Warframe Abyss of Dagath update Hydroid Rework: Ability changes, new passive, and more

Introduced in Update 13, Hydroid arrived in Warframe when Nekros was the only frame to accelerate farming. Since there is no defined endgame in Warframe, obtaining resources is the central goal for its core gameplay loop. In this context, Hydroid was one of the most used frames in his heyday, thanks to the Pilfering Swarm augment mod.

One could say Hydroid got too reliant on this loot-duplicating augment as a crutch. However, the rest of his kit was plagued by useability issues and an overall lack of utility. As with many of these older Warframes, Hydroid's kit gradually became completely obsolete, and he plunged into obscurity.

Going almost a decade without the much-needed second look from the developers, the impracticality of Hydroid's skill in the new meta obtained meme status. However, the long-standing community demand for a Hydroid rework has finally been answered with the Abyss of Dagath update in Warframe.

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Is Hydroid a better Warframe after the Abyss of Dagath update?

The old Hydroid suffers from not scaling with the overall powercreep that has governed the game's balance in the past few years. In the current environment of the game's meta, the issues with his kit can be broken down into two areas:

• Hydroid's way to crowd-control enemies with his powers of the ocean is as chaotic as a flood. His old kit displaces enemies haphazardly, making it unreliable.
• Similarly, the damage type dealt by his nukes was Impact damage, making them equally useless.

The Abyss of Dagath update addresses both of these problem areas. To summarize the rework, his crowd control groups up enemies much better and doesn't rely on the ability charge mechanic.

The centerpiece of this rework is Hydroid's new passive that harks back to his pirate theme. Any enemy damaged by Hydroid will be permanently more vulnerable to the Corrosive status.

These enemies will have 50%, rather than 26%, of their armor removed with the first instance of Corrosive status. In other words, Hydroid is the only Warframe that can now fully armor-strip enemies with Corrosive.

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All of Hydroid's new abilities in Warframe: Abyss of Dagath

The Undertow ability is now replaced with Plunder (Image via Digital Extremes)

All of the abilities that could be charged on Hydroid can no longer be charged. Instead, they have been buffed to always get the effects of a fully charged variant from the pre-rework Hydroid.

Tempest Barrage now deals corrosive damage and procs corrosive status. The Corroding Barrage augment is now reworked into Viral Tempest, which will instead apply viral procs. Additionally, all enemies are now simply staggered under the effects of this ability instead of being rag-dolled and thrown away.

Tidal Surge will now remove all status ailments on Hydroid, is easier to navigate, and applies corrosive procs.

Undertow has been removed and replaced with the new Plunder ability. Plunder will send out a contaminating wave that will make the effects of Corrosive status on nearby enemies permanent.

Plunder additionally grants Hydroid an Armor and Damage buff that scales based on the amount of total corrosive status instances near Hydroid. The older Curative Undertow augment mod is refactored into Rousing Plunder, which makes the Plunder buff also heal allies in range.

Tentacle Swarm is functionally the least changed ability in the patch. Other than reaching maximum range on a single cast, this ability will now also hold enemies more steadily to make them easier to shoot.