Follie — Balloon Drop
Steel Path build. Plein Air lifts, strips, Inkblot. Pop the balloons for fall damage that splashes the tile. Strength hits the strip breakpoint. This is the peak you can run the day Steel Path unlocks — galvanized / arcanes, no Helminth.
Codex Checked · Compared against current game data for this update. · Update 43.5 · 5 Sept 2026 · PC · Current
Steel Path Star Chart, Circuit, first Archon. Helminth is the next card.
Wrong drop or mechanic?
Why this build?
Steel Path for Steel Path Star Chart, Circuit, first Archon. Helminth is the next card.
Health: Not yet — Helminth, Steel Path, or Archon Hunts still closed. Play the Starter.
- Plein Air is Follie's grouping plus strip. Most guides Helminth it. This config keeps it on purpose.
- The slam is fall damage plus ink splash. Pop them over the Portrait puddle for orbs.
- Range first, then Strength until armor actually leaves. Overextended plus shards is the usual math.
Don’t use this for: Star Chart only · loadouts that need Helminth
Stronger mods, Arcanes, real synergy
You don’t need the shards to run the loop. They are a later ceiling, not a gate.
Bring: Pop gun — A hitscan or punch-through primary to pop balloons in a line. Perspective can also pop by diving a barrel into the clump.
Alternative if…
- Star Chart only → First Ink
- This is too much Forma / cost → First Ink — Star Chart
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 0/4 · required — 4 on the card. Codex does not track installed Forma.
- Helminth · optional — Not required
- Arcanes · recommended — 0/2 recommended
- Shards · optional — Optional unless the card says a breakpoint
Investment: 4 Forma · Reactor · 1 shard · 3 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: Balloon Drop — Optimised
Unlock Helminth, Steel Path, or Archon Hunts before this upgrade is honest.
Balloon Drop — OptimisedPlan
Today → next → later
Inventory unknown — mark “I own this” on a few mods. Until then this is a plan, not a score of zero.
- NextGet Growing PowerThe Silver Grove quest
- After that3–4 FormaOne slot at a time. Rank 30 after each polarize.
- LaterCrimson · StrengthHelminth and shards are the last rungs. They are not the Starter.
- FinalBalloon Drop — Steel PathSteel Path · Advanced · 3–4 Forma
Upgrade from here
Balloon Drop — Optimised
Locked behind Helminth, Steel Path, or Archon Hunts. Tick those on Progress first.
Open Balloon Drop — OptimisedHelminth & shards
What to put on the body
- 1 Crimson · Strength — Strip breakpoint and slam.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 Growing Power
One named gap. The Silver Grove quest
60 minutes
Growing Power, then Forma
Finish the missing named card, then spend a Forma if a polarity is still fighting you.
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.
- Farm Growing Power
The Silver Grove quest
Who this is for
Play this build from zero
You want 4 to be a real button.
- Time to a playable copy
- After Blind Rage, Overextended, and a Strength shard or two.
- First mission to practice in
- A packed Survival. You want a clump to lift.
2 button drills · 12 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
Balloon loop
Pocket card. Stick this on a second screen; the long version is the mission below.
- 1Portrait (3) first so the puddle exists.
- 2Plein Air (4) the pack. They float, they strip, they are Inkblot'd.
- 3Shoot the balloons — or dive Perspective (1) a barrel into them. Slam splash hits neighbors.
- 4Traps (2) on the landing zone so the survivors walk into Arc Traps. Recast 4.
First mission — press these buttons
- 1
Puddle, then lift
3 43, then 4. They float and strip.
- 2
Pop
Shoot the balloons over the puddle. Splash plus orbs.
Common mistakes
Lifting your Arc Trap food
Traps after the slam, or skip traps on this press.
When this feels easy
- 1Strength until armor actually leavesStrip is a breakpoint. Shards if Overextended ate too much.
Parts checklist
0 of 12 owned. Tap How on anything you still need.
Dependencies
15 dependencies
Frame → mods → unlocks. Tick Collection and Progress. This is a decision graph, not a wiki tree.
- 1●follieframe
- 2○Growing Powermod
- 3○Cunning Driftmod
- 4○Blind Ragemod
- 5○Intensifymod
- 6○Overextendedmod
- 7○Primed Continuitymod
- 8○Stretchmod
- 9○Equilibriummod
- 10○Primed Flowmod
- 11○Molt Augmentedarcane
- 12○Arcane Energizearcane
- 13○Crimson · Strengthshard
- 14○Steel Pathunlock
- 15○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
Growing Powermissing · The Silver Grove quest
Cunning Driftmissing · Lua Halls of Ascension
Blind Ragemissing · Run Orokin Vaults
Intensifymissing · Fight Lieutenant Lech Kril
Primed Continuitymissing · Wait for Baro Ki'Teer
- Equilibrium
missing · The New Strange / drops
Primed Flowmissing · Baro Ki'Teer
Recommended
Molt Augmentedmissing · Unlock the Zariman
Strength stacks toward strip. Rank 0 is legal. Rank 3 is the Steel Path version.
Arcane Energizemissing · Buy 20–40 Platinum worth
4 is 75 energy. Pay it. Rank 0 is legal. Rank 3 is the Steel Path version.
Optional
Strength
~220–280% strip breakpoint and slam damage
Duration
155% balloon hang time
Range
175%+ so 4 grabs the room
Range is coverage. Strength is strip and the slam. Portrait still wants to be down so orbs flow.
From the mods
Live power
Additive from max-rank Codex mods. Efficiency clamped 15–175%. Umbral set is +11% Strength per extra piece.
- Strength
- 169%
- Duration
- 155%
- Range
- 250%
- Efficiency
- 45%
- Energy
- +275%
- Capacity
- 51 / 67
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
Follie mods
- AuraGrowing PowerSilver Grove
- ExilusCunning DriftLua Halls
- 1Blind RageOrokin Vaults
- 2IntensifyMercury / Venus
- 3OverextendedPlein Air grab radius. Pay Strength back with shards.Orokin Vaults
- 4Primed ContinuityBaro
- 5StretchRange plus energy if something Electric is in the ink.Kahl
- 6EquilibriumThe New Strange
- 7Primed FlowBaro
| Slot | Mod | Source | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aura | Growing Power | Silver Grove | |
| Exilus | Cunning Drift | Lua Halls | |
| 1 | Blind Rage | Orokin Vaults | |
| 2 | Intensify | Mercury / Venus | |
| 3 | Overextended Plein Air grab radius. Pay Strength back with shards. | Orokin Vaults | |
| 4 | Primed Continuity | Baro | |
| 5 | Stretch Range plus energy if something Electric is in the ink. | Kahl | |
| 6 | Equilibrium | The New Strange | |
| 7 | Primed Flow | Baro |
Pop gun
A hitscan or punch-through primary to pop balloons in a line. Perspective can also pop by diving a barrel into the clump.
Arcanes
Molt Augmented
Strength stacks toward strip. Rank 0 is legal. Rank 3 is the Steel Path version.
Zariman
Arcane Energize
4 is 75 energy. Pay it. Rank 0 is legal. Rank 3 is the Steel Path version.
Eidolon
Archon shards
- 1
Crimson · StrengthStrip breakpoint and slam.1 · Netracells
| # | Shard | Qty | Source | How |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Crimson · Strength Strip breakpoint and slam. | 1 | Netracells |