Nezha was added as a timed exclusive in the now extinct Warframe China, and was moved to the International game in Update 18.1 all the way back in 2015. Yes, the child god himself, Nezha has a youthful model, full of youthful exuberance! And fire. He also has fire.
Oh – and spikes! Gotta love spikes!
Nezha is actually quite a useful frame, as he is quite an effective tank while at the same time also providing some good DPS and soft support for teammates – not a bad choice for many engagements.
Note: Nezha is quite easily acquired from the Tenno Lab in your clan. Provided you’re in one and they’ve done the research.
Passive
Nezha’s passive, Frictionless, is the one thing you will immediately notice as he’s very … slidey. In fact, he slides 60% faster and goes 35% further, apparently! The more you know!
Firewalker
In Chinese mythology, Nezha is often seen blazing the skies with his Wind Fire Wheels, and Warframe puts these into effect with his first Ability. Clicking his heels together like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, he doesn’t ask to go home – just for his enemies to burn in holy fire.
When used, Fire Walker causes Nezha to move 25% faster, leaving a trail of fire behind him that remains in place for up to 10 seconds, causing 200 Heat Damage (base at max) every half second, as well as a chance to cause a HEat Status proc… And did I mention that it also removes Status Effects for allies that walk through the flames? Well it does! This makes his first Ability extremely useful.
While Fire Walker was once a Channeled Ability, it’s now timed, so once you kick in into effect, it lasts up to 30 seconds, max at base.
This Ability is affected by Ability Strength and Duration, and also by Range, but this affects a stat that will be introduced in the next section.
Blazing Chakram
A gift from his mentor, Nezha also takes his Universe Ring with him everywhere he goes. Upon activating his second Ability, he uses this in a number of ways:
- Nezha will throw his Ring at a targeted enemy causing up to 250 Heat Damage to any enemy it hits – with guaranteed Heat Status, I should add – and ricocheting to hit up to 5 additional targets. This Ability will also mark impacted enemies for up to 15 seconds, causing them to take 100% additional Damage from all sources, AND gives them a 100% chance to drop a Health orb and a 35% chance to drop an Energy Orb upon death! This Ability can also be CHARGED by holding down the Ability key before casting. Not only will this increase the Damage to 1000 Heat, but it will also double the travel distance. However, it will only travel in a straight line and will not ricochet.
- Activating the Ability a second time while the Ring is in flight will teleport Nezha to its location, which is pretty handy – especially because it doesn’t cost any Energy to do so!
This Ability is affected by Strength and Duration mods.
Note: Blazing Chakram has great synergy with Fire Walker. If Fire Walker is active when Nezha uses his Blazing Chakram to teleport, his Wheels will overheat causing 1250 Heat Damage within a 6m Radius (which is affected by Range mods, as previously mentioned). That said, the Fire Walker Ability will continue to run through its remaining Duration.
Warding Halo
On casting this Ability, Nezha summons a ring of fire, that spins around him like a giant Hula Hoop and provides him with immunity to Status Effects, and 90% Damage mitigation. At max base, the Ring itself has 1000 Health, and is also granted 250% of Nezha’s Armor stats as additional Health (hint: build him for Health and Armor). Like similar Abilities, the Ring is invulnerable for the first 3 seconds after casting, absorbing all incoming Damage, multiplying it x2.5, and adding the subsequent amount as additional Health. You can see the amount of Health that your Halo has left at the bottom right of the screen.
Further, enemies that get within 2m of Nezha are staggered and dealt 125 Slash Damage per second. When the Health of the Halo is depleted, it will expel a wave of Heat Damage, afflicting 100% Heat Status to any affected enemies and making Nezha invulnerable for 1 second.
Warding Halo is affected by Ability Strength and Range mods.
Divine Spears
In Chinese mythology, Nezha is often portrayed with his Universe Ring and a Divine Spear, which were gifts from his mentor. However, in Warframe, Nezha can callup Divine Spears from the ground beneath his enemies, impaling them like a Chinese Vlad the Impaler.
These spears are called up in a radius of 19m around Nezha, instantly inflicting 600 Puncture Damage upon impaled enemies and holding them aloft for up to 12 seconds. Casting the Ability a second time will slam the enemies into the ground, causing 600 Impact Damage.
This Ability benefits from Strength, Range and Duration mods.
Note: hitting impaled enemies with Blazing Chakram will produce a second Chakram, which will seek out other enemies – if these hit other impaled enemies, they can also create more Chakrams! Chakrams for all!
Nezha is a well balanced frame overall, which (in my opinion) is offset by the fact he slides all over the shop like a drunken game of Mario Kart. He’s tanky, he does a fair bit of Damage, and his kit can also provide some basic Support in the form of Health/Energy Orbs and removal of Status effects. Nobody should be disappointed to have a Nezha on their team.
