How do you play Mag?

[Jabarto]

I've been playing Mag Prime lately, and it's going so poorly that I'm pretty much at the point where I consider the fact that she's a potential starter frame to be some kind of cruel prank on new players. I've got her at level 30, with a reactor. I have her modded with Corrosive Projection, Intensify, Vigor, Stretch, Streamline, Flow, Constitution, Redirection, and Natural Talent, but any missions over level 20 or so are almost impossible unless I eat a couple of revives. She's more fragile than I ever thought a frame could be, she's constantly starved for energy, her abilities barely do any damage, she's not particularly fast...and yet people tell me she's a top tier frame.

So I guess I'm asking for not just build advice, but actual strategy. Which of her abilities should I be using? On what kinds of enemies? What kind of modifiers should I be going for? What exactly does she do that other frames can't do better? I'm at wits end here so nothing is too basic.

[Miser_able]

I have 2 builds.

Build 1 focuses on magnetize. With high duration, range, and strength. I can use the magnetize bubbles to lock down a things such as hallways and doors to to protect an objective.

Build 2 is on polarize. Duration, strength, efficiency, and the augment. I can use this build to debuff crowds of corpus or grineer as well as protecting myself and teammates.

Sounds to me like you don't really know how to use mag.

[-NTB-Cris0407]

 

[FreezerFlare]

You either camp a hallway with your 2 and a weapon that abuses it. 

Or you use a Build centered around her 4 that frost does a hundred times better.

[Miser_able]

Also you might want to change your build. CP is counter productive because polarize strips armor, replace it with either rejuv or siphon. Natural talent isn't needed if you cast your abilities in the air.

Edited February 12, 2017 by Miser_able

[Theiyre]

1 minute ago, Miser_able said:

Also you might want to change your build. CP is counter productive because polarize strips armor, replace it with either rejuv or siphon. Natural talent is needed if you cast your abilities in the air.

But at higher levels, enemies with no armor straight up take way more damage than enemies with full armor with bits of it flying around them.

[Miser_able]

1 minute ago, Theiyre said:

But at higher levels, enemies with no armor straight up take way more damage than enemies with full armor with bits of it flying around them.

1 CP is not going to get rid of their armor. But a well done polarize build can as well as hurt them at the same time.

[(PSN)auwsomestgamer]

4 minutes ago, Miser_able said:

Natural talent isn't needed if you cast your abilities in the air.

I agree natural talent is useless.

I use two builds: 

1. Magnetize/polarize - go for range/duration/strength and use a weapon with decent status chance with radiation (and viral if you can fit it)

2. Crush - again range/duration/strength (not needed as much), I use her augment for this and it's a pretty decent cc (stunlock enemy, armour takes a hit too)

If your using her for end-game, you should have an ev in the squad, or at least a bunch of energy pads anyway. 

Hope this helps :)

 

[Theiyre]

13 minutes ago, Miser_able said:

1 CP is not going to get rid of their armor. But a well done polarize build can as well as hurt them at the same time.

What's a squad?  4 people?  4 CPs? enemies=ded asf

[gkuoni]

As someone who really likes mag, I focus on two abilities her magnetize and polerize. I have one build that works really well for my playstyle and haven't changed much from it. 

I use polarize while bullet jumping or double jumping to regain shields and also gain overshields with the augment. Polarize will be the ability you will use the most in almost all cases.

Magnetize you will put on heavier hitting targets such as heavy gunners in later levels or eximi, or on melee enemies if there is a fallen tenno. You can also use magnetize in choke points and then stand inside the bubble while shooting into it, allowing you to be completely safe from most or all projectiles (watch out for melee).

I do occasionally use pull, but that is if I see a large group of enemies attacking a defense objective or if there are a large group close but not close enough to an already set up magnetize you are standing in for safety.

Crush I use rarely, it's quite possibly her worst ability. Use it only for a source of cc and while protected such as in a magnetize bubble.

As for build, I was planning on adding another forma so I could max redirection, but it's not that important, because you anyways will have over 2k shields a lot of the time.

The build:

Spoiler

http://warframe-builder.com/Warframes/Builder/Mag_prime/t_30_2300320030_1-3-7-4-4-5-5-6-5-6-7-5-8-8-5-411-5-8-459-2-3-479-0-8-481-1-9-613-9-5_479-6-481-7-459-9-1-11-4-5-411-7-5-9-6-11-8-14-613-9_0/en/1-0-11

 

As for focus, I use zenurik.

Edited February 12, 2017 by gkuoni

[Jackviator]

How to play Mag: 

Step 1: Only use one ability (Magnetize) and a weapon that can abuse its mechanics (most notably the Lanka), because using Hitscan weapons is buggy as all hell with Magnetize.

Step 2: Wish you were playing a different frame, preferably one with more than one or two effective abilities and an energy pool that actually suits their gameplay style.

Real talk: Don't use Mag. Don't even use Mag Prime. She's honestly one of the worst frames in the entire game. All she can do is press 2 to win unless one min-maxes the hell out of her, at which point she becomes either a press 3 to win (so long as you're facing enemies below level 70) or press 4 to win (if you're feeling particularly suicidal).

Her energy pool doesn't fit her as a caster frame, her 1 is ok at best, her 3 doesn't scale, and her 4 has a suicidally long casting speed for the payoff of a tiny bit of non-scaling damage. All she has is her 2.

Essentially, how to use Mag: build her, rank her and her Prime for mastery, and dump them in the trash (or at best hold onto her Prime for when DE get around to reworking her again in, say, 2025).

Edited February 12, 2017 by Jackviator

[Buff00n]

If you find yourself getting perforated with Mag then you've forgotten to use her 1.  Pull is essential to keep things from shooting you while you set up and use your other powers.  

I used to have the same problem with Mag, going from revive to revive.  Now I take her on sorties, and spamming Pull was the difference maker.  The build is pretty variable, but high efficiency is a must.

[Chipputer]

Use Pull for instant, effective CC in order to safely set up your other abilities. Position yourself so you're not out in the open before casting Crush, and liberally apply Polarize and Magnetize whenever appropriate to do so in order to both kill enemies and aid allies.

Then come to the forums and whine that she's not a meta frame like all of the other cry babies and go back to using whichever of the 6 or 7 usual frames that you would expect.

[-Temp0-]

It's because she's pretty much useless now afer being nerfed several times in a row (mostly her pull) and "reworked". The only thing she's got going for her is magnetize - which is a pretty shtty ability, similar to Amesha's (arwing) ability (which is actually kind of useful). You always need to run several 'bubbles', watch the timer closely and mod for everthing - efficiency, range, duration, ect at once and still you're not safe because bullets can still hit you. That's not really for new players same as volt, although he's at least has his speed+stun.

And for new players both Volt and Mag will be useless really. Things they both do now aren't exactly 'simple' and you won't get a real value out of volt's shield unless you already know a lot about how this game works. I wouldn't say that excal is too simple to use but his abilities are easy to understand at least even if modding will take some time.

Quote

What exactly does she do that other frames can't do better? 

Nothing. Literally. But that's not only Mag's problem and not even really a problem. If you're not one of those people that like to play x warframe because of he way it plays rather than efficiency, Mag will be useless for you.

[(PSN)EVILFLUFFMONSTER]

I think she is great, her only problem is her squishiness and poor scaling on her ult.

Beam weapons work great with turning her magnetise into swirling balls of doom, I like the Quanta Vandal and Synoid Gammacor though mine have a lot of forma. 

Magnetise blocks all incoming fire, completely removes a problem enemy from being able to attack, and turns your weapons beam/bullets into a swirling blender of damage. Its very dependant on what weapons you use with it on how much damage it can do to additional enemies entering it. Its also a good tool for surviving with mag.

Pull can pull enemies into your magnetised bubble, where you can polarise them for more damage in the bubble while replenishing your sheilds.

Being very power reliant, running out of energy is her biggest problem - thats when her survivability fails too(but the quanta vandal alt fire helps in a tight spot-another good reason to use it). Using the focus school that regenerates your energy, helps lots, plus certain arcanes if you really want to invest (I havent). Synoid Gammacor gives you energy back as a syndicate effect, so its a great secondary choice. 

I have two builds - one for pure damage and duration on her magnetise, but it chugs through energy pizzas like no tomorrow, so I only use it occasionally. I also have a lower duration maxed efficiency build for spamming bubbles more frequently and not running out of energy. You can mod her many ways really.

[StoneWukong]

2 hours ago, Jabarto said:

I've been playing Mag Prime lately, and it's going so poorly that I'm pretty much at the point where I consider the fact that she's a potential starter frame to be some kind of cruel prank on new players. I've got her at level 30, with a reactor. I have her modded with Corrosive Projection, Intensify, Vigor, Stretch, Streamline, Flow, Constitution, Redirection, and Natural Talent, but any missions over level 20 or so are almost impossible unless I eat a couple of revives. She's more fragile than I ever thought a frame could be, she's constantly starved for energy, her abilities barely do any damage, she's not particularly fast...and yet people tell me she's a top tier frame.

So I guess I'm asking for not just build advice, but actual strategy. Which of her abilities should I be using? On what kinds of enemies? What kind of modifiers should I be going for? What exactly does she do that other frames can't do better? I'm at wits end here so nothing is too basic.

When i read the title i instantly thought of my answer, i dont. I dont play mag. On my ps4 account i chose her and she was terrible so when i migrated to pc i chose volt and trust me, volt and excal are way better (no hate to mag, she makes an epic support frame). So my personal advice, dont waste ur time on mag unless u wanna be support. A good strong solo frame is frost, if ur looking for a femal frame for whatever reason, get ember

[Genesis7000]

1 hour ago, Jackviator said:

How to play Mag: 

Step 1: Only use one ability (Magnetize) and a weapon that can abuse its mechanics (most notably the Lanka), because using Hitscan weapons is buggy as all hell with Magnetize.

Step 2: Wish you were playing a different frame, preferably one with more than one or two effective abilities and an energy pool that actually suits their gameplay style.

Real talk: Don't use Mag. Don't even use Mag Prime. She's honestly one of the worst frames in the entire game. All she can do is press 2 to win unless one min-maxes the hell out of her, at which point she becomes either a press 3 to win (so long as you're facing enemies below level 70) or press 4 to win (if you're feeling particularly suicidal).

Her energy pool doesn't fit her as a caster frame, her 1 is ok at best, her 3 doesn't scale, her 4 has a suicidally long casting speed for a tiny bit of non-scaling damage. All she has is her 2.

Essentially, how to use Mag: build her, rank her and her Prime for mastery, and dump them in the trash (or at best hold onto her Prime for when DE get around to reworking her again in, say, 2025).

Can you please don´t tell people what they should and should not do with their Frames, thank you. Mag is in a team very good frame but she lakes solo capability 

[-Temp0-]

Quote

Can you please don´t tell people what they should and should not do with their Frames, thank you.

Op asked what she's good for and what he has to mod her for.

Don't get b-hurt just because someone honestly answered his question.

Edited February 12, 2017 by Nomen_Nescio

[kaliazane]

I use this for general play and swap conti for natural talent and transference for maxed fleeting to spam 4 as bere dps.

Edited February 12, 2017 by ViS4GE

[(PSN)Eluminary]

I play her all the time on sorti's she is a top contender for the most powerful offensive frame in the game.

 

I mod her for Max range with a bit of power str she doesn't need that much.   Cast a bubble unload a mag of a weapon like Mara detron/ pox all while still in the air everyone in the bubble dies and anything within 40m takes over a million dmg 8 seconds later.    played right she is a dominant God,  in this game you can absolutely control the map with her.    On top of this you can use pull to knock down enemies and Yank them into your death bubble range the bubbles also shield you from all incoming  damage.   All her abilities are usable while airborn I always stay in the sky.

 

She is far more powerful than she ever was pre change...  But believe what you like if more knew how strong she was she would likely be nerfed =p

Edited February 13, 2017 by (PS4)Eluminary

[(PSN)maso_sage-mode]

Mag is nothing but nerfed . yes she is kinda decent but IMO not even funny to play. she need another rework for sure.

[(PSN)m0rtr3k588]

She rather CC focused and do wonders against Corpus so build her with Polarize and Magnetize in mind

Continuity, Streamline and Stretch are a must for her.

[Duavey]

15 minutes ago, (PS4)m0rtr3k588 said:

She rather CC focused and do wonders against Corpus so build her with Polarize and Magnetize in mind

Continuity, Streamline and Stretch are a must for her.

She did wonders against the Corpus pre-rework, when her Shield Polarize had damage scaling. She could wipe an entire tile with just one button press.

Now she's... eh. Useful at choke-points, ok CC. I still use her, but she does tend to take some more effort.

Edited February 12, 2017 by Duavey
Words

[Xgomme]

4 hours ago, Jackviator said:

How to play Mag: 

Step 1: Only use one ability (Magnetize) and a weapon that can abuse its mechanics (most notably the Lanka), because using Hitscan weapons is buggy as all hell with Magnetize.

Step 2: Wish you were playing a different frame, preferably one with more than one or two effective abilities and an energy pool that actually suits their gameplay style.

Real talk: Don't use Mag. Don't even use Mag Prime. She's honestly one of the worst frames in the entire game. All she can do is press 2 to win unless one min-maxes the hell out of her, at which point she becomes either a press 3 to win (so long as you're facing enemies below level 70) or press 4 to win (if you're feeling particularly suicidal).

Her energy pool doesn't fit her as a caster frame, her 1 is ok at best, her 3 doesn't scale, her 4 has a suicidally long casting speed for a tiny bit of non-scaling damage. All she has is her 2.

Essentially, how to use Mag: build her, rank her and her Prime for mastery, and dump them in the trash (or at best hold onto her Prime for when DE get around to reworking her again in, say, 2025).

STEP 1 : Learn to play the damn game...

[-Temp0-]

1 minute ago, Xgomme said:

STEP 1 : Learn to play the damn game...

More like step 1 - don't play trash frames. Step 2 - learn to play the game Step 3 decide if you want to be a special snowflake and try trash frames 'work' for you Step 4 - decide they a don't work for you b come to like them and defend giving any opportunity saying "they're fine youshould l2p" and "just not press one-two buttons to 'win'"

[(PSN)TheTinkster]

The old Mag should return the corpus will be on there knees again.