Warframe is an online, shared-world game developed by Digital Extremes. As it features elements of MMOs, shooters, dungeon crawling looters, PvP, crafting, RPGs and more, we’ve put together a collection of guides to help new players get to grips.
With Warframe having just launched on Switch, it’s the perfect time for players to learn or get a refresher course.
Warframe Guide
Mods
Mods come in different degrees of rarity; common (bronze), uncommon (silver), and rare (gold). This rarity defines the likelihood of them dropping. Yes, Warframe utilises RNG and some are rarer than others.
You will encounter better and better mods as you progress and certain mods can only be obtained from certain places. On top of these three degrees of rarity, there are other types of mods. Rare multi-stat mods, “Corrupted” mods, platinum “Primed” mods, and purple “Riven” mods.
I’ve explained what mods are and to some degree, what they do, but I haven’t explained what else you can do with them and why there is a Mod console on the Orbiter.
Over the course of the game, you will acquire a hell of a lot of mods and there is no cap to how many you can hold. Every mod has its base stats, but on top of that, every mod can be improved through the process of fusion.
By using credits (in-game currency) and endo (some kind of energy that mods need), you can increase a mod’s level by varying amounts. Each rank will increase the base stat by the amount of the base stat.
For example, the Vitality mod will increase your base health by 20%. Increasing it by one rank will increase base health by 40%, then 60%, and so on. Considering Vitality can be ranked up 10 times, you can see the benefits there are to increase it to max rank.
Mods for Days
However, increasing a mod’s power comes with a risk. On the one hand, every rank will take more and more credits/endo. Achieving the highest rank will cost a considerable amount.
Further, increasing in rank will increase its drain on capacity. Every piece of equipment has a number of mod slots, and also a total capacity. While a weapon might have 8 slots, it may only have an initial mod capacity of 5.
If you have a mod with a cost of 4, and all your other mods come at a cost of 2, then you need to choose between two mods with 2 cost, or one mod with 4 cost.
Of course, this is the benefit of levelling your equipment, you actively increase the mod capacity. As you increase in level, you can use more/better mods. To confuse things further, mods also have a polarity.
There are four polarities, recognised by a symbol in the top right-hand corner of the mod. If this matches the polarity of the mod slot you intend to use it in, it effectively halves the mod cost. If it does not match, it will increase the cost, so best to keep an eye on polarity. This system is incredibly deep and complex and I’ve only just scratched the surface.
Transmutation
In addition to fusion, you can use your Mod console in further ways. You can transmute them which essentially takes four mods you don’t want and creates a random mod. To so so you need to spend a bunch of credits.
I wouldn’t recommend this, as the likelihood of getting a good mod is low, and the credit cost is generally high. You can also sell mods, but you don’t really earn many credits for common mods.
You can also dissolve them into Endo. In my opinion, Dissolve is the best option, as Endo is not easily come by initially, whereas credits can easily be earned by playing through a few missions.
Crafting
I’ve mentioned that you can acquire other weapons and Warframes, but I haven’t really gone into how.
These items don’t just drop from enemies like they do in other games. In fact, there are several steps to acquiring additional equipment.
Let’s start with weapons. For ordinary weapons, you will need the blueprint. While these can drop at the end of missions, it’s unlikely and your best bet is to utilise the Market console.
Load it up, and choose ‘Browse,’ then select Weapons. This will bring up all of the weapons in the game. You can buy them outright for Platinum, but don’t do that.
Instead, look for the Build button/tab, and select that. This will list the blueprint price. Once you have enough credits, you can then buy the blueprint.
Then take the blueprint to your Foundry console and, as long as you have the required resources, select to start building the weapon. There is a waiting time (usually hours to days, depending on the item), but once that’s over, you will have your new toy. Happy days!
Crafting Warframes
This method also works for Warframes and other items as well, but Warframes are a little more involved.
They consist of multiple parts, for which you need multiple blueprints. The Warframe blueprint itself can be purchased from the Market, but this will require a chassis, system, and neuroptics component, per Warframe.
These blueprints can only be obtained as drops from specific bosses in specific missions (although some are quest rewards). Basically, when you know what Warframe you want, you simply farm the boss until you get the three components, buy the Warframe blueprint, and hunt for the resources you need.
The resources are the most difficult part, to be honest, as every planet has different resources. You might grab a blueprint from the Market early on, only to discover that the resource you need is only available on a planet you haven’t unlocked.
Making Progress
Further, you will start to receive Warframe blueprints fairly early on; Rhino parts drop from a boss on Venus, for example. However, in order to build Rhino, you need a specific resource only available on Phobos, which I unlocked after about 20 hours of playtime.
To be honest, this isn’t such a bad thing. By the time you get to Phobos, you should be very close to hitting max level on your initial Warframe and very motivated to hunt down those resources so you can build your first (well, second) Warframe.
All of this provides a great level of flexibility and incentive. It’s flexible in terms of access to alternate equipment, but there’s great incentive to progress across the Star Chart; if only to unlock access to more Warframe parts and resources.
That said, certain Warframes are tied to specific storyline arcs. The Inaros blueprint is a reward from “The Sands of Inaros”, for example. If you haven’t noticed yet – every system is inextricably tied to another system, and as a result, everything seems to work together perfectly.
Make sure you check out our other Warframe Guides to help get you started.
- Introduction to the story, combat and your ship
- Introduction to Missions and The Plains of Eidolon
- Introduction to Progression and Mastery
- Introduction to Mods and Crafting
- Void Fissures and Primes
- Platinum and Trading
This post first appeared on Cephalon Squared and has been republished here with permission.
