Is Loki Prime veteran territory?

[Khaine62]

Hello, there. I've recently gotten into Warframe over these last few weeks and I'm having a blast. As I've been playing, I've been setting goals for myself so I never get really bored. As such I've taken to setting my eye on Prime weapons and frames. This leads to my current issue: how difficult is Loki Prime to get down? 

I've read some other threads and people seem to say one of two things: Loki/Prime is really hard to get down and you should wait for when you have proper mods and such or you'll crash and burn. OR. He's tricky but doable once you get your head around him, proper build or no, get him and have fun. 

I'm really asking because if he's such a headache, I really will just wait a while longer before committing the time and resources to him. He's a good frame but I don't really him until I know I can pilot him with okay results. 

If it helps, I've been mainly been using a Chroma and a Volt Prime. 

 

 

[shut]

35 minutes ago, Khaine62 said:

(In theory, I'm going to assume he also takes quite a bit of technical skill.)

 

Eh, yes and no.

 

There are a couple of things you can do with Loki that require a working knowledge of certain game mechanics.

The first one that comes to my head is the melee stealth multiplier (which is forcibly enabled while invisible. Basically, any melee hit to an enemy that hasn't seen you recently, bumped into you recently, or received damage from you recently will receive 400% melee damage from the next melee attack). Not exactly conceptually difficult or anything, but the tough thing is being able to apply this in the middle of a fight if you've got a shorter-ranged melee weapon. You need to be able to consistently hit enemies without your Loki physically bumping into them if you want that 4x damage, and since you've only got one shot at the 4x damage (at least, if you don't feel like waiting several seconds for it to reset), it's best to use an attack that does a single large number on the enemy (e.g. slide attacks, charge attacks, certain attacks from certain Stances with large multipliers, etc) instead of simply mashing E for extra damage. For this reason, Loki players tend to favour big melee weapons with enormous burst damage, such as axes, hammers, and the legendary Redeemer.

The second thing that comes to mind is knowing how your four abilities synergize with each other. This is pretty standard-- Decoy + Disarm if you want to herd mapfuls of enemies into a single spot like sheep, Decoy + Teleport to easily reach faraway spots, Disarm when Invisibility's about to end to keep enemies staggered while you recast, etc.. Nothing fancy; just play around with his abilities and see what certain combos can do.

 

Once you get the hang of these, you've pretty much mastered the technical skill required to play Loki. That's really it. He sounds a bit daunting at first, but he's actually very easy to master compared to many, if not most, other Frames out there.

Loki's a bit difficult to build at first, but the thing is, once you actually deck him out with powerful mods, he becomes an untouchable map-controlling god whose gameplay might actually become stale due to lack of difficulty.

Edited February 29, 2016 by SortaRandom

[Sormatte]

Just now, Khaine62 said:

I see...he's got no damage AND he can't take damage, so it comes down utility and tactics and without the mods, things become that much harder. I was kind of hoping it wasn't as bad as it seemed. If was able to get my hands on 2 or even 1 of those mods, would you say he'd be at least doable. (In theory, I'm going to assume he also takes quite a bit of technical skill.)

 

If you can get hold on at least 2, one being fleeting expertise, yes I would say he will be doable.

[--Q--uaint]

Do you have Narrow Minded? Fleeting Expertise? Overextended?

If you answered no to all 3 of those, you may want to reconsider.

[Khaine62]

3 minutes ago, ChronoEclipse said:

Do you have Narrow Minded? Fleeting Expertise? Overextended?

If you answered no to all 3 of those, you may want to reconsider.

Sadly, I've got none of 'em. I've seen them in the builds for Loki/Prime. Is it a thing of they're vital for higher level play or they're vital to running Loki period?

Edited February 29, 2016 by Khaine62
Correcting wording

[Sormatte]

11 minutes ago, Khaine62 said:

Sadly, I've got none of 'em. I've seen them in the builds for Loki/Prime. Is it a thing of they're vital for higher level play or they're vital to running Loki period?

Loki himself is a very squishy warframe who relies on his abilities to survive. Those 3 mods will help with amping up the usefulness of his abilities to help him survive.

These builds are what I use to specialise in his 4(disarm) and 2(invis) respectively. As you can see, he does require a significant amount of work to be useful in a party. Primed mods are optional.

Edited February 29, 2016 by Sormatte
Added build pictures.

[RakuyoExcelsior]

I made a full thread about the very same issue. You might want to check it out, there's every opinion on loki/p in it.

 

Bottom line is, he is mod-dependent, more than warframes like Rhino who can pretty much do the solar system solo without any dedicated mods. You pretty much need the very basic corrupted mods to make him playable. Not veteran territory in any way but a bit of work to put into it.

Edited February 29, 2016 by RakuyoExcelsior

[Specific.Zod]

Veteran Play skill? No.

Veteran Modding skill? yes.

Veteran Mods arsenal? Yes.

[Khaine62]

1 minute ago, Sormatte said:

Loki himself is a very squishy warframe who relies on his abilities to survive. Those 3 mods will help with amping up the usefulness of his abilities to help him survive.

I see...he's got no damage AND he can't take damage, so it comes down utility and tactics and without the mods, things become that much harder. I was kind of hoping it wasn't as bad as it seemed. If was able to get my hands on 2 or even 1 of those mods, would you say he'd be at least doable. (In theory, I'm going to assume he also takes quite a bit of technical skill.)

 

[TheSIlent1]

The first frame i had, i did eh-sucked at him, so sat down, read his skills thought about what i could actually do and tried it out, Honestly just get normal loki give him a shot, Mods IMPROVE they aren't entirely necessary they are only thought that way because they really really improve things. especially if your not doing lat game stuff.

And its only a game so it does not matter if you suck at him just git gud the best way for that is through experience.

Oh and don't get shot. should help you.

[Verouzer]

I don't know about veteran territory but just get him if you want to play him. Slap the essential mods when you get them later. It'll still be fun. Don't limit yourself. Everybody's a noob here or been one. Don't distance yourself.

[Epicagemo]

27 minutes ago, Khaine62 said:

Sadly, I've got none of 'em. I've seen them in the builds for Loki/Prime. Is it a thing of they're vital for higher level play or they're vital to running Loki period?

No, don't let the people with builds and max mods scare you away from Loki. People have easily survived without the need of those mods before they came out.

[Tsoe]

Why dont you try regular loki first?

[Khaine62]

I think I might go for him. If nothing else, he'll be a challenge and may just force my skills to grow by using him. The mods I'll look into acquiring one way or another: they are GOOD. Even if it turns out that I don't like him, it will give me greater experience in picking out my frames and finding my preferences. 

If anyone has anything they'd like to add for perspective on the Loki or Loki Prime, I'm all ears. 

Also, thank you everyone so far who answered. I'll keep the mods and build advice in mind but I'll also remember to have fun with this game and make it my own.  

 

 

[Khaine62]

11 minutes ago, Tsoe said:

Why dont you try regular loki first?

TBH, I'm Prime obsessed. But seriously, the main reason I looked at Prime and not normal Loki is due to my fear of only having 15 armor. Yeah, 65 armor won't make that much of difference at higher levels of play but where I'm currently at, I take every advantage I could get. Also, going after Loki Prime forces me with dealing enemies in the Void, who by far cause me the most trouble of any faction. I felt that if I worked my butt of in the Void, not only would get Loki Prime eventually, I'd really start to develop my own methods for dealing with tougher situations/pressures and get used to farming in the Void at the same time. Even if Loki Prime turned out to be not for me, the experience I would get as a player would still be invaluable. Not too mention other mods, BPs, etc. I could get along the way. 

Regular Loki would save me a few headaches, sure, but I believe that the journey is as big a deal as the destination.

[Tsoe]

14 minutes ago, Khaine62 said:

 

Regular Loki would save me a few headaches, sure, but I believe that the journey is as big a deal as the destination.

 

 

right it always work

the journey sometimes > the destination

On my way to loki prime i took Regular loki in the process

I dont regret since it helped me a lot to master him fully, design wise i cant blame i hate that regular loki shark head

 

[(PSN)imasharkpewpew]

If you lack the mods to properly build Loki, but still think you would enjoy his playstyle, pick up Ash/Prime. Less map control, more damage and durability.

[Thebel]

You should be fine, a large amount of players at one point started with Loki only.

[(PSN)Agent_CHAR]

Getting the corrupted mods should be a fairly high priority, regardless of the frame you want to be playing.  All builds are going to use one or more of them.  Do 2-4 vault runs per day or more if you have a good squad.  Fleeting expertise, Overextended, Narrowminded, Transient fortitude are the main ones you want as far as warframes go.  I'm not big on Blind rage personally, although  I do use it some.

And you actually want multiple copies eventually so to can play around with how far you rank them up to balance the positive and negative effects.  Good examples are a rank 4 FE which pairs with a rank 4 streamline to max efficiency at 75%.  Or a rank 8 TF which pushes Nova to the mprime slow cap.  Things like that.

[ChaoticVice777]

1 hour ago, (PS4)Agent_CHAR said:

Getting the corrupted mods should be a fairly high priority, regardless of the frame you want to be playing.  All builds are going to use one or more of them.  Do 2-4 vault runs per day or more if you have a good squad.  Fleeting expertise, Overextended, Narrowminded, Transient fortitude are the main ones you want as far as warframes go.  I'm not big on Blind rage personally, although  I do use it some.

And you actually want multiple copies eventually so to can play around with how far you rank them up to balance the positive and negative effects.  Good examples are a rank 4 FE which pairs with a rank 4 streamline to max efficiency at 75%.  Or a rank 8 TF which pushes Nova to the mprime slow cap.  Things like that.

Most people prefer Rank 3 FE with Rank 5 Streamline because it means 70% efficiency while only losing 40% duration because it's not worth losing 10% more duration just to only gain the extra 5% efficiency. As a side note, Power Drift with Intensify also gets Nova's M-Prime to its slow cap as well.

Edited February 29, 2016 by ChaoticVice777

[(PSN)Aegir_Fellwood]

You don't "need" corrupted mods on any frame, they are however nice to have when/if you want to focus on 1-2 specific abilities.

Doing derelict vault runs now and then is not a bad idea, however equipping corrupted mods on a frame without having much experience with it, is probably not a good idea. Try the frame first, rank it to 30, and get used to each ability well enough to know which ones you like to use.

Loki is not only for "veteran" players, he is however very squishy, so be on your toes - good luck ;)

[(PSN)mersinaryboy]

Like a lot of people have said you don't need the corrupt mods to use him they just make him better and significantly easier to use. With that said i felt the need to come up with a build that you would most likely have easy access to or could use as a base to make your own build. I used one reactor and you can easily replace the augment with something else if you'd prefer i just thought it would be helpful since you would only have about a 20 second invisibility.

 

Spoiler

http://warframe-builder.com/Warframes/Builder/Loki_prime

 

Edited February 29, 2016 by (PS4)mersinaryboy

[AXCrusnik]

Most difficult thing about Loki for new players (especially when Loki used to be a starter frame) is that fact that the frame itself does no damage, unless you count Disarm's damage to certain already unarmed enemies. This means if you picked him up as your starter back when he was one, you have to rely entirely on your weapons and the mods (or lack thereof) on them to kill everything.