With this specialized Octavia build, you can stay in a Survival mission for as long as you want. With infinite invisibility and damage that scales off of your enemies, multi-hour Survivals are easy. This build even works with Steel Path, making it a great Steel Essence farm in addition to the other resources you’ll be getting.
Steel Essence has a low chance to drop from Eximus enemies in Steel Path missions. Eximus enemies have an increased chance to spawn as the survival mission progresses, capping at one hour.
The Build: Octavia Mallet & Stealth
Warframe
This build uses Octavia’s Mallet (#1) for damage and Metronome (#3) for stealth. Ability duration makes the strategy less energy reliant and reduces the amount of times you will need to recast abilities. Ability range is important for killing enemies as quickly as possible. Ability strength is helpful, but due to the nature of Mallet scaling off of damage taken, it is not too important.
Low defenses will not be a problem as Octavia can remain in stealth for the entire mission. The Arcane energize will help with energy management, but is not required. If you don’t have it, bring some Energy Restores just in case you get unlucky with energy drops.
Weapon
Weapon damage will quickly become irrelevant as the enemies scale higher. Therefore, the weapon for this strategy focuses on supporting the Mallet damage. Radiation status procs make the affected enemies part of their own team. This is very helpful in removing proximity based buffs, like Eximus or Ancients, from groups of enemies.
The most important aspect of the weapon is to spread radiation procs quickly. Ignis Wraith’s inherent punch through, wide AoE, fast attack rate, and high status chance make it perfect for this task. You can add damage if you want, but almost all of your damage will come from Mallet.
Steel Essence Farm: Which Survival Mission?
I’ve tried a few different survival missions with this strategy. Personally, I found Mot in the Void to be the best. Corrupted enemies have high damage, deal that damage from medium range, and Heavy Gunners survive long enough to really boost up the Mallet damage. The Void tileset also has multiple rooms that are open and great for Mallet.
Dark Sector Infested missions like Gabii on Cerus can be good too, especially with the increase resource drop rate. However, Infested don’t work as well against Mallet. Most of them are melee enemies and won’t contribute to the scaling damage. Also, they will clog up in the tight corridors on the tileset, reducing the number of kills per second you will get.
Corpus don’t deal enough damage to quickly scale Mallet to counteract their shields, especially with Steel Path buffs. Also, most Corpus tilesets are not great for Mallet.
Grineer have a similar issue to Corpus. The amount of health and armor they have on Steel Path is just too much compared to their damage output.
The Strategy: Watch the Mallet – Collect the Loot
Start the mission by casting Metronome (#3) and crouching until you stealth. Maintain this stealth for the entire mission.
Find an open tile to maximize the effectiveness of Mallet (#1). Cast Mallet in a central location that can be seen throughout the room. Buff Mallet with Amp (#4) to increase its range.
With you in stealth, the Mallet will be the only viable target, making all enemies on the map run to attack it. The best rooms will force the enemies to come into the room a bit before attacking. This will stop them from crowding and blocking the doors.
Loot Carefully
With Mallet, Amp, and stealth up, you’re free to collect loot. Be careful of Nullifier Crewman and other proximity effects while looting. Also, do not get too close to the Mallet to avoid splash damage.
Enemy Immunity: Radiation Procs
Enemy groups will include more Eximus as time progresses, up to a maximum chance at one hour. Sometimes these groups will have a composition of Eximus and Ancients that makes them immune to damage. If you see a bunch of zeroes popping up, it’s time to break up their friendship.
Radiation procs from Ignis will isolate enemies, meaning they will no longer receive buffs from others. Once on their own, they will die to Mallet like normal.
Steel Essence Farm Team
If you are bringing friends, this farm can be even better. The team can use Octavia’s Metronome for stealth too, but you’ll have to be relatively coordinated on when to loot to keep everyone stealthed.
A Speedva (negative power strength Nova) can greatly increase the rate at which enemies die. Nekros can reroll bodies for even more loot. Khora’s Pilfering Strangledome and Hydroid’s Pilfering Swarm can also increase the amount of loot dropped, but might limit the effectiveness of Mallet.
Other Steel Path Guides
