Excalibur Prime and Umbra

[HiMyNameIsPete]

Hi all,

Wasn’t sure where to post this. I’ve returned to warframe after a long time, nice to see Excalibur prime remained exclusive but sad to see hes a bit defunct now because of Umbra. Would be great to be able to use Umbra and put on my Excal prime helmet/skin, it feels like something you should definitely be able to do since the other skins and helmets are shared but yeah, just wanted to say that and appeal to DE somewhere about it, thanks :) 

[BiancaRoughfin]

12 minutes ago, HiMyNameIsPete said:

but sad to see hes a bit defunct now because of Umbra.

Defunct? You nut?

Both Excal Prime and Umbra have the same Stats, he may not have the Umbral Polarities since he came out way before but you can use Umbral Forma to add them to him.

Also the Specter mode from Umbra is actually a nuance and gets in the way, there are lots of players complained and have asked DE to make some mod or method to disable it so, im guessing Prime is in the advantage?

The Prime also has the advantage of gaining energy from the Death Orbs in the Void.

[Agall]

39 minutes ago, HiMyNameIsPete said:

Hi all,

Wasn’t sure where to post this. I’ve returned to warframe after a long time, nice to see Excalibur prime remained exclusive but sad to see hes a bit defunct now because of Umbra. Would be great to be able to use Umbra and put on my Excal prime helmet/skin, it feels like something you should definitely be able to do since the other skins and helmets are shared but yeah, just wanted to say that and appeal to DE somewhere about it, thanks :) 

While I agree that we should be able to use the helmet/skin between the two versions, Prime is the best version of Excalibur by quite a lot in the modern game. Umbra may have some unique features, but there's a major consequence to that, where buffs get removed. That even includes Exalted Blade and combo counter buffs like Blood Rush.

Its significant enough to where there's plenty of people who use regular Excalibur for super sweaty level cap content if they don't have Prime. Regular Excalibur though can't use full Violet Shards with melee CD% since he doesn't get enough energy to reach the "500 max energy" double bonus the shards provide with just [Primed Flow]. Really the only way around it is by using an Azure Shard for +max energy.

Where you really get screwed is with Skana Prime Incarnon, which is practically worthless compared to Prisma Skana Incarnon. DE chose that though when they gave Skana Prime orders of magnitude lower +damage and final evolution for +SC% and +CC%.

26 minutes ago, BiancaRoughfin said:

Both Excal Prime and Umbra have the same Stats, he may not have the Umbral Polarities since he came out way before but you can use Umbral Forma to add them to him.

The Prime also has the advantage of gaining energy from the Death Orbs in the Void.

The umbra polarities used to matter until Archon Mods and [Primed Redirection], ontop of the melee rework. Using [Archon Vitality] with a heat EB build then using [Primed Redirection], [Arcane Aegis] and [Adaptation] is just miles better than triple umbra mods. Though I generally recommend people use [Archon Continuity] and a toxin EB build if they dont want to yeet umbra polarities on Umbra. Its comparable in damage until super late end game. Unfortunately its not worth using +corrosive or +toxin compared to crimson/violet melee CD% shards though.

We all know the Prime passive hasn't mattered since void keys were a thing. Sure, its nice, but the Void hasn't been the endgame for nearly a decade outside of a few endurance fissures.

[HiMyNameIsPete]

1 hour ago, BiancaRoughfin said:

Defunct? You nut?

Both Excal Prime and Umbra have the same Stats, he may not have the Umbral Polarities since he came out way before but you can use Umbral Forma to add them to him.

Also the Specter mode from Umbra is actually a nuance and gets in the way, there are lots of players complained and have asked DE to make some mod or method to disable it so, im guessing Prime is in the advantage?

The Prime also has the advantage of gaining energy from the Death Orbs in the Void.

Haha oh well I’m glad hes not then, was just saying how it seemed since they have same stats, not been back long enough to actually have an opinion on it but someone else with excal prime told me umbra is better in every way so im glad thats not true

48 minutes ago, Agall said:

While I agree that we should be able to use the helmet/skin between the two versions, Prime is the best version of Excalibur by quite a lot in the modern game. Umbra may have some unique features, but there's a major consequence to that, where buffs get removed. That even includes Exalted Blade and combo counter buffs like Blood Rush.

Its significant enough to where there's plenty of people who use regular Excalibur for super sweaty level cap content if they don't have Prime. Regular Excalibur though can't use full Violet Shards with melee CD% since he doesn't get enough energy to reach the "500 max energy" double bonus the shards provide with just [Primed Flow]. Really the only way around it is by using an Azure Shard for +max energy.

Where you really get screwed is with Skana Prime Incarnon, which is practically worthless compared to Prisma Skana Incarnon. DE chose that though when they gave Skana Prime orders of magnitude lower +damage and final evolution for +SC% and +CC%.

The umbra polarities used to matter until Archon Mods and [Primed Redirection], ontop of the melee rework. Using [Archon Vitality] with a heat EB build then using [Primed Redirection], [Arcane Aegis] and [Adaptation] is just miles better than triple umbra mods. Though I generally recommend people use [Archon Continuity] and a toxin EB build if they dont want to yeet umbra polarities on Umbra. Its comparable in damage until super late end game. Unfortunately its not worth using +corrosive or +toxin compared to crimson/violet melee CD% shards though.

We all know the Prime passive hasn't mattered since void keys were a thing. Sure, its nice, but the Void hasn't been the endgame for nearly a decade outside of a few endurance fissures.

Wow thank u for all this info, I’ll be coming back to this regularly as I learn about all the new stuff

[CosoMalvadoNG]

hace 31 minutos, HiMyNameIsPete dijo:

but someone else with excal prime told me umbra is better in every way so im glad thats not true

he just look better.

[Agall]

45 minutes ago, HiMyNameIsPete said:

Haha oh well I’m glad hes not then, was just saying how it seemed since they have same stats, not been back long enough to actually have an opinion on it but someone else with excal prime told me umbra is better in every way so im glad thats not true

Wow thank u for all this info, I’ll be coming back to this regularly as I learn about all the new stuff

The game has tons of endgame layers to it now. I personally spend all of my copious game time testing various Excalibur builds, though I don't pay much attention to what 'the meta' is. Gladly, I don't have to run umbra mods for the best builds, since +armor on Excalibur is obsolete. That frees up a whole slot, and I end up using [Blind Rage] or [Transient Fortitude] anyways. Worst case, [Umbral Intensify] by itself is still the best raw +strength%, but almost any build is better off using [Blind Rage] and +strength% arcanes like [Molt Augmented].