cold bonus 

Thanks everybody, after I unlocked Steel Path I found a combo that works really well.  I use Revenant, and just always keep his 2 going.  Then I use Kuva Zarr and just hit enemies in the head.  I am immune to stagger and damage with Mesmer Skin, so that works well.  I have a Heat Zarr with a mediocre build, but it was still able to 1-shot enemies on a level 135 SP Incursion.  Acolytes do take a lot more hits from me, but they are easy cause Mesmer Skin negates their damage and I just spam my Zarr at them.  Anyways, thanks for the tips everyone!

[Uhkretor]

On 2022-09-03 at 5:35 AM, bobojoeho said:

I am very close to unlocking Steel Path, and am wondering what some good warframes and weapons are, with builds, that will work for Steel Path.

I know that I posted this a bit late, but any Warframe and pretty much any weapon (Except Mk1 weaponry) can be used in Steel Path, even a Lato can do Steel Path if you mod it properly, with no Riven....

Without knowing your weapon type preference, we can only throw clay at the ceiling and hope it sticks. It all depends on how you play, and how well modded your equipment is. So, without further info on that, I believe you won't get anything efficiently from us, but if you manage to find something that works, great.

 

... That said...

If you play in a squad, Public or otherwise, none of it matters. Most definitely, the mission will always be completed in less than 3 seconds.

If you strictly play Solo, or do the effort of playing alone whenever you can, how well your equipment and their modifications fit with your playstyle will definitely matter... Do note, "fit your playstyle" isn't getting the most voted build online on Overframe (or whatever its called) and rolling with it. It implies making your own builds and having them fit with your own playstyle... There is a noticeable difference concerning Warframes but not as noticeable concerning weapons, however, modding them well will decide if Steel Path is doable or not.

Unlike popular belief, post-Galvanized "Era", Galvanized mods ease your entry into Steel Path but they are neither necessary or mandatory to complete all nodes, even Endless missions... I know that from experience, Solo deployment, and I'm pretty sure there are more players that can confirm it as well.

Spoiler

I did it with Excal Umbra and base abilities, in case you're wondering, no companions of any kind and non-explosive/non-AoE single target weapons, without resorting to Melee ground slams/heavy slams spam.

Your entry into Steel Path will also be easier if you have the "bad" habit of hitting on every single enemy weak points, every time, all the time, in any way possible and in every situation you find yourself into.

[(PSN)sieg_valentine]

Not sure if this is a meta thing but Zephyr with max range and duration tornado makes steel path a walk in the park especially in endurance runs. Bring a good weapon so you can hit tornadoes and keep turbulence up all the time. If you have helminth system you can subsume gara and put spectrorage (with the augment) and you will always get energy. 

[taiiat]

i'll agree that Arbitration should come first. Adaptation and Galvanized Mods will make things a lot easier, they're a big increase in Stats. Adaptation will be pretty paramount.

then it's just a matter of stacking Damage Multipliers and/or weakens/debuffs. use every Game Mechanic available to you that you can fit at the same time. 
don't leave anything on the table. consider all Damage Types, not in a vacuum, but with which ones you can utilize at the same time. consider all of the buffs/debuffs that Abilities can offer you. consider Abilities which can serve as a catalyst to other Damage, to essentially Multiply it.
remember, Steel Path is the same thing you've already done, the Enemies just have more Health. that means you want more Damage. whether that be actual Damage or effective Damage.

the only real complication is that Acolytes don't take full effects from Status Effects, so keep that in mind that you do still need to have high raw Damage.

 

 

you should still keep these things in mind, as when they nerf all Weapons that happen to have some AoE component, you'll lose a bunch of Damage.

[(PSN)Madurai-Prime]

23 hours ago, bobojoeho said:

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks everybody, after I unlocked Steel Path I found a combo that works really well.  I use Revenant, and just always keep his 2 going.  Then I use Kuva Zarr and just hit enemies in the head.  I am immune to stagger and damage with Mesmer Skin, so that works well.  I have a Heat Zarr with a mediocre build, but it was still able to 1-shot enemies on a level 135 SP Incursion.  Acolytes do take a lot more hits from me, but they are easy cause Mesmer Skin negates their damage and I just spam my Zarr at them.  Anyways, thanks for the tips everyone!

Don't forget to melee. Melee slash procs will tick away at the acolytes health while you're shooting em.

[bobojoeho]

I have slash procs on my Zarr, plus I only have Broken War with a trash build.  I do not have the mods/endo needed to make a good build for it, so I just use my gun.