Focusing On Exalted Blade

[100SadPandas]

Hey guys, I just got back into the game recently and fell in love with the Excalibro rework. I really like his Exalted Blade and was trying to make it as strong as I could with this build so I could do some high level stuff with him. Could I get some critique with my build please? Thanks!

 

Here's the build on Excal:

And here's the build on my D. Nikana. Of course I change the elemental damage to suit whichever faction I'm facing:

(btw what elemental damage should I be using for each faction? Right now I'm using corrosive for Grineer and Orokin, Magnetic for Corpus, and Viral for the Infested

[ThorienKELL]

Honestly I don't play my excal too much, not that I don't like it but there are so many frames to play and explore and excal seems to never get on the line for second look, I have all frames and have started to play relatively recently so I had less time then I have frames. 

 

However my knowledge of defensive mechanics relies from my other frames, not only that I have all frames (all farmed myself) but they all have functional builds on them, syndicate mods, potatoes, everything.

 

High armor frames as a rule use vitality. Rage is great mod if you are planning of getting hit. Melee oriented excal could have great use of it. EB +RB excal shouldn't rely on getting hit too much imo.

 

Range is imo crucial stat in increasing effectiveness of whichever CC stat, only 25% increase in power radius will increase it effective AoE almost two folds. Imo importance of range in any cc skill cannot be overstated.

 

This is my current excal's "balanced" build. It's the "navigation map - fun" variant. Low level flow is there till I determine my energy requirements. Most of my other frames that use toggle abilities and have 170-190 EFF don't need it (like ember, valkyir ..) After I invest 1-2 formas in excal, I will modify build a bit but main idea is already here. I don't think i will use either rage or QT, it would definitely be an exception.

 

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/543046747451857154/FF5009CE362411E384004F59C4980D864E316DDF/

Edited December 26, 2015 by ThorienKELL

[-CdG-Zilchy]

I don't usually run out of energy on frames, even without running Rage, there's far too many ways to regain it, syndicate weaponry for example. Austin your build is centered around solo play and while it's OK to believe in your build you should try and be more accepting of other people's tactics and builds, rather than tell them they're wrong. As it stands, I like to play as a TEAM and while you might be able to survive well on your own, I'm a team player and after observing your attitude towards others I can tell you I'd rather be on their team than yours. Your build is centered on you and you alone, not helping your team. I'd rather be less self sufficient and more useful to my team.

Edited December 26, 2015 by Zilchy

[(XBOX)Austinjt126]

I don't usually run out of energy on frames, even without running Rage, there's far too many ways to regain it, syndicate weaponry for example. Austin your build is centered around solo play and while it's OK to believe in your build you should try and be more accepting of other people's tactics and builds, rather than tell them they're wrong. As it stands, I like to play as a TEAM and while you might be able to survive well on your own, I'm a team player and after observing your attitude towards others I can tell you I'd rather be on their team than yours. Your build is centered on you and you alone, not helping your team. I'd rather be less self sufficient and more useful to my team.

 

While my build excels in solo play, saying that it's only for solo play is preposterous. My point was to show that he can survive for insane amounts of time solo. However, I've not said anything about group play because no one builds a Damage frame with team-play in mind, mainly because anything that supports yourself is helping others through how you play.

 

Just because my frame does insanely well solo doesn't mean he's completely inept when it comes to playing in groups. I'm self-sufficient with energy creation and surviving because I run out and tank everything in existence, and my frame only gets stronger for it. Drawing aggro/CC'ing enemies in turn keeps them off everyone else. If I'm out killing the majority of the enemies in the area, that many less enemies are berating my team.

 

Don't assume you know how a build functions across the board when the only subject we've been discussing is solo play. Your playstyle determines how you assist your teammates, not always the abilities that your frame has.

[(XBOX)Austinjt126]

Honestly I don't play my excal too much, not that I don't like it but there are so many frames to play and explore and excal seems to never get on the line for second look, I have all frames and have started to play relatively recently so I had less time then I have frames. 

 

However my knowledge of defensive mechanics relies from my other frames, not only that I have all frames (all farmed myself) but they all have functional builds on them, syndicate mods, potatoes, everything.

 

High armor frames as a rule use vitality. Rage is great mod if you are planning of getting hit. Melee oriented excal could have great use of it. EB +RB excal shouldn't rely on getting hit too much imo.

 

Range is imo crucial stat in increasing effectiveness of whichever CC stat, only 25% increase in power radius will increase it effective AoE almost two folds. Imo importance of range in any cc skill cannot be overstated.

 

This is my current excal's "balanced" build. It's the "navigation map - fun" variant. Low level flow is there till I determine my energy requirements. Most of my other frames that use toggle abilities and have 170-190 EFF don't need it (like ember, valkyir ..) After I invest 1-2 formas in excal, I will modify build a bit but main idea is already here. I don't think i will use either rage or QT, it would definitely be an exception.

 

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/543046747451857154/FF5009CE362411E384004F59C4980D864E316DDF/

 

While I really like the idea of your build, I would argue that Steel Charge is much more beneficial, but that's ultimately up to you. Corrosive Projection has its perks, and is insanely useful if your team is also running with it, but for general play, Steel Charge would be better off IMO.

 

I would definitely recommend dropping in an Exilus Adapter and moving your Power Drift to that slot. Having that extra slot for modding can really make or break some setups. 

 

Rage isn't always a bad mod to have. Even without QT, it's still very useful for gaining energy while blocking, especially in situations where you need energy on the spot and don't have/want to use a pad or have access to a Trin.

 

I'd really like to see your build once you've completed it. I do get hot-headed from time to time, and I *might* have a superiority-complex, but healthy conflict and new perspectives always helps.

[Epsik-kun]

As a someone who has 4 Formas on his Excal and has completed two separate builds by doing so (well, I still need to get two more levels on that Blind Rage, tbh) what can I say:

 

-Handspring, Rage and Life Strike are cores for EBlade Excal. There won't be even one case, when Power Drift would save you. There will be countless amount of cases when Handspring will.

-Max Efficiency is the best way to go, as you want not only to be able to EBlade indefinitely, but to use his other skills;

-Flow and especially Primed Flow without Quick Thinking is a waste of a slot on EBlade Excal, if you went max efficiency;

-Primed Continuity is a panacea, it allows you to fit Transient Fortitude in your build without losing almost anything;

-Vitality + Steel Fiber is enough (I think, maybe I'm wrong) to withstand T4 lvl100 Bombard missile in the face, but not enough if it hits in the back;

-You can hit up to 200% Power Strength without any serious negative effects, however you won't as Mordred Helm is too cool to change it for the Arcane Pendragon;

-Naramon is awesome on EBlade Excal;

-If you want to have Excal doing RJ build too - don't polarize aura slot;

[(XBOX)Austinjt126]

As a someone who has 4 Formas on his Excal and has completed two separate builds by doing so (well, I still need to get two more levels on that Blind Rage, tbh) what can I say:

 

-Handspring, Rage and Life Strike are cores for EBlade Excal. There won't be even one case, when Power Drift would save you. There will be countless amount of cases when Handspring will.

-Max Efficiency is the best way to go, as you want not only to be able to EBlade indefinitely, but to use his other skills;

-Flow and especially Primed Flow without Quick Thinking is a waste of a slot on EBlade Excal, if you went max efficiency;

-Primed Continuity is a panacea, it allows you to fit Transient Fortitude in your build without losing almost anything;

-Vitality + Steel Fiber is enough (I think, maybe I'm wrong) to withstand T4 lvl100 Bombard missile in the face, but not enough if it hits in the back;

-You can hit up to 200% Power Strength without any serious negative effects, however you won't as Mordred Helm is too cool to change it for the Arcane Pendragon;

-Naramon is awesome on EBlade Excal;

-If you want to have Excal doing RJ build too - don't polarize aura slot;

 

Power Drift isn't meant for long runs, just quick Exterminate & MD missions where you want to spam RJ and get it over with. Basically situations where extra Strength is a plus, and where you wouldn't necessarily need Handsprings effect.

 

Are there any specific builds out yet for Naramon and an Excalibur pairing? The extra Critical Chance (15%+) and 5 second Invis for the duration of the mission sounds insane, especially when paired with Mios or War.

Edited December 26, 2015 by (XB1)Austinjt126

[torint_man]

This is the build I use

This would ideally have all the mods maxed, which would result in an energy capacity of 425, strength of 199, duration of 155, and maxed health and armor. This build with the naramon focus passive of invisibility on melee crits makes this the best setup in the game for EB. The negative efficiency might be a bit jarring on first glance, but is alleviated due to the fact that blocking with rage will give you the energy that it would have had you not blocked.(100 damage turns into 40 damage with blocking, but you are given 40 energy instead of the expected 16 due to rage rewarding blocking) Life Strike on your melee is obviously necessary, along with all the basic crit mods (steel charge, organ strike, berserker) and the other melee slots are pressure point, spoiled strike and the elementals. This build with naramon focus got me to 80 minutes on T3 survival on my first try with it.

[Epsik-kun]

Power Drift isn't meant for long runs, just quick Exterminate & MD missions where you want to spam RJ and get it over with. Basically situations where extra Strength is a plus, and where you wouldn't necessarily need Handsprings effect.

 

Are there any specific builds out yet for Naramon and an Excalibur pairing? The extra Critical Chance (15%+) and 5 second Invis for the duration of the mission sounds insane, especially when paired with Mios or War.

You don't press button 3 on EBlade Excal. And on RJ Excal Power Drift is worse than +15% range mod which name I don't remember.

 

Not sure, but even basically unlocked passives with no crit focused EBlade is already pretty strong. I think, with maxed passives you won't even need to focus on crits.

[bad4youLT]

if you want alot of power try javelyns augment furiuos jav, it boost melle damage and affects EB to , augment is affected by power strengh and duration , gives some crazy dmg but downside is its short duration

 

Edit : here try this ones

 

my mainstream build :

 

 

my experimental end game build :

 

 

Edited December 27, 2015 by bad4youLT

[(XBOX)Austinjt126]

You don't press button 3 on EBlade Excal. And on RJ Excal Power Drift is worse than +15% range mod which name I don't remember.

 

Not sure, but even basically unlocked passives with no crit focused EBlade is already pretty strong. I think, with maxed passives you won't even need to focus on crits.

 

 

I'll repeat:

Power Drift isn't mean for extended runs. It's intended for adding a decent amount of damage to Radial Javelin and Radial Dash, so you can spam said abilities and rush through missions without having to track down every single enemy individually. RJ and RD are both spammable and damaging abilities that can hit multiple targets, whereas EB is in a straight line.

It makes Low->Mid level missions a breeze. You enter a room, drop Javelin, and move on.

 

 

Also, you're referring to Cunning Drift. It reduces Friction by 30%, increases Slide Distance by 12%, and increases Power Range by 15%.

Cunning Drift would theoretically be better for Exalted Blades Slide-Blind, but that's just it. It's a theoretical. In comparison, Handspring is better universally and Power Drift is more beneficial in short missions low->mid difficulty where you spam RJ to quickly kill things.

 

Slide-Blinding has a very small area of effect. At 145% Range, your normal Radial Blind increases from 25m -> ~35m, whereas your Slide-Blind goes from ~5m -> ~7m. That's with an increase of 45%. Imagine how little of an effect an additive 15% from Cunning Drift would do.

[Epsik-kun]

I'll repeat:

Power Drift isn't mean for extended runs. It's intended for adding a decent amount of damage to Radial Javelin and Radial Dash, so you can spam said abilities and rush through missions without having to track down every single enemy individually. RJ and RD are both spammable and damaging abilities that can hit multiple targets, whereas EB is in a straight line.

It makes Low->Mid level missions a breeze. You enter a room, drop Javelin, and move on.

 

 

Also, you're referring to Cunning Drift. It reduces Friction by 30%, increases Slide Distance by 12%, and increases Power Range by 15%.

Cunning Drift would theoretically be better for Exalted Blades Slide-Blind, but that's just it. It's a theoretical. In comparison, Handspring is better universally and Power Drift is more beneficial in short missions low->mid difficulty where you spam RJ to quickly kill things.

 

Slide-Blinding has a very small area of effect. At 145% Range, your normal Radial Blind increases from 25m -> ~35m, whereas your Slide-Blind goes from ~5m -> ~7m. That's with an increase of 45%. Imagine how little of an effect an additive 15% from Cunning Drift would do.

I'll repeat, you don't press 3 as EBlade Excal. And even if you press 3 and even trying to mod accordingly - Cunning Drift would be preferable, as it increases maximum range of RJ allowing you to cover more map, while increase in power would be almost unnoticed (even more so on low-mid enemies), especially if you don't go Overextended. On RJ build Cunning Drift is also used to push RJ radius over 60m.

 

I don't get how is this related to sliding. On EBlade build Handspring > any other eximus slot. Even if you are using Power Drift to speed-up low level missions - any knockdown inflicted on you will make your overall speed slower than with Handspring instead.

[(XBOX)Austinjt126]

I'll repeat, you don't press 3 as EBlade Excal. And even if you press 3 and even trying to mod accordingly - Cunning Drift would be preferable, as it increases maximum range of RJ allowing you to cover more map, while increase in power would be almost unnoticed (even more so on low-mid enemies), especially if you don't go Overextended. On RJ build Cunning Drift is also used to push RJ radius over 60m.

 

I don't get how is this related to sliding. On EBlade build Handspring > any other eximus slot. Even if you are using Power Drift to speed-up low level missions - any knockdown inflicted on you will make your overall speed slower than with Handspring instead.

 

Cunning Drift gives a very insignificant boost to Range, whereas Power Drift actually changes your damage output. Power Drift can be the difference of instant-killing Mid-tier and having to shoot your Javelin off twice, using up 40 energy at max efficiency instead of 20.

 

Cunning Drift simply doesn't compare. I've tried everything to make it work to supplement my Range, and it doesn't work as effectively as Power Drift on Excalibur.

 

With a max efficiency or high Power pool build, Cunning Drift is unnecessary if you already have Stretch. The boost will only be 2-4 meters from what I've seen, which isn't worth investing in. It's more efficient to fire off an ability once, rather than multiple times because you lack the damage to kill things. 

 

In regards to a max efficiency or high Power pool build once again, you can "press 3" on an Exalted Blade Excal. Quite a lot actually. Even if it doesn't kill things immediately, it's still great for a knock down or clearing out trashmobs. It's not as efficient as Radial Blind, but it's still completely viable. It's just far more useful in lower level content.

 

Power Drift works over Handspring in lower level content because getting knocked down won't kill you, and where extra damage can be the difference between hitting an enemy once, or spending more time trying to kill it. It's convenience over necessity.

[Epsik-kun]

Cunning Drift gives a very insignificant boost to Range, whereas Power Drift actually changes your damage output. Power Drift can be the difference of instant-killing Mid-tier and having to shoot your Javelin off twice, using up 40 energy at max efficiency instead of 20.

 

Cunning Drift simply doesn't compare. I've tried everything to make it work to supplement my Range, and it doesn't work as effectively as Power Drift on Excalibur.

 

With a max efficiency or high Power pool build, Cunning Drift is unnecessary if you already have Stretch. The boost will only be 2-4 meters from what I've seen, which isn't worth investing in. It's more efficient to fire off an ability once, rather than multiple times because you lack the damage to kill things. 

 

In regards to a max efficiency or high Power pool build once again, you can "press 3" on an Exalted Blade Excal. Quite a lot actually. Even if it doesn't kill things immediately, it's still great for a knock down or clearing out trashmobs. It's not as efficient as Radial Blind, but it's still completely viable. It's just far more useful in lower level content.

 

Power Drift works over Handspring in lower level content because getting knocked down won't kill you, and where extra damage can be the difference between hitting an enemy once, or spending more time trying to kill it. It's convenience over necessity.

And Power Drift gives very insignificant boost to damage, in vast majority of cases not enough to push your damage into actually one-shotting something if you already don't. Especially, when you consider that EBlade build can have up to 299% Power Strength and adding extra 15% will effectively net you in about 3~8% boost, while Power Range stat rarely comes to even 145%, as it's usually neglected (you can also add here the case of using Narrow Minded instead of P. Continuity)

 

So, yeah, Cunning Drift is indeed do not compare. As you can't compare the mod that actually gives you a pretty legit chance to catch extra enemy with your RJ and a mod that effectively does nothing except for an extremely thin interval of enemy levels/armor.

 

Power Drift doesn't work over Handspring in lower levels, as the sole reason you seem to have to equip it is a slight increase to the speed of the mission completion. The increase is so small, that one-two fast knock-down recoveries during the mission will be enough to completely offset the power boost, hence my point.

 

And for RJ build Cunning Drift also provides noticeable range boost, as it allows you to cover two pretty important spots at both maps RJ Excal is primarily used for.

[Xaero]

This is my build:

 

And that's what you can do with it:

[100SadPandas]

This is my build:

 

And that's what you can do with it:

Dayum :/

Edited December 30, 2015 by 100SadPandas

[ThorienKELL]

In meantime, 2 formas and few days of gameplay later, this is my perfected excal build;

 

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/543047245833910200/58D83EE04BFD28148497ADE2A86E089F515AA0BB/

 

Imo this build is close to perfect, maybe not for solo play but it has superb damage and all around power stats making spamming and using of powers in whichever way you see fit possible. 

 

There is no need for rage with high efficiency and I saw no need for additional protective layer mods (QT/Armor) on this frame, imo excal is one of toughest and most resilient frames I have anyway, and I have them all. Thing is insanely powerful, channeling nullifies damage from front and will refill your health in one hit, wtf? (R1 life strike)

 

Slide attack +blind, I didn't know excals has this, couldn't they give him something more, like nuke? 

 

I decided to go without spoiled strike on my weapon, I use fury instead +beserker and no crit improving mods, only pressure point, life strike and 4 elementals combined in radiation /viral. This way his EB is insanely fast and it builds up beserker to full really fast, imo this is again perfect setup.

 

And imo further then that differences are too small to say anything is better really, is it so wrong to sacrifice little bit of pwr strength to gain almost unkkillable frame? No ofc not, go with whichever you feel best about and whichever fits your play style and you personally.

[(XBOX)Austinjt126]

Thing is insanely powerful, channeling nullifies damage from front and will refill your health in one hit, wtf? (R1 life strike)

 

 

Mind elaborating on this? I'm not quite sure if you're posing a question or commenting on a point previously made.

 

Slide attack +blind, I didn't know excals has this, couldn't they give him something more, like nuke? 

 

When you activate Exalted Blade, it creates a completely separate weapon AND stance, which as we all know, stances have combos. Slide-Blind is the sliding combo, which is roughly 1/3 of the distance and duration of the normal RB, but costs nothing. It also doesn't trigger the Finisher animation, which is always great since you aren't wasting precious time stabby-stabbying things. Here are the datamined stats:

 

EXCALIBUR'S EXALTED BLADE

 

Attack Speed: 0.833

Physical Damage: 35

Impact: 5.25

Puncture: 5.25

Slash: 24.5

Critical Chance: 15.00%

Critical Multiplier: 2.0x

Status Chance: 15.00%

 

So yeah, honestly, Crit and Dual Stat mods would actually be a tad beneficial. This is also a strong reason as to why I don't use Spoiled Strike, since SS effects the BASE stats of your weapon. Seeing as Exalted Blade has very little base damage, you're losing 20% of your base speed, which is slow as it is, and gaining next to no damage at all.

 

I don't think it's much of a stretch to assume that there are some hidden modifiers effecting EB that we currently don't know about. It's raw stats clearly don't compare to the massive damage output that we all know EB is capable of, or how it ties into the stats we see on the Ability screen.

 

 

Imo this build is close to perfect, maybe not for solo play but it has superb damage and all around power stats making spamming and using of powers in whichever way you see fit possible. 

 

There is no need for rage with high efficiency and I saw no need for additional protective layer mods (QT/Armor) on this frame, imo excal is one of toughest and most resilient frames I have anyway, and I have them all.

 

To each their own. 

Edited December 31, 2015 by (XB1)Austinjt126