Magus Lockdown is an Arcane available for Operators that came out in Fortuna Part 2 (Update 24.2). At the time of writing this, a Rank 3 Magus Lockdown has the following effect:

Void Dash: Drop a Tether Mine at destination that tethers up to 8 enemies within 12m. The tether mine explodes and deals 60% of their health as Puncture Damage after 4s.

Since the damage is dealt as a percentage of an enemy’s total health, Magus Lockdown can theoretically scale to any level of enemy. You can equip two Magus Lockdowns to deal 120% of health as Puncture damage, allowing you to one hit any enemy. In theory, this sounds busted so we had to give the Arcane a go for ourselves.

What Magus Lockdown Can’t Do

We think everyone has a certain vision in their head when they think about Magus Lockdown in theory: It can kill everything. So instead of starting with what Magus Lockdown can do, we’re going to instead discuss the shortcomings of the Arcane so that you can plan accordingly. Keep in mind that this is likely an Arcane that DE is watching carefully so changes might be likely in the future. For now, here’s some of our notes from using the Arcane:

1. Cannot be used multiple times in a row. You must wait the full 4 seconds until detonation before you can tether more enemies. This is true regardless of how many enemies you tether (even if it’s just 1) and you must wait even if you kill all tethered enemies before explosion. 

2. Does not ignore armor. Use with stacked Corrosive Projection or armor stripping abilities like Frost’s Avalanche or Nyx’s Psychic Bolts for full effect. 

3. Does not ignore shields, although it is often more effective against them than armor despite being Puncture damage. 

4. Cannot one-shot Eximus enemies even with two Magus Lockdowns due to their innate damage resistance. It can two shot, however. 

5. Cannot one-shot Ancient Healers / Corrupted Ancients thanks to their damage reduction aura. Additionally, all enemies affected by damage reduction aura cannot be one-shot so Ancients are a top priority.

 The first point is major since it prevents this Arcane from being a completely broken killing machine. For Mot enthusiasts, the drawback from Eximus enemies and Corrupted Ancients is fairly noticeable, but it is still more than serviceable.  Despite these “flaws,” Magus Lockdown is one of the best Arcanes ever made. Why? Glad you asked!

What Magus Lockdown Can Do

If you’re wondering whether or not you should bother picking up a Magus Lockdown or two for yourself, look no further. Here’s some reasons you might want to consider either grinding out the Vox Solaris standing required or grabbing a few from Warframe Market:

1. Aside for a few exceptions, a pair of Rank 3 Magus Lockdowns can one shot most enemies in the game regardless of level as long as they have no armor.

2. It effectively adds a 5th ability to your Warframe, enabling EVERY single Warframe in the game to have access to excellent close-range CC (tethered enemies are instantly immobilized and cannot attack).

3. Since you’re likely Void Dashing anyway to renew Energizing Dash, this will subconsciously add to your DPS and CC.

4. Nova’s Molecular Prime doubles damage of Magus Lockdown, allowing you to one hit with only one Rank 3 Arcane. Likely can one hit Eximus enemies too if using 2 Rank 3 Lockdowns.

5. Nidus + Stacked Corrosive Projection + Magus Lockdown is disgusting.

Will It Get Nerfed?

It’s too early to say since, in our opinion, the Arcane isn’t broken thanks to the 4s delay between uses. There is a bug currently where the tether effect seems to affect all enemies within the 12m radius rather than being limited. This will almost certainly change soon. However, 8 enemies is still plenty in most cases so we don’t see this as being particularly important.

It’s possible DE decides to nerf either the % damage or the mechanics of the tether. We hope this doesn’t occur as we feel this is an appropriate end-game level item that could see some interesting uses over time. It’s worth noting that the focus is on this Arcane because it’s much better (at least on the surface) than the other Vox Solaris arcanes. What are your thoughts on Magus Lockdown? Have you used it and do you think it should be nerfed or kept as is? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below!