Build test location

[SDGDen]

Hi yall, question to the community: what is your go-to "build test location"? in the sense of which mission do you run for every build to see if it's up to your standards? i've been trying to figure out which mission would be an adequate general build test but i'm having some difficulty finding the right mission.

i chose not to use steel path because steel path (grineer specifically) cause you to have to focus a lot more on armor strip than in the entire rest of the game, which would result in me having to subsume an armor strip onto every frame that doesn't have one built in. 

I *thought* circulus was a good pick, because it's a decent level, it's survival so i can set a specific time goal, and because of it being conjunction survival there's also miniboss encounters in the form of sentients and thrax units. annoyingly, i found that soloing circulus results in not getting enough enemy spawns, making the mission less "having a hard time staying alive" and more "having a hard time finding enemies to drop your life support"

 

what do yall use? this is specifically for real-mission tests, obviously for theorycrafting and buildcrafting the simulacrum is my go-to. 

[Numerounius]

The main piece of high-end content I test for is steel path infested, there is a couple of nodes, pick whichever pet gamemode there is on the planet of your choosing.

I generally base the planet I pick from off of whichever resource I needed the most.

 

[Mazifet]

For general stuff I go to simulacrum, but testing for testing out some wacky build like my primer-tank Chroma Prime, I'll got to SP Draco, on Ceres. On of the higher level Grineer Missions I've found. If I'm really confident in a build that I've already proven in Draco I'll go to Circulus to really stress test it against all sorts of different enemies and damage types.

[(PSN)EntityPendragon]

1 hour ago, SDGDen said:

Hi yall, question to the community: what is your go-to "build test location"? in the sense of which mission do you run for every build to see if it's up to your standards? i've been trying to figure out which mission would be an adequate general build test but i'm having some difficulty finding the right mission.

i chose not to use steel path because steel path (grineer specifically) cause you to have to focus a lot more on armor strip than in the entire rest of the game, which would result in me having to subsume an armor strip onto every frame that doesn't have one built in. 

I *thought* circulus was a good pick, because it's a decent level, it's survival so i can set a specific time goal, and because of it being conjunction survival there's also miniboss encounters in the form of sentients and thrax units. annoyingly, i found that soloing circulus results in not getting enough enemy spawns, making the mission less "having a hard time staying alive" and more "having a hard time finding enemies to drop your life support"

 

what do yall use? this is specifically for real-mission tests, obviously for theorycrafting and buildcrafting the simulacrum is my go-to. 

Titan on Saturn. I use it to level weapons as well. I have used it for so long, been trying to switch to ani

[(NSW)Greybones]

Can’t say I have a “Build test mission”, since every build will perform differently depending on where it’s taken and what else is brought and how I intend to play. Usually I’m relying on my knowledge of the fundamentals to make an educated guess, but most of it tends to come down to just giving it a shot and seeing what happens, and sometimes I get a little surprised at how effective or ineffective a build may be for the content I’m doing and way I want to play, but even then it’s rare to actually fail a mission (though it can add some unexpected spice if I’m down to my last life and about to lose everything) because the variety of failstates can be (sometimes unfortunately; is why I like missions like Mobile Defense or something where it’s not just me at risk) few, and I’ll just make whatever tweaks I want or jump into a different mission or whatever.

It’s pretty unscientific and a lot more “Rule of cool” and “I feel like”, though the simulacrum (as you’ve mentioned) helps learn fundamentals in the first place

Edited October 16, 2023 by (NSW)Greybones

[Chewarette]

Depending on what to test, ESO is kinda good too. No SP modifiers, level a bit higher than normal starchart, varying enemies, can leave whenever you want (provided the weapon/warframe you're testing can sustain the required kill rate)

[Skoomaseller]

simulacrum first then taveuni sp kuva survival

Edited October 16, 2023 by Skoomaseller

[Aruquae]

I do the capture/extermination mission in SP void

Capture the target, then test weapon

Extermination to either test weapon or frame durability 

[(XBOX)Player244024418]

Ill first check fissure missions for SP to see if there's a survival or excavation. I'll try to run that to 5 rotations for the bonus. In that timeframe enemies scale pretty good even in regular mode.

If no SP endless, i check regular fissures.

If none there ill go to the void in SP survival. Usually there's at least three in a squad for a while.

Ill always have the other two wep slots loaded with good stuff so if the wep I'm testing or leveling is no bueno, I'll just primarily use the other two.

The only time I run ESO now is if I have a booster. You get an affinity booster on every endless fissure as rot 1 bonus and the SP rewards are better overall: SPE, arcanes, resources, etc.

 

[(PSN)Joylesstuna]

Sp selkie.

[SneakyErvin]

SP Mot since it provides a mix of mobs. After that I tend to test them on SP Lua Disruption. If life support % and KPM is high and smooth in Mot and demolishers die quick without the need for armor/shield strip the build works, since it has the AoE and single target to work in both survival and disruption. Not that I tend to use anything but Garuda anyways when doing SP Disruption, but it is nice to know if something works for it anyways incase I wanna spice things up.

[(PSN)jaggerwanderer]

Really depends on what I'm testing. SP Drift for melee weapons. SP Kuva Survival on guns. SP Mot for warframe.

[TeaHands]

SP Mot, generally the quickest way to have a mob build up.

[ReddyDisco]

12 hours ago, SDGDen said:

what is your go-to "build test location"? in the sense of which mission do you run for every build to see if it's up to your standards?

SP Selkie survival, usually if a weapon is capable of dealing with grineer then the other factions are no problem.

[Berzerkules]

I'd run SP Mot instead of the sim for the longest time. The void has the best mix of enemies from all factions so what works in the void will most likely work anywhere. The Void tile sets not only look great but are designed well with lots of entrances to rooms so enemies path well and you are almost guaranteed to have sufficient spawn rates to maintain life support. 

Once SP Circulus came out that became my new sim. It has almost everything Mot has but mini bosses with sentients and thrax and enemies start at lvl 200. 

[Tiltskillet]

Don't really have a specific one, but I like it when a SP Void incursion or fissure is up.  In general I think solo  Void / Corrupted are   good for testing due to the variety and enemy damage bonus.   Maybe even moreso in your case since you want a challenging setting but not SP.

I will say I don't feel a build is completely vetted until I've used it against Infested missions though.

15 hours ago, SDGDen said:

i found that soloing circulus results in not getting enough enemy spawns, making the mission less "having a hard time staying alive" and more "having a hard time finding enemies to drop your life support"

That's interesting.  I haven't used it for that, but I know other people have liked Circulus for testing.

[Qriist]

15 hours ago, SDGDen said:

i found that soloing circulus results in not getting enough enemy spawns, making the mission less "having a hard time staying alive" and more "having a hard time finding enemies to drop your life support"

33 minutes ago, Tiltskillet said:

That's interesting.  I haven't used it for that, but I know other people have liked Circulus for testing.

I've said a few times around the forums that my goto is Lua/Circulus. I do not have spawn issues, and it's generally very easy to tell if I have a properly performant weapon. 

That said, this makes all the difference in our experiences:

15 hours ago, SDGDen said:

i chose not to use steel path

Steel Path always has full spawns in endless missions.

Not knocking ya, but do be aware that non-SP survivals in general run into this issue; enemy spawns are decreased for every player less than a full squad but the drop rate of capsules are not increased to compensate.

Edited October 16, 2023 by Qriist

[SDGDen]

2 hours ago, Qriist said:

Steel Path always has full spawns in endless missions.

Not knocking ya, but do be aware that non-SP survivals in general run into this issue; enemy spawns are decreased for every player less than a full squad but the drop rate of capsules are not increased to compensate.

yee im aware, its extra bad on circulus since conjunction survival requires a bit of extra life support from the thrax attacks. 

 

its kinda annoying the full team spawn thing is only available in combination with a 4x armor multiplier. if there was a mode with just the increased spawn rate and increased level that'd be a great option for testing. 

[(XBOX)Lord ChibiVR]

18 hours ago, SDGDen said:

Hi yall, question to the community: what is your go-to "build test location"? in the sense of which mission do you run for every build to see if it's up to your standards? i've been trying to figure out which mission would be an adequate general build test but i'm having some difficulty finding the right mission.

i chose not to use steel path because steel path (grineer specifically) cause you to have to focus a lot more on armor strip than in the entire rest of the game, which would result in me having to subsume an armor strip onto every frame that doesn't have one built in. 

I *thought* circulus was a good pick, because it's a decent level, it's survival so i can set a specific time goal, and because of it being conjunction survival there's also miniboss encounters in the form of sentients and thrax units. annoyingly, i found that soloing circulus results in not getting enough enemy spawns, making the mission less "having a hard time staying alive" and more "having a hard time finding enemies to drop your life support"

 

what do yall use? this is specifically for real-mission tests, obviously for theorycrafting and buildcrafting the simulacrum is my go-to. 

Simulacrum for basic testing (every content creator uses this alongside pretty much any person trying to make a creative build). 

But as for actual missions, if you want the closest thing to a high level regular mission that isn't steel path, run Conjunction survival.

Edited October 16, 2023 by (XBOX)Upl0rdYT

[Qriist]

28 minutes ago, SDGDen said:

if there was a mode with just the increased spawn rate and increased level that'd be a great option for testing. 

Your best bet would just be solo running the first and/or second archon missions (whichever is convenient for whatever you're testing). Those are the highest level non-SP missions that we currently have access to. It's not "consistent" week to week, but they do start with level 130+ enemies.

Edited October 16, 2023 by Qriist

[(PSN)Unstar]

For most testing I do the Ballroom Simulacrum.  Steel Path, level 165, 20x Corrupted Gunner.

If further testing feels necessary, I'll pick whatever Steel Path Grineer or Corrupted mission tickles my fancy at the moment.  Generally either a Survival, Exterminate, or Capture, depending on how long I think I want to test.  Usually solo just to make sure that other players aren't impacting my results.

I generally test with Grineer because if my build is effective against Grineer, it'll be effective against anything.  Whenever I have a build where I'm unsure if that will be the case, I'll also run a Steel Path Corpus mission.