"no One Trusts Excalibur...maybe?" Or "a Case For Excalibur"

[manub]

I agree that the abilities could use a little buff, but that s as far as I agree with you

 

1- "plain": paste the immortal skin & visual additions (if you have the platinum I concede) & play with the color palettes & you can obtain truly amazing appearances

2- as you said it, it is a starter frame ok, so its abilities are not the best & not the worst. but it is DESIGNED as jack-of-all-trades/master-of-none. can t really go far from the design (& properly modded it s abilities are a killer)

3- we might share the lows of our past if we took it as starter frame, but don t you forget the highs too? I did unlock the entire game with it at my beginnings, & now it still stays one of my most used frame

4- the prime version is a founder thing, they paid for it to support the game, they deserve it (non-founder telling you that)

 

for me he s not as boring as you make it appear, a little underpowered these times ok but not boring. quite the opposite I delight in using it to find unconventionnal tactics where some are evident (vauban in infested, frost/loki for shooties, nyx for everything.. you know the list)

as you said he is at the same time a beginner & an advanced player frame. I like it for this

 

Agreeing with the ability buff wish but that s all

[ArgonTheFox]

I was forced to pick Excalibur when I started, and hated him. I still hate him. I didn't want to play Mag, because I don't use female characters in games, and I refused to play Loki because hes easily one of the worst looking Warframes in the game, in my opinion, and just because all his skills are horrible. Hes useful for Radial Disarm, but otherwise, i'd kick him out of a Void T4 for any other frame (Even Excalibur)

 

To put it bluntly, Excalibur was the best starter frame pre-U14, but hes still terrible. All his skills are terrible. Slash Dash is horrible in every context, Radial Blind never had any use, despite being described as a godsend by many players, Super Jump is redundant by it's own existence, and Radial Javelin somehow managed to miss almost every time.

 

and Excalibur looks acceptable, at a stretch. His tint slots are pretty warped, and his primary colour slot is far, far too large, he just looks like a solid block of acrylic plastic.

 

Excalibur just needs a complete 100% rework and makeover if im honest.

Edited July 29, 2014 by ArgonTheFox

[vaugahn]

Excalibur is probably one of the best looking frames in the game. Damn that proto skin is sexy.

 

If only I hadn't been on vacation while it was on sale D:

[TheGuy08]

I was forced to pick Excalibur when I started, and hated him. I still hate him. I didn't want to play Mag, because I don't use female characters in games, and I refused to play Loki because hes easily one of the worst looking Warframes in the game, in my opinion, and just because all his skills are horrible. Hes useful for Radial Disarm, but otherwise, i'd kick him out of a Void T4 for any other frame (Even Excalibur)

 

To put it bluntly, Excalibur was the best starter frame pre-U14, but hes still terrible. All his skills are terrible. Slash Dash is horrible in every context, Radial Blind never had any use, despite being described as a godsend by many players, Super Jump is redundant by it's own existence, and Radial Javelin somehow managed to miss almost every time.

 

and Excalibur looks acceptable, at a stretch. His tint slots are pretty warped, and his primary colour slot is far, far too large, he just looks like a solid block of acrylic plastic.

 

Excalibur just needs a complete 100% rework and makeover if im honest.

Did you just say Radial Blind has no use? You really have been playing under a month haven't you? It is literally I mean literally the strongest hard CC skill in the game.the fact you won't play female frames and think Loki is bad says more than anything else you have had to say. Calling you a noob would be rude and childish. You just happen to be one of those players who likely jumps on their Rhino and thinks most other frames are sh!t. That is fine but honestly if you can not see the use of 2 of the strongest cc frames in the game in T4 then you should kick yourself out of the run.

[vaugahn]

I was forced to pick Excalibur when I started, and hated him. I still hate him. I didn't want to play Mag, because I don't use female characters in games, and I refused to play Loki because hes easily one of the worst looking Warframes in the game, in my opinion, and just because all his skills are horrible. Hes useful for Radial Disarm, but otherwise, i'd kick him out of a Void T4 for any other frame (Even Excalibur)

 

To put it bluntly, Excalibur was the best starter frame pre-U14, but hes still terrible. All his skills are terrible. Slash Dash is horrible in every context, Radial Blind never had any use, despite being described as a godsend by many players, Super Jump is redundant by it's own existence, and Radial Javelin somehow managed to miss almost every time.

 

and Excalibur looks acceptable, at a stretch. His tint slots are pretty warped, and his primary colour slot is far, far too large, he just looks like a solid block of acrylic plastic.

 

Excalibur just needs a complete 100% rework and makeover if im honest.

 

Just...wow. This is probably the wrongest thing I've ever seen typed out on these here forums. Please tell me this is a troll post.

 

Also, fat chance of excalibur ever getting a visual change. In case you haven't noticed he's kind of the mascot.

[Otakuwolf]

I main Excalibur mostly for his high mobility and high customization since his stats are "balanced" but not JUST for that.

 

You might say some frames have better mobility and can do coptering, but here comes the thing: Other frames that teleport most of the times need a target to can teleport, more mobile frames like Zephyr also require more space to perform theyr "dash manouvers" (not impossible but tail-winding thorough a Corpus ship corridor is trickyer than just slash-dashing), and to copter you need precise melee weapons. With Excalibur you just press one button and don't think too much about it.

 

About his "boring" aspect, i know not everyone can or have many plats to spend but with an immortal skin and a nice armor set it looks way better than whatever more intricate frame, besides, and he also feels more in the "Space Ninja-Samurai" theme than any other frame (Except for Ash).

 

And it might not be a nuker or a tank, but in the end as you sayd it "brings out the good player in everyone", and that's another reason why i love him so much: EVERYONE can nuke a room spamming 4 or laugh at enemy bullets with an immortal buff, but it takes real skill to, for example, run around the room with just a Nikana and chop the hell out of everyone and everything just with a few handful of utility skills.

 

If a player doesen't trust Excalibur then should play the game in a different way, if able to.

[Verdha603]

This is just two cents from a relatively new player, but I gotta admit I like the Excalibur frame, and while I can only looks at stats until I get another frame, the Excalibur frame does look pretty balanced, and for a guy like me that has to soak in the concept that I can run on walls and I have special abilities I like its forgiving them I have trouble remembering those kinds of things. However, my only major beef is once my shields are out he just feels way to squishy, but that's coming from a beginner that's still trying to work out what kind of play style works best for me.

 

One thing I cant argue though is that his melee attacks and Radial Blind are total lifesavers when the excrement hits the fan.

[Vbomb]

Excalibur's armor is so low that he'd never be able to use Life Strike/Rage combo :(

I think his armor should be a teeny bit higher. Rhino and him have the same stats almost, but Rhino beats him in everything by a lot lol

Edited July 29, 2014 by Apothis

[TheGuy08]

Excalibur's armor is so low that he'd never be able to use Life Strike/Rage combo :(

I think his armor should be a teeny bit higher. Rhino and him have the same stats almost, but Rhino beats him in everything by a lot lol

Except CC, and "endgame survivability",

 

As for the the life strike/rage combo it is simply unnecessary. Life Strike will let you top off of just about anything. You simply forget the radial blind makes Excalibur a stealth frame with heavy cc. You could literally use it like stealth and run through levels without even being noticed. Generally the only time I need to pop life strike is vs infested due to toxic's aoe nature. The way I play Excal generally means I do not get hit. Think of playing RB excal like playing Loki. Except your stealth applies to all your allies and and your CC is a spamable stun with a low CD.

 

A lot of players do not get this about Rhino but truth is he is much like many other frames. You stand there and take the hits. If you read my OP I state one of things about Excal is that he really doesn't give you that option and that is a good thing. Rhinos brute survivability is eventually negated by the content itself. In many cases endless runs need Rhino for stomp (cc) more than anything else. In terms of CC Excal has every frame save booben vs infested (or loki/booben combo) beat. 

 

In terms of overall strength the top of the list is and has been for a while Nyx. I basically had to stop playing her because she trivializes content with the right build. I do not think she is OP as at higher levels one slip up and your down but this idea that Rhino stands at the top of any hill is sadly false. Valkyr, Nyx, Ash, Loki, and Excal pretty stand at the top of the hill in what can be done in truly challenging content. In Basic content it really comes down to 3 things do you have Soma, Boltor Prime, or Penta equipped.

[marelooke]

There's nothing "starter" about the "starter" frames, they're frames like all the others, except that people have to start with *something* and Excalibur is a very well balanced frame that will get you places even if you don't know how to use him properly or when he's not modded to all hell, unlike some other frames*. If you need a further hint about Excalibur not being a "beginners only" frame go look up where his components drop (hint: it's not Venus).

 

The problem is that many people dump him when they get their hands on some other frame and never revisit him and never learn to properly utilize his abilities once they have the mods to make him actually work (some people might not like his abilities, fair does, I don't like all the abilities of all the frames either, doesn't make them "inferior" to others though). I just wish he had some more stamina, 80 is a tad low for a "sword themed warframe" (sic. the wiki) imho.

 

But the main reason people might dislike seeing Excalibur (and Mag and Loki [and Rhino, for that matter]) is that there is more often than not a rank 1-4 player attached to it with some crappy (and usually badly modded) weapons that doesn't have a clue what (s)he's doing (and often they will ignore the advice you give, it's a great feeling when they don't, though). On top of that they can often be found in places they really have no business being because some friendly idiot taxi'd them there (I don't mind dealing with newbies being newbies on Venus/Earth or so, but on planets like Europe and Pluto? Get lost!). So it's more about the rank combined with the frame (and the location) than just the frame, imho. Is this elitist? I guess so. Is there a reason why people feel this way? Of course.

 

Luckily DE has been improving the tutorial so hopefully this means there will be proper tutorials about some of the more "complex" game modes (like survival, the amount of people that don't understand survival, like, at all,...)

 

*That's why I feel putting Loki there as starter frame was an extremely bad idea, without proper mods (which you cannot have as newbie) you'll likely be seeing the floor a lot (and consequently likely be put off of playing him later on, which likely explains a lot of the Loki-hate), Mag is similar (in that she is dependant on proper modding, more so than Excalibro at least), but to a lesser extent and the power and usefulness of Pull might result in new players relying on their powers a bit too much as a crutch.

[Yefrign]

It's kinda sad because he's among the top Soloing frames in my book. Yet in a team setting its true, they often are the ones dying.

He's incredibly powerful, very customizable, fast, durable, etc.

He is probably the ugliest creature to play with though, which is porbably the only reason I use him so infrequently.

 I've never personally had this issue with Ash, and whenever I am him I'm the one often carrying the team. o,O

[vaugahn]

on planets like Europe

 

Europe is a planet now? That flight I booked just got a lot more expensive...

[marelooke]

Europe is a planet now? That flight I booked just got a lot more expensive...

 

Thanks for this useful contribution to the discussion.

 

Just so you know: not everyone is a native English speaker and Europa is the correct spelling for Europe (as in the continent) over here (as well as for the moon, for that matter). So having a slip-up and assuming the sane thing applies and the moon's name is also translated shouldn't even be that surprising.

Edited July 31, 2014 by marelooke

[Kylecrafts]

-snip-

Now look at the beautifully crafted Zephyr

-snip-

U wot

Edited July 31, 2014 by Kylecrafts

[TheGuy08]

U wot

You missed the entire point of the OP a week late so............... /shrug

[Beas7ie]

I'd like to see some updates.  The newer frames are getting more and more detailed and Excal pretty much has a wetsuit.  It'd also be cool for some tweaks.  In U14 his slash dash was updated to use an energy sword.  It would be cool if he could get a mode similar to Valkyrs hysteria in which he gets strong buffs in defense and uses his energy sword and has his own combos and stances.

[Nira]

I started out as Loki at the beginning of this year and have only just recently got Excalibur. He has to be one of the most balanced 'frames in the game, and therefore, I would imagine, serves as a great introduction to the game for a new player, showcasing what the player's character is generally capable of. Because most other 'frames have a specialization of some sort it's easy to see why ol' Excal can seem a little lacklustre by comparison.

 

Generally though, after playing the game for long enough most players can see that every 'frame has something to offer. Excalibur's is adaptability, versatility, and, not to mention, one of the most powerful crowd control abilities in the game. I believe all of his abilities have a certain amount of utility, but a few tweaks would definitely help. He is clearly a blade/melee-based 'frame, and I think he could reflect that quite a lot better than he does now.

Edited July 31, 2014 by Dualice

[Sev7n]

The reason you don't see many excals is because most people don't know how to mod him and others are unsure of how to use his skills to full potential. Radial blind obviously his best skill and best cc skill in the game. Gives 4x melee damage buff and causes all melee hits to crit. As well as 3 second stun and x amount of blindness. Slash dash not the best skill but it can serve as mobility and makes leveling the frame or starter planets much easier. Super jump is outclassed? No, it's just another form of mobility, excel doesn't need to fly to the top of the maps like zephyr, he just needs to be able to clear obstacles and reach higher ground in an instant which super jump allows. But for radial blind yes it is outclassed but there is always a better #4 aoe skill than most frames have yet it never makes them useless and they can still be effective for the most part.

I main my excal and play him in everything and whether people want to realize it or not he is one of the most op frames in this game

[vaugahn]

best cc skill in the game. 

 

Did we forget about vauban?

 

Anyways, the reason excal is good is because there's nothing he's not good at. Some specialized frames get put at a disadvantage when things don't play to their niche, but excal is never put at a disadvantage by that. 

[Sev7n]

Did we forget about vauban?

 

Vauben cant perma stun an entire room, and vauben cant give the 4x melee damage bonus.

The only advantage vauben's skills have over excaliburs is they take much less effort to use effectively and some bosses are not immune to them.

 

But in the end radial blind is far more effective in many more situations than any of vaubens skills.

[Damuranashi]

He is the first one, he is supossed to look basic.

[__Kanade__]

Don't listen to them Excalibro. They're all jealous of your dashing good looks.

[fatpig84]

Valkyr, Nyx, Ash, Loki, and Excal pretty stand at the top of the hill in what can be done in truly challenging content. In Basic content it really comes down to 3 things do you have Soma, Boltor Prime, or Penta equipped.

 

You forgot Mag / Mag Prime.

The ability to nuke 2 factions to thy kingdom come is pretty much epic scale.

It scales harder than AMD or Asborb in fact.

[TheGuy08]

You forgot Mag / Mag Prime.

The ability to nuke 2 factions to thy kingdom come is pretty much epic scale.

It scales harder than AMD or Asborb in fact.

you didn't notice that I did not mention Nova. I wasn't talking about damage I was talking about scaling in terms of cc. While it is true mag can 1 shot anything with a shield the frames I listed are either invulnerable for long durations, cc heavy (vs ranged enemies), or both. I didn't for get mag she was never on the list. I can confidently walk into T3 or T4 defense by myself and say,"I bet I could go 10 rounds, fight Vor, and not die." on mag. She is insanely useful and many people undermine the strength of pull but that is about it.

 

Basically the frames I listed can walk into any upward scaling content and not really have to worry about anything except the damage drop off. In the case of Nyx you don't have to worry about that either. 

 

One last thing you replied to the wrong thread.

[Ishaku_Raigami]

You know who deserves more love? Volt. Volt is my favorite frame, and I can conquer any mission and any game mode with him, but he gets no love. High low health and armor make you have to keep an eye out, the only thing keeping him from bursting are his shields. He's a gorgeous frame, my personal favorite all around. You don't see many people ever talk about him, he's suffered more nerfs than any other frame. He needs love too, he's the true unsung hero. People talk about Vauban like it's the greatest frame ever, but it doesn't quite have the awesomeness of Volt. Volt is the Red Mage of the game, great for attacking, some up-front defense, and some wicked magic that is half support, and half offense. His default helmet alone is absolutely beautiful in design, so much that if it were one of the purchased ones, I would get it in a heartbeat. Also, no other frame looks more like a samurai than him with the Immortal Skin, Edo armor, and a (Dragon) Nikana.

And about the Excalibur's sleek appearance, his look is iconic, and that immortal skin is second only to Volt's in my opinion.

Ash looks nice when you paint the top part of his default helmet black, makes it look like a visor of sorts. To be honest, I'm not sure why they went for a bug look with the ninja.

Edited August 4, 2014 by IshakuRaigami