Koumei & the Five Fates has big changes in store for Warframe’s most popular companion

Developer Digital Extremes revealed what changes are coming to Warframe’s companions as part of the Koumei & the Five Fates update, which is slated to arrive on October 2. Notably, big changes are coming to the Smeeta Kavat and its Charm mod, a combination that makes the Smeeta one of the game’s most popular choices of companion.

The Koumei & the Five Fates update for Warframe has a major overhaul for companions in general, not just to the Smeeta. You can check out Digital Extremes’ blog post to see the full list of changes, but a major focus of the rework is making companions more useful in combat.

Koumei & the Five Fates changes the Smeeta Kavat’s Charm mod

Before Koumei & the Five Fates, the Charm mod for the Smeeta Kavat had a 28% chance to give the player a random buff every 27 seconds. Of six possible buffs, the ‘Doubled Pickups and Affinity’ buff was by far the most popular, because not only would you double the XP you received, but you could also double the resources you acquired.

In Koumei & the Five Fates, the pickup buff is being removed from the Charm mod and being promoted to its own dedicated mod called Loyal Retriever, which is usable on beast companions and not just the Smeeta Kavat. Loyal Retriever will give you a passive 13% chance to double each resource or credit pickup, but it won’t impact affinity or rare resources.

According to Digital Extremes, that 13% number is the statistical average of time the pickup buff on Charm would be active. With Loyal Retriever, though, its buff will always be active, so you won’t need to luck into it being chosen from a list of buffs.

The Charm mod, going forward, will have a 40% chance (up from 28%) to give players a buff every 27 seconds, and the new list of buffs is as follows:

• 25% chance of Reinforced Shield
• 25% chance of Instant Reload (re-rolled if your current weapon doesn’t need to reload)
• 20% chance of Free Ability Casts
• 10% chance of Bonus Critical Chance buff
• 10% chance of Bonus Affinity. (Affinity bonus has been increased to 3x)
• 10% chance of gaining a rare resource

If you’re looking to maximize your loot acquisition or get some extra XP, you’ll still want to run Charm on your Smeeta, thanks to the rare resource and bonus affinity buffs, but if you just care about credits and more common resources, Loyal Retriever on any beast companion will work just fine. Keep in mind, though, that those Charm buffs only happen at a 10% chance every 27 seconds.

How to get the Loyal Retriever mod in Warframe

If you own a Smeeta Kavat when the Koumei & the Five Fates update goes live, you’ll get a copy of the Loyal Retriever mod for free. Otherwise, Digital Extremes notes that you can trade for one with Conservation tags from Earth’s Conservation vendor.

As a reminder, even though you’ll get a copy of the mod for free if you own a Smeeta already, the Loyal Retriever mod is usable on all beast companions, not just the Smeeta.