Theorylytics
Caliban

Caliban

Support / Healer

The heir of twin kingdoms ascends. Biological and Sentient life meet in Caliban. An adept monarch, he offers crowd control and survivability. His creator had more than one world in mind.

Role
Support / Healer
Aura
NaramonNaramon
Polarities
VazarinVazarin
Mastery
0
Introduced
Update 31.0 (2021-12-15)

Stats

Type
Warframe
Category
Warframes
Mastery
0
Health
270
Shield
550
Armor
290
Energy
140
Sprint Speed
1.1
Build Cost
25,000 Credits
Build Time
72h 0m
Rush
50 Platinum

Warframe dossier

Verified 2026-07-22

Playstyle

The heir of twin kingdoms ascends. Built around Razor Gyre, Sentient Wrath, Lethal Progeny.

Passive

Allies within Affinity range gain up to a percentage resistance to the types of damage they are currently taking.

When to Pick

  • You want a support / healer toolkit and Caliban’s fantasy matches the mission.
  • Your squad is missing what Caliban brings — especially Razor Gyre.
  • You already own the mods / archon shards that make Caliban’s scaling comfortable on Steel Path.

Kit Overview

  • Razor Gyre (Ability 1): Dash forward in a spinning vortex of death.
  • Sentient Wrath (Ability 2): Smash the ground sending out a radial wave of destruction.
  • Lethal Progeny (Ability 3): Cycle through Sentient unit types, then summon them to Caliban's side.
  • Fusion Strike (Ability 4): Converge three streams of raw energy upon a single point, causing a massive explosion.

Abilities & Augments

  • 1
    Razor Gyre

    Energy 25

    Dash forward in a spinning vortex of death. Struck enemies are inflicted with Tau Status Effect, making them more vulnerable to all other status effects. For each enemy hit, recover a portion of the energy cost, as well as health and shields. Enemies lifted by Sentient Wrath take increased damage.

  • 2
    Sentient Wrath

    Energy 25

    Smash the ground sending out a radial wave of destruction. Those not killed by the initial blast are helplessly raised into the air, where they take amplified damage for a short time.

    No augment

  • 3
    Lethal Progeny

    Energy 25

    Cycle through Sentient unit types, then summon them to Caliban's side. Conculysts focus on raw melee damage. Ortholysts specialize in ranged attacks and inflict Tau Status Effect. Summulysts summon their own Choralysts and provide shield protection for the squad.

    No augment

  • 4
    Fusion Strike

    Energy 25

    Converge three streams of raw energy upon a single point, causing a massive explosion. The streams strip armor and shields, and each enemy struck detonates on stream convergence. Summoned Conculysts can wield their own mini Fusion Strikes.

    No augment

Ability Priority

  1. 1
    Razor Gyre

    Dash forward in a spinning vortex of death.

  2. 2
    Lethal Progeny

    Cycle through Sentient unit types, then summon them to Caliban's side.

  3. 3
    Fusion Strike

    Converge three streams of raw energy upon a single point, causing a massive explosion.

  4. 4
    Sentient Wrath

    Smash the ground sending out a radial wave of destruction.

Helminth / Subsume

  • Razor Gyre is often the Helminth sacrifice if your build never needs Ability 1 and you’d rather import a strip, buff, or survival tool.
  • Keep Sentient Wrath and later abilities when they define Caliban’s identity.
  • Never subsume the ability that enables the rest of the kit’s energy or survival loop.

Mod Scaling

Strength

Raises damage and effect potency across Caliban’s Strength-scaling abilities.

Duration

Extends channeled / timed effects — often comfort on Caliban if the kit leans on buffs or zones.

Range

Helps radius / targeting tools. Dump it if Caliban is mostly self-buff or exalted weapons.

Efficiency

Keeps ability uptime comfortable, especially on longer Steel Path missions.

Priority

Match the priority to your main ability — Strength or Duration first for most kits, then Efficiency, then Range.

Mission Usefulness

Mission / ContextRatingWhy
Steel Path Survival / Defense / DisruptionStrongSolid Steel Path pick — Caliban won’t hard-carry every tile, but Razor Gyre keeps the run stable. Dash forward in a spinning vortex of death.
Mobile Defense / ExcavationExcellentCaliban wins Mobile Defense / Excavation by parking Razor Gyre on the objective instead of chasing stragglers. Dash forward in a spinning vortex of death.
Exterminate / Capture Speed RunsSituationalUsable on speed runs, but Caliban’s support / healer kit usually wants longer objectives than a 3-minute Exterminate. Dash forward in a spinning vortex of death.
Spy / Rescue / NightmareSituationalOnly if you already know the vaults — Caliban is not a Spy specialist and Razor Gyre won’t save a loud play. Dash forward in a spinning vortex of death.
Open World / BountiesStrongStrong on packed bounty camps; Caliban still leans on Operator / Archwing for the empty travel stretches while Razor Gyre handles fights. Dash forward in a spinning vortex of death. The heir of twin kingdoms ascends.
Long-Range Gunplay / Eidolon-Style ContentWeakCaliban wants pack clear or finishers, not pure long-range; Razor Gyre won’t save an Eidolon-style loadout. Dash forward in a spinning vortex of death.

Crafting

Alternatives to Caliban

Not sure Caliban is right for you? Compare against other frames to find your best pull.

Atlas
AtlasSupport / HealerMadurai

Petrify into Rumblers is the cast story you want to master — not a random subsume mashup.

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Caliban Prime
Caliban PrimeSupport / HealerNaramon

Caliban Prime starts with more polarities (Vazarin · Madurai · Madurai) than Caliban.

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Chroma
ChromaSupport / HealerMadurai

Vex Armor into Effigy is the cast story you want to master — not a random subsume mashup.

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Citrine
CitrineSupport / HealerNaramon

Energy / health orb rooms are common in your rota and Citrine gets more mileage out of every pickup.

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Dagath
DagathSupport / HealerZenurik

Energy / health orb rooms are common in your rota and Dagath gets more mileage out of every pickup.

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Dante
DanteSupport / HealerAura

Status duration is how your weapons scale and Dante extends that plan for free.

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