Melee Weapons And Warframes Questions

[Fadeway]

Hey, got a couple of questions.

I'm playing Excalibur. My worry is that the abilities of the frame feel mostly as extras - energy is too sparse to use them much, and three of the four are useless (the charge is great and only 25e, the blind is silly - why would I pay twice the energy to stun if I can just charge and kill?, the jump has no practical use that I've found, the aoe impale is four times the price of the charge for mostly the same effect). I pretty much only use the charge, and only as an "ohshi*"/spikethisboss button. Since, at least for my current frame and progress in the game, energy is sparse and abilities play a minor role, I wanted to ask, how does the significance of the warframe you're playing change later on? Do you get to use abilities more often, or is it still just "shoot gun, keep a single spike ability to dump energy on for emergencies"? (The Trinity seems to have an energy regen thing going on that bucks this trend, I want to try that frame as soon as possible, looks lots of fun).

Further, I like melee. It's pretty hard so I don't do it much - too easy to die. But I do want to specialize in it if it is possible, or at least use it to some extent. What are the better melee weapons on the market? The tooltip information is disappointingly vague.

[vasRayya]

Melee is super fun, but yeah it's easy to die. Get mods to improve your health and shields, it'll be a lot easier then. I play as loki, no offensive abilities, so I use them if I need to sneak or make an escape. I don't rely on abilities too much, but they are very helpful sometimes.

[Synikal]

It's a sad thing to think of. I remember having several hundred energy to burn through before U7 and I could use my skills when ever I actually needed them, but not anymore :/ And i heard the mod that increases your energy is complete S#&$

[Hammerspace]

What are the better melee weapons on the market? The tooltip information is disappointingly vague.

Have you tried the Wiki?

http://warframe.wikia.com/wiki/WARFRAME_Wiki

[Morgo]

Fadeway, I use also Excalibur and I can assure you all the skills are useful. At the beginning not so much, but as soon as you get a energy syphon or a good amount of energy, all of them become useful in the right time.

Radial blind? Why to not use it instead of slash dash, easy. Bosses, since slash dash does the charge damage of your melee, it's not worth it to do that on a boss, unless you want to hit him and dodge and same time, but stunning him with 4 players, will give a precious time to regenerate shields, and do a lot more damage.

Super jump. Well, unless your upgrade it is not useful, but as soon as you get it on lvl 2-3 you will be able to reach in places in no time compared to what you should do wallrunning, and a lot more places that can't be reached unless you use this skill. Also, the air melee attack depends on height so, for 10 energy you can stun, freezee, burn and kill most enemies when surrounded, depending on weapon and mods. Also gives you a good escape way in some places.

Radial Javelin. A lot more damage than slash dash, in 360º degrees. Simple, deadly

About melee weapons http://warframe.wikia.com/wiki/Weapons

[Fadeway]

Have you tried the Wiki?

http://warframe.wiki...i/WARFRAME_Wiki

Thanks. Part of what confused me with the ingame tips was that some weapons appeared to be simply better than others, with no drawbacks (like Fragor>Scana, every stat is either the same or better). I assumed there was some hidden flaw, but I guess that's just how it is. Heavy weapons seem significantly better than everything else, though a few other weapons seem to have interesting effects.

Thanks Morgo, jump-attacking with super jump sounds like a plan. Gotta play around with that!

Edited March 21, 2013 by Fadeway

[RawGritz]

Thanks. Part of what confused me with the ingame tips was that some weapons appeared to be simply better than others, with no drawbacks (like Fragor>Scana, every stat is either the same or better). I assumed there was some hidden flaw, but I guess that's just how it is. Heavy weapons seem significantly better than everything else, though a few other weapons seem to have interesting effects.

Thanks Morgo, jump-attacking with super jump sounds like a plan. Gotta play around with that!

Heavy weapons are slower with hampered fire rate.

But as for your abilities... You can enhance their duration - Power duration, lessen the amount energy spent on specials with power efficiency mods, increase your overall special ability energy pool with Power Max mods, increase the range or abilities (charge slash will travel further distance) with Power Range mods.

Super Jump, I believe still works with wall running. Those are awesome combos. But not all the abilites are offensive. Increasing teh rang on the Jump makes it much more useful too.

Edited March 21, 2013 by RawGritz

[Arlayn]

Thanks. Part of what confused me with the ingame tips was that some weapons appeared to be simply better than others, with no drawbacks (like Fragor>Scana, every stat is either the same or better). I assumed there was some hidden flaw, but I guess that's just how it is. Heavy weapons seem significantly better than everything else, though a few other weapons seem to have interesting effects.

Thanks Morgo, jump-attacking with super jump sounds like a plan. Gotta play around with that!

It is simply a matter of skill and what you are good at. If you can use the big weapons then use them, if you can use fast weapons then use them, if you can use balanced weapons then use them. Its mainly based on play style.