Jade is our 57th Frame to be added to Warframe, and brings an interesting aerial style of gameplay. All angelic and divine, she floats above the battlefield, raining destruction down on her enemies while making sure allies are safe and hitting back hard.
The playstyle for Jade is nice and simple. Select which song you wish to use on your second ability, and fire up your third ability to slow enemies and reduce defenses. Mark them up with your first ability, and then nuke them from above with the alt-fire of your fourth ability. You’ll need to be mindful of your overall energy use and ensure you don’t take too much incoming damage. You’ll find two builds below to help mitigate both of these issues, one for early game players and one that should act as a great base for experimentation for Steel Path enjoyers.
A good beginner Jade build
For this build, we are not going to have any Helminth ability swapping or Archon shards. We will focus on those for a later game build further down. This build should be doable for newer players, and give you a lot to work with. Remember, Jade can equip two Aura mods, so don’t let that confuse you.
I’d argue that the first four mods of Continuity, Intensify, Flow, and Stretch are basic mods that you can use on almost any Warframe and any build as a new player. This build also doesn’t include any Arcanes, although Arcane Energize would keep you well topped up with even more energy
| Mod | Effect |
|---|---|
| Aura Mod – Corrosive Projection | Reduces enemy armor by 18% at full rank. |
| Aura Mod – Pistol Amp | Increase exalted weapon damage as it is considered a pistol. |
| Exilus Slot | Aviator for damage reduction while airborne. |
| Continuity | A +30% increase to ability duration but it will also decrease energy drain from activity abilities. |
| Intensify | Increase overall ability strength. |
| Flow | Gives you a larger energy pool to drawn from. |
| Stretch | Increases the range of your abilities. |
| Redirection | Gives you a much bigger shield pool. |
| Equilibrium | Gives you a larger energy pool to draw from. |
| Augur Message/Streamline | Increases your ability duration further (and stacks with continuity). A small percentage of spent energy is also converted to shields. Streamline will just give a reduction in energy usage, but switch these out to your preference. |
| Player’s Choice | This is an empty slot where you can put something that will cover a weakness you perceive in the build. You can add more ability strength with Augur Secrets or ability range with Augur Reach |
Now, as well as the Warframe build, you will also need to build her Exactled weapon, Glory. By using the alt-fire in this mod, we can do a lot of damage to any marked enemies. You can use her first ability to mark lots of enemies below you, then nuke them with Glory.
This should be cheap enough to do with the following mods. Once again, the first four are all pretty standard mods for any pistol build and will give us a great base of damage, critical chance, multishot, and fire rate.
- Hornet Strike
- Target Cracker
- Barrel Diffusion
- Lethal Torrent
- Anemic Agility
Anemic Agility will cost us a little damage for a vastly improved rate of fire, giving us a better pure DPS number. The last three slots should be dedicated to damage types that suit the enemy you are facing. These can be a mix of elements that will work well against the faction you are playing, or perhaps a faction mod to really double down on it, as they are quite powerful in the game.
Jade Steel Path Build
I do not think you need to subsume anything on Jade, as the kit all works very well together and nothing feels weak right now. This might change in the future, but for now, I really like the kit. Arances are Molt Augmented for more ability power and Arcane Avenger for increased criticals from the exalted weapon.
| Mod | Effect |
|---|---|
| Aura Mod – Aerodynamic | Incoming damage reduction! You will want this all stacked up on Steel Path. |
| Aura Mod – Growing Power | Increase ability strength by 25% for 6 seconds after causing a status effect with a weapon. |
| Exilus Slot – Aviator | Damage reduction while airborne. |
| Primed Continuity | A huge increase to ability duration and still it will also decrease energy drain from activity abilities. |
| Umbral Intensify | Increase overall ability strength. |
| Primed Redirection | Max those shields. |
| Stretch | Increases the range of your abilities. |
| Fast Deflection | Increase the recharge of your shields. |
| Equilibrium | Picking up health orbs also gives energy, and picking up energy orbs also gives health. |
| Adaptation | Further damage reduction. |
| Transient Fortitude | Pick up health orbs also gives energy, and picking up energy orbs also gives health. |
The Glory build for this a very standard Pistol build with no real surprises.
- Hornet Strike
- Primed Target Cracker
- Prime Pistol Gambit
- Galvanized Diffusion
- Lethal Torrent
After that, take the elemental mods that suit your opponents. This build is really just a platform from which to start experimenting and find something that really works for you. I’ve noticed a pretty big variety of builds for this Warframe out there already, although this is the one I have settled on for myself.
All Jade Abilities
| Passive – The Anointed | Jade’s profound understanding of the relationship between life and death grants her two Aura Mod Slots. |
| Light’s Judgement | Create a well of light that heals allies and hurts enemies. Those who enter the well will be surrounded by Judgements. |
| Symphony of Mercy | Cycle through three songs that strengthen allies: Power of the Seven increases Ability Strength by +30 percent. Deathbringer increases Weapon Damage by +100 percent. Spirit of Resilience increases Shield Regeneration by +25 percent. Extend the duration of each song by killing enemies surrounded by Blessings. |
| Ophanim Eyes | Jade summons an accusatory gaze that slows nearby enemies and dissolves their armor. When the gaze falls upon allies, they can be revived from a distance. |
| Glory on High | Soar with destructive power. Use alternate-fire to detonate Judgments, causing an explosion of Jade Light. Enemies affected by Light’s Judgment strengthen the explosion. |
