
Ash — Wrathful Clones
Optimised build. Shadow Clones are a real melee now. Wrathful Advance dumps flat crit onto them until rooms vanish.
Codex Checked · Compared against current game data for this update. · Update 43.5 · 5 Sept 2026 · PC · Current
Netracells, Archon, EDA. You have Helminth or you don't need it.
Wrong drop or mechanic?
Don’t build this yet
Smoke and Steel first
This loadout sits at Optimised. It wants Forma, Helminth, or shards you may not have. Play the Starter until those systems are open — then this page is the upgrade, not the homework.
Open Smoke and SteelWhy this build?
Optimised for Netracells, Archon, EDA. You have Helminth or you don't need it.
Health: Not yet — Helminth, Steel Path, or Archon Hunts still closed. Play the Starter.
- Blade Storm was reworked into an exalted melee. If the clone grid is empty, this loadout does nothing.
- Wrathful Advance is the 2025–2026 Ash identity. Seeking Shuriken is worse once clones ignore armor with slash/finishers.
- Crepuscular plus Smoke Screen is free damage. Do not skip invisibility to 'see better.'
Don’t use this for: new accounts · Star Chart only · players without Helminth · open combat endurance · open-world / Eidolons
Helminth, shards, and a finished configuration
You don’t need the shards to run the loop. They are a later ceiling, not a gate.
Bring: Shadow Clones (exalted melee) — Open Blade Storm's own melee grid. Blood Rush, Gladiator Might, Organ Shatter, Primed Fever Strike, Weeping Wounds, Condition Overload. This grid is the build.
Alternative if…
- You don’t have Helminth yet → Smoke and Steel
- Star Chart only → Smoke and Steel
- This is too much Forma / cost → Wrathful Clones — Steel Path
My test
Did this still work for you?
Your note, in this browser. Separate from Codex verification — the stamp on the card is editorial, this is yours.
Readiness
Inventory unknown
Not checked — add your collection. You have not failed a test.
- Required mods 0/18 · required — 0/18 named
- Forma 0/5 · required — 5 on the card. Codex does not track installed Forma.
- Helminth 0/1 · required — Subsume Wrathful Advance (Kullervo)
- Arcanes · recommended — 0/2 recommended
- Shards · optional — Optional unless the card says a breakpoint
Investment: 5 Forma · Reactor · Helminth (Wrathful Advance (Kullervo)) · 2 shards · 5 specialised mods. Typical farm ~4–6 hours. Trade if a route is vaulted.
Codex Checked · Compared against current game data for this update. · Update 43.5 · 5 Sept 2026 · PC · Current
Medium confidence. A solid recommendation with more situational dependencies. Confidence is not verification. Verification is separate: Codex Checked against Update 43.5.
Your next step
Next: Wrathful Clones — Endgame
Unlock Helminth, Steel Path, or Archon Hunts before this upgrade is honest.
Wrathful Clones — EndgamePlan
Today → next → later
Inventory unknown — mark “I own this” on a few mods. Until then this is a plan, not a score of zero.
- TodayPlay Smoke and SteelThe Starter is the loadout you can actually take into a mission tonight.
- NextGet Steel ChargeInvasion / Nightwave
- After that4–5 FormaOne slot at a time. Rank 30 after each polarize.
- LaterCrimson · StrengthHelminth and shards are the last rungs. They are not the Starter.
- FinalWrathful Clones — OptimisedOptimised · Endgame · 4–5 Forma
Upgrade from here
Wrathful Clones — Endgame
Locked behind Helminth, Steel Path, or Archon Hunts. Tick those on Progress first.
Open Wrathful Clones — EndgameHelminth & shards
What to put on the body
Wrathful Advance (Kullervo) over Shuriken (1)
Flat melee crit chance equal to Ability Strength. At ~300% Strength the clones sit on guaranteed red crits. Seeking Shuriken is the cost — bring a primer or Corrosive Projection.
Helminth is locked. Tick it on Progress before you subsume.
- 3–5 Tauforged Crimson · Strength — Wrathful crit scales 1:1 with Strength.Archon locked
- 1 Amber · Casting Speed — Mark rooms faster.Archon locked
Tonight
What is actually up
30 minutes, one hour, or two — matched to this loadout, not a dump of the Origin System.
30 minutes
Farm Steel Charge
One named gap. Invasion / Nightwave
60 minutes
Steel Charge, then Forma
Finish the missing named card, then spend a Forma if a polarity is still fighting you.
120 minutes
Subsume Wrathful Advance (Kullervo)
If you are logging off after this, stop at the named component. Do not start a second Forma session tired.
- Farm Steel Charge
Invasion / Nightwave
Who this is for
Play this build from zero
You forma'd the clone melee and want Steel Path rooms to disappear.
- Time to a playable copy
- After The Sacrifice (Umbral Intensify) and a Wrathful Advance subsume from Kullervo.
- First mission to practice in
- A Steel Path Exterminate. You want clumps.
4 button drills · 23 parts · tick the lists as you go
Before you start
0 of 3 done
Put it on the Warframe
0 of 5 done
Keep this up
Clone loop
Pocket card. Stick this on a second screen; the long version is the mission below.
- 1Smoke Screen (2). Crepuscular turns on.
- 2Wrathful Advance (1) for the crit window, then Blade Storm (4) the pack. Clones teleport in and delete.
- 3Teleport (3) onto stragglers or to refresh invulnerability.
- 4Recast Smoke before it dies. You are a glass ninja without it.
First mission — press these buttons
- 1
Smoke Screen
2Crepuscular on. You are a crit stick.
- 2
Wrathful Advance
1Tap 1. Flat crit chance equal to your Strength is now on melee and clones.
- 3
Mark the room
4Press 4, look around, confirm marks. Clones spawn and red-crit.
You will know it worked when: Shadow figures stabbing. Big numbers if the grid is real.
- 4
Teleport stragglers
33 onto anything still standing.
Common mistakes
Empty clone grid
The rework made 4 a melee. Unmodded clones tickle level-cap.
Letting Smoke drop mid-room
Crepuscular and your health bar both leave.
When this feels easy
- 1Tau Strength shardsWrathful scales 1:1. Three Tau Crimson is a different Warframe.
- 2Molt AugmentedKills add Strength. Recast Wrathful after it stacks.
Parts checklist
0 of 23 owned. Tap How on anything you still need.
Dependencies
27 dependencies
Frame → mods → unlocks. Tick Collection and Progress. This is a decision graph, not a wiki tree.
- 1●ashframe
- 2○Steel Chargemod
- 3○Power Driftmod
- 4○Blind Ragemod
- 5○Transient Fortitudemod
- 6○Umbral Intensifymod
- 7○Primed Continuitymod
- 8○Primed Flowmod
- 9○Equilibriummod
- 10○Rolling Guardmod
- 11○Ash's Blade Storm stancemod
- 12○Blood Rushmod
- 13○Gladiator Mightmod
- 14○Organ Shattermod
- 15○Condition Overloadmod
- 16○Weeping Woundsmod
- 17○Primed Fever Strikemod
- 18○Sacrificial Pressuremod
- 19○Primed Reachmod
- 20○Arcane Crepusculararcane
- 21○Molt Augmentedarcane
- 22○Crimson · Strengthshard
- 23○Amber · Casting Speedshard
- 24○Wrathful Advancehelminth
- 25○Helminth · Wrathful Advance (Kullervo)unlock
- 26○Steel Pathunlock
- 27○Archon Hunts (shards optional)unlock
Depends on
What this loadout needs
Required is a gate. Recommended is a ceiling. Optional is a later farm — don’t stall the card for it.
Required
Power Driftmissing · Unlock Lua
Blind Ragemissing · Run Orokin Vaults
Transient Fortitudemissing · Same vaults as Blind Rage
Umbral Intensifymissing · Finish The Sacrifice
Primed Continuitymissing · Wait for Baro Ki'Teer
Primed Flowmissing · Baro Ki'Teer
- Equilibrium
missing · The New Strange / drops
- Ash's Blade Storm stance
missing · Exalted
- Blood Rush
missing · Red Veil / Steel Meridian
- Gladiator Might
missing · Arena / Arbitration
- Organ Shatter
missing · Enemy drops
- Condition Overload
missing · Orokin Derelict / trade
- Weeping Wounds
missing · The Index
- Primed Fever Strike
missing · Baro Ki'Teer
- Sacrificial Pressure
missing · The Sacrifice
- Primed Reach
missing · Baro Ki'Teer
- Wrathful Advance
missing · Helminth
Flat melee crit chance equal to Ability Strength. At ~300% Strength the clones sit on guaranteed red crits. Seeking Shuriken is the cost — bring a primer or Corrosive Projection.
Recommended
- Arcane Crepuscular
missing · Duviri / trade
Damage and crit while invisible. Smoke Screen is the on-switch.

Optional
Crimson · Strengthmissing · Netracells / Archon Hunt / Bird 3
Wrathful crit scales 1:1 with Strength.

Helminth
Subsume Wrathful Advance (Kullervo) over Shuriken (1)
Flat melee crit chance equal to Ability Strength. At ~300% Strength the clones sit on guaranteed red crits. Seeking Shuriken is the cost — bring a primer or Corrosive Projection.
Strength
~280–320% (Blind Rage, Transient Fortitude, Umbral Intensify, shards)
Duration
127–155% for Smoke Screen
Range
145%
Clones scale with melee mods and Wrathful's flat crit, not with Shuriken.
From the mods
Live power
Additive from max-rank Codex mods. Efficiency clamped 15–175%. Umbral set is +11% Strength per extra piece.
- Strength
- 313%
- Duration
- 128%
- Range
- 100%
- Efficiency
- 45%
- Energy
- +275%
- Capacity
- 56 / 69
1 Umbral piece
Weapon HUD
Arsenal numbers
Base × damage mods × crit expectation × fire rate × multishot. No faction, no quantization. Galvanized kill stacks are a slider, not assumed.
- Damage
- 35
- Crit
- 17% × 5.00
- Status
- 36%
- Fire rate
- 9.58
- Multishot
- 1.00
- Avg hit
- 59
- Arsenal DPS
- 561
Toggle common mods
Ash mods
- AuraSteel ChargeCapacity plus clone damageInvasion / Nightwave
- Exilus
Power DriftOrokin Vaults / Lua - 1
Blind RageOrokin Vaults - 2
Transient FortitudeOrokin Vaults - 3
Umbral IntensifyThe Sacrifice - 4
Primed ContinuityBaro Ki'Teer - 5
Primed FlowBaro Ki'Teer / relics - 6EquilibriumThe New Strange / drops
- 7Rolling GuardStatus cleanse when Smoke dropsArbitrations
| Slot | Mod | Source | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aura | Steel Charge Capacity plus clone damage | Invasion / Nightwave | |
| Exilus | Power Drift | Orokin Vaults / Lua | |
| 1 | Blind Rage | Orokin Vaults | |
| 2 | Transient Fortitude | Orokin Vaults | |
| 3 | Umbral Intensify | The Sacrifice | |
| 4 | Primed Continuity | Baro Ki'Teer | |
| 5 | Primed Flow | Baro Ki'Teer / relics | |
| 6 | Equilibrium | The New Strange / drops | |
| 7 | Rolling Guard Status cleanse when Smoke drops | Arbitrations |
Shadow Clones (exalted melee)
- StanceAsh's Blade Storm stance (innate)Exalted
- 1Blood RushRed Veil / Steel Meridian
- 2Gladiator MightArena / Arbitration
- 3Organ ShatterEnemy drops
- 4Condition OverloadOrokin Derelict / trade
- 5Weeping WoundsThe Index
- 6Primed Fever StrikeBaro Ki'Teer
- 7Sacrificial PressureThe Sacrifice
- 8Primed ReachBaro Ki'Teer
| Slot | Mod | Source | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stance | Ash's Blade Storm stance (innate) | Exalted | |
| 1 | Blood Rush | Red Veil / Steel Meridian | |
| 2 | Gladiator Might | Arena / Arbitration | |
| 3 | Organ Shatter | Enemy drops | |
| 4 | Condition Overload | Orokin Derelict / trade | |
| 5 | Weeping Wounds | The Index | |
| 6 | Primed Fever Strike | Baro Ki'Teer | |
| 7 | Sacrificial Pressure | The Sacrifice | |
| 8 | Primed Reach | Baro Ki'Teer |
Arcanes
Arcane Crepuscular
Damage and crit while invisible. Smoke Screen is the on-switch.
Duviri / trade
Molt Augmented
Strength stacks as you kill. Feeds Wrathful's flat crit.
Zariman bounties
Archon shards
- 1
Crimson · StrengthWrathful crit scales 1:1 with Strength.3–5 Tauforged · Netracells / EDA - 2
Amber · Casting SpeedMark rooms faster.1 · EDA / Bird 3
| # | Shard | Qty | Source | How |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Crimson · StrengthWrathful crit scales 1:1 with Strength. | 3–5 Tauforged | Netracells / EDA | |
| 2 | Amber · Casting SpeedMark rooms faster. | 1 | EDA / Bird 3 |