thoughts on umbra (spoilers-ish)

[SDGDen]

So, I've been using umbra practically non-stop ever since the quest came out. And I have some thoughts and observations about him. First of all, it is pretty clear that umbra is currently the most powerfull excalibur. As he has inate umbra mod polarities, the same stats as excalibur prime and his 2 removes sentient damage adaption. together with the sacrificial mod set, this makes umbra one of the best choices for dealing with sentients. Although his AI is pretty useless, I've noticed that the AI casting abilities doesn't drain your energy pool. All in all, umbra is pretty strong. But I don't feel that he's too strong. Although i'm guessing some salty founders will dissagree with me on that one.

Spoiler

As for lorewise. Umbra feels completely different in that aspect as well. Most likely because he has an actual backstory and personality. The connection between the operator and umbra feels more like that of partners than that of someone using a tool, Which is what the other frames feel like in comparison. I'd love to see any other umbra frame that gets released have a backstory. Rather than just being another line of special frames with slightly tweaked stats. Because honestly. I do not give a single flying clem about "oh, this frame has gold accents and 25 extra shield" if I can get the original within only 10% of the time. But if there's a story to be had then i'll gladly spend a bunch of time on that frame.  

So in short. Umbra is great both lorewise and in gameplay, In my opinion. Feel free to disagree. 

 

[KiroTheTraveler]

He is amazingly overpoweredly fun.

Plus he should have his own exalted stance.

[Midas]

I disagree and think he and the prime have small differences. The Umbral mod set can be out modded for non sentiemt stuff. The passive also has to be used wisely or you can get killed pretty easily. Overal umbra is a big damage dealer for sure but he is not as endurable as his counter parts which may or may not do a bit less damage.

I feel most umbras will be offensive andess endurable than primes in the future.

Edited June 20, 2018 by Vladimir

[The_Tiddler]

15 minutes ago, Vladimir said:

I disagree and think he and the prime have small differences. The Umbral mod set can be out modded for non sentiemt stuff. The passive also has to be used wisely or you can get killed pretty easily. Overal umbra is a big damage dealer for sure but he is not as endurable as his counter parts which may or may not do a bit less damage.

I feel most umbras will be offensive andess endurable than primes in the future.

Eh? If you upgrade the umbral mods they way out-perform the non-umbral Vitality, Intensify, and Steel Charge by a country mile. He most certainly is more durable than any other Excalibur counterpart!

Specifically, his Umbral Vitality maxes out at 770, Umbral Fiber at 192, and Umbral Intensify at 66%. 

[GPrime96]

I played Umbra at Kuva Flood and ESO and his change with his 2 makes him about as useful as Normal Excalbur. The Umbral Mods makes him more Survivable though which i like because the Biggest problem i had with Excalibur without Life Strike is Survivability. At least with Umbra without Life Strike can take plenty of hits. With Life Strike and Hunter Adrenaline, he become hard to kill since he got so much health and Armor compare to normal Excalibur. He's worth using outside of the Quest and the Umbra's Mods can be used with Other frames which is another nice thing about him. He's can fight with you while you are leveling up a AMP too.

[Midas]

As you can see I have fitted these things in barely haha! But I still get basically unlimited damage (have yet to have trouble killing anything even 150s) with this setup and exalted blade's 100% status chance. My exalted blade build does not require sacrificial mods as that would hinder my build. eventually il switch out grace for endless energy supply or run with a nice trinity. I can escape to my operator whenever I need to recover etc... Guardian also gives me a straight 600+ armor lol not multiplied like the mods, just straight addition constantly. My Umbra setup is directed purely at sentient content. If you build chromatic blade on him you are in for a world of hurt when sentients come out, I will build duration and eff for constant blind on them.

Edited June 20, 2018 by Vladimir
Showing my builds