Getting started setup help

[Sibcoe]

Hello Warframe Community - 

I am new to this game, but loving it.  I just reached Rank 2, so clearly very new.  I am trying to find a good setup to get me started and maximize playtime, beyond the initial Excalibur frame and starter weapons.  I would like to support the Dev team with some upfront investment in such a great game, through buying a Plat bundle of some kind.  

I am excited to craft some stuff later, but would like to spend up front to get a good setup that I can enjoy right away.  Can anyone please recommend frames, weapons etc that would be a good place to start?  So far, I love stealthy bow and arrow, and melee the most.  I did craft a Karrak gun, which is great but takes a ton of ammo.  Mostly, I love survival, extermination, and defense missions, basically the ones that can last forever are my favorite.  

I am hoping to get into clans and lots of the other content offered.  

Just looking for a good setup to get started using Plat or a bundle of some kind.  Replies appreciated.

[artemisfortune]

Do not spend a single unit of Platinum on a premade frame or weapon. Get slots, and Orokin Reactors/Catalysts. A lot of the weapons can be easily grinded for, even top tier ones. Though if you want to get technical about it, any weapon can be made viable for a vast majority of the content through mods alone.

[Sibcoe]

8 minutes ago, JSharpie said:

Do not spend a single unit of Platinum on a premade frame or weapon. Get slots, and Orokin Reactors/Catalysts. A lot of the weapons can be easily grinded for, even top tier ones. Though if you want to get technical about it, any weapon can be made viable for a vast majority of the content through mods alone.

Thanks for the input.  Is it still the case, as noted in the wiki, that Frames and Weapons purchased with Plat come with Orokin Reactors/Catalysts already installed?  If so, that would be good, as I only intend to buy a few things to get started.  

Appreciate additional input - thanks for the quick reply.  

[Arcainyx]

1 minute ago, Sibcoe said:

...Is it still the case...that Frames and Weapons purchased with Plat come with Orokin Reactors/Catalysts already installed?...

Yes, that is still the case.

[artemisfortune]

2 minutes ago, Sibcoe said:

Thanks for the input.  Is it still the case, as noted in the wiki, that Frames and Weapons purchased with Plat come with Orokin Reactors/Catalysts already installed?  If so, that would be good, as I only intend to buy a few things to get started.  

Appreciate additional input - thanks for the quick reply.  

Yeah, they do, but still don't. You're overpaying quite a bit.

[Arcainyx]

6 minutes ago, JSharpie said:

Yeah, they do, but still don't. You're overpaying quite a bit.

This can be subjective.  If you plan on playing Warframe a lot and for the long term and you don't mind buying plat its value will be less to you.  Since that isn't the case for most people most of the advice on the forums related to spending plat will revolve around getting the most bang for your buck.  If the initial buy you plan on doing will be your only one it's a good idea to spend cautiously.  That being said your plat is your plat...you do you.

[Sibcoe]

4 minutes ago, Arcainyx said:

This can be subjective.  If you plan on playing Warframe a lot and for the long term and you don't mind buying plat its value will be less to you.  Since that isn't the case for most people most of the advice on the forums related to spending plat will revolve around getting the most bang for your buck.  If the initial buy you plan on doing will be your only one it's a good idea to spend cautiously.  That being said your plat is your plat...you do you.

Thanks.  I am able to invest in Plat as much or little as I need as and when I need.  I tend to invest in games similar to any other hobby I might invest in, and since the game is FTP I am already happy to spend for plat.  

Given that I might invest and can buy a few orokin devices on the market if really needed at the start for 20P, any ideas on what warframes to go for (purchased or otherwise) and weapons for getting up and running.  Essentially, reducing how long it takes to get into things a bit deeper?

I do understand Mods are the real power curve, but just looking to get a head start on gearing.  

Thanks for the replies.

Edited March 4, 2017 by Sibcoe

[artemisfortune]

8 minutes ago, Sibcoe said:

Thanks.  I am able to invest in Plat as much or little as I need as and when I need.  I tend to invest in games similar to any other hobby I might invest in, and since the game is FTP I am already happy to spend for plat.  

Given that I might invest and can buy a few orokin devices on the market if really needed at the start for 20P, any ideas on what warframes to go for (purchased or otherwise) and weapons for getting up and running.  Essentially, reducing how long it takes to get into things a bit deeper?

I do understand Mods are the real power curve, but just looking to get a head start on gearing.  

Thanks for the replies.

Get the Soma assault rifle for starters. It'll help you in a lot of situations but albeit be a bit boring. Kill the Stalker and get the bow Dread, which is one of the strongest weapons in the game for coming relatively easily as far as grind goes.

As for Warframes they fill their own niche so I would definitely need to know your preferred playstyle to really recommend you one. 

[Arcainyx]

Since so much of people's experience in this game is based on their likes and dislikes I recommend you do some reading.

Here is one of the best documents I've found for items in Warframe.  It lists items in their different categories and ranks them usually with a description of what the people working on them have found through testing:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DdsYLFaWL58_mQeKewm_ejCQdfXM7hSVx9o4PbZ-yD8/htmlview?usp=sharing&sle=true

 

You can use the Market to find prices and buy from people if you'd like.  This is especially helpful for buying prime weapons and frames.  I recommend you use the above link to determine if what you're looking at is locked out by Mastery Rank before you go to the Market.

https://warframe.market

 

Here is a list of weapons sorted by the MR at which you can create/use them.  It might also be helpful:

http://warframe.wikia.com/wiki/Weapons_Mastery_Rank

Edited March 4, 2017 by Arcainyx
Added Wiki link for Weapons/MR

[Sibcoe]

Thanks JSharpie - I enjoy stealth a ton, such as silent shots, bows, invis etc.  I find that when playing modes like "infestation or survival," which I love the most, it is more hack and slash than stealthy play, so I am a bit torn, as I feel I need something tougher and direct for those game styles.  I am open to options.  

 

Thanks.

[Arcainyx]

22 minutes ago, Sibcoe said:

...I enjoy stealth a ton, such as silent shots, bows, invis etc...

Loki/Loki Prime is considered by most to be the best stealth frame.  When properly modded his stealth lasts the longest making using him the easiest for stealthy play overall.  Ash/Ash Prime is another good choice albeit debated by some based on his recent nerf.  Ash emphasizes melee more than Loki so his skills are more oriented towards damage...assassination style if you will.  Ivara is another stealther frame.  Her skills are based on bow usage so her stealth is less geared towards mobility and more towards posting up in one spot and shooting.

There are several good bows although some of the better ones will be locked out for you based on MR.  It's possible for you to get the plans for Dread although that would require you to group up with people and kill Stalker which may not be easy.  Regular Paris is a good start and Paris Prime will be available at MR 4 which should be soon for you.  Another choice that could work is Zhuge/Attica although those are repeating crossbows and not draw-style bows.  Spira/Spira Prime and Hikkou/Hikkou Prime are silent secondaries either available to you now or will be soon depending on version.  Most melee will work for stealth although many will recommend getting a dagger and using Covert Lethality for quick killing.  Which dagger you would use at that point is largely personal choice.  Shade/Prisma Shade is a sentinel based around stealth whose usage may be a help to you.  Huras Kubrow is another stealthy companion that might be worth looking into.

Edited March 4, 2017 by Arcainyx
Added kubrow comment

[Sibcoe]

Also, is there any reason not to put a reactor on every single frame you use?

[Sibcoe]

24 minutes ago, Arcainyx said:

Since so much of people's experience in this game is based on their likes and dislikes I recommend you do some reading.

Here is one of the best documents I've found for items in Warframe.  It lists items in their different categories and ranks them usually with a description of what the people working on them have found through testing:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DdsYLFaWL58_mQeKewm_ejCQdfXM7hSVx9o4PbZ-yD8/htmlview?usp=sharing&sle=true

 

You can use the Market to find prices and buy from people if you'd like.  This is especially helpful for buying prime weapons and frames.  I recommend you use the above link to determine if what you're looking at is locked out by Mastery Rank before you go to the Market.

https://warframe.market

Thanks - reviewing this now, looks like great info.

[dstrawberrygirl]

1 minute ago, Sibcoe said:

Also, is there any reason not to put a reactor on every single frame you use?

If you plan on farming prime versions of frames, you can consider skipping putting one on the non-prime versions - prime variants have minor stat improvements plus shiny bits. Some prime frames are now very hard to get / expensive, so if you don't plan on purchasing any of the older, vaulted Primes like Rhino, you can use regular Rhino instead until you either put in chunks of money or learn to trade with others.

At level 2 it's so hard to put any mods on anything - plus you probably don't have enough mods to make the most of all the available capacity yet! I guess one approach is to hold off until you get enough mods that you find yourself wishing you could fit more on, then apply Reactors as appropriate. 

Only reason not to - if you don't plan on keeping a warframe beyond levelling it to 30. Some folks don't purchase the extra slots you need to keep more frames in inventory. 

[Sibcoe]

3 minutes ago, dstrawberrygirl said:

If you plan on farming prime versions of frames, you can consider skipping putting one on the non-prime versions - prime variants have minor stat improvements plus shiny bits. Some prime frames are now very hard to get / expensive, so if you don't plan on purchasing any of the older, vaulted Primes like Rhino, you can use regular Rhino instead until you either put in chunks of money or learn to trade with others.

At level 2 it's so hard to put any mods on anything - plus you probably don't have enough mods to make the most of all the available capacity yet! I guess one approach is to hold off until you get enough mods that you find yourself wishing you could fit more on, then apply Reactors as appropriate. 

Only reason not to - if you don't plan on keeping a warframe beyond levelling it to 30. Some folks don't purchase the extra slots you need to keep more frames in inventory. 

Great - thanks.  This is helpful.

[Arcainyx]

Frame: tank, damage, support

Primaries and Secondaries:  sniper, automatic, bow, grenade, shotgun, 'other'

Melee: single, dual, heavy, sword/shield

Companions: kavat (buffs), kubrow (tankier), sentinel (Vacuum)

 

You can loosely divide the different things in categories.  I might have missed a thing or two but I think I have the major ones.  What are you interested in?

[Sibcoe]

55 minutes ago, Arcainyx said:

Frame: tank, damage, support

Primaries and Secondaries:  sniper, automatic, bow, grenade, shotgun, 'other'

Melee: single, dual, heavy, sword/shield

Companions: kavat (buffs), kubrow (tankier), sentinel (Vacuum)

 

You can loosely divide the different things in categories.  I might have missed a thing or two but I think I have the major ones.  What are you interested in?

 

Frame: I enjoy playing support in groups and damage solo

Primaries: Enjoying Bow and Rifle

Melee: Loving Bo so far, melee just seems easier to use and sustain

Companion: Only just made the Taxon starter guy, massive help so far, I do have the vacuum mod

Looking for a solo option for clearing progress on worlds and survival/defense/Infestation mission types

Hoping to join a clan and play support too.

Thanks for taking the time to reply, appreciate it.

Edited March 4, 2017 by Sibcoe

[Arcainyx]

Trinity/Trinity Prime is generally regarded as the best of support frames.  One of her skills provides limitless energy to herself and her team.  As long as you manage her energy (watch spamming her skills and be mindful around enemies that drain energy) that also means she can have limitless heals.  Oberon is another frame people think of when it comes to support.  People call him the 'paladin' frame - his skills are somewhat more oriented towards damage.  He is somewhat controversial as some of the community feel he is underpowered due to his being an older frame that hasn't had his skills changed to be more in line power wise with some of the newer frames.  Nyx/Nyx Prime provides support in the form of Crowd Control.  Her CC skills are scalable - usable on enemies well into the end game.  Limbo/Limbo Prime is also based on CC.  He can put allies and enemies and himself into 'the rift' usually separating them from everything else not in the rift with pros and cons depending on what you do with him.  Banshee/Banshee Prime is more of a mix of support.  She provides one of the best damage buffs in game while her other skills are a mix of CC and damage.  Equinox has a night form and a day form with changes to skills in each form although you essentially need to get the materials for two frames to make it.  Chroma has elemental-based abilities that change depending on what color you change him to some of which are oriented more to damage some of which are more support-based.

Ember/Ember Prime is a fire based frame whose skills are AoE based.  Generally her skills are fire and forget (pun not intended).  Saryn/Saryn Prime is based on poison and also AoE.  Her skills interact more then some damage based frames.  Mesa is based around gunplay.  Her builds are either based on her ult for gunning enemies down or her other skills for buffing her team.  Mirage has some CC based skills however most people playing her use Hall of Mirrors and a weapon of choice.  HoM creates clones that draw attention away from the 'real' Mirage and use the weapons she has equipped.  Some weapons when used with that skill have interaction that increases their usefulness.

Frost/Frost Prime and Vauban should also be mentioned.  Their skills are based on defending areas.  They can make certain missions and mission types much easier.  They split types between damage and CC.

As JSharpie mentions Soma and later Soma Prime are a very good choice for automatics.  Properly modded the Soma Prime is a top tier weapon.  The Mk-1 Braton/Braton/Braton Prime is a good alternative.  The Boltor/Boltor Prime is another option although that weapon shoots spikes whose projectiles have travel time and arc.  The Grakata/Prisma Grakata is also another solid choice in automatics.

Melee is generally easier to use especially if you spend a lot of time using it.  If you do spending some plat on the correct mods might be something to think about.  These mods will go into most melee weapons and increase the general power of those weapons.  Stances, Blood Rush/Body Count/Drifting Contact/Berserker, and Life Strike.  Stances change the way melee weapons strike and add more capacity to put more mods into your weapon.  The second category of these mods are based on combo count.  They make the combo count last longer and either increase speed or critical chance increasing your damage.  Life Strike gives you significant life gain when you hit at the cost of energy.  It's good to keep you going after you take damage which will almost certainly happen to you even if you can dodge attacks with the best of them.

If I use a sentinel I use Carrier Prime.  It has excellent durability and one of its mods increases your ammo capacity.  The Taxon seems like it could be good for CC however I didn't use it much so I can't really comment on it.  Sentinels have a mod that auto revives them however the amount of revives is limited.  The kavats give you buffs you can't really find anywhere else on timers.  Though you can revive them an infinite number of times they are the most fragile of companions.  Kubrows have more ways to be tanky and you can revive them as much as you want.  There are also a handful of different types which can give you some options on use/utility.

Edited March 4, 2017 by Arcainyx
Added lines for Frost/Vauban

[Arcainyx]

2 hours ago, Sibcoe said:

Thanks for taking the time to reply, appreciate it.

You're welcome!  Glad I could help you.