Warframe: Spectrosiphon Zephyr

A very fun build for defense type missions.

Of the Inaros, Chroma, Octavia, Harrow and Zephyr Prime frames I currently have - the Zephyr is my favorite, especially with Gara's spectorage replacing air burst (using the Helminth) and with the spectrosiphon mod installed. With these stats (150% DUR / 130% EFF / 175% RNG / 100% STR) this is how the powers work in tandem.

Tail Wind - lets you fly or hover to make the most of Zephyr's +150% crit chance while in the air.

Spectorage - creates a carousel of mirrors that attracts baddies into its center (there's a little more that it does but it's not important in this build). The spectrosiphon mod increases the chance (up to +50%) that enemies that die in the carousel to drop energy.

Turbulence - creates an air shield that makes you invulnerable to most ranged attacks (except nearby splash damage) for a time.

Tornado - drags nearby enemies into a tornado (or tornadoes), lifting them and basically making them helpless while dealing low damage. This damage can be increased by shooting the tornadoes (or you can attack them directly). A tap on the button lets the tornadoes run amok. Holding the button down keeps them in place.

So the sequence is cast spectorage where you expect enemies to pass - they'll want to come close to the mirrors. Cast a non-moving tornado in the center of spectorage which will pull them in. Kill them while they are helpless. Collect lots of energy. Repeat.

This defeats most infested units. Against gun wielders, either put this trap around a corner or you go around a corner after putting it to lure them in. Don't forget Turbulence makes you invulnerable to their fire. Very handy. Still doesn't replace my Loki for stealth, nor Slowva Nova for interception, but it's definitely one I'm keeping around.

Warframe: Excalibur and Zephyr

The swordsman and the eagle.

Excalibur

The poster boy for Warframe is one you can grab from defeating Lech Kril on Mars (aim for the coolants on his back) or select as your starter frame. Excalibur is an OK all-rounder with powers that strongly lead to being up close and personal which works very well for plenty of early game missions. His ability to summon an exalted blade exemplifies this for those times you really want to chop things up and upon completing the Sacrifice quest, you will gain an Excalibur Umbra who is an improved version and is better suited to the enemies introduced at that point.

However I feel that's all the Excalibur is, which lets it get eclipsed by more specialized or simply more superior frames later on. I think I've used the Umbra in three missions since I've gotten it and have just stowed it away ever since.

Zephyr

Available from your clan's Tenno lab, this frame is all about flight gliding as she enjoys great bonuses while doing so (do more damage, enemies have a shit time hitting flying) and can stay airborne longer and glide faster than any other frame without using energy. Zephyr can also summon tornadoes which is great visually and decent crowd control, and can even redirect projectiles that have her targeted.  

These actually make Zephyr pretty sturdy and very agile in the right players hands. I only gave her up because she doesn't have the true flight of Titania's fairy mode (which handles like an archwing) nor Titania's status cleanse which is super handy against toxic infested.

Vote for Ellen Kiel!

Part of my Explorer of Tyria journal - you can find the rest here!

Turns out this whole politics thing is just as dull in game as it is out of game, adding only three activities for people to do. Kiel offers Capture the Fla...Crystal (PvP) in Aspect Arena where you use pieces of a dead dragon to fight each other. Evon offers Southsun Survival/Battle Royale (PvP) which I find more fun - having to scrounge up supplies and food to out survive the other people both living and dead. People compare it a lot to Hunger Games, but I've never read it nor seen the movie so ... *shrug*. Lastly you can go fight aetherblade pirates for either. All the above come with ludicrous repetition (and paltry rewards) if you want achievements.

ANet even encourages people to nullify their own votes by being able to vote for both candidates to get those little AP points on either side which is silly if you ask me. I'm just dumping all my votes in Kiel's basket up at the zephyrite airship. Why? Because she's the "good" guy as far as I'm concerned.

I've even gone so far to offer some "art" incentives to help Kiel win but so far it doesn't look like it has picked up any traction. Oh well. I tried!

Well hello Lady Kasmeer!

Fortunately the heavy PvP content plus the rather useless rewards (backpieces and minis) aren't really necessary to get vote tickets. Also, given that I can get vote tickets by simply murdering large quantities of pixels in standard zones I can just go for my slayer achievements instead of having to sludge through the minigames. Turns out APs aren't really what I'm after at the moment (despite my last post) - I'm gunning for laurels (now on 25/100)! :P

Aspects of Fun

Part of my Explorer of Tyria journal - you can find the rest here!

After a nice break where in I got to do other stuff (including exploring a vertically challenging aetherblade base within a holographic mountain) while the rest of the populace helped capture Aetherblade Captain Mai Trin in her dungeon, I returned to news that a bunch of flying merchants had docked at some difficult to reach cliffs to display their wares. I like exploring places so I headed on down via ship to visit the spectacularly beautiful (yet deviously deadly) Labyrinthine Cliffs where these Zephyrites had parked. Not only do they have interesting goods (most of which are dangerous - where do they get this stuff and more importantly why are they selling them to unsuspecting folk?), they also have developed a form of travel using aspect crystals to either dash quickly, jump high, or jump far and pray to god you don't end up as a splat on the ground as you climb higher up the dizzying heights. Being sadistic bastards they also setup a scavenger hunt for sky crystals in the zone to encourage self-termination via gravity.

Insane and Insanely Pretty!

High atop their anchored sky ship (which have diving goggles on the prow... as I said, these people are psycho) you can participate in their "aspect training" which comes in the form of a race. A very fun yet very annoying race. Took me 28 tries before coming first, mainly due to aspect lag (a skill ANet didn't forsee nor cater for). I did come up with a short list to help others overcome it though. The Zephyrites were also victims of robbery, not just from random Aetherblade raiders but from skritt running off with a bunch of their kites. The bastard rats even took the time to hide in various jumping puzzles, one within a fractal and one in the PVP Obsidian Sanctum.

Ofcourse I did all the above and kind of regret not chasing down the Aetherblade Caches in the other JP's and mini dungeons previously because I forgot how much fun they were. My favourite was the final kite at Obsidian Sanctum. Upon entering the Eternal Battlegrounds to find that an enemy server, Drakkar Lake, had complete dominion over it (them Germans are good at war). I had to aid my Gunnar's Hold compatriots in violently capturing our low lands corner including three nearby towers and the keep before making my way into the puzzle proper itself, solo. Inside I encountered maybe ten more Drakkar Lake players (in various small groups), any of whom could have really ruined my day but through salute/dance truce (opposing servers cannot hear chat; you can only communicate through action) I freely passed all of them without any aggression whatsoever.

With a boost in achievement points which will help my later achievement unlocks I also was rewarded a permanent quartz node as a symbol of my awesome ambassadorial skills (I don't recall doing any ambassadoring though). Plotwise the newly appointed Captain and ineffective ex-Lionguard Investigator/Policewoman Ellen Kiel is going head to head with Black Lion Company founder Evon Gnashblade. Both trying to secure a trade agreement with the flying salesmen to help their claim to the vacant council seat, made that way from the events last month. I didn't really pay attention to the politics. There were cliffs to be climbed! :P