Using Weapons as Cosmetics

When I first started playing Warframe, one of my biggest desires was to give my stumpy Warframe some wings. At the time, there weren’t really any options at all and I was too new to understand things like Tennogen items. But when we had no platinum and only weapons, we tried all sorts to make ourselves look like wings.

Granted, most of these are melee weapons, mostly because melee weapons have more varied sheathing positions. You can do more than you’d think with all the holstering options that melee weapons have. Anyway, here’s to a small trip down memory lane, and how you can add a little spice with your weapons.

Boltace Wings

What I do remember from my old Warframe days is that Tonfa weapons were great as cosmetics. Back then, the look I remember seeing on the regular was some sort of wing effect using the Boltace melee weapons, changing the holster to make the Boltace into wing-like armour. Personally, I preferred the Kronen for my back, but Boltace and Telos Boltace were the more popular ones as a newbie.

That being said, pretty much all Tonfa weapons have a similar effect. These are improved further with the handful of Tonfa skins that are available, with both platinum and Tennogen.

Ohma Cannons

The nice thing about Tonfas though is that there are a few of them and they all have their own unique looks. While I don’t use the Boltace or the Kronen any more, I’ve come up with something similar using another set of Tonfas. The Ohma are Corpus-based Tonfas that have the same holstering settings as the Boltace. But instead of making wings, I like to use them as shoulder cannons. Sorta like Blastoise from Pokemon.

I’ve actually had people comment on my Ohma shoulder cannons, especially in Fortuna 69 and other relays. Since we have wing-based Syandanas now, the use of Tonfas as wings has fallen out of fashion, but the Ohma lives on.

The Second Dream Spoiler

Another look I’ve seen but not really done myself is to have a sword sticking out of your chest. Just like what happens at the end of the Second Dream. Because melee holstering rarely cares about clipping, you can quite easily make yourself look very dead. My Warframes get shot at all day without any real incident, so being stabbed through the chest isn’t too much of an issue.

Thrown Weapon Pockets

Another, smaller thing you can do is equip a thrown weapon. While holstered weapons are visible, thrown weapons are stored in little pouches on your Warframe’s thighs. While there’s not much customization with thrown weapon, they can look like a little bit of extra armour, especially on the sides of more slender Warframes.

Weapons turned into cosmetics literally

Weirdly though, we also have a few cosmetics that are more like trophies than armour. These particular cosmetics are worn over one shoulder, with the head of a bad guy with a weapon stabbed through it. So far, we have three: a Grineer helmet with a cleaver sticking out its face; An Ancient Header’s head and skinned side draped across your Warframe’s shoulder; or a Corpus head with a Redeemer rammed through it. Honestly the Corpus variant is pretty weird, surely a dagger or sword may have been better.

However, I find these trophies much harder to work with compared to normal Warframe armour. The asymmetry can be very annoying, especially since these armour pieces are only available on one side; there’s no way to swap shoulders with these ones.

These days, there isn’t really much need to use weapons as cosmetics. Even if you’re playing for free, there are plenty of different cosmetics available for use. But it is nice to mess around with weapon holstering and come up with some cool looks…