Epitome of the endlessly evolving Infestation, Nidus bends the vile corruption to his will, mutates his genetic potency to adapt and assimilates his victims with an insatiable parasitic hunger. Nidus and his strain developed in Update 19.5 (2016-12-22).
Alternatively, upon completion of The Duviri Paradox, Nidus's main and component blueprints can be earned from The Circuit. By selecting him on the rotating week he is available, players can earn his blueprints after reaching Tier 2 (Neuroptics), 5 (Chassis), 8 (Systems), and 10 (Main) rewards.
The Infestation dwelling within Nidus mutates rapidly when used against his foes, fueling his abilities and yielding various symbiotic benefits. Nidus possesses various passive mechanics highlighted in the tabs below:
Mutation Stacks are a resource unique to Nidus, indicated by the Mutation counter and gauge displayed in the lower-right on the HUD, above the ability icons.
Every enemy hit by Virulence will grant Nidus 1 Mutation Stack.
Abilities are not required to deal damage to enemies, only ability contact is needed to increase Mutation stacks.
Mutation stacks are stored until used by the player. Stacks will not disappear in the event of a host migration.
Up to a maximum of 3 stacks can be stored. Each stack causes the gauge to gradually appear more infested. Upon reaching 3 stacks, the counter is hidden and the gauge is overlapped by Virulence's ability icon colored in red and black.
At 1 stack, he gains protective armor on his thighs, and his shoulder pads are covered in a cage-like armor with a protruding spike on the top.
At 2 stacks, a large curved blade appears on each of the shoulder pad spikes and his forearms are lined with a curved blade that extends two large spikes.
At 3 stacks, his face becomes covered with a crown-like visor.
When stacks fall below the required triggers, Nidus' appearance will revert to the appropriate stage.
If Nidus suffers fatal damage with at least 1 Mutation stack, it will be consumed, restoring 50% of Nidus' health.
A UI banner displaying "Undying" will appear at the top-center of the screen while this passive is activated. The required amount of Mutation stacks will be visibly subtracted from the counter and gauge.
Nidus' health regenerates at a rate of 5 health per second.
Rupture the ground with a damaging fungal growth that steals energy from each enemy it strikes. For every five enemies hit, the Infestation mutates, multiplying its destructive force.
Nidus ruptures the ground to unleash a linear growth of fungal infestation 14 meters long and 4 meters wide toward the targeted location. Enemies struck by fungal growth are staggered, dealt 40Puncture damage amplified by the number of Mutation stacks accumulated, as well as refunding energy to Nidus for each enemy hit.
Enemies hit by Virulence contribute to Nidus' Mutation gauge.
Virulence's total damage uses the following expression when accounting for Mutation stacks:
Amplified Damage = Base Damage × (1 + Number of Stacks)
With 3 stacks, a rank-3 Virulence's total damage will be increased to:
40 × (1 + 3) = 160 damage (decimals are rounded down to the nearest whole number during calculations).
Maggots from Ravenous can be manually detonated when impaled by Virulence's fungal growth, exploding for damage and contributing to the Mutation gauge per enemy hit.
Holding the ability key displays a rectangular range indicator on the horizontal plane in front of Nidus. Releasing the key casts Virulence. Range indicator color is affected by the chosen energy color.
Player can move the aiming reticle while holding down the button to aim Virulence at the desired direction.
While held, the player can still perform other actions such as moving, jumping, firing weapons, and casting other abilities. Releasing the key while in midair will exit range indicator mode without casting Virulence.
While held, Maggots from Ravenous will be marked on the HUD, allowing increased visibility for selective detonation using Virulence.
Virulence will cast toward the targeted location regardless of Nidus' orientation.
Cannot be cast while in mid-air.
Cannot be recast until the fungal growth's maximum length is reached or until it cannot spawn any further due to obstruction.
Virulence does not spawn up or down high terrain elevations, but does flow up and down stairs and ramps.
Can stagger enemies to help keep them in place for recasts.
Can allow Nidus to earn extra energy when it hits at least 2 enemies.
Collect Mutation stacks to amplify Virulence's damage drastically over the course of a mission.
Hold the ability key to line up Virulence on groups of enemies before releasing to cast. This is an efficient method to gather extra energy and collect hits for stacks. Jump and release the ability key to toggle off the range indicator without casting the ability.
Can detonate Maggots spawned from Ravenous by you and any Nidus players in your squad. Hits from both the fungal growth and maggot explosion each count toward the Mutation gauge. Blow up anyone's Maggots to help you and your brethren gather more stacks quickly!
If the fungal growth cannot spawn any further because of obstruction, you can immediately recast Virulence.
Nidus ejects an infested larva toward the targeted location over unrestricted range. Upon impact, the larva rapidly matures into a floating mass of infested tentacles that sprouts tendrils to grab all enemies within a radius of 8 meters, Impairing them. Larva will wither away when it has no enemies to grip, is cast when no enemies are in range, or after 4 seconds have elapsed.
Larva will only grab enemies when it spawns.
Grabbed enemies can still take damage from normal sources.
Larva Burst is a Warframe Augment Mod for Nidus's Larva that allows the player to detonate Larva by recasting the ability, dealing Toxin damage proportional to the enemies trapped in Larva beforehand in a small area of effect.
Bind to a target with a parasitic link. For allies, both the host and Nidus gain increased Ability Strength. Linked enemies take the damage inflicted on Nidus.
Nidus expends a single Mutation Stack to perform symbiosis with a targeted ally or enemy Warframe within 20 meters. The link persists as long as Nidus and his target remain in range of each other, lasting for 20 seconds or when manually deactivated by pressing the ability key again.
Parasitic Link does not require line-of-sight to maintain connection between Nidus and his target.
If the target dies during cast before the link is attached, the single Mutation stack used for Parasitic Link will be refunded.
When linked with an ally Warframe, Nidus and his target both receive a 20% damage bonus. When linked with an enemy, Nidus transfers 50% damage received to the target instead.
Parasitic Link is a One-Handed Action and can be cast while in midair.
Nidus and the target are visibly covered in infestation and connected via a tether of biochemical energy, which is affected by the chosen Warframe energy color.
Cannot link to a target already affected by Parasitic Link. Multiple Nidus players cannot link to the same target, nor to each other while their own Parasitic Link ability is active.
When connected to another Nidus player, both players will use the damage bonus from the casting player; the link will break if the partner activates Parasitic Link on a different target.
Parasitic Vitality is a Warframe Augment Mod for Nidus that allows Parasitic Link to grant Nidus and the ally he is linked through with the ability bonus Health, scaling with each mutation stack.
Gluttonous maggots swarm nearby enemies, feasting until they burst with Infestation. The maggots benefit from Mutation and each enemy consumed adds to the Mutation stack.
Nidus converts one Mutation stacks into ravenous Infestation, which spreads outward from Nidus and across the surrounding landscape to create spawning grounds with a diameter of 8 meters, lingering for 10 seconds. Nidus and his allies will regenerate 10 health per second when inside the spawning grounds.
Health regen buff area is an invisible cylinder, allowing eligible targets to retain the buff up to a height of 8 meters above the spawning grounds.
Ravenous' health regeneration is visible to players as a buff icon beside the shield and health indicators on the HUD, indicating the health regen rate.
Health regeneration affects ally Warframes and ability-summoned units.
Infested cysts form on the spawning grounds, hatching up to 9 Maggots that seek out nearby enemies to feast upon. Once enemies are detected, Maggots frenzy with increased movement speed and leap toward their prey to latch onto them. While attached to an enemy, each Maggot will continuously stun its target and inflict 10Toxin damage per second until the target dies or Maggot expires.
The Toxin damage is amplified by the number of Mutation stacks accumulated using the following formula: Toxin Damage × (1 + Number of Stacks)
When detonated by Virulence, when their hosts die, when killed, or when Ravenous duration expires, Maggots explode to deal 200Blast damage to all enemies within a 4 meter radius.
Explosion damage is affected by the number of Mutation stacks accumulated.
Maggot explosion and Toxin damage are calculated and predetermined when Ravenous is cast. All three will not be recalculated if any changes in Mutation stacks occur while Ravenous is active.
Has a casting time of 1.5 seconds.
Ravenous can be recast while active.
Only one instance can be active at a time.
Recasting Ravenous while on the spawning grounds will refresh its duration without relocating it.
Maggot explosion and Toxin damage will not be recalculated if an instance of Ravenous is recast.
Due to Ravenous' casting time, players will have to recast at least 1.5 seconds before the duration ends to maintain the old instance.
Recasting Ravenous away from an active spawning ground creates a new instance at the new location while removing the older instance.
Maggot explosion and Toxin damage are recalculated if a new instance of Ravenous is created.
Maggots and spawning grounds possess unique properties as independent entities from Nidus:
Maggots possess a base health of 100 and draw enemy aggro.
Maggot health is not affected by the number of Mutation stacks accumulated.
Maggots have their own rank.
Maggot rank is identical to Nidus' rank (e.g., a rank-25 Nidus' Maggots will be level 25).
Currently it's not known what effect the maggots' rank has.
Maggots can not be damaged by Nidus or allies.
When Maggots cannot attach to enemies, they will instead bite or seek other enemies to latch on to.
Maggot lifespan is tied to the duration of the ability, during which they will actively seek out enemies or wander around or away from the spawning grounds.
Maggots will automatically explode when killed, when Ravenous' duration expires, when their hosts die, or when detonated by Virulence.
On death, Maggots respawn from cysts throughout the duration of Ravenous, up to the maximum number of 9 active Maggots.
Nidus maggots are affected by his chosen Warframe energy color.
After casting Ravenous, there will be a 4 second delay before the Maggots start running towards/attacking nearby enemies.
Opponents can just bullet jump away as maggots can’t attack air.
Spawning grounds is created at the location where Nidus casts the ability.
Spawning grounds' infestation does not expand up or down high terrain elevations, but does flow up and down stairs and ramps.
Within the spawning grounds, various unique models will spawn for visual representation only. Players and AI can path through them unhindered.
Textures on the ground are blended with an infestation mesh.
Three infested nests erupt on the edges of the infestation, positioned in triangular vertices. Nests glow, pulsate, and emit spore particles, which are affected by the chosen energy color.
Numerous patches of infested flora resembling tall grass encompass the ground, rustling when brushed past by players and AI while glowing in the chosen energy color.
Several infested branches sprout from the infestation to attach to nearby walls and objects in vertical and diagonal axis. Branches glow in the chosen energy color.
50,000. Nidus' component blueprints are acquired from Rotation C of Infested Salvage on Oestrus, Eris.
Systems Blueprint
Neuroptics Blueprint
Chassis Blueprint
Kuva as a blueprint ingredient.
40
Strength:40 (damage)
Duration:N/A
Range:14 m
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