Hildryn is an incredibly tanky Warframe, and if you know how to build her well then you never need to worry about little things like dying. In this guide I run through a solid zero-Forma build, and also go through a few options if you do want to use Forma to make her even more powerful.
Hildryn in Warframe is what I would refer to as an active tank. What I mean by this is that you need to consistently use and balance her abilities to keep her alive. While Rhino’s Iron Skin puts him in the passive tank category, with Hildryn you will be using one particular ability a lot to keep her alive. In this guide, I will go through what I consider to be a good, and pretty achievable, Hildryn build for just about anybody in the game.
Hildryn Build Guide
You can see the mods that I use for this build above. Before we get into the reasons for why I used certain Mods, we should talk a little about what makes Hildryn unique among Warframes. Hildryn has a lot of shields, and very little health, and she also uses her shields in place of energy to power her abilities. This gives Hildryn a few advantages over other Warframes. She has a huge, regenerating pool of power for her abilities, and she doesn’t need to worry about enemies like Nullifiers and Disruptors.
Her passive ability is also worth highlighting, as when her shields run out she will become invulnerable for 3 seconds, her passive will then reset the next time her shields are fully charged. If you use a Sentinel with the Guardian mod, fully ranked, this will then instantly refill her shields, and reset her passive. Her first ability is an exalted weapon called Balefire. You can use Pistol Mods to make it more powerful, and it fires a slow moving projectile that can be charged for more damage, but at the cost of more shield drain. It also does AoE damage which is increased by Range Mods.
Her second ability, Pillage, emits a large circular pulse that strips enemies of their shields and armor, and then bounces back to Hildryn, charging her shields. This pulse will also remove any Status Effects from Hildryn, allow you to protect yourself from anything that can bypass your shields, such as Slash procs. Hildryn can also use this ability to generate Overshields, making her exceptionally tanky.
Her third ability is called Haven and will protect allies and damage enmies. Hildryn will link to anything in range, friend or foe. Friendly Warframes and companions will receive increased shield capacity and recharge rate, while enemies will take Radiation damage. Every linked enemy and the friendly unit will increase the shield drain of this ability.
Her final ability is Aegis Storm, where she user thrusters to lift herself into the air. While she is flying, enemies units will be suspended in mid air, taking Radiation damage, and will occasionally drop energy orbs for allies. You can also reactivate your ability, and Hildryn will slam into the ground, knocking down and further damaging enemies with Impact damage. The only weapons you can use while her 4th ability is active are her Balefire Chargers, and you cannot use her second ability during this time.
Why These Mods
I have tested this build in long Arbitrations, Sorites, and all other late game activities and, to put it simply, Hildryn just doesn’t die. Redirection and Augur Accord both provide a large shield pool to work with, while Cunning Drift and Stretch provide additional range to all her abilities. Intensify improves how much damage her abilities do, while Streamline and Fleeting Expertise reduce how much of he shields she drains to use them. I also used Primed Continuity to reduce her ability drain, even though we don’t need to worry about Duration for her abilities, it is actually one of the best stats to build into with Hildryn. I also used the Aviator Mod to reduce the amount of damage Hildryn takes when airborne, as this is very useful when using her fourth ability.
Now, this is just a build for a zero-Forma Hildryn. As I Forma her, and can add more cards, I will more than likely switch up the build to involve Constitution for more Duration, the Umbral Vitality and Umbral Intensity to increase her Health pool a little, and her ability damage, and I would also strongly suggest farming Arbitrations to get the Adaptation Mod, which will reduce all incoming damage.
The best way to think about building Hildryn is not just to give her a large pool of shields, but also to reduce the drain on this shields, either through her abilities, or from incoming damage. I’ll be doing a 5-Forma Build Guide for Hildryn as soon as I am happy with the build that I come up with. I also haven’t worried about Arcanes for this build too much, as you can just use whatever you like. This Hildryn has never died in a mission, so I am unsure if you will even need to Forma her to survive late game stuff. Just make sure you spam her second ability a lot and you will be fine.
Finally, a note on her Balefire Chargers, you just want to build these the same way you would any other heavy hitting pistol, with lots of Damage mods, Corrosive Damage, and maybe something to reduce the charge time, as they are charged weapons.
