I am well aware that this post will get hate but after talking with multiple people on how to care for kubrow and place colors, imprints and the like to be on their way to kubrow mastery, I've decided to take the time and write EVERYTHING I know about kubrow in this sub forum! Every section is separated by spoiler tabs to keep the post as short as possible so you can find what you need to know as quickly as possible.
Please be aware this is for people debating on getting a kubrow. It is not for talking them into it, but to teach them what they need to know should they decide to. I am well aware of the debate Sentinel vs Kubrow and that it's like Cake vs Pie, but this isn't a debate. Only a better and in-depth tutorial. If a kubrow dies permanently from neglect, it is not only the owner's fault for not knowing how to care for it, but also the fault of miscommunication between How-to's and the reader. Enjoy! :3
Section 1: The Argument. Sentinels vs. Kubrow on a neutral level and the types of kubrow out there thus far.
The vast majority of tenno throughout the solar system argue all the time on which is better. Sentinel or a Kubrow. Well to be perfectly honest both sides of the argument have their points, upsides and downsides. On the Sentinel side they are easy to maintain, low cost maintenance, less complicated, easier to color to match your warframe and use guns or even throw their bodies at enemies to defeat them to protect you. They were the choice companion for a long while mainly because we had nothing else to rival with them. It's very understandable as to why you would choose a Sentinel over a kubrow just because of these factors, however on the Kubrow side of the argument, there is a wide variety of utilities that have to get you thinking. Do you choose a Sunika for this capture mission or do you want to bring your djinn for that extra range? Well it all depends on your personal preference.
It's well known what every base sentinel does. The Dethcube shoots a ray of death upon the closest enemy within a certain range, the Wyrm stuns or knocks down enemies within a range, Shade cloaks you for an indefinite amount of time while close to an enemy and the carrier collects whatever resources and mods you've missed in a radius. But what do Kubrow do..? What's the function of each kubrow?Not one kubrow does exactly what the 4 Sentinels mentioned above do which is why I'm on a neutral standing and use both.
The first type which is more well known is the Sunika. While commonly thought to be the main damage dealer of the four, and more often than not is, the Sunika excels in Capture missions. These ferocious kubrow catch the target so you don't have to, running ahead and tripping the target so he falls and then pinning him down for you to deal some damage so you can capture your target. Although sometimes the kubrow don't always catch the target before it runs out of "stamina" and at times the target breaks free, they act a lot like the dogs in the K-9 section of the police force, hunting down and slowing their prey down until their master gives the command to release.
Things to keep in mind:
1. The Sunika shares roughly the same finishing move ability as the Sahasa.
2. In order for Unleashed to activate, the kubrow MUST see the Capture target in order to make a move.
3. After Unleashed is activated and the kubrow has run out of stamina while making for the target, the cool down will recycle and the target will not be pinned.
4. If your kubrow manages to pin the target before stamina is depleted you have a time limit to incapacitate him. If you fail, your kubrow will be shoved off and the target will continue running.
The second is the Sahasa, the first most commonly misunderstood breed. While a lot may argue that a Carrier does the job better, it doesn't do what the Sahasa does best. You see the carrier sucks in already existing objects that were dropped around you and while this is useful in survival and farming materials to pick up those pesky life supports or orokin cells (should you be low) it doesn't prioritize what you need when you need it and come up with the object then and there. This is where a Sahasa shines. Sahasas dig to find ammo, health, energy, credits and even life support should you be in a survival mission and prioritize what you need most at time of ability activation. In fact if i'm running desecrate Nekros, I usually have a sahasa by my side digging up energy should I run out. Where carrier excels in farming, the Sahasa excels in bringing you what you need when you need it. 10 health? 3 health orbs out of the ground. 20 energy? 3 energy orbs. Low on arrows for your dread? Sniper/Bow ammo along with a whole lot of credits.
Things to keep in mind:
1. Sahasas share roughly the same finishing move abilities as the Sunika under different names.
2. Sahasas will not bring in resources (ie: orokin cells and/or nanospores)
3. They will not run off and collect resources dropped by enemies.
4. Your kubrow stops randomly and will be stationary while Dig is activated, giving it the chance to be shot down should it be in a heavily populated tile.
The Huras is also another misunderstood breed mainly because like the Shade he turns you invisible when you're close to an enemy. However they have one thing that a shade doesn't. When a Huras turns you invisible, you can use your abilities without fear of showing yourself. Try casting an effigy or spectral scream with a shade. you were seen? Now do it with a Huras. Remember that time you were on earth maybe farming for that egg or maybe just there to get a mission out of the way and you were staggered or knocked down by this black and orange thing called a feral Kubrow after it jumped at you? Now just think if the rest where attacking you. Just as annoying as an arson eximus roller right? This is what a huras does. He knocks down the target, the utility dictating that they stop shooting and take the time to get up. Imagine how useful this is against a heavy while you shoot at her during this window. Pretty useful right?
Things to keep in mind:
Ghost and Stalk are VERY different. While it looks the same from just looking at it, there are several things to take note.
1. You can cast abilities no problem and it won't break the invisibility unlike Ghost.
2. Stalk is significantly longer in duration than Ghost, making it more useful in situations where you need to do things irl.
3. Ghost's range is tiny compared to Stalk.
4. The Shade focuses on only one enemy in that short range while the Huras Kubrow focuses on enemies as a whole in a larger range. Keep in mind though Stalk is focused on the Kubrow's center and not the Tenno's.
The next breed, and commonly the most favorite, is the Raksa. While yeah the wyrm can use crowd dispersion but what happens when you're overwelmed? What if you don't have a frame that can distract the the hoard of enemies and need more shields asap? If you brought a raksa, you'd get both. Her howl makes them run away from you and her both and her bark recharges your shields in a spot. While not offensive like her 3 cousins, she makes up for it in survivability and utility. Raksas make the perfect companion should you be in a jam in defensive mission types.
Things to keep in mind:
1. Howl doesn't center around the player.
2. The raksa's famous Howl ability slows down enemies that are feared. This can make or break someone. It depends on your preference.
3. Protect can be activated a lot more than Guardian, however it's to the kubrow's preference and timing while Guardian is cast on 0 shields.
4. This kubrow is Purely and Generally used for utility and defense around the player, however if your kubrow runs off to attack an enemy out of range of you, howl may not reach you should it be cast.
The Chesa. The newest breed of Kubrow thus far.
Whe the Chesa Came out, it was thought weak and useless because it's more sought out ability, Retrieve, wasn't like the Carrier's Vacuum. However unlike the Carrier or any other Sentinel, the Chesa has the ability to disarm foes even though it's only one at a time. This ability procs more often than naught and when I have my own Chesa out. I see bombards, heavies and other mobs running at me in multiples. Soon after its release however, the Chesa was buffed, allowing for multiple and even different drops to be carried at the same time, and from what I've observed its cooldown to do so was decreased, allowing it to run around maps, collecting items and dropping it at your feet more often.
Things to keep in mind:
1. The Chesa has the highest defense of all of the other breeds, allowing the Chesa to have more survivability at rank 30 while running off. However, there is still the chance of being downed. Keep a watchful eye.
2. Like the Carrier, the Chesa does not prioritize but hopefully will in the near future.
3. Neutralize only targets one at a time but is helpful in infested defense missions with moas.
4. ... This Kubrow carrying an energy orb is adorable....
Now that you learned the differences between kubrow and sentinels, it's time to choose. While Kubrow require a lot more to maintain, you're rewarded with a companion that's more focused on you and your mission. But while Sentinels die more frequently in a mission (while you're downed or just running around and they take too much damage), you're rewarded with a drone that focuses on you and only you, shooting enemies that it sees and making sure they don't come too close. In honest truth, neither is better than the other. It all depends on preference and what you need more at that given time. If you need more energy to support allies, sahasa can be your best choice, however if you're farming for materials the carrier will be a better choice for you. It all depends on your build and the mission, Tenno.
Section 2: Raising a Kubrow!
So you've decided to get a Kubrow of your very own. Let's say you can just jump right into it without the need for the kubrow quest, you'll need a total of 3-5 objects before you can even think about incubating your first Kubrow.
The first and foremost is an egg. You can farm Kubrow eggs by going to earth and destroying Kubrow nests or you can buy an egg from the market for 10p. Kubrow eggs look like twisted flesh in the form of an egg. You can tell they dropped if you destroy a nest and you see a gold beam similar to a rare gold mod.
The second is an Incubator core. Now this is the most expensive thing about a kubrow, Requiring 100,000 credits and an argon crystal. However this is necessary to reverse the evolution of the feral kubrow that had become the ugly thing on earth. This insures that your kubrow will basically be a clone of an ancient ancestor of the kubrow that was suppose to hatch out of the egg, hence DNA decomposition but we'll get to that.
The third is an empty stasis slot. 2 of these are given to you for free, but you can purchase an additional slot for 10p should you choose to have more. This is basically a dog house or a kennel to put your kubrow when you're away.
Now the only 2 additional and optional things left are imprints. You need 2 if you want to breed a specific kubrow but we'll say you chose random. We'll go more into detail about imprints later in a different section.
Now you're ready to incubate. You have your core, your egg, your slot and now all you need to do is press the random button. Now, breeding a random kubrow means your kubrow will be totally random. There are endless combinations for the game to choose from so don't feel bad if you don't get the kubrow you want. An egg takes 2 days to incubate and after hatching, your pup will take 2 log in rewards to mature. My rule of thumb is to incubate your egg and collect it when it's done 48 hours later before log in reward. I do this because it's 24 hours between each reward and 2 rewards means 48 hours but if you incubate before the first log in for the kubrow you can shave a day off by collecting the reward right after you name your kubrow unlike if you incubated after it. If you incubate it this way you'll be waiting 72 hours for your kubrow rather than a whopping 96. The less time waited, the better but if you debate on rushing the egg, wait at least 24 hours. after the first day of incubation you'll see egg shells and a curled up sleeping puppy. If the colors and pattern are good enough for you, you can rush it. If not or you don't want to risk the plat, you can wait the extra day.
Congrats! you have your first kubrow! and look! it's a male! Let's name it!
Section 3: Care
This is the part that everyone hates. If you notice your now grown kubrow at 60% on the top bar, it's time for a stabilizer. Stabilizers are purchased in the market 6 for 75,000 credits which actually isn't too bad considering you don't have to stick a needle into your kubrow every day of it's existence. 1 stabilizer recovers 40% of your kubrow's health and it takes 4 log in rewards to get down to 60%. Now if you kept your kubrow out and never put him in stasis this would add up to 75,000 credits every 28 days which is almost a month which in reality isn't that hard to make up with tower capture and 5 wave tower defense speed runs. It takes 10 days for your kubrow to die permanently should you ignore giving your kubrow the stabilizers.
Now there is a way you can keep your kubrow from degrading. Remember that stasis slot? you can store him in there if you won't be using him for a few days to even months. The only downside is you have to wait 3 hours for him to recover from stasis sleep after you drag him back out. Please know that in addition to kubrows unable to degrade in cryosleep, pups placed in stasis won't degrade either which means they won't grow until you give them the log in rewards it needs to grow outside of the slot.
ALWAYS PUT YOUR KUBROW IN STASIS SHOULD YOU BE GONE FOR AN EXTENDED AMOUNT OF TIME OR YOU CAN'T SPARE THE CREDITS!!! ORDIS WILL NOT CARE FOR THE KUBROW IN YOUR STEAD!!!
U17:
With Echos of the Sentient came a particular surprise. Something called an Incubator Upgrade Module. This module does the following;
Stasis Recovery reduced to 30 mins.
Stasis Recovery can be rushed with Credits.
Kubrows are automatically placed into Stasis if they become mortally ill.
Egg incubation reduced by a day.
Stabilizers last twice as long.
This Item is found within the Tenno Research in your clan dojo and takes 3 days to research along with some expensive materials, however it is well worth the blood. Why?
1.) No more waiting 3 hours to use your kubrow.
2.) No more rushing recovery with platinum (should you be doing that.)
3.) you can go off on a month long vacation, come back and not get a poke from ordis about the demise of your Kubrow.
4.) No more 48 hour wait for your egg to hatch.
5.) This means shots once every 8 days and not 4 which also means less credits spent in a month.
Section 4: Eyes,Patterns to colors, colors to patterns and builds!
A lot of people get confused about what pattern their kubrow has and what color is where, leading to mishaps and frustration in breeding.
There are a total of 6 patterns your kubrow can have naturally. Patch, Hound, Striped, Domino, Merle and Lotus. Patch kubrow generally have random spots on their body and a majority of their face is colored, cheeks, muzzle and jaw, the exact same color as the spots on the body. Hound is identified with a large patch on their rump, socks on their legs, "eyeshadow" above their eyes and their ears, chest and jaw are the same color as their butt and eyebrows or "eyeshadow". Striped is basically a tiger pattern so that's pretty self explanitory. Domino kubrows have an X on their head and look like they have a sweater with stripes going down the length of their back and down their legs. Merle Kubrow look like hyenas with a "skull" on their heads and solid spots down their sides. Lotus Kubrow are named for their lotus print on their head.
Now placing the colors to primaries, secondaries and tirtiaries on the patterns can be tricky. Like some warframes, some patterns have primaries that don't cover a majority of the body. Domino, Lotus and Merle patterns are the 3 that are hardest to identify off hand what color goes where. You need to do extensive research or learn about them on your own through the trials and errors of breeding. Thankfully, however I've learned all of these already.
Available eye colors: Blue, Black, Purple, Pink, Yellow, Green, Red and Orange (Eyes and energy share the same color 100% of the time!)
NOTE: SOME OF THESE ARE NOT MY KUBROW!!! THEY ARE ONLY USED AS EXAMPLES!!
Patch colors to slots:
Hound colors to slots:
Striped colors to slots:
Merle colors to slots:
Domino colors to slots:
Lotus colors to slots:
After you've memorized what section is where, you'll be identifying your kubrow's colors and patterns upon birth!
Builds!
Bulky
Slim
Athletic (gender specific)
Male:
Female:
As shared with me by Shuuro in the comments: Size does matter in the survivability in a match. The smaller the kubrow, the smaller the hit box and the harder to hit.
Section 5: Breeding! Imprints, the frustrations and risks!
Let's say you have 2 or more kubrow and one has the colors you want but the other has the pattern you love. You can try and breed another random and see if you get EXTREMELY lucky or you can create imprints of your 2 existing kubrow and begin a combined incubation. Imprints are templates (commonly known as Genetic code templates) that record pattern, type, build, color, height and gender onto a slab or a "pitri dish" that are used in creating specific kubrow be it an exact copy of 1 or a combination of 2 kubrow.
Let's say though you already have the imprints you need for that perfect kubrow. Generally the pattern is placed in the first slot and color is placed in the second. This has an 80% chance of coming out color to pattern, but sometimes comes out either a clone of one, or reversed pattern to color. This is one of the risks of breeding, however this is also the reason why you can have 2 imprints of each kubrow instead of 1.
Please note: The above paragraph works for SOME breedings. Everyone has their methods. It's up to you to find what works best for you because it's not a set percentage. The game treats it 50-50 on build, type, pattern and colors.
There are a number of things you need to take into account before breeding your kubrow. Gender and height are completely random, athletic builds are gender specific (fluffy for female, shorthair for male) and if breeding 2 kubrow with different builds the build of the pup will be either or. Primaries only transfer to primaries, secondaries to secondaries and tirtiaries to tirtiaries. There is no primary transfer to secondary and visa versa. This can make breeding difficult and time consuming however once you get that perfect natural color you want with the build and type it can be very rewarding.
Section 6: Cosmetics!
Cosmetics in Kubrow have been around for a while. Mainly in the form of gene masking kits. There are a great quantity of fur "dyes" that you can use once you purchase them by going to the appearance tab on your kubrow (After stasis of course). You can see the markings and colors permanently available in the Market through Market - Equipment - Kubrows. These range around 50p a pack.
The newest cosmetics to Warframe are the Valinn (light) and Rostam (heavy) Armors and they are available for 90p a set. HOWEVER the downside is that these armors are not in separate pieces so you can't interchange the armor parts like you can a Sentinel's cosmetics. Hopefully they're broken down soon so we can do as such.
The one thing I wasn't expecting however is the armor to find the closest it can to your Kubrow's Primary, secondary and tirtiary and make it work. I was especially suprised to see this as the gene masking "colors" are not part of the color pallette. The armor will conform to your Kubrow's fluff!
Rostam
Valinn
The last thing to cover is colors you can get with breeding and/or purchasing gene masks in the market, however it's better to give you a link to a spreadsheet an acquaintance and breeder created for colors.
Remember you can always find a Kubrow breeder if you are having a hard time getting the kubrow you want. This will take platinum, but it is also a last resort should you be failing at breeding that kubrow!
This is everything I know about kubrow. Should you have further questions, feel free to inbox me :3 I'd be more than happy to help!
A word of warning:
Screenshots without natural colors in the appearance tab can and will fool you into thinking some natural colors are different from what they really are. It is best if you screenshot kubrow without color correction or darker cool colors as people can be fooled into thinking you have a rare color on your kubrow. Color correction does have an impact on pup's colors.
Example:
Breakdown without color correction:
Breakdown with color correction:
Now, I have an energy color that's harder to make someone a fool of. Darker blues have a tendency to fall off and they don't have a long reach. They are bright, yes however notice that people with blue headlights on the road don't have much light in front of them. If anything this energy color amplified the blue on breakdown, but washed out the orange-brown however blues are harder to fool.
Screenie of mocha without color correction(my normal blue energy):
Mocha with color correction and sun gold energy:
As you can see color correction (and sometimes energy color if it's bright enough) can and will effect kubrow appearences in screenshots like this. Please remember to contact the seller directly for a screenshot with a darker energy color and with color correction off. if you still don't believe it, request a trade for the imprints. There is a preview imprints button on the bottom right hand corner once they offer said imprint.
Imprints do not lie about color. if you find you're scammed, cancel the trade immediately and let others know that it's a fraud. Reporting players for false trades does not and will not work. DE does not support reports of trades and promises unless severe (like fake platinum from key generators)
Change log:
5/20/2015: As suggested I added differences and things to be wary of. If you have anything to add or you find something different than what I did, please feel free to reply down below and mention it POLITELY. I will be more than happy to oblige.
8/1/2015: Added Kubrow Cosmetics (spoiler tab isn't working right...) and incubator upgrade module information
8/11/2015: Added Chesa Kubrow
- KrazyKubrowLady.... Because 247(soon(tm)) Kubrow isn't enough. (halp....)
Question
KrazyKubrowLady
8/1/2015: Added Kubrow Cosmetics (spoiler tab isn't working right...) and incubator upgrade module information
8/11/2015: Added Chesa Kubrow
- KrazyKubrowLady.... Because 247(soon(tm)) Kubrow isn't enough. (halp....)
Edited by KrazyKubrowLadyTook out the spoilers
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