Banshee Versus Ember

[AsperKaos]

I started a topic about a month ago when I first started playing Warframe asking for different opinions on the many different 'frames so I could decide on which one I would aim to build. I eventually settled on the Banshee, but that was put on the back burner while I built my Rhino. I love my Rhino, but long story short, tank is not my natural role and I need something faster (I want to build Ash after I build one of these two). I am interested in the Banshee 'frame, but lately I have been gaining interest in Ember. I would like to get both at some point, but right now I feel as though it is pointless to make two 'frames with the crappiest armor rating in the game. I have heard a lot of people saying that Banshee is a good 'frame, but on the other hand, most people seem to think Ember is a crappy 'frame even though some recent research is showing Ember to be better than what people might think.

Therefore, I want to hear what people think of each 'frame from their own personal experience using either one.

[Milliea]

I love my ember ^^ havn´t tried the banshee but the ember can be so much fun 

she does how ever take a lot of mods and preferably an Orokin Reactor to make great. 

and if you really like using guns for steady aim :P not where you want to go. 

I should mention though she´s slow as hell. then again you come from a rhino, think she´s a little faster. where the banshee with helmet can one of the top 3 fastest frames I think. 

Ember, if you like fire and meleeing I´d say since nothing beats a Scindo with frost dmg + infected + Ember on the fun meter, or well that would be an Ember with Furax and a fire mod xD just looks too damn awesome. 

[Blyr]

Two different playstyles really.

 

With ember, you have her ring of fire that deals initial damage from the casting, then damage from the ring itself any time something walks in it. This is a good defensive measure because it allows you mobility and you're free to shoot your weapon while the ring is active. She also has an armor ability that reduces damage by a significant amount, and her fireball does decent damage (for a 25 power ability) that also creates a small fire hazard for enemies.

 

She's obviously most effective against infested, but I use her against corpus and grineer alike, with little issue.

 

Banshee on the other hand is more of a stealth based frame, regarding her abilities. Most people typically play her as a nuker though, rushing near large groups of enemies, hitting 4, and clearing rooms. Her sonar is very useful, her first ability is decent crowd control if not funny, but her silence ability is lacking because stealth isn't incredibly viable at this point.

 

Ember on the other hand lacks a ultimate nuke that most other classes have, where you push 4 to clear groups. Her 4th ability does grant her invincibility frames, but due to the high cost of the ability and the mod point cost, it just isn't very viable.

 

If I had to choose between the two of them, personally, I'd go with Ember, because she's just more fun overall.. however, caster frames are my favorite thing in this game.

 

If you just want to nuke everything and keep going, go with Banshee.

[(NSW)123er432]

I would highly recommend Banshee. Her skills make her useful for pretty much any situation. Ember's Skills are too focused on damage to make her useful in nearly as many situations.

 

As for Banshee being ofetn classified as a "stealth based" frame, I really don't understand that. Yes, her silence skill gives her a little bit of help in the stealth department. All three of her other skills, however, benefit a much more aggressive playstyle, making her "Stealth" Classification make no sense whatsoever.

Edited May 2, 2013 by PumpkinAppearifier

[InFlames]

I like ember just feels way weaker then what it should be.

[CaptainHugeKatana]

Both are weak.TROLL.

No,Ember wins

[Arsonide]

Banshee is as far from a stealth frame as you can get. She's better at killing infested than Ember is. Her AoE has the widest range in the game and kills most chargers in one or two ticks. Against ancients, or other large targets, you can pop sonar and do 4x damage to them. If they get in your face you can knock them down with Sonic Boom. She really is a well rounded class, but she is NOT a stealth frame. She outclasses Ember in every way.

[Blyr]

I would highly recommend Banshee. Her skills make her useful for pretty much any situation. Ember's Skills are too focused on damage to make her useful in nearly as many situations.

 

As for Banshee being ofetn classified as a "stealth based" frame, I really don't understand that. Yes, her silence skill gives her a little bit of help in the stealth department. All three of her other skills, however, benefit a much more aggressive playstyle, making her "Stealth" Classification make no sense whatsoever.

Her being called a "stealth" frame is the game itself. It's the role she was originally meant to fulfill, even if the rest of her abilities don't quite pan out that way.

[(NSW)123er432]

Just to Reiterate, Banshee really does have some amazing Ultility:

 

Sonic Boom: Knock down huge numbers of enemies, making them vulnerable and unable to retaliate, gives you time to reload if needed

 

Sonar: Used against High level enemies/Bosses this skill is more useful than most AoE ults due to Increasing all damage done by 400% if you hit the target

 

Silence: Don't use this

 

Sound Wave: HUGE area damage skill, deals 1200 base damage (at level 3) (as opposed to the usual 1000 base damage of most ults), gives 7 seconds of invincibility

[DAwGi]

Ember is more straight DPS, where Banshee has more CC and stealth capabilities.  The main advantage in Ember's AOE is that she throws it down and then can continue shooting, or throw down an additional AOE, where banshee has to sit there and channel.  Banshee is pretty much invincible while channeling though.  It is extremely easy to give Ember CC capability by equipping a 2-hander melee weapon and jump meleeing or equipping a frost damage or stun mod to weapons.

 

I would say that Ember is more of a run and gunner, where Banshee is more of a caster with tactical abilities, so it really depends on your play-style.

[Dasmir]

Banshee stealth is really Meh... you can just take out Silence and use the extra points to making her a AoE Machine.

[Arsonide]

Ember is more straight DPS, where Banshee has more CC and stealth capabilities.  The main advantage in Ember's AOE is that she throws it down and then can continue shooting, or throw down an additional AOE, where banshee has to sit there and channel.  Banshee is pretty much invincible while channeling though.  It is extremely easy to give Ember CC capability by equipping a 2-hander melee weapon and jump meleeing or equipping a frost damage or stun mod to weapons.

 

I would say that Ember is more of a run and gunner, where Banshee is more of a caster with tactical abilities, so it really depends on your play-style.

 

Banshee doesn't need to keep shooting. She doesn't need to drop multiple AoEs. These are the actions of an inferior frame. One cast of Sonic Quake will clear an entire room, even if there's literally fifty mobs in there. Banshee is a KILL EVERYTHING NAU frame, not a stealth and CC frame.

Edited May 2, 2013 by Arsonide

[Inglu]

If you enjoy burning stuff like me and can accept that Ember's skills have little use outside of Infestation missions, you'll probably have a good time with her. Besides Overheat's damage reduction mechanic, her skills don't have any real utility and thus are practically useless in the higher level areas. Also her ultimate is so underwhelming it can cause you physical pain.

 

I don't have Banshee, but she seems to have a lot better skill set. Sonic Boom is a cheap AoE knockdown. Sonar gives you a wonderful damage bonus against bosses and other tough mobs. Sound Quake is also one of the best ultimates in the game currently. If you're just going for effectiveness, go with the Banshee.

[Darzok]

Meh i see people do not understand how to use Ember.

 

Ember should be used at close range using Overheat and Fireblast but most seem to go with Fireball/Fireblast and stand at range.

 

In close using Overheat all most every thing is disabled by the fire damage 150+ a second you put down a Fireblast and you will wipe out every thing at close range in no time.

 

The only real weakpoints to Ember is World on Fire is useless and the heavy power drain of using skills none stop and the fact she is abit of a glass cannon.

 

Banshee is the basic spam OP move 4 collect drops move on to next room over and over much like Volt/Saryn/Mag.

[Arsonide]

Banshee's ultimate has a wider range than all of those frames, and does more damage. It's less situational than Volt's ultimate, and wider than Saryn's. To complement it, she has two other awesome skills for various utility purposes. Ember has a broken ultimate, and two skills that do AoE damage for about as much as Banshee's ultimate, in a radius of about 5 feet.

[Pisirk]

Different frame different purpose, but I haven't tried ember and don't know what she does. Banshee however, just nukes everything. Putting that into perspective, if you have Reach mod maxed + ult maxed, it can reach ~80% of the mini map. Using Banshee on kappa is the fastest way to farm mods and exp.

[Sikab]

Her being called a "stealth" frame is the game itself. It's the role she was originally meant to fulfill, even if the rest of her abilities don't quite pan out that way.

I always found it funny that she is meant to play Stealthy, with skills named like Sonic Boom... really? Q_Q

[GhostlightX]

Ember is the first and only frame I have built. After playing Exaclibur for 3 weeks, I find Ember crappy in general, except versus Infested where she shines, and is actualy a TON of fun.

 

(1) Fireball: strictly worse than firing ANY gun versus most enemies. Why even use it?

(2) The Shield one: decent but just a bit dull. 70% damage reduction is major though and it lasts a good while

(3) The Ring of Fire: great versus Infested, especially on defense missions, and awesome versus Grineer rollers. Otherwise, crap. Good idea to use 2 and 3 together, seems to combo well.

(4) World on Fire: Ultimate?? I dont even have it equipped! Never seemed to do much to anything.

 

I only use Radial Javelin and Slash Dash on Excalibur and that alone makes him better than Ember imo.

 

Plus Ember has a huge fat &#!.

Edited May 3, 2013 by GhostlightX

[AsperKaos]

Now I really can't decide on a 'frame...too many valid points being tossed around. It seems that the common consensus is that Banshee is a nuke while Ember is a melee/close range coin toss. I'm not much of a caster type of person and I'm not looking for something that makes everything turn into a two button grind-fest, which is what it sounds like Banshee turns into. As I play more and more I've started to use a lot of melee, especially sliding and slashing (which seems to fit Ember), but the uselessness of Ember's abilities is pretty disheartening. In the end, they both seem like they don't quite fit in anywhere.

[BloodKitten]

ember win for infected solos due to her fire ring cost less then banshee ultimate, as for other factions i would go with banshee as level 3 ultimate is strong and have good range and effective vs level 30 enemies without power amplefier cards.

[Sikab]

Now I really can't decide on a 'frame...too many valid points being tossed around. It seems that the common consensus is that Banshee is a nuke while Ember is a melee/close range coin toss. I'm not much of a caster type of person and I'm not looking for something that makes everything turn into a two button grind-fest, which is what it sounds like Banshee turns into. As I play more and more I've started to use a lot of melee, especially sliding and slashing (which seems to fit Ember), but the uselessness of Ember's abilities is pretty disheartening. In the end, they both seem like they don't quite fit in anywhere.

Let me help you out.

 

Ember in it's current form is one of the worst, if not the worst frames.

 

I love Ember myself, But she lacks Utility, which is the most important thing.

 

"Ring of Flame": Lackluster, while it is a good against infected, lacks everywhere else. Not to mention it only does DMG in a circle. Mobs can safely Facepunch you, without the circle doing any DMG.

 

"Shield": With the Wiki folks we did some "iternal" testing and the DMG Reduction skill reduces DMg around 70%. This can be boosted up to 90% with a Rare Mod. DMG of the shield is pitiful, almost non-existant.

 

"Ultimate": Too short range, too low duration. Only good against Infected. Doesn't worth the Mod slot.

 

"Fireball": Aimed projectile. Slow moving. Sub-par DMG. Doesn't worth the Mod slot.

 

True Ember could be good against Infected. Just as Banshee.

 

Banshees Utility potential with a 25Energy cost frontal (up to 12m) AoE knockdown.

 

A "Weak Spot" highlight skill which increases every1s dmg against those mobs (if they aim for the highlighted area) by 400%

 

An "Ultimate" which is a tremendous range, Decent DMG and AoE Stun for it's duration?

 

In their current form....

 

Banshee > Ember   in every aspect.

 

What Ember can do vs Infected with skills (as that's every Ember fans Ace card)... There's nothing a good gun can't do.

 

Infected is the least difficulty Faction.

Edited May 3, 2013 by Sikab

[Blatantfool]

I think Sikab pretty much hit right on the money. I play a lot of Ember since it is my favorite Warframe design. Her utility lacks because of the nature of her skills being purely damage oriented.

 

 That isn't to say she isn't viable, you'll just be relying more on your guns in missions where her skills aren't a good fit!

[AsperKaos]

I think Sikab pretty much hit right on the money. I play a lot of Ember since it is my favorite Warframe design. Her utility lacks because of the nature of her skills being purely damage oriented.

 

 That isn't to say she isn't viable, you'll just be relying more on your guns in missions where her skills aren't a good fit!

I also really like Ember's design (along with Banshee's; they both have a unique appeal to their looks), but yes, Banshee is ultimately the better choice at this point in time. It kind of makes me sad because I got all of the Ember blueprints whilst raising my Rhino, so now they get to sit for a while. Anyways, thank you for the excellent advice, everyone; hopefully others in the future who have any curiosities about these two 'frames will benefit from the information in this thread.

[Inglu]

Meh i see people do not understand how to use Ember.

 

Ember should be used at close range using Overheat and Fireblast but most seem to go with Fireball/Fireblast and stand at range.

 

In close using Overheat all most every thing is disabled by the fire damage 150+ a second you put down a Fireblast and you will wipe out every thing at close range in no time.

 

The only real weakpoints to Ember is World on Fire is useless and the heavy power drain of using skills none stop and the fact she is abit of a glass cannon.

 

Banshee is the basic spam OP move 4 collect drops move on to next room over and over much like Volt/Saryn/Mag.

I love to melee everything with my burninating aura of awesome, but... that's pretty much all you can do with her skills in the majority of situations. Not to mention Rhino does this way better with Iron Skin. Invulnerability and knockdown immunity easily trumps the fire DoT you get from Overheat. Fire Blast is awesome against Infested, but Corpus and Grineer take less damage from fire and you can't reliably kite them through the ring. Ember is a slow and squishy frame, so you don't really want to waste your energy on mediocre damage skills and be caught out in a crossfire without the energy for Overheat to save your butt.

 

I still love playing Ember and she's my favourite frame. The design is awesome, although I could do without the default chicken helmet. Goddamn alternate helmet always drops while I'm at sleep/work, frak you RNG God!

[GhostlightX]

I would love to see Ember's Fireball changed to be more of an arcing projectile, a bit like a mortar, which nukes the ground when it lands in a big blast of AoE Fire and burning DoT. Make it difficult to aim, perhaps without a ton of practice required to get trajectory correct, but hits damn HARD wherever it lands.