Enhanced Durability Mod Is Useless Compared To Argon Plating!

[elele]

I finally got my hands on the Enhanced Durability archwing mod. At max level (lvl9), it gives +30% HP. Doesn't sound bad on paper but -- and that's a big "but" -- the 30% increase is based on my warframe's base HP value.

 

What?!

 

My Valkyr (my go-to frame for Archwing missions) has 100 base HP. This means Enhanced Durability at max level would give me additional 30 HP. After equipping the Archwing (which boosts HP value a little), I got a total increase of --wait for it--

34 HP! That is an increase of 34 from 989 HP. A measly increase of 3.03% for 9 mod points! 

 

On the other hand, Argon Plating gives me +72% armor, which boosts my Valkyr/Archwing armor from 1260 to 1692. 

 

Now if we calculate the "effective HP" using armor-based damage reduction according to the wiki (http://warframe.wikia.com/wiki/Armor), 1260 -->1692 armor increase equals to 27% "effective HP" increase. That's about 30%! Also for 9 mod points drain. 

 

So: Argon Plating: 9 points, +27% to effective HP. Enhanced Durability: also 9 points, but only +3.03% to effective HP. 

 

So why would I use Enhanced Durability instead of Argon Plating? 

 

Now of course Valkyr has the highest armor so she will benefit more from Argon Plating. But let's look at Zephyr who apparently has the highest base HP (150, tied with Saryn) but really negligible armor (15, while Saryn has 155). 72% increase in armor from Argon Plating gives her about 2.8% in "effective HP", while 30% HP increase from base HP from Enhanced Durability gives her 52 HP, boosting her HP from 1483 (maxed with Vitality and Vigor) to 1535 -- that is a 3.5% increase in effective HP. 

 

Since 3.5%>2.8%, I guess in Zephyr's case, Enhanced Durability does benefit her more than Argon Plating. But really DE? 3.5% increase for 9 mod points? I doubt that is really the intention here. Besides, with Zephyr's massive shield, any rational player would choose maxed Superior Defense (shield recharge increase) over Enhanced Durability, because you can't fit them all in due to limited mod space. 

 

TL;DR Enhanced Durability is unbalanced. No one in their right mind would use it. DE please fix. 

Edited November 13, 2014 by elele

[Arlayn]

I would... Mostly because there is literally nothing else to put on it... Also Archwing mods drop rarely, and forma are like candy from the void so its not all that hard. So to do a forma just to have that one more mod which might be just 5-6 mods max now on my Archwing which is still barely anything...

[Mcl_Blue]

I don't think you have to worry in this regard. They've already buffed other Archwing mods, and more buffs are sure to come.

[halofury36]

If anything, I am shocked at how hard survivability is in archwing on higher levels, even with all the mods maxed.

[elele]

If anything, I am shocked at how hard survivability is in archwing on higher levels, even with all the mods maxed.

 

That 1692 armor and 989 HP of Valkyr make a HUGE difference. My HP is constantly down to 200 by those damn missiles but I usually have time to run away before they kill me. 

 

Valkyr master race!

[halofury36]

That 1692 armor and 989 HP of Valkyr make a HUGE difference. My HP is constantly down to 200 by those damn missiles but I usually have time to run away before they kill me. 

 

Valkyr master race!

 

Yeah, I main Valkyr, but have been using Frost for Archwing. I like having the huge shields with a little less armor, but that doesn't seem to matter... maybe I should use Valkyr.

[Lycrius]

They should separate frames from the whole archwing system for the very reason, It's either Valkyr or RhinoP, Anything else is just gimping yourself.