Best Warframe For A Melee Lover?

[Lane]

Hey guys so I've just come back after a 18-month hiatus (quit after Update 9/10), and I just wanted to see are there any new frames in particular whose abilities excel in close-range combat?

Last time I played Radial Javelin was still Excal's ult and I'm really digging the new ult (exalted blade) but would you say its the most ideal frame for melee?

Thanks ahead

[321agemo]

Atlas for maximum fisting

Wukong and his long pole

Valkyr with “eternal war” augment all night long.

:3

[(PSN)Malecent23]

Ash? (Don't h8 m8 I don't hav evry warfraym)

[Miser_able]

First off welcome back.

Secondly any frame with an abilty that buffs melee would be good some suggestions that I can think of are valkyr,volt,sayrn,excalibur,and nezha but I might have missed some.

[(PSN)IIIDevoidIII]

Moved to Players Helping Players subforum.

[Otenko]

EDIT: In the interest of keeping it short, I'll summarize the general aspects people usually pick a frame for melee. (also made some small edits strewn throughout).

 

Chroma and Valkyr are usually the go-to choices for melee as the "defensive/tanky" frames. They have the potential to get tons of armor, which result in pretty sizable damage mitigation.

 

Trinity can be lumped into the above category somewhat. Link has its 75% damage reduction when tethered to an enemy and Blessing now imparts damage reduction based on how much health you (or an ally or sentinel) are missing when you cast it. Blessing can give up to 99%(!) DR, so it's definitely a powerful damage reduction skill. However, without at least one of these skills active, Trinity is fairly fragile.

 

Ash/Loki are the "stealth" choices, since they have invisibility. Ash is considered to be the offense-oriented side of the invisibility coin and Loki is thought to be the utility/battlefield-control side. Invisibility (for both of them), gives a 4x damage multiplier on melee attacks provided you don't bump into the enemy you're whacking.

 

-Ash has Teleport (which lets you perform stealth finishers on enemies you teleport to) and Blade Storm, which is way way way way stronger than it used to be.

-Loki has Radial Disarm, which has huge range and turns Bombards and Gunners to melee units; you won't have to worry about stray rockets/bullets clipping you.

 

Excalibur is still a good melee frame, since Radial Blind now lets you perform stealth finishers on enemies. He doesn't have direct invisibility like Ash/Loki nor huge damage mitigation potential like Chroma/Valkyr but Exalted Blade is still an immensely powerful 4th skill which has Reflex Guard (automatic blocking) from the front.

 

Rhino is also one to possibly consider. Iron Skin recently received a buff that gives it a 4 second invincibility period on cast. All absorbed damage during this period is converted to added health on Iron Skin, which gives it some scalability provided you can cast it at opportune times. It also prevents knockdowns and status effects (such as damage over time debuffs like "Slash" and "Toxin" procs or "Magnetic" procs which are the same as Ancient Disruptor's energy drain back in the day).

 

Anyway, those are the more conventional choices as far as melee oriented frames are concerned. Naturally, you can use whoever you want if you find a frame you enjoy more.

Edited December 28, 2015 by Otenko

[taiiat]

there's quite a few Warframes which have Abilities and generic stats that are beneficial to Melee.

in no particular order:

 

• Atlas can punch things, block AI Pathing to control how many Enemies you face (or group them up), and summon some friends to help him punch things.

• Valkyr is a Melee Warframe, through and through. all 4 Abilities are about Melee. they have other uses, but are primarily for Melee.

• Excalibur has a strong Melee theme.

• Ash has somewhat of a strong Melee theme - focusing a lot on Single Target executions.

• Oberon has Abilities which can benefit well in Melee.

• nowadays Rhino has a couple Abilities which perform best in about Melee Range.

• Wukong is... well, there's certainly a Melee theme.

• Trinity can perform very well in Melee despite having no direct connection to it.

• Frost could perform fairly adequately at Melee despite having no direct connection to it.

• Saryn retains her partial Melee theme.

• Banshee has a partial Melee theme. moreso with certain Augments.

• Mag could potentially work adequately in Melee despite having no real connection to it.

• Limbo can perform fairly adequately at Melee.

• Chroma can fill most Combat roles quite well.
• 
  

if you want in depth explanations of the Abilities of these Warframes, you can get the information more quickly from their relevant Wiki Articles. also saves me a lot of typing.

 

Edit:

Blessing can give up to 99%(!) DR

food for thought:

the actual maximum you can realistically achieve (i.e. with 740 Health because nobody sane would be using Vigor), is 99.729%.

Edited December 28, 2015 by taiiat

[(PSN)bLaiiSe_go_brrr]

Ash to keep that combo multiplier going with Rising Storm augment and stealth attacks.

Add 2 Arcane Trickery, max out Naramon's Shadow Step and you have perma invisibility.

Results:

Combo counter

End mission dmg chart

[Caseph]

I'd give Loki Prime a try since it also gets a melee buff when invisible with its 2nd ability.

[(PSN)poloslash18]

Wukong.

Life Strike + Rage + Defy=

[(PSN)CoolD2108]

Depends on the kind of melee you wanna go at... the best ones for direct melee are:

*Chroma (VERY tanky, vex armor buffs your damage and defense)

*Valkyr (basestat build, warcry and paralysis for finishers. Play axes/hammers for the best finishers)

*Volt (same as allways, add shocking speed for some extra flare)

Excal (RB build with finisher augument. Onehits evrything.)

Ability melee

*Excal (RB got nerfed to Los but it still buffs his EB and works excellent. EB is basicly ranged melee)

*Valkyr (Hysteria build, now with god-mode button)

*Atlas (aka one punch man)

*Wukong (the staff is pretty decent and defy acts as god-mode substitute while allowing rage. He's missing group utility tho.)

Since you're probably about to finish the second dream, pick the naramon focus. Adds a passive that gives melee a chance to make you invisible (stealth multipliers!)

Edited December 28, 2015 by (PS4)CoolD2108

[OniGanon]

Valkyr and Wukong are probably the most obvious choices, being essentially invincible and having their own special melee weapon abilities. Chroma is another very good candidate, especially if you actually want to be able to use your guns too.

 

Ash, Atlas, Excalibur, and Saryn all have a melee focus, but they're also considerably more fragile than the above three. They're good but risky choices.

 

Banshee, Ivara, Loki, Nezha, Oberon, Rhino, Trinity and Volt could conceivably be used for melee, but you're probably being silly at that point.

[(PSN)Cwellann]

There's nothing silly about a shocking speed Naramon Volt.  Or a dark dagger Loki.

 

*snip*

Really?  2105 hits and only a 4x multiplier?  I know it's exponential scaling, but still, that's just silly.

[(PSN)bLaiiSe_go_brrr]

There's nothing silly about a shocking speed Naramon Volt. Or a dark dagger Loki.

Yeah, you need 3645 hits for a 4,5x multiplier.

Really? 2105 hits and only a 4x multiplier? I know it's exponential scaling, but still, that's just silly.

Yeah, you need 3645 hits for a 4,5x multiplier. Edited December 28, 2015 by (PS4)bLaiSe_HUN

[TheGrimCorsair]

Yeah, you need 3645 hits for a 4,5x multiplier.

 

Would you mind posting your build for your Ash?

 

Zephyr is another great melee frame when equipped with the mod for her 3, as it lets you mostly ignore ranged attacks, and provides a nice boost in movement and melee attack speed. Her 1 will get you from place to place faster than just about anyone and her 2 will floor enemies around you as you land. Just remember to avoid incoming melee attacks.

[(PSN)bLaiiSe_go_brrr]

Would you mind posting your build for your Ash?

Zephyr is another great melee frame when equipped with the mod for her 3, as it lets you mostly ignore ranged attacks, and provides a nice boost in movement and melee attack speed. Her 1 will get you from place to place faster than just about anyone and her 2 will floor enemies around you as you land. Just remember to avoid incoming melee attacks.

Steel Charge, Rising Storm, Transient Fortitude, Intensify, Streamline, Stretch, Primed Flow and Continuity, Constitution. Balanced build for 12 sec invisibility and +6 seconds for the combo counter.

[(PSN)Cwellann]

I'm gonna give that a try.  Thanks.

 

PS Wow you're rich.

[(PSN)robotwars7]

there are lots of Configurations that work for Melee.

 

- Valkyr with Rage allows you to tank like crazy and get as close as you like, plus you have hysteria.

 

- Wukong works the same way, as long as you have Defy Active and build for efficiency and Duration. even though his armour is way lower than Valkyr's, you can't get one-shot with Defy active, that's the point of it.

 

- Rhino is much stronger since his rework, and while he may only have Iron Skin for Protection, the Skin now scales and grants a few seconds invincibility after casting. he also brings more support to the team with roar and Stomp.

 

- as you mentioned, excal is pretty solid, though he is vulnerable if attacked from behind (auto-parry only deflects rounds from the front)

 

- you could also use Ash with a teleport build, great for focusing on heavier enemies if you get bored chopping up regular mobs.

 

- Loki with Irradiating Disarm, or just built for duration with invisibility are also great for getting up close, or forcing enemies to go to you.

 

lots of choices. the hard part for me is choosing who to take (and which instrument of death to take with them)

[7Lions]

Any frame with QT + Rage + Life Strike becomes melee viable

 

Sure there are those cut and dry melee frames ala Excal, Atlas, Valk, Wu Kong, but I take much pride and joy making other wise unconventional frames into melee viable frames. QT + Rage has become a staple for all of my WF builds I dont care what any one else says, when guns fall off, melee is where its at. 

[(PSN)selfproclaimed]

When I melee with a typical frame. Swing,swing, swing. Boring. I just took out a few enemies..Whip out gun , destroy them all... However I love using atlas landslide for melee. Punch your way into a crowd and destroy them all very easily and quickly. Damage numbers can range from 18k,40k,60k,90k,100k white numbers...get some crits in there,say using a max arcane avenger, I've gotten crits over 400k

[(PSN)CoolD2108]

Steel Charge, Rising Storm, Transient Fortitude, Intensify, Streamline, Stretch, Primed Flow and Continuity, Constitution. Balanced build for 12 sec invisibility and +6 seconds for the combo counter.

Dropp duration for basestats if you're able to get your hands on naramon or arcane trickery. Ash is able to benefit from both with this build for full stealth melee.

[(PSN)federally]

My favorite melee frames currently are Trinity and Valkyr.

To get the obvious one out of the way, Eternal War Valkyr is a ton of fun to play. You can run a variety of weapons to change up play a bit and take her anywhere. Plus the Eternal War mechanic adds a bit of a mini game you can play with yourself to see just how long you can keep WarCry going.

My other choice, Trinity, seems a bit odd but it works and is fun. With EV Trinity is really the only frame that can really do channeling builds. Add on some duration and use Link and the extra damage you take when in melee range works to your benefit.

[(PSN)bLaiiSe_go_brrr]

Dropp duration for basestats if you're able to get your hands on naramon or arcane trickery. Ash is able to benefit from both with this build for full stealth melee.

I have 2 trickeries on him and maxed out Shadow Step already. The duration is needed for Rising Storm, not Smoke Screen.

[(PSN)CoolD2108]

I have 2 trickeries on him and maxed out Shadow Step already. The duration is needed for Rising Storm, not Smoke Screen.

Pretty sure rising storm is unaffected by duration as it buffs by a percentuall value instead of adding duration.

[(PSN)bLaiiSe_go_brrr]

Pretty sure rising storm is unaffected by duration as it buffs by a percentuall value instead of adding duration.

Nah m8, it is affected by duration.

[Arithin]

For new frames? Wukong is built for it. High amount of survivability with a summoned weapon for his 4. Ideal of you love Excalibur but want more survivability. No squad buffing ability unfortunately.

Chroma does a but better. High armor, has minor squad synergy, and has a damage steroid. Pretty fun frame to use if you like leveling weapons solo and aren't into stealth play.

With naramon focus any frame does well in melee. Best scaling is still valk and Loki dagger build. Ivarra can do the same but the kit is pretty bow focused.