[Mag] A Few Questions Coming From A Beginner.

[Boodendorf]

For some reason, the search option doesn't work so I couldn't search for answers before making this thread, so I apologize if it annoys some people.

 

Here are my questions:

MAG:

1)Is any of her abilities worth leveling up or should I keep them as they are to keep space for heavier mods?

 

2)I bought a bit of platinum yesterday as I had gotten a 50% off coupon, I currently got 200 plat. I already bought an orokin reactor for my Mag (since I know I'm going to keep her) and I want to get one of those flying pet things, but I have no idea which one I should take, their IG description doesn't really help me choosing either. I'm also thinking of getting her coil helmet but I dislike how it looks, is there any way to hide the helmet while still having it equipped (like in other games where you can hide the hat you're wearing to see the hair of your char)?

 

3)I'm thinking of two sets currently: Boar/Akbolto/Scindo (or Orthos) and Latron/Dual Bronco/Gram (or Orthos), how do they sound?

 

4)Is this a good set of mods for Mag:

Ability 1,2,3,4 (pull crush etc) (13)

Flow maxed out (5)

focus maxed out (9)

Streamline maxed out (5)

Stretch maxed out (9)

Redirection maxed out (14)

 

That's 9 mods with 5 remaining points. (13+5+9+5+9+14 = 55)

 

Should I go for Vitality for +160% health, Fast deflection for +30% shield or Continuity for +10% duration of bullet attractor?

Or should I just upgrade pull/shield polarize/bullet attractor/crush? I heard that shield polarize maxed out was particularly useful for defense missions (at which rank does it max out though)?

 

Thanks for the answers!

 

EDIT: Forgot to ask: Does leveling up Bullet Attractor grows the size of the "bubble" or is it just the range at which you can cast it?

Edited June 17, 2013 by Boodendorf

[Xoxile]

I've never found Shield polarize particularly useful. You need to target the player to use it who more than likely is going to be hopping around like a mad man. You could use it on defense objectives, but the only way to see their shields is by looking right at them to target them. So keeping track of their shields will be a tedious.

Pull has a few synergies. It's great with shotguns to shorten the distance from your target, but not go too far from cover you may have found. I've also had tons of fun using the fist weapons with pull since they have the best downed execution attack.

Bullet attractor also has synergy with shotguns, but also with any weapon with lower than average accuracy.

The mods I really found useful on her was streamline, and reach (since crush doesn't really have that great of range).

Edited June 17, 2013 by Xoxile

[PeterKha]

Mag is such a great warframe. I'd suggest taking out shield polarize and bullet attractor unless you're running bosses with a friend who's an excalibur then take bullet attractor. Pull and Crush is all you mainly need on Mag. Pull is so useful, you can pull your team mates out of tough situations or when they're downed and need to be revived you could pull them to you. Crush can clearly a whole map pretty much and it's really effective on about waves 1 - 25 of endless defense. The mods that I focus on my mag are Flow, Streamline, Focus and Stretch. Those are the four mods that will be your main core for a mag. I suggest you also get the coil helmet because it really goes well with her abilities and just makes them that much more effective. I mean an extra 30% range on top of the 45% range you get from stretch is just amazing. I'm pretty sure my crush had a 40m in game radius. Don't worry too much on the aesthetics of the helmet because you're really only getting it for the passive it brings.

 

Also, leveling up bullet attractor doesn't increase the size of the bubble, though what it does do is allow the range that you can be from the enemy further per level which I see no use in leveling at all.

[CatPhoenix]

For pets:

 

If you want to stealth from time to time: Shade (You will love him the first time you're mobbed and you need to run and you're poof, invisible. Also stun card with revenge works well.)

If you want firepower: Deathcube (Put a freeze shot on him and slow down your enemies to shoot, or slow down a mob a little)

If you want Charlie Brown: Wymn (I know, he isn't that bad, but compared to the others, he's mediocre.  I never see his crowd control do anything and he doesn't shoot as much or as fast as the cube)

 

For Mag

max out crush without question, even if it doesn't kill them, other people can shoot them while they're floating

bullet attractor works on bullet sponge bosses 

if you want an enemy to stop shooting a teammate, pull works well

[Vyaldyn]

I would choose Latron over Boar if you're going to have low accuracy sidearms for taking some longer shots. Pull can help you get targets closer, but you can't really spam it so having a long range weapon is a good idea. Both Akbolto and Dual Bronco should work for close range needs.

 

Playing against the Infested is another story, however, with no long range weapon required (unless you want to snipe those Ancients before they get close).

[Fredlicious]

1) Max out Crush, as it's Mag's only really useful ability. Unranked Pull is fine since it's only really useful for stripping Grineer Shield Lancers of their defenses and knocking down heavy enemies, and increasing the range doesn't really matter that much for either. Shield Polarize is basically useless, and Bullet Attractor is only worth equipping if you are running with an Excalibur friend (for the devastating combo with Radial Javelin, explained below).

 

2) Both Shade and Dethcube are useful for different things. I think Dethcube is probably the best overall, since if you equip him with an unranked copy of each elemental mod, he does a fantastic job of giving you some CC, and Vaporize is the ultimate anit-Roller skill.

 

3) I would hybridize those sets: Latron/Akbolto/Orthos. The Boar is a massive ammo hog and is useless at range. Both Dual Bronco and Akbolto suffer at range as well (Broncos due to bullet spread, Boltos due to projectile weapon physics), so you want to balance that out with your primary. Between those two, I like the Akbolto more for a large number of reasons, but ultimately both are playable at close range. The Orthos is just incredible due to its flexibility compared to the other heavy weapons; the downside is the lack of significant stagger prevention that you get from the other heavy weapons, but I haven't found that to be a problem with smart play.

 

4) As I mentioned in the answer to #1, Shield Polarize never makes the cut for my Mag build, which gives you more points to play with. I would definitely recommend Fast Deflection, which is almost as important as Redirection for survivability. Also, you should be aware that maxing out Redirection is going to take you a really long time, so you probably don't need to worry about it actually using a full 14 points any time soon. I have been playing for over 200 hours, and my rank 6 Redirection (10 points) has served me just fine.

 

5) I believe that leveling Bullet Attractor does increase the radius. The main problem with it is that it seems to redirect the bullets towards the target's center of mass, which means you can't aim for its weakpoints. As a result, if you're playing with people who have generally good aim, and especially if you have a Banshee using Sonar, casting Bullet Attractor will actually result in lowering your group's damage output. The saving grace of the ability is its interaction with Excalibur's Radial Javelin, which fires what the game considers projectiles; if it's cast within point blank range of a target with Bullet Attractor up, all of the javelins will hit, resulting in over 10,000 (which is also over 9000!) damage.

Edited June 17, 2013 by Fredlicious

[unseenrumor]

pull and crush are both amazing  max them both (not all at once)  polerising your frame will make a huge difference in cost later on  her other 2 skills are next to worthless outside of voidmissions i have found    make sure you have hp and sheild% both up to atleast 180% 

[Boodendorf]

Thanks for the input people, so basically I can sum it up like this:

 

1)Shield Polarize is bad.

2)Bullet attractor should only be used with an excalibur teammate (but I've managed to save my &#! a lot of times thanks to it, using it on heavy ennemies with guns is great as they will just shoot at themselves, giving you breathing room, then again I'm not sure how that will work later on).

3)Max out Crush

4)Get special helmet even if it looks ugly ;_;.

5)Keep Pull, but I'm not sure if I should upgrade it or not since there are two different opinions in this thread.

6)Wyrm is bad, Ghost or Dethcube is the way to go.

7)Orthos is a jack of all trade melee weapon.

8)Latron is better than boar except against infested.

9)Akbolto > Dual Broncos

 

I've got a few another questions since I've progressed a bit in the game:

 

1)I just looted the blueprints for Dread (Stalker's bow) in my last mission and nearly got all the materials. All I'm missing are 3 morphics, 300 circuits and 100 needles. Is that weapon worth the craft for Mag? Should I use my money on it before getting orthos or should I get orthos first? Should I get a better sidearm than lato before anything?

 

2)I've finally got a clan dojo key, and my clan already has every lab weapon blueprints. Are there any I should get that would be good for Mag?

 

3)Am I really gonna buy two pack of colors just to get a good black and a good purple? ;___; (Note: I still haven't used my 200 plat, and I'm probably going to buy more once I get another 50% off coupon)

 

Once again thanks for the answers!

Oh and I just maxed out Flow, I'm happy I'm done with that one lol.

Edited June 18, 2013 by Boodendorf

[Xoxile]

Dread isn't as much about being good with a frame, but more about being more of your play style. It's not a practical weapon, and takes some getting used to if you are not used to bow mechanics. But aside from that it is a good bow. Grats on picking it up.

Clan weapons require high mastery rank. You don't need to take them into consideration at this time.

Do you really like those colors? Are they worth 75 platinum each?

[Boodendorf]

Dread isn't as much about being good with a frame, but more about being more of your play style. It's not a practical weapon, and takes some getting used to if you are not used to bow mechanics. But aside from that it is a good bow. Grats on picking it up.

Clan weapons require high mastery rank. You don't need to take them into consideration at this time.

Do you really like those colors? Are they worth 75 platinum each?

Do bow mechanics from Team Fortress 2 count? If yes then I'm pretty much already used to it already lol. How come it isn't practical if it's a good bow? Do you mean that it's a very situational weapon? If so, how? And thanks!

 

Oh I see.

 

Yeah they're my favorite and I usually put em on everything (as long as it doesn't look ridiculous). But it's totally not worth it to use 150 plat just for two colors lol.

Edited June 18, 2013 by Boodendorf

[Xoxile]

Do bow mechanics from Team Fortress 2 count? If yes then I'm pretty much already used to it already lol. How come it isn't practical if it's a good bow? Do you mean that it's a very situational weapon? If so, how? And thanks!

 

Oh I see.

 

Yeah they're my favorite and I usually put em on everything (as long as it doesn't look ridiculous). But it's totally not worth it to use 150 plat just for two colors lol.

I don't know. I don't play TF2. I looked up a video on youtube about FT2 bows. To me it would appear that Warframe has more generous bows as their arrows fly straighter. A lot less curve.

[Notso]

I already bought an orokin reactor for my Mag

 

You poor soul.

[Boodendorf]

You poor soul.

But I really like Mag D:.

[Fredlicious]

To your new questions:

 

1) I haven't used Dread (I have the blueprint sitting around, but I had other weapons I wanted to use first), but I have leveled the Paris to 30, and although I'd say the bows are definitely playable for Mag, they don't seem like they'd be ideal. If you do keep Bullet Attractor in your build, the interaction with a bow is pretty less than ideal, especially for the Dread. Unlike the Paris, does not innately ignore armor, which makes getting head shots vital, and as I've mentioned before, Bullet Attractor gets in the way of that. Besides that little hang up, the bows are perfectly fine weapons, so if you like the idea of using one, then don't let anyone stop you!

 

2) My favorite research weapon so far is the Dera; it's just a very well-balanced weapons for all but the longest of ranges.

 

3) I personally used some of my Founder's platinum to buy the color pack bundle, which gives you all but Smoke for the cost of three packs. If you are super attached to the colors, then yes, the only way to get them is to buy the packs they appear in. I personally think that, with a fairly limited amount of plat, inventory slots and Reactors/Catalysts are a better way to spend, but that's ultimately entirely up to you.

[Notso]

But I really like Mag D:.

 

I love her too. She was my absolute favourite character right from when I started playing way back in closed beta. But unfortunately she's pretty crap, since they nerfed the [frankly ridiculous] range on Crush, without buffing any of her other powers as compensation.

 

Pull is basically useless except for saving teammates who get themselves into more than they can handle, and I've never once got into a situation where I've felt "damn I wish I had Mag so I could Pull him/her out of there and revive him/her safely". I can always kill whatever it is or hold out long enough to revive them then make myself scarce.

 

Shield Polarize is useless, even on the Cryopod. The minuscule amount of shield it restores/removes is quite frankly a joke.

 

Bullet Attractor actually nerfs the DPS of any competent player as it prevents bullets from hitting the weak spots of enemies [pulls them towards the centre of mass of the target, so if I aim at the head of a Grineer it pulls the bullets to his stomach].

 

Crush is just an average uber. Decent range, decent damage, poor CC.

[honeybadger]

Don't use Vitality. Not when Mag has an enormous amount of base shields to boost with Redirection. Save the space for caster mods.

[Xoxile]

Pull is basically useless except for saving teammates who get themselves into more than they can handle, and I've never once got into a situation where I've felt "damn I wish I had Mag so I could Pull him/her out of there and revive him/her safely". I can always kill whatever it is or hold out long enough to revive them then make myself scarce.

Why is pull so useless? I have tons of fun using it offensively. Especially using fist weapons with it.

[PeterKha]

I love her too. She was my absolute favourite character right from when I started playing way back in closed beta. But unfortunately she's pretty crap, since they nerfed the [frankly ridiculous] range on Crush, without buffing any of her other powers as compensation.

 

Pull is basically useless except for saving teammates who get themselves into more than they can handle, and I've never once got into a situation where I've felt "damn I wish I had Mag so I could Pull him/her out of there and revive him/her safely". I can always kill whatever it is or hold out long enough to revive them then make myself scarce.

 

Shield Polarize is useless, even on the Cryopod. The minuscule amount of shield it restores/removes is quite frankly a joke.

 

Bullet Attractor actually nerfs the DPS of any competent player as it prevents bullets from hitting the weak spots of enemies [pulls them towards the centre of mass of the target, so if I aim at the head of a Grineer it pulls the bullets to his stomach].

 

Crush is just an average uber. Decent range, decent damage, poor CC.

Decent Range? What was the range for it before? My crush goes up to 30 - 40m in range with max stretch and helm. I'd say that's pretty damn far, I can clear a whole def map easily.

[Notso]

Why is pull so useless? I have tons of fun using it offensively. Especially using fist weapons with it.

 

Fun is not the same as efficiency in combat. I can kill 5 enemies in the time it takes you to pull one to you and beat it to death with your fist weapon :-\

 

 

Decent Range? What was the range for it before? My crush goes up to 30 - 40m in range with max stretch and helm. I'd say that's pretty damn far, I can clear a whole def map easily.

 

It was a lot larger. Easily twice as big. And you say a "whole map", but you mean a "whole group". Before Mag could have cleared literally the entire spaceship defence map.

[Fredlicious]

Decent Range? What was the range for it before? My crush goes up to 30 - 40m in range with max stretch and helm. I'd say that's pretty damn far, I can clear a whole def map easily.

 

With maxed Stretch and the Coil helmet, you get somewhere between 21m and 22.62m range on Crush (I don't know whether the bonuses are additive are multiplicative, but the base range is only 12m). Sound Quake and World on Fire with maxed Stretch hit at 26.1m and deal substantially more damage.

[Xoxile]

Fun is not the same as efficiency in combat. I can kill 5 enemies in the time it takes you to pull one to you and beat it to death with your fist weapon :-\

I can use an ult too. You said useless. Nothing about inefficient.

Edited June 18, 2013 by Xoxile

[Notso]

I can use an ult too. You said useless. Nothing about inefficient.

 

With anything. I can kill those 5 enemies with anything.

[Xoxile]

With anything. I can kill those 5 enemies with anything.

No.

[Notso]

No.

 

Why didn't you just stop before you started making fallacies and the subsequent deterioration into nonsense..?

[Xoxile]

Why didn't you just stop before you started making fallacies and the subsequent deterioration into nonsense..?

Why did you make an incorrect assertion which could be refuted with a simple "no"? Pull is not useless. I will admit it is out preformed by many other first powers in terms of damage, but that doesn't make it useless. Pull is seriously the only reason I pull (haha) mag off the shelf these days. It has it's utility, and I make the most of it.

[Notso]

What weapon wouldn't do the job?