I can't survive level 25 and above.

[McChiggen]

I'm (relatively) inexperienced with the game, having only logged about 200 hours over the course of a few years, and even with that I'm still pretty bad at the game anyway. I've reached Uranus and Neptune, but I can't seem to do enough damage fast enough or survive long enough to stand my ground. For higher-level or high-risk missions I usually use Valkyr (with mods entirely focused on upgrading her armor, health, and shields) with Dread as my primary, Vaykor Marelok (which I received from a friend who had a few spares) as a secondary, and Broken War as my melee (as well as Taxon as a companion). Even with all of those at level 30, I can't seem to make it through these missions alone.

I've had friends carry me through Uranus and Neptune so I could do Second Dream and reach Pluto, but they're not readily available, and I feel like I'm cheating. When they play through these levels, it's as if the enemies are level 10 to a level 30, yet all they're using is a Prime frame and one or two prime weapons. Is that really all I need to beat these missions, or is there something I'm missing about high-level stuff? Are there certain weapons that are just far better than others that I'm not aware of? Or am I just really, really bad at the game?

[Xion]

Long story short:

7 minutes ago, Ch1ck3n117 said:

just really, really bad at the game?

Don't stand in one place for too long and expect to facetank enemies. Learn to move quickly and efficiently so that you're not fighting more enemies than you can handle. As for your friends, the Primes themselves don't really add too much to their stats, the biggest boost they're getting are from the mods that you probably don't have.

Also, what level is your Valkyr?

[(PSN)XxDarkyanxX]

I'm relatively more worried about how you Mod yourself rather than how you play. Even the slowest player could survive head-on attack if modding his power/weapon properly.

Would you mind describing how you usually mod?
Let say your primary, considering it's the Dread and should already manage fairly easily as long as you don't miss the shot. What would be your go-to mod against any faction of your choice. ( Mod Name and Rank would help )

Edited July 16, 2017 by (PS4)XxDarkyanxX

[(XBOX)UKILR]

How exactly are you modding your gear, and are you upgrading your mods? I'm not the best, but thanks to some really upgraded mods, I'm able to survive fairly well at higher levels as long as things don't get out of hand (my modding could use more work).

For example, since I main Ash Prime (No, I don't press 4 to win. It'd be RB + Y, anyway), my gear is mostly modded around slash damage. Ash P has a passive that causes slash procs to deal more damage and last longer (might be a little off on that), so I use that to my advantage. I also try to include Vitality, Redirection, and Vitality on every 'Frame I get, just because I need them.

Edited July 16, 2017 by (XB1)UKILR

[(PSN)theelix]

I can go to 100+ missions with a Stradavar and come out on top. The thing is that you need mods, enemy knowledge, mechanic knowledge, and frame knowledge. 

So, answer these simple questions: 

If you're facing a Bombard, what are the best damage types? 

What is a good stat threshold (what should the base stats be on a weapon) for you to pursue critical builds on it? 

How does status chance work? 

 

Questions like that give you a basis to pursue mods that fulfill those qualifications. You're using the Dread, so you DO want a critical build. It's capable of reaching the second crit level easily (orange crits) and do massive single target damage. Mods you should look for are Point Strike and Vital Sense. It's a bow, meaning it's slow to charge and refire. You want speed mods, like Speed Trigger. 

 

Onto your playstyle, Warframe is a very active game. Enemy accuracy tables change constantly depending on how you move. Though, you've done a great move in determining Valkyr needs durability mods to be the most effective, you should also remember that if you try to damage anything long enough, at some point it will crumble.

Slides produce instantaneous momentum and force enemies to overcompensate, shooting ahead of you instead of at you. Rolls cause them to shoot at the floor. Bullet jumps are rather finicky, but can make them less accurate all around. Combining all of these into a single, very fast motion can allow you to throw off enemy accuracy by so much you won't take any damage for a while. Even though you make look silly jumping and rolling side to side, it helps you stay alive. 

For Valkyr, your powers are rather diverse and nuance, give your 4.

1 and 3 don't have many practical uses. Your 1 is single target CC, allowing you to pull an enemy away and out of the action. Use it for big guys, like Corpus Techs or Heavy Gunners, as their damage output is the highest. Throwing them forty meters in an instant is a good way to keep them from shooting you. 

Your 3 is a double edged sword with adequate cc for very close enemies. You reduce your shields in order to stun then, leaving them open to increased damage from your melee attacks. It should be noted you can use this power even without shields. 

Your 2 is a very powerful melee buff which increases the speed of your attacks. 

Your 4 is the bread and butter. Valkyr becomes invincible. Though she's limited to melee in this form, she becomes no less lethal. Melee attacks performed on enemies regenerate your health as well, so a good strategy is to use this ability when you're low on health, or when you're reviving allies. 

 

Frame knowledge comes in two parts, and that was the first; understanding her abilities. The next is modding, and while you've modded her in the correct path of durability, you've gone about it a bit wrong. 

Valkyr has far too little shield capacity for you to waste your time adding Redirection onto her. The mods you will want on her are Vitality and Steel Fiber.

The other thing you'll need on Valkyr are power modifiers, specifically strength. Strength is needed so that your 2 and 4 are more powerful, allowing you to do more damage in the same amount of time. 

The next you'll need is duration. Duration is needed so that you can cast these abilities once, and not have to worry about them again so soon. Your 2 needs this greatly, and your 4 is effected positively as well. 

What you do NOT need is range, as she is not a caster meant to kill things from far away, but a melee berserker. 

 

Some advanced mods you should look into are Rage for additional energy and Eternal War to solve your 2's duration problem without breaking your back in mod space. 

I suggest also checking Youtube for guides with new players, as they're more in-depth and concise than me. 

[AtoKitsune]

9 minutes ago, (PS4)theelix said:

What you do NOT need is range

Well, unless you wanna make a Prolonged Paralysis build, then you want all the range. But if you wanna go for Hysteria builds, you do not need range really.

[shut]

50 minutes ago, Ch1ck3n117 said:

Valkyr (with mods entirely focused on upgrading her armor, health, and shields)

That "entirely" is what I'm a bit concerned about. Defensive mods are great (health+armor is especially mandatory on Valkyr), but as you get to increasingly high levels, all frames become more and more reliant on their Abilities in order to tank/evade damage.

Get some power efficiency in there. I'd definitely recommend Flow (max energy) as well, especially if you don't have Fleeting Expertise available. And since you're playing a health-based tanklike frame with self-healing capabilities, Rage (+energy on health loss) is definitely a great choice as well.

 

Also, a golden rule is to max out your mods when possible. A single maxed-out weapon mod is much more useful (and much more cost-efficient) than several low-ranked ones.

Edited July 16, 2017 by SortaRandom

[Tesseract7777]

 

2 hours ago, Ch1ck3n117 said:

I'm (relatively) inexperienced with the game, having only logged about 200 hours over the course of a few years, and even with that I'm still pretty bad at the game anyway. I've reached Uranus and Neptune, but I can't seem to do enough damage fast enough or survive long enough to stand my ground. For higher-level or high-risk missions I usually use Valkyr (with mods entirely focused on upgrading her armor, health, and shields) with Dread as my primary, Vaykor Marelok (which I received from a friend who had a few spares) as a secondary, and Broken War as my melee (as well as Taxon as a companion). Even with all of those at level 30, I can't seem to make it through these missions alone.

I've had friends carry me through Uranus and Neptune so I could do Second Dream and reach Pluto, but they're not readily available, and I feel like I'm cheating. When they play through these levels, it's as if the enemies are level 10 to a level 30, yet all they're using is a Prime frame and one or two prime weapons. Is that really all I need to beat these missions, or is there something I'm missing about high-level stuff? Are there certain weapons that are just far better than others that I'm not aware of? Or am I just really, really bad at the game?

Are your frame and weapons potato'd? Do they have reactors and catalysts? How leveled are your mods, are your r10 mods, your important ones, like serration, hornet strike, vitality, steel fiber, redirection etc, are they leveled all the way? Do you have any forma on your equipment? 

What kind of damage types are you using? Are you making sure you are using the correct damage types for the correct enemies? How are you modding your weapons? Would you be willing to tell us the exact mod build you have on your warframe and weapons? We may be able to get a better idea of what's holding you back if we know exactly what you are using. It could be the way you are modding your weapons is not ideal, or they may not all have catalysts, or you may be running the wrong damage types against enemies and they are resisting your damage too much. 

There are lots of factors that could be at play here, if we know your full build we can help you more. 

Also, really dumb question but I have to ask, do you have an extinguished dragon key equipped? 

Edited July 16, 2017 by Tesseract7777

[KiroTheTraveler]

I feel like this is a troll thread. Anyway, post a picture of the mods you're using. 

[kyori]

You don't need prime frames or prime weapons, you just need to max your damage and elemental mods. forma your most use weapons also helps.

Uranus is the turning point for most players, so you cannot use the same level of gear as you did when you played the planets before uranus.

[(PSN)fullblast35]

You have to work on a synergy between your frames abilities and your weapon outputs.  A lot of unexperienced players have the tendency to rely only on their weapons and the obvious case is not knowing how to mod properly and know which damage type affects a given faction.  There are thousands of youtube videos from content creators and warfare partners which can help you out with synergy and modding.

[Graf_Zahltag]

If you like Valkyr i would suggest the following if possible:

1. Ask your friends if one of them can get you an "Eternal War" Augment for your Valkyr.

2. In Addition to your defensive Mods, add some Ability Power and Duration.

3. Put a "Life Strike" Mod on your Broken War or build Hirudo ( They have built in Health Restore )

With this setup you should concentrate on Melee combat. If you see your Health going down channel a bit and let Life Strike heal you back up. If you get completely overwhelmed use your fourth ability, but make sure to cancel it once youre out of trouble to conserve energy.