Warframe Devstream 197 has just come to us live from Seoul, Korea, and Digital Extremes has plenty of exciting news to dig through. All eyes are inevitably on our long-awaited journey to the Tau System this winter, but before we can get to that, Game Director Rebecca Ford wants us to focus on “something that must be addressed before we leave the Origin System.” Along with confirming the Iceblade of Narin release date for later this month, DE also announces a ‘Taubound’ event that will “open the path” to our next destination – and you can start getting in on the action right now.
The new Warframe event is called Epoch Operation: Taubound, and it’ll be running from Thursday October 15 until Tuesday November 17. The Tenno will be visiting mission nodes across Eris in order to gather supplies for Praghasa, who is assisting us in opening a path to the Tau System. You’ll be able to earn “unique, event-exclusive rewards” for taking part, along with getting “daily narrative updates.” If that sounds interesting, be sure to turn up between those dates, because DE says there will be “no reruns” of this event ever.
“You will not be able to visit Praghasa for her Epoch Operation dialogue or rewards again once it is concluded.” Don’t worry if you aren’t caught up yet, though – standard requirements are being lifted while the event is on, and you’ll be able to access Eris as long as you’ve completed the Vor’s Prize mission. That’s part of the opening tutorial, so literally anyone who wants to get involved will be able to do so. You will have to finish both The Hex and The Old Peace in order to start the separate Tau Prologue quest line that arrives on the same day, however, but this won’t go away when the event ends.
If you can’t wait until October to get the first taste of Tau, you can jump over to the Taubound teaser website right now. Log in with your active Warframe account and you’ll be presented with a number of in-game challenges to complete, earning yourself an Honoria if you finish them all. I haven’t had a chance to jump in myself, but players who have report that the steps are: Kill Captain Vor, give a fish to Hai Luk, get an Argon Crystal, feed the Helminth, and complete Copernicus on Lua.
The other big step towards Tau is Iceblade of Narin. This introduces our 66th Warframe, Narin, alongside a Banshee rework – and to celebrate that latter part, you can snag a base Banshee frame for free when the update arrives. There are also more quality-of-life changes on the cards, including the addition of stat locking and stat combining for Riven mods, and improved shaders for both metal tinting and for Operator and Drifter hair.
Design Director Pablo Alonso gives us a closer look at Narin’s abilities, and how this first ice-themed female Warframe plays. Her first tool is a barrage of icicles that freeze enemies and add puncture. Her second skill sucks enemy cold procs back in to regen your own shields and apply the extra as overguard. She takes flight with her third ability, then crashes onto a target area to apply a whirling circle of cold, which also makes victims inside more vulnerable to any sources of cold damage.
Rounding things out is her final trick, an elegant sword dance where Narin slides around the battlefield, circled again by a frosty effect. Nearby enemies will be marked, allowing you to target them and throw your sword in their direction. The flight ability can also be used while her sword dance is active if you want to reposition and apply even more of those tasty vulnerabilities to make the most of her flashy moves.
We’ve also got the Banshee rework. Her passive causes all of her skill casts to burst the ears of nearby opponents, applying five stacks of puncture. Her Sonic Boom can now be used while moving, and pushes enemies instead of ragdolling them to make follow-up attacks easier. Its armor stripping augment is now applied by default, and the new augment instead applies some of that back onto you as protection.
Sonar’s weak points are now treated as “actual weak points,” and shooting them with an Incarnon will charge it, along with supporting other arcanes and mods that work based on weak points. Silence can be cast while moving, and it can be recast. Finally, Sound Quake’s area of effect is now placed at a fixed location independent of Banshee, allowing you to move freely. “If you want to shoot some fools, shoot some fools!”
The Warframe Iceblade of Narin update releases on Wednesday September 23. You can play for free via Steam, the Epic Games Store, or DE’s standalone launcher. Log in between September 23 and October 7, and you’ll get the Banshee Warframe for free.
