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 gauge at 100 stacks.
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.
The gauge is divided into five sections which represent the number of hits dealt to enemies via Nidus' abilities. The counter at the center of the gauge keeps track of the number of Mutation stacks.
Upon hitting one or more enemies via Virulence or Ravenous, depending on the number of hits the sections of the gauge will light up clockwise. After a total of 5 hits, the gauge completes a cycle and the sections become unlit again, while the counter increases by 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.
Ability-nullifying enemies such as Nullifier Crewman will drain 1 Mutation stack every 2 seconds, ramping up the drain rate the longer Nidus remains in their radius.
Up to a maximum of 100 stacks can be stored. Each stack causes the gauge to gradually appear more infested. Upon reaching 100 stacks, the counter is hidden and the gauge is overlapped by Virulence's ability icon colored in red and black.
Parasitic Link costs 1 stack to activate instead of using energy.
Ravenous costs 3 stacks to activate instead of using energy.
When gaining or losing large numbers of stacks, the gauge still only changes one at a time, making it difficult to estimate the actual count.
This can be bypassed by briefly switching to the Operator, as this will instantly refresh to the current amount of stacks.
Nidus' appearance changes as more stacks are collected:
With the base skin:
At 3 stacks, tendrils will protrude from his neck and upper spine, while the carapace around his ribs will open.
At 5 and 7 stacks respectively, the carapace around his thighs and arms will open to reveal more infested flesh and tendrils beneath.
At 10 stacks, certain sections of his currently-equipped helmet will open up, and many more tendrils will be exposed.
At 3 stacks, 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 5 stacks, a large curved blade appears on each of the shoulder pad spikes.
At 7 stacks, his forearms are lined with a curved blade that extends two large spikes.
At 10 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 15 stacks of Mutation, those 15 stacks are consumed, granting him 5 seconds of invulnerability and restoring 50% of his health.
A UI banner displaying "Undying" and an invulnerability timer 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.
If Nidus has fewer than 15 Mutation stacks, all stacks will be consumed without benefit.
If Nidus has 15 or more stacks while Quick Thinking is equipped, Undying will be given a higher priority, triggering before any energy is drained by Quick Thinking.
Unlike most frames, when Nidus ranks up he receives a special set of rank bonuses which are indicated at the top-left of the Warframe Upgrade screen:
Virulence 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.
Misc:4 m (fungal growth width) 25% (energy refund rate per hit)
Info
Nidus ruptures the ground to unleash a linear growth of fungal infestation 10 / 11 / 13 / 16 meters long and 4 meters wide toward the targeted location. Enemies struck by fungal growth are staggered, dealt 150 / 160 / 175 / 200 base damage amplified by the number of Mutation stacks accumulated, as well as refunding energy to Nidus for each enemy hit.
Virulence's total damage uses the following expression when accounting for Ability Strength and Mutation stacks:
Amplified Damage = Base Damage × (1 + Ability Strength rank bonus + Ability Strength) × (1 + Number of Stacks)
With a maxed Intensify, 15% Ability Strength rank bonus, and 100 stacks, rank-3 Virulence's total damage will be increased to:
200 × (1 + 0.15 + 0.3) × (1 + 100) = 29,290 damage (decimals are rounded down to the nearest whole number during calculations).
Energy refund is inversely affected by Ability Efficiency because it is always 25% of energy used to cast, per enemy.
Fungal growth length is affected by Ability Range, while width is not.
Longer lengths will cover more ground faster, such that the casting time is very similar at all ranges. Negative ranges are slightly faster to cast.
Ability Synergy:
While Nidus is connected to a target via Parasitic Link, using Virulence will spawn a second instance from the linked target that grows toward the targeted location, converging with the first instance from Nidus.
Enemies hit by the second instance separately counts toward Mutation stack, even when the same enemies also get hit by the first instance.
Maggots spawned from Ravenous will detonate when hit by Virulence.
This helps maximizing damage output and Mutation gained as Maggots will respawn throughout the duration of Ravenous.
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 connected via Parasitic Link, a second range indicator visible to Nidus only will also appear around the linked target.
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.
If cast in midair, Nidus will instantly drop to the ground to perform this ability.
Cannot be recast until the fungal growth's maximum length is reached or until it cannot spawn any further due to obstruction. Therefore, Natural Talent and Speed Drift only affect the speed of Nidus' stomping animation.
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 completely refund its cost when it hits at least 4 targets. 5 or more targets allow Nidus to earn extra energy.
Due to the refund per hit always being kept at 1/4th the ability's cost, negative efficiency can be used to gain more energy over 4 hits at the cost of a higher initial cast cost.
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.
Use Larva to gather enemies in one spot, then unleash Virulence to optimize damage and stack collection.
Casting Virulence while Parasitic Link is active allows both Nidus and the linked target to create a line of fungal growths from your positions toward where you aim. This allows Nidus to effectively extend his reach on Virulence, and collect double hits for stacks if both lines hit the same enemies. Hold the ability key to help determine where you and your linked targets' lines will spawn.
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.
Since the speed of fungal growth increases with length, having a high Ability Range means the growth will hit the obstruction faster, allowing for much faster recasting.
Nidus ejects an infested larva toward the targeted location over unrestricted range. Upon impact or reactivation, the larva rapidly matures into a floating mass of infested tentacles that sprouts tendrils to grab all enemies within a radius of 8 / 9 / 10 / 12 meters. Affected enemies are forcibly ragdolled and pulled into the mass, becoming unable to move or attack while grotesquely meshing together within the writhing whirlpool of flesh. Larva will wither away when it has no enemies to grip, is cast when no enemies are in range, or after 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 seconds have elapsed.
Enemies must be within range and line-of-sight of the larva to be pulled in. Larva will only grab enemies when it spawns.
Grabbed enemies can still take damage from normal sources.
Grabbed enemies drop to the ground upon Larva expiration.
Affects both ground and flying enemies.
Enemies gripped by tendrils will float helplessly and rotate around the Larva, similar to the Vortex portion of Bastille and Sandstorm. Dealing damage or killing enemies in this mass can cause other affected enemies to bounce outward, swing wildly in an orbit, then be pulled back in.
If enemies cannot be ragdolled by Larva after being attached to tendrils, they will be released after 3 seconds.
Enemies grabbed by Larva are alerted to the player's presence.
Enemies latched onto by its tendrils visually appear to be covered in infestation, while robotic targets appear encrusted in rust.
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.
Combine with Virulence to deal high damage to multiple enemies and earn Mutation stacks quickly.
It is highly recommended to build for range to allow Larva to catch as many enemies as possible.
Weapons and abilities with splash damage and/or Punch Through can be used to quickly dispatch enemies stuck in Larva.
When Larva expires, enemies will drop to the ground and begin to recover from their ragdoll state. Recast Larva to immediately disable them again.
Combine with Ravenous to group up enemies for your Maggots to feast and explode on.
Maggots underneath or attached to enemies in this infested mass will hit all enemies when they are detonated by Virulence, dealing high damage and collecting hits for stacks very quickly as each explosion counts as 1 hit to all enemies in its splash radius.
Enemies linked to Ancient Healers are immune to the ragdoll and pull effects and are not disabled, but will remain attached to tendrils showing their positions.
Larva will attach to enemies affected by Bastille; however, it will not pull them.
Larva cannot be recast while active, meaning players should either build for low duration at the expense of Parasitic Link and Ravenous or try to maximize the amount of enemies caught by a single instance of Larva.
It's possible to overcome this problem with the augment Larva Burst equipped, allowing players to cut Larva's duration short and react to situational changes more easily.
Parasitic Link Bind to a target with parasitic link. When cast on an ally, both the host and Nidus have their Ability Strength increased. Linked enemies take some of the damage inflicted on Nidus.
Range:24 / 28 / 34 / 40 m (ally link) 10 / 13 / 16 / 20 m (enemy link)
Info
Nidus expends a single Mutation stack to perform symbiosis with a targeted ally Warframe within 24 / 28 / 34 / 40 meters or parasitically link with a targeted enemy within 10 / 13 / 16 / 20 meters. The link persists as long as Nidus and his target remain in range of each other, lasting for 30 / 35 / 45 / 60 seconds or when manually deactivated by pressing the ability key again.
Ally and enemy link range are affected by Ability Range.
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 10% / 15% / 20% / 25%Ability Strength bonus. When linked with an enemy, the target is completely disabled for the duration while Nidus transfers 20% / 30% / 40% / 50% damage received to the target instead; all knockdown, stagger, and negative status effects are also transferred from Nidus to the enemy target.
Ability Strength bonus and damage redirection are affected by Ability Strength.
Parasitic Link's Ability Strength bonus affects Ability Strength multiplicatively using the following expressions:
With a maxed Intensify and the 15% Ability Strength rank bonus, Nidus will have 145% Ability Strength, resulting in 0.25 × (1 + 0.3 + 0.15) = 36.25% Modified Strength Bonus displayed on the UI.
Modified Strength Bonus then increases Ability Strength multiplicatively, granting 1.45 × (1 + 0.3625) = 197.563% Modified Ability Strength that affects Nidus' other abilities while a rank-3 Parasitic Link is active.
The Modified Strength Bonus is the same percentage for your linked ally. However, Modified Ability Strength's calculation will depend on your linked ally's own Ability Strength.
Damage redirection is capped at 90%, achievable with an Ability Strength of at least 180%.
Enemy target is invulnerable to outside sources of damage and immune to external crowd control effects while Parasitic Link is active, but is not immune to damage and crowd control effects transferred from Nidus. Damage from outside sources is accumulated and dealt to the target when the ability expires or is manually deactivated.
Self-inflicted damage and friendly fire is not transferred to the linked target.
Ability Synergy: While linked to a target, using Virulence will spawn a second instance from the linked target that grows towards the targeted location, converging with the first instance from Nidus.
Enemies hit by the second instance separately counts toward Mutation stack, even when the same enemies also get hit by the first instance.
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 Ability Strength bonus from the casting player; the link will break if the partner activates Parasitic Link on a different target.
Tips & Tricks
Link with a nearby teammate or enemy for Virulence to create two lines from Nidus and the linked target. This effectively extends Virulence's reach, doubles its damage output, staggers enemies in its paths, collects more hits for stacks, and earns extra energy for the cost of one cast.
Linking with a teammate creates a mobile casting point that can relocate quickly to find new enemies.
Linking with an enemy provides a stationary casting point that allows you move around to adjust Virulence's travel direction and length.
Use Virulence's range indicator by holding 1 to determine the number of targets both lines will hit before releasing the button to cast.
Teammates with Warframes that possess high ability damage and Ability Strength-based effects are prime candidates for Parasitic Link.
Alternatively, the Ability Strength bonus allows allies to use more balanced builds instead of builds that focus solely on Ability Strength.
Enemies with high health and armor values such as Heavy Gunners can absorb a large amount of damage transferred from Nidus.
As long as Nidus and his target are in range of each other, Parasitic Link's biochemical tether will help you visually track your positions.
Before reviving a downed teammate, link with a nearby enemy to protect yourself from taking too much damage.
Linking with an enemy caught by Larva causes it to become immune to damage from outside sources, which may hinder your crowd control ability because Larva will go through its full duration before you can recast it. Press 3 to manually deactivate the link, allowing you and your allies to kill the enemy to end Larva early for recast.
This immunity to damage can be beneficial for racking up the melee combo counter. Simply attack the target as many time as possible. Combine with combo mods like Blood Rush for best results.
Maggots from Ravenous will ignore your linked enemy target. However, maggot explosions will still count as hits for the Mutation gauge even when they cannot damage the target. When you cast Parasitic Link on an enemy with maggots attached, the maggots will detach once the link is established.
Parasitic Link can be cast on the Juggernaut, and though it will not immobilize the Juggernaut it will still transfer damage to it, bypassing the Juggernaut's normally-impenetrable armor.
Can be used to immobilize Synthesis target, instead of deploying Kinetic Siphon Trap. This also prevents the target from being killed, accidentally or not, provided Nidus himself is not under heavy fire.
Ravenous 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.
Misc:8 m (ability diameter) 9 (number of maggots) 1000 (maggot health) 10 (maggot toxin damage)
Info
Nidus converts three 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 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 seconds. Nidus and his allies will regenerate 10 / 13 / 16 / 20 health per second when inside 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.
Infested cysts form on the spawning grounds, hatching up to 9Maggots 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, however, amplified by the number of Mutation stacks accumulated using the following formula: Toxin Damage × (1 + Number of Stacks)
Multiple Maggots can attach to the same enemy target simultaneously.
Ability Synergy: Spawned Maggots will detonate when hit by Virulence.
When detonated by Virulence, when their hosts die, when killed, or when Ravenous duration expires, Maggots explode to deal 100 / 110 / 125 / 150Blast damage to all enemies within a 4 meter radius.
Explosion damage is affected by Ability Strength and the number of Mutation stacks accumulated.
For example, a rank-30 Nidus with a maxed Intensify equipped and 50 Mutation stacks will have an explosion damage of: Base Explosion Damage × (1 + Ability Strength rank bonus + Strength Mods) × (1 + Number of Stacks) = 150 × (1 + 0.15 + 0.3) × (1 + 50) = 11,092.5
Due to the total damage calculation accounting for Mutation stacks after the cost of Ravenous, it is not possible to reach amplified damage results above 97 Mutation stacks.
Enemies hit by Maggot explosions contribute to the Mutation gauge. Hit scoring varies depending on the below factors:
Each enemy caught in a Maggot explosion counts as 1 hit per enemy.
When a maggot host is killed by maggot bites, the host and any nearby enemy will count towards Mutation.
When a maggot host is killed by other sources than maggot bites, the host itself is not an eligible target and will not count towards Mutation.
When a maggot host is hit or killed by Virulence, the host itself is an eligible target and will count as 2 hits, one from Virulence and the other from the explosion of a single Maggot that was attached.
If multiple maggots were attached to the same host, each maggot explosion will score 1 hit on the host.
Health regen per second and Maggot explosion and Toxin damage are calculated and predetermined when Ravenous is cast. All three will not be recalculated if any changes in Ability Strength and 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.
Upon refresh, timer on the ability icon will continue countdown from previous remaining duration to 0, but spawning ground will not vanish until the newly refreshed duration expires.
Maggot explosion and Toxin damage and health regen rate 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 and health regen rate 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 1000 and draw enemy aggro.
Maggot health is not affected by Ability Strength or 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 are considered friendly to the Tenno.
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.
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.
Nests also serve to maintain the Infestation. If a Nullifier bubble comes in contact with a nest, it will dissipate; when all three infested nests are dissipated, Ravenous will expire automatically.
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.
Energy Conversion and/or Growing Power synergize well with Ravenous, especially if players are planning on camping a specific area as players will only need to cast Ravenous once with either's buff active and simply refresh Ravenous' duration to keep the buffed maggot damage and health regen rate active.
Constantly detonating Maggots using Virulence helps maximize damage output and Mutation gained as Maggots will continuously respawn throughout the duration of Ravenous.
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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:
