Greetings everyone, my name is Jsuelieta, and I'll be trying to help guide you through your transition into a new Warframe. For a complete library of guides I've written or am in the process of writing, look no further than the links below:
Note: "To Be Built" means I haven't started building the frame yet, so at least 94 hours before I can even start, "In Progress" means the frame is either under construction or I'm playing the frame for personal experience but haven't hit rank 30 yet and "Coming Soon" means I'm ready to write the guide, or I've got the guide under final editing. I acquire every frame the hard way, and never sell them, so delays will come in the form of difficulty to collect the blueprints and how often I can afford new frame slots. I will complete them all eventually, however, and I will write a guide like this for each and every one for education and entertainment...because it's fun, that's why.
For now, we look at the Mag.
When I first started playing, I had no idea of what frames did what or were good at what, I had naught more than the video on Steam to give me any idea of what went on. The video showcased a bit of Excalibur, Loki, Mag and Rhino doing their respective things, and I instinctively classified them into categories like tank, spellcaster and stealth The Mag appealed to me as the one I designated "spellcaster", and after I found out I'd actually have a choice after the tutorial, I went for it and was instantly confused about what the Mag did or was good for.
If you had an experience even remotely resembling mine, this is likely where you want to be.
If you're still reading and seeking enlightenment on what the Mag is or is good for, you've likely started with her (yes, her) or have decided to buy or build her, and good for you. People seem to be fairly hard on the poor Mag, but she's incredibly useful in the right hands. To put it shortly, Mag is a balanced spellcaster with abilities that are good for manipulating battlefield conditions. She can reposition friends and enemies, recharge allies' shields, designate one enemy as a dedicated target or do terrible, terrible damage (literally and figuratively, as I'll explain) to everything in an area.
Before I get into Mag's abilities, let's first look at her mod slots and stats.
Slots
Like all frames, Mag has ten slots, four with the 'scratch' polarization for abilities to go in and two with the 'bar' polarization, which are generally tactical mods that will enhance your abilities, ability to position or powers of perception. Examples include Flow, Enemy Sense and Rush. This does tend to resign Mag to a utility role, but with Forma you can change that to suit your play style if you're so inclined. Or you could just slot against polarity, if that's what floats your boat, I'm not one to judge. Mag is cool like that, being flexible to almost everyone's style.
Stats
The Mag's stats look like this, with rank 30 in parentheses:
Health: 75 (225)
Shield: 150 (450)
Energy: 100 (150)
Armor: 50
That tends to mean that Mag is the type that loves cover for popping out of, taking a few shots, then allowing shields to recharge. Think Master Chief if he had magnetic power rather than grenades and a flashlight.
Abilities
This is what you probably really came here for, so I'll cut to the chase. Mag's abilities have different uses, and if one doesn't sit well with your style no one forces you to slot it. Use some or all at your discretion.
Pull (2 slots): Pull is the first ability you'll be able to equip, and probably one you'll get most familiar with. With this you can grab hold of a target and yank them in your direction over a fairly respectable distance. Ranking this ability up increases it's range. If you target an enemy with this, they'll be pulled in your direction and most of them will be knocked prone, leaving them vulnerable to an execution melee attack and helpless for a few seconds while they get back up. If you target an ally, it will just pull them in your direction, useful for getting them out of a bad spot. If your ally is downed, you can still pull them to the safety of cover to be revived. Pull is one of a team-oriented Mag's best tools, as long as you're not BEING a tool about it.
Shield Polarize(4 slots): The second ability in our arsenal is another support-type ability. Shield Polarize will restore a set amount of an ally's shield that increases with the rank of the ability and cannot target yourself (to my knowledge) OR be used to drain an enemy's shield. This doesn't seem like much in general unless you can keep track of all your allies, but it does have good uses. Draining an enemy's shield doesn't seem like much, but if you rank the ability up a bit, then this can drain a boss' shield so you can save your ammo for their health instead. On allies, most people will be able to save themselves, but in Endless Defense and Mobile Defense missions, this can be a game-changer, restoring shields to the immobile defense targets while your allies clean house. Why restore shield rather than kill the things draining it? Because against things like Grineer, you might not have enough time before the target is destroyed. The time you buy restoring shields could mean the difference between celebrated victory or shameful defeat.
Bullet Attractor(6 slots): This is kind of a weird offense/defense hybrid ability. When used on an enemy a green orb will surround them for 15 seconds and draw bullets to the target, both yours and the enemy's. It'll even draw the bullets of the one it's on right back at them. This doesn't seem like much, but there are some enemies like Grineer Heavy Gunners or almost any boss that this is great for. Most enemies will know enough to stop shooting when this is on them, so anything with a big gun is a great target. If you put this on an enemy that's in front of a bunch of other enemies, all the enemy bullets will go to that target instead, so it's effective defensively as well as offensively. Problems with this ability, however, are that it becomes impossible to actively aim at weak points with most weapons, and at least one boss will have this backfire by blocking off things you need to shoot. It's also important to note that not all shots are attracted by this. Bullets and Kunai are attracted, but bolts, arrows and the Glaive are not. Grenades enemies throw, however, are, and will blow up in their faces, so at least there's that. If you have an Excalibur partner, they can run into the area of effect and use their Radial Javelin and all the javelins will the attracted to the target for untold amounts of pain.
Crush (10 slots): This is the ability everyone thinks is the Mag's only useful one. Use this ability and enemies in an area will be lifted up, effectively stunning them for several seconds, after which they will take 1000 damage and be dropped again. The damage is not modified by the ability's rank, but the range is. It only effects enemies in the area of effect at the time of use, and the damage is reduced by enemy armor, which is why it can do terrible, terrible damage in both directions; it's either great or it's a great stun with little damage. Certain mods can enhance this ability's power to function, and if you're just an offensive machine you'll want them, but odds are good if you ARE an offensive machine, you probably picked Excalibur and are only reading this for giggles.
Alternate Gear
The Mag's helmet is the Coil Mag Helmet, obtainable by doing Alert missions with a ? reward. This helm alters the Mag's stats as follows:
Ability Range: +30% (approximate estimation)
Shield Capacity: -5%
Note that these hit AFTER your mods, so if you use Redirection the math looks something like this (currently as I understand how the mods work) ((B*M)+R)*H with B as your base, unranked shield, M is 1+mod bonus as a decimal (40% is .4, for example), R is your bonus from rank and H is the helm. If Redirection is at 200% and the frame is rank 30 it looks like this:
((150*[1+2.0])+300)*.95
I hate doing algebra in things like this, but sometimes things demand it, even if it feels like it slows the pace of the guide. So what does that mean? It means that, under those conditions, you get about 712 shield when you'd normally get 750, but you get a HUGE boost to the range of your powers. If you can get this helm, it's undoubtedly worth using. Crush radius gets huge, Pull range gets huge, you don't have to stand quite so near the thing you're trying to defend to boost it's shield. It's a boost to the safe zone you can move around in in relation to your team, enemies and defense targets at a relatively low cost.
Example Setup
Note: This is all my personal opinion and what works for me, your mileage may and likely will vary. Remember this is only an EXAMPLE and not the hard-and-fast way to do it. Customize to your style, don't adapt your style to me.
I personally like being able to do everything decently, so how I play my mag is like this:
Melee: Scindo (or any weapon with high execute damage)
How that works out is I have all my abilities, so I have lots of options. I'm a mid-short range fighter with options to ignore my own Bullet Attractor, my Crush will hit more enemies, do more damage and cost less energy and my shield is awesome. This does, however, assume one has an Orokin Reactor (aka potato) or has used enough Formas to ensure the mod costs are reasonable.
Tips and Tricks
As mentioned, use pull on downed allies to pull them into cover for revival. This can mean the difference between losing an ally and saving them. They'll thank you for it and be more likely to save you later, too.
I can't stress enough how awesome the Bullet Attractor/Radial Javelin combo is, especially against bosses. This can even outright kill some of them if you Excalibur partner has Focus.
In any kind of defense mission, stay near the defense target and let enemies come to you. Shield Polarize and Crush make you an incredibly potent last line of defense. This is especially important for specific missions like Kiste.
Familiarize yourself with where the drop points in rooms are. These are the places where pickups and enemies will appear if they fall off a 'bottomless' cliff. You can use Pull to yank a particularly dangerous target off a cliff and deposit them onto the drop point either out of reach or firmly within everyone's range to pummel it. I think specifically of Infected Ancients when I mention this, but get creative!
Pull can also be used to pull the shield off a Grineer Shield Lancer, but won't pull the Lancer itself with the same pull. Disarm those pesky shielders!
Conclusion
I'll be honest, I've never written anything like this before, but I've done my level best. Mag is a great frame for people looking to be a less straightforward type. Mag was my first frame, and I still prefer her for her awesome utility and ability to support a team while still being a killing machine. She is, first and foremost, a teamwork frame; use her abilities to work with your allies and you'll find much greater success than if you ignore the synergy. I hope you've enjoyed reading this and took something from it that might help your game.
(Any constructive comments or criticism would be welcome. Or editors. It's been a long time since I've written anything so long, so my grammar may be a bit off. Curse of things like Twitter and IMs for making you keep things short. Special thanks to Engelheim for reminding me about the Coil Mag Helmet!)
Question
Jsuelieta
Greetings everyone, my name is Jsuelieta, and I'll be trying to help guide you through your transition into a new Warframe. For a complete library of guides I've written or am in the process of writing, look no further than the links below:
So, You Decided To Play A(n):
Ash (To Be Built)
https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/57604-so-you-decided-to-play-a-banshee/'>Banshee
Ember (Coming Soon)
Excalibur (To Be Built)
Frost (In Progress)
Loki (To Be Built)
Mag (You Are Here!)
Nyx (To Be Built)
Rhino (To Be Built)
Saryn (To Be Built)
https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/54999-so-you-decided-to-play-a-trinity/'>Trinity
Vauban (To Be Built)
Volt (To Be Built)
Note: "To Be Built" means I haven't started building the frame yet, so at least 94 hours before I can even start, "In Progress" means the frame is either under construction or I'm playing the frame for personal experience but haven't hit rank 30 yet and "Coming Soon" means I'm ready to write the guide, or I've got the guide under final editing. I acquire every frame the hard way, and never sell them, so delays will come in the form of difficulty to collect the blueprints and how often I can afford new frame slots. I will complete them all eventually, however, and I will write a guide like this for each and every one for education and entertainment...because it's fun, that's why.
For now, we look at the Mag.
When I first started playing, I had no idea of what frames did what or were good at what, I had naught more than the video on Steam to give me any idea of what went on. The video showcased a bit of Excalibur, Loki, Mag and Rhino doing their respective things, and I instinctively classified them into categories like tank, spellcaster and stealth The Mag appealed to me as the one I designated "spellcaster", and after I found out I'd actually have a choice after the tutorial, I went for it and was instantly confused about what the Mag did or was good for.
If you had an experience even remotely resembling mine, this is likely where you want to be.
If you're still reading and seeking enlightenment on what the Mag is or is good for, you've likely started with her (yes, her) or have decided to buy or build her, and good for you. People seem to be fairly hard on the poor Mag, but she's incredibly useful in the right hands. To put it shortly, Mag is a balanced spellcaster with abilities that are good for manipulating battlefield conditions. She can reposition friends and enemies, recharge allies' shields, designate one enemy as a dedicated target or do terrible, terrible damage (literally and figuratively, as I'll explain) to everything in an area.
Before I get into Mag's abilities, let's first look at her mod slots and stats.
Slots
Like all frames, Mag has ten slots, four with the 'scratch' polarization for abilities to go in and two with the 'bar' polarization, which are generally tactical mods that will enhance your abilities, ability to position or powers of perception. Examples include Flow, Enemy Sense and Rush. This does tend to resign Mag to a utility role, but with Forma you can change that to suit your play style if you're so inclined. Or you could just slot against polarity, if that's what floats your boat, I'm not one to judge. Mag is cool like that, being flexible to almost everyone's style.
Stats
The Mag's stats look like this, with rank 30 in parentheses:
Health: 75 (225)
Shield: 150 (450)
Energy: 100 (150)
Armor: 50
That tends to mean that Mag is the type that loves cover for popping out of, taking a few shots, then allowing shields to recharge. Think Master Chief if he had magnetic power rather than grenades and a flashlight.
Abilities
This is what you probably really came here for, so I'll cut to the chase. Mag's abilities have different uses, and if one doesn't sit well with your style no one forces you to slot it. Use some or all at your discretion.
Pull (2 slots): Pull is the first ability you'll be able to equip, and probably one you'll get most familiar with. With this you can grab hold of a target and yank them in your direction over a fairly respectable distance. Ranking this ability up increases it's range. If you target an enemy with this, they'll be pulled in your direction and most of them will be knocked prone, leaving them vulnerable to an execution melee attack and helpless for a few seconds while they get back up. If you target an ally, it will just pull them in your direction, useful for getting them out of a bad spot. If your ally is downed, you can still pull them to the safety of cover to be revived. Pull is one of a team-oriented Mag's best tools, as long as you're not BEING a tool about it.
Shield Polarize (4 slots): The second ability in our arsenal is another support-type ability. Shield Polarize will restore a set amount of an ally's shield that increases with the rank of the ability and cannot target yourself (to my knowledge) OR be used to drain an enemy's shield. This doesn't seem like much in general unless you can keep track of all your allies, but it does have good uses. Draining an enemy's shield doesn't seem like much, but if you rank the ability up a bit, then this can drain a boss' shield so you can save your ammo for their health instead. On allies, most people will be able to save themselves, but in Endless Defense and Mobile Defense missions, this can be a game-changer, restoring shields to the immobile defense targets while your allies clean house. Why restore shield rather than kill the things draining it? Because against things like Grineer, you might not have enough time before the target is destroyed. The time you buy restoring shields could mean the difference between celebrated victory or shameful defeat.
Bullet Attractor (6 slots): This is kind of a weird offense/defense hybrid ability. When used on an enemy a green orb will surround them for 15 seconds and draw bullets to the target, both yours and the enemy's. It'll even draw the bullets of the one it's on right back at them. This doesn't seem like much, but there are some enemies like Grineer Heavy Gunners or almost any boss that this is great for. Most enemies will know enough to stop shooting when this is on them, so anything with a big gun is a great target. If you put this on an enemy that's in front of a bunch of other enemies, all the enemy bullets will go to that target instead, so it's effective defensively as well as offensively. Problems with this ability, however, are that it becomes impossible to actively aim at weak points with most weapons, and at least one boss will have this backfire by blocking off things you need to shoot. It's also important to note that not all shots are attracted by this. Bullets and Kunai are attracted, but bolts, arrows and the Glaive are not. Grenades enemies throw, however, are, and will blow up in their faces, so at least there's that. If you have an Excalibur partner, they can run into the area of effect and use their Radial Javelin and all the javelins will the attracted to the target for untold amounts of pain.
Crush (10 slots): This is the ability everyone thinks is the Mag's only useful one. Use this ability and enemies in an area will be lifted up, effectively stunning them for several seconds, after which they will take 1000 damage and be dropped again. The damage is not modified by the ability's rank, but the range is. It only effects enemies in the area of effect at the time of use, and the damage is reduced by enemy armor, which is why it can do terrible, terrible damage in both directions; it's either great or it's a great stun with little damage. Certain mods can enhance this ability's power to function, and if you're just an offensive machine you'll want them, but odds are good if you ARE an offensive machine, you probably picked Excalibur and are only reading this for giggles.
Alternate Gear
The Mag's helmet is the Coil Mag Helmet, obtainable by doing Alert missions with a ? reward. This helm alters the Mag's stats as follows:
Ability Range: +30% (approximate estimation)
Shield Capacity: -5%
Note that these hit AFTER your mods, so if you use Redirection the math looks something like this (currently as I understand how the mods work) ((B*M)+R)*H with B as your base, unranked shield, M is 1+mod bonus as a decimal (40% is .4, for example), R is your bonus from rank and H is the helm. If Redirection is at 200% and the frame is rank 30 it looks like this:
((150*[1+2.0])+300)*.95
I hate doing algebra in things like this, but sometimes things demand it, even if it feels like it slows the pace of the guide. So what does that mean? It means that, under those conditions, you get about 712 shield when you'd normally get 750, but you get a HUGE boost to the range of your powers. If you can get this helm, it's undoubtedly worth using. Crush radius gets huge, Pull range gets huge, you don't have to stand quite so near the thing you're trying to defend to boost it's shield. It's a boost to the safe zone you can move around in in relation to your team, enemies and defense targets at a relatively low cost.
Example Setup
Note: This is all my personal opinion and what works for me, your mileage may and likely will vary. Remember this is only an EXAMPLE and not the hard-and-fast way to do it. Customize to your style, don't adapt your style to me.
I personally like being able to do everything decently, so how I play my mag is like this:
Melee: Scindo (or any weapon with high execute damage)
Sidearm: Bolto/Akbolto
Rifle: Hek
Mods: Pull, Shield Polarize, Bullet Attractor, Crush, Stretch, Flow, Redirection, Focus, Fast Defection, Streamline
How that works out is I have all my abilities, so I have lots of options. I'm a mid-short range fighter with options to ignore my own Bullet Attractor, my Crush will hit more enemies, do more damage and cost less energy and my shield is awesome. This does, however, assume one has an Orokin Reactor (aka potato) or has used enough Formas to ensure the mod costs are reasonable.
Tips and Tricks
Conclusion
I'll be honest, I've never written anything like this before, but I've done my level best. Mag is a great frame for people looking to be a less straightforward type. Mag was my first frame, and I still prefer her for her awesome utility and ability to support a team while still being a killing machine. She is, first and foremost, a teamwork frame; use her abilities to work with your allies and you'll find much greater success than if you ignore the synergy. I hope you've enjoyed reading this and took something from it that might help your game.
(Any constructive comments or criticism would be welcome. Or editors. It's been a long time since I've written anything so long, so my grammar may be a bit off. Curse of things like Twitter and IMs for making you keep things short. Special thanks to Engelheim for reminding me about the Coil Mag Helmet!)
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