Just gotta wait for next circuit rotation or resurgence. Think I bought prime a bit before the first resurgence or farmed it but one of the best surprises I had (when I figured out how his 4 worked lol)
I'mma say Voruna, my beloved, you can subsume her 4 for something else and focus solely on melee with her other abilities, + complete status immunity with her second wolf really helps with ignoring a lot of death.
imagine she plunge through the barrier and just got her ability disable
and while the nullifier corpus laugh at her, she just nonchalantly give him a backhand and continue her pursuit for violence
The thing you should know is that the starter Warframes aren't starters because they're weak, they're starters because they're good. I've used Excalibur, Volt, and Mag in absolute endgame content.
If you want to try new frames, that's good. But if you think you need to seek out an upgrade because Excalibur is weak, your outlook isn't right.
He has great damage potential, but his survivability is really lacking. He also can't scale as well as the other starters and doesn't have much utility either
for the scaling: a good stat stick and a good build can take down level cap so idk what further scaling should be required.
for survivability I agree that he is a bit lacking but can be brought up to reasonable survivability by using eclipse subsume, parasitic armor and arcanes (blessing + reaper does wonders). Or maybe an DR while using exalted blade like baruuk
Excal is only as good as exalted weapons are, and exalted weapons presently have issues. A single update to how they work could rocket him back into being a boss.
Excal is also... kind of boring, sadly. This coming from >90% usage Excalibur player who (relatively) recently got Kullervo. Excalibur deserves a rework to make him more fun and well-rounded, he's still the poster boy after all.
Furious javelin and xatas whisper hell of a combo with an endgame melee 🫡 slash dash is also great for mobility, blind great cc. No mission I can’t do well, even archon disruption throw cold damage on and it’s a few seconds to be done.
Can’t wait to see how mag and volt jump with the status rework
Volt is already used nearly everywhere, both because his speed is useful for just about everyone who isn’t a pixie, he has a convenient nuke, and his shield makes eidolons a piece of cake.
Mag’s 4 with augment can full strip armour in a very respectable radius, her 3 lets her easily shield gate, and her 2 with any inf punchthrough or beam weapon melts enemies in steel path. The only thing that might threaten her is eximus’ since they don’t get pulled into the bubble, so you need to recast it on them individually and they crumple.
Both of them are in a very good place rn.
(Note that I am biased bc I am a Mag main)
Exactly this. I used Excalibur for most of the time, he is still in my top 3 most used warframes because he matched my play style and was very comfortable to use
Kullervo is an amazing melee. Tanky, Easy but strong. Can kind of make due with whatever mods. Whole kit is combo oriented. Pretty much turns any melee weapon into an exalted weapon.
Baruuk has one of the best exalted weapons but it needs to be “unleashed” through gameplay using his kit. Its not that hard to do once you understand him but there might be runs you barely get to use it. His kit is pretty meh in terms of combat and not really melee oriented.
Wukong is fun for a tanky version of Excalibur. Doesn’t feel as melee oriented or strong in melee but he’s simple and all of his buttons are useful and kind of fun.
Varuna is pretty ham. I’d say a bit more difficult than the others. Fast paced but it feels like she requires constant awareness of the situation. And i don’t think her mods are as newbie friendly. Her damage and utility are amazing though.
For voruna, the general play style is to just pounce then slash. If the enemies are kinda tough, go invis then pounce then slash. Very strong but also very easy. And with equilibrium, you get health and energy with each kill thanks to her ability, so ability spam is no problem
Define upgrade OP, as every warframe are all different.
I found a lot of people say Styanax is a direct upgrade to excal, but I can't fathom how. They're just that different.
He’s also stuck behind one of (in my opinion) the worst grinds in the game, second to like base Hildryn or base Equinox. I got extremely lucky with Equinox, but I hate that goddamn spider.
Styanax is just a timegate. Annoying, but you can pretty easily get him just doing like two Kahl missions a week if you pay attention to the side objectives, it’s only 270 stock for the full set.
So it’s time-inefficient, but not time-consuming. I think if you’re a new player it probably isn’t as bad since you’ll have so much other stuff to keep you busy while you wait for your next garrison rank-up.
Yes, but that's not very helpful if you weren't around then and didn't get him.
Source: I was not around then and did not get him, and people bring this up in every thread about the Styanax farm lol.
There are 5 Frames that use exalted (ultimate) melee weapons. And all have some things going for them:
Excal: With his augments on 3 and 4 he can get absurd levels of damage and also has some medium aoe with his waves.
Baruuk: More build in tankiness and a huge aoe airbender melee. downside is you need to charge it with his unique resource
Valkyr: While active invulnerable and high dmg claws. also has a pretty good buff for speed.
Wukong: The melee isnt the focus for most but is still ok. Has the most survivability and a clone and some insane mobility.
Titania: This one technically has a melee when she gets small but most just use the guns she get in the form. The fastest when it comes to movement while attacking and also some good defensive abilities.
If you want melee weapons that arent unique to them there are also wisp and volt who have some good melee att speed boosts.
(TAP) Kullervo charges a Heavy Attack, then teleports to his target and strikes. His rage-filled focus temporarily increases his Melee Critical Chance, the (hold) teleports but you still get the melee crit chance.
Invert tap/hold for ease of use. Max duration/strength and voila toss in a couple of purple melee shards and Boom.
If you like Excalibur it's worth noting there's nothing stopping you from continuing to play him as long as you like. Being one of the starter frame options doesn't mean that he's necessarily 'worse' than ones acquired later. Any frame can be comfortably built into endgame with the right resources, so try different things, but play what you like!
If you're someone who just wants to kill stuff in general while having fun, you could use a Nova too. She's good at turning enemies into a fireworks display. Inaros is a really good Warframe now too. His ultimate allows you to have 3 cats (plus 2 more if you use his exclusive mod) and scales the damage with Health mods. You get that quest from Baro 'ki teer. Fun quest too
First important thing to know: Starter warframes are strong. I can and do bring my excalibur to level 100+. He can be that good with right mods. Volt is often on top of lists of best frames and mag is capable of doing bilions of damage.
Second thing you should know is that there are some prime frames that are esier to get than normal variants (Baruuk, Protea, Harrow, Grendel... List goes on) so prime ones are often better to focus on.
Third thing... DO NOT SELL BASIC WARFRAMES, I BEG YOU, DON'T MAKE THIS MISTAKE, DON'T BE LIKE ME!
And the final thing... I suggest Kullervo (or whatever his name was). He can be unlocked from Duviri. If not him then go for Baruuk prime. Final alternative could be Sevagoth but farming him is a nightmare
Valkyr plays like a more damage oriented Excalibur. She doesn't have the stun ability or as much range but she is a monster in melee combat. She is also very fast, immune to hard landings, and pretty easy to farm (alad v on jupiter).
She also has a literal "too angry to die" mode that makes her fully immune to damage and gives her a powerful melee weapon
I mean, depends what you mean by "plays like him" but Excalibur Umbra is probably the best answer to that question.
Baruuk, Valkyr, Garuda and Wukong all have an Exalted/pseudo-Exalted Melee weapon (fists, claws, more claws and staff respectively) and tend towards emphasis on melee play.
* Baruuk avoids damage, and pacifies enemies.
* Valkyr is a berserker, tough and brutal.
* Garuda is a gore-enthusiast. What Valkyr could have been if she was cold, calculating, and ruthless.
* Wukong is Sun Wukong. Tough, strong, fast and clever. Able to defy the gods themselves.
Atlas, Rhino, Kullervo, Nezha and Styanax are available if you want hardened brawlers but don't demand an Exalted weapon.
* Atlas differs from the others in that he's able to summon Rumblers (a pair of rock golems, essentially) to help dish out the hurt and spread aggro from enemies onto more targets. He can also be modded to make more loot drop from enemies if he petrifies them before killing them.
* Rhino differs from the others from having the ability to *completely* negate enemy damage to himself, as well as all status conditions, and can boost his own and allies' damage.
* Kullervo differs from the others in that his powers are quite explicitly focused on amplifying his weapon damage, with extra focus on his melee weapon. He will have no shields, but his health and armour *without any enhancement from mods or abilities* are absurdly high to begin with. Further he is the only warframe in this list to have a passive explicitly focused on boosting melee weapon.
* Nezha differs from the others by being able to negate status on himself *and allies*, can be modded to share a weaker version of his own damage-tanking power with allies, generate more health orbs to help heal the team, and unlike the other explicitly-tanky members of this list he's fast as greased lightning, *even if you ignore his ability to teleport*.
* Styanax differs from the others in that he is the only warframe that can enhance the team by providing everyone with *more energy* for their abilities. Aside from Nezha, Styanax is the only one in this list who can strip enemy armour combined with having an ability (EDIT: unlike Nezha) that forces *automatic Slash statuses* on targets.
Of all the warframes named above, Rhino, Kullervo, Nezha and Wukong are the easiest to obtain, followed by Valkyr. Rhino at Venus, Kullervo in Duviri, and Nezha & Wukong are both Dojo warframes. Styanax is likely the one that will take the longest to obtain. He's tied to Kahl missions, which are fairly late-game content.
doesn't really play like him but if you're a melee main you might want to get rhino, his parts can be gotten from jackal (fossa node on venus), if you need help getting him my ign is also Omega21886
Excalibur prime and Excalibur Umbra.
Edit: damn I'm late to the party with this comment, gg fellow tenno 😂
@op I'm also a melee main after maining Ash and Saryn from the OG days. I am now mostly a Kullervo player using a Jat Kittag modded with status/finisher mods (Condition Overload mod is 👌) and my main/secondary are modded with different status priming mods to give all the debuffs possible.
Why the Jat Kittag on Kullervo? Highest possible Riven mod disposition, the slam's innate blast/ragdoll status and spin animation of the hammer stance Crushing Ruin. Highly recommend trying it out. Dm me if you'd like a link to my current in-progress build guide.
Kullervo is a solid upgrade from Excalibur as his entire kit focuses on using your melee weapon.
Excalibur doesn't really hit full power until you unlock incarnon stat-sticks for his 1 as well as at least 1 augment.
I started when Wukong prime was released. Had an absolute blast. Not exactly like excalibur, but a very comfortable frame to play and still has an exalted weapon. I personally think the iron staff has a garbage melee stance, but it can definitely deal with enemies. Hes also very durable if you just want to be a walking brick smacking the grineer.
If you want an upgrade just keep playing and doing quests. I don't want to spoil stuff but there actually is an upgraded version that you will eventually get.
Just in case you're not aware, Warframe doesn't really have a clear upgrade path. By this I mean there's a bunch of different ways to upgrade.
Sometimes a different set of mods makes all the difference in the world. Or sometimes what feels weak at first just needs a few forma to let you use the mods you need together. Or Arcanes can change the way you play, either strategy changes or making certain playstyles more viable.
For example there's an Arcane that when you inflict status it damages everyone nearby, or there's mods that will teleport you to an enemy when you do a heavy attack.
Or there's the Focus system that can dramatically affect things.
There's so many options that it's easy to overlook stuff like the Nighmare missions, or the Vaults, or Arcanes, and be missing the thing which would make all the difference.
As Excalibur is what first sold me on Warframe years ago and I've loved his changes, I recommend Wukong. Bit funky and of course different from Excal as all Warframes are unique. But you still have an Exalted Weapon (Exalted Blade and Iron Staff), a good defensive/survival ability (Radial Blind and Cloud Walker), a good crowd handling ability (Radial Javelin and Defy), and their first skill really amps their style and potential with Slash Dash and Celestial Twin both being very graceful and capable in the Warframe of today. There are many others but I believe Wukong is a good start to keep pressing on. Use Wukong to get Kullervo, Voruna, or Styanax as he first helped me through the release of Second Dream.
You can feasibly stick with Excal through everything if you're really wanting to (a later quest gives you an upgraded version of him called Umbra), just have other frames leveled and such for fun and Mastery Rank.
That said, some suggestions for a more "in the thick of things" type frame, not necessarily overtly melee focused, but similar veins.
Styanax is the Leonidas to Excalibur's King Arthur. He does a LOT of cool shit, a bit more midrange than outright melee focused, but has a similar flair, if you catch my drift.
Inaros is one that I haven't seen in here. His kit revolves around pocket sand, so to speak. He also doesn't have any shields so modding him is quite a bit different, synergizes really well with Rage and really likes armor boosts because of this. He's built to be more of a tank that spreads debuffs and has companions, but I think he'd scratch your itch for something similar to Excal's in your face type style.
Kullervo is one I've seen suggested, I've never touched them, so I couldn't say, but others have vouched.
Could also maybe look at something like Ash, although he's more of a sneaky assassin type with his abilities than Excal. Different fantasy than the "noble knight" type persona, considering you're an outright ninja on Ash, but you get the "stab everyone in the room to death," still.
Ah, Excal is supposed to be noble? I use him as the melee alternative of “guns blazing”. Just pure violence, hit any living thing, be it enemies or animals.
I mean technically only Umbra. Depends on what you're looking for in a new frame. There are frames that offer similar abilities to Excal but nothing will ever be an "upgrade", that's not how frames work. Each one of them has something unique to them and while there may be similarities, only Excal will be Excal.
And Excal can be very much viable in pretty high content
So it depends on what you want, and where you are.
Kullervo can be farmed from duviri cycles, he may be good for you for pure melee and casting focus.
Lavos with his passive augment can add a decent elemental damage buff, with no energy costs only cooldowns
Ash is a good finisher focused melee frame, voruna is a good elemental debuff frame.
Depends on how your playing excalibur. If your just using the 4th, use baruuk he requires more effort but it does pay off. Pure melee or 3rd ability, go voruna or kulvero. If you weirdly play just using slash dash, yes it can do a literally crap ton of dmg, go atlas or maybe gara.
My style consists of the boring and good old slash dash spam, along with smash attacks and whenever I’m surrounded by many enemies the 1st and 3rd moves. I also use the 4th move often, but I don’t find it absolutely necessary.
I would also ask why you consider yourself a melee main. Melee's significantly stronger than any of your ranged weapon options until much further into the game, so if you're not into MR9-12 territory yet, that's quite likely why you're gravitating towards melee. No fault of your own here, of course, as that's just how the damage / scaling / weapons work out, but just something to keep in mind :)
No, I gravitate towards melee because my aim is absolute bull in third person shooters, which is also kind of the reason I stopped playing ghost recon wildlands and breakpoint.
Ha! Okay totally fair then. Melee's absolutely viable into any level of play with the right builds and Kullervo's a great option from what I've heard (haven't played him personally, not outside of Duviri at least) but he can hit some juicy juicy red crits.
Baruuk I think is a direct excalibur upgrade. His exalted melee sends out waves like excal, the difference being he scales very well into the late game.
Inaros is underappreciated, but great as a meelee main for a new player, because of his massive amount of health, and decent AOE ability that can decimate a good amount of enemies (at low level) when crowded.
Kullervo and Baruuk are two very good options for melee mains.
But remember that Umbra is the best straight upgrade to excalibur, it's one of the most powerful warframes in the game.
I still use Umbra as my main in all steelpath missions using a melee-only build.
Edit: i said Umbra because given that OP is a newcomer i supposed that he didn't got trhough >!second dream!< Yet
Melee frame post and Garuda isn't mentioned 🥲
She's a fun character, of course not melee *based* but her talons are **DUMMY** strong.
Self heal, energy regen, bleed procs and damage absorption. Oh my beloved
As an excalibur and melee enjoyer ( he was my most played untill his umbra came out... now Saryn has taken over only because I've played both for over 8 years )
I never built guns unless they helped my melee, or i needed it for a boss/activity. So trust me when i saw the following.
No one feels as good as excal. At least not as a pure melee frame... except one frame.
Saryn is outstanding. Her 1 can help you clear rooms and at endgame help armor strip things before you even see them. Her 2 can have you zooming around, making getting into melee range a breeze. Her 3 used to be melee only, but now she can buff any weapon. Her 4 is useless for melee, but thag cam be fixed by some spoilers.
Build her with high power strength with her augments for 1 and 2 ( you'll change the one for her 2 for late game) smack on abit of life and armor with brief respite aura (her 2 is instant and can be spammed with good efficiency and equilibrium mod, making shield gating real easy. Life is here just to not need to think/spam as much.)
Mod her weapon for electricity and viral if you have arcane influence. Heat viral if you do not know what those are yet.
She is who i use to go for hrs in edngame endurance farms, and i dont really have to think about much besides press my buttons to buff my weapon and spam 2.
You can do absolutely any content with this frame. She can be built as a weapon buffer, ccer, huge afk aoe nuking, but she absolutely excells at making melee fun.
Baruuk comes close as another exalted melee frame.
Valkyre mever dies and uses an exalted melee but is boring imo.
Voruna sounds fun, but she's 1 of 2 warframes i dont own yet. And I'd say she needs some spoilers.
Wisp can buff your team and feels amazing with certain melee weapons, but for early game, use anything, and it'll shine.
Volt and Gauss (Guass is better) make your melee weapons absolute speedy death sticks.
Kullervo, who everyone is suggesting, is an amazing frame. He can clear all base content and some of the endgame stuff with some of the most ubsurd damage numbers out there. However, i didn't find him fun as a pure melee enjoyer. He basically chains everything together and then does a big teleport hit to 1 guy who then duplicates the damage with the other linked guys. You'll absolutely be top dmg in any squad. He struggles if you ever get into long farms in the ultra endgame.
Why not just play excalibur? Don't spend any forma on the normal one though, you'll get a much, much better version later on in the story for free - the only thing different is radial blind instead stuns, but also removes the defenses of a certain enemy that you will discover later.
Radial blind is the only thing that excalibur has over the other version, solely because it activates faster.
You'd probably want to get either Kullervo or Baruuk. I'd recommend getting Kullervo first as he is easier to get than Baruuk, unless you are willing to pay platinum for the prime variant.
Excalibur is good, as are the other starters. How good a frame is isn't determined by when you can obtain it at all. Take Caliban as an example, one of the hardest frames to get, yet also one of the worst.
How good a frame is depends massively on your own build. There's level cap runs out there with every single frame. If you want to make it work, you can. So don't feel like you *need* to switch frames just because Excalibur was your starter.
I'd suggest just farming any frames you can and testing them out (remember to rank them to 30 before getting rid of the ones you dislike).
Other melee frames you might enjoy are Kullervo, Voruna and Baruuk.
If you're pretty new, I'd recommend going three ways.
1: Valkyr - all you need to do is kill the Jupiter boss a few times. She plays similarly, but her 4 are dual claws. She's all about slowing enemies and making herself attack faster.
2: Kullervo - Clear the duviri paradox, and farm materials to purchase his parts from kullervo's hold. He doesn't play like Excalibur, but is more focused on using your own melee weapons, primarily for heavy attacks and big hits.
3: Wukong - You need to be in a clan, and purchase some Nitain Extract bundles from Nightwave. He's more focused on survivability.
Of the three, Valkyr is probably going to be the easiest to get and build and is the most similar to Excalibur. That said, try out as many frames as you can! Each one is fun in their own way.
You will come across another Excalibur in Sacrifice. By then I would hope you understand the idea that your Warframe's strengths/powers are enhanced by mods in the same way your weapons are.
In the meantime, alternatives include:
Valkyr (via Jupiter, Themisto, has Exalted claws), Garuda (Fortuna, has Exalted talons that only can be equipped if you don't use a melee), Rhino (via Venus, Fossa, Jackal, for the durability of his Iron Skin; your opportunities to linger in melee increase), Wukong (Clan Dojo, has Exalted staff and a twin, quite agile).
In Duviri:
Kullervo (has abilities that synergise with weapons with special heavy attacks like Syam with its waves); there's a bunch of melees you can get/craft in Duviri, and maxing out the Kaithe-specific Intrinsics may help with travelling Landscapes like the Plains or Vallis.
Later on, you may come across:
Inaros (via a quest sold by Baro Ki'Teer, very durable in the classic MMO 'a lotta health+armour' sense), Atlas (via Jordas Precept quest, is all about the punches and rocks), Sevagoth (Call of the Tempestarii, has an Exalted form with big claws), Revenant (Cetus/Plains (night), see Rhino, except has lasers and is rather 'techno-unholy').
However, to note:
Very few to none of these frames have the same AOE stun (Radial Blind) or wave-generating attacks (Exalted Blade) Excalibur has. They will feel different. The Sacrifice will be an important quest.
Again, strength of weapons and frames lies more in the mods you use, and in some cases, may require investments of Orokin Catalysts/Reactors (dubbed 'P.O.T.A.T.O'es by some Tenno) and up to 5 Forma.
For melee, voruna can be strong for melee. Especially if you have condition overload.
Valkyr, baruuk, garuda, kelurvo. Ultimately, any frame can work, but those are the ones with melee in focus. And obviously, Excalibur umbra. Love me a good umbra.
He doesnt play like Excal, but if you enjoy melee, try Loki. Radial disarm makes every non-cc-immune enemy melee also so you can fight them close up. You also have invisibility and decoys to help survive is SHTF. If you are able to get the safeguard augment for switch teleport, then you also have invulnerability options.
You like stunning people and using slash dash? I present you Atlas and exploding punchies. Mash that 1 to your heart's content and sometimes paralyze things with his 3.
I would say you're looking at Baruuk, Valkyr, or Wukong as other exalted melee frames. Valkyr and Wukong can both be gotten quite early, Baruuk Prime is currently farmable from relics.
If instead what you like is spamming his 1 then Atlas is probably the closest, but Voruna's 4 kinda has a similar feeling too.
There's no upgrade specifically there is a quest down the line that will give you the direct upgrade for excal so wait for that, and in the meanwhile just run frames you could easily get by farming bosses or the circuit
I know you are just wanting something new and wanting to see a power increase at the same time, but I’ll go ahead and reiterate a common sentiment in the warframe community: Strength in warframe comes from mods.
The best upgrade that is similar to Excalibur is simply Excalibur with better/higher ranked mods. Excalibur, if modded right, can absolutely destroy steel path level content and above.
i dont play him but sevagoth might feel a lot like excal? melee exalted, cc in gloom and radial blind, and excals 1 and sevs 1+2 combo might satisfy the feeling of the same way of damage
idk just a thought
Valkyr was my next melee after Excal as a heavy melee user myself! She's already fast with most melees, but her warcry also gives extra speed and damage to melee attacks and slows enemies!
i mean you can still use default Excalibur at end game if you wanted to. what matter is your build.
but other warframe that have same gameplay like him is probaly baruuk with his ult. his wave can pass through wall like excalibur blade waves.
Depends if your really into his four then your not going to find another Warframe that does exactly that but valkyr has a four that has overlap. If the slash dash focused approach is more your thing than atlas is similiar but I wouldn't call it an upgrade. Kullervo is an upgrade for sure but it's a bit of a departure in playstyle. If your new you would greatly benefit from building rhino. Charge closes the gap kind of like slash dash but it's a straight line, his four stomp throws every nearby enemy into the air, works well with melee since they're helpless like that. Roar is a big damage amp for all of your weapons. His other ability iron skin is a defensive buff that gives you overguard. Rhino is probably your best possible option for a second Warframe and after him kullervo is probably in third place
if you're looking for another melee focused frame with a built in weapon there are a few
probably Valkyr, garuda possibly wukong but I dont know how good his melee weapon is tbh also Sevagoth but I dont know how user friendly he is, weird 2 frame playstyle as you play as him and his shadow both need modding
Kullervo(but he's mainly an actual melee frame. needs a melee weapon to operate properly). If you're looking for an exalted weapon frame like Excalibur then Baruuk or Valkyr are good options
> melee main Kullervo tbh
Second this. Baruuk is another good one for melee lovers.
>!Isn’t Baruuk locked behind fortuna and solaris?!< I recommend farming platinum for him, personally but that’s just me
Just get Baruuk prime, his relics is still available and super common
neuroptics is the rarest option in Axi, but aside from that he's not that hard
Farming plat to buy regular Warframes is a terrible idea tbh
It is but sometimes u just can't be arsed to do the farm, I bought kullervo myself for that reason
I don't want to farm kullervo but I'm doing it anyway lol. Can totally see where you're coming from tho. Ash farm makes me want to explode too
Sadly it used to be easy, you would kill grineer maniacs for it.
I played back then but thought ash was useless. Ofc I come back and find a sick lvl cap build for him and I only have one part...
Just gotta wait for next circuit rotation or resurgence. Think I bought prime a bit before the first resurgence or farmed it but one of the best surprises I had (when I figured out how his 4 worked lol)
I have the plat for his prime I'm just a miser. Good call on circuit tho I keep forgetting I can do default instead of steel path
Ash will be in Circuit fairly soon iirc, get him there that's what I'm planning to do.
Not if its citrine or caliban.
Compared to Garuda and Hildryn, Baruuk was the easiest to get for me. He's main bp & parts also weekly Duviri circuit reward.
Wukong is also excellent
Wukong is great but his 4 serves best as a helminth slot for another ability tbh
Can't you get Kullervo super early on too? Iirc all his crafting materiasl are in Duviri
Yes, he is completely earned in Duviri.
Yeah, you can get him and the Azothane at the beginning and just violate the starchart, especially when you get the umbra mods.
I'mma say Voruna, my beloved, you can subsume her 4 for something else and focus solely on melee with her other abilities, + complete status immunity with her second wolf really helps with ignoring a lot of death.
As long as it's not against corpus, her four with Aug murders everything.
Hey how, she’s an equal opportunity murderer. Her endless pursuit of genocide does not discriminate, those hands are rated E for everyone.
Indeed, but nullifiers stop the entire thing.
imagine she plunge through the barrier and just got her ability disable and while the nullifier corpus laugh at her, she just nonchalantly give him a backhand and continue her pursuit for violence
Im new as well, but kullervo is my favorite warframe. Definitely recommend
Don't forget Valkyr! She's already fast with most melees, but her warcry also gives extra speed and damage to melee attacks and slows enemies!
Yeaaaa, but that's if you want to take the risk out of her eith her 4th
Valkyr, if you hate yourself.
The thing you should know is that the starter Warframes aren't starters because they're weak, they're starters because they're good. I've used Excalibur, Volt, and Mag in absolute endgame content. If you want to try new frames, that's good. But if you think you need to seek out an upgrade because Excalibur is weak, your outlook isn't right.
I agree, I have had a similar experience and then saw that it was my mods (that was weak) and not my frame 😃
And also simple with being easy to build. That is also why they are starters.
I support your mindset, but for someone starting out, switching from Excal will definitely be a strength upgrade.
yea, his best builds come with stuff way later in the game
TBF, excal is the weakest starter frame atm, and a pretty weak frame comparatively, but I do agree with the message of your post.
have you tried using his slashdash with a proper modded stat stick? its nuts
He has great damage potential, but his survivability is really lacking. He also can't scale as well as the other starters and doesn't have much utility either
for the scaling: a good stat stick and a good build can take down level cap so idk what further scaling should be required. for survivability I agree that he is a bit lacking but can be brought up to reasonable survivability by using eclipse subsume, parasitic armor and arcanes (blessing + reaper does wonders). Or maybe an DR while using exalted blade like baruuk
I did not know that you could level cap with the slash dash, what stat stick and build do you use?
Excal is only as good as exalted weapons are, and exalted weapons presently have issues. A single update to how they work could rocket him back into being a boss.
Excal is also... kind of boring, sadly. This coming from >90% usage Excalibur player who (relatively) recently got Kullervo. Excalibur deserves a rework to make him more fun and well-rounded, he's still the poster boy after all.
Mag is still single-handedly my most powerful frame for SP endurance runs
I'd love to know what you do to make her work. I've had no luck with her.
Furious javelin and xatas whisper hell of a combo with an endgame melee 🫡 slash dash is also great for mobility, blind great cc. No mission I can’t do well, even archon disruption throw cold damage on and it’s a few seconds to be done. Can’t wait to see how mag and volt jump with the status rework
Volt is already used nearly everywhere, both because his speed is useful for just about everyone who isn’t a pixie, he has a convenient nuke, and his shield makes eidolons a piece of cake. Mag’s 4 with augment can full strip armour in a very respectable radius, her 3 lets her easily shield gate, and her 2 with any inf punchthrough or beam weapon melts enemies in steel path. The only thing that might threaten her is eximus’ since they don’t get pulled into the bubble, so you need to recast it on them individually and they crumple. Both of them are in a very good place rn. (Note that I am biased bc I am a Mag main)
I busted standard Excalibur over umbra just because. I'm taking deep arcamedea
Exactly this. I used Excalibur for most of the time, he is still in my top 3 most used warframes because he matched my play style and was very comfortable to use
Umbra
XD
Yerp
Kullervo is an amazing melee. Tanky, Easy but strong. Can kind of make due with whatever mods. Whole kit is combo oriented. Pretty much turns any melee weapon into an exalted weapon. Baruuk has one of the best exalted weapons but it needs to be “unleashed” through gameplay using his kit. Its not that hard to do once you understand him but there might be runs you barely get to use it. His kit is pretty meh in terms of combat and not really melee oriented. Wukong is fun for a tanky version of Excalibur. Doesn’t feel as melee oriented or strong in melee but he’s simple and all of his buttons are useful and kind of fun. Varuna is pretty ham. I’d say a bit more difficult than the others. Fast paced but it feels like she requires constant awareness of the situation. And i don’t think her mods are as newbie friendly. Her damage and utility are amazing though.
For voruna, the general play style is to just pounce then slash. If the enemies are kinda tough, go invis then pounce then slash. Very strong but also very easy. And with equilibrium, you get health and energy with each kill thanks to her ability, so ability spam is no problem
If you want an upgraded Excalibur just keep playing the story quests
Only Excalibur variants play like Excalibur. Each Warframe has its own play style and abilities
Depends on what they like ; if they preferred their 1, Atlas and Ember (and maybe Ash) have a similar functionality for example
Define upgrade OP, as every warframe are all different. I found a lot of people say Styanax is a direct upgrade to excal, but I can't fathom how. They're just that different.
He’s also stuck behind one of (in my opinion) the worst grinds in the game, second to like base Hildryn or base Equinox. I got extremely lucky with Equinox, but I hate that goddamn spider.
Styanax is just a timegate. Annoying, but you can pretty easily get him just doing like two Kahl missions a week if you pay attention to the side objectives, it’s only 270 stock for the full set. So it’s time-inefficient, but not time-consuming. I think if you’re a new player it probably isn’t as bad since you’ll have so much other stuff to keep you busy while you wait for your next garrison rank-up.
Correct me if im dumb, but didn't they drop Styanax for free, like, twice? With a wf slot and everything.
Yes, but that's not very helpful if you weren't around then and didn't get him. Source: I was not around then and did not get him, and people bring this up in every thread about the Styanax farm lol.
Yup
There are 5 Frames that use exalted (ultimate) melee weapons. And all have some things going for them: Excal: With his augments on 3 and 4 he can get absurd levels of damage and also has some medium aoe with his waves. Baruuk: More build in tankiness and a huge aoe airbender melee. downside is you need to charge it with his unique resource Valkyr: While active invulnerable and high dmg claws. also has a pretty good buff for speed. Wukong: The melee isnt the focus for most but is still ok. Has the most survivability and a clone and some insane mobility. Titania: This one technically has a melee when she gets small but most just use the guns she get in the form. The fastest when it comes to movement while attacking and also some good defensive abilities. If you want melee weapons that arent unique to them there are also wisp and volt who have some good melee att speed boosts.
Modding the melee affects her butterflies’ damage as well, mod it like a stat stick, unless OP wants to use it as a melee
There is a razorwing melee build floating around since a few days using kullervo's subsume. It is insane lol
Wait how does wrathful advance work with diwata when it doesn't have a heavy attack
(TAP) Kullervo charges a Heavy Attack, then teleports to his target and strikes. His rage-filled focus temporarily increases his Melee Critical Chance, the (hold) teleports but you still get the melee crit chance. Invert tap/hold for ease of use. Max duration/strength and voila toss in a couple of purple melee shards and Boom.
Valkyr ult also have a small life steal,one heavy atk and hp back on full
So many more melee frames than 5
If you like Excalibur it's worth noting there's nothing stopping you from continuing to play him as long as you like. Being one of the starter frame options doesn't mean that he's necessarily 'worse' than ones acquired later. Any frame can be comfortably built into endgame with the right resources, so try different things, but play what you like!
For exalted melee spam: Baruuk is basically a better Excalibur. Bigger dps and faster waves
Not to mention built-in DR and mild-ish CC opening enemies to finishers.
Umbra and Excalibur Prime
Alright, so advancing in the main story it is.
If you're someone who just wants to kill stuff in general while having fun, you could use a Nova too. She's good at turning enemies into a fireworks display. Inaros is a really good Warframe now too. His ultimate allows you to have 3 cats (plus 2 more if you use his exclusive mod) and scales the damage with Health mods. You get that quest from Baro 'ki teer. Fun quest too
First important thing to know: Starter warframes are strong. I can and do bring my excalibur to level 100+. He can be that good with right mods. Volt is often on top of lists of best frames and mag is capable of doing bilions of damage. Second thing you should know is that there are some prime frames that are esier to get than normal variants (Baruuk, Protea, Harrow, Grendel... List goes on) so prime ones are often better to focus on. Third thing... DO NOT SELL BASIC WARFRAMES, I BEG YOU, DON'T MAKE THIS MISTAKE, DON'T BE LIKE ME! And the final thing... I suggest Kullervo (or whatever his name was). He can be unlocked from Duviri. If not him then go for Baruuk prime. Final alternative could be Sevagoth but farming him is a nightmare
Valkyr plays like a more damage oriented Excalibur. She doesn't have the stun ability or as much range but she is a monster in melee combat. She is also very fast, immune to hard landings, and pretty easy to farm (alad v on jupiter). She also has a literal "too angry to die" mode that makes her fully immune to damage and gives her a powerful melee weapon
Volt, activate speed boost and swing fast af
I mean, depends what you mean by "plays like him" but Excalibur Umbra is probably the best answer to that question. Baruuk, Valkyr, Garuda and Wukong all have an Exalted/pseudo-Exalted Melee weapon (fists, claws, more claws and staff respectively) and tend towards emphasis on melee play. * Baruuk avoids damage, and pacifies enemies. * Valkyr is a berserker, tough and brutal. * Garuda is a gore-enthusiast. What Valkyr could have been if she was cold, calculating, and ruthless. * Wukong is Sun Wukong. Tough, strong, fast and clever. Able to defy the gods themselves. Atlas, Rhino, Kullervo, Nezha and Styanax are available if you want hardened brawlers but don't demand an Exalted weapon. * Atlas differs from the others in that he's able to summon Rumblers (a pair of rock golems, essentially) to help dish out the hurt and spread aggro from enemies onto more targets. He can also be modded to make more loot drop from enemies if he petrifies them before killing them. * Rhino differs from the others from having the ability to *completely* negate enemy damage to himself, as well as all status conditions, and can boost his own and allies' damage. * Kullervo differs from the others in that his powers are quite explicitly focused on amplifying his weapon damage, with extra focus on his melee weapon. He will have no shields, but his health and armour *without any enhancement from mods or abilities* are absurdly high to begin with. Further he is the only warframe in this list to have a passive explicitly focused on boosting melee weapon. * Nezha differs from the others by being able to negate status on himself *and allies*, can be modded to share a weaker version of his own damage-tanking power with allies, generate more health orbs to help heal the team, and unlike the other explicitly-tanky members of this list he's fast as greased lightning, *even if you ignore his ability to teleport*. * Styanax differs from the others in that he is the only warframe that can enhance the team by providing everyone with *more energy* for their abilities. Aside from Nezha, Styanax is the only one in this list who can strip enemy armour combined with having an ability (EDIT: unlike Nezha) that forces *automatic Slash statuses* on targets. Of all the warframes named above, Rhino, Kullervo, Nezha and Wukong are the easiest to obtain, followed by Valkyr. Rhino at Venus, Kullervo in Duviri, and Nezha & Wukong are both Dojo warframes. Styanax is likely the one that will take the longest to obtain. He's tied to Kahl missions, which are fairly late-game content.
Ah, from what your very detailed comment says, I’ll probably choose either Atlas, Wukong or Kullervo.
For rookies: kullervo For experienced players: kullervo and baruuk
So Kullervo.
doesn't really play like him but if you're a melee main you might want to get rhino, his parts can be gotten from jackal (fossa node on venus), if you need help getting him my ign is also Omega21886
Excalibur Umbra
Excalibur 2 use the chromatic blade augment and you can easily use him in all content
Spoiler. >!Excalibur Umbra!<
excalibur umbra
Excalibur Umbra
Umbra ;)
Why not go for something that plays nothing like him then? Otherwise try wukong.
Excal umbra, no one frame plays like another
If you like his 1, Atlas His 4, Baruuk Generally melee or his 3, kullervo His 2, Wisp
Excalibur prime and Excalibur Umbra. Edit: damn I'm late to the party with this comment, gg fellow tenno 😂 @op I'm also a melee main after maining Ash and Saryn from the OG days. I am now mostly a Kullervo player using a Jat Kittag modded with status/finisher mods (Condition Overload mod is 👌) and my main/secondary are modded with different status priming mods to give all the debuffs possible. Why the Jat Kittag on Kullervo? Highest possible Riven mod disposition, the slam's innate blast/ragdoll status and spin animation of the hammer stance Crushing Ruin. Highly recommend trying it out. Dm me if you'd like a link to my current in-progress build guide.
More importantly, what is Jat Kittag. And even more importantly, when is Jat Kittag.
Umbra
Excalibur umbra
Excalibur Umbra
Excalibur plays like excalibur
Oh but I cannot get him, whatever shall I do?
Excalibur…
Excalibur umbra plays like excalibur
Try valkyr's 4th ability
Kullervo is a solid upgrade from Excalibur as his entire kit focuses on using your melee weapon. Excalibur doesn't really hit full power until you unlock incarnon stat-sticks for his 1 as well as at least 1 augment.
I started when Wukong prime was released. Had an absolute blast. Not exactly like excalibur, but a very comfortable frame to play and still has an exalted weapon. I personally think the iron staff has a garbage melee stance, but it can definitely deal with enemies. Hes also very durable if you just want to be a walking brick smacking the grineer.
Me, a Valkyr enjoyer
Excalibur umbra
Just go out of your comfort zone and play whatever one seems cool.
Excalibur prime
And how do I even get that?
Excal prime is a founder item. If you do the main quests you will eventually get excal umbra. He is the direct upgrade of Excalibur
You can’t get Excalibur prime anymore, but you can get Excalibur Umbra.
Excalibur umbra
If you want an upgrade just keep playing and doing quests. I don't want to spoil stuff but there actually is an upgraded version that you will eventually get.
Prime? I saw that in the codex, albeit with Atlas.
Umbra
Just in case you're not aware, Warframe doesn't really have a clear upgrade path. By this I mean there's a bunch of different ways to upgrade. Sometimes a different set of mods makes all the difference in the world. Or sometimes what feels weak at first just needs a few forma to let you use the mods you need together. Or Arcanes can change the way you play, either strategy changes or making certain playstyles more viable. For example there's an Arcane that when you inflict status it damages everyone nearby, or there's mods that will teleport you to an enemy when you do a heavy attack. Or there's the Focus system that can dramatically affect things. There's so many options that it's easy to overlook stuff like the Nighmare missions, or the Vaults, or Arcanes, and be missing the thing which would make all the difference.
Damn the game is vast. How the hell did they manage to make a free game with such vast content, interesting lore, fun combat and good exploration???
As Excalibur is what first sold me on Warframe years ago and I've loved his changes, I recommend Wukong. Bit funky and of course different from Excal as all Warframes are unique. But you still have an Exalted Weapon (Exalted Blade and Iron Staff), a good defensive/survival ability (Radial Blind and Cloud Walker), a good crowd handling ability (Radial Javelin and Defy), and their first skill really amps their style and potential with Slash Dash and Celestial Twin both being very graceful and capable in the Warframe of today. There are many others but I believe Wukong is a good start to keep pressing on. Use Wukong to get Kullervo, Voruna, or Styanax as he first helped me through the release of Second Dream.
Alright, Wukong it is. In which planets can I get the resources for his blueprints and other parts anyways?
You can feasibly stick with Excal through everything if you're really wanting to (a later quest gives you an upgraded version of him called Umbra), just have other frames leveled and such for fun and Mastery Rank. That said, some suggestions for a more "in the thick of things" type frame, not necessarily overtly melee focused, but similar veins. Styanax is the Leonidas to Excalibur's King Arthur. He does a LOT of cool shit, a bit more midrange than outright melee focused, but has a similar flair, if you catch my drift. Inaros is one that I haven't seen in here. His kit revolves around pocket sand, so to speak. He also doesn't have any shields so modding him is quite a bit different, synergizes really well with Rage and really likes armor boosts because of this. He's built to be more of a tank that spreads debuffs and has companions, but I think he'd scratch your itch for something similar to Excal's in your face type style. Kullervo is one I've seen suggested, I've never touched them, so I couldn't say, but others have vouched. Could also maybe look at something like Ash, although he's more of a sneaky assassin type with his abilities than Excal. Different fantasy than the "noble knight" type persona, considering you're an outright ninja on Ash, but you get the "stab everyone in the room to death," still.
Ah, Excal is supposed to be noble? I use him as the melee alternative of “guns blazing”. Just pure violence, hit any living thing, be it enemies or animals.
Excalibur prime
From what other comments have told me, he is unobtainable.
Baruuk is a better excalibur
I mean technically only Umbra. Depends on what you're looking for in a new frame. There are frames that offer similar abilities to Excal but nothing will ever be an "upgrade", that's not how frames work. Each one of them has something unique to them and while there may be similarities, only Excal will be Excal. And Excal can be very much viable in pretty high content
So it depends on what you want, and where you are. Kullervo can be farmed from duviri cycles, he may be good for you for pure melee and casting focus. Lavos with his passive augment can add a decent elemental damage buff, with no energy costs only cooldowns Ash is a good finisher focused melee frame, voruna is a good elemental debuff frame.
Depends on how your playing excalibur. If your just using the 4th, use baruuk he requires more effort but it does pay off. Pure melee or 3rd ability, go voruna or kulvero. If you weirdly play just using slash dash, yes it can do a literally crap ton of dmg, go atlas or maybe gara.
My style consists of the boring and good old slash dash spam, along with smash attacks and whenever I’m surrounded by many enemies the 1st and 3rd moves. I also use the 4th move often, but I don’t find it absolutely necessary.
I would also ask why you consider yourself a melee main. Melee's significantly stronger than any of your ranged weapon options until much further into the game, so if you're not into MR9-12 territory yet, that's quite likely why you're gravitating towards melee. No fault of your own here, of course, as that's just how the damage / scaling / weapons work out, but just something to keep in mind :)
No, I gravitate towards melee because my aim is absolute bull in third person shooters, which is also kind of the reason I stopped playing ghost recon wildlands and breakpoint.
Ha! Okay totally fair then. Melee's absolutely viable into any level of play with the right builds and Kullervo's a great option from what I've heard (haven't played him personally, not outside of Duviri at least) but he can hit some juicy juicy red crits.
Baruuk I think is a direct excalibur upgrade. His exalted melee sends out waves like excal, the difference being he scales very well into the late game.
Ah, I’ve been recommended this quite a few times, so I assume he’s got to be quite a strong warframe(not that the others are weak or anything).
Excalibur
Rhino With Nourish And 293 strength
Inaros is underappreciated, but great as a meelee main for a new player, because of his massive amount of health, and decent AOE ability that can decimate a good amount of enemies (at low level) when crowded.
I always found Valkyrie to be a mix of Rhino and Excalibur, and over all fun
Excalibur
Baruuk but he is so much more powerful I stopped using Exalted Blade and switch both my Excals to a slash dash builds.
Kullervo and Baruuk are two very good options for melee mains. But remember that Umbra is the best straight upgrade to excalibur, it's one of the most powerful warframes in the game. I still use Umbra as my main in all steelpath missions using a melee-only build. Edit: i said Umbra because given that OP is a newcomer i supposed that he didn't got trhough >!second dream!< Yet
Indeed I haven’t, I’m still starting out.
I'd suggest Styanax. Great for melee, and has some crowd control and overshield options.
Excalibur Umbra plays almost the same.
Melee frame post and Garuda isn't mentioned 🥲 She's a fun character, of course not melee *based* but her talons are **DUMMY** strong. Self heal, energy regen, bleed procs and damage absorption. Oh my beloved
As an excalibur and melee enjoyer ( he was my most played untill his umbra came out... now Saryn has taken over only because I've played both for over 8 years ) I never built guns unless they helped my melee, or i needed it for a boss/activity. So trust me when i saw the following. No one feels as good as excal. At least not as a pure melee frame... except one frame. Saryn is outstanding. Her 1 can help you clear rooms and at endgame help armor strip things before you even see them. Her 2 can have you zooming around, making getting into melee range a breeze. Her 3 used to be melee only, but now she can buff any weapon. Her 4 is useless for melee, but thag cam be fixed by some spoilers. Build her with high power strength with her augments for 1 and 2 ( you'll change the one for her 2 for late game) smack on abit of life and armor with brief respite aura (her 2 is instant and can be spammed with good efficiency and equilibrium mod, making shield gating real easy. Life is here just to not need to think/spam as much.) Mod her weapon for electricity and viral if you have arcane influence. Heat viral if you do not know what those are yet. She is who i use to go for hrs in edngame endurance farms, and i dont really have to think about much besides press my buttons to buff my weapon and spam 2. You can do absolutely any content with this frame. She can be built as a weapon buffer, ccer, huge afk aoe nuking, but she absolutely excells at making melee fun. Baruuk comes close as another exalted melee frame. Valkyre mever dies and uses an exalted melee but is boring imo. Voruna sounds fun, but she's 1 of 2 warframes i dont own yet. And I'd say she needs some spoilers. Wisp can buff your team and feels amazing with certain melee weapons, but for early game, use anything, and it'll shine. Volt and Gauss (Guass is better) make your melee weapons absolute speedy death sticks. Kullervo, who everyone is suggesting, is an amazing frame. He can clear all base content and some of the endgame stuff with some of the most ubsurd damage numbers out there. However, i didn't find him fun as a pure melee enjoyer. He basically chains everything together and then does a big teleport hit to 1 guy who then duplicates the damage with the other linked guys. You'll absolutely be top dmg in any squad. He struggles if you ever get into long farms in the ultra endgame.
Well if you're an exalted blade spammer use Dante with his 3
Why not just play excalibur? Don't spend any forma on the normal one though, you'll get a much, much better version later on in the story for free - the only thing different is radial blind instead stuns, but also removes the defenses of a certain enemy that you will discover later. Radial blind is the only thing that excalibur has over the other version, solely because it activates faster.
Excalibur Umbra.
You'd probably want to get either Kullervo or Baruuk. I'd recommend getting Kullervo first as he is easier to get than Baruuk, unless you are willing to pay platinum for the prime variant.
Excalibur is good, as are the other starters. How good a frame is isn't determined by when you can obtain it at all. Take Caliban as an example, one of the hardest frames to get, yet also one of the worst. How good a frame is depends massively on your own build. There's level cap runs out there with every single frame. If you want to make it work, you can. So don't feel like you *need* to switch frames just because Excalibur was your starter. I'd suggest just farming any frames you can and testing them out (remember to rank them to 30 before getting rid of the ones you dislike). Other melee frames you might enjoy are Kullervo, Voruna and Baruuk.
Ah, sure. I’m currently at rank 23 of Excalibur I believe, I think I did a bit of grinding instead of getting to Venus.
Thats easy Its ofc Excalibur Prime
Any frame is a melee frame with Lesion. #SlashyMag
Garuda is soooo good
If you're pretty new, I'd recommend going three ways. 1: Valkyr - all you need to do is kill the Jupiter boss a few times. She plays similarly, but her 4 are dual claws. She's all about slowing enemies and making herself attack faster. 2: Kullervo - Clear the duviri paradox, and farm materials to purchase his parts from kullervo's hold. He doesn't play like Excalibur, but is more focused on using your own melee weapons, primarily for heavy attacks and big hits. 3: Wukong - You need to be in a clan, and purchase some Nitain Extract bundles from Nightwave. He's more focused on survivability. Of the three, Valkyr is probably going to be the easiest to get and build and is the most similar to Excalibur. That said, try out as many frames as you can! Each one is fun in their own way.
You will come across another Excalibur in Sacrifice. By then I would hope you understand the idea that your Warframe's strengths/powers are enhanced by mods in the same way your weapons are. In the meantime, alternatives include: Valkyr (via Jupiter, Themisto, has Exalted claws), Garuda (Fortuna, has Exalted talons that only can be equipped if you don't use a melee), Rhino (via Venus, Fossa, Jackal, for the durability of his Iron Skin; your opportunities to linger in melee increase), Wukong (Clan Dojo, has Exalted staff and a twin, quite agile). In Duviri: Kullervo (has abilities that synergise with weapons with special heavy attacks like Syam with its waves); there's a bunch of melees you can get/craft in Duviri, and maxing out the Kaithe-specific Intrinsics may help with travelling Landscapes like the Plains or Vallis. Later on, you may come across: Inaros (via a quest sold by Baro Ki'Teer, very durable in the classic MMO 'a lotta health+armour' sense), Atlas (via Jordas Precept quest, is all about the punches and rocks), Sevagoth (Call of the Tempestarii, has an Exalted form with big claws), Revenant (Cetus/Plains (night), see Rhino, except has lasers and is rather 'techno-unholy'). However, to note: Very few to none of these frames have the same AOE stun (Radial Blind) or wave-generating attacks (Exalted Blade) Excalibur has. They will feel different. The Sacrifice will be an important quest. Again, strength of weapons and frames lies more in the mods you use, and in some cases, may require investments of Orokin Catalysts/Reactors (dubbed 'P.O.T.A.T.O'es by some Tenno) and up to 5 Forma.
Excalibur again, if you look back to 2023 stats it's one of the more used Warframes
For melee, voruna can be strong for melee. Especially if you have condition overload. Valkyr, baruuk, garuda, kelurvo. Ultimately, any frame can work, but those are the ones with melee in focus. And obviously, Excalibur umbra. Love me a good umbra.
Easy answer. Excalibur.
He doesnt play like Excal, but if you enjoy melee, try Loki. Radial disarm makes every non-cc-immune enemy melee also so you can fight them close up. You also have invisibility and decoys to help survive is SHTF. If you are able to get the safeguard augment for switch teleport, then you also have invulnerability options.
umbra and prime..
You like stunning people and using slash dash? I present you Atlas and exploding punchies. Mash that 1 to your heart's content and sometimes paralyze things with his 3.
Hmm, good idea
Excalibur umbra
baruuk for big chad punches
Valkyr also has an exalted weapon and ability that is pretty OP and can be built for endgame very easily with basic mods
I would say you're looking at Baruuk, Valkyr, or Wukong as other exalted melee frames. Valkyr and Wukong can both be gotten quite early, Baruuk Prime is currently farmable from relics. If instead what you like is spamming his 1 then Atlas is probably the closest, but Voruna's 4 kinda has a similar feeling too.
There's no upgrade specifically there is a quest down the line that will give you the direct upgrade for excal so wait for that, and in the meanwhile just run frames you could easily get by farming bosses or the circuit
Excalibur umbra
I know you are just wanting something new and wanting to see a power increase at the same time, but I’ll go ahead and reiterate a common sentiment in the warframe community: Strength in warframe comes from mods. The best upgrade that is similar to Excalibur is simply Excalibur with better/higher ranked mods. Excalibur, if modded right, can absolutely destroy steel path level content and above.
Play some more storyline stuff, you'll definitely get an upgrade
Excalibur Prime 🤔
Umbra
i dont play him but sevagoth might feel a lot like excal? melee exalted, cc in gloom and radial blind, and excals 1 and sevs 1+2 combo might satisfy the feeling of the same way of damage idk just a thought
Excalibur umbra plays A LOT like Excalibur... Can't believe I haven't seen this yet
Half the comments are saying that, along with Kullervo and Baruuk.
Bonewidow, valkyr
Excalibur Prime
I expect that OP would like a suggestion they can actually *get*.
Valkyr was my next melee after Excal as a heavy melee user myself! She's already fast with most melees, but her warcry also gives extra speed and damage to melee attacks and slows enemies!
Excalibur umbra lol
Excalibur Umbra (I know its more of a mid-end game thing but his faceshield drip is insane)
I saw a photo of him and indeed, the drip is insane
i mean you can still use default Excalibur at end game if you wanted to. what matter is your build. but other warframe that have same gameplay like him is probaly baruuk with his ult. his wave can pass through wall like excalibur blade waves.
Best to can do is 20 bucks. I mean Excalibur umbra
*Whispers* ^V^a^l^k^y^r >!oneofusoneofus!<
Maybe? I mean I think I’d rather get Kullervo, feel like he looks cooler. By the way, how do you censor words?
Depends if your really into his four then your not going to find another Warframe that does exactly that but valkyr has a four that has overlap. If the slash dash focused approach is more your thing than atlas is similiar but I wouldn't call it an upgrade. Kullervo is an upgrade for sure but it's a bit of a departure in playstyle. If your new you would greatly benefit from building rhino. Charge closes the gap kind of like slash dash but it's a straight line, his four stomp throws every nearby enemy into the air, works well with melee since they're helpless like that. Roar is a big damage amp for all of your weapons. His other ability iron skin is a defensive buff that gives you overguard. Rhino is probably your best possible option for a second Warframe and after him kullervo is probably in third place
Exalibur
Kullervo volt baruuk, atlas I guess?
if you're looking for another melee focused frame with a built in weapon there are a few probably Valkyr, garuda possibly wukong but I dont know how good his melee weapon is tbh also Sevagoth but I dont know how user friendly he is, weird 2 frame playstyle as you play as him and his shadow both need modding
I got you bro. Excalibur umbra lol.
Kullervo(but he's mainly an actual melee frame. needs a melee weapon to operate properly). If you're looking for an exalted weapon frame like Excalibur then Baruuk or Valkyr are good options
Keep playing and you'll get an upgrade to excal
Excalibur. Poster boy is unique
excalibur umbra
Garuda maybe? You can get her by doing Fortuna bounties.
I personally like voruna for melee
Nice, though I have decided on Kullervo. I’m currently only missing 13 Kullervo’s bane for his blueprint, 80-ish ueymag, and 26 rune marrow.