So I now have forma to use...

[SquattingMouse]

After using the first one for a syndicate and the second for Twin Grakata I now have some blueprints (three to be exact) and am looking at options.  I'm probably going for weapons rather than frames but thought I'd ask for opinions and advice.  Rifling through the arsenal gives the following choices -

My choice of frames is probably Rhino or Excalibur (both with exilus adapters).  I do have Nyx (almost at 30 now) and Oberon but these two are my mains. 

Primary weapons I've got a Hek which I love and also the Dex Sybaris which I'm happy about spending the forma on.  I have got a Paris but am not as much of a fan of that as I thought I'd be and almost prefer the idea of putting hush on the Sybaris for when stealth is needed.

Secondaries I have the Grakatas and also a Sonicor which is a work in progress and quite a way from 30.  Melee choices I'm open to suggestions as so far the only ones I've really found good are the Plasma Sword and Dual Cleavers (Haven't done much with my other Dex weapons so if the Dakra are good tell me!).  Bear in mind I haven't done the second dream yet so War/Broken War is not an option yet.  Opinions?

[rage4198]

I think your best bet is using them in warframes since corrupted mods use alot of "space" in your build when maxed or for example if your a kubrow fan and you want to add all the mods at max rank you will need 6 or 7 formas.

in the end you have to figure out what warframes or weapons you like the most and make a build for it so it reaches its full potencial thats why you will need alot of formas

[Jesde94]

I can confidently say that Hek is and amazing shotgun if you are willing to put a catalyst onto it. However i hear that Steel Meridian's Vaykor Hek is even better. Of course Vaykor Hek is locked behind Mastery Rank 12 so it will take time and recourses to get/use.

Also finish Second Dream as soon as possible, Broken-War is an excellent melee weapon. The matching stances can be hard to get though.

 

[SquattingMouse]

Ta - I'm a fair way from corrupted mods at the moment which is why I was thinking weapons - something to help with harder void runs to stand a better chance of farming a prime frame and weapons from possibly. 

[Necrius]

I'd suggest Sonicor, since it got quite useless for pistols vazarin polarity (unless you're a fan of cold damage bonus).

[p3z1]

Get a Mios, that thing is a beast with Body Count + Blood Rush + Primed Reach.

No forma needed (or 1, for building the weapon itself).

Edited March 29, 2016 by p3z1
Specifics

[Xekrin]

28 minutes ago, SquattingMouse said:

I have got a Paris but am not as much of a fan of that as I thought I'd be

My opinion, if you like a weapon, get the Primed version is one exists, don't waste forma or reactors (potato) on vanilla weapons or warframes if there is already a prime variant, especially if you don't have the platinum to just buy more off market.  If you are like me and only use what forma/potatoes you get for free.

Most weapons don't require forma or at most just one, due to having a stance giving you extra mod space already.  If you really like a weapon, a catalyst is all you'll need, and maybe 1 forma.

Sonicor is a great weapon, also the staticor, both are worthy of forma.  Hek is good for forma but most primaries are going to require 2 or 3 forma at least to make them really really good, just be aware of that.

Most frames don't require much forma, 1 or 2 at most for normal builds, once you get corrupted mods or Prime mods or maxing out any rank 10 mods you will need a couple forma at least, especially if you want to use exilus slots.  Excal is a good choice, there is a Prime version of Rhino but it may be difficult to obtain since you can only get it via trade.  Both are worthy of forma so long as you enjoy playing them, that goes for any frame though.  

Forma may seem sparce right now for you but once you get an optimized build on at least 1 frame and 1 primary/melee you can start gathering more much easier in tower survivals.

good luck

[SquattingMouse]

Thanks again to all -

Jesde94 I am going for Steel Meridian and am aiming for that Hek eventually via scattered justice.  I am currently working my way towards Uranus so I can find and scan the blasted drone...

Necrius and Xekrin thanks for the advice on sonicor - interesting as so far I haven't been terribly impressed.

I have a ridiculous number of primary blue prints to burn through so plenty of leveling fodder there.

[yetanotherunoriginalname]

Greetings mate.

It`s a hard question to answer since it mostly comes down to personal preference. That`s why you`ll see a lot of forum tenno say something along the lines of "Forma what you like or enjoy using"..and they`re right for the most part.

Giving a forma to Excalibur or Nyx is not a bad choice,both are useful warframes. Given the choice I`d give my forma to excalibur first. He`s a neat package that can makes sorties easy for never tenno..EB for damage, RB(and Rj to some extent) for crowd control, and slash dash for mobility.

Again,Both the Hek and the Dex sybaris are worthy of extra forma..The Hek is easier to use and with the syndicate multishot mod it won`t disappoint. The sybaris also has a high damage potential but you`ll need good aim to take advantage of the crit headshots. I`d choose the Hek,but that`s just personal preference. The regular paris is just a starter bow and its best to replace it with its primed counterpart.

On the topic of secondaries..Cant offer any advice on the twin grakatas,they`re fun to use and deal a lot of damage but are entirely ammo inefficient so I never brought them to their fullest potential. The Sonicor,on the other hand is definitely worth formaing,it`s not much in the damage department but its forced knockdown is a blessing in high level missions.

And,finally, the melee weapons. I advise you wait for some better ones..such as the broken war. (the ones you brought up are lower tier weapons...the dual clevers with a crit build are fun but there are better..the dex dakra is decent though but I doubt you want to spend your scarce supply on forma on them)

Edited March 29, 2016 by yetanotherunoriginalname

[PurpleBomber]

IMO you can get away with an unforma'd frame far longer than you can an unforma'd weapon. Melee's generally an exception in that most melee weapons don't need much in way of forma, thanks to the extra 10 points you get from your stance.

As for your guns, I'd vote Hek. Shotgun mods overall use fewer mod points than rifle and secondary mods, so you don't really need as many forma to get a shotgun up to form compared to the other gun classifications. Dex Sybaris and Sonicor are both definitely good, but they'll require upwards of 5 or 6 forma each to get a full build going. If you cut some corners and use the 60% dual stat elemental mods instead of straight damage 90% elementals, you can squeeze a 2 forma Hek build that'll easily carry you until you've built up a larger forma stock:

2 V polarities for Hell's Chamber and Seeking Fury, then Point Blank (not Primed), Scattered Justice, Blaze, and 3 appropriate 60% dual stat elemental mods.

If you end up doing that, you'd still have 1 forma left over... I guess putting a polarity into Excalibur's aura slot wouldn't be a bad idea? That's an extra 7 mod points no matter what you end up doing with your build.

[rage4198]

if your under mr 12 get a tonkor no questions asked so worth the catalyst and formas

after mr 12 probably get sancti tigris if you like to 1 shot anything, or vaykor hek if you like crits

as per secondories try telos akbolto or vaykor marelok if your a fan of revolvers

melee probably broken war, prisma dual cleavers(baro) with steel mod also nikana prime

Edited March 29, 2016 by rage4198
forgot melee

[SaturnKnight]

You might want to wait to put forma on frames after you have the Prime variant. Since Excalibur has no available Prime version you can go ahead and put some on there if you have a build in mind. Nyx and Rhino both have Prime versions so I'd wait on them. Since the Dex Sybaris is a really good gun and has no default polarities I would probably put a couple on there to start. Hek is also great. There is a syndicate version but it's more of a side-grade than an upgrade depending on your mods, so you should feel free to forma that as well. I haven't had to forma melee yet, so I wouldn't worry about that unless you have a particular need.

[DeadlyPeanutt]

1 hour ago, Xekrin said:

Sonicor is a great weapon, also the staticor, both are worthy of forma.  

staticor is buggy as heck... i'd stay away from it.  it simply stops working, uses ammo but does no damage

i put a potato and 4 forma on my staticor (like the weapon btw).  now it stops working (bug) in the middle of a mission, and may or may not start working again.  The next mission staticor doesn't work at all.  the mission after that... who knows...

stay away from staticor until it's fixed.

sonicor is much more reliable. 

[Zyrgi]

I'd suggest to get a weapon set you like to play with, max it out(throw forma at it until you can fill all the mod slots). Then throw some forma at a warframe you like to play with. Expand your arsenal.

[Xekrin]

1 hour ago, DeadlyPeanutt said:

staticor is buggy as heck...

Staticor is my main secondary, it is quite powerful and other than issues with datamasses/power cores, i've never had it not work. In those 2 cases DE has already fixed, and even if not, you simply fire the weapon occasionally as you are running and it continues to work, if it stops firing backtrack through rooms you were in.  It sounds weird, but that is the workaround I discovered and I use this weapon constantly, regardless, I was making a suggestion, he should form his own opinions.

 

[asop73]

3 hours ago, SquattingMouse said:

Thanks again to all -

Jesde94 I am going for Steel Meridian and am aiming for that Hek eventually via scattered justice.  I am currently working my way towards Uranus so I can find and scan the blasted drone...

Necrius and Xekrin thanks for the advice on sonicor - interesting as so far I haven't been terribly impressed.

I have a ridiculous number of primary blue prints to burn through so plenty of leveling fodder there.

Once you start forma'ing that Sonicor I think you'll change your mind. Right off the bat the Sonicor is unimpressive, you're right. But when you start adding forma it really starts to shine. I went to town on mine - 6 forma (4 v's and 2 -). But you don't have to go that nuts to see a return on your investment. I started adding a few v's for hornet strike, barrel diffusion and lethal torrent. That d polarity caused me a few headaches so I eventually forma'ed that into another v and threw Magnum Force on it, then added a couple of - for the 90% elemental mods. I'm still playing around with it, switching mods in and out to see what suits me best. I have Quickdraw on it because that 3.0 second relaod time really drives me nuts.

Pro's: Extremely ammo efficient. Great crowd control. Tears up anything on the star chart. Fun

Cons: Reload time. Damage noticably drops off on those longer T4 (even T3) runs and sorties (or maybe I just havent modded it right yet).

[DeadlyPeanutt]

3 hours ago, Xekrin said:

Staticor is my main secondary, it is quite powerful and other than issues with datamasses/power cores, i've never had it not work. In those 2 cases DE has already fixed, and even if not, you simply fire the weapon occasionally as you are running and it continues to work, if it stops firing backtrack through rooms you were in.  It sounds weird, but that is the workaround I discovered and I use this weapon constantly, regardless, I was making a suggestion, he should form his own opinions.

 

this is a known bug that continues to exist.  check the bug sections of this forum.

i like staticor a lot and i'm unhappy this bug still exists... a weapon that works sometimes and doesn't work sometimes is worthless/RIP.  a weapon MUST be reliable to be useful

thanks for the suggested work around, i'll try it :)   (although I still maintain that the weapon should be fixed)

[SquattingMouse]

Thanks again to all - I've thrown the first one at my dex sybaris as I've had a rummage through the mod collection and think I'll make a better rifle than shotgun (and can then put my better shotgun mods on my carrier too). 

Quote

if your under mr 12 get a tonkor no questions asked so worth the catalyst and forma

I have a tonkor in progress at the moment but I'm still trying to get the hang of the projectile arc at anything beyond almost point blank range.

[SaturnKnight]

4 hours ago, SquattingMouse said:

I have a tonkor in progress at the moment but I'm still trying to get the hang of the projectile arc at anything beyond almost point blank range.

That takes a little time to get used to, but once you do it's all over but the crying... for the enemy. Meanwhile, if you aim the tonkor you'll see a trajectory line that will show you the arc it will travel. That might help until you're used to it. 

[TyrannosauRayz]

It's up to you. Follow your heart. 

[(PSN)HomelessSquishy]

I'd say, it's really up to what you like and plan to be using for quite some time

having said that though, i'd say the Sonicor is a good secondary to put in some forma just put a second one in mine i'm pretty much one shoting anything that's not Void and even i get my odd share of oneshots in Void

And, you combine a Forma/Catalyst Sonicor with a Catalyst Tonkor? AOE and Blast Heaven =D

as for frames? the only frame i put a Forma on was Ember, and that was so i could fit in her Augment Mod. all my other frames have Reactors only, but i don't have any of the corrupted or primed mods you need for "end game", so might be throwing out some forma's in the near future