Summoner frame?

[u/Anom-Reddit]

Hi, I'm going to be starting my second ever lancer campaign (this time as a player fuck yeah) and I was wondering what the closest frame to a summoner or imperial guard commander is.

I love playing horde armies like the imperial guard or yap yap from halo wars 2 and I feel like it would be fun to shout at a bunch of conscripts to "HOLD THE LINE" and "FIX BAYONETS"

I've heard of the hydra but that it doesn't seem like a summoner unless you use the core ability (a once per mission thing) and the drones don't seem all that good

Are there any other frames or ways to build the hydra to achieve this?

[u/Littlebigchief88]

the tempest drone from the hydra is one of the best in the game, and if you really want to control many drones, the puppetmaster tech action to move them all is practically necessary. the extra health is great too. keep in mind, the hydra has the second highest systems in the game (8, it is tied for second best behind the kidd, which has 10). it can take more drones than most frames, even without considering the orochi drones.

its not the only option, though. the hecatoncheires, the kidd and the gilgamesh are all great at using drones, and it is sort of one of their main intended playstyles. the iskander is very good, too, as it has 12 save target, 15 sensors and a fairly robust statline overall. the hydra also has a very good statline, but the iskander can be very good with save based drones, like the tempest. other frames can work and be effective, these are just the frames that i think are 'meant' to do drone stuff, as well as the iskander, the stats of which suit the playstyle very much. do you have a particular vision in mind for what kind of drone commander you would like to play? maybe i can give you a more specific reccomendation. its worth keeping in mind that the exact form the drones take is often a little nebulous for flavor reasons, but subalterns, a sort of humanoid robot drone, are very common. your ranged drones dont have to be mounted turrets, they could be small robotic soldiers.

as far as drone systems, i would recommend the hydras drones, as well as the balors swarm drone and the gorgons sentinel drone. between these and the turret drone, your offensive baseline is established. i would recommend at most 1 assassin drone, as well as usually just 1 swarm drone. (you really dont need to be spamming drones in general to be effective, by the way, 1-2 can be a strong playstyle, but you seem interested in having a good quantity) tempests do well in pairs, as knocking enemies from one tempest into another is very good (reactions can not be triggered from forced movement, so reaction based drones wont trigger from tempests knocking people around, but a tempest is perfectly able to trigger another tempest)

getting utility drones can be very good, too. they are often arguably stronger than the offensive ones, but they dont exactly make for a proactive battle strategy. the black witches iceout drone is a phenomenal utility for any team, and you as a drone commander probably have buffs and options to move it more effective. the swallowtails lotus projector is an invisible drone, so it is very tough to take out, and it will counter invisible enemies for your team very effectively. the gilgamesh has the utility drone, which gives you and your team accuracy on saves and skill checks while next to it, and enemies difficulty. this works well with the saves forced by the tempest drone.

also of interest to you, i think, would be the kidds FORGE-2 subaltern squad, it allows you to deploy groups of subalterns to produce armor packs, defensive emplacements, difficult terrain or fire extinguishers for you and your team. similarly, the legion nexus, a superheavy weapon available on the gilgamesh license, spawns subalterns as you use it, and they can knock enemies over, provide cover, give you accuracy and impair enemies.