Chroma
Chroma builds
First Scales
Starter0–2 FormaStarterHigh confidenceStar ChartShards optional

Chroma — First Scales

Starter build. Vex Armor is the whole kit. Tap 1 to pick Heat or Cold, cast 3, then take a hit so the buffs actually turn on.

Codex Checked · Compared against current game data for this update. · Update 43.5 · 5 Sept 2026 · PC · Current

Star Chart, first Chroma, learning Scorn and Fury

Wrong drop or mechanic?

Why this build?

Starter for Star Chart, first Chroma, learning Scorn and Fury

Health: Inventory unknown — Mark what you own. Until then this is a recommendation, not a test you failed.

Play this in Star Chart
  • Vex Armor is Chroma. Everything else is a coat of paint.
  • Kills now feed the bars — you do not have to stand in fire like 2016 Chroma. Shoot, stab, stay alive.
  • Spectral Scream is the Helminth slot the moment you own Helminth. Learn the color swap first so you do not forget how elements work.

Don’t use this for: Steel Path endurance · level-cap content

0 Forma, basic mods, no Helminth or shards required

You don’t need the shards to run the loop. They are a later ceiling, not a gate.

Bring: Any gun + a melee — A rifle builds Fury (weapon damage). A melee hit builds Scorn (armor). You want both bars full.

Instead: First Scales — Star ChartInstead: Everlasting Hide — Steel PathInstead: Everlasting Hide — OptimisedInstead: Everlasting Hide — Endgame

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 0/9 · required — 0/9 named
  • Forma 0/2 · required — 2 on the card. Codex does not track installed Forma.
  • Helminth · optional — Not required
  • Arcanes · recommended — 0/1 recommended
  • Shards · optional — Optional unless the card says a breakpoint

Investment: 2 Forma · Reactor · 1 shard. Typical farm ~1–2 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

High confidence. How strongly the Codex recommends this for its stated purpose — not a test log. Verification is separate: Codex Checked against Update 43.5.

Your next step

Open First Scales — Star Chart

The next rung on this frame is unlocked. Mark I run this, then step up.

First Scales — Star Chart

Plan

Today → next → later

Inventory unknown — mark “I own this” on a few mods. Until then this is a plan, not a score of zero.

  1. NextGet Steel ChargeInvasion / Nightwave
  2. After that0–2 FormaOne slot at a time. Rank 30 after each polarize.
  3. LaterAmber · Casting SpeedHelminth and shards are the last rungs. They are not the Starter.
  4. FinalFirst ScalesStarter · Starter · 0–2 Forma

Upgrade from here

First Scales — Star Chart

Vex Armor is the whole kit. Tap 1 to pick Heat or Cold, cast 3, then take a hit so the buffs actually turn on. Primed Continuity and Primed Flow are the first real upgrade — not Blind Rage.

Open First Scales — Star Chart

Helminth & shards

What to put on the body

  • 1 Amber · Casting Speed — Recast Vex without a yoga pose.Archon locked

Tonight

What is actually up

30 minutes, one hour, or two — matched to this loadout, not a dump of the Origin System.

  1. 30 minutes

    Farm Steel Charge

    One named gap. Invasion / Nightwave

  2. 60 minutes

    Steel Charge, then Forma

    Finish the missing named card, then spend a Forma if a polarity is still fighting you.

  3. 120 minutes

    One Archon Hunt

    If you are logging off after this, stop at the named component. Do not start a second Forma session tired.

Who this is for

Play this build from zero

You just finished The New Strange and have never watched a Vex bar fill on purpose.

Time to a playable copy
Same day. Intensify, Continuity, Vitality, Steel Fiber.
First mission to practice in
A Grineer Exterminate on Earth or Venus. You want to get hit and still live.

3 button drills · 11 parts · tick the lists as you go

Before you start

0 of 3 done

Put it on the Warframe

0 of 4 done

Keep this up

Vex loop

Pocket card. Stick this on a second screen; the long version is the mission below.

  1. 1Hold Spectral Scream (1) to cycle elements. Stop on Heat (red) or Cold (blue). The breath itself is not the gun — the color paints Ward and Effigy.
  2. 2Elemental Ward (2). Heat pads your health pool. Cold pads armor.
  3. 3Vex Armor (3). Shoot something to stack Fury. Melee something (or eat a shield hit) to stack Scorn. Both icons should fill.
  4. 4Do not press Effigy (4) yet. You take the pelt off and become squishier. That is a later joke.

First mission — press these buttons

  1. 1

    Hold 1 until the breath is red or blue

    1

    Heat (red) pads health. Cold (blue) pads armor. Let go, then tap if you want to see the cone. You will Helminth this later.

    You will know it worked when: The pelt glow changes color.

  2. 2

    Ward, then Vex

    2 3

    2, then 3. Two buff icons. They are empty until you fight.

  3. 3

    Shoot one, stab one

    Gun kills fill Fury (weapon damage). Melee kills or a shield slap fill Scorn (armor). Both icons should climb.

    You will know it worked when: Two filling buffs on the UI.

Common mistakes

  • Casting Vex and hiding

    Empty bars. Go get hit and get kills.

When this feels easy

  1. 1Guardian ArmorThe real purchase. Squad DR plus heals.
  2. 2Then Helminth 1Roar or Nourish over Spectral Scream. Next configs.

Parts checklist

0 of 11 owned. Tap How on anything you still need.

Dependencies

13 dependencies

Frame → mods → unlocks. Tick Collection and Progress. This is a decision graph, not a wiki tree.

  1. 1●chromaframe
  2. 2○Steel Chargemod
  3. 3○Power Driftmod
  4. 4○Intensifymod
  5. 5○Continuitymod
  6. 6○Stretchmod
  7. 7○Streamlinemod
  8. 8○Flowmod
  9. 9○Vitalitymod
  10. 10○Steel Fibermod
  11. 11○Arcane Guardianarcane
  12. 12○Amber · Casting Speedshard
  13. 13○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

  • Steel Charge

    missing · Invasion / Nightwave

  • Power Drift

    missing · Unlock Lua

  • Intensify

    missing · Fight Lieutenant Lech Kril

  • Continuity

    missing · Run low-level Defense or Survival

  • Stretch

    missing · Enemy drops

  • Streamline

    missing · Enemy drops and early missions

  • Flow

    missing · Enemy drops

  • Vitality

    missing · Jackal

    You want health to lose so Fury ramps. Empty health is the buff, not a mistake.

  • Steel Fiber

    missing · Enemy drops

    Scorn multiplies armor. Steel Fiber is the cheap seed.

Recommended

  • Arcane Guardian

    missing · Cetus / trade

    Armor on hit. Skip until you have it.

Optional

Watch it played

YouTube for this loadout

All videos
The kitDeathcrown's Variety · Jul 2025

How To Use Your Chroma - A User's Manual

Elemental Ward, Vex Armor, Effigy, the energy-color alignment. Long-form kit, not a 2016 tank recap.

Play in WatchYouTube

Strength

~145% (Intensify)

Duration

155% (Continuity + Augur Message)

Range

100–130%

Strength raises the Vex caps. Duration is how long you keep them. Range is the squad aura — ignore it on day one.

From the mods

Live power

Additive from max-rank Codex mods. Efficiency clamped 15–175%. Umbral set is +11% Strength per extra piece.

Strength
145%
Duration
130%
Range
145%
Efficiency
130%
Energy
+150%
Capacity
43 / 69

Open slots

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
12% × 2.00
Status
26%
Fire rate
9.58
Multishot
1.00
Avg hit
39
Arsenal DPS
376

Toggle common mods

Chroma mods

  • AuraSteel ChargeInvasion / Nightwave
  • ExilusPower DriftOrokin Vaults / Lua
  • 1IntensifyMercury / Venus rewards
  • 2ContinuityEnemy drops / Saturn
  • 3StretchEnemy drops
  • 4StreamlineEnemy drops
  • 5FlowEnemy drops
  • 6VitalityYou want health to lose so Fury ramps. Empty health is the buff, not a mistake.Earth / drops
  • 7Steel FiberScorn multiplies armor. Steel Fiber is the cheap seed.Enemy drops

Any gun + a melee

A rifle builds Fury (weapon damage). A melee hit builds Scorn (armor). You want both bars full.

Arcanes

Arcane Guardian

Armor on hit. Skip until you have it.

Eidolon / trade

Archon shards

  • 1Amber · Casting SpeedRecast Vex without a yoga pose.1 · Archon Hunt
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