Warframe Grendel build guide: farming locations, augment mods, and more

Warframe Grendel was added to the game in 2019 with the Old Blood update (patch 26.0). The unconventional design and gameplay of the 'Oni' character was a breath of fresh air to an otherwise stagnating power creep meta. Grendel's mob-gulping maverick kit was received poorly in its first iteration, plunging him into relative obscurity. This has since been addressed with the Update 32.2 rework, resulting in a much more powerful frame.

Post-rework Warframe Grendel has arguably the most self-sufficient set of skills available in the game. He can withstand absurd amounts of damage, scale diligently into high-level content, become a rolling boulder on demand, and even cause Viral stacks for an overall damage enhancement to all enemies.

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Warframe Grendel drop locations: how to farm it

Grendel parts can be purchased from Arbitration Honors (Image via Digital Extremes)

Despite his universal flexibility and a fun playstyle since the Update 32.2 rework, Warframe Grendel did not skyrocket in popularity among players. This primarily has to do with how tedious the acquisition of all his components can be. Often, players will outright buy Grendel off the Market for 325 Platinums.

The one redeeming feature of the grind involved in crafting Grendel is its relative lack of RNG. Like most non-Primed frames, you have to obtain blueprints of three modular parts: Systems, Neuroptics, and Chassis. On the other hand, the main Grendel blueprint can be purchased from the market for a meager 35,000 Credits.

The three components can only be purchased from Arbiters of Hexis via the Arbitration Honors vendor. He can be accessed from any relay or by directly fast-traveling to the Arbiters of Hexis chamber through the Syndicates menu in the Orbiter.

Each part is tied to a 'Locator' unit. Once purchased, these unlock three specific missions on the star-chart where the respective Grendel components are granted as completion rewards. The missions are of endless types: a 10-wave Defense (Chassis), a 20-minute survival (Neuroptics), and an 800-Cryotic Excavation (Systems), and disable all mods across all equipments.

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Warframe Grendel build: which augment mod and Helminth ability to use?

Warframe Grendel mod build with the Gourmand augment mod (Image via Digital Extremes)

All three of Grendel's available augment mods are highly situational. Gourmand (Feast) is unnecessary due to the easy energy economy granted by Nourish, while Hearty Nourishment (Nourish) as a utility is limited to only the player on an otherwise squad-wide support ability.

Catapult (Pulverize) is a minuscule quality-of-life change that scarcely warrants a dedicated mod slot. In fact, Pulverize is generally considered the weakest link in his kit, and a placeholder slot for subsume abilities.

Due to his flexibility, the choice of Helminth's abilities in Pulverize's stead varies between overall player goals. In Steel Path content, damage scaling can be attained by a straight weapon damage buff like Roar or an indirect one like Breach Surge. A case can also be made for Armor strip abilities like Tharros Strike.

The best-case scenario, barring the need for additional scaling, is a group-up ability that lets Grendel utilize his other abilties far better. For this, there are three abilities you can look at: Nidus' Larva, Khora's Ensnare, and Gyre's Coil Horizon.