Do you think new Hydroid needs any of his augments?

[(PSN)Hopper_Orouk]

Viral tempest:

• Pro: Very powerful and kills enemies super fast, as well as priming them for Viral, eliminating the need to mod viral on your weapon
• Con: Kills enemies too fast sometimes, even on steel path, causing you to loose potential corrosive stacks for plunder. also Epitaph exists.
• Hydroid without it: Not a strong ability platform frame but still very good at stripping armor, and some damage overtime

Tidal impunity: 

• Pro: A lot of good pros, status immunity and extremely low cost makes tidal surge very good for fast dashes and support, probably faster than Gauss.
• Con: It takes up a mod slot. low duration.
• Hydroid without it: tidal surge without this augment is honestly not worth it.

Rousing Plunder:

• Pro: In case you want a little bit extra armor to max your armor count at 2700 (90% DR) and an occasional heal on cast, damage is negligible.
• Con: Stats are too low and don't scale with strength, takes up a mod slot.
• Hydroid without it: probably better and more efficient because Rousing plunder needs more armor to plunder than normal.

Pilfering swarm: 

• Pro: double loot, saves half the time, supports hydroid with extra ammo, health and energy orbs.
• Con: Hitting held enemies is cumbersome, enemies that can't be held can't be looted, useless in boss fights, short missions.
• Hydroid without it: Just a normal CC/weapons platform Warframe. 

I can't decide what type of build I want my hydroid to have, I love my builds tightly packed and stretched to the limit, to allow multiple positive stats...unfortunately, this means I get to use at most one augment mod, sometimes, I can't use any. So I made this discussion to see what other people think about these augments?

Tidal surge seems the most important one, especially since I'm not planning on replacing tidal surge at all. buuuuut no space.

[trst]

Only one I've found use for is Rousing for enabling armor + heal tanking instead of relying on shields or outside healing. Even if the cap increases don't scale the healing does which makes it an easy full heal every cast. But yeah using any other source of healing also works for that or relying on shield gating so there's still situations where it's unnecessary.

As for the others I've found even less use in them. Viral Tempest is alright but I've not found it worth the mod slot. Pilfering is only worthwhile if you still need resources/mods meaning it eventually loses all value.

But I've actually found Impunity to be by far the worst since status cleansing is a default feature of Surge, so it's really only useful if you want lingering immunity or have some meme build for zipping around open worlds where the reduced energy cost is useful.

[TeaHands]

I love Pilfering Swarm, with AOE or Single Target weapons I generally don't have trouble wiping out held enemies. 

[SDGDen]

personally, i am running a viral tempest build with something subsumed over his 3. i just dont find much use in plunder in this build because i can spam his 1 for DAYS which means the entire tile you're in is being constantly crowd-controlled. 

for those who dont know: tempest does NOT have a zone limit. you can place down as many of them as you want, and they can overlap. if you want to be extra funny, add either roar or breach surge (although i've also found some fun combinations with aquablades). roar buffs the damage of tempest, and tempest zones especially when overlapped trigger breach surge VERY often. 

i've combined it with max efficiency and arcane steadfast for extra spamability. although if you want you could also go for nourish over his 2, retain his 3 for the damage buff and use zenurik with nourish for a high spam-factor without the need for maximum efficiency.

[Birdframe_Prime]

54 minutes ago, (PSN)Hopper_Orouk said:

tidal surge without this augment is honestly not worth it.

A movement cast that's been redone for more control that has temporary invulnerability, a grouping CC for on-the-run gunplay instead of fixed-position defensive options, plays directly into the first priming for his Passive, plus a status cleanse whenever you need it?

I don't see how that's not worth it... Honestly that covers a range of functions that are particularly needed in some missions.

[(PSN)slightconfuzzled]

For my play style, Viral Tempest is generally the one I find most valuable, and important for my builds, and the rest nowhere as vital. Though, I would probably also definitely take Pilfering Swarm if I wanted to do some dedicated Resource farming on a Survival mission too. I just don't tend to need Resources as much. 

[(PSN)Hopper_Orouk]

4 hours ago, trst said:

But I've actually found Impunity to be by far the worst since status cleansing is a default feature of Surge, so it's really only useful if you want lingering immunity or have some meme build for zipping around open worlds where the reduced energy cost is useful.

very interesting take, I love my abilities cheap and useful so I find this augment amazing.

 

3 hours ago, SDGDen said:

personally, i am running a viral tempest build with something subsumed over his 3. i just dont find much use in plunder in this build because i can spam his 1 for DAYS which means the entire tile you're in is being constantly crowd-controlled. 

for those who dont know: tempest does NOT have a zone limit. you can place down as many of them as you want, and they can overlap. if you want to be extra funny, add either roar or breach surge (although i've also found some fun combinations with aquablades). roar buffs the damage of tempest, and tempest zones especially when overlapped trigger breach surge VERY often. 

i've combined it with max efficiency and arcane steadfast for extra spamability. although if you want you could also go for nourish over his 2, retain his 3 for the damage buff and use zenurik with nourish for a high spam-factor without the need for maximum efficiency.

it's indeed one of the best first abilities right now, I totally understand the hype around the augment, I love it too but it's kind of overkill sometimes.

3 hours ago, Birdframe_Prime said:

A movement cast that's been redone for more control that has temporary invulnerability, a grouping CC for on-the-run gunplay instead of fixed-position defensive options, plays directly into the first priming for his Passive, plus a status cleanse whenever you need it?

I don't see how that's not worth it... Honestly that covers a range of functions that are particularly needed in some missions.

it's the cost for me, it has grouping, status cleansing, corrosive proccing and mobility, imagine all that and it only costs 15 energy? that's quality of life right there for me.

2 hours ago, (PSN)slightconfuzzled said:

For my play style, Viral Tempest is generally the one I find most valuable, and important for my builds, and the rest nowhere as vital. Though, I would probably also definitely take Pilfering Swarm if I wanted to do some dedicated Resource farming on a Survival mission too. I just don't tend to need Resources as much. 

I want to also dedicate my frame into one playstyle or theme, since I rarely do that, I discovered while it's extremely buggy, you can stack ore gaze and pilfering swarm together by petrifying enemies already held by tentacles not before.

this makes Hydroid a decent loot frame, but I think people will still prefer Khora.

[The_Royal_Elf_Mika]

i like all his augments, he is a frame that actually can use them all and be fine (in one build)

pilfering swarm = 100% bonus loot

Viral Tempest= Viral + Super Corrosion is insanely good.

Tidal Impunity = great mobility and survivability, 12s+ status immunity is very useful. most deaths come from status procs (atleast from my experience).

Rousing Plunder = could be very strong, seems like it is good for builds with low strength or builds that are mainly strength (to get even more out of the slot VS using just a 15% strength mod)

 

his revamp, made him very strong at base, which means he can give up 4 slots on his build and still be fine stat wise.

Edited November 11, 2023 by (NSW)Royal_Elf_Mika
added Build

[SneakyErvin]

Considering that Barrage and Plunder are the two skills that benefit from strength it is a no-brainer to pick up both since they both fit into a full umbra build without any trouble or loss. 

3x Umbra, Viral Tempest, Rousing Plunder, Streamline, Fleeting, Primed Continuity. That gives you +177% strength to Barrage and effectively +127% strength for Plunder (since that is what the +50% from the Plunder Augment does). Which together with Unairu passives should put you at 90% mitigation from armor, since you'll get roughly 1000 natural armor and 1700 from Plunder. Sure you could likely squeeze in Blind Rage or Transient for some reason, but neither would really be worth it, since you dont really need all that strength for both skills, and you'd lose out on free viral on a skill that can kill effectively on its own in whatever area it covers, plus you'd lose one of the best heals in the game. You'd also end up with a pointlessly higher skill cost.

With the strength from the umbra set the heal sits at close to 90 per enemy hit with an additional 90 per corrosive stack per target hit. That means a single enemy heals for between 90 to 990, 2 enemies 180 to 1980 and so on. Ontop of that it is an affinity range heal, so 50m area around you. Then if you throw Arcane Blessing into the mix you'll benefit even more from your healing since you have a larger pool of health to fill up, and the armor will also have more health to work together with.

Also one thing people should consider before blindly slotting pilfering swarm, is your KPM high enough with Tentacles constantly out to the point where you actually benefit from the 2x loot? It only holds 20 enemies at a time, which means that far from all enemies you kill will be held by a Tentacle. Not a problem in groups where everyone kills and whatever enemies held by a tentacle is simply bonus loot, but solo it is a different situation.

[Karyst]

19 hours ago, (PSN)Hopper_Orouk said:

Viral tempest:

• Pro: Very powerful and kills enemies super fast, as well as priming them for Viral, eliminating the need to mod viral on your weapon
• Con: Kills enemies too fast sometimes, even on steel path, causing you to loose potential corrosive stacks for plunder. also Epitaph exists.
• Hydroid without it: Not a strong ability platform frame but still very good at stripping armor, and some damage overtime

Tidal impunity: 

• Pro: A lot of good pros, status immunity and extremely low cost makes tidal surge very good for fast dashes and support, probably faster than Gauss.
• Con: It takes up a mod slot. low duration.
• Hydroid without it: tidal surge without this augment is honestly not worth it.

Rousing Plunder:

• Pro: In case you want a little bit extra armor to max your armor count at 2700 (90% DR) and an occasional heal on cast, damage is negligible.
• Con: Stats are too low and don't scale with strength, takes up a mod slot.
• Hydroid without it: probably better and more efficient because Rousing plunder needs more armor to plunder than normal.

Pilfering swarm: 

• Pro: double loot, saves half the time, supports hydroid with extra ammo, health and energy orbs.
• Con: Hitting held enemies is cumbersome, enemies that can't be held can't be looted, useless in boss fights, short missions.
• Hydroid without it: Just a normal CC/weapons platform Warframe. 

I can't decide what type of build I want my hydroid to have, I love my builds tightly packed and stretched to the limit, to allow multiple positive stats...unfortunately, this means I get to use at most one augment mod, sometimes, I can't use any. So I made this discussion to see what other people think about these augments?

Tidal surge seems the most important one, especially since I'm not planning on replacing tidal surge at all. buuuuut no space.

Nice summary of normal star chart hydroid experience

[(PSN)rexis12]

No he does not 'need' them, which is a good thing despite what people might say.

His Abilities work well enough that you don't have to slot them in unless the specific effects are 'mandatory' for you, as they all work enough with each other to not warrant it.

[SneakyErvin]

56 minutes ago, Karyst said:

Nice summary of normal star chart hydroid experience

It applies pretty much to SP aswell since you can stack the circles. Or like this week's Archon defense versus Grineer, where I led the objective to the starting tunnel and clearled the mission by placing barrages at the top of the stairs while having my morning coffee. Only had to move out in order to loot the stairs and kill a few stuck stragglers. Which ended up being a far faster experience than a full pug.

Would have probably killed faster with a +100% range setup, since every explosion would at that point have hit every other enemy inside the circles aswell, and some outside of it mostly aswell.

Edited November 11, 2023 by SneakyErvin

[Karyst]

20 hours ago, (PSN)Hopper_Orouk said:

Viral tempest:

• Pro: Very powerful and kills enemies super fast, as well as priming them for Viral, eliminating the need to mod viral on your weapon
• Con: Kills enemies too fast sometimes, even on steel path, causing you to loose potential corrosive stacks for plunder. also Epitaph exists.
• Hydroid without it: Not a strong ability platform frame but still very good at stripping armor, and some damage overtime

Tidal impunity: 

• Pro: A lot of good pros, status immunity and extremely low cost makes tidal surge very good for fast dashes and support, probably faster than Gauss.
• Con: It takes up a mod slot. low duration.
• Hydroid without it: tidal surge without this augment is honestly not worth it.

Rousing Plunder:

• Pro: In case you want a little bit extra armor to max your armor count at 2700 (90% DR) and an occasional heal on cast, damage is negligible.
• Con: Stats are too low and don't scale with strength, takes up a mod slot.
• Hydroid without it: probably better and more efficient because Rousing plunder needs more armor to plunder than normal.

Pilfering swarm: 

• Pro: double loot, saves half the time, supports hydroid with extra ammo, health and energy orbs.
• Con: Hitting held enemies is cumbersome, enemies that can't be held can't be looted, useless in boss fights, short missions.
• Hydroid without it: Just a normal CC/weapons platform Warframe. 

I can't decide what type of build I want my hydroid to have, I love my builds tightly packed and stretched to the limit, to allow multiple positive stats...unfortunately, this means I get to use at most one augment mod, sometimes, I can't use any. So I made this discussion to see what other people think about these augments?

Tidal surge seems the most important one, especially since I'm not planning on replacing tidal surge at all. buuuuut no space.

I think he should turn into kraken when I press 4, dim the lights and let out even louder pig shreek

Edited November 11, 2023 by Karyst

[Turritopsis_Dohrnii]

I feel like Hydroid’s Augments aren’t needed but they are great. You can definitely do all content without them, but it feels completely worth the mod slot too. I think that makes his Augments represent a good spot in regards to Augments as a whole.

[(PSN)Hopper_Orouk]

1 hour ago, Karyst said:

I think he should turn into kraken.

yessss but then we will be back to the puddle problem.

[Skoomaseller]

i would say no but

- pilfering swarm is a must if you're farming materials

- viral tempest is so cancergood that there is no real reason not to run it (outside of maybe the cambion drift)

but overall still no. lack of viral tempest can be fixed by just spamming tempest barrage. ttk will be higher especially against the beefiest of enemies (eximus, SP CHG) but it gets the job done vs 90% of enemies

Edited November 11, 2023 by Skoomaseller
"countermanded" is not the right word here

[(XBOX)EternalDrk Mako]

i would say yes

given its an augment allows for variance of build and play 

[(PSN)rexis12]

31 minutes ago, Skoomaseller said:

i would say no but

- pilfering swarm is a must if you're farming materials

- viral tempest is so cancergood that there is no real reason not to run it (outside of maybe the cambion drift)

but overall still no. lack of viral tempest can be countermanded by just spamming tempest barrage. ttk will be higher especially against the beefiest of enemies (eximus, SP CHG) but it gets the job done vs 90% of enemies

I do find it interesting that with Viral Tempest you can turn Tempest Barrage into a more cost efficient DPS at higher levels, instead of an AoE area denial and armor strip.

It's in my opinion a neat way for Augments to actually change and give benefits in a way that you have to use a mod slot for.