Excalibur Upgrade

[(PSN)chris1pat8twins]

As the title suggests, I believe it is time for Excalibur to get an upgrade. Now this is purely my opinion and experience with Excalibur. Maybe I’m not using Excalibur correctly maybe I’m not. But right now Excalibur has become a sort noob default warframe. Other warframes have gotten Primes and more are along the way, but Excalibur does not and never will. People will say “he did get a prime but just for the very first players” but that is not enough excuse. Excalibur Prime is gone and as far as DE is concerned he will never come back. Moving on.

But it is not just about the primes and their base stats being superior. The warframes themselves are much better in many different ways. Guys who got me into this game all felt Excalibur would be my warframe because of the play style I have and at first they were right. But now that I’m one of the highest ranked players in the game(MR25) I have reflected on my experience in warframe and noticed I hardly ever used Excalibur. After I got my second warframe, rhino, I hardly every touched Excalibur. With all the crazy missions being thrown my way, the crazy tricky bosses, not to mention the kind of “team” I’m stuck with, Excalibur doesn’t have much of a use other than blinding my enemies. Good for completing assassinating riven challenges but not much else. He basically lost his place in the game other than being a beginner warframe. I do believe that he should be more than a beginner warframe especially with adjustment mods that were added for him. 

I think he needs more of a boost in his abilities specifically his exalted blade. His name comes from the legendary sword Excalibur whose blade had no equal. So to me he should definitely be a much more superior sword wielding warframe but warframes like rhino, chroma, and maybe even mirage puts him to shame. Primary have become the go to weapons and power increasing warframes have become the most go to warframes. Swords don’t have much of a place anymore. But with Excalibur there may still be a chance. I think his passive for increasing melee damage should be increased. Instead of just 10% I’m thinking more like 50%. May seem a lot but against high ranked enemies it’s not but it would be better. I also think his exalted blade should deal more damage as well by increasing the base level by maybe a few hundred. Also his adjustment mod isn’t that good due to element mods having a better effect. Maybe the element mods would determine how the melee would look instead. If it is pure electricity then it would have an electric design. If it’s gas then it would look like it is made of gas(spooky). The adjustment mod would be better if it had something to do with increasing the combo multiplier faster and more(like 5x instead of 3x) and maybe even lengthen the combo duration. Maybe the more energy used between each swing could shortened the amount of hits needed to increase combo damage. And at the very least I was thinking that maybe the forth ability could be treated like an actual melee for weapon damage strengthening abilities like mirage’s eclipse. Now that might be a little too much but if your squad consists of roaring rhino, fury chroma, eclipse mirage, and link nidus that would be OP. Like a Warframe God Squad(WGS). Maybe Excalibur could strengthen not only his melee damage but his team’s as well to make him a better team warframe. 

That is about it for now. If any of you disagree then explain and maybe give me some advice on how to use excalibur better solo and on a team that would be unique. Sorry for any grammar errors.

Thanks. 

[Pyrewyn]

you mean like

[artemisfortune]

you're using him way wrong.

[Zark_Manthra]

As above
     umbra soon(tm)

But seriously, I don't know what you're excalibur is like, but my one forma build can easily tear through level 100 corrupted heavy gunners in the simulacrum with exalted blade alone, and since he will be getting an upgrade at some point this year, hopefully within the next few months, he's got everything he needs in my opinion

Dexcalibur skin soon as well

[(XBOX)Evilpricetag]

"Primary have become the go to weapons."

Have built your Galatine Prime to hit 3 mill with 4x multi every hit? Though its not necessary to get it that far, melee has always been the way to go for mob death. Unless your frame just cant handle close range. I too dont play Excalibur as much, but I still cant shake him from being my most played from list. And I've tried. Hard. Not sure if there is a way to check exactly how many times you've used a frame, but wow, hes my #1 still. When Hydroid Prime came out, he became my favorite, I enjoy being squishy if your not aware of surroundings, it makes it more challenging.

Guns are only necessary when they are... necessary, a must have, because melee literally arent allowed to damage that specific enemy. Or if your a squishy frame that needs the distance.

Edit -

Dont get to spoiled with overpowered frames, Rhino, Trinity, Inaros, Nidus, ect godframes are great'n all, but the other frames can hold their own, endgame also. And even though I dont use him anymore, I still argue Excalibur is the best frame, and to think hes offered as a starter.

Edited March 10, 2018 by (XB1)Evilpricetag

[(XBOX)Tanta Cinta]

If you think he needs an upgrade then you’re using him improperly. His kit is very balanced. If I could suggest anything I’d say do something with Radial Javelin. 

And in regards to another Excalibur, Umbra is coming.

[(PSN)chris1pat8twins]

8 minutes ago, Screamlord_Star said:

you mean like

I’ve heard of him. I’ve also heard he won’t be the only one. And I’ve heard his abilities will be different from the regular Excalibur. So in other words Umbra would be an entirely new warframe, or race of warframe. So not much of an upgrade that I was referring to. 

[(PSN)chris1pat8twins]

Those telling me that their Excalibur can deal a lot of damage can y’all offer me like a list of the mods y’all use and how many times y’all polarized him? And Excalibur Umbra is not an upgrade. According to all the different internet sources I’ve seen EU will be an entirely new warframe and won’t be the only Umbra. 

[Kyoresh]

3 minutes ago, (PS4)chris1pat8twins said:

Those telling me that their Excalibur can deal a lot of damage can y’all offer me like a list of the mods y’all use and how many times y’all polarized him? And Excalibur Umbra is not an upgrade. According to all the different internet sources I’ve seen EU will be an entirely new warframe and won’t be the only Umbra. 

False sources! There is NOTHING confirmed how Umbras will work.

the 2 main theories are that he is a) Similar to Prime, but from a Quest. 

Or b) an Upgrade like Prime, but with bpnis effects.

[(XBOX)Evilpricetag]

10 minutes ago, (PS4)chris1pat8twins said:

Those telling me that their Excalibur can deal a lot of damage can y’all offer me like a list of the mods y’all use and how many times y’all polarized him? And Excalibur Umbra is not an upgrade. According to all the different internet sources I’ve seen EU will be an entirely new warframe and won’t be the only Umbra. 

Umbra in Latin refers to 'shadow' its a dark version of prime. And he is basically a prime, different stats. Yes there will be other Umbra's but not as if they are different the only unique thing is how he's portrait in lore.

http://warframe.wikia.com/wiki/Excalibur#Umbra

Edited March 10, 2018 by (XB1)Evilpricetag

[Lewdcifer]

Radial Javelin. That's it. Buff this S#&$

Excal is very powerful, if not for his squishiness due to a delay on blind. I don't see why it's delayed. The skill is just a stun that requires LoS. It's dumb, especially for how squish excal is. Life Strike covers a bit of it.

EB can pump as much damage as mesa while not eating your energy alive. Hmm. I guess that's kinda it.

[(XBOX)INe Saninus]

57 minutes ago, (PS4)chris1pat8twins said:

Those telling me that their Excalibur can deal a lot of damage can y’all offer me like a list of the mods y’all use and how many times y’all polarized him?

I got you, fam!

(...but it's expensive)

-Steel Fiber

-Vitality 

-Primed Continuity

-Hunter Adrenaline

-Chromatic Blade

-Transient Fortitude (rank 7 hope you have spares)

-Fleeting Expertise (rank 3)

-Streamline

Exilus- Power Drift 

Aura- Growing Power (Steel Charge is another option, but GP allows me to get the 180% power strength needed for Chromatic Blade to reach 100% status. With Steel Charge you'll need another power strength mod which means you're sacrificing survivability or efficiency.)

Arcanes: I use Grace and Guardian. (I'm sure Energize would be great as well)

I have 6 forma on my Excal, but that was to adjust builds from nerfs and buffs.

I imagine you'll need 4 though.

 

*Melee mods are just as important.

I prefer:

-Primed Pressure Point

-Condition Overload 

-Primed Fury

-Life Strike (Healing Return doesn't always produce when you need it.)

All 4 90% mods arranged for blast/corrosive. (No 60/60's needed due to Chromatic Blade)

Pick a green or blue energy color (which will prioritize corrosive) and go to town.

Channel when hurt. Just one quick press should do.

 

*I don't like building for crit. Without Bloodrush it's just not very reliable.

*Notice you still have enough range and duration to use Radial Blind

*Steel Fiber is a must at higher end. Survivability will be your battle, not your killing power.

*Hunter Adrenaline helps with keeping your energy flowing. Substitute Rage if necessary.

*Make sure to activate Growing Power before triggering Exalted Blade. You must hit 180 str for Chromatic Blade to hit 100%. You can also activate Exalted Blade, hit an enemy to trigger GP, deactivate, and then reactivate in a pinch.

Edited March 10, 2018 by (XB1)INe Saninus

[MiasmaticMouse]

The point of a Prime Warframe is less to be inherently superior to the base Warframe and more to allow for bragging rights and act as a limited edition cosmetic. They come with more default polarity, giving them a head start, and slightly better energy or health properties than Vanilla but its negaligable. Adding forma and the likes to the base Warframe takes time and effort, but do it enough and you can make it rival a Prime fairly easily. That being said, this also means if you find the base Warframe terrible then the Prime variant won't be that much better.

Edited March 11, 2018 by MiasmaticMouse

[ZirkonX]

I do everything with excalibur even sortie spy for the lols, except his 3 being reworked into some sort of def ability he really doesnt need anything more.. excited for umbra but only for cosmetic purposes.
I truly enjoy excalibur (half of my gametime with him)  i barely die when i play with him and he surely havent lost his place in the game still one of the strongest dps frames in the game.

my idea for his 3rd ability re work is bunch of swords coming out to protect him and rotates around him and give him a dmg reduction %, but i don think it will happen because then it will break the game.. cause eb already have block % in it

Edited March 11, 2018 by ZirkonX

[(PSN)chris1pat8twins]

Well I enjoy some of yalls experiences. Makes me want to try him out again but a little more different. I tend to use each warframe creatively. Like how most use Ivara for spy missions but I’ve used her navigate to enhance my Zenistar disc to move around and deal more damage. Rhino I can use all 4 abilities together, sometimes I use a stomping variant to deal CC damage and roaring variant to enhance my team. While iron skin and charge can still be used as a defense regardless which variant I use. Same with most warframes. 

But excalibur feels like I have to rely on 1 ability and that 1 ability alone. Maybe if exalted blade enhances the first ability damage by a lot would be nice or Excalibur’s third ability pierces enemies with blades that reduces their armor and inflicts slash status. But right now his only use is blinding the enemies and assassinsting them one by one. I’ve tried different things but it doesn’t seem to be enough. I can’t seem to use Excalibur the way I can other warframes. DE claims that they changed or nerfed some of the warframes so that players don’t rely heavily on 1 ability, mainly the forth. I remember Excalibur inflicting a lot of damage with exalted blade but now it’s like a butter knife to low ranked sortie enemies. Barely go over 200 and that’s with all the power damage increasing mods on both warframe and melee weapon and even when I blind half of them. I don’t want to have to constantly blind my enemies over and over just to be able to kill them. And I don’t know what’s up with the third ability as it seemed powerful at the beginning but it just seems very weak. My only way to kill the enemies with Excalibur is by blinding them.

So I don’t know what y’all are doing to make him kill extremely high level enemies as easy as y’all claim especially since most of y’all aren't telling me how. Can’t just take yalls word for it. The abilities don’t have to be changed drastically but I do believe they need to be buffed a little to give him more of a sharper edge in killing higher ranked enemies especially in being in a squad and surrounded by dozens of high ranked, one-shot-kill enemies. Maybe if exalted blade multiplied the damage of melee weapons and increased the effects of the first 3 abilities then they all could be used more in sync.

And Excalibur Umbra can’t be yalls answer/excuse to making him more useful. I’m glad that he is good enough for y’all to use in sorties but I’m having trouble using him the way he is and it would seem his power level is greatly exaggerated by a few. Not to mention every Excalibur user I’ve come across were very weak and kept dying a lot while making me have to do all or most of the work. 

If y’all can provide more/better tips on how to use him other than blinding everything in sight and range, then do so in the comment sections instead of just criticizing my experience with him. 

[DSpite]

I only basically play Excalibur on my second account. I don't have any issues with him and went through the whole buff-nerf-buff-nerf-buff-nerf roller-coaster that happened with Super-Jump being changed, Exalted Blade being changed 10 times, Radial Blind being changed 1 milliion times, etc etc.

As long as Frames are being used across the board and no Frame is over-used or under-used, I don't see why DE would go out of their way to rock the boat.

 

EDIT: My second account is like a "do all testing with one Frame", and he was the starter I picked on that acoount. I do use a Loki for Spy runs as I would like to finish them before the Sun goes out, but I have done them with Excal ... it just takes EXTRA effort and patience with something that can't sneak as well.

Edited March 12, 2018 by DSpite

[(PSN)CoolD2108]

vor 8 Stunden schrieb (PS4)chris1pat8twins:

 

But excalibur feels like I have to rely on 1 ability and that 1 ability alone.

Yeah lets ignore that the one ability got synergy with both blinding and slash dashing. As for how, go with @(XB1)INe Saninus recommendation. That one actually covers everything you need.

To add a little explenation myself, the high numbers come from condition overload. That mod adds an scaling multiplier per status effect on the enemy. In case of his build, 3 since ex adds 2.

Chromatic blade makes your attacks do elemental damage and the 2 elements used depell armor after a few hits via corrosive and ex is Cc so whatever you attack becomes weak to attacks and unable to move.

Blinding is not only Cc but also opens enemys to a "stealth multiplier". This is a 8x multiplier that acts like a crit multiplier (is in fact additive to those in the calculation) so every time you blind, you get 8x the damage on top for one hit.

His stats aren't the best but EB has a auto-block mechanic that lowers your recieved damage. That paired with steel fiber, blinds, status Cc and life strike healing from afar makes for a high level of surviability.

Pretty sure slash dash makes you invulnerable for its duration of use so you can really just brute force trough enemys that are close.

 

He is a frame that requires a specific playstyle and a basic level of skills to reach his full potential but he definitly isn't lacking.

[qscgg]

What? Excalibur is one of the strongest warframes in this game...you definitely using him in the wrong way.

His ability 1 is handy 2 is ridiculous strong 3 is meh 4 is OP

Edited March 12, 2018 by qscgg

[(PSN)Ozymandias-13-]

On 3/9/2018 at 8:27 PM, elcion said:

The skill is just a stun that requires LoS

Radial Blind is not just a stun. It opens effected enemies to melee finishers....allowing the maximum possible damage in the game...on a room full of enemies...

OP, you're playing him wrong. His exalted blade is affected by Steel Charge, melee mods, combo counters and ability strength. It's incredibly powerful.

He is a "noob default" but that's because of accessibility to him. His Radial Javelin needs work though but he's still a very well rounded and one of the better scaling frames in the game. He's just not one of my more played frames due to the mindless, spammy nature of his Exalted Blade a lot of times.

[AetherMcLoud]

He's already a TOP TIER frame. Any buff (besides one to his 3) would make him OP really.

His 1 has nice damage for a 1, and amazing mobility. 

His 2 is a big range AOE hard CC that sets up enemies for finishers and lasts pretty long too.

His 3 is a turd basically that does crap damage and its ONE use, killing a bunch of low level mobs fast, is hindered by this arbitrary 12 target limit. Does look pretty fancy though.

His 4 is a great exalted weapon that has benefits of both guns (ranged attacks) and melee weapons (finishers) and scales incredibly well into endgame with the augment.

And his passive might not be the most creative, but it IS a straight up dps increase (which almost no frame gets) if you use one of the weapon types. And it fits thematically since he's the swordfighter frame.

Edited March 13, 2018 by AetherMcLoud