Steel Path Build – Clear The Origin System Efficiently

The Steel Path is a whole new challenge for even the most veteran Warframe players. You will need to a top notch Steel Path build to make it all the way back through the Origin System. If you’re interested to know what’s changed in the Steel Path update, check out our guide.

Steel Path Build Considerations

Mission Variety

Completing the Star Chart will have you do almost every type of mission that exists in Warframe (except Railjack missions). Because of this diversity, there is no one best Warframe for every mode. Enemies hit hard, so the frame will need to have at least some defense. Enemies also have a huge amount of health and defense. If you need to kill enemies for the mission type, your frame will also have to have decent damage. Certain mission types like Mobile Defense and Sabotage can be done using just crowd control (CC). With all of this in mind though, some Waframes certainly outshine others.

Offensive vs. Defensive Scaling

Many Warframes have abilities that scale with the power of enemies. Each of those abilities scale a bit differently though. For instance, Octavia’s Mallet (#1) scales on how much damage enemies do to it. Hildryn’s Pillage (#2) scales based on the amount of armor and shields enemies have. Nekros’s Shadows of the Dead (#4) scales of both the offensive and defensive attributes of the enemies he has killed.

Enemies in the Steel Path are not only 100 levels higher, but also have an additional 250% Shields, Health, and Armor. The important distinction here is that while the damage they deal is the that of high level enemies, their defenses are much higher than their actual level. Abilities that scale off of the defense of enemies scale better than those that scale off of an enemy’s offensive stats. Radiation procs, which scale offensively, lose a lot of their appeal because enemies take over 2.5x as long to kill each other; their defenses out-scale their damage.

The last consideration is that because enemies stay alive longer, you have more time to stack statuses on them. With a high status build, you can get up to max Corrosive and Viral procs quick. You also have plenty of time to stack a ridiculous amount of heat/toxin procs. With this said, it is still possible to just one-shot them with pure crit builds (see my #1 honorable mention).

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The Best Steel Path Build

Warframe

With the considerations above, and taking into account all mission types, my choice for re-completing the Star Map is Saryn.

Saryn’s Spores (#1) scale off of the defenses of enemies. The longer enemies stay alive, the quicker and longer your Spores increase in damage. I’ve gotten my Spore damage higher than I’ve ever seen it while running a Mobile Defense on Lua. This isn’t as effective in shorter missions, were you won’t get as much of a chance to increase your damage, and especially not in defense missions where your damage will decay between rounds, but luckily Saryn has plenty more to offer.

In addition to dealing great scaling damage, Spores also has some other important bonuses. Since the changes to Corrosive procs, Viral has become the new default for most weapons. Luckily, we can still get the 80% armor reduction from Corrosive from just Spores. Spores deal Corrosive damage with a 50% chance for a Corrosive proc. This will quickly get an enemy to the max of 10 Corrosive stacks. Remember too that every spore popped by a melee weapon adds to the melee combo counter, helping you ramp up quick.

Corrosive procs are great for Grineer, but pretty much worthless against Corpus. Luckily Saryn has the answer to that too. Toxic Lash (#3) add toxic damage to all of the weapons. This means that you will be able to bypass Corpus shields and damage their small health pool directly. Toxic Lash also means that every hit will pop all Spores on the target, allowing you to spread your Spores with every hit.

In addition to her great damage options, Saryn also has a great defensive option. Molt (#2), when augmented with Regenerative Molt, distracts enemies, gives you a small speed boost, removes all negative procs on you, and also heals for a decent amount. Matched with the Quick Thinking mod (lose energy to avoid fatal damage), you’ll be able to survive and overcome scenarios that would have otherwise killed you.

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Primary Weapon

If you took my advice for Saryn, the perfect match for her is a hybrid crit/status Ignis Wraith modded for viral and innate heat. Most people are probably aware of how great this weapon is (evidenced by its Riven disposition) at melting groups of enemies in most of the old content, but not even the Steel Path’s buffs are enough to quell its fury.

The Viral damage is a great damage type for dealing with pretty much any enemy from any faction. Also, the procs from Viral damage increase the damage enemies take, meaning that enemies that survive the base damage will quickly start taking more and more damage. Heat damage is a decent all-around damage type as well, but, most importantly, heat procs fear humanoid enemies, acting as a hard CC. Heat procs won’t CC them for long, but they’ll be out of the fight long enough to kill.

Not only is the damage great, but Ignis Wraith is also one of the easiest weapons to use. Point it in the general direction of the enemy and you’re likely to hit them. The speed at which its damage ticks means that even a decently high stat chance will see procs stack quickly. It can be used on the run with little need to aim, it has a huge magazine that will rarely need reloading, and it is ammo efficient. All this and it pairs perfectly with Saryn’s abilities.

When buffed with Toxic Lash, every tick of the Ignis Wraith will pop Spores. You can even do this while moving through the mission. Often times, on an Exterminate for example, you can cast Spore on the first enemy and use Toxic Lash plus Ignis Wraith to push your Spores all the way to the end of the map with no need to recast or stop. Enemies that don’t die as you run by will just contribute more to the damage of Spores and keep them from decaying until even they eventually succumb to the infinite duration damage.

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Melee & Secondary Weapon

The combination of Saryn and Ignis Wraith is enough to deal with almost everything the Steel Path will throw at you. The only place it may struggle is certain boss fights and super tanky enemies like Disruption targets. For those rare situations, a single target secondary and a combo counter focused melee weapon can be helpful, but again, not necessary for MOST of the Steel Path content.

Operator

Energizing Dash from Zenurik will allow for more up-time on Toxic Lash and makes energy generation a bit more consistent. For your Arcanes, be sure to bring Magus Lockdown to give you all the time you need whittle down their health, or build up a good combo counter, on tough enemies like Disruption targets.

Archwing

Not much to say here as Archwings are not all that balanced. You can’t beat Amesha’s invulnerability from Watchful Storm (#1) and shareable defensive shield from Benevolent Decoy (#2). For damage, a decently modded Kuva Ayanga or Imperator Vandal will be more than enough.

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Mission Specific Builds

This build will work for most missions. However, there are a few bosses that are best done with a specialized build. Check out our guides to see the most efficient way to conquer these tough missions:

• Pluto: Hades – Ambulas
• Sedna: Merrow – Kela De Thaym
• Orokin Derelict: Assassinate – Lephantis
• Orokin Derelict: Emissary – Zealoid Prelate

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Honorable Mentions

One Shot – Khora Whipclaw AoE

I’ve seen a lot of people in the later missions running Khora to great effect. The build uses the odd way that Whipclaw (#1) scales with your equipped melee weapon to deal tremendous AoE damage. This build, with significant investment, can one shot nearly anything in the Steel Path, with red-crits reaching ludicrous numbers. The build relies heavily on a good Riven for a high disposition melee weapon, that preferably also has a good Syndicate augment mod, to reach those crazy high numbers.

The biggest issue though from my testing, even if you happen to have everything this build requires to work well, is its survive-ability. Most of the frame mods for this build focus on Ability Range and Strength, leaving little room for useful defensives like Quick Thinking + Hunter Adrenaline. You’ll also be missing the enemy distracting, proc erasing, regen giving power of Molt. It’s a great build that people are getting high numbers with, but Saryn’s utility and defense make her better.

Run Fast – Volt, Gauss, and Rhino

If you are doing a Capture, Rescue, Sabotage, or Spy, there is very little value in killing enemies. Instead, you can just rush to the objective with speed boosts, do the objective, and book it to the exit. These mission types can be done with zero kills (or just the one for Capture). Volt has the highest potential for speed, and Gauss isn’t far behind, but they are tough to maneuver in tight interior tiles.

Rhino may seem odd to be included here, but with the classic (no longer obtainable) Arcane Vanguard Helm, he matches Loki and Gauss for the second highest base sprint speed. The reason I mention him here though is Iron Skin (#2). This ability allows you to avoid all types of knockdown and status effects, most importantly, Magnetic procs from those pesky orange fields, that are so common in Spy missions. You also won’t be slamming your head into every wall…

Masters of Standing Still – Limbo, Nidus, Nova, and Vauban

There are some great CCs in Warframe. The issue with most of them is that they are no where near as effective on the move. If you are doing defensive type missions like Defection, Defense, Excavation, Interception, Mobile Defense, or Survival, you may consider bringing a CC focused frame. While CC is great for stalling though, in most of these mission types you still have to kill the enemies. You’ll have to rely almost solely on your weapons (or your team members) for damage.

About Nova specifically: don’t be afraid to use a Speedva for Defense missions or Survival. Enemies are definitely tough, but nothing you can’t handle. Remember there are a lot of missions to get through, and there is no reason to make Defense missions take twice as long as they normally do, especially when you can instead do them in half the time. Slowva is still great for Mobile Defense, Defection, and all the other normal situations.

I don’t suggest Frost or Gara for defending objectives in Steel Path. Their shields are just not enough to resist the enemy damage that will be coming in.

Summary

Saryn paired with a Viral/Heat Ignis Wraith will comfortably clear every mission type on the Steel Path Star Map. Corrosive procs from Spores matched with Viral procs from your primary melts armored enemies. Added Toxic damage from Toxic Lash deals with shielded enemies. Heat procs CC groups at a time. Ignis Wraith easily spreads Spores and does great damage while on the run. Augmented Molt gives enough defense to survive high damage threats.

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