Previous 5 Forma Exalted Umbra Blade Guide: https://overframe.gg/build/473206/

Warning: This guide is best paired with Nourish so you won't miss the essential Viral damage multiplier because it's what allows us to free Viral from [Exalted Blade]. Do not proceed any further in this Exalted Umbra guide if you haven't yet read the Nourish guide, because they are a set that doesn't work as well otherwise. I guess you can still use it if you don't have Nourish, it will work well too, I am just warning you so you know. Also, for my [Chromatic Blade], I normally use Heat Colors, but I do sometimes change the emissive color to Toxin when fighting Corpus. This guide also has a second Toxin build below which is best paired with [Archon Continuity] so that Toxin also produces Corrosive. I am not using [Organ Shatter] or Gladiator Might, I am instead using Crimson Melee Critical Damage shards.

Here is the Warframe guide with Nourish: https://overframe.gg/build/468118/

Shown above is my Grinner + Infested build [Exalted Blade], to change to my Corpus + Sentient build you need to switch the positions of [Molten Impact] and [Primed Fever Strike] If you wondering which is best so you can forget to switch them, then Corrosive Heat is marginally better since armored targets are typically harder to fight. Even if you forget to switch them in between it won't really matter if you are equipped with Radiation Toxin against the Grinner if you also have [Archon Continuity].

You can ignore the essay below. It's just a further breakdown of this guide.

The are two builds, the first one is to combat Grinner, Corrupted, and Infested with Corrosive and Heat. The second build is to combat both the Corpus and Sentients with Radiation and Toxin, which can obtain Corrosive through [Archon Continuity]. It's possible to proc Bleed through Radial Javelin or Slash Dash. If you follow the [Excalibur Umbra] guide above, you should obtain nearly 200% status chance therefore Viral, Corrosive, Radiation, Heat, and Toxin, procs are guaranteed. Also, if you are using the Toxin build with [Archon Continuity], you will get 80% more melee damage from [Condition Overload] because it procs one additional Status. Nourish adds Viral for certain to your hits so it's also another +80% Melee DMG, it's also insanely good vs. any Health. Additionally, it amplifies DOT status effects immensely, so I use an additional elemental mod to weigh the DOT higher. Exalted Umbra Blade's A Corrosive is very good vs. Ferrite Armor and the Heat reduced Armor by -50% up to -90% with Corrosive 10 stacks. Exalted Umbra Blade's B Radiation is very good vs. Alloy Armor/Robotic and the Toxin damage completely bypasses Shields instantly killing any Corpus. With [Archon Continuity], Corrosive procs as frequently as Toxin and is almost as good against Ferrite Armor as the actual Corrosive. Any Bleed, Heat, and Toxin DOTs can be amplified by Nourish's Viral for devasting damage. This build covers all bases and is generally good against everything.

FAQ:

Why Sacrificial Pressure instead of Primed Point Strike?

• Primed Pressure Strike is more damage, but I don't want to lose the Umbra forma and the set bonus for a bit extra damage. You can do it if you want, at the cost of one Forma and some critical chance. If I were to do it, rather than equipping [Primed Pressure Point], I would rather equip a Primed Smite Faction mod since I have enough base damage from the multiple stacks of [Condition Overload]. To be honest, this build is strong enough to smash everything DE considers to be content, so you don't need any Faction Smite mods before level 600.

Why are you using an Elemental mod instead of a Critical Damage mod or a Faction Smite mod?

• Status weighting is important, we can use 90% mods instead of 60/60 thanks to [Chromatic Blade] but if I leave the DOT relying on only [Chromatic Blade] alone then the status won't be weighted towards the infinitely scaling DOT. It's possible to increase the melee critical multiplier with Crimson Archon shards, but the status weighting is permanent and can't otherwise be repaired. Also, every mod but Smite Faction mods have diminishing returns. Faction Smite mods are great since it's a final multiplier to everything in a similar way to Eclipse or [Furious Javelin]. In many ways, it's better since it double dips on DOTs but if you want to replace something in order to achieve the maximum DPS it should be either [Sacrificial Pressure] or [Healing Return], but not Conditional Overload, [Fury] mod, or an elemental mod. Also, you won't desperately need Faction Smite mods if you follow my Excalibur Umbra guide because it has both Nourish and Furious Javelin inside it.

Why Healing Return?

• Healing Return or Life Strike are the best for sustain. I nearly have a 200% status chance with 3-5 different statuses, so I restore 33-55 Health every hit. The Exalted Blade itself and the Exalted Blade's Beam are two different attacks so I can heal potentially for 66-110 if I hit enemies in melee range. This means I can typically heal my entire health back through a single use of Slash Dash making me Immortal in Steel Path. It's also helpful when fighting Bosses, Eidolons, Archons, and Eximus that don't die on one Hit. If you Remove [Healing Return], you will need either Magus Elevate or Magus Repair on your operator to restore health on SP, or Molt Reconstruct on your warframe which are all inferior to using either Healing Return or Life Strike.

Why not equip Melee Critical Damage mods?

• See, I had a choice between Attack Speed, Critical Damage, and Healing on my [Exalted Blade]. I also had a choice between Molt Augmented, Arcane [Fury], Arcane Strike, Ability Strength shards, or Melee Critical Damage shards on my [Excalibur Umbra]. In the end, I chose Attack Speed and Healing for my [Exalted Blade] and Molt Augmented, Arcane [Fury], and Melee Critical Damage Shards for my [Excalibur Umbra]. Building this was tricky, I needed [Healing Return] for the sustain because both Molt Elevate and Molt Reconstruct are subpar. Then I needed a [Fury] mod because [Healing Return] won't work well without Attack Speed, also if I use Arcane Strike instead of a [Fury] mod then I lose out on either Arcane [Fury] or Molt Augmented which are both superior arcanes so I had to equip a [Fury] mod on my [Exalted Blade]. That left Melee Critical Damage out, which I could easily add through Archon shards. Also, I have done the math, and I found out that melee critical damage shards always provide more DPS than using Ability strength shards. I did the math for Arcane [Fury] and Molt Augmented too, basically, the melee damage of Arcane [Fury] is better than the attack speed of Arcane Strike. However, Molt Augmented is better than Arcane Strike only when you are using [Furious Javelin] as well, but when you are not using [Furious Javelin] then Arcane Strike is better. Alternatively, you can replace [Primed Fury] with [Berserker Fury], [Organ Shatter] with [Primed Fury], [Healing Return] with [Organ Shatter], or equip Arcane Strike instead of Molt Augmented or a Fury mod, etc.

Why use Radiation on your Toxin Corpus build?

• It's a bit awkward to build because I am getting Viral from Nourish and I need to leave Toxin alone for it to procure Corrosive with [Archon Continuity]. Ultimately, I am left with either Blast, Radiation, or Magnetic. Magnetic, isn't that good because Toxin bypasses shields already. Blast offers miss chance, which is kind of lackluster. Radiation is the best because it offers a bit of Crowd Control in addition to being one of the most common damage weaknesses in Warframe. I use it because Radiation is very strong against Alloy Armor found commonly in the Grinner, and also against Robotic health which is typically found in the armored enemies from the Corpus faction. Also, Radiation is also good against most Sentients since the vast majority are either Alloy Armor or Robotic.

I don't have Archon Continuity

• If you don't have [Archon Continuity], then it's okay as Radiation + Toxin is good against the Corpus and Sentients without it. [Archon Continuity] is to provide Corrosive on Toxin so it can combat armored factions like the Grinner, Corrupted, or Infested better in case you forget to change it. In the meantime, complete new [War] and farm Kahl missions. His camp gives archon shards too. Once you have it don't forget to set a loadout with names you'll remember on the top of your arsenal so you don't have to switch emissive colors and builds individually. This is also a trick I use to make switching smite faction loadouts easier.

What else should I equip?

• Since we have [Condition Overload], we want to use status weapons to complement it. So any element that is different from Viral + your [Exalted Blade]. So if you're going Corrosive Heat, then consider Radiation, Toxin, Magnetic, Gas, or Electric for priming. Similarly, if you going to use Radiation Toxin, then consider using Corrosive, Heat, Magnetic, Gas, Electric, Blast, etc. Also, a primary weapon or secondary weapon with some range just in case you need it for a boss fight or to trigger objectives like the ones in Kela De Thaym Assassination.

What do I do with my regular melee weapon?

• I mostly keep my [Skiajati] as a buffing combo stick. It's where I equip the [Gladiator Rush], [Gladiator Might], and [Gladiator Vice]. This results in a 30% Critical chance per combo multiplier that benefits [Exalted Blade]. It makes yellow crits guaranteed with a 5.8% of orange criticals, I can get a 50.8% chance of orange criticals if I use Arcane Avenger instead of Molt Augmented. This is way more Average Hit Damage than equipping Arcane Fury but it is a bit of a hassle.

Here is my combo stick Skiajati (0-Forma): https://overframe.gg/build/510252/

DPS Nikana Prime build (2-Forma): https://overframe.gg/build/469527/ It should also translate into [Skiajati] for a DPS build too.