UPDATE (d·m·y)

29/03/25: Updated build and guide. [Ember] got slightly buffed in January, her passive is now tied to affinity range. Also changed all fandom links to the official wiki. (wiki.warframe.com)

04/11/24: Updated build and guide. Nothing major to note, I mostly cleaned up the guide, but you're welcome to check it out (again?).

18/06/24: [Ember] got buffed! Fireball is better, but still useless. Immolation drains less energy! Fire Blast energy cost now scales with the meter and its Healing Flame augment is really good now! Inferno's rings now finally apply Heat status!

SUMMARY

This is an Inferno-focused build empowered by [Rhino]'s Roar. Roar increases all damage done, be it from her weapons, abilities and status effects. Roar increases Inferno's damage which consequently increases DoT damage, and then increases the already increased DoT. Roar is life.

[Ember]'s entire kit works around a 'thermometer' which is enabled by Immolation. It scales up to 100% and grants damage reduction (capped at 90% DR at 100% meter). The meter passively fills overtime and the heat generation increases by casting Fireball and Inferno, but decreases by casting Fire Blast. Once the meter reaches 100%, [Ember] starts to overheat and her energy is gradually drained (it becomes a channeled ability). Beware, the energy drain increases for each passing second and has no cap.

Her damage potential relies heavily on Fire Blast's armor strip. The armor striping effect scales off of the meter from a base 50% to 100% (full armor strip). This has no effect on shields. Inferno's damage also scales with the meter.

She has no issue killing Grineer at any level (because of good ol' armor strip) or any other armor-less enemies for that matter, but she has no way of dealing with high level Corpus. Jade Update: Heat deals +50% damage to Infested and -50% to Kuva Grineer, but half of Inferno's damage is Impact which deals +50% to all types of Grineer.

ABILITIES

• Passive – +5% strength for each enemy affected by a Heat status within affinity range (base 50m).
• Fireball – It's bad, subsum it unless you want to use its augment.
• Immolation – Damage reduction that scales with the meter. At max meter, your energy will gradually be nuked, remember to cooldown!
• Fire Blast – CC and AOE armor stripper affected by LoS. Armor strip scales with the meter, use it at 100% meter. Reduces meter and heat generation.
• Inferno – Main damaging ability. Energy cost is based on number of target and capped at 100.

SUBSUMED ABILITY

Roar is the obvious choice for [Ember]. It increases her Fire Blast and Inferno damage and double dips on Heat procs. It's pretty much perfect.

You could also go for:

The most used:

• Dispensary for health/energy orb and ammo.
• Gloom to slow enemies.
• Nourish for viral damage on weapons and boosts energy gain.
• Breach Surge to blind enemies and nuke ; also proc'd by Inferno's ring.

Others niche options:

• Evade for invisiblity and heal, more oriented towards weapon platform.
• Wyrd Scythes for viral damage and status, it also slows.
• Tharros Strike for defense reduction (both armor and shield), heal and CC.
• Sentient Wrath stuns and increases damage taken by enemies.
• Sickening Pulse adds a stack of Heat which inherits all previous Heat damage ; basically double DoT damage.
• Rest & Rage (day) acts like Nova's Molecular_Prime.
• Thermal Sunder for even more fire!
• Omamori for survivability.
• Pyrotechnics is World on Fire at home.

MODS

Duration, Efficiency, Range, Strength and Ember.

• Duration – Affects Fireball's combo window and Inferno's ring duration, making it not so useful.
  • With Roar, it's somewhat important, but we do not need a lot.
• Efficiency – Affects everything, so the more, the better.
  • Ember burns a lot of energy, so efficiency is key to 1) keep her alive with Immolation and 2) kill stuff.
  • Avoid negatives and aim for at least 130%, you're gonna cast Inferno a lot.
  • Jade Update: Ember is less of a energy-vacuum now. Still, Efficiency is good.
• Range – Affects all but Immolation.
  • Ember likes range, but as Fire Blast and Inferno are LoS based abilities, it's not that important.
  • Do not go into negatives and do not go above 200%, keep it in the middle at ~150%.
• Strength – Affects everything, so the more, the better.
  • Most important for Inferno's damage and Roar bonus damage.
  • Ember's passive increases it by 5% for each burning enemy, abuse it!
  • Do not go into negatives.

Augments (not all are listed)

• Fireball Frenzy – Grants +100% Heat damage to all allies around Ember.
  • Good for weapon platform.
• Fire Blast's Healing Flame – Heals on hit. Overhealing grants Overguard. Healing depends on meter.
  • Jade Update: Hands down her best augment.
• Inferno's Exothermic – Enemies killed while under the effect of Inferno have a small chance to drop an energy orb.
  • I wouldn't use it, but energy is still energy right?

Modding

• AURA – Growing Power is the best Madurai aura mod for casters (it is also Ember's default aura polarity).
  • Brief Respite is another valid option if you're into shield gating, I find it kinda useless if using [Healing Flame], but you do you. Requires an Omni Forma.
• EXILUS – Primed Sure Footed (aka PSF) for QoL.
  • If playing with Unairu or don't really care being treated as a football, you would either want to go with Power Drift or Cunning Drift.
  • If you do not have [Primed Sure Footed], use Handspring instead. Exilus is polarity-less by default, saving you 1 Forma until then.
• Transient Fortitude + Umbral Intensify to crank up strength to a nice ~200%.
  • You can swap both for Blind Rage, but your efficiency will tank, which is something that you do not want on Ember, she's a energy hungry beast.
• Stretch for more range.
  • You do not need a crazy amount of range on Ember, as her skills are hindered by LoS, greatly reducing range mods' effectiveness.
• Healing Flame for sustain (heal and overguard). Flex.
• Primed Continuity for more duration. Flex.
• Streamline to reduce Ember's energy consumption.
• Primed Flow, 'cause Ember loves energy. Mandatory.
• Archon Vitality for double Heat proc and extra health. Mandatory, but can be kept at level 1.

ARCANES

• Molt Augmented for even more strength.
• Arcane Crepuscular if using Evade (or similar) and using a WP build. Can replace Augmented.
• Techrot Encore Update: Arcane Hot Shot to increase weapon cc. Flex.
• Arcane Energize for bursts of energy. Flex.

SHARDS

Ember doesn't have any mandatory shards... So you could use any of those:

• Crimson for either strength or duration.
• Amber for either the Preparation or the Natural Talent effect.
  • Max energy on spawn (Preparation) is only good on blitz missions like exterminate, capture, etc.
  • Casting Speed (Natural Talent) is just so good.
• Violet for the Equilibrium effect.
• Topaz for secondary critical chance on heat (WP).

FOCUS

• Madurai for more strength and casting speed. Phoenix Talons doesn't affect abilities.
• Unairu for a free PSF and more armor.
• Vazarin for more affinity range (affects passive), invulnerability and heal.
• Zenurik for energy regeneration and strength (less than Madurai), energy orbs also grant more energy. Also grant 1 free cast every minute. Second ability can also be used to increase headshot damage (affects both the Operator and the Warframe).

GAMEPLAY

• Roar should always be active. Cast it whenever enemies are burning around you and Growing Power is active to maximize bonus damage.
• Immolation should always be active. No additional condition required. If the meter goes bonker (should never be the case), turn it off-on.
• Fire Blast should only be cast at 100% meter to fully armor strip.
• What about Inferno ? Cast it on armor stripped enemies with Roar on.

NOTES

This is not an endurance build and shouldn't be used in pointless hour long survival or level cap missions, but you could.

Also, if you're wondering, I'm mainly a spell casting type of player, I don't rely on my weapons that much, unless I have to.