An Article in Which Medic Reworks Companions in Warframe

In Warframe, you’re not alone. Every Tenno deserves a companion by their side, to follow them across the solar system. However, many of our companions are left to gather dust. Only a handful are actually helpful, and the majority of helpful companions are Kavats. Which is a shame since we have so many companions to play around with. I think a companion and pet rework would be a good idea, especially since everyone just uses the same handful of companions. After all, why would you want a robotic hound that splits into three and tries to attack enemies, when you can get random buffs from Smeeta Kavats?

So here are some… rework suggestions.

Allow us to command companions

When you throw a Specter, whether it’s a Warframe or not, you can loosely control what you want them to do. By pressing your use button on them, you can command a Specter to stay in one place, or have them follow you around. For reasons unknown, this feature is completely missing from actual living companions. At the very least, the stay and follow commands should be put on companions.

Ideally though, we probably need a more diverse way of commanding companions. A little menu, similar to the Gear/Emote menu, could work. With it, we could give Companions more to do, by telling them who you want to attack, when to stop and when to teleport back to your side. Venari, Khora’s personal Kavat, can switch forms and can be commanded to attack enemies, so why not all other companions?

Once you’ve unlocked one, you should be able to mix and match abilities

When Hounds were released among Sisters of Parvos, we ended up with three models with interchangeable parts and mods. But honestly the parts all seemed kinda cosmetic, and their abilities aren’t amazing. But overall, the three Hound models are all pretty damn similar, and you can mix and change mods. Why not have this for all companions? After all, standard Kubrows and Kavats all use the same models, but you can only use their mods on specific breeds.

Really, companions should be more like Landing Crafts. With a Landing Craft, you can choose what model you want, what skin you want and what special ability the ship has, as long as you’ve unlocked them all. Companions should be the same.

While we’re at it, we kinda need more customization for companions too. Currently, there are only a small number of skins for only a handful of companions. I don’t see why we can only use the Moonless Kavat skin on Smeeta, Ardaza and Vasca Kavats. Same goes for the Predasites. We already have skins for normal Kubrows AND Helminth Chargers. Why can’t we use these on Hounds and Predasites?

All Companions should go into bleed out.

Currently, if your pet dies, it’s gone until you extract. But most companions have a bleed out timer, so you can revive a pet and continue. While you can revive Kavats, Kubrows, Hounds and MOAs, you can’t revive Sentinels. The only way of bringing a Sentinel back from the grave is to have a handful of VERY niche mods, or to kill and revive yourself. Sure, one Sentinel has a mod to revive itself after 60 seconds, but what about other Sentinels?

It’s made worse by the fact that companions attract a lot of aggression from enemies. If you ever leave your Warframe to use your operator, enemies will start firing and attacking your Sentinel or companion instead. In high level missions, your Sentinel will die with ease.

On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, Vulpaphylla Kavats don’t normally die. Instead, they return to their baby forms and hover like a Sentinel above you’re shoulder. This would be a great system for Sentinels as well.

Fuck it, more pets please

Honestly, I don’t see why we can’t have a Kubrow or Kavat AND a Sentinel at the same time. Or at the very least, one organic companion and one mechanical companion. While it might seem overpowered (especially with Smeeta buffs), I think this would be the best way to get more people to use other companions. With two pets instead of one, we can experiment with different roles. But at the same time, having two pets means you’re not using any efficiency.

No matter what though, I don’t think companions will be reworked any time soon. A Pets 3.0 has been mentioned dozens of times over various Warframe-reladed media, but nothing has materialized yet. Everything is currently on hold until The New War is finished.

Oh well, maybe one day I’ll be able to better use a Kubrow.