Look, let's be honest, Warframe's 66th addition 'Naryn' dropped on September 23 alongside Update 44. Inspired by traditional Korean culture and sword dance choreography, what really catches the eye is how even the name and skill monikers are plucked straight from the Korean language. Taking 'Naryn' for a spin ourselves, the way winter mountain aesthetics and sword dances were reinterpreted through a sci-fi lens felt genuinely refreshing. Since this update also packs a reworked 'Banshee' 13 years in the making, we thought we would break down the distinct traits and playstyles of both frames together.

You can acquire Naryn's components and blueprints as mission rewards in Zariman Ten Zero, or trade Entropic Kuva dropped by taking down Entropic Eximus units. If you have not tackled the 'Angels of the Zariman' or 'Whispers in the Walls' quests just yet, grabbing them straight from the in-game Warframe Market is a solid backup plan. Naryn is pitched as a cold-focused damage dealer wielding a biting blizzard, boasting a cyclic setup where landing abilities charges a unique resource called the 'Ice' gauge to completely dominate the battlefield.

Naryn's visual silhouette translates traditional Korean aesthetics and dance into a sophisticated sci-fi design. The body lines evoke the flowing robes of a traditional gat and dopo, exuding an elegance and chill reminiscent of a grim reaper, while the fluttering ribbon-like attachments form neat, crisp curves even during high-octane movement. Alongside the default helmet modeled after a gat, there is also a 'Baridegi' helmet echoing the traditional gache hairstyle, adding an extra layer of Eastern charm.

Cultural touches pop up everywhere, from the stylized sword dancing to wearing an elaborate, decorated gat. The real triumph here is how seamlessly these elements blend into the 'Warframe' universe, feeling entirely organic yet strikingly beautiful with a distinctively Korean splash of colour. Combining 'frost' and 'mugeok' traditions charts entirely new territory that has rarely been explored even domestically, proving Digital Extremes' remarkable cultural sensitivity in weaving such rich local flavor into a digital space usually reserved for home-grown titles.

Naryn's passive 'Rime' alongside abilities one and two channel the movements of traditional Korean sword dances andbyeoksa warding rituals. The passive 'Rime'—named after the ice flowers blooming on winter tree branches—sees its drop probability increase with every stack of cold status ailments inflicted on enemies, dropping like a regular pick-up item once a frost-bitten target is eliminated. Snagging 'Rime' grants bonus cold damage to firearms and abilities while inflicting cold status on foes. It genuinely feels like weaponising the bitter bite of a harsh Korean winter for combat.

Tied directly into this is the first ability, 'Neote', where Naryn wields a slender ice rapier to lunge forward with swift, sharp swordplay. It serves as the core generator for ice gauge upon hits, though the short forward dash means you need to mind your spacing so you do not crash straight into enemies. The second ability, 'Naraemaki', absorbs cold status effects from nearby foes to convert them into personal shields or overguard if shields are already maxed out. Both moves pile up those precious ice stacks whenever they connect.

The third ability, 'Crane Dance', sends Naryn soaring into the air before plunging back down in a graceful dance to deal sustained area-of-effect cold damage. Triggering the skill launches the frame upward like a crane spreading its wings, granting a commanding view of the battlefield. You can steer the movement with direction keys and press jump to climb even higher. Naryn then crashes down onto the terrain, unleashing a shockwave that leaves a wide area vulnerable to cold damage. Since the shockwave triggers upon hitting the deck rather than immediately after takeoff, watch your step around bottomless pits.

Unlocking exclusively when the ice gauge hits 100%, the ultimate 'Nurinarim' is the absolute pinnacle of Naryn's combat mechanics and the martial translation of a traditional shamanic possession ritual. Activating it immediately summons ancestral spirits as Naryn breaks into an uninhibited sword dance, hurling icy energy blades at enemies with left-clicks that strip away enemy armor and shields per stack. When these blades strike already frozen targets, they trigger cascading shattering explosions for massive area-of-effect cold damage, shredding high-level mobs to absolute dust.

Because Nurinarim dishes out staggering damage, mastering Naryn revolves entirely around resource management and ice accumulation. Since the ice gauge constantly drains bit by bit when not maxed out, you have to constantly weave in abilities and weapons to keep those frost levels topped up. Right after launch, Nurinarim could only fire blades at locked-on targets, and those locked-on markers were admittedly a bit tricky to read. The developers promptly tweaked it so you can fire blades freely even without a lock-on, while rewarding locked-on targets with preserved ice gauges and boosted damage, significantly boosting overall quality of life.

With each skill sporting distinct traits, Naryn fits comfortably into a variety of builds focusing on ability damage, duration, status application, and uptime. End-game players will likely aim for balanced high-end builds covering ability strength, range, and duration alike. Given the high base energy pool and the neat synergy between cold procs and Crane Dance's vulnerability debuff, veterans who already own a deep roster of mods will have plenty of fun tinkering to find their ultimate setup.

When diving into the thick of combat, you can leap straight into the enemy backline with the third ability Crane Dance to spread area-of-effect cold vulnerability, carve through mob groups with the first ability Neote to build up ice gauges, absorb surrounding cold status with Naraemaki to secure overguard for safety, and finally pop the ultimate Nurinarim at full gauge to annihilate everything in sight. As a neat little tip, activating Nurinarim disables double-jumping, but Crane Dance remains fully usable, making it a lifesaver when you need to avoid falling off a cliff or vault up to a second-floor ledge. Armed with reliable crowd-clearing attacks and a quick-burst ultimate, Naryn can easily shine across everything from defense missions to boss fights once fully modded.

The 'Nunchasa' is a cold-element charging bow released alongside Naryn, firing piercing frost arrows reminiscent of a grim reaper's bowstring. When equipped on Naryn, it stacks massive cold damage on top of the Rime passive. Landing 10 hits on enemies (or 5 weakpoint hits) unlocks an alt-fire mode, letting loose a charged blizzard arrow that freezes touched targets in their tracks and leaves a trail of absolute frost in its wake. Whether you want to freeze crowds over a wide area and pile up ice stacks with Naraemaki or build into explosive modding for massive one-shot potential, it offers plenty of versatile utility.

The 'Achsondol' is a pair of dual pistols spitting out piercing frost reminiscent of bitter winter gales. It packs a unique mechanical gimmick where reloading unleashes a billowing mist of frigid air that inflicts cold status on surrounding enemies, scaling directly with the amount of ammunition expended prior. While emptying the magazine and triggering a reload functions as a neat built-in close-range crowd-control trigger, it does come with the trade-off of a lengthy reload animation, making modded reload-speed investment a strongly recommended route.

Meanwhile, the second star of this patch is Banshee, undergoing a rework 13 years in the making. First off, the armor-stripping effect of the first ability has been buffed while now knocking enemies back and stunning them. The enemy weakpoints exposed by the second ability now function identically to standard weakpoint systems, with usability improved to let players cast it while on the move.

The fourth ability, Sound Quake, has shifted away from a toggle channel into a sustained 25-second area-of-effect skill that inflicts blast status on everything caught inside its radius. The fourth augment mod has also shifted from Resonating Quake to Cassious Quake, locking the caster in place for continuous channeling while scaling up damage and energy consumption every single second. The resulting numbers are remarkably potent, sparking a surge of fresh build experiments centered squarely around that fourth augment.

Considering Banshee was handed out completely free simply for logging in until October 7, this high-performance frame is well worth trying out even for absolute beginners setting foot in the game for the very first time. Its heavy area-of-effect lockdown makes early-to-mid-game defense missions a breeze, helping under-geared players comfortably learn the ropes of map layouts and team roles. Plus, certain abilities pack container and object-breaking perks that act as a massive boon for farming. It is a fantastic pick for newcomers struggling with gear to clear out missions in a flash, while remaining a stellar support choice for team play thanks to weakpoint exposure and silence utility.