Warframe Tier List – What is the best Warframe? – This is a question that arises in almost every Tenno, there are so many to choose from. Players who have lower mastery rank/less experienced in the game face difficulties while choosing the best frame.
Answer From a Veteran: I would say that there is no such thing as the best frame in this game. Every player has a different playstyle, which is why modding is a huge part of the game. There are different scenarios in which you might have to choose a different frame to complete a mission easily. For example; if you are playing a defense mission, I would recommend the team to use a setup with Trinity Energy Vampire build (for unlimited energy) and Banshee Resonating Quake build (for killing enemies at range).
Warframe Tier List – What is the best Warframe?
As I said earlier, there is no best frame in the game, but I will still categorize Frames according to various scenarios/mission types
Best Overall frame for Every Mission?
A frame that can deal damage…
or give buffs to teammates?
can become invisible and grant invisibility to teammates?
Who is it?
Octavia
One of the best frames in the game, hands down. Since the release, this frame has been my go-to. Absolutely melts down enemies with her Mallet, the cool thing is that enemies stop shooting as soon as you spawn the Mallet.
Why?
- Unlimited Invisibility
- Grants multiple buffs such as multishot, invisibility to the whole team
- Huge damage dealer.
Best Tanky Frame
Below I have listed the best frames in the Tankiness category.
Inaros
The Egyptian god is not liked by many, but the frame can take any kind of beating and can still survive. The Scarab armor is one of the most powerful ultimate in the game. The frame also would be my #1 in terms of survival since you can literally eat your enemies to restore your health. Also, you can Darude sandstorm your way out of almost every fight.
Why?
- Insane Armor, thanks to Scarab Swarm. Inaros has a base armor of 200, with a fully charged Swarm this can be increased to 400. Combine this with Steel Fiber and you’ll have 620 Armor.
- Devour your enemies and leech their health.
- Use Desiccation to blind your enemies
Rhino
Rhino was one of the first frames that were introduced in the game. The frame was literally so tanky, that DE had to debuff it a little bit. Almost everyone that plays this game knows about Rhino and Iron Skin.
- Provides damage buff with Roar (useful for teammates as well)
- Iron Skin can help you in remaining alive when your other teammates are falling apart
- Rhino Stomp can be used as a great CC (Crowd Control) if you have a little duration.
Nidus (Damage + Tank)
If you want to play a frame which offers both tankiness and damage, then Nidus should be your choice. This infestation based frame had seen its peak when it could heal the objectives, gone are the days though. Talking about Tankiness, this frame excels at it, you can leech the armor/health of an enemy using Parasitic Link, whatever damage you take is reflected towards that enemy.
- Virulence is a great damage based ability. Combine Virulence with Larva to build up your mutation stacks and you’ll be good to go for hours of survival.
- Nidus’s 4th ability is called Ravenous. This ability spawns a weird-looking infestation pool containing multiple high damage dealing maggots, this infested area also heals everyone. These infested maggots will increase your stacks every time they get a kill.
These were some of the best tanky frames that you can use in the game. I might have missed a few such as Valkyr, Oberon and such. I particularly don’t like those frames in terms of tankiness since they are affected with duration/energy.
Best Damage Dealing Frames
Time to clear some planets?
Let’s find out what the best damage dealing frames are
One thing to keep in mind is that everyone has a different playstyle. Some might like Mesa as a damage dealer, some might like Nova, everything depends on how you like playing the game.
Banshee
Banshee and Resonating Quake is one combo that I can never stop using. I used to do fast defense missions using Banshee to farm relics easily. Another useful ability that Banshee offers is “Sonar”, this ability reveals all critical weak spots of the enemies.
Why?
- Amazing Damage dealing ability called Sound Quake
- Sonar can be used to reveal critical hit spots to all of your teammates.
- Silence can be used to escape from death.
Banshee is amazing at dealing damage at all times but is extremely squishy. You might need help from your teammates for surviving in high-level missions.
Mesa
Mesa’s 4 is so powerful that you can literally clear a room full of enemies with a few clicks. The only thing is that you might run out energy within many times. I love running the peacemaker build with Arcane Energize, thanks to the unlimited energy supply you will never run out of fun time shooting enemies.
Why?
- Causes absolute destruction no matter how powerful the enemies are. Peacemaker is one of the most powerful ultimates in the game.
- Mesa’s Shatter Shield (Power 3) makes her tank which reflects incoming damage. The energy shield can last over 20 seconds with the right duration build.
- Shooting Gallery jams enemy guns while giving bonus damage to Mesa. This effect shifts between teammates.
Best Frame for Spy Missions
Loki Prime
You cannot obtain the primed variant anymore, the non-primed variant will work fine though. The fastest frame in the game when modded right, the frame can stay invisible for the longest duration. You can also use Loki for CC, combined with Irradiating disarm augment and a little range, enemies will start fighting with each other without any weapons.
But Loki is rarely used for anything other than Spy or sabotage missions. But the choice is yours, use whatever you like.
Ivara
Ivara is a huge pain to farm, you really have to learn to speed run spy missions to obtain this frame. But once you have it, spy missions become a piece of cake.
Once you obtain Ivara, just buy the Infiltrate augment from the syndicate vendors. Using Infiltrate + Prowl you can pass through any security barriers such as lasers without being detected.
Is there a Meta in Warframe?
I’ve been asked this a lot of times, hey what is the meta nowadays? – Warframe never had and never will have any meta. I have already written multiple times that you can play with whatever frame you like unless you’re a Limbo :P.
Conclusion
My conclusion for the sake of the tier list are these:
(Judged based on Survivability and all-round usage in every mission)
Tier 1 Frames
- Octavia: I absolutely love this frame. You can stay invisible, deal a lot of damage and give buffs to your teammates at the same time. When this frame was initially announced, I was skeptical about it getting nerfed. But to this date, I still play and enjoy it.
- Rhino: Rhino is an absolute tank is still good till date. My reason for listing it here is because it’s really easy to obtain for beginners. The prime variant might cost a lot since it has been vaulted.
- Mesa: Press 4 to win, the right build can make your Mesa a tank and enemy killer. There’s no doubt about Mesa being a Tier 1 frame. Now, has a primed variant with better stats.
- Chroma: Huge armor and damage buff, level 100-150? – No problem. The armor and damage scaling with the right-build will make this frame insane for any high-level mission.
- Inaros: Another tank that takes damage like a champ and survives with a problem. The rage build gives you unlimited energy and desiccation ability with range gives you unlimited finishers on enemies. If you run out of health, just eat one of your enemy, simple.
- Nidus: Nidus’s Virulence is one of the highest damage-dealing abilities in the game, once it’s fully powered up. Larva is an amazing CC ability that latches all enemies around you. So we have CC + Damage both in one package.
- Trinity: Best support frame in the game. Can constantly heal teammates and prevent their death. Whoever runs this frame in PUBs is an angel.
Tier 2 Frames
- Nova: Nova is amazing, there’s no doubt. But in high-level missions, it might face troubles in surviving. This is a good CC frame altogether and amazing for running defense missions in quick succession.
- Banshee: Banshee deserves to stay in Tier 1, I know. Abilities such as Sonar and Sound Quake are one of the best damage-dealing abilities in the game. But my reason for putting it here is because this frame doesn’t survive well in high-level missions. You always need support around you.
- Equinox: Amazing but squishy. Great frame for low level exterminate missions.
Tier 3 Frames
- Frost: Moved to Tier 3 because it becomes obsolete in high-level missions. The globe is not powerful enough and disappears as soon as nullifiers touch them.
- Vauban: Vauban’s 4 is great, but with a lot of great frames in the game now. There’s no great ability that this frame provides you with.
- Volt: Good for running around fast. Can be a good enough CC but not compared to the other options that we have now.
- Gara: The glass-based frame was something I thought would kill Frost, but then they nerfed it.
- Zephyr: Haven’t seen a lot of people using this frame and I myself don’t like it. All abilities are average.
Tier 4 Frames
- Ember: After the World on Fire nerf, I don’t think anyone even uses this frame anymore. Before the nerf, there were lobbies full of people running around with their 4 triggered. This created a community outcry and DE had to nerf it.
- Titania: To this date, I have seen only 5-6 people using this frame. If you like flying around as a Butterfly, then this might be the frame for you. If DE ever decides to create Titania Prime, I am sure this frame will get reworked.
- Wukong: Recently got reworked, but still don’t think it’s good enough compared to the other frames. I will change this if someone in the comment section proves it to be good enough.
- Harrow: Obsolete support frame that works around shields. Leveled it to 30 and never touched it again.
I have not listed a few frames in the tier list above because I couldn’t find their fit in the list. Frames like Nekros & Hydroid can’t be put in tier lists since they have a niche use. Please keep in mind, these are my thoughts and these do not change anything. Play with whatever frame you like.
I will be updating this list time by time, drop your suggestions for lists so that I can create more of these. Some more lists like Best Support Warframe, Best CC Warframe are coming up soon, in the process of writing them now.