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Forget what you know about Warframes because Koumei will challenge you. Koumei is one of the most unique Warframes in Warframe mainly due to the multiple layers of RNG involved in piloting her. However, getting her is easy (you can do so as soon as you unlock Earth) and for that matter, the community considers her as a starter frame. With a bit of Forma and luck, however, you can take her to the Steel Path difficulty or maybe even higher. Of course, our Koumei build guide for Warframe should also help.
Koumei Build in Warframe
First of all, a disclaimer is in order. Koumei relies a lot on RNG, as advertised, but some of her abilities can make her outright busted or nigh unkillable if you get lucky with that RNG. Moreover, due to the nature of her abilities, she doesn’t really excel in fast or non-endless mission types like Exterminate, Mobile Defense, Sabotage, or Rescue.
Instead, you want to bring Koumei to Survival, Defense, Excavation, or Disruption to give her time to shine. It’s mostly thanks to her Decree-stacking mechanics (2nd Ability) where if you keep spamming these Decrees for a long enough period, you might get some overpowered ones.
As for the build itself, you will need around 4-6 Forma, which isn’t exactly an easy task for beginners, but it’s doable. You can also get away with just two Forma if you don’t max out some of the mods.
Mod List
| Mod Name | Effect | Alternative |
| Brief Respite (Aura) | Squad converts 150% of Energy spent to Shields while Overshields are inactive | Growing Power if you use Rolling Guard or Adaptation |
| Primed Sure Footed | +100% Chance to Resist Knockdown | Regular Sure Footed or Power Drift |
| Archon Continuity | Abilities that inflict a Toxin status effect will also apply a Corrosive status effect. | Regular Continuity (weaker) or Primed Continuity |
| Archon Stretch | +45% Ability Range Abilities that deal Electricity Damage restore +2 Energy/s over 5s. | Regular Stretch (weaker) |
| Archon Vitality | +100% Health Status Effects from abilities that deal Heat Damage will be applied twice. | Regular Vitality (weaker) |
| Primed Flow | +185% Energy Max | Regular Flow (weaker) |
| Precision Intensify | +90% Ability Strength for your 4th Ability | Regular Intensify or Blind Rage/Transient Fortitude |
| Blind Rage | +99% Ability Strength -55% Ability Efficiency | Intensify or Augur Secrets |
| Catalyzing Shields | x0.20 Max Shield Capacity 1.33s Full Shield Gate immunity duration | Adaptation or Rolling Guard if you don’t like Shield-Gating |
| Equilibrium | Health pickups give +110% Energy. Energy pickups give +110% Health. | None. You need this for sustaining your Energy. |
As you can see, the Alternative column is your only choice if you’re a beginner player as some of the ideal mods are rather expensive or late-game. However, that’s part of what makes Koumei so versatile. You can take her to the late-game or endgame once you have the more powerful mods.
Your primary method of survival here would be none other than Shield-Gating and with how often you’ll be spamming Abilities, you’ll have that Shield Gate topped up quite often. If you’re having Energy problems, drop Blind Rage for another Ability Strength mod.
Arcanes for the Koumei Build
Arcanes aren’t really beginner-friendly, so you can skip this part if you just started playing Waframe. However, these are some good recommendations not just for Koumei but for most Warframes. Start collecting them as soon as you reach the Steel Path difficulty or even earlier.
For Koumei, make sure to aim for these Arcanes:
- Molt Augmented – It’s practically a standard and must-have for most endgame Waframe builds these days and Koumei is no exception. You can obtain it from the Zariman region and syndicate.
- Arcane Energize – This expensive Arcane might just allow you to drop the Equilibrium mod or even Archon Stretch. Starting Rank 3, this Arcane will solve most of your Energy problems in Warframe.
Feel free to replace Arcane Energize with something less expensive and something you prefer if you don’t have it yet. Molt Augmented, however, is a staple of this build and should be much easier to obtain than Arcane Energize.
Archon Shards (& Helminth Options) for the Koumei Build
If you’re going to replace any of Koumei’s Abilities with one of your subsumed Warframe Abilities, the most practical candidate would be Koumei’s 4th Ability. Here’s a good list of replacements:
- Rhino’s Roar
- Mirage’s Eclipse
- Grendel’s Nourish
Meanwhile, slot in these Archon Shards to help Koumei be faster or more efficient with Energy or damage:
- 2x Amber Archon Shards (Casting Speed & Energy Orb Efficiency)
- 3x Crimson Archon Shards (Strength/Duration)
Tauforged is ideal, as always.
Playstyle for the Warframe Koumei Build
Playing as Koumei can get chaotic, but it’s not as complex as other spellcaster Warframes, thankfully. You just need to keep casting some maintenance Abilities and keep watch of your Shield if you’re Shield-Gating.
With that in mind, here’s an optimal rotation or Ability cast order for Koumei:
- Cast Koumei’s 3rd Ability for survivability.
- Cast Koumei’s 2nd Ability to get a random Decree. Keep casting this one after every completed challenge until you get to the 8th Decree, at which point the cooldown will be every 150 seconds.
- Use Koumei’s 1st Ability and let enemies pass through the threads.
- Once enemies have passed through the threads, attack them with your weapon of choice.
- Cast Koumei’s 4th Ability for crowd control if things get too hectic.
- Don’t forget to keep recasting the 3rd Ability when you only have 5 Charms left.
- Also, recast the 2nd Ability to keep getting new Decrees.
Even if you’re unlucky with the dice rolls or Decrees, Koumei is hard to kill if you’re attentive and alert enough. If you do get lucky with the Decrees, you’ll be unstoppable and will scale infinitely.
