Trying a new Warframe, but its so weak, please help

[Yskonyn]

Hello Tenno!

So, I’ve been pushing through the starmap unlocking planet after planet with Rhino. The story finally starts picking up and I could not be happier! The game is really beginning to get its claws into me, but…

I decided to try a new shiny warframe; Gyra in this case. Electric mayhem sounds cool, but the very first mission was painful! My electric fury seems to plink off of enemies not harming them in the slightest, save for a mercy kill.

I feel I am missing something. Do you need to start every Warframe back at the low level planets ?

I could use some tips in general on how to start using a new frame. Thanks !

[0bsi]

Without knowing what mods and upgrades you have, it's hard to tell where you might be going wrong - but all frames perform better if you've invested forma and an orokin reactor to give you more mod capacity.  If you're talking regular star chart and not steal path, then any frame should be able to survive - it kinda depends on your playstyle and if you're relying on mostly the frame abilities to get you through, or your weapons (or a combination of both).

I use Gyre a lot, I really like her.  You're not necessarily going to kill high level enemies with her, but her 4 should do at least some damage and if you've got a good weapon, then that can take care of anyone left standing.

If you can get her augment that helps - since you can keep her 3 & 4 up indefinitely (without consuming more energy) if you're killing enough.

What lvl enemies were you up against that Gyre wasn't making a dent in?  And what's your loadout on her?

-- Although (and this is likely personal preference), it can be painful taking a new frame out into higher missions, before you've levelled it up enough to get full mod capacity in there.  So if you're doing harder missions/higher levels, you might want to take any new frame to Sanctuary Onslaught or Hydron to get it to lvl 30, then you'll be better equipped for dealing with harder content.  IMHO it's far better to level the frames up there, than running a bunch of normal missions with them underperforming.

Edited December 29, 2023 by 0bsi

[Yskonyn]

The mods might be an issue here for sure. I am only MR6 and have not yet collected many mods. I usually press Auto-Mod and be on my way.

I have bought here signature main weapon and use an electric whip as melee. Thought it would fit the narrative well, but as you can see I am still a noob when it comes to configuring my frames. :)

The jump in difficulty from going from lv 30 Rhino to lv 1 Gyra is pretty big though. 

I can look at the specific mods I use at the moment later. Will update here.

[0bsi]

We were all once noobs :D   I'm L3 and still a noob in a lot of areas!  :D :D

Rather than using the auto mod option, it's better to manually choose the mods, which will also give you a better understanding of what each mod does and how modding in general works.  I'm not sure what it's selecting for you, I assume a generalised selection - but you might want to focus on more strength (which will make her abilities do more damage) or more armour/health to give you more survivability - whatever your preference is there. But when you have limited mods to work with, it can be a challenge.

[Yskonyn]

Thanks! Well, with all the different things going on in the game its sometimes hard to focus on a specific one. :)

Regarding mods; you collect them by playing, right? So, that tells me I should keep un using Rhino for a while longer? Or are mods tied to a Warframe?

Do you have any suggestions on how to get mods more quickly? Is there a point in the game where mod drops become more common?

[PollexMessier]

With most frames it comes down to one of two things. Have you modded them well, and are you playing them correctly.
I haven't played Gyre pretty much at all. But, Looking at her abilities it seems like the goal with her is to keep her 3rd and 4th abilities active as much as possible. Her 3 buffing your critical chance, her 4 keeping you alive by stunning enemies near you, and the two working together to deal large amounts of electric damage to enemies. Her 2 grouping up enemies makes electric damage stronger in a somewhat indirect way due to how electric damage arcs between enemies close to eachother. Her 1 sounds like a bit of a throwaway ability Much like many other frames' 1s.

She has really high shields so investing in the Redirection mod is probably a good start for her.

47 minutes ago, Yskonyn said:

I usually press Auto-Mod and be on my way.

This is unfortunately, always terrible. DE really should look at it cus it has no right being as bad as it is.

[Yskonyn]

Ok, thanks for the feedback. As long as you guys don't confirm a low-level frame should always start at low-level planets, the key to my success is within the mods and the skill 'rotation'. I think I might have approached the game too much as a shooter up until now. ;)

I'll scour the net for some hints on the modding system and will post my current available mods here when I have a chance to start the game later.

[(PSN)slightconfuzzled]

Hello there! 

Glad to see you are enjoying the game. So first of, the thing I want to avoid doing is discouraging you from playing Gyre. She is actually quite strong, however... in Warframe, there are a lot of Warframes, and each can be quite different, depending on other factors. For example, I would say Gyre and Rhino are quite different in strengths, weaknesses and how you might play them. I have been playing Warframe for a long long time, so by the time I acquired Gyre? I was already at end game, with most of the mods, Arcanes, and knowledge to implement into them. 

I actually think Gyre is probably stronger and more powerful... in harder content, which may sound weird, but she is sort of needs to build up momentum and carry it. Like Gyre can have her abilities crit, but you need to inflict electric status, so you need to spam your abilities a lot, which means you need to have a good energy economy, and the more enemies around the better, since you can use them as a resource and fuel, and you end up killing them so fast anyway... Except if you are still progressing through the star chart, you may not have every single mod or Arcane that would make your life that easy right? Where as Rhino, you can put together a decent and solid build typically. A bit of health, duration, range, strength. You don't really have to min/max. You don't need to spam abilities, you are also quite tanky as well. So they are very different stylistically. If that makes sense?

Again though Gyre is great, powerful and can be a lot of fun, but without certain tools, she might feel a bit underwhelming. You may have to progress a bit before you feel like she shines. In the mean time, I would recommend trying to get her Augment Cathode Current. ideally you always want your 3 and 4 ability on. I would also recommend building for Range. If you find you can't keep her 3 and 4 active, then try some Duration mods, and if you struggle with energy, try some Efficiency, like Streamline. 

A decent basic gameplay loop, is to get enough energy to be able to cast your abilities, get your 3 and 4 active, then use your 2 to CC and group enemies, then use your 1 to electrify them. The more enemies you can group and electrify, the more you build your crit for abilities (which is one of her more unique characteristics), but the more the enemies should die, giving your more energy, so you can cast your abilities more, extending the timer on your 3 and 4, and letting you spam your other abilities. Sometimes their may not be enough enemies around to sustain that though too either. Though, again, if you are going from Rhino to Gyre it might seem like a very different experience, which in many ways is a good thing. Just it can come with some challenges too. 

I have to remind myself to be careful with my advice as well, because like I said, when I got Gyre, I was in endgame at that time. I had access to pretty much every Mod, and Arcane in the game, and some other tools you might not have access to, so I didn't really have to worry about energy, I could go full in on range, I knew which were the best guns to pair with her, and so on. I don't know what its like to play Gyre before getting to Steel Path.

So its also totally okay to putting off using her for a little while too. When I went through the star chart, I personally thought Mag was weak. In the end though, she is one of my most used Warframes, and the one I consider the strongest out of the beginners. At leat for endgame. Some Warframe need more specialised tools and mods, Arcanes, Augments and practice before they really shine, and some are good all round types that can carry you with less effort/work. 

Sorry thats a bit long, but hope that helped. Feel free to ask any more questions about anything and welcome to the Forums too! 

[Hexerin]

So first and foremost, you'll want to pick up her augment, as she basically doesn't function until you have it. You can get it from the syndicates, specifically from Arbiters of Hexis or Perrin Sequence. If you aren't progressing those two syndicates, you can also obtain the augment via trading with other players. If you ask in the in-game trade chat, there's generally people who would be willing to toss one your way for the normal/reasonable price that augments go for (it's currently worth less than 20 platinum). If you don't have any plat, mention as such and ask for alternative offers (people are usually willing to work with you).

Also, a correction to an above poster:

13 minutes ago, PollexMessier said:

Her 1 sounds like a bit of a throwaway ability Much like many other frames' 1s.

This is incorrect. Gyre's first ability is integral to her higher level gameplay, spreading electric procs to scale her multipliers. It's her second ability that is a throwaway (no pun intended, as she literally throws the sphere). Gyre doesn't need nor care about grouping enemies, and the ability also doesn't scale.

[0bsi]

I got rid of her #2 ability and put something else on there.  The #1 is useful for throwing into doorways or over defense objectives and such.

8 minutes ago, Yskonyn said:

Regarding mods; you collect them by playing, right? So, that tells me I should keep un using Rhino for a while longer? Or are mods tied to a Warframe?

Do you have any suggestions on how to get mods more quickly? Is there a point in the game where mod drops become more common?

Some mods come from different things (eg there are some that come from completing puzzle rooms on Lua), but generally yes, all the main ones you'd be needing should drop from enemies in normal missions.  You need to farm a lot of resources as well - so while clearing the chart is important, replaying missions to grind resources and things is also something you'll need to do.  So there's nothing wrong with going back to do lower level missions with Gyre if she's not coping well on the harder ones, which might help you get those mods you need.

If you're playing in a squad, the others can also help carry you if you're struggling. 

Also, I'm not sure if you are aware, but the way "Affinity" (the XP your frames and weapons get) works is that kills from allies (other players in range) contribute towards your affinity gain too.  So it's usually beneficial to run missions with a full squad if you are leveling up gear, because the squad helps you level the gear up faster.  This is why I recommended Sanctuary Onslaught (You'll need to have done Simaris's "The New Strange" quest to access it), or something like Hydron (which is a small defence map so your squad should always be in affinity range).  It makes levelling up gear so much faster, and in the case of Hydron, you're also earning resources and such, as it's a regular mission.   If you don't have access to Sedna yet, you can usually find players willing to "Taxi" you to there to help you level up gear.

Mods are tradeable, so if you know what ones you want, you can always ask in trade chat or join a helpful clan.

Just now, Yskonyn said:

As long as you guys don't confirm a low-level frame should always start at low-level planets, the key to my success is within the mods

It depends....  On the frame, the mission type, the enemies and what weapons you have :)

I've taken freshly crafted frames out into higher level missions, but only if I've got weapons to do the damage for me, and if it's missions I know won't be too much of a challenge (or that won't kill me :D ).  But then I do also have all the mods I need, and weapons to carry me, so my situation is different.

 

I'd say that your problem is  mods.  Some things I've seen my friends doing "wrong" when it comes to mods, which I'll mention here in case it applies....

#1 - Not ranking up mods - You need to put endo into the mods to make them more powerful, which also increases the drain (how many points they use up).  You really need to rank them up as much as you can.... which leads to point #2  (And yes, this means you'll need to grind for endo a lot, so you can rank all your mods up)
#2 - Not upgrading - Installing Reactors/Catalysts and formas.  As you rank up the mods, and they have higher drain, you'll run out of capacity - so you need to increase that by upgrading.  It can make a HUGE HUGE difference.  A reactor/catalyst gives you double the capacity, so I recommend using one of those in any frame/weapon you intend to use.  A forma lets you make a slot match the polarity of the mod, which then halves the drain of the mod with that matching polarity.  This does restrict what mods you place where, so a catatalyst/reactor is the better choice of the two if you're on a budget.

---- Now.... on that point ...... if it's not a prime frame, and it's not something you know if you'll like using - then I wouldn't recommend investing in upgrades.  But if it's a frame you enjoy and there isn't a prime of it (or one coming soon [and Gyre won't get a prime for a long time]), then it's likely worthwhile investiing in upgrades to make the frame more enjoyable to play.

[Yskonyn]

Lots of new terms here. :S Looks like I've been just pushing through the missions like playing Doom. :D And pressing Auto-Mod in the understanding the game would choose the best mods for me.

I've looked at ranking mods, but quickly found out its gets more expensive to slot em and I wasn't sure how to alleviate that problem, so I stopped. Never had problems with Rhino in missions, so I figured it would be something to return back to later, but now that I am trying Gyre, I see where the whole 'mod economy' comes into play.

Still, I seem to recall that Mastery Rank is tied to using many things in game and completing many missions, challenges, etc. Therefore I feel now that Rhino is max rank, I should focus on a different Warframe to keep my MR going. Is that false? Is it ok to keep playing with a max level frame or would you indeed recommend to play many different frames in the beginning?

And this Steel Path? It's like a more difficult version of the starmap, if I understand it correctly? When would you suggest activating it?

You guys have been very helpful so far, much appreciated!

Edited December 29, 2023 by Yskonyn

[Zakkhar]

13 minutes ago, Yskonyn said:

And this Steel Path? It's like a more difficult version of the starmap, if I understand it correctly? When would you suggest activating it?

It unlocks itself when you finish the normal one. But have no fear, you can toggle it on and off at any time.

[0bsi]

12 minutes ago, Yskonyn said:

I've looked at ranking mods, but quickly found out its gets more expensive to slot em and I wasn't sure how to alleviate that problem

Grinding :D  You'll need to farm endo and credits.  If you do Maroo's Bazaar each week, there's a guaranteed ayatan sculpture (if you can solve the puzzle room), which you can sell to Maroo for endo.  That helps.

14 minutes ago, Yskonyn said:

I seem to recall that Mastery Rank is tied to using many things in game and completing many missions, challenges, etc. Therefore I feel now that Rhino is max rank, I should focus on a different Warframe to keep my MR going. Is that false? Is it ok to keep playing with a max level frame or would you indeed recommend to play many different frames in the beginning?

The way to increase your Mastery Rank is to get weapons/frames/companions/vehicles to max rank (and clearing the star chart, and a couple of other things you're probably not up to yet :) ) - so yes, the aim of the game really is to keep crafting new weapons, frames etc. and mastering them, to increase your MR rank.

Also different frames play differently, due to their abilities (and even just the way they look/move appeals or doesn't appeal to different players), so it's good to try out all the frames to see which ones you like best.  Many of the frames are able to be crafted from drops from star chart bosses, so just keep grinding those to get the frames (and weapons) to try them out.  If you're in a clan, there are some frames you can get the parts for from the Labs in the Dojo.

(If you're not in a clan and want to be, check the recruiting section of the forum to find one)

You will need more frame and weapon slots though, which you can buy for platinum.  If you don't want to buy plat, you can trade for it, but you might not have things to be able to trade (Generally you want relics and prime parts to trade).  Nightwave (kinda like a free battle pass) does award frame and weapon slots each series, so it's worth doing those - you'll also find some aura mods in the Nightwave shop that you'll want too.

Also on that note -- it's not obvious, and it's counterintuitive (given how the other mods work), but the aura mods actually increase your mod capacity - so rank those up to maximum if you can, to give you more capacity.  The melee stance mods do likewise.

[(PSN)slightconfuzzled]

32 minutes ago, Yskonyn said:

Lots of new terms here. :S Looks like I've been just pushing through the missions like playing Doom. :D And pressing Auto-Mod in the understanding the game would choose the best mods for me.

I've looked at ranking mods, but quickly found out its gets more expensive to slot em and I wasn't sure how to alleviate that problem, so I stopped. Never had problems with Rhino in missions, so I figured it would be something to return back to later, but now that I am trying Gyre, I see where the whole 'mod economy' comes into play.

Still, I seem to recall that Mastery Rank is tied to using many things in game and completing many missions, challenges, etc. Therefore I feel now that Rhino is max rank, I should focus on a different Warframe to keep my MR going. Is that false? Is it ok to keep playing with a max level frame or would you indeed recommend to play many different frames in the beginning?

And this Steel Path? It's like a more difficult version of the starmap, if I understand it correctly? When would you suggest activating it?

You guys have been very helpful so far, much appreciated!

 

All good. A lot of the Warframe Community are a friendly bunch, who have similar experiences when starting new. The game has a lot of stuff going on, and doesn't always give the best explanations or progression tips. So often the community does its best to try help out with any questions new people have. 

The issue you are describing with ranking mods, is very real yeah. You need Credits, and you need Endo, and their are so many mods... My recommendation? Its not a bad thing to rely on consistent, reliable gear, like Rhino. The beauty about Warframe, is that you will always have options. The other thing about Warframe? Is that the longer you play, the easier it gets too. Generally speaking, one good strategy, is to keep progressing planet to planet, throughout the star chart and doing any story or plot quests as they turn up. Most planets usually have a Warframe you can farm as well, and do you know what Nightwave is? You could use something like Nightwave to hopefully get some freebies, like free slots for weapons and Warframes. 

Whilst you never want to just use only one Warframe once you have mastered it, its okay to stay on that one Warframe, if it helps you acquire more resources in the mean time, then using those resources to help build other weapons, Warframes, get mods, so on. There are many many different ways to progress in that sense, so it can really depend on your preferences. One general tip, is to know what weapons you want to definitely keep, and which may be disposable for certain reasons. For example, all the MK 1 weapons? Can be brought for Credits, mastered and discarded, because they have direct upgrades, that you can get later on. So having enough weapon slots to have weapons you want to keep, but a few so you can rotate in weapons, like the MK1 Braton? Master it, then selling it (you keep the slot), and then you can put another weapon their temporarily, master it, and discard it. Thus you build up your MR level slowly. 

Rhino is generally speaking one of the best beginner friendly Warframes, because he is tanky, doesn't need a lot of energy, and is good for most situations. He is reliable and consistent. Eventually you will get to a point though, where you will have ways to just have more of everything, including Warframes, so there is no need to rush, unless... of course the prospect of testing out new things sounds great, which to many, myself included, it did, so I think around the time I completed the star chart, I had around 6 or 7 Warframes. Excalibur was my first, then Rhino, then I think Nova, then Ember, then Mag, then I think Frost... Mesa was the Warframe I wanted to play the most, but she was near the end of the Star chart. My main point though, is everyones journey will be a little different. I know many people who just have one Warframe the entire star chart and they don't bother with getting new Warframes until after that point (and to be clear, Warframe is huge, there is way more stuff to do after the star chart, new story quests, new areas, new game modes, Relics to get Prime versions, Arbitrations, Steel Path, new systems to learn and... there is a lot). 

Steel Path is one of those things you could probably forget about and come back to in a few months, to be honest. There is a lot more other stuff you probably want to attempt and know first. I only brought it up prior because you might be surprised that Warframe that may seem weak where you are, can actually be super powerful, once you get the right builds going. That even the games tougher modes will feel easy. Rhino of course remains as consistent and stable, but a lot of other Warframes shine later too. 

Oh and are you in a clan? Nezha is actually a pretty easy to acquire Warframe, from clan dojos, thats very similar to Rhino, as far as low energy needs, being tanky when you press a button, so on. Could be a good choice. Keep Gyre though too, she really is good, as other peoples tips have mentioned. Also if you aren't in a clan, consider it. Lots of advantages. Probably some people at this site that would be very welcoming and friendly to players in your position. 

[CephalonCarnage]

1 hour ago, Yskonyn said:

As long as you guys don't confirm a low-level frame should always start at low-level planets

There is a caveat with this, as you're MR6, that meand you can only equip 6 mod points to her, and that is not going to be enough to handle most planets. Its best to keep at low level ones with such a loadout. Veteran players start with a lot more mod points (as they are higher MR) so forget that once a new frame was as weak as your starting one. Rhino is tough partly because of his tankiness, but also because you have 30 points (or 60) to slot in there.

Your experience with her will be different once she's levelled up to 30.

[(XBOX)Player244024418]

On 2023-12-29 at 2:01 AM, Yskonyn said:

I decided to try a new shiny warframe; Gyra in this case. Electric mayhem sounds cool

Gyre is a cool warframe. I like her. She does demand a more attentive playstyle having to use all her abilities.

First you're MR6. Who cares? MR6 is just overall experience level. Although mentioned I don't feel it is relevant at all. It does not mean you cannot level up warframes to lvl30 and beyond. And beyond? Yeah, by adding a catalyst and formas to halve the "cost" of adding like-symbol mods.

Search "gyre build warframe". You will find overframe. Overframe will have many builds to view and you can find mods there that are common amongst all of them. Some mods are common across all WFs, such as Blind Rage, Primed Continuity, Narrow Minded, Constitution, the Umbral mods (U-intensify, U-vitality, etc). You use a forma on any of the eight mod spots to halve the max cost of these which each will seriously boost the survivability, power or duration of your frame or ability. You can add as many forma as you wish 

Next search each mod and how to get it. Ignore SP until you have the majority of these mods! By then you'll have both weapons and frames to do SP.

Gyre is very cool. Very visual. One of my favorites. Her 2 isn't bad either. Mod for some strength, duration and range. Efficiency can be sacrificed on Gyre. It's the least important of the four stats. Her augment mod is cool as well.

Her kit uses all her abilities together. Use her four, cast her 3 to boost crit chance then cast either 2+1 or just 1 depending on your energy or the room/enemy groupings but 2 synergizes with crit boost.

Good for defense, survival, mobile defense, infested salvage, rescue, etc

From WIKI:

Gyre's passive and Cathode Grace enable ability Critical Hits by granting 0% to 300% critical chance to damage and status effects dealt by Coil Horizon, which trigger lightning discharges from Rotorswell.

Coil Horizon's enemy suction effect assists in Arcsphere's damage enhancement.

Direct kills by Coil Horizon, its Electricity status effects, and kill assists from allies extend Cathode Grace's duration.

[Yskonyn]

Again, solid info! Thanks for clarifying the process yet a bit more!

On the question about Clans; I am in one with a mate or two, because we like slowly building up our own Dojo long term. We do like to join an Alliance, however, where we can benefit from community help but remain in control over our own Clan. 
 

We prefer smaller, but active communities over massive faceless ones.

We enjoy meeting new people and actually getting to know other players over just being another name in an endless list.

If you have any suggestions for Alliances that fit the bill we would appreciate any pointers!

[PollexMessier]

On 2023-12-29 at 1:32 AM, PollexMessier said:

Her 1 sounds like a bit of a throwaway ability Much like many other frames' 1s.

After playing her for a bit I realize this was incredibly not correct. She's one of the rare few frames that get great use and synergy out of all 4 of her abilities.
Her main issue tho is she's hard to keep alive, and I haven't quite worked out how to solve that without shield gating strats, which I kinda hate and am struggling to work out how to fit onto my build in the first place. Other than that she's super fun tho.

Edited January 26 by PollexMessier

[Hexerin]

2 minutes ago, PollexMessier said:

After playing her for a bit I realize this was incredibly not correct. She's one of the rare few frames that get great use and synergy out of all 4 of her abilities.
Her main issue tho is she's hard to keep alive, and I haven't quite worked out how to solve that without shield gating strats, which I kinda hate and am struggling to work out how to fit onto my build in the first place. Other than that she's super fun tho.

Pillage is what I personally use (scales through Steel Path), but as that could technically fall under shield gating... you're just kind of out of luck. She has no armor and only average health, making a health-based build effectively unusable on her. Even with triple Umbral, she's going to be very squishy. Additionally, as she absolutely requires range (Stretch at minimum, Archon variant if you have it), you can't effectively use Null Star (the only Helminth option for DR) on her.