Caliban: A Cross between Warframes and Sentients
When the New War was released, it was actually part of an update with other stuff in it. Not only did we get two deluxe skins, but we also got new weapons. We also got Harrow Prime, a crowd favourite. Oh, and yeah, there was a Warframe released alongside all the new shinies.
Caliban is a true Sentient Warframe, Erra’s pet project of making a Sentient/Warframe hybrid. But is this new amalgam any good? Let’s find out!
“But Retvik, what about Revenant?”
That is a fair question. Revenant was touted to be half Sentient, half Warframe. However, Revenant is the result of an ongoing fight between it and an Eidolon, keeping each other has prisoners.
Caliban on the other hand is a true hybrid. Built by Erra, Caliban has features that match the more common, properly Sentient types, unlike the broken look Revenant has. They are also somewhat separated by what type of Sentient they are based on. Revenant has Eidolon-like looks and abilities, while Caliban would happily be home on a Murex, alongside proper Sentients. After all, Eidolon forms are mostly dead and broken, rather than adapting to environments. Speaking of which, Caliban’s passive is that he adapts and gains resistances based on what damage he has taken lately.
The other main difference is that Revenant had a quest tied to him. Caliban though is only tentatively connected to the New War, and his blueprint comes from the market place. Caliban’s components all come from Narmer bounties. And, of course, there is a new crafting material required: Narmer Isoplaysts. You need a lot of those.
Caliban isn’t bad!
For a Warframe released after Yareli, Caliban is actually a breath of fresh air. Caliban has some good abilities, all of which look good. It’s not Wukong-levels of amazing, but at least Caliban can hold his own, and has a kit that somewhat makes sense. He has a cool spinning attack like most Sentients have, he can create an armour-stripping laser and he can lift enemies into the air. Caliban’s third ability is my favourite though. Because all he does is spawn up to 3 Conculysts. Weirdly, you have to cast them one at a time. However, it’s pretty funny seeing enemies being hit with the Conculyst’s baseball-like arms.
His abilities feel flat
I do have one complaint though. All of Calibans abilities are a little bit flat. They look and work fine in a Grineer Galleon for example. But outdoors, on anything that isn’t a flat surface, his abilities kinda… visually suck, I guess. In the Orb Vallis in particular, which is very hill-y, it just looks odd. Your ground slam ability doesn’t follow the curved landscape. Landing the big laser has similar issues.
However, Caliban overall looks really neat. You can tell that Caliban is both Sentient and Warframe, but because he has feet and hands, he leans a bit more to the Warframe side of things. I thought the weird nodule on his shoulder would look weird too, but it looks fine. The best bit about Caliban though is that his animation sets are really nice. Both Agile and Noble look good, even if they make you float like Wisp and Titania. Sadly, unlike those two, Caliban uses his feet for walking.
An Alright Warframe
Overall, I think Caliban is fine. He has some cool tricks, he has shield and armour stripping AND he can spin to win. While he’s kinda not that unique, I can see people continuing to use him, even after leveling up. Heck, I might even continue using him. So that’s good, at least…