Warframe has now matured into a very good MMO shooter, most agree. However, as a beginner, you initially feel a bit overwhelmed due to the deep game systems. That is now over: This beginner’s guide aims to help you master your first steps in the game with helpful tips. The training to become a Space-Ninja is worth it.
The free-to-play title Warframe, developed by the Canadian studio Digital Extremes, was released at the end of 2012 for PC and is becoming increasingly popular. For some time now, Warframe players have also roamed on the PS4 and Xbox One. There are now over 30 million registered players on the performance sheet of the third-person shooter, which is probably also thanks to the expansion to the current console generation. And the open-world update Plains of Eidolon is currently giving Warframe another rise. Alone via Steam, there are currently over 100,000 logged-in players at the same time.
Here you can play Warframe for free
However, anyone who is already shutting down and thinks: “Oh, another generic free-to-play game that wants to take my money” should not judge too quickly and maybe let themselves be surprised. We take the latest update of Warframe as an opportunity to present you with a beginner’s guide. One thing in advance: To avoid spoilers for the quest ‘The Second Dream’, it should be briefly mentioned: A ‘Warframe’ is a special armor that represents your game character. You are a ‘Tenno’. What this means should be best experienced in the quest.
Some basic information
- Who wants to see the world burn,
- or prefers to control the masses,
- who wants to absorb the damage from the team
- or let their inner healer run free,
- who wants to eliminate enemies through cunning and from the shadows,
- ….currently has nearly 30 Warframes at their disposal.
Each has 4 different abilities, with the 4th representing their strongest, the so-called Ultimate.
The loyal companion, the best friend and helper
On companionship you need not forgo: There are various companions in the game. There are those that hover over you, such as sentinels, and those that run alongside you, including Kubrow and Kavats. These companions also have special abilities and attack enemies, so they are not just for show. One of these companions even scans your enemies. This allows you to see in your ship’s Codex which enemy is more susceptible to which damage type and what mods they may drop. Don’t understand anything? More on that later.
About game modes and missions, solo or with other players
There are various game modes, such as sabotage, where the goal is to infiltrate a spaceship or a base to disable the energy core, or espionage, where you must extract information without triggering an alarm. There are also modes like defense, where you protect an artifact from waves of enemies or survival, a mode where the oxygen concentration continuously decreases and you must maintain it.
Even missions in open space and underwater are possible with the right equipment.
Additionally, there are time-limited missions called alerts, which pop up on your star map every now and then. The rewards for these range from resources, credits (the in-game currency), and Warframe parts to mods. Good to know: Aura mods can only be obtained here as mission rewards (more on what that is later). Similarly, the individual parts of the Warframe ‘Vauban’.
All missions can be completed alone or with up to 3 other players. If the pace at which some experienced players rush through a level is too high, it might be advisable to set missions to ‘Solo’ at the beginning. Then you can explore everything and get a feel for the controls.
While Warframe may primarily be a cooperative game, it still offers PvP modes like Capture the Flag, Team Deathmatch, and Deathmatch.
Nothing beats weapons
As different as the modes and Warframes are, so are the weapons. The game offers a huge arsenal from silent bows to throwing stars, pistols, rifles, laser-shooting weapons, and brutal grenade launchers to swords, daggers, axes, and polearms.
One of Warframe’s strengths is the freedom of combination possibilities. It invites you to try different weapons and Warframes, find out which abilities of the individual characters harmonize well in the various game modes, and what is most effective against which enemy type.
The story and factions
The story is set in a distant future where the power balance of the solar system is disrupted, and the time of the war against the Sentients by the Orokin lies long ago.
- The Grineer, an imperialistic race of militant, degenerate clones led by two queens, threaten to take over all planets with their massive army.
- The Corpus, a dominant coalition of merchants with advanced robotics and laser technology, are on the hunt for old Orokin technology to use and Warframes to mutilate and sell to the highest bidder.
- The Infested, victims of a virus that disfigures and controls them, represent the third faction. They have a collective consciousness, band together, and tear their victims apart.
In this hostile world, you awaken and are guided by an entity called ‘Lotus’.
First decisions in the tutorial – Which Warframe should I choose?
After the short intro of the first quest, ‘For the Price’, you can already make the first decision, namely which character you want to play.
Your options are: Excalibur, Volt, and Mag.
- If you prefer a very balanced character, you should choose Excalibur. He can deal enormous damage in close combat with his Ultimate, a sword of pure light that emits energy waves when swung. He is also capable of taking a short breather by blinding enemies for a short time.
- If you enjoy playing the Stormcaller Warlock in Destiny or favor Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars, then Volt might be more for you. Volt can shoot bolts from his hands and raise a protective shield in front of him. This also has the effect that every projectile fired through it deals additional shock damage.
- If you are a friend of magnetism, then Mag is your choice. She can pull enemies towards her, stunning them and bringing them into melee range or use her Ultimate to crush all nearby enemies by magnetizing their bones.
Basically, you can’t make a big mistake when choosing your starting character. However, it should be mentioned that Mag’s abilities are a bit more complicated than those of the other two. Additionally, her Ultimate takes a long time to execute.
My personal tip would therefore be Excalibur. He is easy to handle and can take a healthy amount of damage. However, all three scale well into the endgame.
The weapon choice
After this first choice, the quest continues. During this time, you get a brief introduction to the controls and quickly come to the next decision: the melee weapon. There are no major differences to mention, except that the Mk1-Bo staff might be a bit slower than the Skana sword, but can hit multiple enemies at the same time.
Then you are allowed to choose a secondary weapon and finally a primary weapon. If you want to operate more from a distance and stealthily, you should choose the Kunai throwing knives and the Paris bow here.
After you have completed the first mission and arrive in your own spaceship, you need to place the received segment at the designated location. This gives you access to the Arsenal, where you can change and improve Warframes and weapons among other things. More on that shortly. Each further mission gives you a different segment, which you install in your ship. Thus, you gradually gain access to things like the forge, where you can craft new weapons and other items.
In addition, you will receive various damaged mods as a mission reward. What this is all about, we will explain to you on the next page.
