Advice On Getting Over The Hump?

[Avarice-Syn]

I'm currently Mastery Rank 4, almost 5, between 600-700 conclave on two of my frames, having a little trouble getting a power spike to get to the next step.

First, I have the following Frames:

Valkyr - Atterax Crit-built w/ R5 Arm+HP, Crit-built Dread w/ R5 Serration, AkZani

Mag - I haven't touched this frame since Valkyr finished, power built w/o pull augment

Nyx - Still being levelled, I'm not even sure I like this frame yet. Having issues with bolts, first ability is single target? Frame isn't levelled enough for duration to be enjoyable. Using early missions to level, end up killing all of my controlled units anyway because there aren't enough mobs for it to be useful.

Oberon - On the way, been excited about getting this frame since I saw him

Trinity - Have one piece trying to get a group together to help me get the others

Weapons:

Primary: Dread, Cernos, MK-1 Paris

Secondary: Mk-1 Kunai, AkZani, Gammacor

Melee: Ankyros, Atterax, Cronus, Mk-1 Bo, Hate, working on Kronen

I think I have a good feel for what weapons I want to go with, and despite really enjoying Bows, they're overshadowed by automatics, and I'm missing Speed Trigger. Double crits are too satisfying to put down, though, yet it seems more statistically better to go with the following:

Puncture + Radiation Primary for Armored Targets

Impact + Magnetic/Viral for Shielded Targets

Slash + Corrosive for Flesh/Infested

I've spent weeks pouring over and cross referencing the wiki with the codex, making tables and charts, since updated guides seem to be few and far between. Most opinions on the "best" weapons, or even "good" weapons, are nothing I have immediate access to until I start trading or outright purchase them with plat. Luckily I sold almost all of my DotA2 items and got a 20% coupon for plat, so I picked up 170 and split it down the middle with my fiance.

The closest I'm getting to for statistically best weapons are the Paris Prime and AkBronco Prime, though I'm still a ways off for the AkBronco. I think my Atterax serves just fine for what I want for Melee, and what that doesn't do for me, I really enjoy what videos show the Kronen doing.

As far as Frames, it seems everyone is looking for Frost, Trinity, and Nekros. I'd like to get Loki for solo-ing, and was talked out of picking him as my starter frame way back when he was available. The closest I'm able to get is Trinity, and while I can do Phobos missions, my weapons are suck for Kril, but Vor is easy pickings for Valkyr's Hysteria. I think Nyx could really help me out on this one, but god is it difficult to pick out what the most efficient ways to get XP are.

So far, I've been farming keys out on Earth, Cambria Excavation, and doing T 1-3 Capture missions for credits and getting a decent amount of cores out of the combination.

I'm not really sure what I can do to give myself a power spike with Mag or Valkyr, and I know that Nyx is considered to be a good frame to have on a team, but I'm not really sure she's for me. Past that, her kit seems to be as boring as running D2 Necro or Druid pet builds. Just run around and mind control everyone and watch them pick eachh other off. Useful, but a fun sucker.

So, what am I doing wrong here, how misinformed am I, and what can I do right now to able to progress? Should I farm out Ember, Rhino, or when I break 5, Hydroid?

What primaries should I use to break away from bows? I love them for stealth missions, but I feel useless in Defense while everyone else runs around with their OP AoE abilities mercing everything before I can get a shot off.

What I've learned so far from this thread:

1. Karak = Soma Jr. Soma Prime is ideal.

2. Loki/Prime = Amazing Solo Potential, focus speed running tower missions w/ melee, Spy Missions for easy XP

3. Draco = 4 Waves Maxes Frame, called Dracobotting, pathetic yet effective way to play, rep farm supreme

4. Synoid Gammacor + Vaykor Marelok = Best Secondaries

5. Latron & Boltor Prime = Great Starters for Prime Weaps

6. Serration, Heavy Caliber, Dual Status, Multishot = Max weapon potency mods

7. Great Secondary progression = Lex to AkLex

8. Build Nyx around Chaos, assuming +duration +range mods (edit: Don't go dur, can't recast)

9. Mercury - Apollodorus, Saturn - Cassini = Great easily accessible XP locations

10. Warframebuilder.com good reference, considered unreliable/unfavorable however

11. Bronco/Shotguns Bad, Except on Carrier, Don't Ignore Carrier

Edited February 18, 2015 by Avarice-Syn

[noteom]

Yeah, sheer amount of mobs that spawn can max you in 4 waves.

 

I always did T4D to level -- I'll have to check that oot

[Chroia]

Something that no one seems to have touched on:

Your OP doesn't mention, but if you haven't gotten the Corrupted mods yet, do that.

Fleeting Expertise makes a world of difference in your ability use on anything, but particularly on nukes (e.g. Mag's Shield Polarize), Narrow Minded is good for invis Loki and Hysteria Valkyr, Overextended is good for Radial Disarm Loki, Chaos Nyx.

Heavy Caliber, on weapons that don't suffer too much from the accuracy penalty, is free damage.

I could go on, but you get the idea.

 

A rank 4 Fleeting + rank 4 Streamline gives you the 75% efficiency cap. As long as you're not running Blind Rage that's all you need.

It makes Warframe a whole different game.

 

 

I wouldn't recommend Ember for anything other than mastery in content past level ~20-25 until you have a decent mod-base.

Don't pass over Nyx too fast.

Mind Control is kinda bleh (particularly with short duration) and Psychic Bolts aren't worth the energy, but Chaos, with a R4 or maxed Fleeting Expertise (i.e. ~10 second duration) and Stretch/Overextended basically shuts down an entire tile.

Edited February 18, 2015 by Chroia

[noteom]

 

take a look into vault runs for some corrupted mods

 

 

Something that no one seems to have touched on:

Your OP doesn't mention, but if you haven't gotten the Corrupted mods yet, do that.

 

 

excuse me?

Edited February 18, 2015 by noteom

[RoboDoge]

excuse me?

Check market for thingies called Dragon Keys, you can buy BPs with credits. Build them, find a group for Orokin Derelicts and go on farming spree.

 

 

Corrupted mods, mods with high bonus and some tradeoff. Check wiki for more info.

[Chroia]

excuse me?

Ah.

Woops...?  >_>;

 

Carry on.

[Avarice-Syn]

I didn't really think that I was at a power level capable of hanging to do Vault Runs. I'm having issues toughing it out in T3 unless I'm juking like a pro, and OD is the highest tier of Void missions, right? When's a good time to start looking at stuff like that? I don't really want to waste my OD and Vault keys if I'm just going to fail and die.

I think my stats are close to this:

1k Armor

50-600 HP

240? Shields w/ I think 60% shield regen

It seems like my damage and survivability start to fall off when level 30s pop out.

Edited February 18, 2015 by Avarice-Syn

[noteom]

well, the way it works is there are 4 different dragon keys, and 1 random key opens the vault, so people look for groups of 4 with 1 guy carrying each key.

 

hobbled makes you move slower, so everybody hates doing that one, and it would keep you out of the fronline fighting --- that could be your contribution.

the other 3 dudes will most likely kill everything before you see it whether or not you even want to contribute to that.

and you could also make the ODE key and host --- dragon key isn't used up unless you actually use it on a vault, and just remember to put it in gear and take it back out when you're done with missions.

 

it's infested, so gear up for that, but corrupted can show up partway thru, too

just tell your squad you're a noob so they know what's up.

and it's dark in there, btw

[Avarice-Syn]

Haha, thanks for the tips. Glad I've got speed now. Unless it sets you to a flat rate rather than taking away a percentage. The only thing that really screws me over with the infested are the drones spitting out toxin, so I've got a ranked toxic resistance for that.

[r0ckwolf]

Hey Man, 

i think i can share some insight on those issues. I did not read all the replys, so i´m sorry if i repeat something somebody else already said.

 

After reading your post, the first thing i can tell you is something you probably don´t won´t to hear...  You are doing excellent!!! ;)

 

No, rereally. You are well informed about weapons, warframes/classes and game mechanics, as well as doing the best missions you have access to atm.

 

I assume their have been a lot of different opinions on what you can do better or more efficently already, so i won´t go into excessive detail there, the one thing i can tell you though is directly regarded to your Threads Title: How do you get a Powerspike?!?!

 

There is only one way: MODS!!!

 

I´m sure you know this to some extent, but from my experience even high rank players often do not realize how incredibly overpowered Mods are in Warframe. If you want to get stronger your only way is getting the appropiate mods and ranking them up,

 

Let me be clear on this one more time, i can wipe the floor with Corpus on a Pluto Defense Mission (lvl 40 Enemys) with an MK1 Braton just because i have the apropiate Mods. Your choice of Weapon or even your Warframe is really of secondary priority, everything can be made good and viable with the right Mod.

 

Since you have no trouble of researching the game on the Wikia, i´ll trust that you´ll find the Mod page there easily. I´d recommend starting with everything that increases your Weapon Damage, that includes all elemental and Multishot Mods. Once you have done that, it´s time to famr some Derelict Vaults, for a lot of Frames and Weapons Corrupted Mods are almost Mandatory to make the most out of them.

 

Another Tip for maxing Mods: Don´t DO IT!!! 

 

Many People will tell you that you have to max every Mod as soon as you can, that is not the case. Especially not for Rank 10 Mods. Lets take Serration f.e.: one fusion rank gives you 15% more damage right?! 15% alone is not that much, but since you can get to rank 5 fairly cheap you have 90% more damage which sounds a lot better already. Since the cost in Upgrading each Rank doubles every time, it becomes more inefficcent to do so every time! 

I would recommend not going higher then Rank 8-9 witth every Mod until you ahve a large stash of Cores and Credits and nothing to sppend them on!

 

 

Ok i hope thhis is of some help^^

 

greetinggs 

 

r0ckwolf

Edited February 18, 2015 by r0ckwolf

[OniGanon]

Concerning weapons: Dread is an endgame weapon so you're lucky you got it early (you can sell your other bows after getting them to 30). The normal Gammacor is also really good despite being ignored and dismissed by the community at large. It is of course overshadowed by the Synoid version, but so are lots of other guns. The AkZani should be okay, though ammo hungry. The Atterax is a good weapon. Hate is decent, but it requires the rare Stalking Fan stance to be so.

 

For Primaries, the Karak is a decent rifle to start you off. Later you can replace it with a Soma or something. You could try the Hek if you're with Steel Meridian. If you're willing to sacrifice a Forma and a Latron, the Tiberon is available fairly early and it's good enough for everything including T4 as long as you don't go up to crazy high waves in endless missions (then again, very few weapons are any good at that point). If you have clan access, there's Amprex/Synapse, Quanta, Sybaris, Phage and Attica.

 

For Secondaries, pretty much everything you could make is worse than what you already have, except maybe Stug and AkLex (which gets replaced with Lex Prime, which can kinda be replaced with Vaykor Marelok). If you have clan access, there's the Marelok (again, replaced by Vaykor). Eventually you'll probably be using syndicate weapons because (aside from Rakta Ballistica) they're all so damn good and their syndicate effects make them better than pretty much any competition.

 

For Melee, you could work towards making a Tipedo. It's not only a good weapon with wide aoe, but it provides tremendous mobility. The Fragor is easy enough to get and is even better than the Atterax for Valkyr (I prefer Shattering Storm stance). There's Dual Cleavers if you can get Steel Meridian mods, or Jaw Sword if you can get Arbiters of Hexis mods and Crimson Dervish stance. If you can get Cleaving Whirlwind, there's Galatine. If you can get Pointed Wind, there's Karyst. The Kestrel isn't worth much for damage, but it's great for knocking an enemy down at range and it provides decent mobility.

 

 

 

 

Ultimately though, your problem right now isn't weapons.

 

Your problem at this point is mods. You need more of the good ones, and you need the ones you have ranked up further (but as has been pointed out by others, don't go too high on 10 rank mods this early). This is, unfortunately, a common problem in the early stages of the game.

 

Mods are the true power in this game. They matter much more than what gun you're using. Even the infamous Synoid Gammacor will feel like a water pistol without Hornet Strike, Barrel Diffusion and Lethal Torrent in it.

 

Here's a list of basic mods you may not have but totally should. Check them out on the Wikia to find where to get them.

 

Warframe: Intensify, Continuity, Constitution, Streamline, Stretch, Rage

Rifle: Serration, Split Chamber, Shred, Vital Sense, elemental mods

Shotgun: Hell's Chamber, Blaze, elemental mods

Pistol: Hornet Strike, Barrel Diffusion, Lethal Torrent, Ice Storm, elemental mods

Melee: Beserker, Life Strike, Focus Energy

 

Note: Focus Energy, Lethal Torrent, Ice Storm, Blaze, Constitution and Shred are Nightmare mods. You get these by completing a planet to unlock Nightmare Mode missions on that planet, or picking them up in Nightmare Alerts. Nightmare Mode has tougher enemies and inflicts penalties on you like having zero shields (Alerts always have this), or constantly draining health that goes up when you kill things, or constantly draining Energy.

 

 

On Elemental Mods: Some elemental mods are oddly difficult to get despite being only silver rarity, such as Fever Strike, Pathogen Rounds or Hellfire. You might want to play a bunch of the new Spy missions, as these can yield fire or ice mods with 60% damage + 60% status chance. These mods are not only pretty much mandatory for any Status build, but they provide a lot of damage per cost (but less potential total damage) compared to normal elemental mods. Toxic versions of these mods are dropped by Vor in T4 missions. Spy missions can also drop many useful Rare mods. Bring your Dread.

 

 

Corrupted Mods: You get these from Orokin Derelict vaults, though it's probably easier to just sell some mods for Platinum and buy the ones you want. Fleeting Expertise is probably the biggest game changer and the one you'll want ASAP, and you may need two copies; one at Rank 3 and one at max. You'll also eventually want Overextended, Narrow Minded, Transient Fortitude, Heavy Caliber, and 2 copies of Blind Rage (one kept at low rank).

[noteom]

Yeah, sheer amount of mobs that spawn can max you in 4 waves.

 

ok, just checked out draco --- that was a blast, pretty intense

 

I'm pretty sure I've done that before, but I don't remember it being like that

anyway, 4 waves got my stuff from like 11 to 18 so wtf are you talking about?

there were 4 of us, and I did about 25% damage, although I didn't use one of the weaps

 

I don't see this as being so different from aT4D

 

that was a lot of fun, though -- gotta do a few more

seems tough to get a pug going

took about 4 tries

[aynn]

Focus on primary weapons. Get a latron prime for headshots/sniping around 15p. or get a boltor prime for around 30p good all around weapon.

[Invisum]

ok, just checked out draco --- that was a blast, pretty intense

 

I'm pretty sure I've done that before, but I don't remember it being like that

anyway, 4 waves got my stuff from like 11 to 18 so wtf are you talking about?

there were 4 of us, and I did about 25% damage, although I didn't use one of the weaps

 

I don't see this as being so different from aT4D

 

that was a lot of fun, though -- gotta do a few more

seems tough to get a pug going

took about 4 tries

 

Slight derail but... 1) Trin spams 2. 2) Excal A and Excal B spam 4. 3) Rhino / Mirage buffs damage output. 4) Only capture two points. 5) Repeat 4x.

 

 

As for where to go next I'd saw pick a goal and go for it. Especially if you can find a clan, don't worry about getting in over your head. Grab a clanmate who's willing to help and hop into T4 (well.. it'll be exciting if nothing else ;) ). I find the best way to learn if you like something or not is to just try it. That said, you need the tools to make it work. Frames that aren't ranked don't really live up to their potential and the same goes for under modded weapons and frames.

 

Once you've built up a collection of the basics, which have more or less already been listed on this page, then you'll be able to tell how good something is. That said, Loki (Prime) is my all time favorite frame. He has a place in almost any team (albeit he's not so great vs infested) and can greatly benefit the team. I've recently put some effort back into my Dread I picked up at about your rank and am really remembering why I liked it so much. I took a trip down the Boltor Prime / Soma Prime road for awhile (and I do enjoy the Soma), but I think the Dread's here to stay for now. 

[RoboDoge]

ok, just checked out draco --- that was a blast, pretty intense

 

I'm pretty sure I've done that before, but I don't remember it being like that

anyway, 4 waves got my stuff from like 11 to 18 so wtf are you talking about?

there were 4 of us, and I did about 25% damage, although I didn't use one of the weaps

 

I don't see this as being so different from aT4D

 

that was a lot of fun, though -- gotta do a few more

seems tough to get a pug going

took about 4 tries

Get yourself max range, str and efficiency Excalibur and find reputation farming squad. Then cap nodes and spam Radial Javelin from the center of the map.

 

 

 

You will need 2 Excaliburs, Trinity and Roar Rhino for proper farming. Its boring and annoying, but it gets job done.

[-Narauko-]

The only thing I'd add to your summary is:

 

Don't buff duration on Nyx Chaos build, the longer it runs the longer your left without the ability to recast.

[Avarice-Syn]

OniGanon, I just want to say that that was extremely informative and absolutely perfect. I've learned a lot from all of you, in fact. Thank you so much.

Later I'm going to go through and re-write the summary for other players having the same issue.

Edited February 18, 2015 by Avarice-Syn