What is the secret to Warframe PvP?

[ShadowHvo]

Greetings fellow Tenno.

Tonight I decided to do a bit of PvP (When I say tonight, in truth mean about an hour ago from posting this thread!) and I am a bit confused as to how it works in comparison to the standard game. I searched on google, looked through the two first pages of this forum, yet I came out empty handed.

In short: I got absolutely rekt, twice, by the same person under two different scenerios. At first I went in with my good ol' standard PvE loadout that I've comfortably used for over a year now, and this one individual absolutely rekt me in every fight, my Kronen against their Rakta Dark Dagger. So there I thought, that the Rakta Dark Dagger obviously were superior to the Kronen in PvP, as I needed to hit the individual 4 times for them to drop dead, whilst they only had to hit me twice for my poor Ash to drop dead to the ground.

I then switch over to Rakta Dark Dagger and qued up again: Low and behold, with nearly nobody online, I came up against the same awesome player again, same loudout, only mine was changed to mimick theirs.

I got absolutely demolished, again.

So now, I'm in some wicked belief that there must be some super mod out there that really buffs up either the warframe or the Rakta Dark Dagger, for what I simply cannot comprehend, is how I need to slash somebody over the back 5+ times (More than five in this instance, as I didn't get a single kill in the second attempt. I however, died in the plentiful.) What really buggles my mind however, is that this particular individual only hits me twice, and I drop dead, each and every time. One hit removes my shield and brings my health to less than triple digits, and the second drops me to the ground like the floppy ragdoll a Warframe truly is.

So I'm asking you, PvP Master Tenno's, what is the secrets to PvP? What weapons should one go with, and are there specific mods one should seek to acquire before delving into the void of the Conclave?

[Neah]

Which warframe were they using? There are a few possibilities that can affect damage. 
There are no mods that increase melee damage in Conclave, only attack speed (Martial Fury). Stances especially on their pause combo adds a large chunk of damage if you land them. Nearly all types of weapons are usable to some degree in Conclave, I'd say just go with whatever you feel the most comfortable / easiest to aim with.

But, if you're a little lost :
Starting out I'd recommend Karak series / Braton series / Dera series, simple auto rifles, accurate and deals decent damage. Semi autos like Latrons, Sybaris, Burstons are also decent ; not Burston Prime though, which has really high fire rate, but low damage. Not easy to use for newbies ; but if you wanna have a crack at it, go ahead.

For auto rifles such as these, try and get as 'balanced' damage type (even distribution of Impact, Puncture and Slash). Ideally you'd want a 60/40 split on Impact and Puncture, Impact does well against Shields, and Puncture, Health. But that's not possible on every weapon. Slash damage is considered 'neutral' where it doesn't do bonus against Armor / Shields, if possible you'd always want Impact and Puncture which will consistently deal more damage than Slash of the same total value i.e. a 25/25 Impact + Puncture will deal 10-30% more damage vs a 50 Slash only weapon.

Pick secondaries that compliment your Primary weapon, if you're using a slow but hard hitting Primary, pick a fast firing auto Secondary to finish off people with a sliver of health, and vice-versa.

Melee weapons are a little harder, nearly all of them are pretty lethal if you can get close, but facing experienced players also means you'll have trouble catching up to them and will rely more on ambushing / catching people off guard. They are strong, but will not always be as effective as guns. 

Mods
For utility, you'd want to get the Holster speed (Twitch, Reflex Draw etc.) to swap them faster, which is something you would do quite often in Conclave. After that, get the 'Reload while Holstered' mods (Tactical Reload, etc) which auto reloads your weapon while they're holstered, very handy in keeping up the pressure. 

The aiming mods that give movement speed while aiming, less spread while sliding, tracking targets on radar are good, but not entirely necessary, so get them later. But, depending on your playstyle, the slide mods do help with accuracy quite a bit, so you may want to consider getting them. 

In order of importance : 
1) Holster speed / reload while holstered
2) Damage modification 
3) Reduced recoil & spread while sliding mods (optional)
4) Everything else.

If you have more questions, I'd like to direct you towards the Conclave Discord, we have lots of experienced players here to help with questions / advice.

[Kaotyke]

The secret to Conclave is this:

The one with the best ping wins.

Cant find a single game unless I put my ping limit in 200, which jumps to 250 in-game, while I take 4 seconds to kill someone, I'm killed in half a sec.

Before DE put the player hosted servers? When I was the host, I won 7/10 matches. With 200 Ping? I'm lucky if I am second to last.

 

[TekuXIX]

True secret, don't take it serious. Play it with friends, laugh at the try hards. Everyone gets points in the end. 

[VanLyrr]

Mm.. learn how damage types work. Here's a good guide on it:

 

[Nazrethim]

On 2/8/2017 at 3:30 AM, Neah said:

In order of importance : 
1) Holster speed / reload while holstered
2) Damage modification 
3) Reduced recoil & spread while sliding mods (optional)
4) Everything else.

Addition to this:

For Melee playstyle:

1) Stance

2) Sword Alone

3) Martial Fury

 

On 2/8/2017 at 1:47 AM, ShadowHvo said:

 they only had to hit me twice for my poor Ash to drop dead to the ground.

Well, you may want to swap frame, Ash is an "advanced" frame (mostly because he pretty much has no offensive abilities worth using and his utility abilities are marginally useful) so you may want to pick another frame, unless you truly are a fan of Ash, in which case just keep fighting and never (and I mean NEVER) use Shuriken or Blade Storm (the first is pointless, the second so useless as to be detrimental)

On 2/8/2017 at 1:47 AM, ShadowHvo said:

So now, I'm in some wicked belief that there must be some super mod out there that really buffs up either the warframe or the Rakta Dark Dagger, for what I simply cannot comprehend, is how I need to slash somebody over the back 5+ times (More than five in this instance, as I didn't get a single kill in the second attempt. I however, died in the plentiful.) What really buggles my mind however, is that this particular individual only hits me twice, and I drop dead, each and every time. One hit removes my shield and brings my health to less than triple digits, and the second drops me to the ground like the floppy ragdoll a Warframe truly is.

Daggers have a rare mod called "Heartseeker" (cannot be equiped alongside Martial Fury) that makes daggers lock-on on targets at 1m distance, guaranteeing hits once the user gets close, coupled with the stance it can be devastating.

On 2/8/2017 at 1:47 AM, ShadowHvo said:

So I'm asking you, PvP Master Tenno's, what is the secrets to PvP? What weapons should one go with, and are there specific mods one should seek to acquire before delving into the void of the Conclave?

The secret is practice. We all die a lot, and I mean a LOT, but as Teshin says "Take this defeat as a lesson". Neah and I have already pointed the mods that you will need (most of them are on the lower ranks of conclave and are fairly cheap, the Holster Rate mods also drop from Sentients. They are also tradable so you may ask for them in trade chat or from a friend). Still, mods don't win the game for you, so practice practice practice. Don't take it seriously either, just have fun and instead of focusing on winning focus on causing as much mayhem as you can xD

[(PSN)abbacephas]

The secret to PvP is:

Spoiler

 

[ShadowHvo]

Thank you all for the awesome tips and tricks, in particular a great thanks to both @Neah & @Nazrethim for the awesome explanations. I'll try them out very soon.

 

[-Ryuurei-]

My personal favourite tip: not dying > killing enemies

Because if you die not only can you not get oro for a few seconds, but someone else got yours, widening the score gap.

Edited August 31, 2017 by --Q--DragonSkllzz
2 letters were swapped -.-

[Trimaxsingi]

Well my answer will be shorter than it should be,

As you know there is a big skill gap between Recruit Condition On / Off. There are like 50 people max in conclave who dominates all the games they play... See if they are all in the same game and you are the only one that is not one of them, you might get stomped hard... However everyone has their weaknesses, seeing those weaknesses of players will make you die less and maybe even win against them.

There is a few things that you can use to tell if you are going to kill the other person or he/she will kill you,

1) If someone is moving slower than you are, they are more likely to aim better than you are but at the same time they are more likely to get targeted because they are easy targets. Meaning that you need to avoid standing still as much as you can because there are usually more than 1 person aiming at you.

2) Knowing what weapon they have in their hands (you can tell by the sound of the weapon or you can see it in the kill feed when they kill someone) will let you decide what can that person achive with that gun. For example if that person is using a shoutgun, don't get near him because 1 lucky shot can kill you easily. If the person is using a sniper, you shouldn't slow down your movements or go directly at them or run away on a straight line because 1 hit in the head will most likely kill you. If someone is using a weapon that is quick fire, stop for a moment to aim at him and take a steady shot then right after you should start running again for him to lose control over you, that 1 shot you will have on him might make him panic and he will start moving without thinking or shoot everywhere without thinking... So there is a psychological level for PvP too, it's not all about guns.

Long story short, if you know your opponent and their aresenal, you are more likely to counter them, be versatile and change your play style depending on the opponent

There are 2 top Conclaver Clans out there that are worth mentioning

1) BloodGod

2) Dragons of Teshin

If you want to learn more about conclave, try to counter their players. Once you achive countering them, you are one of them!

Don't get me wrong there are really good Conclave Players out there that doesn't have have a known Clan that does conclave a lot, you will know them once you see them, but as in Clans, those 2 are really high up there... Sadly those 2 Clans are not that active on Conclave anymore for you to seek them...
 

~ Sincerely -BG-Trimaxsingi ~

[Andaius]

Same thing with every online pvp shooter. Low ping good mouse and good maneuvers will always enable you to win. Especially Ping. Lower ling will always do the damage first.

[FLSH_BNG]

The secret to PvP?

Spoiler

Ignore it and play something fun, like the real game.

 

[Ash_of_Narmer]

@ShadowHvo

This is the secret to conclave. Take it from a noob who just made it to Typhoon for those captura scenes:

Chroma:  Spectral Scream, Adrenaline Boost, Vital Systems Bypass

Rakta Dark Dagger: Heartseeker, Sword Alone

Heartseeker allows you to lock on to your target with Melee EQUIPPED (not quick melee) within 4 meters. Rakta Dark Dagger grants overshields. Once you're locked in to an enemy, it's nearly impossible for them to get away before you kill them.

Vital Systems Bypass let's you be a little tankier, and Adrenaline Boost helps you keep up with enemies. Spectral Scream is good for an additional damage boost if you can land it.

Chroma's 1 is a kill Everything ability when ice or fire

And his elemental armor helps you stay alive a little longer.

[.Zel]

On 9/5/2017 at 3:44 PM, Andaius said:

Low ping good mouse and good maneuvers will always enable you to win

while that does help but it doesn't necessarily mean you will win. Good gear doesn't help if the player doesn't practice with them. Muscle memory and Experience is really Valuable in any PvP game.

I remember Witchy had an old GPU months ago so he barely got 60fps vs the 120+fps most of us play with(effectively high fps = you see things before ones on low fps), was also using a mediocre mouse but he was still able to get over 20 kills almost every match in Conclave and he even started playing after a long time because he didn't want to bother playing with his setup before that.

 

[Rhekemi]

Honestly, you all make Conclave sound like so much fun with these tips, tricks, and pointers.

I have always sucked at Warframe PvP, but I feel like if I trained, practiced, and followed your advice, I could get better and enjoy Conclave. There's something admirable about anyone investing time (in anything), understanding it, mastering it, and being willing to share their expertise.

Fortunately, I know the devil when I see him and will resist this temptation. Get behind me, Conclave.

Great advice, guys.

[Nixyen]

I win 90% of my games on average, and I haven't been playing the game for that long, I'm MR4(almost 5). The key to PvP in this game is staying alive in my opinion.
Don't be a stationary target, keep on your toes. A still standing target is the easiest kill in the world. Learn where health orbs are on different maps, as well as energy orbs. Make up some decent patrolling paterns that will fit into your gameplay and get you past a few of these orbs once in a while for sustain.

You can take battles as long as you have shield. If you see your shield is nearly, or has been depleted, you get the hell out and bail, and fight again once your shield has regened itself.

When it comes to weapons, the full autos seem superior on most maps. However, I have yet to test out snipers since I'm new to the game, my own options in terms of weaponry is limited. I use Karaken for instance. Kunai is a decent secondary weapon if you know how to aim with it. On mid range it can land you a kill rather rapidly. However, you should only swap to secondary if you're mid fight and have to reload, or you ran out of bullets all together (in which case you should look for ammo around the map instantly after your fight).
Only swap to kunai during a battle if those variables are in play, and you are in mid-range. In a longer range battle you can wait for reload, just be a slippery target while reloading at the very least to avoid damage and utilizing the downtime to its best use. On smaller maps, shutguns are pretty good, and kunai shine as well as secondary. When it comes to melee weapons, I would recommend one of the staffs that have a good range, and fast start-up animation and speed, simply because in the case you need to use melee, you need it to be quick. You shouldn't look to melee in PvP too much, since it makes you an easy target for those slipping past you and whoever you are having a melee duel with, giving them an easy kill on one or both of you. Only melee when it's 100% necessary. Sometimes when having to reload and your target is low, doing a quick slide>melee is a decent finisher, but can be risky. Feel it out and see if that's the best option.

When it comes to warframes, I have only been using 2. Excalibur, which is my starting warframe, and Rhino, which was my 2nd warframe choice. Excaliburs ultimate ability is INSANE if utilized well, and the radiant blind in PvP just blinds people like flashbangs in counter-strike if you ever happen to get that reference. If you can get close in a 1v-2/3+ situation as excalibur and pop your ultimate (4) and just chop them to pieces in a few seconds, then it's highly worth doing. Don't use excalibur ultimate in a 1v1 situation if you can avoid it, unless it's crucial, I.e. you need that last ora to win, or you need to desperately catch up, or there's some other player far more superior and you need to cheese him somehow. You should use radiant blind as your "oh s h i t" button. Blind your enemy/enemies and get the hell out.
Rhino is good because it's 3rd ability gives you a 50% damage increase, and in pvp where people die rather fast anyhow, it's actually insane because it makes them die even faster. The passive shockwave that rhino has when dropping from heights is also very useful in a situation where you slide by, slow your target, and get easy headshots.

When it comes to mods, I haven't seen any mods that are particular useful other than Hydralic Gauge (at least for my purposes), which reduces recoil. That fits my playstyle a lot since I aim heads most of the time. The other mods simply doesn't seem worth it because it reduces shield or life, which is one of your most valuable ressources. You will sometimes find yourself at low shield or life after a fight, where those mods which decreases your shield or health for the benefit of speed or energy would have literally killed you. Maybe more ability-heavy frames will benifit from those mods, but Excalibur and Rhino for sure doesn't.

Other than this, all I can say is improve your movement, learn the maps and their ressource spawns, improve your aim and have fun!

[Alpha250]

How to be good at PVP : 

Atlas + Zarr + Hirudo = Ez win

[Archilade_Z]

On 11/13/2017 at 7:56 PM, Alpha250 said:

How to be good at PVP : 

Atlas + Zarr + Hirudo = Ez win

Good idea!