Warframe Echoes of the Zariman Impressions

Echoes of the Zariman is the latest update in Warframe. This update added a few weapons, cosmetics, and a whole slew of quality of life changes in the game. Additionally, this will be the latest content update until any announcement from Digital Extremes Tennocon.

Echoes of the Zariman Additions

For starters, let us talk about things related to gameplay in Echoes of the Zariman. “Lohk Surges” are an optional pedestal-like thing that can be found randomly in missions. These will grant players a random buff. Such as heavily boosting critical chances on player weapons. But there is a catch to these though. These buffs will not last the entire mission, and they will spawn an eximus unit for you to take out. They are a big help, just not for long!

Secondly, Quinn has a fifth-tier bounty. The only difference between the fourth and fifth is the rare weapon blueprint that can be rewarded. So for players who need either Hespar or Aeolak, they have made things easier for them. In addition to this, there are now five random bounty objectives that players can choose from to farm voidplume quills at their leisure.

Finally, we move on to the last three questionable changes. The first is an outright nerf to eximus units. In Angels of the Zariman, they completely morphed eximus units to be very powerful elite enemies. With their “overguard” they were a bullet sponge that was immune to crowd control. They are now officially jokes again because the overguard is not as potent as it used to be. While the developers also stated that the shift in values from overguard to health would make them fairer, they are now just as easy to pick off after overguard. This is quite disappointing since I liked the challenge.

Grapple hook using enemies such as grineer scorpions or ancient healers can now be countered if they use it. You can parry or bullet jump and drag them with you. Which is a very welcome change. While the open-world areas in Warframe now have fast travel points, another welcome addition.

New Incarnon Weapons

Adding onto the arsenal provided by Cavalero is a new incarnon shotgun and dagger. The dagger “Innodem” functions the same as praedos to activate its incarnon version. The only change is that if you melee in the air you can fire projectiles from the dagger. Very disappointing but it can still be useful for Ivara warframe users who need a better dagger for stealth operations.

The shotgun feels weird, however. “Felarx” functions the same as laetum and phenmor. Where you need headshots to activate its incarnon version. The incarnon version is sluggish compared to its primary fire. As this shotgun turns into dual pistols that only fire one projectile at a very slow fire rate. The projectile is powerful but not worth trading in the primary fire for.

These two additions are very welcome, however. As the dagger can use covert lethality to help stealth users take down high-health enemies. While the shotgun’s evolutions can allow it to either have double the fire rate or the ability to have its shots pierce through enemies depending on a reload. My only gripe is that the shotgun incarnon form could have used faster firing lower damage dealing projectiles to deal with the massive mobs that can spawn in Warframe. 

Cosmetics, a ship, and Arcanes, oh my!

Cavalero now has a new array of arcanes for enthusiasts that need them. They’re a mixed bag but echoes of the zariman did change how arcanes function. Usually, arcanes are practically worthless until you get them to rank five. As you need the activation chance and duration to be the highest they can be.

That is no longer the case, as arcanes now have maximum activation chance and duration even at rank zero, but as you enhance the arcane, the buff that is granted becomes more potent. This is a seriously great change to the game. Since players who earn arcanes can now use them without feeling like they’re worthless before rank.

There is also a new ship that can be earned in missions aboard the Zariman by finding its parts in broken containers. The “Parallax” is a tiny ship that resembles the look of ships found in docking bays in the Zariman. When built, it unlocks the ability to use air support to highlight rare item finds in any missions. Finally, Cavalero has two ephemeras that players can buy. These two look amazing on warframes and they’re not too expensive. Only takes about ten angel kills to get the pinions required.

Closing Remarks on Echoes of the Zariman

But to start wrapping up on Echoes of the Zariman. These are the major changes and additions to the game with this update. Alongside this was the event “Dog Days”, where you can earn some fun stuff. As well as the Tennocon digital pack that gives platinum, and a whole slew of cosmetics and access to the Tennocon relay where you can purchase anything and everything from Baro ki’teer the void trader on the day of the event.

But overall, this is a great quality of life update. Grapple hook users no longer become a nuisance, eximus units are a joke, the new incarnon weapons are decent and the ephemeras are awesome looking. You even get to enjoy using a pea-sized ship instead of some of the huge ones in Warframe. I look forward to seeing how they follow this up in the future.