I realised too late I should have set one of these discussion threads up for the first rotation, whoops. But it’s not too late to be early for the next rotation!

So, let’s discuss! What frames and weapons do you all recommend? Any esoteric lore?

The coming rotation gives us the following:

Warframes

• Vauban
• Atlas
• Equinox
• Wukong
• Mesa
• Hydroid
• Titania
• Gara

Weapons

• Akstiletto
• Fragor
• Tekko
• Stradavar
• Tipedo
• Ninkondi
• Zhuge
• Akjagara
• Redeemer
• Ballistica
• Nami Skyla
• Pangolin
• Corinth
• Astilla
• Volnus

Warframe discussion

Vauban. Really unique place as the premier ability nuker “CC frame”. Also great weapon support via his passive, which functions as damage vulnerability… which means double dip status and triple dip influence on enemies caught in his CC effects. Also an amazing Duviri frame as Flechette Orb scales off decree count. Only real weakness is a lack of radiation or decoy to distract Overguard enemies.

Atlas. He punches good. Great for new players as he’s one of the tiny handful of frames with knockback immunity, albeit with the restriction that he must be grounded to enjoy it. Hell on the fingers due to the ability spam if you choose to play him as a Landslide spammer, but he has other cool playstyles that are more oriented to CC and weapon support. Has the only loot ability that scales off power strength and can be triggered by a weapon (Gorgon family with Metamorphic Rounds).

Equinox. I hate you, I love you, I’m not fine!!! (As the song goes). If you ignore the concept of a shapeshifting two-frames-in-one package deal, Equinox has some cool stuff! Mend provides an infinite loop to fuel Empowered Blades spam, which I highly recommend in this day and age of Melee Influence. Maim is a nuke that scales off your and your team’s KPM so you’re KPMier! Peaceful Provocation gives Night an okay slow (5x) to stack with Cold effects or Gloom, and bumps Day to an honestly really impressive +80% power strength for allies. Calm & Frenzy lets her 2 propagate, turning into a roadblock with Rest or a directional Speed Prime with Rage. The bad thing is she’s hamstrung by the worst multi-attribute dependency of any frame, needing high efficiency, strength, and range… so… good luck. Or just play her as a nuker and forget all the troubles.

Wukong. The speedy speed boy himself! Very well-rounded kit, with CC, a nuke in Defy, a speed ability, high survivability… yeah, there’s a reason he’s one of the big three frames. That said, almost nothing Wukong does you can’t do on other frames with arcanes and incarnons. Retains a niche with Hildryn as one of the best Perspicacity users for sorties, nightmares, archon hunts, etc. Once you’ve learned vault layouts from videos or running them on a stealth frame, Cloud Walker is the definitive speed spy ability.

Mesa. Well-rounded combat frame. Has damage reduction, CC with Muzzle Flash and Shooting Gallery, a highly powerful exalted secondary (hence it has Secondary Outburst inheritance, woooo). Can also play her as a gun buffer by ditching her exalted and playing around the hilarious augment for her 1. I’m not a Mesa player so I’ll let one of the other cowfolken take over Mesa Propaganda duties.

Hydroid. If like me you parse him as a CC-debuffer frame, his kit is amazingly convoluted at this job. Mr Corrosive himself, degrading armour, optionally applying Viral, locking down areas. Okay as a lootframe. Some people are upset that he has a less slow playstyle or something, and I am sincerely sorry for their loss. Newdroid is much faster and more fun to play, and we have >2s shield gates now, so I don’t miss hiding in my puddle. Amazing new player frame since Tidal Impunity bestows status (and knockback!) immunity on top of a cheap movement ability.

Titania. Unfortunately has kind of the worst exalted weapon in the game since Diwata blocks her from being able to conveniently inherit Outburst onto her Pixias… but it really doesn’t matter, because Pixias honestly slap without it. Both a speed frame and an excellent CC frame. Has a bit of the gun buffy too with Beguiling Lantern. I’d turn back into a Titania Mainia© overnight if they gave her Chromatic Blade, just saying.

Gara. One of the handful of frames I essentially never play (<10h), so I can’t comment. I think with Incarnon inheritance, Mass Vitrify is a really good nuke now or something? Spectrosiphon with Arcane Eruption is very funny. That’s all I got. Glassheads please take it away in the comments.

Weapon comments

I won’t cover all of them, just some interesting or odd properties. And my beloved Corinth. If you’re a weapon collector type, you can make anything work, so don’t worry about “viability”.

Fragor. Has an initial combo passive. It’s fighting its own terrible status chance to be a good Influence slammer. Invites direct and unfavourable comparisons to Furax and Ceramic Dagger incarnons. Fun toy for Zephyrs though, per Nev.

Ninkondi. Rare instance of a weapon with an electric slam, although it’s tiny at 7m radius. High native electric weighting too, so you can run it as a light attack Influence spreader.

Pangolin. Was the best hybrid sword until Skana Incarnon came out. Has forced slash on the light slam, although it does Impact damage.

Volnus. Unique(?) in that the heavy slam does raw Slash, which is a mixed blessing. Does extra slammage with Gara which is neat. Not having Blast is honestly a huge negative for Influence builds, though.

Ballistica. Once upon a time, the clones this made could be scanned again, making it part of the really hardcore kavat breeder’s toolkit. One of two weapons I still don’t have, so I can’t comment.

Corinth. Shining Resonance armonics lookin’ gun. I love this thing, I was a hardcore Corinth lifer until I discovered the Stahlta, and it still holds a warm place in my heart. Worthy Comradery has pushed the altfire into a death nuke. Still stands toe to toe as an effective murder weapon in our current bonkers meta.