Everything You’ll Need To Get Started On Warframe

Learn To Move Like A True Tenno

As the tutorial mission begins, players will be walked through the basics of movement and combat controls. What’s not necessarily obvious from the outset is the clever tricks that can be done. Holding crouch while sprinting will initiate a slide. Players can press jump at any point during this slide or while crouching stationary to perform a Palpatine style corkscrew jump. 

Bear in mind, this sets your Tenno off in whatever direction the camera is facing. As you become well practiced, the slide combined with this move is great for getting out of dicey situations! During the corkscrew jump, the jump button can be pressed a second time for a double jump. When combined with speed, these functions can be repeated over and over to cover large parts of the map. This is great for those chase scenes found in capture missions.

When it comes to wallrunning, most gamers are accustomed to a context sensitive automation of running across sheer surfaces. That would be a disservice to Warframe. What we have here is tapping the jump button against walls rhythmically, for that added control. Again, whether scaling straight up the wall or along it, is determined by the direction of the camera. This will feel a little unnatural as most games don’t handle free running in this way. Once you get to grips with it, you’ll be a fully qualified space ninja in no time! Don’t forget, holding aim mid wall run will latch you to the wall for those extra sneaky sniping positions. 

How To Pick A First Warframe That Works For You

Choosing your first Warframe (or more popularly known as a class) can be a little daunting at first. This is a whole new universe, so understanding what we’re looking at can be a little difficult. First of all, all Warframes move and control in the same way. However, it’s what powers they possess that will change your playstyle massively. Which is great as there are currently a staggering thirty seven Warframes to build and level up. For now, we need to start by choosing Excalibur, Volt or Mag.

• Excalibur

Excalibur boasts the the meatiest starting stats. He has the most armour (100) out of our three starting options, meaning his health can hold out a little longer once those shields are depleted. This is why he’s most recommended for new starters. He can equip any weapon you give him, the same as any other Warframe. But, as the name suggests, Excalibur excels in close combat melee. If you’re starting with friends, this is your tank unit. 

• Volt

Volt’s starting stats are fair bit lower than Excalibur’s. However, more defensive options are available. What he lacks in armour, he quickly makes up for in crowd control. The first power he possesses, shock, stuns groups of enemies, chaining from one to the next. At higher levels, use of this power will be your essential tool in slowing down pursuing enemies and leaving them open to your attacks. Particularly useful is Volt’s shield ability, allowing players to set up a personal shooting gallery to get behind. Alternatively, the shield can be picked up to protect Volt while on the move. 

• Mag

Mag is the perfect middle ground between Volt and Excalibur. She has the least health but her armour stats are middling between Volt and Excalibur. She’s a great Warframe to pick if going in with friends as she is often the one to save everyone’s skin! Mag is all about enemy manipulation with push and pull powers, leaving even the toughest enemies downed and exposed to incoming attacks. She is best served hanging back from the action as a support unit, carefully timing the use of her powers to give allies a stronger advantage in tough situations.

With Freedom Comes Many Options

As you first enter the navigation segment of your ship, many options will be available to you. It’s best to stick with the primary quests first (the cross logo) as these will continue to build out your ship. As you progress through these quests, you’ll get a host of things to help you progress from rookie to ninja. 

These include but are not limited to:

• The Mod Bench – You’ll spend a lot of time here amplifying mods to boost your Warframe and weaponry. Each mod has a varying number that determines how much capacity it will demand from weapons and Warframes. The better they are, the higher the demand.
• The Market – Here is where you can spend money on microtransactions. But fear not! There’s plenty here that you can buy with in-game currency. See something you like but don’t want to spend money on it? Search for the item’s blueprint and you can build it yourself with a little solar system grinding. PS Plus players can also take advantage of a free starter pack to help progress that little bit faster.
• The Foundry – Here you can build literally anything you like, provided you have the blueprint and parts for it. The Foundry will often be home to many great moments for Warframe players. Like creating an Archwing, enabling space combat or finally crafting a brand new Warframe, switching up your playstyle entirely! 
• The Arsenal – Here’s where you can apply your shiny new mods and amp up your favourite weapons and Warframes. Clicking the right stick also allows you choose customisation options for your PVE, PVP and Archwing builds. 

There are plenty of other segments to unlock on your ship. Although you’d best discover those for yourself, Tenno! 

Understanding Warframe's Unique Levelling System

For a long time, I didn’t quite understand what I was doing to level certain things up. Warframe never explicitly tells you how to navigate this area of the game’s mechanics. Lucky for you, over years of playing Warframe, I have figured this all out so you don’t have to. Let’s start with the obvious and work our way up from there. 

• Warframe And Weapon Levelling

Both Warframes and weapons have a level cap of thirty. The more you level them up, the higher a capacity they will have for mods. For example, you can’t apply high ranking mods and stack them on something you’ve just started out with. First, you’ll need to kill many things over and over to get these items to the point where mods can be stacked. The more you go through this process, the higher you will be in Mastery Rank. Crafting an Orokin Reactor will double an item's mod capacity from thirty to sixty.

• Mastery Rank Levelling 

It’s well and good to stick to the Warframe and weapons that suit you best. Once everything reaches its cap of thirty, it will be very difficult to progress your Mastery Rank. This is where Warframe cleverly encourages players to use as many different things as possible, as the grind on each of them boosts your Mastery Rank. You’ll need to keep levelling this area (which is shared across all Warframes) up to gain access to many features found later on in Warframe. It’s best to think of Mastery Rank as your account level. After a few years of play, I am at Rank 7. So yeah… it takes time. Your current Mastery progress can be checked in the top left area of your pause screen.

• Mod Levelling 

Every mod starts out at a base standard. You’ll want to rank these up too, to become a true killing machine. This can be done by highlighting a mod at your Mod Bench, selecting them and then selecting Fusion. This will require Endo, dropped by enemies and in game currency. Just make sure your weapons and Warframes have the capacity to carry them, Tenno! 

There you have it. Everything you’ll need to grind like a boss through your starting hours of Warframe. In no time, your solar system faring to-do list will be lengthy and your adventures varied. Stick around at Keen Gamer for upcoming news on Digital Extremes' biggest ever update, The Plains of Eidolon. All of Warframe’s elements will soon be infused into a free roaming map, replete with secret caves, mining and of course – combat.