The half sentient and the archer.
Caliban
Only after completing the New War can you start collecting parts for Caliban from Narmer bounties, but don't be too annoyed if the blueprints don't drop too quickly because you'll need a lot of those Narmer isoplasts that also live in the same reward table to build him, as well as anomaly shards you can only get from Veil Proxima using your railjack. It is quite a lot of work to get all the things you need!
Your reward is an odd looking frame who can spin like a top, stomp for some AoE, summon a sentient melee ally or do a quick, arcing beam blast - none of which feel very unique nor useful. The ally is ho hum, and there are other frames that do those other abilities better. Not a good warframe at all and definitely just mastery fodder for me.
Ivara
You have a slim chance to get Ivara's blueprints in any spy mission, provided you unlock all three vaults in a single run so unless you are super lucky and/or patient (I was only lacking 1 part after completing Steel Path and Empyrean space), you may have to grind a little to get her and like Loki she is designed as a stealth frame. It's nice that an enemy radar is included as her passive.
While she can only turn invisible if walking, her ability to do so is an on/off toggle unlike Loki's activate every 20 seconds or so (so he does become visible while recasting). She can also pickpocket extra loot while doing this which is a plus. All her other abilities are bow related since she is "the archer" after all: she can summon an exalted bow, control the trajectory of her projectiles, and pick from a bunch of trick arrows (noise, sleep, stealth or wire) at her disposal.
Pretty neat, but definitely designed for a slow and methodical pace. To that I ask, have you played Warframe lately? If you aren't solo the odds of a slow and methodical pace happening are near zero. My biggest problem is she can't regain energy while stealthing so while she can sustain her invisibility until her power runs out - it will run out eventually. Comparatively my Loki actually regains energy while invisible or if you are a Wisp then simply continually jumping or bullet jumping means nothing can see you. Cool frame, but I've already got ones that cover her niche.
Sunday, 25 September 2022
Warframe: Caliban and Ivara
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When properly modded, Ivara will have her invisibility last for well over 20 minutes, assuming you don't get blue orb energy drops, which with her stealing from mobs around her happen rather often.
ReplyDeleteShe can also roll at full speed, so while sprinting or bullet-jumping break her stealth, she can still move rapidly without breaking it.
All that said, yeah, she's best used solo for certain missions (especially spy since she ignores lasers and energy fields while in stealth) -- or for hunting out in the "open world" areas. With her stealth kill bonus she can very rapidly easily rank up weapons and farm focus in an exterminate mission. Just be sure you're using a naturally silent weapon or have the appropriate "hush" mod slotted ;)
Yeah I have a feeling I need to revisit a few frames once I've got max level arcanes and max schools done. 20 minute invisibility? It wasn't lasting two minutes for me, but I was also using her other stuff at the same time so power drain. :P
DeleteUsing her abilities does cut it down, but typically I'm just running sleep arrow and then taking out all the helpless mobs with headshots or melee mercy finishers that 1-shot them in order to maximize the stealth xp bonus and when killing that quickly, you get a lot of energy orbs, so typically I'll remain at or near full even when using my abilities.
DeleteJust the "steal" from being close to mobs will grant an energy orb often enough that if you weren't using abilities or killing, you'd still refill from time to time just from those as well.
Mod for duration and use Streamline for the 30% efficiency, toss in a Flow (Primed Flow better, obviously) and you suddenly have a huge energy pool that drains at less than 1 point per second.
And if for some reason you actually do run low, it's easy to just toss a cloak arrow at your feet, break stealth, then toss down an energy pizza or 3 to refill in 20 seconds, then you're off to the races again. Or head back to a cleared area, or hide in a corner, or whatever....
If you're looking to grind out the scans then Ivara also rocks for that as she gets a bonus for stealth scanning everything.
DeleteThe tightrope arrow can be very useful for fishing out in the open areas. The cloak area is useful in groups as if you hit a groupmate with it they get the invisibility, or you can toss it on the ground to create a bubble that groupies can hide in. Put it on a defense target and the mobs stop beelining for it, toss a noisemaker at a wall somewhere else and all your group mates can shoot them in the back....
Yeah, she's really good solo, but for the missions without a lot of movement like interception and defense, she's got a lot to offer a group too.