Good 'Melee frames'?

[mosaickle]

I know guns are a thing in warframe (lol) but I feel like 80% of my gameplay right now is basically melee.

What frames are good at being upfront melee combat?

Out of the 'probably popular contenders' I have Saryn, Valkyr, Inaros and Wukong who I'm loving right now. All my other frames are moreso ranged (or Loki but he's too squishy and I don't like his permastealth mechanic but that's just personal preference)

[(PSN)CoolD2108]

12 hours ago, rudman88 said:

Rhino is actually the msot convinient of them all.

you can armor yourself with skill 2 unlimited time till it break

3rd skill up ur damage

4th skill is AOE cc

it looks lame but is damn convienient xd

meh, not untill his stomp allows status i'd say. The strongest melee builds in the game do include amped slash status after all.

[rapt0rman]

Another vote for excalibur, and for the record you don't have to use EB to be effective with him, but it's still useful when !@#$ hits the fan, his passive is a nice bonus, as always radial blind is beast, and Surging dash augment is amazing with high power strength, I'm at around 200% and getting around 11-12 combo points per enemy hit.

Edited April 26, 2017 by rapt0rman

[mosaickle]

Just saying, for those saying Rhino/Prime, I've built him twice and sold him twice, he's just too boring to me. There's like nothing appealing about him to me, nothing intriguing to me so yeah, I want to like Rhino more than I do, far more, but it's just not working out for me.

[shut]

On 4/26/2017 at 1:06 PM, (PS4)CoolD2108 said:

meh, not untill his stomp allows status i'd say. The strongest melee builds in the game do include amped slash status after all.

?
I don't recall Stomp ever doing anything to interfere with procs. Are you sure you're not confusing Stomp for Freeze/Avalanche?

[(PSN)CoolD2108]

4 hours ago, SortaRandom said:

?
I don't recall Stomp ever doing anything to interfere with procs. Are you sure you're not confusing Stomp for Freeze/Avalanche?

I've seen it beeing mentioned quite a lot recently, every time limbos stasis comes up. Freeze/Pertifying do it too tho, that's correct.

[shut]

Just now, (PS4)CoolD2108 said:

I've seen it beeing mentioned quite a lot recently, every time limbos stasis comes up. Freeze/Pertifying do it too tho, that's correct.

Huh. That's weird.

I use Stomp a lot for stealth-leveling weapons, and the only thing that stood out to me is that Gas is a pure nuisance (since its DoT would instantly alert enemies if the stasis wore off before they died). I don't know if something changed in the past couple weeks without me noticing, but a couple weeks ago at least, they were definitely working as normal on Stomped enemies.

 

I don't remember if Limbo's Stasis prevents procs, but if it does, then it should be noted that Stomp's stasis and Stasis' stasis use very different mechanics. Stomp just knocks stuff down and gives them a speed reduction, whereas Stasis is (almost) a full-fledged Freeze.

[(PSN)CoolD2108]

1 hour ago, SortaRandom said:

Huh. That's weird.

 

May be a bug then? Yea, Stasis allows everything melee related, which of course includes meta slash builds. That's what's brought this up.

[(PSN)Crixus044]

 There are four different types of melee frames. There's the stealth frames like ash, Loki, ivara, octavia, and any naramon focus player you can go on without being attacked and gain the 8x stealth multiplier. Then there's the tank frames like inaros, nidus, rhino, chroma, nyx (assimilate), wukong, and valkyr who can get in close range and take a few hits. There's the cc frames optimized more melee like Excalibur, rhino, mirage, Equinox, nidus, and vauban who can disable enemies for free shots with stealth multipliers. Finally there are the warframes with powers based on melee like atlas, Excalibur, wukong, and valkyr.

In my opinion, the cc frames and tank frames are your best options. Stealth frames are great, until the bombard decides to shoot at your teammate and you're too close. If anything, use naramon for a focus school to gain stealth. Valkyr, Excalibur, wukong, nidus, or rhino are my top picks. They have a combination of crowd control, tank, or melee powers. With the exception of nidus, all those frames are relatively easy to get. 

[(XBOX)chriszewski]

I sometimes forget Valkyr even has a 4 unless im fighting sentients.  Eternal War ftw!

[mosaickle]

9 hours ago, (PS4)Crixus044 said:

In my opinion, the cc frames and tank frames are your best options. Stealth frames are great, until the bombard decides to shoot at your teammate and you're too close. If anything, use naramon for a focus school to gain stealth. Valkyr, Excalibur, wukong, nidus, or rhino are my top picks. They have a combination of crowd control, tank, or melee powers. With the exception of nidus, all those frames are relatively easy to get. 

This describes my reasoning and playstyle entirely...

...unfortunately I'm not that into any of them that I'm not using already except Nidus who I don't have :/

[Insizer]

Wukong is a great melee frame. His Primal Rage aug mod kicks his exalted melee ult's strength up dramatically, so much so that I was wiping the floor on the 3rd sortie in the kuva fortress with just my exalted melee ult (be aware that I was using Primed Pressure point, Primed Fury, and Primed Heavy Impact mods in my melee weapon mod loadout to maximize my ult's damage, that said my power strength was the default 100%).  Wukong also can't die unless you try to... or unless you get hit by a magnetic proc.  Inaros is also a great melee frame as his first ability opens enemies up to finishers, and finishers heal him.

[mosaickle]

10 minutes ago, Insizer said:

Wukong is a great melee frame.

Been playing him for everything since getting him a few days ago

[TrickshotMcGee]

My personal list of fun, melee-capable frames is:  Valkyr, Inaros, Nezha, Nidus, Chroma, and Wukong. All of them have excellent survivability and can pump out melee damage like crazy. 

Valk has high armor, as well as an ability that boosts both armor and melee speed, making her a blender up close. Good for melee. Hysteria is also a terrifying ability, and it can kill just about anything on its own.

Inaros has good CC, high health/armor, infinite healing, and Finishers with any weapon at will. He also works super well with stuff like Life Strike since every time he's hit, it procs Rage (if you have it equipped) and he gets energy. I burned through Endless Rathuum him him doing that with War. 

Nezha is fast, has healing, has the same kind of armor that Rhino has (which protects him from procs and bullets alike), and an Ult with good damage and CC. I enjoy him very much, but he's mostly good for slide-melee and super cheesy stuff. Still, worth mentioning because he's fun.

Chroma is probably the king of melee. His Vex armor gives him damage reduction that is akin to immortality, as well as a crazy damage buff. Fire Chroma can also heal a large amount of health, Electric Chroma zaps enemies within melee range of him for insane amounts of damage, Toxic lets you swap weapons faster, and Ice gives bonus armor and immunity to being grappled by Scorpions and Ancients (though the armor is 'meh' because everything dies too quickly for it to matter anyways). Chroma is easily one of my top 5 frames.

Nidus has survivability on par with Inaros, though much less health and less health regen. However, his abundance of energy, coupled with a 90% damage reduction (via Parasitic Link) and CC make him very deadly. His passive, Undying, makes him better than Wukong for not getting dead, provided you use his abilities well. I use him for melee because of that ability to survive and dish out damage.

Wukong is just fun. Defy is a good ability, keeps you from dying, though it's quite harsh on the energy drain. Primal Rage is the real star here, though. It has absolutely crazy range and attack speed, as well as the ability to shred whole rooms. He's not as tough as any of the frames listed above, but he more than deserves to be on the list. 

 

As an honorable mention, Volt. In my unpopular opinion, Volt isn't super good for melee because he's squishy, but he can swing a heavy weapon faster than any other frame, including Valkyr. Speed is a great melee buff. If you add the Speed augment, he gets a decent source of CC while using the ability that makes scary weapons even scarier. I wouldn't personally use him except for missions I know I don't have to try on, but he's worth noting.

[Insizer]

17 minutes ago, Atylia said:

Been playing him for everything since getting him a few days ago

Wukong is a bit boring and limited in capability, but that's not to say that he's a bad frame.  With a Rage mod on a high efficiency and/or high duration build, his Defy just never seems to run out.

I do suggest getting a melee weapon that more or less fits his ult's melee weapon so that the mods that greatly help his melee will greatly help his ult's weapon. His melee weapon is fast, long, is 85% impact damage-based, and has 25% crit chance and 25% status chance.  Because of this, I'd suggest something like the Bo Prime or Heliocor as they are highly impact damage based and have either good crit chance (Heliocor and, to a lesser extent, the Bo Prime) or status chance (Bo Prime), and both benefit fairly well from Range mods.  The Atterax is also good due to its range, crit chance, and status chance.  Whatever you choose, just remember: Acolyte mods (ie: Bloodrush) do not function with his ult, Berserker does works, Spoiled Strike helps you pull off his nearly impossible to pull off combos (there is no reason why they should be so damned hard to use), the Primal Rage aug mod boosts crit chance, and the effects of the Primal Rage aug mod are positively affected by increased power strength and power duration (and hampered quite a bit by negative strength and duration).

I'm sorry if you already know all of this, but I figure it never a bad idea to post as much info as you can just in case.

[(XBOX)SLykiLLer132]

No one mentions Ivara? Great for survivals just stay in prowl and use a good melee. With bloodrush/body count and you're golden to solo hours.

[(PSN)Radehx]

22 hours ago, (PS4)Crixus044 said:

 There are four different types of melee frames. There's the stealth frames like ash, Loki, ivara, octavia, and any naramon focus player you can go on without being attacked and gain the 8x stealth multiplier. Then there's the tank frames like inaros, nidus, rhino, chroma, nyx (assimilate), wukong, and valkyr who can get in close range and take a few hits. There's the cc frames optimized more melee like Excalibur, rhino, mirage, Equinox, nidus, and vauban who can disable enemies for free shots with stealth multipliers. Finally there are the warframes with powers based on melee like atlas, Excalibur, wukong, and valkyr.

In my opinion, the cc frames and tank frames are your best options. Stealth frames are great, until the bombard decides to shoot at your teammate and you're too close. If anything, use naramon for a focus school to gain stealth. Valkyr, Excalibur, wukong, nidus, or rhino are my top picks. They have a combination of crowd control, tank, or melee powers. With the exception of nidus, all those frames are relatively easy to get. 

You forgot Saryn imo, she's amazing at melee :)

[(PSN)BlitzKeir]

Dunno if it's been mentioned already, but...

For sheer melee damage, Saryn cannot be overlooked. She can at-will generate two status for Condition Overload (one of which is global, the other instant), and a bleed weapon will add a third. Adding heat to your weapon will add a fourth that can be converted to gas with Toxic Lash. Having a sentinel with Artax adds a fifth. If you're into Naramon, Toxic Lash can cover her energy needs with Streamline and Primed Continuity. If you're not using Naramon, I recommend a Shade.

Condition Overload changed a lot about what is possible for melee. It's an excellent crit alternative, and turns hybrid weapons into terrors. It's the closest you can get to pre-nerf stealth gas procs.

Other frames who can easily boost CO are Oberon (weaken, radiation, knockdown); Ember (heat, knockdown); and  Nezha (heat, blast, knockdown). EDIT: Oh, and Frost. While he only has one status type, he can extend status duration dramatically, making CO easier to exploit.

Edited April 29, 2017 by (PS4)BlitzKeir

[Gorila_Azul]

14 hours ago, Atylia said:

Been playing him for everything since getting him a few days ago

You're on the right track, friend.

 

Seriously though, all the options being thrown around here will do well, but Wukong is my go-to frame for when all you have to do is kill and not be killed. You have damage, you have tankiness, and you have great mobility if you couple Cloud Walker with Dispatch Overdrive. The combos can be a little tricky to pull off, but in my time, I've found they come naturally with practice. If you enjoy him, good on you.

[HalfDarkShadow]

On 4/26/2017 at 3:06 AM, --RV--D4VE- said:

Why no Zephyr here? :x

*raises wing* Zephyr player here!

Just wanted to chime in since many already gave the more straight forward ones, here are some more unique and very successful Warframe setups worth giving a shot. Especially for those who still can't find the perfect melee-frame setup yet.

Zephyr + any long range melee / throwing melee
I personally use Jat Kittag or the Atterax. You're untouchable from long range attacks due to Turbulence, and only needing to worry about what's in front of you, it's a high-risk; high-reward kind of playstyle. Equipping Primed Reach is highly recommended and as well as having Jet Stream for the high speed buff for maximum effect.
As far as throwing is concerned, as long you have Jet Stream on, you wont need the Whirlwind mod due to the buff, and personally I use the Cerata for my weapon of choice (it is my most used melee weapon after all lol).

Limbo + Cataclysm
One of my personal favourites and go-to's, especially for Infested Survivals, Defenses, and Interceptions. You basically have your own arena with Cataclysm with no interruption from the outside, and with his recent rework (one big reason being his time stop), I do agree with many players that he's a monster now especially when it comes to melee combat. Make sure to equip his Cataclysm Augment that gives you an extra second for your duration each enemy killed in the Void for less time casting, and more time smashing!

Trinity + Link + Ack & Brunt w/ Electromagnetic Shielding + [not required] Guardian Derision
This setup is amazing. It's more for those who want to play a more defense roll, but with Trinity specifically, you can straight up be one of the best tanks in game (you know, actually take the damage for your team haha). Adding the damage you get from your teammates from Electromagnetic Shielding that transfers to you, which then transfers back to the linked enemies is what really sells this. What's even better is that both stances you can get have right+click and hold E combos so you don't ever have to let go of the right-mouse button! I personally use the Abating Link Augment mod for the added armor debuff to enemies.
If you can get your hands on Guardian Derision which helps get all the aggro to you, is just icing to the cake! Highly recommended.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, as long you build trinity for duration and power strength (and range being from 85% to 100%), you can pretty much use any melee weapon as she is generally a great melee frame aside from her main support role.

---

I have a few more up my sleeve, but for now I hope that helps anyone who's looking for more melee-oriented builds!

Edited April 29, 2017 by HalfDarkShadow

[--RV--D4VE-]

On 30.04.2017 at 1:39 AM, HalfDarkShadow said:

*raises wing* Zephyr player here!

Zephyr + any long range melee / throwing melee
I personally use Jat Kittag or the Atterax. You're untouchable from long range attacks due to Turbulence, and only needing to worry about what's in front of you, it's a high-risk; high-reward kind of playstyle. Equipping Primed Reach is highly recommended and as well as having Jet Stream for the high speed buff for maximum effect.
As far as throwing is concerned, as long you have Jet Stream on, you wont need the Whirlwind mod due to the buff, and personally I use the Cerata for my weapon of choice (it is my most used melee weapon after all lol).

I use Zephyr just like you mentioned too and it's far more fun than what i had with chroma or rhino.

[(PSN)Crixus044]

On 4/29/2017 at 11:16 AM, (PS4)BlitzKeir said:

Dunno if it's been mentioned already, but...

For sheer melee damage, Saryn cannot be overlooked. She can at-will generate two status for Condition Overload (one of which is global, the other instant), and a bleed weapon will add a third. Adding heat to your weapon will add a fourth that can be converted to gas with Toxic Lash. Having a sentinel with Artax adds a fifth. If you're into Naramon, Toxic Lash can cover her energy needs with Streamline and Primed Continuity. If you're not using Naramon, I recommend a Shade.

Condition Overload changed a lot about what is possible for melee. It's an excellent crit alternative, and turns hybrid weapons into terrors. It's the closest you can get to pre-nerf stealth gas procs.

Other frames who can easily boost CO are Oberon (weaken, radiation, knockdown); Ember (heat, knockdown); and  Nezha (heat, blast, knockdown). EDIT: Oh, and Frost. While he only has one status type, he can extend status duration dramatically, making CO easier to exploit.

 Good one. Didn't mention either of those, But not because Terry aren't good. Condition Overload is one mod, which while you are correct on your method, is not really the right ideology for a melee frame. Saryn is nice and she can be good for melee damage, but in higher levels, she will not survive long enough to do that sort of dps. She can survive well into the 100s and sortie missions, but just getting past those, she'll start facing problems with health, even with her augment. Go back a few months or so, and ember with naramon and gas builds are op af because her augment makes it so you don't need heat mods on your melee weapon to get the gas elemental, just toxic. Volt also has a nice speed boost to melee. These frames have melee powers, but they really aren't frames that let melee shine without help of a team.

[(PSN)Radehx]

Equinox with Calm & Frenzy focused on rest (so range, duration and efficiency in that order) should really make it onto the list of best Melee frames. If you set yourself up in a tight hallway, you're basically invincible and energy won't be a problem.

Spider Equinox ftw! You get the stealth bonus too and if you fit a dagger with CL, you can obviously keep this going into very late endgame. 

You can still use maim if you want since the majority of damage comes from the 75% enemy steal rather than the first slash procs...so not all that dependent on strength. 

But of course she's ugly...so there's that.

And yes, perma-prowl Ivara rocks too, especially for endless solo runs.

Edited May 3, 2017 by (PS4)Radehx