Tips for New Warframe Players
At the rate we’re going with Warframe articles, I’m tempted to rename the Daily SPUF to the Daily Mag, the Daily Volt or something equally stupid. But as I learn more about Warframe, I feel I need to pass my information on to new players, the same way older players have helped me out. So here’s a bunch of random tips for you all.
A quick note, there’s an updated version of this article here!
Ideally, the best tip is to have loads of Warframe buddies who will help you farm stuff, but not everyone has that.
Early Choices
As you start the game, you’re presented with a small series of introductory missions, where you choose your first Warframe, as well as find a few starting weapons. I personally chose Volt because Electricity > Magnetism, but your first frame is mostly personal opinion. Excalibur is pure damage and slightly tankier, Mag and Volt are more rounded and support-y but don’t deal nearly as much damage. You don’t start with all your abilities and a tiny energy pool anyway, so it’s not so bad.
Your first weapons on the other hand, you have a choice between the MK1-Paris, a bow; the MK1-Braton, a standard automatic rifle; the (non-MK1) Lato, a boring pistol; the MK1-Kunai, which are throwing knives; a sword and a stick. You only get to make this choice once, but you can always buy the other MK1 weapons later on in the market, for 15,000-25,000 credits each, so once you’ve got your ship sorted out, if you REALLY hate the MK1-weapon you picked, you can get another one pretty easily. I didn’t know that until my MK1-Paris was level 30.
Keep in mind that leveling up weapons levels up your Mastery Rank faster, but your inventory space for guns is limited, so don’t go around buying every gun you see until you’ve leveled up what you already have.
Mods are Great
Mods are what make you strong. You’ll start off with pretty much no space at first, and you’ll need to level everything up to use more mods. In the mean time, make the most out of your Polarities. Every mod has its own polarity, for example, Flow (more energy) has a polarity of – , Vitality (more health) has a polarity of D and Continuity (abilities last longer) has a polarity of V. Put mods in slots with matching polarities and they’ll only take up half the mount of space they normally would.
Aura mods give you even more space. If you ask nicely in the Recruitment chat, you can get a few people to go to the Silver Groves on Earth, where you can pick up a handful of easy-to-get Aura mods to tide you over.
A tip though, don’t waste too much time upgrading damaged or broken mods. They only give you a fraction of the power normal versions do. Save them for low level Warframes and weapons.
Mobility Matters Most
When it comes to playing Warframe optimally, you want to get in and get out as fast as possible. There’s a mobility test course available in the Codex on your ship, and it’s worth giving that a few goes. People don’t really like waiting (although lower level players are much more patient) and you’ll need to get the hang of movement as fast as possible. Bullet jumping is the most important, but all other mobility is good as well.
Don’t worry about falling off cliffs and stuff, you’ll be teleported back where you were before you fell.
Also, don’t forget to take the time to play missions that require hacking, and learn how to hack quickly. Learning to do the Grineer and Corpus hacks quickly will make your life a lot easier in general, especially since you don’t really get Ciphers (build-able one-time hacker devices) until you reach Phobos.
Endless Missions are your Friends.
If you want loot quickly, your best bet is to do endless missions – Survival, Defense and Excavation. Out of these, Survival and Defense only let you leave after 5 waves at a time, but Excavation missions are easier to jump in and out from, since a team can leave no matter what, as long as they get 100 Cryotic, what the excavators are digging out.
In all these missions, enemies get harder the longer the game carries on, but on places like Earth, enemies can start as low as level 1 and take longer to actually become difficult. The loot isn’t great, but you get a decent supply of Endo, Credits and Relics.
Keep an eye out for alerts as well, but ask before you jump in – some alerts are ‘nightmare’ alerts and are very hard to do without a properly coordinated team.
Watch out for Oxium Ospreys and Mutalist/Carrier Ospreys
These bastards can do tons of damage very quickly and can knock out entire teams in one go if you’re unlucky. Other Ospreys give shields to enemies or just shoot you and are still annoying no matter what. Basically, if it flies, kill it first.
Don’t bother with the Howl of the Kubrow
Dogs need a lot of maintenance and money to look after. Leave them until later. Same with the Archwing quest, if you so choose.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help
99% of Warframe players are super nice and helpful. Just ask your question on the Regional chat for most things, or the Recruitment and Trading chats for everything else, and someone will give you an answer. Alternatively, there’s the Warframe wiki which covers pretty much everything.
Hopefully some of this will be of help to you.
