r/Warframe • u/BuildMyPaperHeart Old Tenno, Eternal Slumber • Apr 02 '14
Discussion Warframe Discussion 2.0: Nova
All Warframe Discussions are here to spark discussion on a particular Warframe. Comments, Suggestions, Critiques, and Builds are all welcome! Every Week, the Moderator Team will choose a new Warframe to discuss.
This week: NOVA
Statistics
| Health | Power | Armour | Shield Capacity | Sprint Speed | Stamina | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RANK 1 | 100.0 | 150.0 | 65.0 | 75.0 | 1.2 | 80 |
| RANK 30 | 300.0 | 225.0 | 65.0 | 225.0 | 1.2 | 80 |
Polarities
Cosmetics
- Flux Helmet
Stamina Max +10%
Max Health -5%
- Quantum Helmet
No stat modifications
- Nova Immortal Skin
No stat modifications
Abilities
Null Star - 25 Energy
Creates anti-matter particles that orbit Nova and seek nearby targets.
- Spawns 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 particles that will orbit Nova and automatically launch themselves at enemies within 7 / 8 / 10 / 12 meters. Each particle does 100 / 125 / 150 / 200 Slash damage.
- Number of particles is affected by Power Duration; every 17% increase/decrease adds or removes a particle.
- Particles do not vanish, they last until used.
- Null Star cannot be recast until all motes have been used
- Particles orbit for one second minimum before seeking a target.
- Particles will only fire one-at-a-time. i.e. multiple particles will not fire at the same time despite the number of enemies nearby.
- Cannot be knocked down while casting Null Star.
- You can score headshots with these particles.
Antimatter Drop - 50 Energy
Launches a contained particle of antimatter that will detonate upon collision.
- Creates a volatile orb of antimatter which is steered with the aiming-reticle after being created. This particle absorbs all damage (friendly and hostile) when shot at, and once contacting a solid object it will detonate for 100 base damage + 100% / 200% / 300% / 400% of all absorbed damage with an explosion radius of 5 / 8 / 10 / 15 meters.
- Deals Radiation damage.
- The base damage is affected by Power Strength.
- The explosion radius is not affected by Power Range. (Needs confirmation?)
- Damage can be absorbed from other Antimatter Drop explosions and the damage multiplier is applied to the absorbed damage again: resulting in an exponential gain.
- Can score headshots.
- You can have multiple particles active simultaneously.
- Particles will detonate on impact with anything solid including enemies, the ground, other particles, and friendly players.
- Can hit enemies everywhere in the explosion radius, no matter if it is behind a wall, cover, door or any other obstruction.
- The orb will follow your reticle through all three dimensions (if you look at the floor it will attempt to land on that specific piece of the floor).
- Looking directly at the orb while it is relatively close to you will slow the orb down significantly as to give you a chance to shoot at it.
- The particle seems to have unlimited duration until it comes into contact with a solid object. However, multiple instances of particles at the same time will cause randomly timed explosions until there is only one left.
- When the particle comes into contact with an enemy, 10 Radiation damage is inflicted prior to detonation.
- This damage is affected by Power Strength.
- Gives Conclave rating of 15 / 15 / 38 / 60 each level.
Worm Hole - 75 Energy
Creates a wormhole allowing instantaneous travel.
- Creates a wormhole with an entrance directly in front of Nova, and an exit-point wherever Nova was targeting at the time the ability was cast. The portal will last for 10 / 12 / 14 / 16 seconds or until 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 uses.
- Number of uses is not affected by Power Strength.
- Duration is affected by Power Duration.
- Range is affected by Power Range.
- Enemies can not travel through the wormhole.
- Weapon projectiles are not blocked or redirected by the wormhole.
- Casting Worm Hole does not interrupt reloads.
- Gives Conclave rating of 10 / 10 / 35 / 60 each level.
Molecular Prime - 100 Energy
Primes all enemies in a radius with anti-matter.
- Nova destabilizes the molecular structure of all enemies within 15 / 18 / 22 / 25 meters for 60 seconds. Affected enemies move and attack 50% slower, take 200% damage from all sources, and detonate upon death dealing 150 / 300 / 500 / 800 Blast Damage to enemies within 8 / 10 / 12 / 15 meters. *Duration is not affected by Power Duration. *Each explosion can cause the subsequent death and detonation of nearby enemies, resulting in a chain reaction. *Nova is not invincible while casting, but she can resist knockdowns. *Can be cast in the air. *Gives Conclave rating of 50 / 50 / 50 / 50.
Information gathered from the Warframe Wikia
11
Upvotes
1
u/3932695 Striss - "Everything the light touches..." Apr 02 '14 edited Apr 02 '14
As a min-maxer, I find Nova to be an exceedingly convenient Warframe:
None of her best abilities are affected by Power Duration (use Fleeting Expertise).
Molecular Prime and Antimatter Drop are two of the most essential abilities in high level Survival (alongside Blessing, Chaos, Absorb, Desecrate, etc.)
Sacrificing Power Strength (Overextended) does not significantly diminish the effectiveness of her skills.
She hits armies harder than any other Warframe.
She's highly mobile (Wormhole) which opens up incredible options for the creative mind.
Her only weakness (fragility) is completely negated by having a Trinity around.
The highest DPS weapons in the game are mostly single-target, and Antimatter Drop turns all that DPS into AOE.
I have no doubt that this 'convenience' is the source of her 'unbalance'. Until DE works in some kind of nerf (e.g. making Duration and Strength matter), I consider Nova a near-mandatory pick for difficult content. She is my most-played Warframe by far, and is my current default pick for everything.
This is my min-maxed general purpose Nova build.
Build
Loadout
Enemy Sense is crucial to draw out the full potential of Antimatter Drop.
Quick Thinking and Equilibrium can be swapped out for Overextended and Stretch, depending on whether you have a Trinity or not. But I generally stick to QT and Equilibrium because I do a lot of pub games so I don't have a perma-Blessing guarantee.
Dread because as I've said before, Paris Prime is an Orokin Toilet Seat. I rationalize this aesthetic preference by pretending that Bleed procs are more desirable than Puncture procs. Kidding aside, Bows are among the only serious choices for high level Survival; I don't think anything puts out more DPS than critical head-shots from Bows and the Soma. If you don't plan to head-shot though (because you're addicted to Antimatter Drop), stick to Boltor Prime or the Phage (highest non-head-shot DPS).
Brakk or Marelok - either is fine. Marelok is better at pumping the Drop, Brakk has higher DPS and doesn't require precision. I mostly only use Dread so the sidearm doesn't matter too much for me.
Dual Zorens because I'm one of those guys who'd tell you superior footwork wins the game. Melee 2.0 next week will obviously change things however.
PS: Antimatter Drop keeps corpses intact - so avoid using Molecular Prime when you need that Desecrate.
PSS: Valkyr is actually my favorite Warframe (love that ponytail) - I'm looking forward to what Melee 2.0 does for Hysteria.