In this Guide I will attempt to outline my current uses for Valkyr, why I believe she is one of the best solo Warframes in the game as well as some of the builds I run, the melee weapons and loadouts I take and finally: how Focus and Arcanes can massively improve your experience with Valkyr.
This will build upon my last Guide which is now far out of date (pre-update 18.13 when Valkyr’s 4 was changed), and hopefully add some new uses and benefits Valkyr has. It will also cover Arcanes, weapons, and Focus, which my last Guide neglected.
This is brought to you by Orthelius, Junior Guide of the Lotus and Valkyr nut head – with over 750 hours invested into playing Valkyr alone. Please, if you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me in-game or via Steam.
Valkyr Stats:
Normal Valkyr starts off with some pretty spectacular stats – sitting at a base of 600 armor, 1.1 sprint speed, and 300 health.
The 600 armour gives Valkyr a 66.67% damage reduction to damage against her health. As a standard Warframe this immediately sets her leagues above the others in terms of solo effectiveness. With no allies to revive you, dying becomes far more of a penalty, so innate damage reduction of this calibre is a fantastic addition.
The 300 base health is not too noteworthy, but when combined with the armour value of 600, this gives Valkyr the ability to take almost 900 points of damage in total before dying. This tripling of her moderate health pool brings her up massively without the need for any defensive mods.
Valkyr’s disadvantages come in her tiny power, and shield stats. With 150 shields and low energy pool, Valkyr can have a tough time against Slash heavy enemies and must usually forgo energy intensive builds. However, these are not enough to offset her advantages, which allow Valkyr to clear the entire star chart without having to resort to using abilities.
Valkyr Prime Stats:
Valkyr Prime sits above normal Valkyr in terms of armour and the amount of power she has access to.
With an increase of 100 armour, bringing her up to 700 at base, Valkyr Prime sits at a damage reduction of 70% at base.
Her energy pool is what matters most, an extra 75 energy is a massive increase for Valkyr, who is often build to spam low cost abilities or maintain a constantly draining ability build.
The only disadvantage Valkyr Prime shares with regular Valkyr is the low shield stat, however, with the same innate tankiness and more energy this time, Valkyr Prime is able to offset that more easily.
Valkyr Overall:
As a defensive Warframe, Valkyr herself is exceptionally tanky. As I will show with her abilities later on, Valkyr has the ability to outlast most other Warframes in the game, however in a team environment her defensive capabilities fall off somewhat, as she is unable to transfer most of her survivability to her allies. But her high armour and amazing abilities keep her in the running for as long as the playing Tenno can be bothered to mash their E button.
Although she suffers when it comes to defending objectives, there is no better Warframe than Valkyr for tanking disgusting amounts of damage in a solo environment.
Normal Valkyr:
Normal Valkyr can be purchased in the market for 300 Platinum, or her Blueprint can be bought from the Market which will then require you to farm her other parts, from Alad V, located on Themisto on Jupiter.
Her normal components have the requirements of:
These are spread amongst the 3 components – the Chassis, Systems and Helmet.
Her main Blueprint requires:
Valkyr Prime:
Valkyr Prime parts can be acquired from Relics;
These relics are:
Her Prime components have the requirements of:
These are spread amongst the 3 components – the Chassis, Systems and Helmet.
Her Prime Blueprint requires:
(As shown in-game)
As quoted from the Wikia – ‘Valkyr is nimble, capable of recovering from knockdown 50% faster, as well as having the ability to land from great heights without stopping.‘
This passive gives Valkyr a small amount of Crowd Control resilience, helping against the increasing amount of knockdowns faced in the game.
As a Passive it is fairly basic, but definitely helps Valkyr move more smoothly and can be especially effective against Bombards, Grineer Heavy Ginners, Ancients, Bursas and Moas.
Ability Effects – Rip Line drags Valkyr is a direction, or can be fired onto enemies to drag them towards Valkyr. This ability deals damage, fires Valkyr in a single direction, can be refired whilst in the air and can be cast on allies, pulling them towards Valkyr.
Power Strength;
Power Strength will increase only the damage done to enemies when ripline is cast upon them. It will not increase the pull velocity of Valkyr or her enemies.
Power Duration;
Rip Line has a combo meter – if the ability is recast in a set amount of time after the initial cast it will deal 2x the amount of damage before and reduce the energy cost by half. Any further cast will lock the ability into dealing 4x damage and will reduce the energy cost to 25% the initial cost. Power Duration will extend how long this combo meter is active.
Power Range;
Power Range will increase the length at which a Rip Line can be cast, either on enemies, allies or terrain. Do note, that the further from the object tagged with Rip Line Valkyr is, the faster she will be pulled towards them, or they towards her.
Power Efficiency;
Power Efficiency decreases the initial casting cost of Rip Line. Due to its low cost, and the fact that the Rip Line combo meter halves the casting cost every time, builds for Rip Line can skimp on Efficiency.
Swing Line:
Thoughts:
In my opinion Rip Line is simply a nice touch to her skill set. I have never dedicated an entire build to Rip Line that has functioned effectively in missions, but I do use the ability incredibly frequently in order to correct movement while mid-air, or provide extra momentum when traveling through missions.
Rarely, I do use it in order to incapacitate heavy enemies or seperate enemies out. Bombards, Ancient Healers and Scrambus units come to mind, as they are priority targets; thus dragging them out of a mob of allies at high levels can be more efficient than working around them.
Rip Line’s interesting features:
Ability Effects – Warcry provides a slow onto enemies within range while bolstering the melee attack speed and armour values of Valkyr and any allies affected, for the entire duration. Allies must be in range of the initial cast to receive the benefits, but will retain them for as long as Warcry is active.
Power Strength;
Power Strength will increase the Melee Attack Speed, Armour bonus and Enemy Slow effect.
Power Duration;
Power Duration will affect the duration of this ability on Valkyr, her allies and her enemies.
Power Range;
Power Range will increase the range of effect of the initial cast, allies do not have to stay within any range of Valkyr to retain the buffs.
Power Efficiency;
Power Efficiency reduces the energy cost of Warcry, and due to it being such a great melee steroid, it is recommended to try and bring the quite severe 75 energy cost down.
Eternal War:
Thoughts:
In my opinion Warcry is either her second best, or tied best ability with Hysteria. Warcry gives Valkyr such a massive offensive and defensive boost that this ability alone is worth building around. Indeed, the best builds I have seen and experimented with have involved maximising the effect of this ability and Hysteria simultaneously.
Since Warcry hugely increases Attack Speed it is perfect for crit builds, crit weapons and especially when used in conjunction with the Narumon invisibility perk. This is her best ability for melee focused Tenno who do not wish to use her 4.
Warcry’s interesting features:
Ability Effects – Paralysis throws Valkyr’s shields out in a circle around her. This staggers enemies, opens them up to finishers and deals damage based off of her current shields and the distance the enemy is from her at the moment of casting. It will also use up a third of her current shield to cast, or none if she has no shields at the moment of casting.
Power Strength;
Power Strength will increase the damage done by Paralysis against enemies, as well as the knockback they suffer.
Power Duration;
This has no effect on Paralysis.
Power Range;
Power Range will increase the range of the ability, which is effective as the damage of the ability and knockback decrease the further away from Valkyr the enemy is.
Power Efficiency;
Power Efficiency reduces the energy cost to a minimum of 1.25 energy per cast.
Prolonged Paralysis:
Thoughts:
This mod can be excellent when paired with a build geared towards Range. It can be paired incredibly well with aoe weaponry such as shotguns or other punch through weapons as it drags enemies to your current location and groups them up.
Paralysis’ interesting features:
Ability Effects – Hysteria causes Valkyr to revert to a claw type melee stance, unable to use her weapons, while becoming invincible and draining her energy over time.
The ability emits an aura which starts at around 6m and scales up to 20m that stores 30% of the damage she ignores and, if the ability deactivates in range of an enemy (the enemy must have line of sight on Valkyr), 25% of the stored damage will be dealt to Valkyr.
The damage of Hysteria’s claws scale off of specific melee mods as well as Power Strength, and a percentage of the damage she deals will be given back to her health.
Normal Attack Damage – Rank 1 = 100, Rank 2 = 125, Rank 3 = 200, Max = 250
Normal Attack Range – 2m
Wall Attack Damage – Rank 1 = 300, Rank 2 = 375, Rank 3 = 600, Max = 750
Slide Attack Damage – Rank 1 = 300, Rank 2 = 375, Rank 3 = 600, Max = 750
Aerial Attack Damage – Rank 1 = 200, Rank 2 = 250, Rank 3 = 400, Max = 500
Slam Attack Damage – 300
Slam Attack Range – 5m
Critical Chance – 50%
Critical Damage – 200% Multiplier
Status Chance – 10%
Ground Finisher Damage – 1600% Multiplier
Melee Finisher Damage – 6400% Multiplier
Power Strength;
Power Strength will increase the damage of all of Hysteria’s attacks, and will increase the finisher damage, but not the multipliers. It does not affect the amount of damage Hysteria absorbs, or the amount of damage she takes if the aura pops and damages her. It also does not affect her lifesteal amount.
Power Range;
Power Range will no longer affect the range of the aura Valkyr emits. Power Range has no affect on her melee range either. The aura range will continue to increase regardless of her power range from 6m up to 20m.
Power Efficiency;
Power Efficiency reduces the initial cast energy cost as well as the energy drain that Valkyr takes per second. It appears to also reduce the time it takes for Valkyr’s Hysteria cost to double and the range to increase.
Power Duration;
Power Duration affects the energy cost while the ability is active. A higher Duration will decrease the energy cost per second.
Hysterical Assault:
Thoughts:
Hysteria not only scales off of Warframe mods, but also regular melee mods which is what helps scale this ability so well. Although it has fallen off with the advent of Acolyte mods, it is still very powerful based on the invincibility it provides, and the innate healing and tanking ability it provides Valkyr. This ability allows Valkyr to be one of the few Warframes who can legitimately head through all content with only a melee weapon in hand. This is due to how powerful and sustainable Hysteria makes her.
This is my standard Melee mod setup when I am running Hysteria Valkyr, or a Hysteria/ Warcry hybrid. Please note: The melee weapon does not matter when using Hysteria, it is merely a carrier for the mods.
Primed Pressure Point/ Pressure Point (+165%/ +120% Melee Damage):
Primed Reach/ Reach (+165% / +60% Range on Melee attacks):
Primed Fury/ Fury (+55%/ +30% Melee Attack Speed):
Drifting Contact (Combo Duration +10 seconds, +40% Status Chance):
Fever Strike (+90% Toxin Damage) + Shocking Touch (+90% Shock Damage):
Berserker (+30% Attack Speed Bonus for +24 seconds on critical hit):
Organ Shatter (+90% Crit Damage):
These mods are those I would recommend for newer players who just pick up Valkyr. For Vitality and Steel Fibre rank 6-8 are good enough to get through most of the star chart. But this is only a rough Guide, and mod setups should always be played around with.
Steel Charge (+60% melee damage):
Vitality (+440% Health):
Steel Fibre (+110% Armour):
Streamline (+30% Power Efficiency):
Continuity (+30% Power Duration):
Intensify (+30% Power Strength):
I use this build for 90% of my time as Valkyr. This carries my way through sorties and out the other side. It only begins to fall off when you have to rely on Hysteria for damage and damage resistance at levels 150+.
Corrosive Projection (-30% Enemy Armour):
Power Drift (+15% Power Strength, +30% Chance to Resist Knockdowns):
Vitality (+440% Health):
Steel Fibre (+110% Armour):
Primed Flow/ Flow (+275%/ 150% Power Max):
Eternal War (While Warcry is active, every melee kill increases its duration by 2 seconds):
Transient Fortitude (+55% Power Strength, -27.5% Power Duration):
Narrow Minded (+99% Power Duration, -66% Power Range):
Fleeting Expertise Rank 5 (+60% Power Efficiency, -60% Power Duration):
Rage (+40% of Health damage returned as Energy)
(Based on sitting around with level 145 Corpus Tech enemies, Valkyr is able to absorb well over 3 million points of damage in the 2 minutes, 15 seconds you get in Hysteria in this build without access to energy orbs).
I use this build for intense survival missions of if I feel like playing around with Naramon and high critical chance Weapons, or weapons with a Blood Rush and Body Count build on them.
Corrosive Projection (-30% Enemy Armour):
Power Drift (+15% Power Strength, +30% Chance to Resist Knockdowns):
Vitality (+440% Health):
Primed Continuity/ Continuity (+55% / +30% Power Duration):
Blind Rage (+99% Power Strength, -55% Power Efficiency):
Transient Fortitude (+55% Power Strength, -27.5% Power Duration):
Narrow Minded (+99% Power Duration, -66% Power Range):
Constitution (+28% Power Duration, +40% Knockdown Recovery):
Streamline (+30% Power Efficiency):
Eternal War (Warcry duration increases by 2 seconds for every melee kill performed):
Not noted about the mod is that the time you gain on Warcry scales with strength, as such, every melee kill you perform, with this high Strength build, will return more seconds to your Warcry.
I use this build when I feel like playing with some friends in Defensive type missions. Although not too effective, it can be fun, and fully capable of dragging enemies far away from Defense objectives while locking them down. It is a spammable and more CC effective version of Nidus’ Third ability.
Corrosive Projection (-30% Enemy Armour):
Power Drift (+15% Power Strength, +30% Chance to Resist Knockdowns):
Vitality (+440% Health):
Steel Fibre (+110% Armour):
Primed Continuity/ Continuity (+55% / +30% Power Duration):
Blind Rage (+99% Power Strength, -55% Power Efficiency):
Overextended (+90% Power Range, -60% Power Strength):
Constitution (+28% Power Duration, +40% Knockdown Recovery):
Fleeting Expertise Rank 5 (+60% Power Efficiency, -60% Power Duration):
Prolonged Paralysis (Enemies are pulled to Valkyr, cast to the floor, and the stun Duration is doubled):
For Valkyr I have three schools exclusively that I use on her: Madurai, Naramon and Zenurik. Depending on which build I am running, or what mood I’m in I will use any one of the three, however this choice is mostly subjective; my own personal preference. Other players may enjoy Vazarin or Unairu far more than I do, but for me I have three I focus on.
Madurai:
Naramon:
It is less effective when using Hysteria builds, as Hysteria already grants damage immunity – this means that the primary use of Naramon becomes complete overkill, and a waste of a focus school.
Zenurik:
It is especially effective with Prolonged Paralysis, the build with no Rage mod and no inbuilt energy regeneration. The 4 energy per second regeneration from Zenurik allows you to regain enough energy to essentially infinitely spam Paralysis. More spam means more enemy control, which massively increases the overall effectiveness and impact of the build-in missions.
For Valkyr the Arcanes can be mostly up to personal preference:
For me however, I see 5 Arcanes as especially effective:
Arcane Energize:
Arcane Energize is an Arcane I have on a Syandana. It is too powerful and too rare to be confined to Valkyr alone, and is in fact used on all but the most energy independent builds I have in Warframe.
As it is not clear in Energize’s description, the chance shown by the mod is the chance to add an extra +100 energy to the pickup of an energy orb. At the same time as giving an ally Energy from the orb, everyone will gain an extra 100 energy. This is an Arcane that can single handedly sustain a Hysteria build Valkyr indefinitely.
This is a must have on all my Valkyr builds Except for Prolonged Paralysis.
This Arcane is exceptionally rare, I would not advise buying it solely for Valkyr or single builds due to how expensive it can be.
Arcane Fury:
Arcane Fury is also an Arcane I have on a Syandana. Although I use it far less than Energize, I apply it to builds similar to my Valkyr Narumon build – builds that are energy independent, instead relying heavily on Narumon or another gimmick to avoid damage and sustain themselves.
This Arcane is exceptionally rare, I would not advise buying it solely for Valkyr or single builds due to how expensive it can be.
Arcane Guardian:
This is a fairly common and standard Arcane that can be used quite nicely on Valkyr, especially players who don’t tend to use Hysteria a lot. It can give excellent armour boosts that nicely add to Valkyr’s damage resistance. I have this on a Syandana so I can put it on other tanky frames.
Arcane Strike:
I have this Arcane on Valkyr’s helmet. I am a sucker for Attack speed, so this Arcane is a must have for me. It is simple to get, fairly common and excellent on any Valkyr build focused on melee. It works great with Hysteria and Narumon builds alike.
Arcane Ultimatum:
This is a variant of Arcane Guardian that works even better for players well used to taking advantage of Paralysis. It is also fairly common, effective and nice to have. Although it is more niche, I still class it as one of the best Arcanes to have on Valkyr if you enjoy using Paralysis and are able to keep tabs on the armour increase.
Just as a latter addition to the Guide I will briefly go over what Melee weapons and builds I like to run on Valkyr.
As I showed in the Melee Mod section I have a standard Mod setup when utilising Hysteria. However, I neglected to cover my other two builds, or what other weapons I enjoy running.
I don’t play favourites, so I shall list everything alphabetically:
Atterax – 2 Forma
(Please note, you can swap Berserker for Maiming Strike, which gives some amazing damage at the cost of speed, but I am a sucker for attack speed I’m afraid).
The Atterax is a weapon not seen to often anymore, however it is a truly incredible weapon. It can be modded for status or crit, or in my case; both. On paper the damage of the weapon is nothing too special, however it is when the critical damage and 100%+ critical chance begins to kick in that the true damage can be seen.
I have it modded for Gas, as I treat the Atterax as an Area of Effect nuke. Its entire purpose to me is to wipe everything out in a 20 metre radius around my character, and as such I primarily use this in Defense missions.
When paired with Valkyr it synergises exceptionally well with her Warcry, as well as Narumon. So I will primarily use this with a Narumon Valkyr setup.
Galatine Prime – 2 Forma
(Cleaving Whirlwind is the better stance if you wish to completely destroy enemies, but I personally prefer using Tempo Royale)
Although a fairly boring build the Galatine Prime really requires nothing extra. The weapon itself already has some of the most powerful stats in the game, with a 20% critical chance, the highest damage of all melee weapons and a 20% status chance. As such this weapon requires nothing fancy to supplement its damage.
I primarily use this with the Warcry/ Narumon build or with my Prolonged Paralysis Valkyr.
Evening Tenno,
As I finish writing this my eyelids droop and head lolls with sleep, but this was incredibly fun to make, and really nice to put something together.
I sincerely hope the Guide helps, and if people would like to ask me any questions, contact me about anything or send some improvements or corrections my way, please leave your comments here or contact me on the forums or in-game: my username is Orthelius.
I am a Junior Guide of the Lotus with 1800+ hours of in-game playtime, and many, many more spent in chat in game answering questions in the EU region.
Valkyr is my most played frame of all time, as well as my favourite (even with the release of Nidus), as such I enjoy posting Guides, suggestions, and comments about her on the forums if anyone would like to join me in that endeavour!
Once again, thank you for reading, please enjoy!
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