Why is my damage so low?

[Altissimus]

Hi,

So I came back to Warframe after several years away, and have been playing for the last couple weeks or so trying to get back into the game.  

When I left I was mastery 11 and had a reasonable mod set (for the time).  Now, while I know I'm missing some mods, my damage seems to be way off the pace.  

Here, as an example, is my triple-forma'd soma - and on Draco, for example, I frequently do <20% of the damage.

What am I missing?

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=D874B05EBC0CB28E!7090&authkey=!ADMnN-Kvfmp8rgo&v=3&ithint=photo%2cpng

How can I get the damage of this up?

Thanks,

A

[Adder1]

I'm not sure if you should be worried. Draco is the affinity/focus/faction standing grinding node right now. If you're just going around using your Soma as a Rhino while you have spores, radial javelins, avalanches, divine spears, and blade storms, you're not going to do as much damage as your teammates who have builds dedicated to clearing those hordes as fast as possible. That's without mentioning the many, many other top-tier weapons currently available such as the Tonkor, Synoid Simulor, Sancti Tigris, etc.

Granted, I'd be using another elemental mod instead of Piercing Hit due to the way that elemental damage works off of the ENTIRE damage of the weapon while IPS (Impact Puncture Slash) works only on that individual damage type.

[Celle-Reveris]

Draco may not be the best damage benchmark for a newly returning player as most XP Draco runs are where people grab their fastest and largest scale damaging weapons/frames as I understand.

But, as for the actual question, you'll likely get more damage out of betting suiting your elemental combo for the faction you're fighting. Radiation, as far as I can remember, is only really good against robotics/machines and alloy armor(alloy being the armor type of Heavy gunners and Bombards/other heavy grineer units(?)). Against the more plentiful and common grineer units, you may find Corrosive(toxic+electric) to be the better option.

And, as a matter of preference, I'd take Shred over Piercing Hit; the punch-through by itself actually raises your damage considerably when facing larger groups, and the fire rate should provide a larger damage boost over Piercing Hit. You might also want to invest one more forma into your Soma for greater build diversity.

[Btabc]

If I remember correctly Soma has a lower base damage, but the critical multiplier is what makes it a force?  I found a youtube on a corrosive build that's got a base damage of 157 along with similar stats with yours, but with a faster reload time and better magazine size.  It is a 4 forma'd weapon:

I have also seen where someone removed argon scope and used "hammer shot", but that's your choice :)

Edited June 9, 2016 by Btabc

[(PSN)A_SimpleName]

The obligatory...Extinguished Key? Check, check, and double check.

No? A Soma P (less alone a soma) can be out-damage by any killing frame nowadays. Total Damage is the sum of all the numbers you output meaning your Soma can hit 10 Grineers for 3k damage each (=30K), I can double that with using my shotgun by hitting ONE Grineer for 60K. I remember running through lower level missions and only shot 2-3 enemies with an Opticor but still come out with 80+% damage done in the squad (the other 3 newer players has about 100 kills total).

 

Edited June 9, 2016 by (PS4)A_SimpleName

[Xekrin]

1 hour ago, Altissimus said:

So I came back to Warframe after several years away

1 hour ago, Altissimus said:

I frequently do <20% of the damage.

What am I missing?

You are missing the fact that other people have been playing the content you haven't for much longer.  They kill faster than you, plain and simple.  Ignore how much total damage/kills are yours, especially in draco.  Pay attention to how quickly you kill things versus their level, that's the only important factor.  If someone else gets to it first, that is no reflection on your damage, just their greed.