Archon hunts help

[PakkiTheDog]

Need some help and recommendations for what builds, warframes, weapons to take to do the archon hunts. I'v heard people are saying that archon hunts are easy, but i'm having some troubles with them, mainly with the damage output.

I'v been playing as undying tank Inaros with 90% roar buff, synapse with radiation and pyrana prime for grineer. For the first two missions i'll start to use the kuva bramma for grineer and skiajati for sentinels. Also i might try Baruuk for the first two missions for clearing enemies.

What weapons, warframes would you recommend for the assassination part of the mission? I like to do it solo. Synapse does the job, but it takes a while. Tried the kuva hek with galvanized hell, but i think they nerfed the damage it does to archons, and the damage reduction after the first shot is so absurd that i barely do any damage with it. Also is there any way of removing/resetting the damage resistance?

I mean the missions aren't hard, but they take me a while, like 20 minutes for the assassination, especially because the archons are constantly going in invulnerability modes and when they aren't invulnerable my laser slowly ticks their health down.

[Traumtulpe]

17 minutes ago, PakkiTheDog said:

Also is there any way of removing/resetting the damage resistance?

They have two seperate DPS caps, the first is "always on", but supposedly it doesn't consider additional projectiles from multishot. If this is true a beam weapon like the Synapse will be terrible against it, because beam weapons do not gain additional projectiles from multishot like regular weapons.

The second DPS cap is adaptive and considers all damage taken by the target - including from other players. As you deal damage it'll get lower and lower, to absolutely and utterly ridiculous extends. I had an Arquebex deal single digits damage against a sister of parvos (similar DPS caps).

So, to game DE's (as usual) terrible system, you want to have high burst damage via as many projectiles as possible. After a few shots you may as well go make a sandwich and wait for the second DPS cap to reset, so oneshotting is preferred.

Things that don't work well are: Single projectile weapons (beams), sustained damage weapons (beams), status weapons (also beams). Kinda funny, isn't it?

[PakkiTheDog]

44 minutes ago, Traumtulpe said:

Kinda funny, isn't it?

I guess it is a bit  😅🤣. Dang it, thank you for the information/help.

[PakkiTheDog]

1 hour ago, Traumtulpe said:

 

Just did the archon assassination under 10 minutes, can't believe how easy it is with proper weapons. If i forma the weapons i might do it even faster. Thank you again for the help! Now i no longer find it funny, but ridiculous   

[Archollector]

Shedu or Stayanax?

[(PSN)slightconfuzzled]

If you are doing it solo, my recommendations (as far as the easiest time of it), would be Kuva Hek, Laetum, and Stropha. Ivara, Revenant or Rhino. If you go Revenant, then Madurai and Voidstrike is nice. 

With Ivara you get a small buff when you are cloaked, that can help maximise your damage output, when attempting to headshot the Archon with your Kuva Hek Alt Fire. If you don't land a good direct headshot, like not all the pellets don't hit etc, don't worry. Yes there is damage attenuation/damage reduction, but... you just need to wait a few seconds, like maybe 10 - 15. Then you should be able to end that phase. If you are familiar with Adaptation mod for our Warframes? Its a bit like that, but for the Archons. Don't mindlessly spam fire against the enemy. Take your time, line up your best shot at the head and alt fire. Precision and timing work better than just trying to shoot as much as you can. 

Laetum ids really good for regular enemies and Eximus, especially as a way to get Energy from Eximi, considering its guaranteed. Its also good for some of the phases Archons have, like the bit with the pyramid invulnerability phase, where you have to shoot them, or the Deacons etc. Stropha is generally good for Sentients. 

Ivara is good for the headshot buff from Prowl, Rhino Roar, Revenant is just very tanky. Madurai Voidstrike can also help maximise your damage. I personally run the Archons a few extra times, just to grab some scans, etc test builds, once you demystify how hard/scary they can be, and get yourself some one shots against them, you can start flexing on to other builds etc go PUB to help people so on. 

Synapse is a great weapon, not sure it would do well here though being a beam weapon. 

Either all, good luck with your next hunt! 

[Lord_Drod]

Just use a phenmor and the first phase is over in 1 second, no VS or riven needed. bagunga gunga.  It does benefit from some forma though.  I could not do anything w the Hek either and it sucks if you don't oneshot w it.

[PakkiTheDog]

7 hours ago, Archollector said:

Shedu or Stayanax?

Thank you for the recommendation, i'll try them out.

5 hours ago, Lord_Drod said:

Just use a phenmor and the first phase is over in 1 second, no VS or riven needed. bagunga gunga.  It does benefit from some forma though.  I could not do anything w the Hek either and it sucks if you don't oneshot w it.

Oh yeah, tried phenmor yesterday, it's a beast. Thank you.

6 hours ago, (PSN)slightconfuzzled said:

 

Thank you for the detailed explanations and recommendations. Tried Laetum, the same as phenmor, a beast. I guess i slept on Incarnon weapons. Also Stropha works great. I might try the Ivara strat, but i already got my run down to around 7 minutes with recommended weapons, and i'm happy with that.

 

Once again guys thank you for all your help and recommendations!

[nslay]

21 hours ago, Traumtulpe said:

because beam weapons do not gain additional projectiles from multishot like regular weapons.

That definitely used to be true. Multishot does now affect beam weapons in expected ways. You get more status procs for example. You should be getting more direct damage tics because you get more status procs with multishot. As far as I can remember testing in Simulacrum, Multishot behaves identically on beam weapons as it does on regular weapons now.

I know I know. I too was caught off guard by some obscure change in some previous patch last year. It was so obscure I had to dig through Warframe wiki history just to prove to the forum that Multishot on beam weapons didn't used to work in expected ways in the past.

[Traumtulpe]

2 hours ago, nslay said:

Multishot does now affect beam weapons in expected ways.

No it doesn't, at all. Multishot it supposed to add projectiles, or damage instances - it does not do this on beam weapons.

Instead, multishot increases beam weapon damage and status chance multiplicatively. In practice, this makes beam weapons better than expected for causing damaging status procs. Say you have a gun with 100 damage and 20% status chance. Adding 100% multishot will simply double your damage as expected - 2x100 damage with 20% status chance each. On a beam with the same stats, you'll get 1x200 damage with 40% status chance - 4x the damage from status effects.

[nslay]

24 minutes ago, Traumtulpe said:

No it doesn't, at all. Multishot it supposed to add projectiles, or damage instances - it does not do this on beam weapons.

Instead, multishot increases beam weapon damage and status chance multiplicatively. In practice, this makes beam weapons better than expected for causing damaging status procs. Say you have a gun with 100 damage and 20% status chance. Adding 100% multishot will simply double your damage as expected - 2x100 damage with 20% status chance each. On a beam with the same stats, you'll get 1x200 damage with 40% status chance - 4x the damage from status effects.

No, I tested it. It really does add more status procs and I'm pretty sure it adds more damage instances. And yes, on beam weapons like Kuva Nukor and Phage.

I know it's hard to believe after all these years... but they actually fixed this. And I got in a large argument taking your position, going to Simulacrum and ending up proving myself wrong. Then, then... having to go to Warframe wiki history (tricky to find this detail!) and showing other players that it used to be the way you're thinking of.

EDIT: Here you go, here's me proving myself wrong about multi-shot on beam weapons

EDIT2: Yeah Phage is very telling. One proc per tendril.

EDIT3: OK, maybe the damage ticks are the same. So says wiki.

[Traumtulpe]

30 minutes ago, nslay said:

No, I tested it. It really does add more status procs and I'm pretty sure it adds more damage instances. And yes, on beam weapons like Kuva Nukor and Phage.

I told you it multiplies status chance, of course it would add more procs.

I just now took a Kuva Nukor (impact), put convulsion on it and fired an entire magazine at a target - about 20% health lost. Then I added 120% multishot and fired at an identical target - about 2/3 health lost. If multishot worked the normal way, you'd expect 44% health lost.