Viable Chroma Build

[Xtrenos]

Well basically, I recently unlocked Chroma. And to be honest, I am kind of disappointed with him since he was perhaps the frame that took me the longest to farm.

My main quell is with the fact that his 1st ability doesnt let you use weapons with it, and removes advanced mobility options. Aside from that, he lacks a proper health sustain, but the 3rd ability makes up for it to some extent. 

I mean there are some warframes which I regard as endgame mainframes which are basically the warframes you see a lot in sorties, and while most Warframes can be found there in one form or another, Chroma is rarely seen. I have never seen one at the very least.

So what I am looking for are viable Chroma builds and a rough explanation on which element is better for which missions, since I am basically a noob to Chroma.

[(XBOX)R3d P01nt]

First thing you should know is that you'll need to invest some forma in order to make Chroma really shine.

Also, a lot of people run ice element for the massive armor gains.

My personal build is max power strength, as much duration as I can get, Steel Fiber, Vitality, Primed Flow and I've slotted Rejuvenate as my aura for health regen.  I run Zenurik to offset the high energy costs of casting 2 and 3, and I basically just keep those 2 abilities up at all times.  I never use 1.  I would only use 4 for farming credits and would swap my build for a high efficiency build with the fire element if I were to do that.

[Xtrenos]

<deleted cuz I got no idea how to delete>

Edited March 28, 2017 by Xtrenos

[Xtrenos]

2 minutes ago, (Xbox One)R3d P01nt said:

First thing you should know is that you'll need to invest some forma in order to make Chroma really shine.

Also, a lot of people run ice element for the massive armor gains.

My personal build is max power strength, as much duration as I can get, Steel Fiber, Vitality, Primed Flow and I've slotted Rejuvenate as my aura for health regen.  I run Zenurik to offset the high energy costs of casting 2 and 3, and I basically just keep those 2 abilities up at all times.  I never use 1.  I would only use 4 for farming credits and would swap my build for a high efficiency build with the fire element if I were to do that.

Dang, so 1 is practically useless? 

And nice, so does that mean I sacrifice my energy efficiency and range? Can you tell me what mods you use primarily for strength and duration?

 

[(XBOX)R3d P01nt]

3 minutes ago, Xtrenos said:

Dang, so 1 is practically useless? 

And nice, so does that mean I sacrifice my energy efficiency and range? Can you tell me what mods you use primarily for strength and duration?

 

I'm not looking at my build right now, but for max power strength it's Blind Rage, Transient Fortitude, Intensify, and Power Drift in the exilus slot.  I then slot in Narrow Minded and Primed Continuity.  So, yeah, I sacrifice range and efficiency.  Other people do it differently, and will probably chime in, so this build may not suit you.

And, yeah, your 1 is useless IMO.

[(PSN)CoolD2108]

1 hour ago, Xtrenos said:

Dang, so 1 is practically useless? 

And nice, so does that mean I sacrifice my energy efficiency and range? Can you tell me what mods you use primarily for strength and duration?

 

Yep. It's kinda bad damage with a medicore status chance that locks you into breathing the element.

Range is also rather useless. Fire and toxic aura are static and ice reflects bullets irrelevant of the range. Only element that requires range is electric but it isn't exactly recommendable as shields are kinda in conflict with Vex armor.

You can thus feel free to use narrow mindet on him and ignore range alltogether. His elemental ward does require range to buff teammates but DE is aware of this design flaw and addet a augument that fixes it, should you want to share your aura.

I'm personally not using Blind Rage as vex and his ward tend to be kinda power greedy and incomming damage is not allways guaranteed. Only really recommendable with a trin, with weapons that offer zero utility (no greatswords or hammers) or in really high levels. Also feel free to replace steel fiber with agility drift should the armor be sufficient for the level range you're playing or don't use armor mods at all.

Keep in mind that you can and will get damaged. It's thus a good idea to use weapons that heal you (hema, furis, melee, weapons with syndicate proccs that heal). Also avoid naramon even when using melee (obviously)

 

I just formad mine but i'll share you a build once i'm 30 again.

Edited March 28, 2017 by (PS4)CoolD2108

[Almagnus1]

I went a different route than the above, and went for a fire based Effigy build, like the others, requires a ton of forma.  The goal is to have something to credit farm at Akad, while also having something that works well with the CC frames my friends play when we're doing defense and excavation missions.  The effigy build I'm using is:

http://warframe-builder.com/Warframes/Builder/Chroma/t_30_3424204030_6-5-5-19-6-10-34-8-5-49-1-10-55-0-5-57-3-5-59-7-3-411-4-10-479-2-10-615-9-5_55-6-49-8-479-7-57-8-411-8-6-11-19-7-59-9-34-14-615-9_0/en/1-0-34

However, if I wanted to add another 2 forma to Chroma, I would be able to have both a fire effigy and ice tank Chroma (albeit using Corrosive Projection as the aura), using this build as the tank:

http://warframe-builder.com/Warframes/Builder/Chroma/t_30_3424224230_6-5-5-19-6-10-34-8-5-49-1-10-55-0-5-57-3-5-59-7-3-411-4-10-479-2-10-615-9-5_55-6-49-8-479-7-57-8-411-8-6-6-19-7-59-5-34-14-615-9_0/en/1-0-34

There's probably better ways to do tank Chroma that doesn't involve sinking 7 forma into the warframe XD

Edited March 28, 2017 by Almagnus1

[(XBOX)ThermalStone]

6 hours ago, Xtrenos said:

 

I mean there are some warframes which I regard as endgame mainframes which are basically the warframes you see a lot in sorties, and while most Warframes can be found there in one form or another, Chroma is rarely seen. I have never seen one at the very least.

 

Chroma is arguably the best tank frame, but sortie (and high level play in general) demands crowd control, damage dealers, or specialists.  Tanks don't contribute much to the team unless they can also deliver buffs.  That's why high level players don't bring him.  

Low level players who have trouble just surviving sortie level combat are much more likely to have Rhino than Chroma.  That's why low level players don't bring him.

[Xzorn]

I play Chroma a decent amount.

He's mostly a Solo frame, which is why you shouldn't see him in Sorties.

As for his power, he's in the lvl 300 club. Which is a list of frames I have who can Solo lvl 300+ survivals.

He's incredibly powerful. Mostly from his damage output, not as much his tanking. His ability to take damage has two sever weaknesses much like Mesa or some other frames. Bleed status at those levels can give him a bad day and Puncture based damage hurts pretty bad despite his 50k eHP. Still though, outside this Chroma can take quite a beating and most enemies don't get to shoot you long or at all because he one shots them. If you're not planning to go past Sorties levels I doubt you'll notice the weaknesses much anyways.

His 1st ability is useless. His 4th is mostly for farming credits but at Sorties levels it can be a decent CC distraction for groups. Not much though and even at those levels it can die very quickly. Chroma is all about his 2nd and 3rd ability.

Cold is the best element by leaps and bounds. Fire used to hold a candle to Cold against Infested but since additions like Medi-Ray on top of other way to self heal like Arcane Grace, Life Strike, ect. It's Cold all the way.

Unfortunately non of my builds are exactly new player friendly. I have one that uses Zenurik - Energy Overflow and a more Advanced build that uses Arcanes. I'll link them below. If anything it's something to work on or take what parts you want and make something work for yourself. I can tell you that Chroma requires some micro management to play. You have to keep an eye on your buff durations and your shield levels at the point you're ready to recast his Vex Armor. My Advanced setup works to eliminate a lot of that.

Spoiler

Chroma - Zenurik

Chroma - Advanced

 

Edited March 29, 2017 by Xzorn

[(PSN)zainubimran]

chk the cold or electric chroma build on youtube. for vex armor to work u dont need redirection as the shield should go less then 300 for it to work and when shield get hit below 300 your armor goes us and when health takes a hit ur weapons does more damage. pair it with a few arcane and make it invincible 

[(XBOX)R3d P01nt]

8 hours ago, Xzorn said:

--snip--

Just out of curiosity, is there a reason you prefer Aegis over Barrier?

[(XBOX)Sacrfishal Lamb]

19 hours ago, Xzorn said:

 

His 1st ability is useless.

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I would have to disagree.

His first ability is not one that is going to do a lot of killing per se, and it's not something you will find yourself using for extended periods of time. However in high level content it can definitely get you out of some very bad situations when you use it tactically, particularly during sorties and long endless missions where specialized units make more of an appearance. The immunity to almost all enemy CC AND Eximus effects is invaluable. 

Also, even with a heavily negative efficiency build, the cost to use the power is very cheap making it perfect for use when you are low on energy.

The key is knowing when and how to use it, and it will take some dedicated practice to figure it out. Chroma's other 3 abilities are easy to use by comparison.

Edited March 29, 2017 by (XB1)Sacrfishal Lamb
spacing

[Xzorn]

44 minutes ago, (Xbox One)Sacrfishal Lamb said:

I would have to disagree.

His first ability is not one that is going to do a lot of killing per se, and it's not something you will find yourself using for extended periods of time. However in high level content it can definitely get you out of some very bad situations when you use it tactically, particularly during sorties and long endless missions where specialized units make more of an appearance. The immunity to almost all enemy CC AND Eximus effects is invaluable. 

Also, even with a heavily negative efficiency build, the cost to use the power is very cheap making it perfect for use when you are low on energy.

The key is knowing when and how to use it, and it will take some dedicated practice to figure it out. Chroma's other 3 abilities are easy to use by comparison.

 

Sorry, Useless isn't the right word. Unnecessary would be more accurate.

Using his 1st ability doesn't actually accomplish anything you can't get through other methods. You might be immune to CC but a Dodge Roll works just as good if not better because of the 75% additional damage reduction. You might also be immune to Eximus energy drain but you're also immune to energy gains like Zenurik and you can't kill said Eximus until you stop using it.

There's really no win situation. You're just better off dodging and killing.

 

12 hours ago, (Xbox One)R3d P01nt said:

Just out of curiosity, is there a reason you prefer Aegis over Barrier?

 

There's really not much difference.

I find Aegis is a little more dependable. At least it feels more dependable. Aegis will activate your natural shield recharge rate in addition to it's 60 shields per second. On a Chroma with Primed Vigor that's 101 Shields per second with 100% up time. Barrier can have gaps on occasion. It's not likely to affect his performance much but there are moments when he can be without shields.

The reason it won't matter much either way though is when you're fighting lvl 100-300 enemies. Least... one of my tactics is to bullet jump in the air with 1 sec remaining on Vex Armor and recast it mid air. By the time you land, you'll have at least 400 shields either way.

[(XBOX)R3d P01nt]

10 hours ago, Xzorn said:

There's really not much difference.

I find Aegis is a little more dependable. At least it feels more dependable. Aegis will activate your natural shield recharge rate in addition to it's 60 shields per second. On a Chroma with Primed Vigor that's 101 Shields per second with 100% up time. Barrier can have gaps on occasion. It's not likely to affect his performance much but there are moments when he can be without shields.

The reason it won't matter much either way though is when you're fighting lvl 100-300 enemies. Least... one of my tactics is to bullet jump in the air with 1 sec remaining on Vex Armor and recast it mid air. By the time you land, you'll have at least 400 shields either way.

I may have to try that.  I have terrible luck getting Aegis though - I've only ever gotten 1 to drop from the raid, lol.

Right now I run Guardian and Grace, although I was toying with the idea of using Barrier.  I also don't run Vigor though, so I don't have the full 400 shields that Chroma needs to max out Vex Armor, so I depend on being able to regen some shields at some point.  I do use the sentinel mod that replenishes shields though, which helps with that.

[(PSN)CoolD2108]

Done. Finally.

Those are the builds i use.

This one is rather efficient, what i want to use most of the time. 200str, 200+dur, 100 eff - Allows efficient effigy use trough the extra duration what means extra Cc.

 

Stronger build with Blind Rage (Works on sortie niveaut with corpus. Be sure to use ice and to keep the ward up)

 

 

The last one is a propper tank build

 

All worked really well with melee (try prisma dual cleavers on a status slash build. Ignores armor and shields while keeping you vulnerable enough to reap the buff) QT can of course be replaced with armor and P flow with more strength on all of them (would require a different forma polarisation) but i personally prefer it that way as the extra energy can be directly used to heal you up and, by channeling, up your melee damage. Only danger on any of them are sortie/endless range shield offsprey clusters on the ground. 5-6 of course onehit you if you don't find enemys to heal up. I run this with a shade sentinel to make resurrecting safer still.

Edited March 31, 2017 by (PS4)CoolD2108

[(PSN)CoolD2108]

On 28.3.2017 at 9:30 PM, Almagnus1 said:

 

There's probably better ways to do tank Chroma that doesn't involve sinking 7 forma into the warframe XD

Doubt it 🤔😂