A Ramble About Animation Sets – Which Animation Sets are Good or Bad

Animation sets are an interesting little idea. Each frame has their own personality, their own way that they stand. While the way a frame holds a weapon or idles is simple, it does make every frame more unique. We always get two: an agile and a noble animation set. And, over time, these animation sets have become more fancy. But the more interesting thing is that you can purchase these. You can buy a set and apply it on any frame you like.

Of course, some of these are more more popular than others. And, of course, I have a lot of opinions about them.

Overused Tier – Wisp and Titania

By far the most-used sets I’ve seen are that of Wisp and Titania. There’s almost always a bunch of people using these two animation sets, and not just on female frames. I can see why though. These sets do look very nice. The Wisp animations in particular have really nice effects that are visible on all frames.

But the big problem with these is that no one floats aside from Wisp and Titania. So everyone else will awkwardly switch between floating and hovering and walking on their feet. As nice as these sets are, I just hate that awkward switch.

Harrow’s noble animation set is also rather overused but for a different reason. It’s a pretty simple, badass-looking stance. One that looks both natural and cool. However Harrow Noble has the same problem Titania’s animations have. You can’t see the additional parts (in this case, Harrow’s incense) so it just looks… weird whenever other frames do the idle animation.

More Rounded Looks

If you’re looking for something that’s a bit less overused, there are plenty of options for the strong, super-hero-like pose. One of my personal favourites is Gara Noble, which is a pretty elegant look for both female and thinner male frames. Khora and Mirage Noble are also nice for female frames, but work less well as more generic looks.

For male frames, I’ve always liked the look of the Hydroid and Ash Noble sets. While they aren’t particularly fancy, they are generic enough that they work on pretty much any Warframe, male or female.

Bouncy Animation Sets

We also have a bunch of more bouncy animation sets, where the Warframe in question will dance around rather enthusiastically. There are actually quite a few of these. Atlas, Nezha and Wukong all have very mobile animation sets, as does Gauss. But the female side is a little bit lacking, because the more mobile sets belong to Titania and Wisp. That being said, the Octavia Noble set is a good, bouncy compromise if you don’t want to be floating.

The Equinox animation sets all fall into this category as well and work well as a nice budget option. Because, for some reason, the Day and Night sets only cost 35 platinum instead of 30. They do however lean heavily to one side or the other. Which leads to the next problem.

The Weird Looks

Then you have sets that… just seem a bit weird. The biggest offender here is the Limbo Agile animation set. But I find a LOT of agile animation sets in particular have weird posing, making your Warframe lean too forward far or back. Excalibur Zato is also a big offender here. While it looks cool smoking a pipe, your Warframe is permanently at a weird angle in both agile and noble animation sets.

Excalibur Umbra – The Budget Option

Luckily, if you are really, really low on Platinum, there’s a really damn good option for pretty much everyone: Excalibur Umbra Noble. While the pose is a little too… angry for some of the skinnier female frames, Excalibur Umbra Noble fits on pretty much anyone. In fact, I actually find it fits Nidus more than Nidus’s own animation set. Which is weird.

The bigger problem

There’s a much larger problem with animation sets though. No matter what animation set you have, there’s basically no blending. The issue you see is that of the Wisp/Titania animation sets but for everyone. So you go from whatever pose you are using to the standard walking and running animations, with nothing in between.

You tend not to notice it all the time, especially when you’re busy shooting stuff. But in relays and the like? It’s almost off-putting. And it really, really tends to ruin one’s fashionframe. Especially in the places where fashionframe is most obvious.