O Fortuna: Overview and First Impressions
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Garuda’s talons in action.
Fast facts
The new open-world area, Orb Vallis, is three times the size of Plains of Eidolon
The grind for standing has been eased
Mining has been streamlined
New companion set mods
New Garuda warframe with signature crossbow and syandana
Buildable MOA companion with unique mods
Buildable secondary weapons: Kitguns
Buildable hoverboards: K-Drives
Brand new Corpus-themed weapons
New Operator armor sets
Digital Extremes unleashes their sophomore ‘open-world’ effort for Warframe in the form of Fortuna. Both the name of the content patch and the brand-new hub city, Fortuna grants players access to Orb Vallis. While The Plains of Eidolon was filled with lush greenery and picturesque cliffs, Orb Vallis is a frigid wasteland - the byproduct of an abandoned terraforming venture by the Orokin Empire. In this snowscape, Tenno are tasked with aiding the Solaris United, a collective of slaves under the oppressive thumb of Nef Anyo’s Corpus faction.
A look at Fortuna from the outside.
Snowpiercer
Fortuna, a bleak underground facility with a damp and claustrophobic atmosphere that’s reminiscent of NERV HQ from Neon Genesis Evangelion and the multiple Belter colonies in The Expanse. While Digital Extremes decided to make Cetus a wide, sprawling city, Fortuna on the other hand is relatively compact, taking heavy cues from the established Warframe lore, and using verticality as a primary design concept.
After taking an elevator up to the surface, Tenno can explore the snowy wasteland known as Orb Vallis. Three times the size of The Plains of Eidolon, Orb Vallis is vast in both surface area and depth, with most caves and Corpus facilities stretching deep underground. At first glance, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the snow and the sameness of the landscape, something even veterans of The Plains of Eidolon might find a little jarring (using an overlay map helps a lot with acclimating). The abundance of bright white scenery might be straining for some folks; they might want to use a blue light filter to reduce eye strain.
Digital Extremes has learned a lot in the past year, and while Orb Vallis is vast, the world feels a little more lived-in than The Plains. Big Corpus facilities dot the map, with quite a few Corpus patrols roaming the area. In Vallis, Tenno are able to take part in bounties without having to return to Fortuna - a great quality of life improvement from the old system. But while you can stay out in the world longer, the more actions you take against Nef Anyo can and will make your life harder, as Tenno now gain “wanted levels” a la Grand Theft Auto. You can hide and lay low to lower your wanted level, or amp it up to make things exciting!
While Plains of Eidolon was a venerable grind-fest nightmare, Fortuna takes a step back and eases up on the grind with the aid of Ticker, a sassy Solaris United bondsman that sells you his compatriots’ debt in exchange for standing. Tenno who’ve amassed Vitus Essence can buy a reusable ayatan amber star blueprint from the arbitration vendor, easing the endo grind.
Make your own MOA in Fortuna.
Pet Shop of Horrors
Fortuna opens up a new open world and new opportunities for our beloved pets! In this patch, all three of our companion types gain access to set mods that further augment their abilities.
New and veteran players that prefer space doggos and space kitties over sentinels, rejoice! The brand new “Fetch” mod allows our furry friends to scoop up loot like their mechanical counterparts, allowing you to bring them along without worrying about missing out on goodies!
Buildable MOA companions are also a thing in Fortuna, finally granting players access to a fully-customizable companion at the cost of crafting materials and standing points. MOAs have access to mods from both robotic (sentinel) and organic (kubrow/kavat) companions like Vacuum and the various “Link” mods, as well as their own MOA-only mods such as Stasis Field and Hacker. They are also able to use any of the sentinel weapons, and mimic their master’s movements to an extent (they crouch or crawl when the player does).
The Oxylus is a new Corpus-themed sentinel that can help players look for materials and wildlife. It comes with its own armor-piercing rifle that’s not half-bad, though it isn’t worth writing home about.
Fishing in Fortuna. Why not.
Fast Times at Orb Vallis High
Maybe you want to take a break from all the fighting and grinding? Maybe all you want to do is relax and listen to the TMG Podcast while doing mindless busywork? Fortuna has you covered! Fishing and mining make a comeback with brand new ores to mine and robotic fish to... fish. Mining has also been streamlined, so folks with shaky hands need not worry about missing out on ore. Folks with a trigger finger, on the other hand...
Fortuna also brings out the inner-hunter in Tenno with the “Track and Tranq” side quest. Eager Tenno can search Orb Vallis for animal droppings and track down local fauna to tranq and ship back to the city for preservation, and those sweet sweet standing points. Collectors can also buy plushies of the critters they’ve caught to be proudly displayed on their ship.
Seeing as how Atlus hasn’t released a new Snowboard Kids game in ages, players can relive the downhill fun with the Vent Kids and their K-Drives! This brand new mode of transport, while not as effective for closing distances as an Archwing, is a hell of a lot more fun, allowing players to perform flips, grind, and even enter combat while speeding along the snowscape. Players can meet the Vent Kids by entering a vent on the second floor of the western wall of Fortuna. Orphaned by the Corpus, these scrappy kids become new vendors for Tenno to befriend, allowing access to a wider set of parts for customizing K-Drives.
Garuda equipped with the new crossbow, the Nagantaka.
Warframe Lied
Ever wonder what it would happen if a Warrior and a Death Knight (World of Warcraft) had a baby? Well, you don’t have to wonder anymore, since that basically describes Garuda. This frame’s kit revolves around losing and gaining health, with her passive being a damage boost in direct proportion to how much health you have (or don’t have); the lower your health, the higher the damage boost. She also has a secondary passive ability that allows players to use her talons as melee weapons if none are currently equipped.
Dread Mirror is a leap attack that deals a bit of damage and knocks down its target, opening it up for a finisher or executing it at <=35% health. Dread Mirror then produces a frontal shield for Garuda that absorbs incoming frontal damage and stores it in the “Dread Heart”, a bloody orb that floats atop Garuda and can be charged and lobbed at a group of enemies for area of effect damage that guarantees impact procs (knockback/knockdown). This spell is a single-handed action, allowing players to use it on the fly to close gaps, instantly kill a weak enemy, or make a quick escape. Charging the Dread Heart increases damage at the cost of more energy.
Blood Altar is another leap attack that impales the target, causing it to heal Garuda and her teammates for a percentage of their health per second for the duration of the spell.
Bloodletting converts a portion of Garuda’s health into energy. We wouldn’t advise using this back-to-back as it opens you up to being one-shotted by enemies. However, this does synergize with Blood Altar, allowing you to refill both health and energy quickly.
Seeking Talons sends Garuda’s talons off to a targeted location, dealing slash damage to enemies that come in contact and leaving surviving enemies prone to slash pros from your weapons (bleeding). Charging this attack widens its radius at the cost of more energy.
Garuda’s kit makes her exceptionally strong as a melee frame, with access to two gap closers, an execute, a heal, resource conversion, and on-demand impact and slash procs. Her talons, while slow, have a high base status chance of 30%, making it a strong candidate for a “Condition Overload” and “Healing Return” build (you can get 100% status chance with all four dual-stat mods equipped). The talon stances “Malicious Raptor” and “Four Riders” also give access to on-demand slash procs, making “Relentless Combination” a good choice for stacking your combo multiplier.
The Garuda Collection comes with her signature Naganataka crossbow, her Bathory alternate helmet, the Suparna syandana, and three day affinity and credit boosters.
Customize your own “Kitguns” in Fortuna.
Tower Heist
Along with this patch are a slew of brand new shinies for eager players to grab a hold of!
The moment every loyal Tenno has been waiting for is here! Along with all the rest of the goodies in Fortuna, players can now build their own secondary weapons from the ground up! Zuud’s Murderizers enable players to mix and match various parts to craft their custom “Kitguns”; it’s similar to how zaws (custom melee weapons from Plains of Eidolon) are crafted.
The Nagantaka is a semi-automatic slash-heavy crossbow with an alternate burst fire that shoots out all of your bolts in one go. This weapon has a low base crit chance at 15% with a high base status chance at 39%, allowing players to hit 100% status chance with only three dual-stat mods. Each bolt has a chance for slash procs, and headshots have a chance to speed up reloads.
Garuda equipped with a Battacor.
The Battacor is a high crit chance burst-fire rifle that stacks up charges for each kill it makes, eventually unloading a powered-up shot at maximum charge. This Corpus-made, Sentient-infused rifle has a high base crit chance of 32% and a base crit damage of 2.4x, making it a prime candidate for a “Hunter Munitions” and “Argon Scope” build.
The Ocucor is a Corpus beam pistol infused with Sentient technology that sends out a tendril to mark its next prey after it kills. With a decent balance between crit and status, this weapon can be built as a critical-status weapon, similar to the Atomos.
The Kreska is a Corpus machete with a decent riven disposition, innate heat damage, and a decent base status chance of 22%. Machetes have a fairly bad rep in Warframe for being cumbersome, and this doesn’t really do anything to dispel that reputation.
Four new Solaris United-inspired Operator armor sets are now in-game, for “fashion frame” players to toy around with!
My customized Garuda.
Curb Your Enthusiasm
The hype generated regarding Fortuna is real, and the folks over at Digital Extremes have outdone themselves yet again. At a glance, the myriad of new things Fortuna brings to Warframe might be daunting, but that’s just par for the course. The only thing anyone (even veterans) can do is take the grind in stride and make the most out of the experience. Happy hunting, Tenno!
I got to talk with the developers of Fallen Tear: The Ascension and I emerged from the interview not only intrigued by what they are creating but also impressed by the passion the developers infused into the project.