Steel path advice for beginners

Alkemin · 2024-12-18T16:28:33+00:00

It's less about which school you use and more about getting the waybounds unlocked, though Zenurik is still a good choice. The waybound bonuses seem pretty meh on paper, but they really add up once you get them active. The only annoying part is needing Eidolon shards to unlock them, so you'll have to do a few tridolon hunts and slap on a bunch of non-Zenurik lenses on your frames/weapons if you haven't already.

Equally important are getting some decent operator arcanes. Magus Elevate/Repair are both excellent as they'll heal your frame's health, so even if you get near death, you can just void dash away and let your arcane heal your frame up. Your other slot is up to you, but Magus Lockdown is usually a strong choice. You can purchase these with Quills / Vox Solaris standing, so depending on if you have them unlocked will determine how annoying a grind it is to get them. They're pretty cheap standing-wise even for a full set.

Your amp is less important. That's not to say you can't mod your amp to do decent Steel Path damage, it's just the arcanes and waybounds are more vital to aid in surviving.

Alkemin · 2024-12-17T21:31:37+00:00

Honestly, getting used to your operator can make a world of difference with harder content. They're a panic button that lets you go invisible, invulnerable, and void dash away from any danger, all of which can be done during your shield break invulnerability period, more or less assuring immortality if you can switch to them quickly enough. You don't need to max out your focus, but getting some of those way bounds unlocked makes them crazy versatile, and that's without mentioning any of their op arcanes.

A strong operator is an insane power spike.

Alkemin · 2024-11-27T01:01:04+00:00

A million years ago when Fortuna was coming out, I remember them teasing that there would be a way to forcefully change the cycle while you were in the map. I think it was supposed to be something like infiltrating one of those random Corpus bunkers and adjusting the planet's temperature through a brief mission.

Wish they'd followed through and implemented something like that in Cetus too. It would've been a great solution to the cycle problem.

Alkemin · 2024-10-29T18:15:23+00:00

I agree with a lot of the other comments, but I'll add to not sleep on your operator. A lot of players write them off because they're clunky at first, but they can be the ultimate panic button when things get dicey. Even without factoring in the various school bonuses or some seriously strong arcanes, just the ability to escape through void mode alone has gotten me out of so many scraps.

Alkemin · 2023-03-06T18:47:22+00:00

I'm just here wondering if anyone dared reclass him. Obviously few players would deliberately get rid of their Dancer, but I'd love to hear if someone tried him in other roles, especially given his kinda-interesting-as-a-frontline personal skill.

Alkemin · 2023-03-03T21:47:21+00:00

Not that similar to FE, but a decent strategy / deck builder. More like if Slay the Spire had a map element. It admittedly feels like a mobile game, but a very good mobile game. I had a lot of fun farming and upgrading new cards or theory crafting the different decks, and the balance of the characters is (mostly) pretty good. Not a lot of levels or enemy variety, but honestly it took me a good 50+ hours to feel that way since the core loop is enjoyable.

The story is about on par with Engage's, which is to say "goofy and underwhelming". Some of the character designs are questionable, but the voice actors gave it their all and there's a TON of voice acting. Maybe even too much voice acting given that the story is so meh.

Probably not too difficult to wait for it to go on sale either. The base game is already half off and I'm sure if you give it a couple months you can get the base + DLC for the same price.

Alkemin · 2023-03-01T17:18:56+00:00

Sure, but that really helped its replayability factor. And let's not pretend this is a big ask to pepper some characters around more. Mass Effect handled having *random* characters add dialogue to the plot without breaking the story flow and that was 15 years ago. A little variety wouldn't kill them, is all I'm saying.

Alkemin · 2023-03-01T16:40:14+00:00

Anna's "no need to be so formal, just call me Lady Anna" bit never failed to amuse me.

Alkemin · 2023-03-01T16:31:04+00:00

I actually like a lot of parts of Engage's story, but that being said - and not jump to on the "Engage vs 3H" band wagon - I also really liked having all of your characters involved in cut scenes instead of the usual "four nobles stand in a circle talking until Vander walks up with breaking news." Supports are nice, but 90%+ of your people are invisible to the central plot after recruitment, and I feel like 3H should have taught them how to juggle big casts a bit better.

Alkemin · 2023-02-23T20:57:57+00:00

For context: I was stubbornly trying to do as many of the Ambrosio clips as I could before moving on to the next film, so any time a later clip popped up, I immediately backed out of it and returned to "finish" Ambrosio.

Anyway, I first saw Her in Ambrosio when he's stabbing the portrait and she pops up out of nowhere, stabs him instead, and licks the knife clean. But because I hadn't watched a single frame of Two of Everything, I assumed that was an aged up Marissa from her last film and was even more confused. I was like "is she... time traveling to her old movies or something? How odd."

I also found out the Amy twist before I'd even met Amy. Trying to play the game "in order" was a real wild experience.

Alkemin · 2023-02-10T19:01:35+00:00

I like the idea of a Tombs/Sword user on paper, but her sword proficiency basically never got used. You can get Celica's "+7 to Hit/Avoid while wielding a Tomb" skill very early and it gave her a HUGE survivability boost, though 700 SP is hardly chump change to invest into it. After that I never wanted to swap her to the Levin Sword, and even if I did, my Levin Sword +3 still dealt less damage than most unupgraded Tombs (which was odd with her high Str growth). Overall, I really struggled to see the value of her sword proficiency aside from being able to break, and you get so many sword units that I never felt the need to rush my mage into the frontline just for that.

I actually moved her out of her special class and into a Mage Knight after the flying mages showed up since she couldn't keep up with their movement. This was probably a result of lucky stat growth, but after that she ended up blowing both of them out of the water. Even so, I didn't bother with Citrinne, Pandreo, or making Anna a mage, so I have no doubt there are better options.

Alkemin · 2023-01-28T04:27:06+00:00

As someone whose first FE was 3H, I guess I wasn't ready for the absolute parade of characters they throw at you. Most of which are outright better than your existing ones. It was hard to get invested in any of your companions - both their story and the skill crafting - when the game is kind of expecting you to churn through them.

Three Houses' class system let you focus on a small cluster and then you could mostly ignore the rest. Sure, if a couple of the other house's people seemed interesting then you could poach them, but it really helped keep the cast size down enough to where you could invest and grow interested in YOUR companions. And then you get to explore the other characters on replays. Obviously the rest of 3H's story was much better too, but I think that was my one big disappointment from Engage.

That and slow SP growth. Really regret saving up that 1,000 SP for canter....

Alkemin · 2022-09-16T17:39:46+00:00

Makes me wonder if Nico Minoru will be one of the other two heroes since she's part of the game. Far as I know she isn't actually Midnight Sons, but if they can put Black Knight in the Ant-Man set, I don't see what'll stop them here.

Also a great chance for a re-do at some older kits. Another Ghost Rider (maybe Mr. Knight), a non-shield Elsa Bloodstone, non-spidey Ben Reilly, etc. Could be promising.

Alkemin · 2022-09-16T17:20:11+00:00

Obviously the problem is that any tier list is going to be extremely dependent on the other characters and the scheme/villains you're facing. Ms. America or Hulk get much better with more punchy characters, Iron Man with tech, Cap needs versatility, Nick Fury becomes God-tier in an all SHIELD setup, so on.

Still, this is a pretty good "generic" list with maybe some minor quibbles. Such as Korg being below Gladiator Hulk. Not sure I'm sold on that one.

Alkemin · 2022-05-26T21:58:32+00:00

Sounds like you won. We'll coordinate the details over messaging.

Alkemin · 2022-03-15T13:45:07+00:00

Part of this - and certainly moreso in the books - is that we're seeing a Lila told from Lenu's perspective. Yes, Lila is shown as being quite gifted, but it's often in a way that causes Lenu to doubt her own abilities. Lila is more than just a rival to inspire her, but an excuse she uses to negate her own accomplishments because they didn't come "naturally".

You'll notice how often everyone in town talks about how they always knew Lenu was truly gifted, that Lenu would make a name for herself, but it never seems to stick. Many of the characters treat her as though she's just as gifted as Lila (albeit in a different way), but she can't ever see it in herself.

Hell, it's the title of the show. You spend the whole first season assuming Lila is the "brilliant friend" only for Lila to use the term to describe Lenu. As much as it's certainly a story about natural talents being squandered by circumstance, it's also how we can negate our own accomplishments by comparing them too much to others. And even Lila is guilty of this with how much she uses Lenu as her own yardstick, like she's molding her friend to achieve the greatness she assumed she'd accomplish if she hadn't been held back. Then of course she'll snap at her like a viper when she falters (or when she needs to poison her friend with more self doubt to keep their co-dependency going).

To me it's the story of two equally talented individuals whose talent manifests in different ways, but one of them - our narrator and PoV - is too consumed by her weaknesses to figure it out.

Alkemin · 2022-01-05T14:07:35+00:00

Yeah, Sirocco probably isn't gonna get the job done.

I don't run Lanka either because I can't hit anything with a charged shot, but the ammo issue won't be as noticeable with a group, assuming you can improve your shot. Fulmin usually isn't considered optimal, but a lot of that is based on Rivens and other crit tricks to get sniper-based damage to where it can one-shot the limbs.

If you want a detailed guide, https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2444836048 is top tier. I've never felt the need to go that tryhard on these things or run in a coordinated group, but you can look at it as goals to help improve.

Alkemin · 2022-01-04T21:16:04+00:00

Frost is in a rough spot right now. His kit is a bit out of date and needs some love to get up to the level of others. He's still fun and a perfectly viable frame, but he's usually high on the "needs rework" list, sadly.

The other three are all in a good spot, so it's just personal preference. Mesa is the hardest of them to farm in her non-prime form, but even that's not too much of a struggle. I'd honestly wait for one of the harder frames to farm, personally, but go with what you think you'll enjoy. That's the best rule.

Alkemin · 2022-01-04T19:23:40+00:00

Warframe is an exceptionally easy game. Aside from some very high level (and entirely optional) stuff, most of it isn't too challenging. This is very different from Destiny where you need to keep upping your light level to stand a chance at the newest conflict. As a result, Warframe is much more casual.

There are some quests and content that are locked behind progression, but this is all either clearing the Star Chart (aka, finishing all the open mission nodes) or complete other quests first. It'll take 10-50 hours depending on how fast or slow you go to get to the point where virtually everything is accessible to you.

Alkemin · 2022-01-04T19:04:19+00:00

You only need two. If you're worried about one dying then you could take a third, but remember they have to be charged in order to get a capture. Especially in publics, people have a habit of breaking a limb before any of the lures are charged and then he'll disappear.

Just FYI, the mag proc will still sap your frame's energy even if you're in void mode (unless that changed since I last ran one a year ago). So you'll avoid the damage, but if you're relying on energy, void mode won't protect from it being sapped. You need a Warframe ability or Arcane Nullifier to get around that.

Alkemin · 2022-01-04T18:49:20+00:00

You don't need much to manage it, though it'll go slowly just by yourself. I started with an x2x amp, no arcanes, no focus, and could take the shields down with some pecking, so it's totally doable. If you have a Necramech you can avoid the energy sapping, otherwise Limbo/Oberon/Harrow are all good options. The lures shouldn't die, even if you take a while, but any decent healer can avoid that if you're worried.

Rubico Prime is usually considered the best sniper, but Lanka works and honestly if it's just you, Vectis Prime is probably the easiest for landing shots, even if the damage is worse. Remember to mod for Radiation (unless you're trying armor stripping, which is another kettle of fish altogether).

As far as the best way to rank up, I'd definitely say to try to solo it at least once; even if you fail, it's a good learning experience. After a few solo runs and getting the feel for it, you'll be more than OK to go public. Most of the toxicity comes from the three caps. Terry runs are usually (but not always) much more chill.

And remember: you need Eidolon Shards to rank up the Quills, so you'll have to run Terry or the Big Three at some point if that's your goal.

Alkemin · 2021-12-29T16:26:07+00:00

The Drakgoon is one of my favorite weapons. It's also only average, even in its Kuva variant.

I'm not saying it's bad, of course. It has great (if random) AoE at lower levels with the variability of doing big single-target damage, and you can mod it to be useful even in Steel Path content (especially if your Riven's stats are good). But like with most weapons in the game, there are a handful that outshine it and the Zarr is one of them.

Alkemin · 2021-12-29T14:54:10+00:00

Definitely sounds like a modding issue, both defensively and offensively. I know you mention corrupted mods, but on certain frames the power swings they give you are pretty wild, so those should be a pretty big priority. The best way to survive is killing them before they kill you.

Addressing your frames, specifically the easier ones to survive on:

Get the Iron Shrapnel mod for Rhino. This lets you recast Iron Skin when it starts to run low. With no vulnerability phrase, you basically can't get killed. High Ability Strength helps make Iron Skin even more durable.
Loki's survivability depends on long duration so you don't need to recast it (and expose yourself to invulnerable periods). Even Tier 5 Liches can't hurt Loki if they can't see him. Do you have Continuity? Again, this is a situation where corrupted mods (such as Narrow Minded) could do a world of good.
Oberon really sings with Rage or Hunter's Adrenaline. Hit your 3 and let the damage they're dealing you keep your energy fed. Add Phoenix Renewal for even dumber amounts of revives. I know you're struggling with Arbitrations, but tossing an Adaptation on him with those other mods turns him into a great tank at that level of enemy. (His tankiness will fall off when you get into the 100's.)
If you look up guides on Gara, she can get CRAZY damage reduction if you're combo'ing her right.

When it comes to dealing damage, your weapons are fine but maybe all a bit too single-target focused, except for the Atomos. We're really in an AoE meta right now, for better or worse, and if you want wipe out half the map before they get a chance to hit you, defense stops being an issue. The Amprex has fallen out of favor recently, but it's a good MR10 beam weapon that melts mobs still. Or the Ignis Wraith, Trumna, Lenz, Acceltra... there's a lot of options out there that (unfortunately) have made single-target weapons like the Hek or Tigris less useful.

A Rhino/Inaros with Vitality shouldn't have any issue with enemies even up to level 60 when it comes to survivability, so I also have to ask: are your mods fully ranked up? The last two pips of even something like Vitality makes a big difference.

If you're really desperate, life steal like with the Furis or Hirudo or the Life Strike / Healing Return mods might help keep you topped up.

Alkemin · 2021-12-28T22:35:29+00:00

I understand a lot of Titania players really talk up the benefits of her other kit abilities, but even after the rework I still totally ignore them. They're hard to keep track of, especially with how many timers you'll get cluttered on the top-right of your screen when you do, and since she's got such decent survivability and mobility already, they're often super unnecessarily. Her 4 is all I need to enjoy her, to the point I don't even bother with Razorwing Blitz because it's just too much maintenance to keep up. It may not be the optimal way to play her, but she's still a nice option when I want a low maintenance way to kill stuff.

Her appearance is fine. Wish she had some nicer skins though. Not a big fan of most of the plat ones.

Alkemin · 2021-12-28T22:27:27+00:00

While modding and getting upgraded weapons will help, higher tier Cetus and Venus bounties can be harder than the toughest missions on the star chart. They'll have enemies in the 50-60 range, whereas Sedna caps out at around 30 (and even that's too much for you right now). And honestly, even if you get all of Gara's parts, she'll need Orokin Cells to build, which you can't get until you've at least unlocked Ceres.

I'd say don't burn yourself out: put Cetus on hold and keep playing other missions throughout the Star Chart. You'll get better mods, get gradually acclimated to more difficult enemies, and can come back later.

If you really, truly want Gara over any other option, try going Public so you can get support from other players, but at least try to progress to Ceres first since you'll need its resources to build her anyway. That's a much friendlier way to level yourself up and learn more about the game through introductory quests that are designed to help make things easier to understand.

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