As the first Sentient-Warframe hybrid, Caliban fuses the powers of organic and machine. And he’s one Warframe every Tenno should seek to add to their Arsenal. While anyone can purchase Caliban directly, only those who have survived The New War Quest will be able to unlock the Bounties in the Plains of Eidolon and Orb Vallis that reward Caliban’s Blueprints.

Taking after his Sentient progenitors, Caliban is a fantastic Warframe for players who prefer to always be on the offensive. He’s also the only Warframe that can permanently strip armor from multiple enemies without relying on specific Weapons. Along with his powerful crowd control and shield-recharging Abilities, Caliban is a whirlwind of death and destruction.

All you need is the right Caliban build to tap into his deadly potential.

The best Caliban builds

Caliban, the master of armor stripping

Caliban is a fantastic Warframe for players who like straightforward destruction. And this guide by L1fewater gives you a Caliban that can easily tear through the most brutally difficult Warframe Missions and encounters. While there’s lots of room to experiment based on your playstyle, this is a go-to build for all scenarios—especially when you’re fighting Grineer or other armored enemies.

If you want to skip straight to L1fewater’s Mod loadout, click here.

The trick here is to do whatever it takes to get Ability Strength to at least 200%. Caliban’s fourth Ability, Fusion Strike, creates a lingering fallout that will totally strip enemies of shields and armor—but only if Ability Strength is high enough. Because Caliban is stationary during Fusion Strike, you can help his survivability by equipping Rolling Guard and Natural Talent and dodging before casting, giving you a brief invulnerability window. The rest of the loadout is about buffing Ability Strength and Range slightly, which will affect the rest of Caliban’s Abilities.

Conculyst summoner Caliban build

One of Caliban’s most unique Abilities summons up to three Sentient Conculysts to fight alongside him. Not only do these Conculysts help soak up incoming damage by giving the enemy something new to shoot at, they also actively repair his shields and can even trigger Overshields. And with Noodlecup’s Caliban build on Overframe, you can mod these Conculysts to become such formidable allies that they’ll do much of the killing (and shield recharging) for you.

Because Caliban’s Conculysts scale based on his Ability Strength and Ability Duration, this Caliban build is simple: Make those numbers as high as they can go. This means sacrificing Ability Range (you won’t miss it) and using Mods like Energy Conversion, which empowers your Ability Strength by 50% each time you pick up an Energy Orb. If you can time it right, you can exploit this to summon extra-powerful Conculysts who will go on a killing spree for you. And since your Ability Strength is still above 200%, you’ll benefit from maximum armor stripping with Fusion Strike.

Other great Caliban builds

If the above builds don’t have what you’re hunting for, give these other great guides a shot:
Faceless Beanie has an excellent Caliban build guide that includes a Mod loadout very similar to L1fewater’s build, but it only requires four Forma instead of five.
The Kengineer has another take on a Caliban build that’s a lot more accessible to players unwilling to use up multiple Forma.

With these Caliban builds, you’ll be able to turn the Sentients’ own weapons against them. If you don’t already own Caliban, you can buy him (and his signature Weapon, the Venato Scythe) directly in the in-game Market, or you can earn his Blueprints by completing specific Bounties in the Plains of Eidolon and Orb Vallis after beating The New War.