[Syndicates] Aligning with a 4th Syndicate

Update:
I finally have the Highest rank for the 4th Syndicate. Now I just need to get that Syandana.

Some of you guys and gals might already know that you can align yourself with half of the 6 syndicates available in the game. You can either go Perrin, Loka and Veil or Meridian, Suda and Hexis (I started with the first set and will eventually transition to the other set).

What I am slowly learning is that one can add another, either Meridian or Veil as a 4^th syndicate. The catch is, I will have to stop earning affinity with Perrin and Loka and focus on Veil primarily.

Here’s the idea behind it.

The biggest concept is that earning rep with a syndicate, detracts from 2 other syndicates (opposed and enemy) at differing amounts, however, earning affinity for a syndicate as a secondary benefit (as an ally), doesn’t confer the same penalty to that syndicate’s opposed or enemy syndicates. Confusing? Let me illustrate.

Earning affinity for Perrin will also earn affinity with Loka (to a lesser degree since they are allied) and will decrease affinity with Hexis (opposed) and Meridian (enemy). However the affinity earned by Loka by the virtue of its being allied with Perrin doesn’t decrease affinity with its enemy and opposed syndicates (Suda and Meridian respectively).

So how will I use this?

Normally, earning affinity with Meridian will decrease affinity with Loka and Perrin, however, if I gain affinity with Meridian as a secondary effect of earning affinity with Veil, I can avoid the decrease in my standing with Loka and Perrin. This will allow me to be in good terms with 4 a 4^th syndicate, Meridian, in addition to Loka, Perrin and Veil.

What’s the catch?

I already mentioned that I would have to stop earning affinity with both Perrin and Loka since this will decrease affinity with Meridian.

Another is that I cannot earn affinity with Meridian directly. This means never wearing a Meridian Sigil, doing Meridian quests or Meridian Medallions. This will make it painfully slow.

Why do it?

I have everything from the three syndicates I have allied with. Getting a 4^th allows me to cover all augments from all the frames except for one, Limbo, which is not bad given lack of people trading augments for augments.

Another is that I also get the syandana that cannot be traded.

Future benefits would be having access to syndicate emotes that were mentioned in one of the previous dev streams.

If you try this, hope you enjoy.

Thanks for reading!

Latest Update:

Here's my current standing with the syndicates:

[Farming] Draco: Basics and Beyond

There are several reasons why people go to Draco. No matter the reason people want to get it done and over with as few complications as possible. Here’s the most common team comp for running 4 waves of Draco the easy way to help you make team comp decisions when hosting or to help you build your frame so you can join Draco teams that are recruiting.

The Team Composition

Minimum Requirements

Mag with Greedy Pull

Frost

Mesa

This is your holy trinity of area control. This combination works for any mission that requires area control (like defense). Just make sure that the frames are at max or near-max rank. Lower frame levels might create problems especially because the rank of frame powers are tied to the rank of the frame.

The last frame can be anything but will most likely be a rank 0 frame (or close to it) that needs affinity for rank ups. Just need to make sure the frame has enough Health and shields to survive a couple of hits in case problems occur.

Recommended Team Composition

Mag with Greedy Pull

Frost

Mesa

Nekros

Nekros will help with health and energy drops while also increasing the drop rate of everything. This makes Draco a core farm on top of the affinity that you gain from running the mission. Since The enemy levels in rounds 1-4 can easily be handled by Mesa’s Peacemaker, there’s no need to get a Total Eclipse Mirage or Roar Rhino.

Frame Specifics

MAG

Ever since greedy pull was released Mag has been relegated to be a glorified carrier. So this is her niche now.

The Mag you pick has to be at least rank 18, to get Pull rank 3, with a range of at least 200%. This gives Mag a 50m pull. This will allow Mag to get loot within Mesa’s Peacemaker’s 50m range.

If you want a better experience, get a mag with max range and efficiency. At max range Mag’s pull range jumps to 65 m (with arcane coil). This is amazing because aside from pulling just loot, Mag will now be able to pull enemies into Mesa’s 50m range. Max efficiency will help with the spam. The killing will be faster, hence the spawning will be faster. Your team will get more loot because of the faster kill rate and with a Nekros in the team, your team will get even more.

A really good Mag will also use Shield polarize to help in sticky situations. The Shield Transference mod even makes the team get overshields with each cast. This would probably be overkill in Draco though. I have power at 95% which is decent (enough to provide shields to my team in a wide area) given that you have max Overextend installed.

Here’s the Mag Build I use for Draco:

Frost

Frost has always been an area control frame despite the nerfs to Snow Globe he still does a good job.

The mag you pick has to be rank 28, to get snow globe rank 3, with at least 100% range and 100% power strength. This will help you keep the globe around your team to make sure that Mesa doesn’t stops shooting.

If you want a better experience, get a frost with higher power strength and duration percentages. This minimizes the chance that your team wipes out.

A really good Frost will buff Mesa with Freeze Force (Freeze Augment) increasing the damage of Peacemaker significantly. Again, faster kills mean more enemy spawns hence more affinity and loot for everyone.

Here’s the Frost build I use for Draco:

Mesa

Mesa is an area control frame that specializes in damage. She makes everything faster because of her ultimate, Peacemaker, which basically turns her into a turret. Mesa makes Draco easy. Fi Mesa stops shooting, it could lead to your team being overwhelmed and eventually wiped.

The Mesa you pick has to be at rank 30 so she can kill at a decent rate. Max efficiency is also needed so Mesa can keep Peacemaker up from the start of the wave until the end.

If you want a better experience, higher power strength with a power percentages will make the run smoother. The high energy pool will allow her to continue even if Mag has to go away to either cap or revive.

A really good Mesa will also have high duration to cast and keep Shatter Shield up in case something happens to the globe and/or frost.

Here’s the Mesa build I use for Draco:

Nekros

Nekros is your support frame. He’ll make the run smoother as his Desecrate ability creates energy and health orbs for your team. He’ll also help you get more loot.

The Nekros you need to pick must have max range (58.75m) so he can Desecrate all the enemies killed by Mesa with room to move around. This will also leave energy for Terrify in case there are enemies in the room below the boxes and aren’t moving, or if your team is in a bind.

If you want a better experience, Despoil is Desecrate Augment that will allow Nekros to use Health instead of energy. At Max efficiency, with the amount of enemies and Mag pulling, you will never run out of Health, hence, never stop Desecrating.

A really good Nekros will also have Soul Survivor, a Soul Punch Augment that will allow you to revive an ally immediately with the use of Soul Punch. Although this uses all your energy, the Despoil augment will allow you to start Desecrating immediately. This will allow the team to get back into action faster.

Here’s the Nekros build I use for Draco:

Roles

At the Beginning of the Game/Setting Up/Wave 1

Frost stands on the two boxes/crates near the elevator when the team emerges from and casts Snow Globe. Mesa Stands there and Starts Peacemaker clearing the initial set of enemies, then stops. There won’t be more enemies until one of the points are captured. Nekros desecrates the dead. Mag pulls the loot to Mesa to help give her a starting energy pool.

After Frost casts globe, He starts capturing points D and C. Nekros can help capture while desecrating.

As soon as a point is captured, Mesa initi8ates Peacemaker and keeps it up until the round is done. Nekross and Mag have to start Pulling and Desecrating at this time. During this time Frost makes sure to keep globe up around the three and finish capturing points C and D and start neutralizing point A, until the team has a 1-3% lead. The percentage doesn’t matter as the rate of increase will be the same. The bigger the lead though, the better the guarantee that you will win, despite complications.

 The rest of the wave will basically be spamming. Mesa stays in Peacemaker mode, Mag spams Pull, Nekros spams Desecrate and Frost Spams globe. When you reach 100%, just let Mesa take care of the enemies and have frost go after whatever is left hiding beyond Peacemaker’s range.

The Next Three Waves

This is going to be similar to their first wave, but easier. At this time, your Mesa will have a bigger pool of energy to work with and the rest of the team can just focus on capping D and C and starting that 1-3% lead by neutralizing A.

Extract after wave 4 to get the T4 key and repeat if you want more keys or need more affinity.

No Nekros

Well, it’s going to be very similar but your team may have to drop several energy/health restores. Discuss this with the 4^th (who was supposed to be Nekros) so that player can cover the energy/health restores for the run.

Things to Keep in Mind

Mesa Must NEVER STOP Peacemaker

Mesa keeps enemies from increasing in number and overwhelming the party. She doesn’t cap unless it’s the start of the round and even then, must be ready to initiate Peacemaker right after. If things happen let the other three take care of it. If she stops shooting, other frames will have to start doing damage instead of doing their roles. If Mesa goes down, drop an energy restore and have Mag spam Crush while someone revives. If Nekros has Soul Survivor, just let him revive Mesa.

Mesa will not get Affinity for Her Weapons

Mag, Frost and Nekross will all get affinity for their weapons since they’re benefitting from the radial affinity from Mesa’s Kills. Mesa however will not get affinity, since all her affinity goes into her (the frame) and not her weapons. The last time I tried this, the only weapon I equipped went from rank 0 to rank 5 after 4 slow rounds. In comparison, A weapon is usually maxed out after 2 slow rounds and a fast round.

You Can Fast Forward Draco Runs

Depending on what your team needs, affinity/loot vs just the key. Your team may decide to cap 2 points (slow) to 4 points (very fast).

Communicate with your Team and be Honest

Tell your team what you need or have while creating a squad. Tell them what needs to be done if they are doing it wrong. Point them to a guide if you think it’ll help. Tell them if you need a fast run or a slow run. It’s better to spend a few minutes communicating than waste 20-30 minutes on a failed run or have someone quit in the middle of the run because someone wants it done fast when they need slow runs.

Maxing Weapons

If you want to max out a weapon in 1 run (2 slow 2 fast), offer to join as either a Mag, Frost or Nekross and just equip the weapon you need to rank up. You can press “p” to view the mission progress window and check what rank your weapon is.

If you want to rank up more than one weapon, expect it go slower. Affinity is distributed equally to each weapon you have equipped, regardless if it’s maxed or not.

Final Remark

Thanks for reading. Hope you learned something to make those Draco runs better!