High Level Grineer Mobile Defense: Need Guidance

[StealthDragoon]

Like the title says, I'd like to have some tips and tricks to Solo high level Grineer Mobile Defense missions.

 

Before I go into details of my failure, here is a list of my equipment:

 

- Excalibur (w/ Reactor)

- Rhino

- Oberon (w/ Reactor)

- Mag (w/ Reactor)

 

- Tiberion (w/ Catalyst)

- AkJagara (w/ Catalyst)

- Atterax (w/ Catalyst)

 

Above are my most used weapons, but I also have a Boar Prime, a Penta, Grakata, Dex Dakra, Dex Furis, Kronen, Kogake and Galatine. I like to use these weapons sometimes, but when I go full clutch, it's Tiberion/Akjagara/Atterax... I also have a lot of MOA and Ancient Healer eximus from my syndicate. Not hard hitters, but good distraction...

 

 

So...

 

Here I am on Uranus' Cressidia mission, a Grineer Mobile Defense mission, labeled as Level 23-25. The first 2 parts of the mission are somewhat difficult, but do-able if I try hard enough.

 

But then, the final part of this mission fucks me over and over and over... That part where you have to cover an Orokin coffin on a rail while Grineer sandwich you from every possible direction. You try to clear one side, but by the time you kill half of em, the other half is already clocking the coffin like mad.

 

I try to take cover, make good gunplay, make good use of my abilities.... nope. They always find a way to either wreck me or the coffin in a matter of seconds. There's pretty much nowhere to get cover and if you do, you just expose the coffin.

 

So here I am, asking for guidance on how to solo these ridiculously hard mission where the enemies never ever stop spawning from every direction. What's more is that sometimes Manic like to show up during these mission, as if it wasn't hard enough already.

 

BTW, don't tell me to get Frost like those smartass did in Region chat, I need to get Ceres to farm him, and Ceres isn't even unlocked for me yet.

 

Aside asking someone to help me in the Recruiting tab, is there any way at all I can Solo this absurdly hard mission?

[(PSN)WiiConquered]

Without the proper equipment (anything that promotes spamming) it'll be difficult, but not impossible.

 

The first thing I'd try is using Rhino primarily for stomp to keep the pod clear, and also for Iron Skin if and only if your shields are about to break. Using Stomp, you should have enough time to keep the pod clear that you can focus on killing other targets, gaining energy in the process.

 

Another thing I'd do is use Mag with the cheaper Pull to drag targets away from the pod, or using Radial Blind of Excalibur to prevent all of them from being able to see or attack.

 

Also, try using the Penta instead. Explosions are good for crowds, and it will allow you to attack targets even from cover.

[.EQ.]

There are many crowd control skills in game. You can try to use Rhino stomp to get more time to kill enemies, just mod it at max range and power duration. Same story with Mag's Crush, but instead of mooding duration do power efficiency. Repeat every time enemies stand up.

[S7ORM]

Mobile Defense doesn't require you to kill the enemies -- it's based on time. That's a tip.

[Lost_Cartographer]

Uh... well... $#!%...  Volt's a good stand in (energy shield, ...MMMMPH!), but he's dojo research.  I'd say Excalibur is your best bet (or I'd use him anyway.)  An enemy that can't see won't shoot the defense object, but as it sounds like you're still clearing the star chart, I don't know if you have mods like streamline and stretch and continuity to cover the whole room cheaply and for longer periods of time.  Being able to just blind the enemies and picking off only those whom missed the effulgence that is Excalibur would greatly lighten the pressure on the pod.  Note that it's important to ignore the dudes (with guns) seeing stars so that they're not replaced too soon.

Edited April 6, 2015 by Littleman88

[StealthDragoon]

@ WiiConquered & xEquesX : I haven't used Rhino in a while. I will try again, harder.

 

@ S7ORM : I know right? Ignore the enemies and they just go for the coffin. All it takes is about 5 seconds fof shooting and voila.

 

@ Littleman88 : I have Streamline, Stretch and Continuity. I'm more of a guy who puts priority in Health/Shield/Armor. I'll revise that...

 

Thank you all for the help. I will breathe with my nostrils, calm down and try again.

Edited April 6, 2015 by StealthDragoon

[(PSN)WiiConquered]

@ WiiConquered & xEquesX : I haven't used Rhino in a while. I will try again, harder.

 

@ S7ORM : I know right? Ignore the enemies and they just go for the coffin. All it takes is about 5 seconds fof shooting and voila.

 

@ Littleman88 : I have Streamline, Stretch and Continuity. I'm more of a guy who puts priority in Health/Shield/Armor. I'll revise that...

 

Thank you all for the help. I will breathe with my nostrils, calm down and try again.

 

As a tip for all modding in the future, with the way armor works it's basically pointless unless your frame has at least 200+. It reduces damage, but for a frame with 65 armor like Excalibur this is a tiny amount. Even with Rhino, it's only about a 25% bonus Littleman says it's 50%, I'll trust him, to your effective health before Steel Fiber. Fast Deflection, the shield regen mod, is probably as pointless most of the time.

 

If I were you, I would put in Redirection (enough to give you time to run and hide if need be), Vitality, Streamline, Stretch, and Continuity. After that, without knowing your mods, I'd say just do what you like, but keep in mind what I said above.

Edited April 6, 2015 by (PS4)WiiConquered

[Lost_Cartographer]

Armor formula:

 

1 + (armor / 300) = #.

 

Effective health = # x HP.

 

1 + (65/300) = 1.216 x 600 HP= 730 effective HP.  Assuming rank 30 Excalibur and +300% from vitality.

 

Rhino literally gains over 50% more effective HP.  More than doubles it with maxed steel fiber.  Of course, if you're using Rhino... Iron Skin > Steel Fiber.

 

Note on +shield and +health mods - they calculate upon the BASE HP/shielding.  In other words, as if your frame were rank 1.  So redirection and vitality only calculate off of 100 shields and 100 health respectively, then at rank 30, you add the additional 200 shields and health that Excalibur receives from ranking up.  On Rhino, it's 150 shields and 100 health.

 

As for health/armor/shield focus, that's good for clearing the star chart for the most part, though I see you're finding that Warframe abilities can really come in handy.  It took me forever to finally start using mine.  I still forget I have them sometimes.

Edited April 6, 2015 by Littleman88

[DCypherThis13]

You have a rather decent setup. However, you have to remember that you are fighting the Grineer. They're heavily armored and equipped with high fire rate, hit-scan weapons. Your goals in the mission should be to keep them from aiming/shooting at you and the objective and rip that armor apart so that you can kill them efficiently.

 

1. Crowd control - Keep the enemy from shooting at you and the objective. You can do this in a number of ways.

 

Oberon is probably the least desirable for this task, although his skills deal primarily Radiation damage. This will cause enemy confusion and weaken enemies with Alloy Armor, if it doesn't kill them altogether. If you want to go with Oberon, cast Hallowed Ground on one side and shoot the guys on the other. Use Reckoning as an OH SH** button.

 

Your second option is Mag. I have run this mission Solo with her and beat it the first time I tried it. It was tough, though. Make sure that you keep the shield up on the objective with Shield Polarise and keep the enemy down with Crush and/or Pull. If things get really nasty, cast Bullet Attractor on a Heavy enemy and watch the magic.

 

Rhino and Excalibur are pretty even. Roar will help with damage and Iron Skin will draw the attention of the enemy. Stomp can put hurt on the baddies and keep them from shooting.

 

Excalibur can use Radial Blind to stun and blind the enemy. Think of it like a Flash-Bang on a stick. Radial Javelin can work very well if the conditions are right. If you have the energy, get on top of something tall, cast Radial Blind, then Radial Javelin. Mop up the rest with your weapon of choice.

 

2. Damage - Grineer are heavily armored.

 

Tiberon is a good choice for a primary weapon. I have found that it works well against pretty much anything, especially Grineer. It's insanely accurate and packs a wicked punch.

 

I can't say much about AkJagara because I don't have it. However, it is Slash damage heavy and I have used slashing weapons against armored enemies with less than desirable results, except Dread... That thing kills everything. If I were you, I would break out your Dex Furis. The accuracy isn't bad and the damage bonus to armored enemies is a major plus. Just don't spray and pray; short bursts are where it's at.

 

Atterax is good. It's not my style, but it can serve you well. When I break out my melee weapon things are going down at bad-breath distances. This means I need CC and now! I usually run something with a good reach, decent power and attack speed, as well as an excellent Status Chance. You have that.

[Darzk]

I have Streamline, Stretch and Continuity. I'm more of a guy who puts priority in Health/Shield/Armor. I'll revise that...

Underlined the problem, italicized the solution. 

 

Objective based missions are accomplished almost entirely though either effective crowd control or massive killing potential, and sometimes both. For Defenses and Mobile Defenses, in order to complete the mission we care only about the objective surviving to the end of the timer.

 

A build setup revolving around tanking damage until you've killed the enemy - well, it doesn't do anything to protect the pod. You need to think about building to use abilities to blind/stun/distract/confuse/disarm/knockdown the enemy, and killing them while they're disabled. This protects the pod as well as yourself; and even tho you can take far less direct damage, you'll be shot at a lot less.

 

Given that your strategy is going to revolve around using abilities, I'd invest in a few energy restores; they're somewhat too expensive to use on a regular basis for a starting player but to get past a tough mission it's a worthwhile investment. 

 

If you're willing to farm up a bit before returning to the mission, I'd advise doing some Orokin Derelict Vault runs (wiki it), looking for Fleeting Expertise. A combination of this mod and Streamline will be able to reduce your energy costs down to 1/4th of the full price, making a warframes ultimate ability (the 4th) cost only a single energy orb, and allowing other abilities to be cast multiple times for that orb. The reduced cost is one of the most important ways you'll be able to increase the number of abilities you use, and thus their effectiveness.