Hive Missions

[Homer87]

Hello everyone. I've been going through the star chart clearing up missions that haven't been done yet on each planet, and doing one planet per day. Tomorrow is "Clean Up Eris" day. I'm going to be doing my least favorite mission types: Hive missions. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on what frame I could use to solo the mission (since I will most likely be doing that anyway).

 

My initial idea was to use Loki with an extended invisibility build with hushed invisibility, wielding an Amprex and an Atomos. I would throw out decoys for them to maul on while I find the tumors (which I have a difficult time finding even with the codex scanner).

 

I'm definitely open to suggestions. The choice of frame is any with the exception of Ash and Hydroid, as I do not have these two frames.

[Z123FFSS89]

I used Loki to do them but now I use Equinox. Just use max range Equinox and use maim to destroy all the tumor nodes. Works like a charm.

[Rosalyn]

Limbo, I solo'd Eris with a Limbo. Just stay in the rift while modded for duration and natural talent. Come out of the rift to kill the tumor nodes when you find them and then instantly go back into the rift. Loki can work too though.

[ChloeSakuna]

I grabbed a friend and ran Sayrn and Trinity through all of Eris Missions. Solo would suggest Loki or Limbo. Equinox is also a good choice however she is squishy.

[smithf]

If I want a boring run, I'll use max efficient EmberP. Amprex + Atomos is my choice for lazy aiming as well. Just keep WOF up and add in a couple of accelerant in tight spots. This can let me almost ignore the enemies and concentrate on looking for targets.

 

Equinox with AOE slash seems pretty good too (from above post). as the most troublesome part is to hunt for the "tumors". Have not tried it myself, but if the slash attack can auto attack the tumor, I think it is worth it on its own. (since the slash attack can even break windows on corpus ships when we don't want it to, I believe it will attack the tumors as well)

 

Just to mention: these are considered good lazy choices due to the abilities being passive AOE  (cast, effects move with player) which does not hinder movement or other weapon usage. The only other warframe i know that can do this is Chroma (Ward) but that range is small compared to Ember/Equinox.  While other frames may have more powerful AOE, they are not 'passive', which goes against my principle of being laz... I mean... "minimal effort" ;)

Edited August 20, 2015 by smithf

[ChloeSakuna]

When was the last time you did Eris? Because I completed Eris a month ago after the corrupted ancient patch and well, got kicked in by a bunch of enemies on Eris even though my friend was trinity and I was running a 4 forma Ember with min/max mods. I also had most of what you suggested a 5 forma amprex etc. : / Eris is super difficult right now as Infested are not fluffy bunnies anymore but actually do hurt. Hive makes it 10x worse due to the environmental changes with infested everywhere on you. If you can't kill them fast enough they will swarm you, drag you around a thousand times and then you'll have to revive yourself if you're soloing. Good luck, Hives suck.

Edited August 20, 2015 by ChloeSakuna

[smithf]

When was the last time you did Eris? Because I completed Eris a month ago after the corrupted ancient patch and well, got kicked in by a bunch of enemies on Eris even though my friend was trinity and I was running a 4 forma Ember with min/max mods. I also had most of what you suggested a 5 forma amprex etc. : / Eris is super difficult right now as Infested are not fluffy bunnies anymore but actually do hurt. Hive makes it 10x worse due to the environmental changes with infested everywhere on you. If you can't kill them fast enough they will swarm you, drag you around a thousand times and then you'll have to revive yourself if you're soloing. Good luck, Hives suck.

 

just in case I am out of date (doing less infested since little Behemoth came out), I just went and did a quick run (Eri, Hive) through. Seems to have no problems, using only WoF, a couple of Accelerant, and mainly Amprex (with some melee).

The only slight hiccup I had was when I had to use an Energy Restore when I blundered into an energy sucking bubble.  <= totally agree that the environmental traps are tricky.. I found I had to pay more attention to them than enemies.

 

Did not use any other restores beyond that.

 

Note though that I am playing SOLO so it could be easier than it would be in a team.

 

Just for reference, here are my builds:

 

4forma Ember Prime

 

4forma Amprex

 

EDIT: some after-analysis.

 

The "style" I went in is dumb: on WOF whenever there are enemies around, add in an Accelerant when there is a particularly big bunch of enemies or to bridge the gap when WOF is running out so that enemies are temporarily CC'ed while I recast WOF.

 

Weapon-wise, if I see something that doesn't die immediately from WOF (like ancients), or even a freshly dead enemy, I just squeeze Amprex at it quickly (Amprex can chain from dead enemies too, which I often use to damage enemies beyond field of vision).

 

I figure that WOF, Sinister Reach on Amprex could be the top deciding factor here. I got rid of Ammo-mutation for Sinister Reach as it can damage enemies more efficiently (which as a side effect, reduces ammo wastage, allowing me to run a build without ammo mods). The wide arcs basically mean I could be blind and still hit enemies around as long as I hit something with hp (including dead bodies). That recalled one of my favorite tactics when running with a group with a tank. The tank will run in front, and I just follow him/her and fire Amprex into him/her periodically. We just jogged through infested missions like that :) (not recommended for other factions due to range fire though).

 

Not sure if anything here is useful to you, but if there are some new ideas, maybe you can test it yourself to see if it makes it more manageable.

Edited August 20, 2015 by smithf

[catastrophy]

Miragex5 and slash through them with a long melee weapon, though I find that Equinox tip nice for when you cannot find the tumor nodes.

[smithf]

yeah. I am interested in maxing Equinox just to test if the slash can hold back the enemies as well, or at least makes it easier to finish up the rest with weapons. If that part is feasible, it could usurp Ember on my personal ranking of "lazy frames" (for infested).

 

Forgot to mention another build I like for general Infested mission: Fire Chroma

- I run mainly 2 builds: one balanced for normal mission, and a maxed efficient-strength Effigy build for infested defense.

- Vigor and Steel Fiber makes it ridiculously tanky (poison damage that is dangerous to most other frames will just be small itches to Chroma).

- Ward is useful as a heal (surprisingly, especially when duration is low, allowing faster recasts). Even if the Chroma is hit by a bad poison DOT, it can usually be counteracted with just one cast of Ward. This is the one aspect that I feel Chroma has more tank potential than say Valkyr despite the latter's higher armor etc : because Chroma can 'heal' as needed cheaply.

- I realized that I don't use other abilities other than Ward though (not even Vex Armor). If I am running an efficient build, Effigy is sometimes helpful as a decoy, but I find that I rely on weapons for most damage as Chroma. (hint for some: Effigy makes a good first target for Amprex, though it is more apparent on mobile/defence than Hive)

Edited August 20, 2015 by smithf

[(XBOX)ChantingSheep]

Fire-based Chroma is never a bad choice against infested, especially solo.

[Defendor]

Valkyr makes Infested really easy IMO, provided you have the needed mods and weapons. Grab something big like Jat Kittag or Scindo P, put Life Strike and Berserker on it, get lots of health and armor, grab a Vaykor Marelok for the hard to reach hive parts and go to town. It's really easy.

[(PSN)CowboyJeff72]

I did my solo hives with Rhino Prime. Nothing really special about him and he doesn't even have a forma on him. Iron Skin pretty keeps you from getting downed when you do run into a mob and Stomp can open up a path. I sympathize, they were my least favorite to run as well and I did most of the quest (was for Mirage I think) even by myself! Took Boltor Prime and Dragon Nikana both with Corrosive builds. Later, I put Rush on Rhino as well which made things go a little faster and smoother.

[Darzk]

Don't forget to bring your scanner - looking through it can really help to find the tumors. After a few runs you should be able to get a good idea of where they spawn tho.

 

I like to use Ember Prime as well, especially when I need syndicate XP. There's only a few things she excels at so it's nice to use her for those. If I don't care about xp and just want it done, perma-invis Loki is probably best. Be sure to bring Vit and a way to heal in case you stumble into a trap tho.

[srlhama]

Not better than line up 9 Infest ans wipe all with a Drakgoon shot, and nothing on Eris non endless mission survive a uncharged shot of my Drakgoon.

[(PSN)blueflameskY]

I did my solo hives with Rhino Prime.

I also use Rhino for hive missions. Iron skin makes it a breeze, expecially if there are those bubbles around that procs magnetic when you enter them. Stomp and Roar are useful as well.

[smithf]

Adding a clarification wrt Equinox's Maim.

 

Tried taking a 13% Duration, 175% Efficient, 145% Range, 212% strength Equinox to an Eris Hive mission running with Maim perma-on. Here are some points:

 

- Maim DOES NOT attack tumors. We still have to find and destroy those manually.

- Maim functions as a 'passive AOE' similar to Ember's WOF, and although I did not measure things exactly, it felt similar (if a little weaker?) in killing (could  be due to slash vs fire damage difference though)

- WOF has an initial damage wave while Maim has a damage toggle on termination.

- WOF needs to be recasted but Maim can be maintained as long as there is enough energy.

- Overall effect is Ember's WOF has weakness of recasting, but compensated by regular 'initial damage', and Ember's Accelerant can be used as damage buff/sub-CC

- Equinox has the convenience of not requiring recasts for Maim, can invoke a damage burst when Maim is deactivated, but there is a weak gap between that and recasting (though we could argue that damage burst would have killed everything in short range). Switching to Mend gives the ability to heal, which Ember cannot, but it will mean giving up the passive AOE while in night-form.

- atm, I find it a tie between Ember and Equinox (in terms of 'laziness'), partly because Amprex played a good part in cleaning up whatever the frame's abilities did not kill off.

 

pity that Maim does not help with tumors...

Edited August 20, 2015 by smithf

[Homer87]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. After reading them all, I decided to go with these builds here. These are my builds and I'm posting them here in case anyone else has this question. (Edit: I figured out how to post the pictures directly to the forums)

 

Frame: 

 

Primary: 

 

Secondary: 

 

Melee: 

 

@Smithf, I can confirm that Maim does work against the tumors as well as the hive cluster itself. You'll just have to "detonate it", which doesn't take long as infested were attacking me the entire time. If Maim destroys the last tumor, the hive cluster will not be destroyed with it. That will require another cast and detonation, which by that time if you see it, you can easily shoot it.

Edited August 20, 2015 by Homer87

[smithf]

@Smithf, I can confirm that Maim does work against the tumors as well as the hive cluster itself. You'll just have to "detonate it", which doesn't take long as infested were attacking me the entire time. If Maim destroys the last tumor, the hive cluster will not be destroyed with it. That will require another cast and detonation, which by that time if you see it, you can easily shoot it.

 

Ah.. thanks for the correction! I had not considered detonation as I just left Maim on 24-7 ;) Will definitely try this. Think it may work well in cases where I can detect the location tumor with scanner but don't have a clear line of sight.  Agreed that hive itself is no problem as it is marked by waypoint and usually in the open, so shooting it is more direct.