The following restrictions apply:
- Account is totally fresh
- Joining a clan for blueprints is allowed
- Every node must be done solo
- No trading, except for transferring a prime set of the frame of your choice (if a prime exists)
- Specters and Skaut are allowed, but please note if your strategy would require them for certain nodes
- Helminth abilities are allowed
Off the top of my head, my top picks for this challenge would be Nyx, Limbo, Octavia and Frost since they have good CC and objective defense, and good weapon support; “complete” frames if you will. Loki, Zephyr and Banshee would all also be good picks, although missing elements from their kit here and there.
If it’s doing the whole thing in one sitting, titania is the obvious choice.
Of the starter Frames, I’d say Mag. Hell, even endgame she’s my go-to when shit gets tough.
I’d be interested in a solo Mag playthrough, but I wonder how the early grind towards the mods she needs would be.
It was years ago now, but normal mag is still my most used frame on my account since she was my starter. She kicks ass, has great Cc and damage.
Ooh thats tough, my initial instinct is Citrine, but I use an Archon build for her that would be a nightmare to get myself to. Probably Mag, Zephyr, or Titania in the end. Titania in particular takes very little to get off the ground and is way less vulnerable to the random toxin proc then Mag is.
Gauss if obtainable would be a very fun frame to Iron Man. However Sedna is quite late so I don’t know if he’d count.
Considerations like that are why I decided you can trade a prime set over so that more frames are available from the start.
In the ideal thought experiment, you’d just start with the frame.
Qorvex. Can be insanely tanky but can also be built for insane clear, can also have good CC, and can have great single target damage with damage amp and armor strip. He can literally do it all.
Ivara, probably. Prowl, sleep arrows, and a good melee or silenced gun can change the world.
I think the big limiter here would be excavation maps. Zephyr would be my pick, as long as I can also use some sort of operator mode for spy, but i don’t think it’s strictly necessary. An un-forma’d Zephyr is steel path capable.
Zephyr has been my main for a long time and would be an easy pick for this. Breeze through mobile defense with turbulence, tornado for everything else except spy. As long as you know the spy routes, operator just makes things even easier.
Maybe I’m not understanding something- why is excavation a limiter? You can pretty much always struggle through an excavation eventually since you can’t fail them unless you die… right?
You don’t get partial credit for an incomplete extractor and the waves don’t get easier, and the extractors don’t scale very well. On SP I’ve been in a position with certain frames (Loki even with irradiating disarm) where I couldn’t clear a single extractor.
I suppose this is true for defense objectives in general though - that one moon defense node on SP, for example - Stofler. And like the other person mentioned below for mobile defense.
You don’t get partial credit for an incomplete extractor
Wait, you don’t?
I definitely recall it giving you partial cryotic for each one (assuming you actually powered it at all), and you just need a certain amount to leave.
It’s possible they’ve changed it or I’m misremembering- I haven’t done an excavation in literal years due to farming so many a loooong time ago.
I haven’t done it outside of SP for a while. I know Duviri gives partial credit. Maybe normal does?
Not a popular pick it seems, but I think I’d go with Inaros.
I think the only real requirement for this is that you have some sort of CC/Defense capabilities because higher level defense missions can be rough without a decent frame for them. Interceptions are going to be a pain pretty much no matter what, but they should be doable. Inaros should be able to do both.
My other reason: I like Inaros. I think he’s fun.
The only part that would be difficult is getting Rage. Hopefully it’d drop from one of the junction specters, but worst case you can farm Napalms.
An interesting followup question: what weapons do you complete this with? What builds are you using? Do you bother going out of your way to personally farm the rarer mods or just make a decent build with more common stuff?
Octavia for sure! Not only is her toolkit good at basically everything, her passive helps with one of the worst early game problems, energy economy. Not being forced to rely entirely on energy drop RNG to be able to maintain your abilities is liberating before Zenurik and other energy generators kick in.
Volt, since that’s what I did
I don’t think there’s really a strategy that’s necessary. I suppose a high damage single target weapon for shut like demolishers but other than that idk
I’ve even been able to run my volt on certain Steel Path nodes since the health rework
I’d probably roll Lavos. With a good weapon, Lavydaddy can solo most steel path stuff so I imagine cruising through the star map wouldn’t be a major issue.
