Warframe Nidus - How to Unlock and Best Build Guide

The corrupted Warframe Nidus is a great warframe that can use his parasitic abilities for survival, crowd control, and also wipe any room, excelling as an offensive character in any context or mission. His tankiness/immortality gives him great potential for soloing content, even in the endgame missions, and he can work great in a team as well.

With its new Prime variant releasing now, we can take a closer look at this masterfully versatile warframe, and how to build it.

How to Obtain and Craft Nidus?

Nidus' main blueprint is acquired from “The Glast Gambit” quest, additional main blueprints can be bought from Cephalon Simaris for 50,000 Reputation. Nidus' component blueprints are acquired from Rotation C of Infested Salvage on Oestrus, Eris.

Read More: Warframe The Arsenal Divide - Weapons Rebalance, Reworked Mods, And New Arcanes

Warframe Nidus - Skills & Abilities

Nidus is a very tanky warframe that has the potential of just not dying thanks to his passive. His abilities not only give him great survivability but also offensive power and crowd control tools, making him a very complete warframe and a great addition to any team or solo missions.

Passive
The Infestation dwelling within Nidus mutates rapidly when used against his foes, fueling his abilities and yielding various symbiotic benefits.

Mutation Stacks are a resource unique to Nidus, indicated by the Mutation counter and gauge displayed in the lower-right on the HUD, above the ability icons. The gauge is divided into five sections which represent the number of hits dealt to enemies via Nidus' abilities. The counter at the center of the gauge keeps track of the number of Mutation stacks, capping at 100.

Upon hitting one or more enemies via Virulence or Ravenous, depending on the number of hits the sections of the gauge will light up clockwise. After a total of 5 hits, the gauge completes a cycle and the sections become unlit again, while the counter increases by 1 Mutation stack. If Nidus suffers fatal damage with at least 15 stacks of Mutation, those 15 stacks are consumed, granting him 5 seconds of invulnerability and restoring 50% of his health.

Virulence
Rupture the ground with a damaging fungal growth that steals energy from each enemy it strikes. For every five enemies hit, the Infestation mutates, multiplying its destructive force.

Larva
Spawn an Infested pod that erupts with tendrils, latches onto nearby enemies, and pulls them in. Enemies killed while held have a chance of generating a Mutation stack.

Parasitic Link
Bind to a target with a parasitic link. When cast on an ally, both the host and Nidus have their Ability Strength increased. Linked enemies take some of the damage inflicted on Nidus.
Mutation Stacks Cost: 1

Ravenous
Gluttonous maggots swarm nearby enemies, feasting until they burst with Infestation. The maggots benefit from Mutation and each enemy consumed adds to the Mutation stack.
Mutation Stacks Cost: 3

Nidus - Best Arsenal Loadout

Since Nidus’ build relies on his skills more than weapons, you can use any setup on this part. Acceltra, Epitaph, and Orthos will serve their roles perfectly, and of course, if you can afford the Prime or Vandal versions, the better. Use as many Forma on them as you see fit to achieve the desired build, and you'll be good to go!

Primary Weapon - Acceltra

Secondary Weapon - Epitaph

Melee Weapon - Orthos

Warframe Nidus - Best Builds

Nidus - Solo Build

The idea of the build is to use Nidus’ abilities as you see fit in the moment, prioritizing obtaining stacks so you benefit from them as soon as possible. To do this, focus on powering up the Range, Duration, and Strength as much as you can without taking any negative stat as a consequence. Since Nidus doesn’t have shields you need to boost his armor and health and use Parasitic Link at all times, always. While Hunter Adrenaline should work better than Flow in later stages of the game, it’s up to you which one to use, and for dramatically better results, replace the mods in this setup with their Prime or Umbral versions.

And that's all you need to know about Nidus! While you're here, you can check out our useful Yareli, Gara, and Sevagoth guides, or keep an eye on our Prime Vault and Prime Access guide so you don't miss on the returning and upcoming items!