#<< Mod Double just musing here. Will have a serious post soon.>>

[skulls-and-broken-hearts]

<< Being apart of the Skullgirls servers is a wild thing because there are like 2 Eliza emotes that lowkey I would use because one is just crack while the other is so in keeping with her personality. >>

<< It sucks. >>

[dapperkobold]

Warframe: Quick Equip Guide (MR 9)

Having recently hit MR 9 in Warframe, I’ve used quite a number of frames and weapons, not all of which are equal. Warframe could likely spend an entire major update dedicated to re-balancing and still be adorably imbalanced. So, if anyone does read my review and decides to pick up the game, here’s what I’ve ranked to max and whether I think it’s worth messing with.

There ARE bad weapons in Warframe. But, as I went over in my musings on the Gorgon, I don’t think that a weapon is bad just because it’s a little funky. A weapon must instead make the price of fixing the funkiness too high or even completely impossible. So, I’m going to rate the equipment here in terms of the FUN I had.

Great is the best, Fun is that I had fun but it’s nothing amazing, Okay is pretty neutral, Meh is that I disliked it a little and Bad is that I honestly do think it’s a bad weapon (And likely not worth your time)

Now, I didn’t get all these entirely through gameplay, I admit, so it’s possible that grinding for some of these will make it not worth it, but I figure I might was well mention all of them. How much fun does a slot and doubled mod capacity translate to?

ATTENTION: There have been some updates since this list was made! Some MR requirements have changed (some things may be harder to use to replace your starting gun now) and a lot of things have received buffs (including the gorgon, go figure) so some of the details listed my be inaccurate, but the overall thoughts should still be the same.

Warframes

Excalibur: A solid starter choice, but after getting enough mods that you can use the fourth ability on a regular basis there’s little need for anything else. However, if you chose a different starter you may have something more solid by the time you get to where you can unlock Excalibur. Fun.

Frost Prime: Frost in general seems like a must-have on the Warframe lineup. Freeze has limited usage, but all his other powers have solid niches and the Snow Globe is honestly as good as people say it is. Frost is the difference between a easy excavation mission and a long, stressful excavation mission. Great.

Ivara: Completely cheeses spy missions. Even if Ivara’s powers were just her four quiver arrows, I wouldn’t be too disappointed. In addition, her innate radar is the kind of thing you don’t know you need until you have it. Her pickpocketing, stealth, and Artemis Bow is just icing. Also, using navigator with arrows is fun. Using navigator with high explosives is hilarious. Great.

Limbo: Not for the faint of temperment, Limbo is the kind of Warframe that rewards practice and investment exponentially. Good powers, unique mechanics, some amount of innate energy management, put a reactor on this bad boy, look up some guides, and be a warrior from outside space and time. Great.

Mesa: Bullet bullet gun, my biggest hurdle with her has been ability duration. Keep in mind she’s a bit of a glass cannon, but other than that she’s a great frame. Fun.

Nezha: A frame I have very little experience with, but I think there’s some good times on the horizon. Abilities are a unique mix that are delightful, a mix of support and damage. He’ll take a little getting used to (and a clan to get the blueprints from) but if you want to try the fire boy out I say go for it! Fun.

Nidus: Hooboy, this guy deserves his spot as maybe one of the most OP Frames in the game. Four really good powers, innate energy management, high health and regeneration, this guy has it all. And it’s not just that he’s OP, but he’s also honestly fun to play. A challenge? Maybe not so much, but when the chips are down there’s few situations where you don’t want Nidus. Great.

Rhino: Here’s one situation where I can tell that it’s my personal taste shaping my opinion more than actual fact. This man is a train, his ability set is really good, his survivability is really good, and I just don’t like him as much for some reason I’m not sure of. I put him at Okay, but a mix of his early-game location and solid ability means that he’s definitely worth picking up when you’re starting out.

Trinity: Welcome to Warframe: the medic heals people by killing people. Really, Trinity is a good frame with good abilities that can be effective solo as much as in a group. The only problem is that she’s kind of ugly. Stick to less saturated colors, and if you feel serious grab the Strega skin. Great.

Primary Weapons:

Attica: Not a lot to say. It was fairly effective, even if the projectile drop was annoying, but I didn’t feel a need to keep it around. Technically automatic fire, but slow enough that it didn’t work very well. Okay.

Dex Sybaris: As someone with a slightly irrational disliking for burst weapons, the fact that I like Dex Sybaris at all says a lot. It’s a fine precision weapon and likely the best Warframe anniversary present item. Great.

Dread: The Stalker’s pointy-stick-launcher is really good. It’s silent, has no projectile drop, good stats, and it’s easier to get than any prime weapon. The only downside is that it’s impossible to make it look good in any color scheme other than the default one. Great.

Gorgon: I wrote an entire ramble about this The spool-up time is too long, the ammo economy is too bad, and the kick is just too strong to use. Bad.

Grakata: I picked this up as a replacement for my starter gun and it was pretty good. Fun.

Hek: By default it’s a good shotgun with low magazine size. Okay. With the syndicate mod it does hilarious amounts of damage, effectively becoming a cone weapon, and is one of the best shotguns in the game. Great.

Hema: Eh, the mechanics of this weapon really are more important than the sheer damage or the fact it’s a burst weapon. You reload, you lose health. You score headshots, you get health. As long as you can score enough headshots you will be fine, but at that point it’s a little easy. Fun.

Ignis Wraith: A terrifyingly effective flamethrower, currently my go-to weapon for when I’m being serious. Not sure where to get it anymore, I admit. Great if you can get it.

Karak: A solid grineer assault rifle. Might be a good option to swap out your starter weapon for, but I could feel it falling behind at higher levels. Okay.

Latron: A fairly rapid fire precision weapon. Not glamorous, but it’s cheap and it works. Fun.

Miter: It fires giant spinning sawblades. What more do you want? When charged it punches through thin walls. When not charged it can bounce off of things. The wide projectile can score multiple kills per shot. It’s odd to get used to, but it’s still big fun. Great.

Penta: Now, explosives in this game are kind of touchy. You take full self-damage, so if you’re not careful they can end you FAST. But the Penta, see, only explodes when you tell it to. This makes it either a really good grenade launcher or (with the right mod) a sticky bomb launcher. Use with Ivara for maximum shenanigans. Great.

Rubico: Since the recent sniper re-work, sniper weapons in general have been good. Nothing really stands out about the Rubico, it’s just effective. Fun.

Soma Prime: Well, it’s not the most complex of weapons, but it is without a doubt brutally efficient. Sometimes you just want to shoot someone in the face with lots of bullets. Great.

Supra: Eh, the sheer amount of bullets may not be as impressive as soma prime, but it still works. Personally I’m experimenting on the viability of it as a status weapon using the syndicate mod, but even just in terms of sheer bullets it works well. Fun.

Vectis: Has become my favorite sniper rifle. Sure, there’s fine details that could be argued over, but who cares? It feels less like a one-shot rifle and more like it has a bottomless magazine. Maybe it just makes me nostalgic for shooters before clip mechanics, but I enjoy it a lot and it works well. Great.

Vulkar: Another sniper Rifle, works well. It seems strange to me to have a status-focused sniper rifle, since if the status matters the target didn’t die in one hit, the entire point of sniper rifles. Eh, whatever. Fun.

Secondary Weapons

Cestra: This was mentioned in the Gorgon post, it has a spool-up time and lackluster stats but I like it. Fun. Maybe don’t stick with it, but level it up on the way to the Dual Cestra.

Dex Furis: Eh. It’s a wonderful early-game weapon, no doubt, but I didn’t keep it around. Get it free, especially if you’re new to the game, and use it until you get something that fills the same niche but better. Meh.

Dual Cestra: It’s the Cestra. But better. And it’s still Fun.

Lex: Let’s not mince words: the starter secondary weapons are bad. Buy a Lex as soon as you can and love it. It’s a quality precision weapon, and solid enough to keep you company into the endgame. Great.

Mk-1 Kunai: Speak of the devil and you will find in on your hip. I know that the proper Kunai has better stats, but the Mk-1 rubbed me the wrong way enough that I have no intent of getting the full version. The way that you throw means that the trajectory varies, when standing behind cover about half the shots will hit the cover, the arcing is just a bother (I have a far better time shooting people out of cover with hitscan weapons than arcing ones) and even the full version does not have stats to make up for all this. Bad.

Stug: This is a very nice weapon. It fires globs of corrosive goo that deal damage over time and then explode. It can be fired full-auto or charged with the secondary fire, and it’s never done self-damage to me. Is it a gimmick weapon? Very much so! But you know what? It’s a gimmick weapon that works. Level it, upgrade it, love it. Great.

Talons: This is what it takes for me to forgive the wonky throwing on the Kunai! They’re bombs that stick where you hit and you can detonate them whenever you want. They’re effective and reliable. Use with Ivara for more laughs. Great.

Twin Grakatas: They do large amounts of damage very, very fast. It’s just that simple. I can’t fault their effectiveness, but I can fault their ammo economy. If you have a keen eye for sheer damage output, you’ll like these, but I find myself keeping these on the backburner more and more. Fun.

Twin Gremlins: Eh... they work. if you’re farming for the Miter or Trinity you’ll likely get the blurprints so there’s no reason to avoid them, but they just don’t catch my attention like other weapons do. Others have plenty of good to say, so maybe you’ll appreciate them more. Okay.

Melee Weapons

Dex Dakra: I lucked out and got these to replace my starter weapon, and they work fine for that! I don’t feel much need to go back to them, but hey. Fun.

Furax: Oh cripes the Furax. I only leveled these things because they were a component for the Knux and part of me wishes I didn’t. They’re supposed to be like power fists, but the low damage, slow speed, short range, and bad sound effects make them feel like they’re specifically taking power from your strikes instead of adding it. I’m not touching these again until someone goes in and turns the batteries around. Bad.

Galatine: giant sword is giant and also effective. It really is that easy! Fun!

Heat Sword: I don’t know how to get this to do heat damage. Slam attack or something? I don’t care, you get it free from an early quest but don’t expect to get a lot out of it. Bad.

Hirudo: Okay, THIS makes you feel awesome. Punch and kick your enemy into oblivion, do good damage, and get healing every time you crit. It’s not as good as it sounds, it’s BETTER. It’s tons of fun and is hilarious to use with a cape to make you look like some kind of anime character. Great.

Lacera: Ooh, this one is hit and miss with me. I don’t like the whip-sword animations, but as a status weapon it’s second to none. I’d say to try it out if you have a chance. If you like the animations and stances you’re likely to have a great time, but for me I keep it around in case I ever expect to need to strip armor. Fun.

Lecta: Eh, it works and has a fine status chance. Not a lot to say, really. If anything it’s told me I like the whip animations so I should consider buying a better whip. Okay.

Mk-1 Bo: the only starter weapon I enjoyed leveling up, but mainly because I didn’t have any other options. Literally, I got this thing to 30 before I got a second melee weapon. Now that I have options I just don’t care. Meh.

Scindo Prime: It’s a really good axe! Big, too! Brutal but effective! I even use the Manticore skin. That lowers its swing speed but increases its damage, and I almost never swing it more than once in a row anyway so I’ll happily take it! Great.

Companions

Taxon (and Artax): Taxon is basically your starter sentinel, and you know what? I like it. It’s a good one. It improves your shield and slows down your enemies. Fun.

Helminth Charger: Whooos a good abmonination against nature? Who’s a good girl? It you! Do you want to go knock over some enemies? You do, don’t ya! You can run them right over! Or you can impale them and drag them to you! I see you impale an enemy, and I say to myself, ‘that enemy is so dead!’ You’re so good at what you do! You’re a good puppy you are!!!!!!!! Great.

Other Notes

Arcwing stuff... I just haven’t leveled any to 30. that said, I have decided that I don’t like the default weapons. If you’re like me and don’t like the Arcwing default weapons, get a clan, go to the chem lab, and grab the Grattler and the Knux. Near as I can tell they’re the only arcwing weapons you don’t need to jump through syndicate hoops to get.

Also I never leveled up the Mk-1 Braton I didn’t like it. 

Currently in progress I have Octavia (who is looking fun, if a bit gimmicky), the Argonak (Which is looking like a good marksman rifle/assault rifle), the Lex Prime (which is overkill in most situations and almost overkill in the rest of them), and the Azima (which even without the gimmick is a solid full-auto pistol.)