Warframe Dante build guide: Mods, Noctua, and Helminth options

If you are looking to build Warframe Dante, you have come to the right place. This Orokin scribe's character design makes him out to be an innocuous librarian, but out in the field, he is surprisingly deadly. Whether you want defensive buffs with Overguard generation or room-wide burst damage, this character has you covered.

Crafting the Warframe Dante unit requires you to obtain components from Armatus, a Deimos Disruption node added with the Dante Unbound update, or you can buy them with Vessel Capillaries.

While we will recommend mods, Arcanes, and some synergies, this is by no means the only possible build for the Warframe Dante. Due to his versatility, you can use him for different purposes, and the build should be tweaked accordingly.

Warframe: Best Dante build in 2024

General-purposes Warframe Dante build (Image via Overframe)

The mod build shown above is a 4-Forma setup with 128% Strength, Neutral Efficiency, 235% Range, and 178% Duration.

Unlike some Warframes, Dante does not have a "dump stat." Here are some things to keep in mind when building him:

If you skimp out on Ability Range, Dante's nukes don't cover enough area to be viable.
Reducing Ability Strength is also a bad idea since that is where the damage is.
Positive Ability Duration, while not strictly as important as the other two, extends the duration Triumph and Pageflight. In other words, you do not need to recast them as often for your support Warframe duties in a squad.
Ability Efficiency is also non-trivial. Dante is a highly casting-focused Warframe.

There is some wiggle room depending on how you want to play. For example, if you want to go all-in on the area-wide Tragedy nuke aspect, you can sacrifice Duration in favor of Strength. To get to this build using what is shown in the image above, do the following:

Replace Umbral Intensify with Precision Intensify
Replace Primed Continuity with Blind Rage

This build is not aimed towards a beginner, as reaching the Armatus Disruption node implies you have progressed quite far into the game. If you want a more budget-friendly alternative, we have provided one at the end of this Warframe Dante build guide.

Energy economy and Companion options for Dante

This build uses Equilibrium to convert Health Orbs into Energy. Dante is an Energy-hungry frame, but with enough Health Orbs, this is manageable. To generate more Health Orbs, we use Synth Deconstruct with a companion that can affect a lot of enemies. The two best options are:

Panzer Vulpaphyla, which has the added bonus of giving you free Viral procs.
Diriga with the Arc Coil mod.

Dante Playstyle, tips, and tricks

Even though it seems complex, Dante is not hard to play. Even if you adopt a diverse playstyle utilizing the full extent of his kit, you will get used to it in an hour of gameplay.

Here are some tips to follow for the general Dante playstyle:

When you load into a mission, cast Triumph (two Light Verses and Final Verse) to grant yourself and your allies a good chunk of initial Overguard and Overguard generation.
Light Verse has a good defense ability to gain some invulnerability frames and Overguard in a cinch. Use it accordingly.
Tragedy (two Dark Verses and Final Verse) is your main area nuke, if you want to go for a pure caster build. This ability benefits from damage-over-time status effects, meaning you can use some of the best Primers in Warframe to boost its damage.
If you want crowd-control and aggro redirection, cast Pageflight (Dark Verse, Light Verse, Final Verse). Affected enemies are also more vulnerable to all damage sources.
Wordwarden (Light Verse, Dark Verse, Final Verse) is a good buff for higher overall DPS if you have a damage-centric Noctua build.

Warframe Noctua build (4 Forma)

Noctua build for Heat and Slash damage (Image via Overframe)

The Warframe Dante comes with his own Exalted Tome secondary weapon, called Noctua. There are two ways you can go about modding Noctua. You can use the build shown above to deal damage directly enough to decimate even high-level Steel Path targets.

The other option — often thought of as a meme build — is to use Noctua as a stat stick for utility purposes by using all the Tome mods. This is made possible by Noctua's unique ability to have all Tome mods equipped at the same time. However, this build is much more Forma-heavy, and practically invalidates Noctua's damage-dealing capabilities.

Helminth options for Dante

Dante is a self-sufficient Warframe. There are no damage or survivability drawbacks in his kit, but you can still min-max it with some external help from Helminth abilities. Considering you want to play Dante as a caster, the Helminth slot would be his first ability (Noctua).

The following are some options to consider:

Breach Surge can synergize with his innate enemy damage amplification from Pageflight.
Roar can help you push your Tragedy nuke to further heights, as it also affects Ability damage.
Nourish got nerfed in the Dante Unbound update, but you can still use it to add Viral to your weapons and also alleviate Energy problems.
Larva can be used to group up enemies and hit them with Dark Verse easily.

Budget build for the Warframe Dante (No Forma)

For a more budget alternative, you can use the following build instead:

Budget build for Warframe Dante (Image via Overframe)

Note that you can also upgrade this build easily by swapping out Intensify for Precision Intensify, Flow for Primed Flow, and Augur Message for Primed Continuity. You can also replace Stretch with a Rank 8 Equilibrium and use the Energy economy solution mentioned in this guide.

Check out other guides on this game from Sportskeeda:

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Edited by Soumyadyuti Ghosh