Warframe has a wide array of weapons that fall into different categories, each one with their own stats and intricacies. However, players have been claiming that the Melee weapons were ridiculously overpowered compared to the primary and secondary firearms, so Digital Extremes listened to them and are introducing significant changes to both Primary, Secondary, and Melee Weapons.
Several things that contribute to that imbalance, such as melee weapon mods or weapon stats, are either being nerfed, buffed, or overall reworked, in an effort to create a more fair comparison between them, and new systems are being introduced to bring more spice to the fire weapons gameplay in the form of new Primary and Secondary Arcanes. We will talk now about those changes and what they mean.
Warframe: The Arsenal Divide - Changes on Weapons
Glaives
In late 2020, the Glaive melee class got a rework to be more powerful and comfortable to use. However, these changes also introduced a common issue: players with high melee attack speed would sometimes accidentally throw their Glaives when trying to perform simple melee strikes, and the “catch and release” mechanic sometimes resulted in multiple unintended throws. Several changes are introduced on this matter, while also doing a balancing pass to reflect the power in this newly reworked melee class.
First, the heavy attack wind-up speed is being increased from 0.6 seconds to 1.2 seconds. With more time on the wind-up, it is much harder to accidentally throw when you are trying to swing.
With this increased wind-up speed, players are more capable of performing quick throws. Right now the damage on those is very close to fully charged, so the second change is to reduce quick throw damage to approximately 50% of the maximum charge. Changes are as follows:
- Cerata
Direct Hit Damage from 366 to 201
Radial Damage from 549 to 333 - Falcor
Direct Hit Damage from 460 to 250
Radial Damage from 690 to 345 - Glaive
Direct Hit Damage from 210 to 116
Radial Damage from 315 to 190 - Glaive Prime
Direct Hit Damage from 328 to 180
Radial Damage from 492 to 296 - Halikar
Direct Hit Damage from 298 to 163
Radial Damage from 447 to 225 - Halikar Wraith
Direct Hit Damage from 503 to 263
Radial Damage from 621 to 329 - Kestrel
Direct Hit Damage from 168 to 92
Radial Damage from 252 to 126 - Orvius
Direct Hit Damage from 390 to 215
Radial Damage from 520 to 293 - Pathocyst
Direct Hit Damage from 524 to 288
Radial Damage from 786 to 393 - Xoris
Direct Hit Damage from 240 to 120
Radial Damage from 480 to 250
Kuva Nukor
This is the only fire weapon that will be nerfed since right now it’s a dominant Secondary in the game. It’ll keep all of its signature behavior, but the general output is being notched down slightly with the following change:
- Chains targets reduced to 2 from 4
Warframe: The Arsenal Divide - Changes on Mods
There are several Melee mods that hold a great influence on any melee weapon build. They affect different things, such as Attack Speed and damage output boosts that depend on Critical or Status Chance, and are part of what makes Melee weapons that broken these days. The changes are for the mods Berserker, Blood Rush, and Condition Overload, and they read as follows:
Berserker
Attack Speed increases for Melee are part of the problem, especially when you can affect Critical Chance as easily as you can in Warframe. It was clear that Melee weapons needed a nerf on Attack Speed since you could barely distinguish one from another once you got the boost triggered, now with a lower, timed Attack Speed buff. The effect depends now on a kill rather than Crit Chance, and its name is changing to Berserker Fury so you can’t stack it with Fury/Primed Fury
Berserker is changing from:
- +30% Attack Speed (Max 75%) for 24s on Critical Hit
To:
- Berserker Fury, cannot stack with Fury.
- On Melee Kill: +35% Attack Speed (Max 70%) for 10s. Stacks up to 2x.
Blood Rush
Blood Rush’s maximum value is being lowered. This changes the achievability of consistent Red Crits from just one Mod and now, additional help will be needed via Mods, Arcanes, or Warframe abilities to achieve consistent Red Crits.
Blood Rush is changing from:
- +60% Critical Chance stacks with Combo Multiplier
To
- +40% Critical Chance stacks with Combo Multiplier
Condition Overload
Condition Overload’s maximum value is being lowered to 80% to put it on a similar level as Primed Pressure Point, while still retaining its potential. While its values are lowered, it remains as a great mod on Status-based builds.
Condition Overload is changing from:
- +120% Melee Damage per Status Type affecting the target.
To
- +80% Melee Damage per Status Type affecting the target.
New additions - Galvanized Mods
The arsenal imbalance becomes more obvious at higher level content, so there are a series of new mods to help with that. Their approach is not as much a native and significant boost as a non-galvanized mod, but a buff that works way better than the normal versions the more you trigger its conditions. These will be available from Teshin’s Steel Path Honors, and the list goes as follows:
Galvanized Acceleration
- +30% Projectile Speed/Beam Length
On Kill:
+30% Projectile Speed/Beam Length for 10 seconds.
Stacks up to 2 times.
Galvanized Aptitude
- +80% Status Chance
On Kill:
+40% Damage per Status Type affecting the target for 20 seconds.
Stacks up to 2 times.
Galvanized Chamber
- +80% Multishot
On Kill:
+30% Multishot for 20 seconds.
Stacks up to 5 times.
Galvanized Crosshairs
- On Headshot:
+120% Critical Chance when Aiming for 12 seconds.
On Headshot Kill:
+40% Critical Chance when aiming for 12 seconds.
Stacks up to 5 times.
Galvanized Diffusion
- +110% Multishot
On Kill:
+40% Multishot for 20 seconds. Stacks up to 4 times.
Galvanized Hell
- +110% Multishot
On Kill:
+30% Multishot for 20 seconds.
Stacks up to 4 times.
Galvanized Savvy
- +80% Status Chance
On Kill:
+40% Damage per Status Type affecting the target for 20 seconds.
Stacks up to 2 times.
Galvanized Scope
- On Headshot:
+120% Critical Chance when Aiming for 12 seconds.
On Headshot Kill:
+40% Critical Chance when Aiming for 12 seconds.
Stacks up to 5 times.
Galvanized Shot
- +80% Status Chance
On Kill:
+40% Damage per Status Type affecting the target for 12 seconds.
Stacks up to 3 times.
Warframe: The Arsenal Divide - New Arcanes
Arcane Slots were added to your Primary and Secondary weapons, and you can fill these Slots with new Arcanes that enhance and reward diverse gameplay. These new upgrades will be earned generally through the Steel Path. You’ll be able to get the Arcane Adapters from Teshin by Steel Path Honors, and the Arcanes themselves drop from Acolytes in the Steel Path. The spawn frequency of Acolytes is also being increased, so you can get more Steel Essence, as well as more chances for the Arcane you want.
Ultimately each Arcane stacks up to the same amount of damage, but it’s how you choose to get there that counts, which depends on your playstyle. The Arcane Adapters themselves are an item you’ll need to install on the weapons you want to take further, and you can find them in the Steel Path Honors.
There are 6 Arcanes (3 Primary, 3 Secondary) and the list goes as follows:
Primary Arcanes
Primary Merciless
On Kill:
- +30% Damage for 4 seconds. Stacks up to 12 times.
- +30% Reload Speed
- +100% Ammo Max
Primary Deadhead
On Headshot Kill:
- 120% Damage for 24 seconds. Stacks up to 3 times.
- +30% to Headshot Multiplier.
- -50% Weapon Recoil
Primary Dexterity
On Melee Kill:
- +60% Damage for 20 seconds. Stacks up to 6 times.
- +60% Holster Speed
Secondary Arcanes
Secondary Weapons will receive the same options as Primary Weapons for their Arcanes, but with their own version. The stats are the same for the Secondary versions of the New Arcanes:
Secondary Merciless
On Kill:
- +30% Damage for 4 seconds. Stacks up to 12 times.
- +30% Reload Speed
- +100% Ammo Max
Secondary Deadhead
On Headshot Kill:
- 120% Damage for 24 seconds. Stacks up to 3 times.
- +30% to Headshot Multiplier.
- -50% Weapon Recoil
Secondary Dexterity
On Melee Kill:
- +60% Damage for 20 seconds. Stacks up to 6 times.
- +60% Holster Speed
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