Playing Guide : Ember / Ember Prime

[(PSN)friedricetheman]

This is the second in the Playing Guide series.

You can find the Mag / Mag Prime playing guide here
https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/224249-playing-guide-magmag-prime/

Ember is a Heat damage based warframe. She is deadly when built and modded correctly but is kinda squishy due to her low armor rating. You will love playing her if you are a pyromaniac (love playing with matches = heart Ember)..

The biggest problem with Ember and her Prime counterpart is that most of her skills are mid to close range. For a Glass Cannon type of frame, this will result in untimely deaths if she is not piloted well at T3 or T4 games.

For reference, this is my Ember Prime build (Potato-ed and 3 forma).

Here is a breakdown of the mods I use on her.

 

Aura
Corrosive Projection (Maxed, +14 points) - This is absolutely needed for Ember due to Heat based damage drops off in damage very quickily.

Skills
Fireball (2 points, Maxed, in Polarity Slot) - Her second best skill due to the 100% Heat proc and its synergy with the second skill in the build. Can deal obscene amounts of damage with the right setup. This skill can be used even while reloading as it does not break the reloading animation. Useful for sustained DPS. Unleash a fireball whenever you stop to reload your weapon.

Accelerant (4 points, Maxed, in Polarity Slot) - Her numero uno skill, her real ultimate, the coup de grace. This is the REAL reason why people play Ember. Not World on Fire (and running around like a headless chicken). Accelerant stuns mobs and coats them with 'Accelerant'. And do you know what happens if someone is coated with that stuff? Yeah, they burn even brighter (ie. increased damage with heat based stuff). Throw an Accelerant, and then, flame them with your Ignis (build on Ignis below) or Fireball. Gunner Flambo, anyone?

Efficiency Engine
Fleeting Expertise (6 points, Maxed, in Polarity Slot) - You will need maxed efficiency with Blind Rage thrown in. Duration is not really needed in this build as everything will usually die before your Accelerant expires.

Streamline (9 points, Maxed) - See Fleeting Expertise above.

Flow (9 points, Maxed) - Keeps the energy high for long survival games. The thing about Ember is that she go down very quickily if she is caught in the middle of a nasty mob without at least 25 energy in her reserves. If you are feeling especially brave, you can replace Flow with Natural Talent for added Fireball spamability. Pro tip : Hit those Death Orbs in tower games for an instant refill of energy if you are using a Prime Warframe.

The Beatdown Engine
Blind Rage (7 points, Rank 7, in Polarity slot) - This will give you +72% power strength and -40% efficiency. Coupled this with the Efficiency Engine mods will give you +50% power efficiency. Makes Fireball costs 12.5 energy and Accelerant cost 25 energy (kinda like a real ultimate ie. '4' power with full 75% efficiency).

Intensify (11 points, Maxed) - This mod gives you +30% power strength. Combine it with Blind Rage above, will give you +102% power strength. So, your Fireball will deal 808 damage without Accelerant and 4,888.4 damage with Accelerant.

Your Accelerant will increase all Heat based damage by 505% with these two mods. Pretty crazy huh?

Everything Else But the Kitchen Sink
Redirection (7 points, Maxed, in Polarity Slot) - More shields as a safety net. Always a good thing to have for such a squishy frame

Vigor (11 points, Maxed) - Even more shields and some health. For those nasty bleed procs..

Rush (6 points, Maxed, in Polarity Slot) - What is better than a Flaming Chicken of Death? A Speedy Flaming Chicken of Death. Ember is a very slow frame. And I personally feel that she needs some speed since she is a Glass Cannon type of frame...

Before I go any further, I feel that I need to address the need for a heat based weapon when playing Ember as it benefits greatly from her Accelerant. I personally use Ignis but you may feel the need to use other Heat based weapons with her. She is great with any heat weapons generally so it doesn't matter what you use as long as you have Heat on your weapons.

My Ignis build for those of you who are curious about it (5 forma and a potato).



Here are the stats on my Ignis

 

I am not going to explain the obvious mods (ie. Heavy Caliber, Serration, Split Chamber) but I will go into details on why I chose certain non-essential mods over others.

Rifle Ammo Mutation - This mod is absolutely needed since the Ignis eats ammo. You will burn through 100's of ammo since it eats 10 ammo per second (Fire Rate 10.0). When your Ignis (main source of damage after your Fireballs starts drop off in damage) runs out of ammo, you will soon find yourself on the ground and in need of a revive.

High Voltage and Maglinant Force - These two mods combine will make Corrosive damage and as an added bonus, gives +120% status chance (who doesn't like better status chance). Corrosive damage is very, very important when doing towers, fighting against high level Infested or beating up Grineer Heavies.

Since heat damage is wonky against anything but flesh, you will need Corrosive to really damage those heavies. As an additional bonus, Corrosive when procs synergies well with my Aura. No Armor or -50% Armor (with one Corrosive proc) = Dead Corrupted Heavy Gunners.

Now back to Ember and her Prime version.

She is quite straightforward to play at mid level games. Pop accelerant and burn everything to crisp. But when you get to higher level games, you will need to use your wits and actually think instead of brainlessly mashing 1's and 2's.

Need to revive a teammate/pop life support capsule? Pop Accelerant first to stun nearby mobs.

Need to reload? Fireball while the reloading animation is performed

Remember, you are a mid-range combantant. Your Accelerant won't reach as far as a Molecular Prime and will not make you invulnerable to damage like Hysteria so you will need to get yourself within killing range and kill stuff fast (which is what most other Glass Cannon type won't do unless played by noobs). Mentally count to 4 and pop Accelerant again when needed if you didn't managed to clear the room.

Why count to 4 and not 6 (Accelerant will last 6 seconds with Fleeting Expertise), you may ask. Well, studies have shown that Humans are usually off by a second or so when mentally counting the seconds. So, go to 4 to be on the safe side.

Also, always be on the alert when playing Ember, as sometimes when you pop Accelerant, you may missed one or two dudes who are standing outside your circle of doom. In this case, move toward the 'un-accelerant' targets a little and re-pop Accelerant.

That wraps up my Playing Guide on Ember / Ember Prime. Hope this guide will help newbies and players interested in giving Ember a go. She is a fun frame to play when you mod her right.

She is also very viable in very high level content unlike what most naysayer would say about her.

The Embers I have seen so far in random lobbies either run around like headless chicken with a pyrotechnic show on the side or spamming huge Rings of Fire everywhere on the map until my screen turns bright red/pink/purple (or any shade of the player's energy color). These are the Embers that give Ember players a bad name.

So, don't be that guy and play her well.

Have a great warframing day, peeps!

 

Any constructive comments are most welcomed.

 

Edit : Cleared up some grammatical mistakes.

Edited June 27, 2014 by (PS4)friedricetheman

[thegamer118]

amazing

[(PSN)CrimsonShinku]

i was going to ask why not run the breeding fire mod but just noticed you're PS4, either way when that comes out besides the obvious "replace wildfire with it" you could also replace ammo mut and carry team ammo restores, this gives even more fire damage.

 

that said i don't like running out of ammo so i tend to use a penta myself. that said we have very similar builds except that i forgo flow for equilibrium, to deal with the random slash damage procs

 

...and of course i have a headless chicken set for rushing missions

 

edit: also, i don't personally do this, but one can forgo rush for something else, say vitality or natural talent, by equipping a coptering melee weapon, which will allow you to get into the heat of things really fast and drop a quick accelerant

Edited July 3, 2014 by (PS4)CrimsonShinku

[Frostosti]

where is the video ?

[(PSN)friedricetheman]

where is the video ?

Sorry no video at the moment but do take my word for it that my build actually works pretty well at high level content if played correctly.

Ember is a tier 1 frame due to her Accelerant being a damage buff and crowd control all rolled into one.

DE didn't nerf Ember when they replaced Overheat with Accelerant. They secretly buffed her.

The old Ember was a tank with powers that have very bad damage scaling into the end game.

The new Ember is a mid range Glass Cannon with damage scaling capabilities and an AOE stun that is cheaper than Rhino Stomp.

[Darzk]

This is very nearly my favorite setup for Ember as well. I use NT and Stretch in place of Rush and Flow, however. And at higher levels I drop BR to rank 2 to get 75% efficiency, and use Accelerant against literally every enemy, for the stun as much as the 4x fire damage.

 

Oh, and I build the Ignis with Speed Trigger and the PC event fire mod (or bane if applicable) instead of the touch of Corrosive as well.

 

And sometimes use something like Boltor Prime with Fire mods, which does more damage than the Ignis even with Accelerant up, but is single target. Good as you approach higher levels tho.

[Soulden]

Sorry no video at the moment but do take my word for it that my build actually works pretty well at high level content if played correctly.

Ember is a tier 1 frame due to her Accelerant being a damage buff and crowd control all rolled into one.

DE didn't nerf Ember when they replaced Overheat with Accelerant. They secretly buffed her.

The old Ember was a tank with powers that have very bad damage scaling into the end game.

The new Ember is a mid range Glass Cannon with damage scaling capabilities and an AOE stun that is cheaper than Rhino Stomp.

I have Ember for a lil over 2 weeks now and noticed how Accelerant works.

+1 to your guide!

[wwalruz]

Firstly Ember is my Main Warframe.

Your Mod Load out is almost the same to what i use except :

 

Ember Prime : Rage+QT+Stretch instead of Redirection+Vigor+Rush

Ignis : Stormbringer+Infected clip instead of Malignant Force + High Voltage

 

With these in mind :

 

1. Rage allow us to gain more energy by the time we're about to die (298HP = around 120 Energy).

2. That 120 energy will be used for Accelerant(25 Energy), only 95 Energy Left which is 95 * 240% = 228 Effective Health

3. One Strike From a Charged Glaive Prime+Maxed Life Strike Gives me full health(300HP).

 

4. 60% more elemental damage, 120% less Status Effect. Kills enemy faster for the duration of accelerant.

 

Discussion : 

 

1. Which one have the better survivability on Ember Prime? Rage + QT or Redirection + Vitality or Redirection + Vigor or Vitality + Vigor?

2. Is Accelerant going to be Spammed every 4 Seconds? or is it when we're tanking too many enemies?

3. Somehow i don't use fireball too often. Is it only used when i'm reloading my ignis?

4. I have some difficulties fighting Vor with Ignis. Suggestions?

 

There ya go, Thank You in advance.

Edited August 6, 2014 by wwalruz

[Yazeth]

I prefer to rum an Accelerant CC build with QT + Rage + Flow. I also use Natural Talent for quicker casting.

[CaptainJohnson]

In my opinion, you might want to drop Flow in favor of Natural Talent most of the time-- I used to be on the Flow-train myself, using it on almost every caster 'frame, but I soon realized that in any endgame/T4 endless mission, leaders end up spawning like crazy, including Disruption Eximuses. Those guys completely drain your energy out of nowhere. I'm not sure if they spawn as frequently on the PS4 because I think the changes in Survival might have come after your current build, but the increased Leader spawn makes Flow much less useful on most 'frames. It's not bad with Prime 'frames, since they can instantly regain it, but even that's a bit questionable since the ability to use the laser orbs of death is limited.

 

Other than that, great guide.

 

Quick question though, is there a reason you're running High Voltage & Malignant Force on your Ignis over Stormbringer and Infected Clip?

 

With Corrosive Projection as your main aura, it seems like you'd be best off on a team that also uses CP as their auras. If that was the case, then it wouldn't make much sense to main Corrosive damage except to kill the Ancients, but it would make even less sense to try and proc Corrosive against enemies with no armor. Additionally, proccing Heat with the Ignis seems a little counter-intuitive because you can always just use Fireball to proc Heat instead at little-to-no cost.

 

For current PC-goers (and for when PS4 players reach the PC's current build), I'd suggest an alternate build for the Ignis for when the team is running x4 CP auras.

 

Serration

Split Chamber

Heavy Caliber

Firestorm

Thermite Rounds

Wildfire

Hellfire

Rifle Ammo Mutation

 

This build goes absolutely apesh** on the Heat damage, while adding Firestorm on the last slot availale for that extra-crazy AoE. Thermite Rounds is there for the added Heat damage, but it's still not bad to proc Heat while firing this thing if you don't want to have to pull out Fireball to do so.

 

If you're looking for other elemental damage, I'd suggest using your Secondary weapon for that- your Ignis will be your go-to massacre weapon after Accelerant, while your Secondary can be for general use. Additionally, the Silva & Aegis is an interesting option for a pure Heat-based melee weapon, though I'm still waiting for a buff on it to really make it worth. Otherwise, almost any weapon will do.

[Darzk]

Quick question though, is there a reason you're running High Voltage & Malignant Force on your Ignis over Stormbringer and Infected Clip?

With the exception of armor scaling Ferrite, the fire proc may be more valuable than the missing 60% Corrosive damage. Haven't sat down and done the math but a single fire proc would do 17.7x the base damage of the weapon, because of the Accelerant scaling. It's *significant*.

[wwalruz]

In my opinion, you might want to drop Flow in favor of Natural Talent most of the time-- I used to be on the Flow-train myself, using it on almost every caster 'frame, but I soon realized that in any endgame/T4 endless mission, leaders end up spawning like crazy, including Disruption Eximuses. Those guys completely drain your energy out of nowhere. I'm not sure if they spawn as frequently on the PS4 because I think the changes in Survival might have come after your current build, but the increased Leader spawn makes Flow much less useful on most 'frames. It's not bad with Prime 'frames, since they can instantly regain it, but even that's a bit questionable since the ability to use the laser orbs of death is limited.

 

Other than that, great guide.

 

Quick question though, is there a reason you're running High Voltage & Malignant Force on your Ignis over Stormbringer and Infected Clip?

 

With Corrosive Projection as your main aura, it seems like you'd be best off on a team that also uses CP as their auras. If that was the case, then it wouldn't make much sense to main Corrosive damage except to kill the Ancients, but it would make even less sense to try and proc Corrosive against enemies with no armor. Additionally, proccing Heat with the Ignis seems a little counter-intuitive because you can always just use Fireball to proc Heat instead at little-to-no cost.

 

For current PC-goers (and for when PS4 players reach the PC's current build), I'd suggest an alternate build for the Ignis for when the team is running x4 CP auras.

 

Serration

Split Chamber

Heavy Caliber

Firestorm

Thermite Rounds

Wildfire

Hellfire

Rifle Ammo Mutation

 

This build goes absolutely apesh** on the Heat damage, while adding Firestorm on the last slot availale for that extra-crazy AoE. Thermite Rounds is there for the added Heat damage, but it's still not bad to proc Heat while firing this thing if you don't want to have to pull out Fireball to do so.

 

If you're looking for other elemental damage, I'd suggest using your Secondary weapon for that- your Ignis will be your go-to massacre weapon after Accelerant, while your Secondary can be for general use. Additionally, the Silva & Aegis is an interesting option for a pure Heat-based melee weapon, though I'm still waiting for a buff on it to really make it worth. Otherwise, almost any weapon will do.

For Dropping Flow. Tried it, worked like charm. After all energy orbs that doesn't get picked up (Because of full energy) will just lie on the ground waiting to be Harvested. Running Vitality+Rage+QT is good IMO as Larger Health Pool = Larger Energy Gained = More time to Notice the Shield Run Out Sound.

 

As For, High Voltage & Malignant Force. Most of the time we'll be focused to fight Grinner Heavy Gunner as it got the highest threat on the team and i think corrosive proc greatly helps. IMO a High Damage Ignis Without Corrosive Proc Kills Heavy Gunner slower than Medium Damage Ignis With Corrosive Proc. So what i'm currently thinking is :

Innate Heat(Hellfire,Thermite) Kills Ancients Easily Due to the Proc

Little Corrosive(Malignant + Voltage) Kill Heavy Gunner Due to the Proc.

 

Lastly, I Have a Hard Time Holstering/UnHolstering to Secondary/Melee as i must wait for the animation to End. So I Usually only use secondary to fight Vor, and Melee to Regain Lost Health.

[SIFTGOD]

Sorry no video at the moment but do take my word for it that my build actually works pretty well at high level content if played correctly.

Ember is a tier 1 frame due to her Accelerant being a damage buff and crowd control all rolled into one.

DE didn't nerf Ember when they replaced Overheat with Accelerant. They secretly buffed her.

The old Ember was a tank with powers that have very bad damage scaling into the end game.

The new Ember is a mid range Glass Cannon with damage scaling capabilities and an AOE stun that is cheaper than Rhino Stomp.

interesting

[(PSN)Panaorios]

May I ask who you have in mind next?

 

Say Saryn Plz!

 

Edit: This is amazing, so much detail. I may have to remake my Ignis.

Edited August 7, 2014 by (PS4)Panaorios

[Darzk]

Edit: This is amazing, so much detail. I may have to remake my Ignis.

Agreed, love your guides :D

 

I would love if you made a note that this is a good place to customize from, rather than just imply copying your build is best. Especially for mods like Flow or Rush, which are purely based on personal preference.