How To Forma?

[thehotsung8701A]

I have not forma anything yet so I want to get this question answer before hand.

 

Do each polarity mean something, and how do you forma?  Do you forma base on what polarity of a certain mod you want?  Is that how it work?

[Nira]

Yess, each mod you can put on a weapon will have a polarity. If your weapon has a slot that matches this polarity, the mod will cost half as many points to put on.

 

Example: you use a forma to put a "V" (so called because... well, the symbol looks like a V) polarity on your Latron. You have a rank 8 Serration, which costs 12 mod points, and is of the "V" polarity. Installing your Serration on the forma-d slot will now only cost 6 points.

 

As Vandal says, you need to get an item to max rank (30) before you can forma it, and of course it will set the item back to rank 0, to be levelled back up again.

 

Welcome to the grind!

Edited April 16, 2015 by Dualice

[KlarVyvern]

I have not forma anything yet so I want to get this question answer before hand.

 

Do each polarity mean something, and how do you forma?  Do you forma base on what polarity of a certain mod you want?  Is that how it work?

Polarities halves the cost of mods, so matching a polarity with a demanding mod is a good idea.

[thehotsung8701A]

I read that Forma can also change existing polarity, do you guys suggest I do that first before adding new polarity to non polarity slot?

[Modulus14]

I would add new polarities unless the polarity it gave is useless for all your builds (sometimes the D). If it is not a polarity on any mods you would use then it will hurt you by putting a mod without a matching polarity.

Edited April 16, 2015 by Modulus14

[Nira]

I would add new polarities unless the polarity it gave is useless for all your builds (sometimes the D)

 

This :) The "D" can be useful, but it can restrict your builds because there are very few mods that use this polarity, and the ones that do may alter the build in an undesirable way. As Vandal said all cold damage mods are of the "D" polarity, and you aren't always gonna want/need them, whereas as you'll always need things like Split Chamber, Hornet Strike, etc. etc.

[Nazzami]

My personal rule of thumb when i forma a warframe is to keep the the maximum of 5 polarities at most usually i don't need as many as that, not including auras and to only do the maximum of 2 of any kind of slot e.g 2 "V" 2 "-" and 1 "D" it give you enough leeway with your mod that should things in your mod loadout change.

 

[thehotsung8701A]

My personal rule of thumb when i forma a warframe is to keep the the maximum of 5 polarities at most usually i don't need as many as that, not including auras and to only do the maximum of 2 of any kind of slot e.g 2 "V" 2 "-" and 1 "D" it give you enough leeway with your mod that should things in your mod loadout change.

 

 

Why don't you do all 8 polarity, is it really not needed?

[EvilKam]

8 polarity slots generally eliminates the flexibility you have in the build, meaning you can not change much around.

 

Forma is simple, it changes the polarity of any one slot, so before you ever consider using one, think of what mods you know you are always going to have.

 

V polarity for weapons is a no-brainer, serration and split chamber both use that polarity, and max out at 14 and 15 energy each.

 

I almost always use elemental weapon damages, so a couple of dash polarity are go-to choices for me.

 

For me, I think it was Valkyr had one of her polarities "wrong", so I modified one of her pre-installed polarities.  I forget which one.

 

If a mod is expensive, and useful, then add a polarity for it.

 

Amprex was maximized, in my case, for all of the crit bonus mods and Serration.

 

My typical build is Serration, Split chamber (2 v polarities), Cryo Rounds, Hellfire (dash polarity) combine for blast, and two more dash polarities for Toxic and Electric.

 

So for a rifle, 3 dashes, and 2 v polarities would be my ideal layout.

 

Ultimately it should be an easy choice, if you enjoy the gun, then figure out what makes it kill best?  Polarize for that.

If you don't enjoy the gun, then get it to 30, and consider ditching it.

[noteom]

Why don't you do all 8 polarity, is it really not needed?

 

because you don't need that many, and because if I put a V mod on a D polarity i'm not getting the benefit I would on a V polarity, so you'd have a hard time using different mods on there.

basically, you just want to start out with a couple polarity slots, and you want them to match your most expensive (in terms of points used) mod.

you might not currently have serration at 10 ranks, but someday you will, so V polarity will help, etc

highest point mods on weaps are generally a couple V followed by -

[Wulfhram]

If you looking to Forma something I would suggest for you to first make a build for it, you can always use warframer-builder.com for such.

When you get your build done you can think what and where to Forma and not do it randomly.

 

I started by looking on youtube for a few build videos about the weapons I like the most and then I started creating my own builds.

[smithf]

If you looking to Forma something I would suggest for you to first make a build for it, you can always use warframer-builder.com for such.

When you get your build done you can think what and where to Forma and not do it randomly.

 

I started by looking on youtube for a few build videos about the weapons I like the most and then I started creating my own builds.

 

Listen to this post. This is the starting point:

before you even do anything, make sure you know where you are going and why.

 

The general order of things should always be (there can be exceptions, but this should work for most cases):

 

- Install catalyst/reactor first. This gives you the greatest increase in mod capacity. I don't see any point in adding forma, which has diminishing returns, unless you have a potato installed (assuming that you have potatoes). If you don't, I'll suggest wait until you install one before you start adding forma. (assuming that the decision to forma means that you want to keep/maximize the particular equipment).

 

- Have target builds in mind. Note that there may be multiple builds that you want. As somebody mentioned above, forma-ing all slots effectively removes flexibility. If you don't have a target build or is in the process of deciding on the target build, you can still go ahead forma if you know that some mods polarities will always be used.

 

- With the builds in mind, try to find the common polarities which will give greatest benefit (reduction in mod capacity) summed across all build variants. These are the polarity that you should consider forma-ing slots to.

 

- As you add forma, you will probably stop at 2 cases:

  first, when you have more than enough mod capacity to mount all the mods that you want across all builds.

  second, when there is no or negative net benefit: e.g. adding additional forma actually increases the cost when summed across multiple builds (e.g. it may reduce cost for one build, but increases cost for another build)

Edited April 17, 2015 by smithf

[thehotsung8701A]

8 polarity slots generally eliminates the flexibility you have in the build, meaning you can not change much around.

 

Forma is simple, it changes the polarity of any one slot, so before you ever consider using one, think of what mods you know you are always going to have.

 

V polarity for weapons is a no-brainer, serration and split chamber both use that polarity, and max out at 14 and 15 energy each.

 

I almost always use elemental weapon damages, so a couple of dash polarity are go-to choices for me.

 

For me, I think it was Valkyr had one of her polarities "wrong", so I modified one of her pre-installed polarities.  I forget which one.

 

If a mod is expensive, and useful, then add a polarity for it.

 

Amprex was maximized, in my case, for all of the crit bonus mods and Serration.

 

My typical build is Serration, Split chamber (2 v polarities), Cryo Rounds, Hellfire (dash polarity) combine for blast, and two more dash polarities for Toxic and Electric.

 

So for a rifle, 3 dashes, and 2 v polarities would be my ideal layout.

 

Ultimately it should be an easy choice, if you enjoy the gun, then figure out what makes it kill best?  Polarize for that.

If you don't enjoy the gun, then get it to 30, and consider ditching it.

 

Isn't there 5 different polarity types,  Do you know what each mean?  I understand your main polarity are V and the dash mean elemental effect/damage types.  What are the other 3 polarity?

 

 

On that note since we are talking about mods.  Are there any class that explain description of every mods?  For example I don't understand the different between max power and max efficiency?  Seem like the same thing to me.  Also is there a link or a place that I can learn about what mods are worth maxing?  Like what are all the good mods?  As a beginner, there are too many mods so I want to spend my credit right building the right mods and gearing up my frame. 

 

Thanks!

Edited April 17, 2015 by thehotsung8701A

[Wulfhram]

Isn't there 5 different polarity types,  Do you know what each mean?  I understand your main polarity are V and the dash mean elemental effect/damage types.  What are the other 3 polarity?

Yes, there are 5 polarities:

 

V - Madurai, mostly for damage or power

D - Vazarin, defense, health, stamina or armor 

- (dash) - Naramon, Mostly elements

= (double dash) - Zenurik, augment mods

|. = Penjaga, For sentinels and kubrows powers.

Square = Koneksi, fusion cores

/- = Unairu, some melee stance mods has this polarity.

[maumastoks]

Formas are commonly used to re-polarize the aura slots of warframes (to apply something like corrosive projection/energy siphon)

Everything else was already posted by other members. Just select to apply forma and click on the slot you want to polarize/re-polarize and keep clicking on that slot until you see a symbol of polarity you want to get. Simple

[thehotsung8701A]

Yes, there are 5 polarities:

 

V - Madurai, mostly for damage or power

D - Vazarin, defense, health, stamina or armor 

- (dash) - Naramon, Mostly elements

= (double dash) - Zenurik, augment mods

|. = Penjaga, For sentinels and kubrows powers.

Square = Koneksi, fusion cores

/- = Unairu, some melee stance mods has this polarity.

 

Thanks for that description!  So I take it there actually only 4 polarity?  Isn't there an R polarity?

[EvilKam]

Hotsung, you're reaching the point where you're going beyond the simple answers.  The wiki lists all of the polarities, and one of them is annotated with an "r", but to me it looks like a spot, a vertical line, and another spot.  It's for sentinel abilities.

 

None of that matters at all, and none of that effects gameplay.  It's nifty to know, but what really matters are the numbers.  "How does that mod help you is all you need to care about."

 

Different weapons will need specific mods for your play style.  My Dread is modded for maximum fire rate.  Fast Hands, Shred, Speed Trigger, Vile Acceleration, all of these make Dread "playable" to me.  Others will call me a moron citing that they believe all of those to be a waste of polarity slots.

 

Now power strength usually affects the damage output of a warframe's powers, but it has other effects too.  There is literally no way to know how, unless you read the wiki entries on your warframes, and the data-miners have figured out a lot of specifics which are otherwise completely hidden from the player.

 

The only way to know how to optimize a warframe is by reading the entry on the wiki for that warframe, and learning all of the unique effects of mods on that warframe, which are not universal.  For example:

Excalibur's slash dash gets longer range by using a duration boost, not by range boosts.  Thus, Slash Dash's range isn't affected by range at all.  Radial Blind is affected by range.

Rhino's stomp makes enemies hover in air for 3 seconds, Range is affected by range, but duration has no effect at all.

 

The ONLY WAY you will ever learn those facts is by reading the wiki.  Or, another player who has read the wiki mentions it to you.

Edited April 17, 2015 by EvilKam