Full Build Friday - Khora [Anadi Ranger] (Patreon)

People asked for more Warframes, and I have acquiesced! Honestly, the 'frames can be a little hard to build at times. They aren't as incongruous as character from DotA can be, but the mix of metal whips and wires with the command of a cat-like companion seems a strange combination to me. Nevertheless, I had fun with this build and I do have more planned!

As always, this build is conceptualized entirely in a vacuum, with choices made in my best attempt to fit the character. These choices may not hold up in a campaign with different themes and should be adjusted accordingly.

Let's get whipped into shape with Khora from Warframe!

KHORA

SOURCE Warframe

BUILD GOALS

o    A Warframe that is themed around being a beastmaster, spiders, and bondage

o    Khora’s passive provides her with Venari, a ferocious, cat-like creature that fights alongside her and increases her sprint speed

o    With the Whipclaw, Khora lashes out with a whip that hits hard enough to create an explosion

o    She can hold enemies in place with Ensnare, trapping them and others who move to close. Hitting Ensnared enemies with the Whipclaw deals more damage and extends the duration

o    Vernari can be further commanded to attack where she will deal more damage to Ensnared foes, protect to knock down and disarm an enemy, or heal to restore others

o    Her ultimate is Strangledome, which creates a dome of living chain to ensnare and strangle enemies to death, encouraging their comrades to hasten their end

o    Through her unique augments, Khora can increase the damage from hitting multiple foes with Whipclaw, have Venari die in her place, and loot more enemies held in the Strangledome

Summary of Goals: Khora shares a close bond with her companion, Venari, which itself is a skilled and capable pet. She accompanies this Catwoman-esque theming with a whip that she uses and is often enhanced by interacting with her other abilities. She excels at locking foes with her Ensnare and Strangledome, which are flavored as strangling chains of living metal.

LEVEL 1

Ancestry & Heritage: Adaptive Anadi – Human

o    Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Dexterity, +Wisdom, -Constitution, +Strength

o    Ancestry Feat: Web Walker

Background: Animal Whisperer

o    Ability Boosts: +Wisdom, +Dexterity

o    Skill Increase: Nature (T), Plains Lore (T)

o    Background Feat: Train Animal

Class & Subclass: Vindicator Ranger

o    Class Ability Boost: +Dexterity

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (T), Athletics (T), Religion (T), Stealth (T), Survival (T), Thievery (T)

o    Class Feat: Animal Companion – Cat

o    Gear: whip, leather armor

Details

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom (Str +2, Dex +4, Con +0, Int +0, Wis +2, Cha +0)

I’m going to leverage the faint arachnid themes in Khora’s design to warrant the use of the anadi ancestry though she will also be using the adaptive heritage to gain Adopted Ancestry for the human ancestry. While somewhat irrelevant right now, it will come up big later in the build. As for her background, it can be difficult to figure out such options for Warframes, but I think animal whisperer fits in nicely given the closeness she has with her exalted khavat. A little bit along those lines is also the use of the ranger class though to best cover certain aspects of her kit, we will actually want the Vindicator archetype and its hunter’s edge. Part of the reasoning behind wanting to use the ranger was that it allowed us immediate access to the Animal Companion feat, which can be used to gain a cat companion in the vein of Venari. With her being a vindicator, it will actually be important to reference a deity for her, and I think there’s a pretty easy option in the Golarion pantheon in the form of Calistria. The favored weapon of this goddess is the whip, which works nicely for Khora that you may want to carry a scorpion whip as a backup weapon for foes that can’t be affected by her whip’s nonlethal damage.

LEVEL 2

o    Class Feat: Vindicator Dedication

o    Skill Feat: Quick Jump

o    Gear: cloak of feline rest

LEVEL 3

o    General Feat: Fleet

o    Skill Increase: Athletics (E)

o    Gear: +1 whip, cloak of feline rest, ring of discretion

LEVEL 4

o    Class Feat: Domain Initiate – Pain

o    Skill Feat: Powerful Leap

o    Gear: bracelet of dashing, +1 whip, necklace of knives, cloak of feline rest

LEVEL 5

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +3, Dex +4.5, Con +0, Int +0, Wis +4, Cha +1)

o    Ancestry Feat: Hybrid Shape

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (E)

o    Gear: +1 striking whip, bracelet of dashing, golden legion epaulet, necklace of knives, cloak of feline rest, ring of discretion

I am not particularly impressed with the actual effects of the Vindicator Dedication, but I do like its Domain Initiate for Calistria’s pain domain. Through this domain, she is granted a spell that agonizes her enemies and gives Khora a bonus on attacks against them, which takes a little inspiration from the way that her Ensnare enhances the attacks from her Whipclaw. Her skill feats lean more into the general operation of Warframes with Quick Jump and Powerful Leap, and Fleet also falls under that idea. Hybrid Shape is simply a handy effect that can let her make the most of her ancestry.

LEVEL 6

o    Class Feat: Mature Animal Companion

o    Skill Feat: Cat Fall

o    Gear: +1 leather, +1 striking whip, hosteling statuette, bracelet of dashing, Jack’s tattered cape, necklace of knives

LEVEL 7

o    General Feat: Incredible Initiative

o    Skill Increase: Athletics (M)

o    Gear: lesser grub gloves, +1 leather, motivating treat bag, +1 striking whip, bracelet of dashing, golden legion epaulet

LEVEL 8

o    Class Feat: Companion’s Cry

o    Skill Feat: Wall Jump

o    Gear: alacritous horseshoes, vaultbreaker’s harness, lesser grub gloves, +1 leather, +1 striking whip, hosteling statuette

LEVEL 9

o    Ancestry Feat: Multitalented – Cleric Dedication

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (M), Deception (T), Medicine (T)

o    Gear: +1 resilient leather, alacritous horseshoes, boots of bounding, lesser grub gloves, motivating treat bag, +1 striking whip

LEVEL 10

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +4, Dex +5, Con +0, Int +0, Wis +4.5, Cha +2)

o    Class Feat: Vindicator’s Judgment

o    Skill Feat: Kip Up

o    Gear: greater killer’s belt, +1 resilient leather, corrosive weapon rune, alacritous horseshoes, lesser grub gloves, +1 striking whip

This block features a bit more on Venari, both by generally enhancing her through Mature Animal Companion and giving her more ability to act through Companion’s Cry. On paper, this could resemble the actual Venari ability as Khora issues more complex commands, but I’m not sure how much she’ll use it as she levels. She does return to her archetype for Vindicator’s Judgment so that she can inflict a weakness on a foe that is again inspired by her Ensnare. She can also bring the human ancestry to bear by finally taking the Multitalented feat so that she can pick up a Cleric Dedication. She’s already got a god to follow, but she’ll need spells to recreate a number of her effects. This fortunately will give her divine spells, which she can take advantage of with her vindicator’s edge. As for her skill feats, Cat Fall, Wall Jump, and Kip Up are all very Warframe-coded in regards to the movement regularly demonstrated in the game.

LEVEL 11

o    General Feat: Feather Step

o    Skill Increase: Religion (E)

o    Gear: +2 striking whip, armbands of athleticism, greater killer’s belt, +1 resilient leather, alacritous horseshoes, boots of bounding

LEVEL 12

o    Class Feat: Incredible Companion

o    Skill Feat: Rolling Landing

o    Gear: +2 resilient leather, +2 striking whip, barding of the zephyr, greater killer’s belt, corrosive weapon rune, greater boots of the secret blade

LEVEL 13

o    Ancestry Feat: Webslinger

o    Skill Increase: Religion (M)

o    Gear: +2 greater striking whip, +2 resilient leather, greater rooting weapon rune, barding of the zephyr, armbands of athleticism, greater killer’s belt

LEVEL 14

o    Class Feat: Basic Cleric Spellcasting

o    Skill Feat: Rapid Mantel

o    Gear: propulsive boots, +2 greater striking whip, cloak of devouring thorns, +2 resilient leather, daredevil boots, barding of the zephyr

LEVEL 15

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +4.5, Dex +5.5, Con +0, Int +0, Wis +5, Cha +3)

o    General Feat: Toughness

o    Skill Increase: Athletics (L)

o    Gear: +2 greater resilient leather, keen weapon rune, propulsive boots, +2 greater striking whip, greater rooting weapon rune, greater ash gown

While we did just crack into the cleric archetype, Venari remains more important to the core of Khora’s kit and theme, and so Incredible Companion will take priority. I’d likely build Venari as a nimble companion as it just seems to fit her the best. After that is covered, she can take Basic Cleric Spellcasting, which allows her to grab some low-rank spells. She’s mainly look to use these to replicate her Ensnare and then her Strangledome but will likely have to rely on the feels and effects of those abilities rather than the visual effects. For example, Ensnare at its core limits the actions of enemies. So options such as command that usurp their actions (and fit her dominatrix theme) or infectious ennui that slow them and make them more vulnerable through frightened will have to serve in the place of the metal mesh she usually wields. The ‘infectious’ aspect also works nicely for her Ensnare. She can explore the idea a little bit with Webslinger, which allows her to cast web once per 10 minutes to create an area of zone control, but it doesn’t have the eponymous effect of the Strangledome. I did include more mobility in this block with Feather Step, Rolling Landing, and Rapid Mantel, which are all further meant to resemble her being a Warframe.

LEVEL 16

o    Class Feat: Specialized Companion

o    Skill Feat: Cloud Jump

o    Gear: greater corrosive weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather, greater alacritous horseshoes, propulsive boots, +2 greater striking whip, cloak of devouring thorns

LEVEL 17

o    Ancestry Feat: Strand Strider

o    Skill Increase: Acrobatics (L)

o    Gear: +3 greater striking whip, wand of toxic blades (6th-rank), greater corrosive weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather, keen weapon rune, propulsive boots

LEVEL 18

o    Class Feat: Expert Cleric Spellcasting

o    Skill Feat: Battle Medicine

o    Gear: cloak of swiftness, +3 greater striking whip, quickstrike weapon rune, greater corrosive weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather, greater alacritous horseshoes

LEVEL 19

o    General Feat: Robust Health

o    Skill Increase: Religion (L)

o    Gear: +3 greater resilient leather, cloak of swiftness, wand of toxic blades (7th-rank), +3 greater striking whip, greater thunderblast slippers, greater corrosive weapon rune

LEVEL 20

o    Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Charisma (Str +5, Dex +6, Con +1, Int +0, Wis +5, Cha +4)

o    Class Feat: Master Cleric Spellcasting

o    Skill Feat: Tumbling Teamwork

o    Gear: +3 major striking whip, +3 greater resilient leather, mercurial mantle, wand of toxic blades (7th-rank), quickstrike weapon rune, greater ashen weapon rune

Once more, we have to take Specialized Companion for Venari before we can grab any archetype options. Ambusher is your most optimal option, but bully may work best to represent Venari when she’s commanded to Protect and knocks foes about. We can then start picking up more spells with Expert and Master Cleric Spellcasting. This could let her use vampiric maiden, which does fit her Ensnare a bit better, or confusing cry, which would be the first means of representing her Strangledome. This only stuns enemies on a crit fail, but the emanation nature of it as well as the fact that it can lead to foes attacking each other is a pretty solid grab. Also along those lines is blessed boundary. This was actually one of the spells that tilted me towards building Khora as a divine caster as its description does feel like it works for the Strangledome and its edge is described as shards. It pushes foes away rather than entrapping them, but the idea is there. She has some more mobility options from her skill feats, but I also squeezed in a Battle Medicine. This might be a case of too little too late, but Venari does have a healing function. I obviously can’t have Venari actually provide that effect, but I can do this as a little something to represent it.

FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: This build already makes use of a few archetypes and getting them for free would be a big boon. The only vindicator feat that really stands out to me is Call the Hunt and Silence the Profane while a cleric archetype would be most useful for gaining Divine Breadth and thus more spells. It may also be worth dipping into the Bounty Hunter Dedication if only to take Tools of the Trade to enhance her infamous whip. Interestingly, she would benefit even from taking the first feat in the archetype as that would grant her the Monster Hunter feat, which is at least handy.

BUILD CONCLUSION

Khora is an adaptive anadi vindicator ranger whose background as an animal whisperer reflects her close, catty companion, Venari. When accompanied by Venari, who is represented through a cat animal companion, Khora moves a bit faster, which we can demonstrate through Fleet and other mobility-based skill and general feats. Her Whipclaw ability inspires her primary weapon, which also comes from the Calistria deity she worships. For the burst this creates, noise blast is likely your best bet and is something that Khora can make enemies more vulnerable to through her vindicator archetype. She likely relies on further spells to simulate her Ensnare with the spreading and action limiting effects of infectious ennui being a prime example though vampiric maiden is also great against a singular victim. We can also look at representing the enhanced damage from Whipclaw against ensnared enemies through the vindicator’s judgement focus, which afflicts her hunted prey with a weakness. Regarding Venari once more, this khavat is an adaptable combatant that can focus on attacking foes, debilitating them, or healing allies. The first is quite easy and well-suited for the cat, which gets extra damage against off-guard foes, and the second can either be covered by boosting Venari’s Athletics a bit or using her support function. Sadly, she doesn’t have a means of healing others, though Khora can get a little Medicine herself and pick up the Battle Medicine skill feat or even just use the heal spell. We have a few options for her Strangledome as none really completely fit. Webslinger to get free castings of web is a great way to create some general lockdown, confusing cry can cause enemies to start shooting at each other, and blessed boundary creates the field that damages and can limit the movement of foes. She takes a slight investment in Thievery inspired by her Strangledome squeezing more loot out of its victims, but isn’t able to invest in it as heavily as I’d like.

A bit of a baddie, this bot binds brigands in bountiful brands before beseeching her bestial buddy to bound into the brouhaha and bring such blameful bad guys to a brutal bloodbath.

Have a fantastic Friday!