I heard people rave about the Velocitus, so I went with that first. It’s definitely good, but it ended up being the Fluctus that completely changed Archwing for me. I’d highly recommend trying that, if you haven’t already! And if you want something a little more spammy, the Grattler is great (although somewhat limited in range).
For another POV, I’ve used it in Void missions to break hidden containers, so… Maybe?
Assuming it hasn’t changed, which it very much might have.
Thanks for the info, Darth. I could totally be wrong, I just hadn’t noticed it. But I wasn’t particularly looking, either. Now I’m going to try it this evening. :)
I have both weapons and I’m tempted to shell out the plat for Imperator Vandal. I can’t stand projectile weaponry. Hitscan or gtfo.
Soma Prime is one of the best if not THE best rifle, so you’re doing fine on that level, keep working on it, no weapon you can get right now is going to be as good as it is, but try to get others to try them out, I recommend the Hek.
For Frames, Frost Prime is great for many missions, I hope you got Excalibur (best starter frame if only because it’s the hardest one to get). IMO, aim for Rhino, Nova and Loki, I think in that order.
Rhino is mostly great for everything not spy related, makes the game much easier for beginners, mod for Iron Skin and you’ll be fine until you get to the end game. Nova is awesome, squishy, but 75% slow makes up for it. And Loki because being invisible is great, makes spy missions much easier.
Velocitus is being built right now- it was my first choice after having researched it a year or more ago and not understanding at the time how to get the parts (and then the methods of acquiring them changed in the interim).
I’ve got at the Fluctus bits, but like the Alas, need Argon to build it. Ditto for the Corvas (I think I need 8 or something to get everything I currently want to build). I’ve had the plans for the Grattler for some time, but I’m saving my Oxium for the Itzal- I think I only need about 1000 more. I did find a way to farm it, but it’s tedious. Basically, go to a high-level Corpus Capture mission, and just stick around after the target is captured. The level remains on high alert without sending Bursas, and Oxium Ospreys show up regularly. Park yourself in a dead-end hallway with a Frost Snowglobe up for as long as you can take it. Like I said, tedious as hell, though.
@Bateau Limbo does break containers, actually. Max range cataclysm is a good tool for clearing out maps and finding caches.
Nice! Just found my next frame to focus on.
That’s good to know about Limbo, guys. Should make running those Syndicate missions faster- kind of annoying they don’t have a different symbol on the minimap.
If you guys lack Limbo, use an Ignis with Sinister Reach and Firestorm mods. It melts every container, even through walls. I just spray that around while running missions.
Thanks for the advice! I am actually in the process of forging Hek because shotguns sound cool. Glad to know it’s wasn’t a mistake!
And I did choose Excalibur, though I am mystified by melee combat. When other players use it, it looks like a lawnmower running through a box of water balloons. When I try it, it’s more like a machete trying to open a coconut. I have the Scindo Prime, the Galatine, and Fragor. What do you suggest if I want to experiment more with melee?
Magnet, there’s a few things that can make a massive difference in melee. There’s modding them out, of course, but are you aware of how Stances work? You can equip a Stance in the specified slot, but it will only take effect if you have the melee weapon equipped. That is, it won’t do anything if you’re just hitting the quick melee key, you need to hit the key to actually wield your melee weapon, as opposed to your rifle or pistol.
Stances have different combos which can really add some damage, but honestly a lot of that feels a little clunky for a game paced like this (it’s pretty awesome when you have a stance with an easy to execute combo, though). Still, while you’re meleeing with your weapon equipped, you will build up a melee combo counter. This will start multiplying damage as long as you keep connecting with enemies. This is likely where you see the lawnmowers in action.
All the details can be found here. Sorry in advance if any of this is old news, I lose track of who is new vs who is returning to the game vs who is an old vet (it sounds like you’re new, though!). :)
Prior to Ash, I only ever used quick melee. Since Ash benefits from a high combo counter (it modifies Blade Storm’s damage), I added a +combo duration mod to my dragon nikana and started playing around with the Blind Justice stance. (It has some sweeping and multi-hit attacks which help to keep the combo counter moving.) I really like it, actually; I never cared before, seeing combos mostly as a way to add more mod capacity, but this one is nice. A quick first attack to hit things straight ahead, which goes into three different options—the standard combo, with a spin attack and a knockdown at the end, the pause combo, which goes directly into a long dash, and the right click combo, which leaves you with control of your movement and makes a bunch of attacks ahead and to the sides. Having combos I like and can reliably execute make melee a lot more engaging.
Plus, racking up a combo counter of 50-60 and a damage bonus of 2.5x is tons of fun.
I suggest you go to DE site and apply the code FREESWORD. Should give you a free Heat Sword already with Orokin something to give it double mod space.
And in my experience you don’t get any good at Melee until later in the game, after you get enough resources to equip the right stance mod and actually use the resulting bonus mod capacity. Assuming you’re already MR4, I recommend you get the Guandao. It’s a Clan weapon, from the Tenno lab, ridiculously good, should be good until the end game.
Mod it right, proper stance, mod to up damage, elemental mods (electricity + toxin + cold until you start having to actually pay attention to this at the end game), should be good. And if you keep playing the game eventually you’ll get one of the best one handed swords anyway, from a quest.
@Fishbreath , @KevinC , what kind of solo builds do you guys run on limbo? High str, eff, medium range, low duration?
Also, tactics? I almost can’t believe I’m asking this lol, but the frame has some weird interactions with its planes of existence and I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. How does your regular combat loop look like? ELI5, step by step.
Fwiw, I did try out the frame a bit more and I’m absolutely loving that dash. And oh my god are syndicate missions fun now - one cast of cataclysm and I can move on from an area, so much time saved. Not to mention that it pretty much oneshots most of the regular mooks found in those missions.
And while you’re at it, throw in some weapon recommendations for fashionframe. I’d really like to use staves/polearms again but Orthos Prime does not look good enough cough. I’m leaning towards Lesion right now. For gun I have no idea, maybe Lex Prime or some kind of revolver as secondary, for primary possibly Tigris Prime or Arca Plasmor.
As requested…
The teleport-into-finisher thing can be automated by Fatal Teleport for added damage, but given that most bosses and some minibosses (bursas, juggernauts) are immune, and that finishers already do armor-ignoring finisher damage, I don’t really see the point. (Fatal Teleport also refunds 50% of the casting cost, which, modded for efficiency, is 3 energy.) I’m probably going to go for the Seeking Shuriken augment, which reduces enemy armor by 70% for 8 seconds on hit (max rank).
High-armor enemies like heavy gunners and bombards will survive the initial hit from Blade Storm, but the Slash proc is the real killer there. There are faster killers, but Ash is still above average in high-level killing ability, at least in my experience so far.
I mod Limbo for duration first and range second, which is an unalloyed good on Banish and Cataclysm, and still positive on Stasis. That gives me two options for soloing:
- Banish-focused fun. Start in the rift. Pop out. Banish a manageable group of foes into the rift. Go back into the rift. Kill, rinse, repeat. Note you get energy for enemies killed inside the rift, so it’s nicely self-sustaining.
- Cataclysm-focused cheesing. Keep Stasis and Cataclysm up. Anything entering the rift will take damage and be frozen. It’ll leave the rift, taking more damage. It’ll enter the rift again, taking damage and being frozen… When Stasis/Cataclysm expire, recast, and melee anything alive stuck inside the rift.
Cataclysm is also a serviceable nuke up to about Saturn, if you pop it on and off, and doesn’t make people as angry as Cataclysm and Stasis. If I’m playing Limbo on Helene and there’s nobody else to carry the weight damage-wise, I can usually do a half-decent job.
Very nice! I’ll make sure to put Ash on top of my frame priority list.
How do you mod for survivability on Limbo? I’ve seen some people use Rage + Quick Thinking combo (some with, some without vitality), some none, some only Vitality, etc.
I’m not a big fan of Rage + Quick Thinking just because a stagger means you’re dead, and staggers aren’t that uncommon. That’s just a personal preference though.
My survivability with Limbo comes from my abilities, I don’t really let anything hit me. If survival is an issue, Cataclysm + Stasis is plenty (I always make sure to have a good melee weapon on hand with him). If I’m away from the bubble and just need a moment to recover, it’s just a quick dash and I’m invulnerable.
I used to go big range since Cataclysm shrinks over time, but I’m not a fan of it anymore. I prefer smaller bubbles (not reduced range, but I just don’t put much effort into increasing it) so that I have more control. Big range is also asking for trouble if there’s any sort of Nullifers around, since it’s pretty much instant death if your Cataclysm pops when you’re not expecting it.
If you want a more offensive-minded Limbo, Rift Torrent can lead to absolutely ridiculous damage, but it’s pretty damn clunky to use. If I want to murder things I usually bring another frame, Limbo is mostly my “I just want to complete an objective and GTFO” frame, whether that objective is a Sortie, Spy, or gathering medallions.
Good point about cataclysm and range, I might actually adjust my build a bit.
I’m still getting used to the frame, ran a couple missions now to get a feel for his abilities and I have to say I’m loving the stasis+cataclysm combo. Still haven’t used Banish or Rift much, even though I slotted Rift Torrent. Seem like 2+4+3 could lead to some nice control and damage.
edit: Is there a way to enter/exit the rift without doing the dash (or without casting cataclysm twice)? Sometimes when I’m near an object I’d like to interact it with I’d rather not slide around.
Actually some stance mods will change a weapon’s quick melee animations, which can be handy if you don’t like a weapon’s default animations.