#Isleweaver update notes:
Nothing new affecting [Nekros] in the patch notes, nothing to update here.
Intro
Welcome. I'm a player with 2600 hours in this game, and i've been maining [Nekros] for half of those.
This is the currently the best, most meta general purpose [Nekros] build in the game IMO. It is not meant to be new player friendly ; it strictly aims to make Nekros the strongest he can be.
Mandatory archon shards
- 1 Tauforged Purple : HP orbs give 30% energy
- 1 Tauforged Yellow: Casting speed +35%
- The rest can be what you want. I use 1 blue for armor (extra energy and tankiness!) and 2 for yellow for parkour velocity.
FAQ
Q: Why no Equilibrium/[Despoil]?
A: a single Purple archon shard does the job without taking a mod slot (2 if not using nourish). Any build still using [Equilibrium] is completely wasting a mod slot.
Q: Why no [Primed Sure Footed]?
A: [Nekros]'s [Shield Of Shadows] make him immune to CC. Question the usefulness of any build guide using it.
Q: What mods are optional in this build?
A: [Augur Reach]. Also,[Adaptation] isn't that useful for levels below ~300. Good replacements are [Creeping Terrify] or [Umbral Fiber].
Q: I struggle with starting energy. What do?
A1: (best option) Put more forma into the Frame. Starting energy = 10 per unused mod points
A2: Use a yellow archon shard for starting energy
A3: Pop an energy consumable at mission start
A4: Just be patient and get enough energy for nourish and a few desecrates
Goals of build
1) Tankiness: Be unkillable up to around level 1200
2) Reliable source of healing: Never need for HP
3) Infinite Energy: have infinite energy income without the use of Zenurik focus school
4) Strong abilities: Keep [Nekros]'s signature 2, 3 and 4 ability strong, and allow room for a strong helminth ability
5) Maintain high range: No sacrifice to Nekro's looting aspect. 190% range.
---===Goal 1: Tankiness
Let's do some math and figure out how much effective health this build provides
-=Effective health
- damage reduction from shield of shadow: 90%
- damage reduction from armor: 83.1% (Health orbs are abundant with Nekros's 3 ; you will always have +1350 armor from Health conversion)
- damage reduction from adaptation: up to 90% (Not exactly, but for most enemies will be close to that)
health pool: 1500 health + 450 shield. (Health orbs abundant, building up to +1200 hp with Arcane Blessing is easy)
Effective damage reduction on shield: 95 to 99.5% (base + SoS + adaptation)
Effective damage reduction on health: 98.31% to 99.831% ( SoS + armor + adaptation)
Total effective health from shields: 9000 to 90,000
Total effective health from health: 88,757 to 887,573
Total effective health: 97,757 to 977,574 (not quite a million but hey sue me)
Augur reach also resets our shield gating for each enemy killed, through Desecrate.
---===Goal 2: Healing
- you need no other way of healing than healing orbs that spawn all the time from your 3rd ability. Nekros has the best hp orb spawning ability in the game.
---===Goal 3: Infinite energy
-=Energy income
- When combined with Nekro's 3 Desecrate, Equilibrium provides SO MUCH energy that you effectively have infinite energy.
- It provides so much in fact, that we can swap Equilibrium out ENTIRELY for a single Tauforged purple archon shard. This saves an entire mod slot.
- Each HP orb will give ~40 energy with nourish.
-=Energy capacity
- Arcane Battery Allows us to use our high armor to save a crucial mod slot. This is at the cost of Molt Augmented or Arcane Camisado, which we do not need at all to hit all of Nekros's relevant thresholds.
- Extensions to the energy pool are mandatory considering the use of Blind Rage
---===Goal 3: Strong abilities
-=shadows of the dead (4)
- We need at least 214% power strength when the ability is casted to achieve 90% damage reduction with shield of shadow
- This is achieved easily with Blind Rage Umbral intensify for a total of 243% ability strength, without even considering Growing Power.
- The damage reduction from shield of shadow requires you to be in range of your shadows, which is affected by ability range (which we have a lot of!)
-=Desecrate (3)
- We [Reach] a respectable +90% range, which is (rightly so) considered the standard to make Nekros a loot frame in other builds on this site
- Massive synergy with the health orbs this ability spawns with [Equilibrium] (replaced with a Tauforged Purple Archon Shard in this build) and Health conversion, making this ability fully essential to the build
- This ability's high passive energy cost is irrelevant due to our energy income from Purple Archon Shard being so good on this frame
-=Terrify (2)
- A S-tier ability that FULLY removes armor at 167% ability strength, which we easily hit
- Combined with the high range and decent duration of this build, this ability is fully functional
-=Helminth ability (1)
- We always replace Nekro's 1 Soul punch in this build
- The best option by far is Nourish
- Nourish will give +120% viral damage to you, yours allies, and quite importantly your shadows. that's more than DOUBLING your shadow's damage!
- BUT it gets even more busted: Nourish makes it so you (and your shadows...) explode when you take damage, dealing a guaranteed viral proc. this causes enemies firing at your shadows unit to take 2x-4.25X damage
- This stacks with the viral damage bonus from before...Resulting in a X4.6 to X9.35 boost to shadow damage, while buffing you and your teammates with a very strong buff...
- And if that wasn't enough, nourish multiplies all sources of incoming energy by X2.70 while it is active...
- With 190% range you are providing the buff from very far away, ensuring this reaches your teammates
This is possibly the best overall helminth ability in the game right now, and Nekros just so happens to be able to use it better than any other warframe!
Other viable option is Roar and that's kind of it.
- Many helminth abilities are viable on him, but I haven't really tried others because they'll never beat Nourish. Still, Feel free to explore other options.
Enjoy the build!
Author: Psilo50, IGN Retro050
