On Stolen Robot Doggos
One of the more surprising additions to the Sisters of Parvos was the fact that we can adopt their pets. If you kill a Sister of Parvos, when you return to your ship, not only do you get the Sister’s weapon, but you get her robotic companion as well.
However, despite being somewhat strong when tied to a Sister, is the adopted Hound any good? Well, let’s find out.
Are they even useful?
Hounds work in pretty much the same way as MOAs, built by Legs in Fortuna. There are currently three types of Hound, and the mastery given from them is identical to MOAS. You have four parts, get them put together by Legs, then you have to gild the dog once it reaches level 30. You then get the 3000 mastery once you level up the Hound a second time. Combined with their Hound weapons, you can get a nice, somewhat easy chunk of standing for leveling and gilding all 3 variants.
These robotic dogs aren’t even really hard to obtain. You are guaranteed a randomly-built one when you kill a Sister, but Sisters also drop Hound components. So, for maximum style, you can build your own.
Using them in combat is another story.
The ability precepts that come with the Hounds are interesting. You get two precept mods for each Hound, based on the head part (the Model) and the tail part (the Stabilizer). The rest of the Hound’s stats are tied to the Cores and Brackets (bodies and legs) of each Hound.
However, when fighting Hounds as enemies, they seem a lot more powerful compared to your adopted or self-made Hounds. They have two sets of precepts, three variations of Denial and Audit. Audit precepts are more offense-based, while Denial is defensive. On paper, all of these mods seem interesting. After all, the ability to disarm enemies, steal Eximus auras and stunning nearby enemies all seem pretty damn good. With Denial mods, your Hound either splits into 3 small mini Hounds (Diversified), get a Nyx-like shield (Reflex) or a teleport and evasion (Evasive). Again, all very cool abilities.
If these mods were for Sentinels, I think people would go ham for these. But the AI for Hounds is very hit and miss, and they are no smarter than normal companions. Their busted AI and lack of ability to control the Hounds means you can’t make the most of otherwise very cool abilities.
A lot of them get thrown away
A bigger problem though is that, well, you end up with too many of them. There are are a bunch of Tenet weapons to be had, but only three models for Hounds. Once you have all three models mastered, the extra Hounds you get kinda just take up space. In fact, they take up even MORE space because Hounds have their own custom weapons as well.
To even be able to claim a Hound, you need 2 free Companion slots. Sure, I have plenty of those, but I have no real reason to keep every single Hound I find. Unfortunately, this means one will claim a Hound and then immediately delete both it and its weapon, or you can just leave it in your foundry for, well, ever. This is also at odds with Sisters dropping Hound parts in the first place. Why make your own when you can keep the pre-made Hounds from your vanquished Sisters?
YOU CAN’T PET THEM
The biggest atrocity of all though is that you can’t pet Hounds. Heck, they can’t even roam around the Orbiter. Just like MOAs, Hounds sit in the slot meant for Sentinels, and they just stand there idly. But while MOAs will respond to you waving at it, Hounds just stand still. And, frankly, this is what annoys me most. Why the hell can’t my robot dog use the same bed that my organic dog uses?
Actually, that being said, I’m not so sure now. Because these Hounds remind me of something else: Zanuka, Alad V’s first pet. The design of both Hounds and enemies like Zanuka, the Hyenas and Jackal are all very, very similar. To the point that there’s a chance that Hounds are made from dead Warframes. In fact, not only do they have Warframe-like abilities, the design of Hounds actually looks very similar to a standard Rhino Warframe!
Maybe it’s for the best that they can’t wander around the Orbiter. I dunno if I want a dog made out of bits of dead me wandering around my ship…