With the arrival of the Heart of Deimos update, players were stoked to find out that they would have the opportunity to alter Warframes by replacing abilities with new ones from other Warframes. This however limits to specific abilities only (one chosen per Warframe) as well as some other abilities that come from the Helminth itself.
This means you can either get abilities from other Warframes or you can choose from abilities that the Helminth will present to you (more abilities appear over time as it ranks up) through actions. The more you interact with the Helminth, the more you unlock and can later enjoy.
This guide will tell you everything you need to know about the Helminth and what you need to do in order to make good use of it.
How To Get The Helminth?
This was quite the question when the update came out as the Helminth was nowhere to be found when players finished the update. The Helminth is supposed to be in the room at the back of your shift to the left (yes, the room where you remove those nasty cysts) but it is nowhere to be found. This is because you will need to install the Helminth Segment.
The Helminth Segment Blueprint may be purchased from Son for 15,000 standing, provided that you are at least at a mastery rank of 8 or higher and that you are at least at a rank of Associate with the Entrati. Once you have met all of the requirements, you will be able to purchase the blueprint.
Once you have the blueprint, craft the Helminth Segment (resources are to be farmed from the Cambion Drift).
The following are required in order to craft the Helminth Segment:
- Credits x 50,000 (a few dark sectors will take care of this)
- Purple Velocipod Tag x 5 (these creatures can be seen flying around sometimes in the Cambion Drift, they look like giant bugs that can be ridden)
- Adramal Alloy x 20 (blueprint can be purchased from Otak early on for 1,000 standing)
- Saturated Muscle Mass (this can be obtained by having fish cut by seeing Daughter)
- Ganglion (this is a common resource and can often be found with different containers in the Cambion Drift)
Once you have all the materials, craft your Helminth Segment and once its done, install it by heading into the Helminth room and interacting with the infested operating chair. Once you have installed the Helminth segment, it will be revealed that the chair is also controlled by this creature and you will then be able to give it a name.
Name your Helminth and voila! You will be able to start feeding it, subsuming Warframes and using it to alter your Warframes by swapping out abilities with different ones.
Helminth Feeding
There is a lot of say and say about what the Helminth does and whatnot about it creating secretions and such as you read in the game but let’s cut to the chase. The Helminth requires feeding, this requires that you give it your resources in order to sate its hunger and in return it will allow you to make use of its ability replacement and everything else included.
Basically, you need to feed your Helminth resources in order for it to rank up (this is not the only way to rank it up) as well as so it can perform the tasks you need done such as obtaining abilities after subsuming (permanently consuming) one of your Warframes)
When feeding your Helminth, you will notice that there are different food groups, each food group will create secretions that are needed later on. Each group has different resources that you can use to feed the Helminth but be sure to check how much it will eat as you could lose a lot if you just start clicking everything.
From time to time, you notice green or red arrows which signify that the Helminth is craving such a resource. A green arrow pointing up means the Helminth craves the resource and feeding it this resource will give a higher percentage while the red means you will gain less.
Warframe Subsuming
Subsuming a Warframe is pretty much allowing the Helminth to absorb your Warframe and yes, this does consume the Warframe, permanently. This is required if you want to obtain the Warframe’s chosen ability and later on equip another Warframe with it.
This will consume the resources that have been fed to the Helminth and will grant you the option to use the ability with another Warframe. This will add XP to the Helminth’s metamorphosis, allowing it to become stronger and allow you to have more options.
Basically, this is how you extract a Warframe’s ability. All you need to do is equip the non-prime Warframe, head to the Helminth, sit on the chair and subsume the Warframe. You will be asked to confirm the action and afterwards the Warframe will be subsumed and visible on the Helminth wall for some time.
Before you can equip the ability on another Warframe, you will need to wait for the subsuming to be complete. This can be rushed with 50 Platinum.
Ability Replacement
By the time you may have already fed your Helminth and possibly subsumed a Warframe or two, you can already replace your Warframe with one of the abilities that are available. There are 2 types of abilities, those from Warframes and those provided by the Helminth itself.
Select which ability you would like to infuse into your currently equipped Warframe and select the “Infuse” option. You will be allowed to choose which skill you want to have replaced. There will be configurations that you can choose from when replacing an ability.
Some abilities will have reduced effects depending on which ability you have chosen. You may choose to remove the ability at any time at no cost. Infusing again will however consume resources once more.
Warframe Abilities
Most players thought that they could pick any ability, but it turns out, only certain abilities were selected and that’s one per Warframe. There are plenty of good abilities though and this depends how you plan to use them, especially with the abilities or builds you have with your other Warframes.
Here is a list of the abilities from each Warframe:
- Ash – Shuriken
- Atlas – Petrify
- Banshee – Silence
- Baruuk – Lull
- Chroma – Elemental Ward
- Ember – Fire Blast
- Equinox – Rest & Rage
- Excalibur – Radial Blind
- Frost – Ice Wave
- Gara – Spectorage
- Garuda – Blood Altar
- Gauss – Thermal Sunder
- Grendel – Nourish
- Harrow – Condemn
- Hildryn – Pillage
- Hydroid – Tempest Barrage
- Inaros – Desiccation
- Ivara – Quiver
- Khora – Ensnare
- Limbo – Banish
- Loki – Decoy
- Mag – Pull
- Mesa – Shooting Gallery
- Mirage – Eclipse
- Nekros – Terrify
- Nezha – Fire Walker
- Nidus – Larva
- Nova – Null Star
- Nyx – Mind Control
- Oberon – Smite
- Octavia – Resonator
- Protea -Dispensary
- Revenant – Reave
- Rhino – Roar
- Saryn – Molt
- Titania – Spellbind
- Trinity – Well of Life
- Valkyr – Warcry
- Vauban – Tesla Nervos
- Wisp – Breach Surge
- Wukong – Defy
- Xaku – Xata’s Whisper
- Zephyr – Airburst
Helminth Abilities
The Helminth comes with its own abilities and these can be quite useful depending on how you make use of them. As the Helminth grows stronger through metamorphosis, these abilities start to become unlocked and will be available to infuse.
Here is a list of the abilities that the Helminth provides:
- Empower – Increases the strength of your ability by 20/30/40/50 % on the next cast. Costs 25 energy.
- Infested Mobility – Increases parkour velocity (increases sprint speed by 30/45/50/60 % and parkour velocity by 15/20/25/30 % for a duration of 5/6/7/8 seconds. Costs 50 energy.
- Master’s Summons – Heals your companion by 25/50/75/100 % and teleports it to your side. Costs 25 energy.
- Rebuild Shields – Instantly replenish your 25/50/75/100 % of your shields. Has a cooldown of 12 seconds and costs 50 energy.
- Perspicacity – Causes your next hack attempt to complete automatically by 25/50/75/100 % chance. Costs 25 energy.
- Energized Munitions – Imbues your weapons with 75% ammo efficiency (1 ammunition is consumed per 4 shots) for 3/3.5/4/5 seconds.
- Marked for Death – Stuns an enemy and causes a portion of damage that has been dealt to it to damage enemies around it.
- Expedite Suffering – Damages enemies in a cone, causing them to receive any bleed or toxic damage as burst damage.
Helminth Metamorphosis
The Helminth gains XP when it is fed resources, infuses abilities or when Warframes are subsumed. These cause the Helminth to go through metamorphosis, granting rewards for higher levels.
The Following are the metamorphosis levels and the bonuses provided:
- 1st Metamorphosis – Warframe Subsuming + 3 Subsume Slots
- 2nd Metamorphosis – Unlocks: Rebuild Systems ability
- 3rd Metamorphosis – Unlocks: Perspicacity ability
- 4th Metamorphosis – 10 subsume slots
- 5th Metamorphosis – Unlocks: Energized Munitions ability
- 6th Metamorphosis – Unlocks: Marked for Death ability
- 7th Metamorphosis – 20 subsume slots
- 8th Metamorphosis – Sentient Appetite (feeding sentient resources causes Helminth to crave a resource that it recently did not crave.)
- 9th Metamorphosis – Unlocks: Expedite Suffering ability
- 10th Metamorphosis – Unlimited subsume slots
Final Thoughts
There is not much to it when it comes to the Helminth. Simply feed it resources, feed it a Warframe if you need an ability and infuse the ability you want into another Warframe. You will best want to be doing some farming for some time before getting all of the abilities and its best to focus on an ability you may need.
Try not to ignore the Helminth’s abilities, there are good ones as well that you may use. After the addition of the Helminth, there are tons of builds that you can now play around with and several other ways to cheese yourself through missions.
It’s time to mix and match and create the perfect Warframe. Consume, adapt and conquer!
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