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LIVE ON ALL PLATFORMS: Operation: Plague Star (How-to & FAQ)

[DE]Danielle

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[DE]Danielle

[DE]Danielle

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PLAGUE STAR HAS RETURNED! 

Like a fetid and pus-filled comet across the sky, Operation: Plague Star has returned! The Infested Boil now taking hold of the Plains of Eidolon must be destroyed. Save the people of Cetus and restore the beauty of the Plains now until November 21 at 11 AM ET.

Plague Star 2023 Qol Changes:
It's been a few years since Vay Hek’s favorite surgery simulator graced the Origin System, so we wanted to make a few updates to streamline the difficulty curve and improve the experience of the event.

Players can now choose the difficulty by selecting one of three Bounties offered by Konzu in Cetus: Standard, Advanced, and The Steel Path. These bounties have been tweaked to reflect the scaling difficulty of previous Plague Star appearances. 

Most notably, Plague Star no longer requires you to mix the Toxin during the Mission itself, meaning you are no longer required to manually contribute Infested Catalyst and Eidolon Phylaxis from your Gear Wheel. These items will now be automatically applied to the mission upon beginning the Advanced and Steel Path Bounties.  

Whether this is your first time playing Plague Star or requiring a refresher, read on to learn how to thwart Vay Hek’s plans and tackle the blemish in the Plains! 

 

HOW TO PLAY

Speak with Konzu in Cetus (Earth) and select one of the three Plague Star Bounties. Complete the stages to earn rewards and Operational Supply Standing.

NOTE: In order to play the Advanced and Steel Path Bounties, all players in the Squad must have both an Eidolon Phylaxis and Infested Catalyst in their inventory. Successfully completing these Bounties will consume one of each. 

Plague Star
Enemy Levels: 15-25
Operational Supply Standing: 1,025

The standard Plague Star experience, no Eidolon Phylaxis or Infested Catalyst required. Complete the Bounty stages to steal Vay Hek’s Thrax Toxin, mix it, and deliver the poison to the Infested Boil. Outlive the hoards of Infested summoned from the Boil while the poison takes effect and reap the rewards from cleansing The Plains of Eidolon. 
 

Plague Star - Advanced
Enemy Levels: 55-65
Operational Supply Standing: 3,200

Players must have Eidolon Phylaxis and Infested Catalyst in their Inventories to start this Bounty. Read the FAQ below to learn how to acquire them!

Increased difficulty version of the standard experience with higher enemy levels and spawn rates. For those who had played the Operation in prior years, the difficulty is similar to mixing 4 Eidolon Phylaxis and 4 Infested Catalysts (the maximum amount). Unlike the standard Bounty, delivering the Toxin to the Boil summons the Hemocyte - a gnarly three-headed Infested creature. It must be defeated 4 times to allow the poison to take successfully. 
 

Plague Star (The Steel Path)
Enemy Levels: 100-110
Operational Supply Standing: 3,800

Players must have Eidolon Phylaxis and Infested Catalyst in their Inventories to start this Bounty. Read the FAQ below to learn how to acquire them!

Greater difficulty and greater Rewards await those Tenno on the Steel Path who seek the ultimate Plague Star challenge. Take on the same stages as the Advanced Bounty with Steel Path modifiers applied. Increased Kuva and Endo amounts are also rewarded in the Bounty Stage rewards.

Bonus Operational Supply Standing: 
Players can earn additional Operational Supply Standing during the Drone escort stage of all of the above Bounties by keeping it above 80% Health.

  • Standard: 25 bonus Standing
  • Advanced: 75 Bonus Standing
  • Steel Path: 100 Bonus Standing
     

UPDATE 11/7/2023 6:20pm ET:

We have rebalanced the Plague Star Standing earned per stage for all three modes to address players starting and aborting Stage 1 after completing it. It's clear that the event is not meant to be played this way, and it also has a knockoff effect on those who public matchmake and end up in a squad with someone doing that strategy. Fundamentally, it comes down to this strategy being unhealthy for the game, and we feel must be addressed promptly. We also recognize that each Stage differs in its "time cost" and have changed the values respectively.

The new Standing per stage is as follows:

Plague Star - Standard
Stage 1 - 50
Stage 2 - 300
Stage 3 - 100
Stage 4 - 575
Total Operational Supply Standing: 1,025 (was 1,000) 

Plague Star - Advanced
Stage 1 - 200
Stage 2 - 1000
Stage 3 - 300
Stage 4 - 1700
Total Operational Supply Standing: 3,200 (was 3,050)

Plague Star - Steel Path
Stage 1 - 200
Stage 2 - 1100
Stage 3 - 400
Stage 4 - 2100
Total Operational Supply Standing: 3,800 (was 3,650)

Bonus Operational Supply Standing:
Standard: 25
Advanced: 75
Steel Path: 100

Bonus Operational Supply Standing is lower but overall, players receive slightly more overall Standing than before.
 

REWARDS

Successfully completing Bounty stages and eradicating the Infestation from the Plains will earn you rewards in the following ways: 

Bounty Stage Rewards 
Completing a Plague Star Bounty stage can earn you the following rewards: 

  • Kuva (100x on Standard/Advanced and 125x on Steel Path) 
  • Endo (300x on Standard/Advanced and 400x on Steel Path) 
  • Augur Message
  • Vigilante Pursuit 
  • Gladiator Finesse
  • Revenant Chassis Blueprint 
  • Naramon Lens
  • Relics 
  • Cetus Wisp

Operational Supply Rewards
Completing a Bounty earns you Operational Supply Standing, which is used to purchase Operation Rewards from Nakak in Cetus (Earth), the representative of the Operational Supply Syndicate for Operation: Plague Star. 

  • Eidolon Phylaxis x 5 Blueprints
  • Plague Zaw Blueprints
    • Plague Keewar Blueprint
    • Plague Bokwin Blueprint
    • Plague Kripath Blueprint 
    • Plague Akwin Blueprint
  • Plague Star Emblem
  • Exodia Contagion
  • Exodia Epidemic 
  • Forma (Built) 
  • Ghoulsaw Blueprint and Component Blueprints 
  • Butcher’s Revelry 
  • Ether Daggers Blueprint
  • Snipetron Blueprint 
  • Sacrifice Mod
  • Fulmination Mod 
  • Cetus Resources
    • Cetus Wisp 
    • Radian Sentirum 
    • Heart Nyth 
    • Murkray Liver
    • Norg Brain 
    • Culthol Tendrils 
  • Fosfor Rahd & Blau Blueprints 

Hemocyte Rewards (Advanced & Steel Path) 
Defeating the Hemocyte has its own rewards! Squash the ternary fleshy beast to earn one of the following items from its Drop Tables: 

  • The Hunter Set Mods
    • Hunter Adrenaline
    • Hunter Command
    • Hunter Munitions
    • Hunter Recovery
    • Hunter Synergy
    • Hunter Track
  • Hemocyte Cystolith
    • Used to craft Plague Star Trophies (Terracotta, Bronze, Silver, and Gold) in your Clan Dojo. 

Players can check our official Drop Tables for a full look at drop rates: https://www.warframe.com/droptables


Plague Star FAQ: 

"Why can't I equip Eidolon Phylaxis/Infested Catalyst to my Gear Wheel?" 
We have changed it so that as long as you have it in your inventory, you no longer need to equip it to your Gear Wheel. It'll automatically apply to the mission - gone are the days where you need to manually add it to the mixer. 

“How do I acquire Eidolon Phylaxis and Infested Catalyst?” 
The reusable Eidolon Phylaxis Blueprint is acquired by reaching the Collaborator Rank in the Operational Supply Syndicate at Nakak. Earn Operational Supply Standing from completing Standard Plague Star Bounties. 

Infested Catalyst is acquired by completing its research in the Bio Lab Dojo room of your Clan and replicating its reusable Blueprint. 

“What is Hemocyte Cystolith?” 
Hemocyte Cystolith is dropped from defeating the Hemocyte and can be used to craft Plague Star Trophies in your Clan Dojo. 

“Does my daily Standing cap affect my Operational Supply gain?”
No, the Operational Supply earned in the event is not affected by your daily cap.

“Are any of the rewards event-exclusive?”
Apart from the obvious Plague Star Emblem, all of the Plague Star rewards are made available elsewhere in the game to earn. The Plague Zaw parts and Exodia Arcanes, for example, have been a part of the Nights of Naberus appearances during Plague Star’s hiatus (with the exception of this year since it has returned). Similarly, the Ghoulsaw and Stance “Butcher’s Revelry” were added to the game outside of Plague Star - the Ghoulsaw can be acquired from the Ventkids’ Bash Lab in your Clan’s Dojo and its Stance Mod as a drop from defeating Ghoul Rictus. 

“Do Acolytes spawn in The Steel Path Plague Star Bounty / Is Steel Essence rewarded?” 
Acolytes and Steel Essence are not included in this Bounty. It does, however, include extra Kuva and Endo in the Bounty Stage reward pool, as well as additional Operational Supply Standing to spend at Nakak!

“Has my Operational Supply Standing been saved from the last Operation: Plague Star in 2021?”
Yes!

"Will my progress/rank in the Operational Supply Syndicate be saved after the event ends?"
Yes, your rank in the Operational Supply Syndicate will be saved when the event ends and is carried forward.

Edited by [DE]Megan
UPDATE 11/7/2023 6:20pm ET - rebalanced bounty standing values
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God_is_a_Cat_Girl

God_is_a_Cat_Girl

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This is cool and all but since you took the chance to do changes, maybe it would've gone hand in hand with fixing it only dropping Naramon Lens (been an issue since it's initial release), or that Revenant Chassis being haphazardly strapped on to the drop tables and at lightning speed becoming a crappy credits cache.

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[DE]Megan

[DE]Megan

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2 minutes ago, (PSN)FrDiabloFr said:

Love how bugged it is 6 times I haven’t been able to finish the steel path bounty because infested won’t spawn lol.

Can you provide some more detail? Were you the host? Solo? What stage of the mission were you at? Is it the Spawn Pods that aren't breaking open?

Any info you can provide is great :) 

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DreamGirly

DreamGirly

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7 minutes ago, [DE]Megan said:

Can you provide some more detail? Were you the host? Solo? What stage of the mission were you at? Is it the Spawn Pods that aren't breaking open?

Any info you can provide is great :) 

Not that person but: 

XeJy5zc.jpgs5jk4Jq.jpg

In our case we managed to get him loose again but he was stuck there for a while. 

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[DE]Megan

[DE]Megan

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9 minutes ago, PazuulLoveMe said:

I'm unable to put the phylaxis and catalyst on my gear wheel.

Is this a bug, or are they auto-find for the event?

As long as you have them in your Inventory, you're good to go. You no longer need to manually put into your Gear wheel.

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Furyk-Karede

Furyk-Karede

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With a decade of experience in this game I've acquired subterranean expectations for how this game performs. But with 3 attempts in a row with completely random and inexplicable mission failures- in a mission that's older than most household pets!- even I'm flabbergasted by how broken this game is.

It's embarrassing.

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RoadCrewWorker

RoadCrewWorker

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Just now, Alphas said:

It takes 30 minutes to do the mission... way to completely murder your most beloved event.

Ran a pretty relaxing SP bounty in around 12 mins without issues, so you probably want to experiment with some different loadout.

Most time difference to "advanced" seems to be the leph heads depending on squad loadout, not sure yet if the 600 rep make up for it.

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Corvid

Corvid

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The jump from Normal to Advanced seems a tad extreme.

I get why the changes were made, but in previous runs I liked being able to tune the enemy level and Hemocyte count separately, so having the choice be between 1: "Trivial numbers of infested that die to a stiff breeze", 2: "Fight a bullet sponge boss that can only be damaged via weakspots that it can and will keep closed for as long as it feels like while you also have to manage an unending horde", and 3: "Same as the second, but with even more durability" feels like a downgrade.

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Binket_

Binket_

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The people of Cetus, chilling as they do:
"Oh hey, it's DE. What do you got there?"

DE, about to unleash Forma hell:
"A VIRUS BOMB!!"

 

Welp, time to acquire a year's worth of Forma.
My patience holds fast for the hell about to follow.

EDIT: Reading other comments here does instill confidence.
Only DE-branded dread, as usual.
Well, let's greet the forsaken lands again anyway! It's not getting any better.

Edited by Binket_
It's... RIGHT THERE!!
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Alphas

Alphas

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9 minutes ago, RoadCrewWorker said:

Ran a pretty relaxing SP bounty in around 12 mins without issues, so you probably want to experiment with some different loadout.

Most time difference to "advanced" seems to be the leph heads depending on squad loadout, not sure yet if the 600 rep make up for it.

What are you running to get that time?  I was running full Corrosive Heat setups on my Necramech and weapons and it was a total slog.

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Yrkul

Yrkul

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14 minutes ago, [DE]Megan said:

As long as you have them in your Inventory, you're good to go. You no longer need to manually put into your Gear wheel.

I really wish you could choose which ones to use. The mission in general is fine, but the hemocyst is not worth the time it takes to grind it down. I was soloing it, and midway through the second hemo, I said "F*** this" and went back to Cetus. Not worth it last time, not worth it now.

You guys REALLY need to brush up on effort/reward ratios, not just here, but in a lot of content.

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(PSN)nitto420s

(PSN)nitto420s

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Absolutely ZERO New Items Way to go that will definitely bring the veterans back to play! So many loot choices hmm spend 20,000 to get ghoulsaw or get it for FREE in dojo! Tough decision. Last event farmed 20 ghoulsaw to sell and they put it for free in dojo Literally the next day. With no headsup

Edited by (PSN)nitto420s
Spelling error
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(PSN)FrDiabloFr

(PSN)FrDiabloFr

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57 minutes ago, [DE]Megan said:

Can you provide some more detail? Were you the host? Solo? What stage of the mission were you at? Is it the Spawn Pods that aren't breaking open?

Any info you can provide is great :) 

I was host, playing solo steel path final stage the infested wouldn’t leave the eggs or just simply didn’t spawn, on ps5 fantastic internet.

i have to agree with other posters the steel path bounty is a slog, running full speed titania and still took 8-10 minutes.

Edited by (PSN)FrDiabloFr
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