Commanders have strong armor and greater health than regular Troopers. They have the ability to Switch Teleport a targeted player; often, a Commander will teleport the player into the middle of a group of Grineer, causing some disorientation in the process. Unlike Loki's ability, a Commander's switch teleport can work through walls and doors, and has a slightly longer duration stun.
Unlike normal Grineer Lancers who usually fire their Grakatas in short bursts, the Commander usually fires more continuously, dealing more sustained damage than normal Lancers.
Tactics
- Commanders have better hide-and-shoot tactics compared to the regular Lancers, often taking cover when necessary, then shooting back. If they are in cover, prioritize other units before targeting the commander.
- This defensive behavior is most likely due to the Swap Teleportation ability they have at their disposal.
- Commanders will be more likely to teleport you at a moment where you are vulnerable or difficult for other troops to flush you out, such as when you are reloading, taking cover, or fleeing.
- This behavior also makes them more likely to use terminals. Due to their durability, the threat of them getting to the terminal without being dispatched is large. If keeping doors open is a priority, then focus on Commanders.
- Currently, after being warped by a Commander, a Tenno is stuck in a confused animation for a few seconds(during which you are also susceptible to all incoming damage) unable to execute any actions at all. This makes his swap teleportation an even more dangerous skill compared to the previous version where it was similar to Loki's Switch Teleport.
- In the animation the Tenno will look around as if it had to orient itself. You will not be able to shoot, melee or use skills, but you can still move your camera to orient yourself as well.
- Switch Teleport will not cancel out any abilities already affecting a Warframe at the time of activation (such as Iron Skin or Turbulence but not Electric Shield), so if you spot one, it is to your benefit to cast such an ability if a player has one at their disposal, especially with fragile Warframes.
- Commanders do not seem to have plasma grenades, and are less efficient at damaging you when you are behind cover as a result.
- In short range, the Commander logically refrains from the use of his teleportation ability.
- The Commander cannot be slowed down by Script error: The function "Proc" does not exist. procs.
- The Commander, surprisingly, has the second highest health among the Grineer units (first is the Napalm), giving him a versatile role of dealing damage, taking damage and confusing their targets.
Tips
- Unexpectedly, the Commanders can even warp players to intended locations. This is beneficial in cases of escaping entrenched Grineer locations or even make travel on difficult tiles easier.
- Commanders can most commonly be found in Rescue and Interception Mission types.
Notes
- His Switch Teleport ability has a 20 second cooldown.
- Killing a commander while he is casting teleport will cancel the ability and you will stay at your original location.
Bugs
- Occasionally, when switch teleporting the player, the Commander will move a second or so after you are transported to them, which ends up with you teleporting directly in front of them, and them disappearing shortly after.
- Rarely, if the Commander is near a slope, the player can be teleported inside the slope. Unless the Commander teleports you again or you have sufficient movement or teleport abilities (or are able to escape the geometry), there is no other option of escape than to abort the mission or wait until another enemy kills you.
- When the player is teleported, an animation bug can be witnessed: the player's character (most noticeably the torso area) is stretched during the short disorientation moment. This may be caused by the animation box you are forced into. This effect is more noticeable on shorter and feminine styled frames.
Trivia
- The text on their helmet translates to "UBER".
- Über or Uber in English language publications, is a German language word meaning "over", "above" or "across".
- Before update 11.5, the Commander helmets turned from grey to a light green when killed.
- Though their weapon is the Grakata, the description of the Vaykor Marelok suggests that at one point they employed said weapon. Interestingly, the syndicate that uses them, Steel Meridian, consists of Grineer deserters.
- This could also mean many Grineer deserters were high ranking officers in the Grineer Army.
