Warframe adds some feuding family fun with its latest characters

• Two skillsets for the price of one
• Both Warframes can be individually modified
• They a fantastic amount of fun

If you have a brother or sister, then you know the term “sibling rivalry” all too well. Sure, you have to love them, but you would have had arguments that shook the earth. Warframe have unleashed upon us a duo who take this to a cosmic level: Sirius and Orion. 

This dastardly duo play a starring role in the Jade Shadows: Constellations story, during which they are at each other's throats. We won’t dive too much into the story, both for spoiler reasons and because I want to skip straight to the fun bit. Released as the 65th Warframe, Sirius and Orion are incredibly great fun to play as.

Two skillsets in the same Warframe is a new novelty

The first, most obvious thing you will notice is that these are two separate entities. During missions, you will be able to switch between the brothers, both with their own suite of skills to unleash upon your foes. They share a cataclysmic ultimate, but we will get to that.

Let’s start with Sirius, the son who follows his mother Jade’s support style. His 1st ability, Coronal Ejection, launches his scythe like a boomerang, dealing Heat damage and bringing back pickups, which is very helpful with the likes of Equilibrium. Yes, I mentioned this mod in my Voruna Prime article. I love it. 

Next is Jade Stars, which summons Jade Light motes that will fire at foes you attack with Heat damage and a status effect. Nothing too fancy, but it's free damage. Finally, Light's Sanctuary, perhaps Sirus’s best. It creates a field that slowly expands and heals everyone inside, provides a defence buff, and can even revive people. Plus, recasting inside resets the duration whilst keeping the size of the field. Perfect for Defense missions, not so much almost anywhere else. But still, heals.

Support vs Attack; the choice is yours

Next, we move on to Orion, who more closely follows the Stalker’s path of destruction. With Gravitic Slash, he swings his scythe to deal front Slash damage whilst stripping those pesky shields and armour. Astral Shell will case Orion in a shimmering outline, and when attacked, the shell becomes a decoy to draw fire, perfect when things start to heat up.

His third ability is Event Horizon, which summons a black hole which goes on its merry way, collecting foes and dealing damage to them. You can use Gravitic Slash and Coronal Ejection to redirect it, which also extends its duration. These six abilities meld together to make a fairly balanced kit of offence and support. 

Finally, we arrive at the almighty fourth skill: Celestial Clash. Here, all the animosity between the two bursts forth as they duke it out, obliterating everything in their path. It is not as easy as that, however. It has two modifiers that can make it utterly phenomenal. First, you can rack up to seven stars on the Constellation guide. You get one per skill you use, of differing colours depending on whose ability you use. Green for Sirius, Red for Orion. 

Alternate between the colours for all seven, and Celestial Clash will have a higher critical chance. That’s boost one. The second buff is during the attack. When you cast it, you can float around indefinitely to aim your AOE. To deal damage, you use one of two buttons corresponding to Green or Red. Get them all right, and Celestial Clash will end with a much more powerful move.

The brotherly love in the switch is brilliant

Now let’s look at switching, cause it has been mentioned a lot and is integral to the duo's gameplay. It is done by holding any of the first three ability skills. For example, if you control Sirius and tap your button for the first ability, you will use Coronal Ejection. Hold it, and you will switch to Orion and kick out Gravitic Slash. By which I mean the other brother will run onto the screen and literally kick the other out of the way. This is both an invulnerability window and hilarious.

And now for the best part: the other brother you don’t control will be on the field as a Spector, supporting you. They will use your weapons, and almost gamebreakingly use their full suite of abilities. But it isn’t over. When cast, Jade Lights and Astral Shell will affect both brothers, so you will still get to enjoy both buffs no matter who you use.

The duo's passive makes them even better with two benefits. First, switching will give your next two Abilities a 40% Ability Efficiency boost. Now, a big number, but don’t forget you have that alternative star mechanic to maintain for Celestial Clash, so it could behove you to not burn both. Second, when either brother falls under 50 Energy, they will steal Energy from the other. A nice little backup well to draw from if you need it.

Two separate mod layouts are borderline broken

All this together feels very overpowered, and yet, we are still not done. You can give both of the brothers a different Mod layout to prioritise different stats or playstyles. Unfortunately, they use the same weapons; however, you are effectively bringing two fully specced-out characters onto the field with you, and you have the other fighting alongside you. 

And speaking of weapons, picking up the Constellations bundle will also net you Pride and Wrath, signature scythes of Sirius and Orion, respectively. Or, of course, earn them for free with gameplay. Pride boosts Status Chance on a Slam Attack, whilst Wrath Slams increase Critical Chance. And Slam attacks are always fun.

Even in the hands of a Warframe journeyman such as myself, Sirius and Orion just tear through the lower and normal level content. However, when it comes to greater difficulty missions, they might start to struggle. As I said above, they have a well-balanced kit, but that also means they don’t excel anywhere either.

Sirius and Orion are incredibly good fun

But that doesn’t matter, because Sirius and Orion have two great advantages: they are interesting and just a whole lot of fun. The switching back and forth keeps you engaged, thinking whose best to use when, how many abilities should you use beforehand, and can you get that alternating meter full. The tactical choice keeps you on your toes.

More than that, I have just been having a blast playing as them. Both of them ejecting each other from the screen with a swift kick is endlessly amusing. And even if they won’t stack up against endgame content, who cares? It is fun watching enemies spinning around, stuck in a black hole. This is a game about space ninjas. I will take amusement over meta any day.