Orokin Reactor/Catalyst Advice

[(PSN)MelodiousMelody]

I realize this has been asked hundreds of times, but I'm new and not knowledgeable enough to know what I should be doing with my Reactors and Catalysts... I know that most everyone advises to wait until you obtain prime variants of weapons and Warframes. Unfortunately, that's proving quite difficult for me.

My only two Warframes are Rhino and Excalibur (unsure what to go for next). I'm trying to decide which one I should put my one reactor on. I like my Excalibur for his "jack-of-all-trades" kind of thing, but for survivability I'm not able to hold out as long in Void Missions. In contrast, I'm able to hold out much longer with Rhino and help my buddy that I frequently duo with.
I don't particularly like Rhino, but his innate knack for staying alive has helped with more intense farming. I prefer a stealthier/faster playstyle. I'm kind of stuck unable to take on the Void and other (non-Void) missions are becoming more difficult without a squad. 

I'm not exactly a fan of playing with strangers.

I do have two Catalysts that I could possibly use on my weapons instead, but I don't know what (non-prime) weapons at this point are worth upgrading.

Current loadout...

- Primary: Latron

- Secondary: Lato (which I'll be using to make a Bolto once it hits lvl 30)
- Melee: Kronen

Anyways, should I wait to use my Reactor or Catalyst(s)? Or should I use one or the other at this time? Or just any advice would be handy.

 

Edited March 20, 2016 by (PS4)MelodiousMelody

[KuroShiranui]

You could wait for until Excalibur Umbra comes, eventually. The thing is we don't know when. 

Considering you can't farm Rhino Prime anymore, I guess adding a potato to your Rhino would be good in the long run.

As for Latron, upgrade it to Tiberon and potato that. 

As for Lato, craft AkJagara instead. You'll need Akbolto (which needs 2 Lato as crafting components) and Dual Skana. 

Melee is a bit of a choice. You can use Kronen as a crafting component for Boltace, which primarily deals puncture. Kronen deals primarily slash. Both damage types has its pros and cons.

 

ps: Potato refers to Reactor/Catalyst. It's easier to refer it as such.

Edited March 20, 2016 by KuroShiranui
Added hyperlinks to wiki

[Manyc]

You like stealth and you say you like Excalibur for being  "jack-of-all-trades". I advise you to get Ivara.

Stealth frame, can CC, kill decently and stay invisible for the longest periods. Pair it with Sleep arrow + Dagger with Covert Lethality and you can literally kill everyone that can be used a finisher on while asleep. It could be your bet and it also doesn't have a prime for now (and it should take a long while to get one) so it's reactor viable. Many people would say Loki, but he's more concentrated not so versatile, not removing his god-tier status either.

About weapons, you should focus more into trying as many as possible, when you find one you like, don't stress to much, use a catalyst.

Alerts come and go, you eventually will manage some more. And you're always able to farm low level content to get lower keys and with those earn a few platinum, by trading with other players, to buy some more potatoes if you feel the need arises.

Sell prime junk for quick low plat, aim for something rare that's still obtainable in low tier void, level Cephalon Simaris so you can get Transmutation Cores (this will allow you to, with luck, transmute a rare mod which can sell for a reasonable amount) or some of the new mods (health or energy orbs ones) which might be wanted for some.

Another way is get a clan, I know it's still "strangers" to a level but you may find one that will help you out and even let you join in higher level void / content.

Ps: Be careful if you try to sell junk prime parts, don't get scammed. Get informed what is really 'junk'.

Edited March 20, 2016 by Manyc
Ps.

[Stratego89]

Potato all the things! Except things that have a prime or special variant or that you plan to use to build something else.

[(XBOX)ShadowBlood89]

you need better weapons an mods as just putting potatos in your stuff doesnt make them stronger by defualt as still need more powerful things to put them in as the tonkor an sonicor are pretty good once you potato an use afew formas on them

[Katinka]

Reactors aren't that rare.  If you keep an eye out for the Gift of the Lotus missions after devstreams and watch out for the occasional other alert or invasion you'll end up with more Reactors than frames eventually.  I wouldn't worry about using them on the frames you like now.  Catalysts are a bit different since there are so many weapons but if you really like the Latron or Kronen go for it.  Latron Prime is currently in the Prime Vault and likely wont be back for a while so you'll need to hit up the traders if you want to get that first.

[matto]

Use your potatoes on frame and weapons you like and want to keep.

As Katinka said, Reactors are more common than catalysts, so don't worry and potatoe your Warframes. You won't be able to get Excalibur Prime, so you'll probably keep Excalibur around while, once you'll get a Rhino prime, you'll probably sell him if you're not a completionist. That's why I would go for Excal first. Just my opinion.

As for catalysts, I use them only on prime, high tier and special (such as event rewards) weapons. But that's for later as you need a potatoed weapon sooner or later.

When I started playing Warframe I was using a Latron too. Potatoed, 4 forma, I kept it a while. I would say that going for Tiberon (latron's upgrade) could be a good choice if you enjoy burst riffles. One of my most used weapon is the Burston Prime, and it's not as good as the Tiberon. A potatoed Tiberon with 3-4 forma will be viable in 90% of Warframe's content. You're new, don't worry too much on the whole "is my weapon going to be relevant for lvl 100 mobs?" etc.

Edited March 20, 2016 by matto

[fakeBOSHI]

56 minutes ago, (PS4)MelodiousMelody said:

I realize this has been asked hundreds of times, but I'm new and not knowledgeable enough to know what I should be doing with my Reactors and Catalysts... I know that most everyone advises to wait until you obtain prime variants of weapons and Warframes. Unfortunately, that's proving quite difficult for me.

this game is all about patience. I would say, "potato what you like/enjoy" because they are the frames and weapons you will use most so you get the biggest bang for your buck. If however, you get a prime after that you really really love, then it seems kind of a waste of a potato doesn't  it?.

My only two Warframes are Rhino and Excalibur (unsure what to go for next). I'm trying to decide which one I should put my one reactor on. I like my Excalibur for his "jack-of-all-trades" kind of thing, but for survivability I'm not able to hold out as long in Void Missions. In contrast, I'm able to hold out much longer with Rhino and help my buddy that I frequently duo with.
I don't particularly like Rhino, but his innate knack for staying alive has helped with more intense farming. I prefer a stealthier/faster playstyle. I'm kind of stuck unable to take on the Void and other (non-Void) missions are becoming more difficult without a squad. 

as you will find out, excal actually has pretty insane survivability when you a)have good mods, b)have great parkour skills, c) learn to abuse radial blind. As other excal mains will probably tell u, he can easily go against 1hr T4S, lvl 100+ enemies.

I'm not exactly a fan of playing with strangers.

join a clan? 

I do have two Catalysts that I could possibly use on my weapons instead, but I don't know what (non-prime) weapons at this point are worth upgrading.

Current loadout...

- Primary: Latron

- Secondary: Lato (which I'll be using to make a Bolto once it hits lvl 30)
- Melee: Kronen

needs more info about ur playstyle/preferences  (do you like bows?  Swords? Polearms? Rapid fire weapons? Burst fire? A mix between ur primary and secondary? and where/what lvl enemies do u plan to take on? 

Anyways, should I wait to use my Reactor or Catalyst(s)? Or should I use one or the other at this time? Or just any advice would be handy.

 

Answers, suggestions, advice bolded

Edited March 20, 2016 by fakeBOSHI

[(PSN)GR13V4NC3]

Unless you plan on buying plat and then buying Rhino Prime (either from a player or the Prime Vault when it returns) then don't install a reactor on him. As far as Excalibur, yes, install the reactor. When modded properly and with good weapons, Excal is a beast that shoots through walls. Seeing as you are new, you don't know that. Start watching H3dshot on youtube, he does great breakdowns and provides a lot of info. It will help you.

You will need to go through the entire frame list for mastery rank anyway, so my advice would be to unlock and farm all the nodes/planets. Get used to the game and understand its workings, then worry about the gold trimming. In order to get more reactors and catalysts (and other stuff) you will need to do alerts/invasions and if you have few nodes/planets unlocked, then you get few alerts/invasions and have to wait on a taxi (since you like playing solo, this will be hard).

You want my advice in a simple list:

Unlock all nodes/planets.

- Go chronological (planet after planet, node after node) and complete everything that you can do solo.

- Then go back and get groups to complete the rest (still in order).

Gather and keep all resources until you know what to do with it.

- Resources are hard to get in bulk when starting out, so save up.

- keep your duplicate mods and use them as a replacement/substitute for cores.

- If you can get away with not using your cores, don't use'em.

- Don't waste time/money/effort on cosmetics yet.

- Save your forma BP's for unique weapons/prime variants.

Every time you need to lvl up anything, do this...

- Frames: Remove all weapons but 1 (preferably your strongest overall weapon). Keeping your sentinel on will help your survivability.

- Weapons: Make sure your frame is max level and remove all other weapons but the intended affinity target.

- Go to Apollodorus on Mercury and stay for as long as you can.

- Remember to stay near the group to absorb the xp from the total kills as well as your own.

- Rinse and repeat until all your regular collection is maxed.

- Tip: move around (duck and weave/dodge) more to stay alive longer.

- Once you are done with all the regs and have a nice collection of mods and gear, etc., move on to using Seimeni on Ceres and Sechura on Pluto.

 

That's all I got for now. Hope it helps!

- G

 

 

[(PSN)MelodiousMelody]

3 minutes ago, fakeBOSHI said:

Answers, suggestions, advice bolded

1.) I'm a hoarder when it comes to "rare" items, so I only really spend anything if I feel it's worth it. Researching this conundrum has resulted in mixed advice. Some say "wait", others say "go ahead".

2.) Yes, I've read on that, but as it is I just don't have access to any of those good mods as I'm in an impasse with the game. I can't go past wave ten (maybe fifteen) in Void Mission for instance.

3.) I am in a clan, but it's a new one (my buddy created it), just me and him for now. 

4.) Anything stealthy (bows, throwing knives) and fast (I don't really care what type a weapon it is, just has to be fast). I despise guns... only because I am suck at aiming, but I'm using one simply because I can't be stealthy in a squad (everyone rushes in). I mainly rely on my melee; practicing slid slashing with Kronen.
Right now I'm just farming areas in the Void, just want some decent drops, hoping I find something(s) that will help progress a bit so I don't have to waste a Reactor on Rhino or Catalyst on weapons that will eventually be replaced.

[fakeBOSHI]

1 minute ago, (PS4)MelodiousMelody said:

1.) I'm a hoarder when it comes to "rare" items, so I only really spend anything if I feel it's worth it. Researching this conundrum has resulted in mixed advice. Some say "wait", others say "go ahead".

2.) Yes, I've read on that, but as it is I just don't have access to any of those good mods as I'm in an impasse with the game. I can't go past wave ten (maybe fifteen) in Void Mission for instance.

Farm some essential mods (corrupted, nightmare, primed). They'll benefit a wide range of frames so you'll want to grab some anyway.

Corrupted mods drop from orokin derelict missions. Specifically from "vaults". Host an OD exterminate with 4 people, craft and bring dragon keys, look around for the vault. Typically trade will run unranked at anywhere between 10-20p dep ending on the mod.

Nightmare mods are from nightmare missions avaliable when the planet has been cleared. Spend some time "campaigning". Trade will also run u somewhere between 5-20p depending on the mod.

primed mods are avaliable from the void trader whenever he comes around and has them. They'll cost ducats from selling prime junk at the void trader vendor. Trade will run you somewhere between 75-100 for unranked ones.

3.) I am in a clan, but it's a new one (my buddy created it), just me and him for now. 

4.) Anything stealthy (bows, throwing knives) and fast (I don't really care what type a weapon it is, just has to be fast). I despise guns... only because I am suck at aiming, but I'm using one simply because I can't be stealthy in a squad (everyone rushes in). I mainly rely on my melee; practicing slid slashing with Kronen.
Right now I'm just farming areas in the Void, just want some decent drops, hoping I find something(s) that will help progress a bit so I don't have to waste a Reactor on Rhino or Catalyst on weapons that will eventually be replaced.

bows suffer from being relatively slow (combat this with speed trigger except on the rakta cernos) while packing alot of punch into 1 shot. Recommend rakta cernos or dread. Alternatively you can equip hush on snipers/guns to "stealth" but u'll lose dmg potential.

throwing knives, are fast and silent but not particularly powerful. Recommend hikou prime or despair if you are lucky enough.

I'm not much of a melee player so I'll leave this to someone more qualified. That being said, there are some that are great. Recommend nikana prime, broken war, war, scindo prime, mios, orthos prime.

 

[xiaodenden]

I would and do put an Orokin Reactor on all my frames even the ones that already have the primed version.  It's too much of a QoL improvement to not have a reactor on a frame.  Since we don't know when Excalibur Umbra's going to show up and Rhino Prime has been newly vaulted, I would put a reactor on both of Excal and Rhino, and because you seem to prefer Excal over Rhino and your Rhino seems to have higher survivability already, I would prioritize Excal over Rhino.  As for staying alive longer with Excal, you'll need to rely more on his crowd control power (Radial Blind) and his mobility.  This is more of a general suggestion, but make sure you're leveling up your Warframe and Weapons mods.  Definitely level up Vitality and Redirection so your frames aren't super squishy.

You say you like stealthy or faster play style.  I suggest Loki because he is fast and stealthy, but you'll need some corrupted mods to make him reach his potential.  Plus, if you think Excal is squishy, you won't like Loki.  His survivability depends hugely on his invisibility and his radial disarm.  Ash is fast and stealthy as well though he's a big pain to farm because his parts drop from Maniac though, if you can do part 4 of the current tactical alert, you can easily get a full set of blueprints from that.  As for faster play style, Volt and Nezha would be good.  Volt is clan tech so just join an established clan and you can get the blueprints and build him immediately.  He's getting a rework soon so it's a good time to build him.  Volt is a perfect example of a generalist frame and his powers are beneficial to the whole team, especially his Speed and Electric Shield.  Nezha's extremely fast and his play style is all about mobility.  He's surprisingly tanky with his Warding Halo, but his survivability depends also on his mobility and crowd control powers.

Back to your question about Orokin Catalyst.   I would save the catalyst until you find better weapons that you like.  I have no idea what's your current Mastery Rank (at least MR 3 because you have a Kronen), but even early in game (<MR 7) you can have access to some amazing weapons, like Hek, Soma, Tonkor, Ignis, Tigris, Atomos, Marelok, etc, so check those out when you have the chance.  Karak isn't an end game weapon, but it is actually serviceable for a huge chunk of the Solar Map.  Don't bother to put a catalyst in weapons that you'll use to make a different weapon later.  The double capacity of the catalyzed ingredient weapon won't be carried over to the new weapon. 

[(PSN)MelodiousMelody]

6 minutes ago, fakeBOSHI said:

 

Primes seem to dropping in higher tier towers (for me anyways) which I can't survive in long enough (in even with a squad, albeit I've only ever played on a team of three) for those better drops or can't find any keys beyond Tower III (rotten luck).

Problem with Dragon Keys, I can't seem to locate "Orokin Void Key" items in order to create them.
: /

I only like bows because their quiet, like I said I like sneaking around, unfortunately I'm not able to do that with a squad of randoms. I've switched to guns for now, but def keep a look out for Rakta Cernos (never heard of it before), I've heard of Dread, but I suspect it's far out of reach for now.

In all honesty I've only really used my knives for scanners, again, I've switched to a pistol for now. Can't be stealthy unless I'm going solo.

Yea all those are WAY out of my reach atm. I've found one or two prints, but that's about it.

[felixsylvaris]

Catalyst and Reactors arent that rare. There is gift of the lotus alert after Dev Stream which gives some, common reward from tactical alerts and Sorties.

Worst case scenerio farm sabotages void and use jun from there for plat and just buy it. Or donate game when you get plat discount from daily login reward.

As for Reactor using it on Excalibur if you like it sounds fine. Rhino Prime Set seems to be priced for 200p which is not alot so that would be better. There are chances of Umbra Excalibur but there is also chance you will get another reactor sooner.

As far as catalyst go:

1. Get some prime junk. Soma or Braton are not hard to get. Scindo, Bo  or Orthos for melee.
2. Regular staff: Tonkor, Kohm, Hek, Secondary: Akmagnus,  Sonicor Twin Grakatas Melee: Dual Ichor Boltace Galatine Broken War Jat Kittag

This new Zhuge xbow may be good. Silent. Punchy. Punture. Easy to use. Does not have easy replacment.

Melee are more balanced all of them deal more or less the same and handles very similar.

Prime drops: In Tower I and Derelict are rather low. But in Tower 2+ much better.

Check if you are marked by stalker, if not kill some bosses untill yes, and just run some void. Soon enought Stalker will come. Dread is one of most popular Stalker drops.

To get Orokin Void Keys:

• Spy missions with 2 or more data
• Survival Missions 15m
• Interception 4th wave
• Excavetion every 3 FULL dig site

Edited March 20, 2016 by felixsylvaris

[Sloan441]

If you're hitting a wall on progression and you're short on mod energy, then it's time to use those reactors and catalysts.

Who to use them on? Well, ultimately it won't matter that much. You will get more. Use them on the weapons and warframes you have now that you like using best.

From what you have presently, I'd lean towards using the reactor on Rhino. He's a more flexible 'frame than 'Cal and brings damage buffs, survivability/status protection, and control to the table. 'Cal has good offense and CC, but require more exotic modding strategies. Which you choose will probably depend on your playstyle and mod base.

Of your present primary, well, the Latron is pretty good starter gun, but I've never cared for it particularly (or it's more exotic brethren, the Latron Prime and the Latron Wraith). I prefer autotrigger guns, of which the Karak is the best of the early lot. Since the only primary you have is the Latron, it's the obvious choice for the catalyst. You could gather the resources for a Karak (easy enough) and go that direction and it's more mastery, which you will need.

One thing you might want to consider is that in about a week, we'll be getting the anniversary weapons (again). If it's like last year, you'll be getting Dex Furis, Dex Dakra, and the Dex Sybaris. These are all very good weapons and you might want to wait until they're available before you decide on anything else, since they do cover primary, secondary, and melee.

[(PSN)MelodiousMelody]

14 minutes ago, xiaodenden said:

I would and do put an Orokin Reactor on all my frames even the ones that already have the primed version.  It's too much of a QoL improvement to not have a reactor on a frame.  Since we don't know when Excalibur Umbra's going to show up and Rhino Prime has been newly vaulted, I would put a reactor on both of Excal and Rhino, and because you seem to prefer Excal over Rhino and your Rhino seems to have higher survivability already, I would prioritize Excal over Rhino.  As for staying alive longer with Excal, you'll need to rely more on his crowd control power (Radial Blind) and his mobility.  This is more of a general suggestion, but make sure you're leveling up your Warframe and Weapons mods.  Definitely level up Vitality and Redirection so your frames aren't super squishy.

You say you like stealthy or faster play style.  I suggest Loki because he is fast and stealthy, but you'll need some corrupted mods to make him reach his potential.  Plus, if you think Excal is squishy, you won't like Loki.  His survivability depends hugely on his invisibility and his radial disarm.  Ash is fast and stealthy as well though he's a big pain to farm because his parts drop from Maniac though, if you can do part 4 of the current tactical alert, you can easily get a full set of blueprints from that.  As for faster play style, Volt and Nezha would be good.  Volt is clan tech so just join an established clan and you can get the blueprints and build him immediately.  He's getting a rework soon so it's a good time to build him.  Volt is a perfect example of a generalist frame and his powers are beneficial to the whole team, especially his Speed and Electric Shield.  Nezha's extremely fast and his play style is all about mobility.  He's surprisingly tanky with his Warding Halo, but his survivability depends also on his mobility and crowd control powers.

Back to your question about Orokin Catalyst.   I would save the catalyst until you find better weapons that you like.  I have no idea what's your current Mastery Rank (at least MR 3 because you have a Kronen), but even early in game (<MR 7) you can have access to some amazing weapons, like Hek, Soma, Tonkor, Ignis, Tigris, Atomos, Marelok, etc, so check those out when you have the chance.  Karak isn't an end game weapon, but it is actually serviceable for a huge chunk of the Solar Map.  Don't bother to put a catalyst in weapons that you'll use to make a different weapon later.  The double capacity of the catalyzed ingredient weapon won't be carried over to the new weapon. 

I love Excalibur, I like his abilities and design, I don't necessarily think he's squishy, I know I don't play like I probably should with him (I get turned around easily when evading and that's when he gets pinned and swarmed). Rhino allows some leeway in that I can turn Iron Skin on when that happens. I also like that Excalibur's abilities don't seem as draining like Rhino's (without mod). If I had two reactors I'd upgrade both in a heartbeat, but having to decide which one to prioritize is... hard. Thank you for your input on the matter, put things in perspective. Helps knowing Rhino Prime has poofed (for now).

I'm looking to acquire Loki, ideally Ash, but whew! At this rate? It will be a while. Which is probably fine, due to you mentioning Loki requires Corrupted Mods to really shine. Ha! Man those Tactical Alerts, I haven't gave it whirl since part 2, but I'll be sure to try it out and gauge my progress. I'm finding a new love for Volts, via observation, I've played my friend's starter and liked the feel of it. Knowing me I'd forget to utilize his abilities for the good of the team (I'm practicing with Rhino's Roar when I can). I thought about Nezha, but he's out of reach and I think I'd cry even if I could take a stab at acquiring him. I'm not sure how those Sortie things work (been reading since I was only MR 3 now 4 as of this morning).

Alright, so I'll def save my Catalysts, my weapons currently are managing. Kronen does fine while sliding around, I can usually one-shot foes that way, but it's pretty exhausting after a while.
One a side note, what mods would you recommend I prioritize (for now)? Elementals, increased damage or critical, or something completely beyond my memory atm?

Thanks again, you've laid it out quite nicely for this newbie.

[felixsylvaris]

Mods:

3 or 5 rank mod always max. It is better to have one rank 5 mod than 2 rank 0

10 rank mods take a while to max so just aim to have 6 or 8 rans in them. Having even value is better since it fits better polarized slot.

Mods to care about:

• Frame with a tag: Efficiency. Power Strenght, Power  Range, Power Duration
• Frame: Shield, Health and Armour bonus
• Aura Steel Charge
• Weapon: General weapon bonus (Serration, Hornet Strike, Presure Point, Point Blank)
• Weapon Elemental damage 90% 
• Melee attack speed and multishot for range
• If weapon have critical multiplier x3.0 definetly Critical if it has x2 and 20% chance then maybe
• Fire rate and reload reduction are another field to increase dps

Edited March 20, 2016 by felixsylvaris

[xiaodenden]

8 hours ago, (PS4)MelodiousMelody said:

Thanks again, you've laid it out quite nicely for this newbie.

Happy to help!  This game has a steep learning curve and this problem is exacerbated by the fact that information isn't well laid out in game so you have to rely on the Warframe wiki or fellow players for help.

Yeah, corrupted mods are pain to get since you need to do vault runs in Orokin Derelict, and to maximize the chance of getting something, you need a team of four wearing different dragon keys.  You said you're not a fan of playing with strangers, but in this case you might need team up.  You mentioned that you had trouble getting keys to build dragon keys.  I recommend doing Earth excavation to get some easy T1 keys.  Use T1 keys to build dragon keys or use them to get more keys.  If you're looking for T2 and T3 keys, you'll need to do higher level planets.  My personal favorite place to farm those keys is Zeugma, Phobos because the enemy type is infested and it's the lowest tier 3 excavation mission.  Just get 3 successful excavations to get a key and extract.  T4 keys are rewarded for completing four rounds of interception missions.  Augustus, Mars is a good place to farm those keys especially for newer players.  

Tactical Alerts, especially the endurance stage, are meant to be a challenge even for more established players so it can be very overwhelming for newer players.  It's sad that normal Ash parts are so hard to find now if you're going the normal way (i.e. not tactical alert or Law of Retribution trial), that it might be easier to farm or buy Ash Prime instead.  If you want to farm other normal Warframe parts, don't hesitate to ask for help in recruit.  Yes, you might not like playing with strangers, but I'm sure there are people out there happy to help the new guys unlock planets.  Yeah, Nezha is locked behind sorties, but if PS4 is like PC, eventually everyone who do sorties will have multiple sets so you can buy his blueprints from other players for cheap.  I'd wait for the price to drop even more.

If you like the sliding attack of Kronen (maybe?), I recommend building Boltace later because it has the highest slide attack damage.  Other than that, just try out whatever melee weapons that look interesting or build whatever free blueprints you get from quest rewards or log in.  

To answer your last question about mods, besides the essential base damage mods (Serration, Hornet Strike, and Pressure Point) and Warframe mods (Vitality and Redirection) which takes top priority to level, I would level up elemental mods (90% elemental damage at max ranked) because they are useful for all weapons.  Dual status elemental mods (60% elemental damage + 60% status) are useful also and they stack with the 90% version.  Critical chance and damage mods are good, but those are only useful for crit based weapons, like most bows and Soma, so unless you use those weapons a lot, I would focus on other mods first.  Speaking of essential mods, I hope you have the undamaged version of those mods.

 You will also need to level up other Warframe mods (Intensity, Stretch, Streamline, Continuity, and Flow) to make your frames even stronger.  If you don't have those yet, equip Thief's Wit or Loot Detector, do T1 and T2 exterminations, and just take your time to explore all the rooms and break containers.  I've had really good luck getting Continuity as well as some other rare mods though of course most of the time I find are common mods.  I mentioned corrupted mods being important for some builds, but those fully leveled vanilla mods are plenty strong and will get you through most of the mission types.  

Nightmare mods are not super essential though there are quite a few that are extremely very useful.  Just wait for nightmare alerts and bring a Rhino for those missions.  Nightmare alerts are always no shield condition so Rhino, Valkyr, Inaros, and Nezha are great.  You can also do nightmare mode which is unlocked after you completed all the nodes on a particular planet, but the condition are random so it's harder to prepare.  

Definitely get and level up aura mods especially Energy Siphon and Corrosive Projection.  Steel Charge, Rifle Amp, and Rejuvenation are useful too.  You probably knows this but if you slot an aura mod that has the right polarity into the aura slot, you can increase the mod capacity of that frame so for example if you slot a fully ranked Steel Charge into Rhino, you get an extra 18 mod points to play around with.  This can alleviate the pain of not having a reactor in that particular frame.

Random advice: build a Carrier sentinel if you haven't already.  It's a huge QoL improvement right there having a sentinel that vacuums up loot, and the damage dealt by Carrier's weapon Sweeper is quite nice as well.

Sorry about the rather random rambling, but I hope some of this info is useful to you. :)

[(PSN)MelodiousMelody]

10 hours ago, felixsylvaris said:

Mods:

3 or 5 rank mod always max. It is better to have one rank 5 mod than 2 rank 0

10 rank mods take a while to max so just aim to have 6 or 8 rans in them. Having even value is better since it fits better polarized slot.

Mods to care about:

• Frame with a tag: Efficiency. Power Strenght, Power  Range, Power Duration
• Frame: Shield, Health and Armour bonus
• Aura Steel Charge
• Weapon: General weapon bonus (Serration, Hornet Strike, Presure Point, Point Blank)
• Weapon Elemental damage 90% 
• Melee attack speed and multishot for range
• If weapon have critical multiplier x3.0 definetly Critical if it has x2 and 20% chance then maybe
• Fire rate and reload reduction are another field to increase dps

Cool beans, thanks for this!
I have some variant of these listed mods, just having to prioritize which ones to use now. I just run out mod slots so easily.
Can I assume your list is in order of which mods to prioritize first?

Side note: bare with me, on Redirection and Vitality... which would you absolutely prioritize in your opinion? I've heard Vitality for Infested, but generally which would be better for Void runs?

[(PSN)MelodiousMelody]

1 hour ago, xiaodenden said:

Happy to help!  This game has a steep learning curve and this problem is exacerbated by the fact that information isn't well laid out in game so you have to rely on the Warframe wiki or fellow players for help.

Yeah, corrupted mods are pain to get since you need to do vault runs in Orokin Derelict, and to maximize the chance of getting something, you need a team of four wearing different dragon keys.  You said you're not a fan of playing with strangers, but in this case you might need team up.  You mentioned that you had trouble getting keys to build dragon keys.  I recommend doing Earth excavation to get some easy T1 keys.  Use T1 keys to build dragon keys or use them to get more keys.  If you're looking for T2 and T3 keys, you'll need to do higher level planets.  My personal favorite place to farm those keys is Zeugma, Phobos because the enemy type is infested and it's the lowest tier 3 excavation mission.  Just get 3 successful excavations to get a key and extract.  T4 keys are rewarded for completing four rounds of interception missions.  Augustus, Mars is a good place to farm those keys especially for newer players.  

Tactical Alerts, especially the endurance stage, are meant to be a challenge even for more established players so it can be very overwhelming for newer players.  It's sad that normal Ash parts are so hard to find now if you're going the normal way (i.e. not tactical alert or Law of Retribution trial), that it might be easier to farm or buy Ash Prime instead.  If you want to farm other normal Warframe parts, don't hesitate to ask for help in recruit.  Yes, you might not like playing with strangers, but I'm sure there are people out there happy to help the new guys unlock planets.  Yeah, Nezha is locked behind sorties, but if PS4 is like PC, eventually everyone who do sorties will have multiple sets so you can buy his blueprints from other players for cheap.  I'd wait for the price to drop even more.

If you like the sliding attack of Kronen (maybe?), I recommend building Boltace later because it has the highest slide attack damage.  Other than that, just try out whatever melee weapons that look interesting or build whatever free blueprints you get from quest rewards or log in.  

To answer your last question about mods, besides the essential base damage mods (Serration, Hornet Strike, and Pressure Point) and Warframe mods (Vitality and Redirection) which takes top priority to level, I would level up elemental mods (90% elemental damage at max ranked) because they are useful for all weapons.  Dual status elemental mods (60% elemental damage + 60% status) are useful also and they stack with the 90% version.  Critical chance and damage mods are good, but those are only useful for crit based weapons, like most bows and Soma, so unless you use those weapons a lot, I would focus on other mods first.  Speaking of essential mods, I hope you have the undamaged version of those mods.

 You will also need to level up other Warframe mods (Intensity, Stretch, Streamline, Continuity, and Flow) to make your frames even stronger.  If you don't have those yet, equip Thief's Wit or Loot Detector, do T1 and T2 exterminations, and just take your time to explore all the rooms and break containers.  I've had really good luck getting Continuity as well as some other rare mods though of course most of the time I find are common mods.  I mentioned corrupted mods being important for some builds, but those fully leveled vanilla mods are plenty strong and will get you through most of the mission types.  

Nightmare mods are not super essential though there are quite a few that are extremely very useful.  Just wait for nightmare alerts and bring a Rhino for those missions.  Nightmare alerts are always no shield condition so Rhino, Valkyr, Inaros, and Nezha are great.  You can also do nightmare mode which is unlocked after you completed all the nodes on a particular planet, but the condition are random so it's harder to prepare.  

Definitely get and level up aura mods especially Energy Siphon and Corrosive Projection.  Steel Charge, Rifle Amp, and Rejuvenation are useful too.  You probably knows this but if you slot an aura mod that has the right polarity into the aura slot, you can increase the mod capacity of that frame so for example if you slot a fully ranked Steel Charge into Rhino, you get an extra 18 mod points to play around with.  This can alleviate the pain of not having a reactor in that particular frame.

Random advice: build a Carrier sentinel if you haven't already.  It's a huge QoL improvement right there having a sentinel that vacuums up loot, and the damage dealt by Carrier's weapon Sweeper is quite nice as well.

Sorry about the rather random rambling, but I hope some of this info is useful to you. :)

Yea, some of that info on the Wiki flies right over my wee head, especially when it comes to weapon stats. Lol.

I hate asking for help. I feel like I'm a bad team player, which doesn't help OR I get a team that is just SO uncoordinated it turns me off completely from the whole experience. I'm hoping my bud can recruit some new players (friends of his). No one I know plays games really, ugh.
See, I get Tower Keys, but apparently they don't show up as already "obtained" items for "Orokin Void Keys". I'll have a look at the Dragon Keys again tomorrow to have a better look.

Weirdly, I do better alone than with my friend/team. Got wrecked doing the current Tactical Alert with a squad.
I'm sure I'll be pressed enough to ask for help, it takes a bit of prodding before I can muster the nerve. I think I have ill-preconceived notions of how online play is going to turn out, I'd rather just avoid it... which is a shame, I love co-ops. Too many occasions I've been screwed over by online play to be bothered with it. ;D

Sliding around just gets tiring after a while. I like Kronen, I did think about using them to make a Boltace; I read on whether it be a wise decision, once again opinions seemed split. I was thinking about switching to Galatine(?) or Orthos for a change, I've heard good things about them.

Thanks! I think I've got a few of those slotted. I just don't know what to prioritize very well, with minimal slots it's a pain. I assume there undamaged. o.O
Out of curiosity, what do you think I should prioritize when it comes to Vitality and Redirection, I like to have both, but sometimes it's just not possible without sacrificing something else that could be more useful.

Good to know!

Where can I get Aura mods anyways? I've never encountered one as of yet.

You know I was gonna shoot for that sometime, every time I get ready to, I fall short a few thousand cause I'm always upgrading mods (seemingly) lol. I'll invest in one, they seem quite handy.

No problem, I appreciate the guidance, and it's just nice to talk to someone about my new (current) favorite game; I happy to get to know (at least) some of the other players. :)
 

[xiaodenden]

9 minutes ago, (PS4)MelodiousMelody said:

I hate asking for help. I feel like I'm a bad team player, which doesn't help OR I get a team that is just SO uncoordinated it turns me off completely from the whole experience. I'm hoping my bud can recruit some new players (friends of his). No one I know plays games really, ugh.
See, I get Tower Keys, but apparently they don't show up as already "obtained" items for "Orokin Void Keys". I'll have a look at the Dragon Keys again tomorrow to have a better look.

Weirdly, I do better alone than with my friend/team. Got wrecked doing the current Tactical Alert with a squad.
I'm sure I'll be pressed enough to ask for help, it takes a bit of prodding before I can muster the nerve. I think I have ill-preconceived notions of how online play is going to turn out, I'd rather just avoid it... which is a shame, I love co-ops. Too many occasions I've been screwed over by online play to be bothered with it. ;D

Sliding around just gets tiring after a while. I like Kronen, I did think about using them to make a Boltace; I read on whether it be a wise decision, once again opinions seemed split. I was thinking about switching to Galatine(?) or Orthos for a change, I've heard good things about them.

Thanks! I think I've got a few of those slotted. I just don't know what to prioritize very well, with minimal slots it's a pain. I assume there undamaged. o.O
Out of curiosity, what do you think I should prioritize when it comes to Vitality and Redirection, I like to have both, but sometimes it's just not possible without sacrificing something else that could be more useful.

Good to know!

Where can I get Aura mods anyways? I've never encountered one as of yet.

You know I was gonna shoot for that sometime, every time I get ready to, I fall short a few thousand cause I'm always upgrading mods (seemingly) lol. I'll invest in one, they seem quite handy.

No problem, I appreciate the guidance, and it's just nice to talk to someone about my new (current) favorite game; I happy to get to know (at least) some of the other players. :)
 

Oh, I completely understand why you don't like playing with random people.  I feel the same way.  When I just started, I feel like a burden to the team and it's frustrating to see higher level people zooming ahead killing everything while I'm busy trying to catch up to the squad.  It took me a long time to get enough nerves to play with random people.  Now I'm more competent playing the game, I still feel like I might let someone down if I manage to fail spy sorties or something like that.  I have made some new friends in the game from random grouping, but most of the time it's like you join a squad, you silently play, and then disband immediately after the end of the session.  Unless someone's incredibly obnoxious, most people won't remember who their squadmates were.  I'm glad you and your friend are finding friends to check out the game together, and if you need more players, I suggest starting a thread in the PS4 recruiting subforum and asking for new players to play.  I made some good friends that way when we tried to clear the Solar Map together. <3  Thank goodness I have some real life people I can play together.   I also feel like I play better solo or with friends.  Less pressure because of few or no audience, I suppose.

Definitely try new melee weapons to see which on suits your style more.  Galatine and Orthos are both decent weapons. I'm not a fan of great swords because of its slow speed so I don't use Galatine that often, but they look glorious and hit hard.  I love polearms so Orthos Prime is one of my go to melee weapons.  If you like fast attack speed with huge range, I recommend Atterax.  It has high crit chance so slap a Beserker mod (that's going to be hard to find unfortunately) and make it go even faster.

Generally speaking I prioritize Vitality over Redirection especially when you go to planets like Phobos where the enemies do crazy slash damage on you all the time.  If you have frames that have naturally high shield (Mag and Volt), then Redirection is more useful though I still put a Vitality or at least a Vigor on those frames.  Other frames like Valkyr benefit from Steel Fiber.  A lot of people don't bother with durability mods, but to me I rather sacrifice a bit of power to able to survive a bit longer.  What's the point of having the potential of doing massive damage if one spends more time bleeding out than being alive?  Maybe I'm just not a fan of glass cannons.

Aura mods are rewards from alerts. 

It's good to be always upgrading mods, and that's exactly what you should be doing to become more powerful.  :D  Hope you have enough credits to get that Carrier soon. 

Hope WF will be your favorite game for a while, and if you have more questions, don't hesitate to ask.  There are tons of knowledgeable and friendly people here. :)

[felixsylvaris]

6 hours ago, (PS4)MelodiousMelody said:

Cool beans, thanks for this!
I have some variant of these listed mods, just having to prioritize which ones to use now. I just run out mod slots so easily.
Can I assume your list is in order of which mods to prioritize first?

Side note: bare with me, on Redirection and Vitality... which would you absolutely prioritize in your opinion? I've heard Vitality for Infested, but generally which would be better for Void runs?

Yeah more or less in order.

Also maxing mod of 3 or 5 rans is 10 or 35k (or something like that) so you can max them all. Ony 10 rank could reach 500k (or 2m total) so hold on that. For credit farm Sechura Pluto Dark Sector 5 waves is nice. Or the one from Eris.

As for Redirection vs Vitality. I dont know. If frame has armour below 100 then investing i health is questionable. Excalibur have armour 225 so health + armour grants more effective health. With high health we need some way to regenerate it, Team restore items, Life steal on melee, Focus School or "Trinity plz". Shields regenerates on its own which is very convinient. Sentinel Guardian mod is nice.

Getting sentinel is a good thing. Carrier could help with resources and mod collecting which is a thing at the begining.

Edited March 21, 2016 by felixsylvaris

[(PSN)MelodiousMelody]

On 3/21/2016 at 1:48 AM, xiaodenden said:

Oh, I completely understand why you don't like playing with random people.  I feel the same way.  When I just started, I feel like a burden to the team and it's frustrating to see higher level people zooming ahead killing everything while I'm busy trying to catch up to the squad.  It took me a long time to get enough nerves to play with random people.  Now I'm more competent playing the game, I still feel like I might let someone down if I manage to fail spy sorties or something like that.  I have made some new friends in the game from random grouping, but most of the time it's like you join a squad, you silently play, and then disband immediately after the end of the session.  Unless someone's incredibly obnoxious, most people won't remember who their squadmates were.  I'm glad you and your friend are finding friends to check out the game together, and if you need more players, I suggest starting a thread in the PS4 recruiting subforum and asking for new players to play.  I made some good friends that way when we tried to clear the Solar Map together. <3  Thank goodness I have some real life people I can play together.   I also feel like I play better solo or with friends.  Less pressure because of few or no audience, I suppose.

Definitely try new melee weapons to see which on suits your style more.  Galatine and Orthos are both decent weapons. I'm not a fan of great swords because of its slow speed so I don't use Galatine that often, but they look glorious and hit hard.  I love polearms so Orthos Prime is one of my go to melee weapons.  If you like fast attack speed with huge range, I recommend Atterax.  It has high crit chance so slap a Beserker mod (that's going to be hard to find unfortunately) and make it go even faster.

Generally speaking I prioritize Vitality over Redirection especially when you go to planets like Phobos where the enemies do crazy slash damage on you all the time.  If you have frames that have naturally high shield (Mag and Volt), then Redirection is more useful though I still put a Vitality or at least a Vigor on those frames.  Other frames like Valkyr benefit from Steel Fiber.  A lot of people don't bother with durability mods, but to me I rather sacrifice a bit of power to able to survive a bit longer.  What's the point of having the potential of doing massive damage if one spends more time bleeding out than being alive?  Maybe I'm just not a fan of glass cannons.

Aura mods are rewards from alerts. 

It's good to be always upgrading mods, and that's exactly what you should be doing to become more powerful.  :D  Hope you have enough credits to get that Carrier soon. 

Hope WF will be your favorite game for a while, and if you have more questions, don't hesitate to ask.  There are tons of knowledgeable and friendly people here. :)

That's exactly how I feel. I'm not particular strong or fast when compared to others, so I always feel like I'm lagging or not pulling my own weight. So far I've not run into any cranky players (cross my fingers). My bud and I are managing we've made it past fifteen minutes on a Void Survival mission finally. We had a good day of farming.

I've tried Orthos since we've last spoke, WAY too slow for Excal. Kronen's power seems to be tied to sliding swipes which seems to to suit Excal's need to be constantly mobile. I've rediscovered my love for Excal since.

I don't think Galatine would suit me at all.

Any recommendations for fairly fast weapons I should look out for?

As per the recommendation of another user (maybe it was you even, I can't recall forgive me). I've combined Vitality with Steel Fiber on Excal, surprisingly he's done well with that combination + the forced mobility while utilizing Kronen. He's lasting longer than even my Rhino.

I'll have to look out for those. Oh! I encounter an Alert offering a Nightmare Mod... failed horribly.

Got my Carrier! Haven't tested it out yet though.

Man, it's addictive, I don't even like this type of game and I'm hooked! Again, thank you for taking the time to lend me advice. :)
 

[(PSN)MelodiousMelody]

On 3/21/2016 at 5:26 AM, felixsylvaris said:

Yeah more or less in order.

Also maxing mod of 3 or 5 rans is 10 or 35k (or something like that) so you can max them all. Ony 10 rank could reach 500k (or 2m total) so hold on that. For credit farm Sechura Pluto Dark Sector 5 waves is nice. Or the one from Eris.

As for Redirection vs Vitality. I dont know. If frame has armour below 100 then investing i health is questionable. Excalibur have armour 225 so health + armour grants more effective health. With high health we need some way to regenerate it, Team restore items, Life steal on melee, Focus School or "Trinity plz". Shields regenerates on its own which is very convinient. Sentinel Guardian mod is nice.

Getting sentinel is a good thing. Carrier could help with resources and mod collecting which is a thing at the begining.

I'll keep that in mind.
O____O 500K phew! I'll have to get to Pluto sometime (I'm being slow xP).

I've got both Vitality and Redirection up to rank 5 at least. I've decided to try Vitality and Steel Fiber out and it's working fabulously on my Excal, especially if I keep moving; which fortunately Kronen forces me to in order to deal heavy damage.

Got my Carrier, going try it out tonight.

Thanks for your advice! Much appreciate.

 

[xiaodenden]

2 hours ago, (PS4)MelodiousMelody said:

That's exactly how I feel. I'm not particular strong or fast when compared to others, so I always feel like I'm lagging or not pulling my own weight. So far I've not run into any cranky players (cross my fingers). My bud and I are managing we've made it past fifteen minutes on a Void Survival mission finally. We had a good day of farming.

I'm very glad that you and your friends are having fun and improving.  Next time try to get to 20 min of void survival for better rewards, if rng permits that is.  :D  Good to hear that you're doing better as Excal as well. :)

Orthos Prime, Atterax, (Prisma) Dual Cleaver, Dual Ichor, Fang (Prime), Lesion, Tipedo, Dual Zoren, Destreza, and Obex are some of the melee weapons that have high base attack speed.  Some of them like Dual Cleaver, Dual Ichor, Dual Zoren, and Obex have high base crit chance that they synergize well with Berserker if you want to go even faster.  You should also slot a  Fury mod in your melee weapons if you haven't done so already.   If I were in your shoes, I would build a Tipedo or Dual Zoren.  You will need Bo and Kunai to build Tipedo so you might as well build and master those two and then go for Tipedo. Dual Zoren is very accessible for newer players because all the resources needed are found on the lower level planets.

Because Excal has passive bonus +10% attack speed and 10% damage when wielding longswords, dual swords, nikanas, and rapiers, I usually prefer using these weapons with him: Broken Sword, Prisma Skana with the syndicate mod Bright Purity, Dual Ichor, Prisma Dual Cleavers with the syndicate mod Justice Blades, Destreza, or Dragon Nikana.  You should be getting Dex Dakra as one of the anniversary presents if you log in this week and that melee weapon should be good for Excal as well. Since some melee weapons mod have effects on Excal's abilities, the Fury mod in your melee weapon will increase his attack speed.

Yeah, nightmare alerts can be pretty crazy sometimes.  Like I said before, try bringing Rhino or other frames that don't rely on their shield for nightmare alerts.  Slap on a Vigor mod in addition to Vitality to up your HP if you need to.  Keep it up! You can do it. :D

Yay for Carrier.  Let me know what you think of it.

Haha, tell me about it! Warframe is my first (and only) shooter game.  I got into it because the game looks so pretty, but I stayed because it is fun and addictive.  You're very  welcome.  I'm always happy to answer questions.  :)

[(PSN)MelodiousMelody]

15 minutes ago, xiaodenden said:

I'm very glad that you and your friends are having fun and improving.  Next time try to get to 20 min of void survival for better rewards, if rng permits that is.  :D  Good to hear that you're doing better as Excal as well. :)

Orthos Prime, Atterax, (Prisma) Dual Cleaver, Dual Ichor, Fang (Prime), Lesion, Tipedo, Dual Zoren, Destreza, and Obex are some of the melee weapons that have high base attack speed.  Some of them like Dual Cleaver, Dual Ichor, Dual Zoren, and Obex have high base crit chance that they synergize well with Berserker if you want to go even faster.  You should also slot a  Fury mod in your melee weapons if you haven't done so already.   If I were in your shoes, I would build a Tipedo or Dual Zoren.  You will need Bo and Kunai to build Tipedo so you might as well build and master those two and then go for Tipedo. Dual Zoren is very accessible for newer players because all the resources needed are found on the lower level planets.

Because Excal has passive bonus +10% attack speed and 10% damage when wielding longswords, dual swords, nikanas, and rapiers, I usually prefer using these weapons with him: Broken Sword, Prisma Skana with the syndicate mod Bright Purity, Dual Ichor, Prisma Dual Cleavers with the syndicate mod Justice Blades, Destreza, or Dragon Nikana.  You should be getting Dex Dakra as one of the anniversary presents if you log in this week and that melee weapon should be good for Excal as well. Since some melee weapons mod have effects on Excal's abilities, the Fury mod in your melee weapon will increase his attack speed.

Yeah, nightmare alerts can be pretty crazy sometimes.  Like I said before, try bringing Rhino or other frames that don't rely on their shield for nightmare alerts.  Slap on a Vigor mod in addition to Vitality to up your HP if you need to.  Keep it up! You can do it. :D

Yay for Carrier.  Let me know what you think of it.

Haha, tell me about it! Warframe is my first (and only) shooter game.  I got into it because the game looks so pretty, but I stayed because it is fun and addictive.  You're very  welcome.  I'm always happy to answer questions.  :)

Still having trouble getting past wave twenty or twenty minutes in Defense/Survival, but still we're making some progress. Had a good farm run with Paris Prime parts, I think I need one more part and the print before I can start construction.

I'll have to keep an eye out for those. I recognize some of the names, not all though. I've heard good thing on Duel Zoren.

Even my Rhino didn't make it. Oh well, the experience was enlightening. 

So, far I haven't noticed much of a difference, but I'm still ranking it/improving it with mods.

Ha! That's cool. I was drawn in by the lovely designs and I'm one of those weirdos that goes nuts for armor designs. The Warframes were just gorgeous. Now that I've actually tried it out, I'm quite impressed with this game. The developers seem like a decent bunch, the fanbase doesn't seem like a toxic cesspool. The last online (related) game I ever played was Halo 3 and after one two many straws were broken I shelved it. There is only so much tolerance.