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One week after Dante was released through his own in-game Warframe update called Dante Unbound, the developers had already nerfed him. It’s not clear what contributed to drastic “rebalance,” but the Warframe community– at least the percentage that liked Dante, is partly blaming some vocal complainants who deemed Dante “overpowered.” Whether that may or may not have led to the Dante nerf, the developers are keeping a close eye on player reactions.
The Dante Nerf was Somewhat Unexpected
A few days before Dante was nerfed, Warframe Creative Director and Community Director, Rebecca Ford and Megan Everett, respectively, revealed that Dante would be “tweaked” but the adjustments wouldn’t be dramatic. Moreover, they also assured everyone that the development team would collect ample data first on Dante’s usage.
The community, however, doesn’t think this was what happened. Barely a couple of days since the developers assured mild Dante tweaks, he got undoubtedly– based on community consensus, nerfed drastically.
Reddit user u/UNIG0RE was among the first few members of the Warframe subreddit to post about the most recent changes. The comment section unanimously agreed that what happened was an undeniable nerf or weakening for Dante.
More disgruntled, disappointed, and rather angry posts followed, with some complaining that Dante was singled out and that the nerfs were hasty. Some players also regret spending real money, Platinum, Forma, and other leveling materials and investments on Dante. They now regard him now as a “mid” or mediocre Warframe after the adjustments.
How Bad is Dante Now?
Objectively speaking, the nerf to his Overguard values ensured that he is now even more Energy-hungry. Players now have to spend more than twice as much Energy to reach Dante’s maximum Overguard values, which is Dante’s primary tool for survival.
Meanwhile, the nerf to his ultimate nuke Ability’s line-of-sight meant that he could spend upwards of 100 Energy just to mow down a few enemies in a narrow cone in front of him.
Prior to the nerf, Dante killed all the enemies around him in a large radius. Thanks to the nerfs, even a Kuva or Tenet weapon is now a preferable option to spending 100+ Energy just to deal with a few enemies.
There’s also an indirect nerf to Dante’s crowd-control Ability (basically three Abilities were nerfed). His Paragrimm Ability no longer scales up Status Chance like it did before. This nerf limited Dante’s playstyles, as there’s less incentive to use ranged weapons now.
Will they Overturn the Nerf?
It’s not clear yet how Digital Extremes plans to deal with this mass complaint over the Dante nerf, but some of their community managers maintained transparency. Apparently, they’re still collecting feedback to see what might be the next action for Dante.
So there’s still hope for Dante mains who have invested much in their new favorite Warframe. Or maybe not. Regardless, we wouldn’t recommend feeding Dante to Helminth just yet. A lot can still happen once the rollercoaster ride is over.
