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With the release of Koumei in the latest Warframe update, there are now 58 unique frames in the game. Warframes, or "frames" in short, are the eponymous war machines of metal and sinew that form the basis of the "class" system in this game. Unlike classes in proper MMORPGs, Warframes are limited to a set of skills unique to them, notwithstanding the occasional overlap in their broader goals.
The developers' goal with the metagame balance is to make every Warframe viable in at least one way. However, as the game abounds with dozens of frames and their Primed variants, this balance goal becomes more and more elusive. No Warframe is created equal; some still require reworks and buffs to be on par with the meta.
The following tier list attempts to reflect the state of all the available Warframes in terms of their viability and flexibility in various niches. Before you proceed, remember that having fun is important. Unless your goals with Warframe are purely competitive and tied to leaderboards, do not let tier lists deter you from your personal preferences.
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Note: Tier lists are subjective by nature, and as such, some elements of this article are based on the author's opinion and preference.
All 59 Warframes, ranked and arranged in tiers (December 2024)
In our Warframe tier list, we are going to categorize and rank all Warframes in five tiers: Loot, S, A, B, C, and D.
1) Loot-tier
There is no definitive activity that can be crowned the sole point of Warframe's end-game. Nevertheless, the broad strokes of the gameplay loop emphasize one particular element: grinding.
If obtaining drops and resources is the key to winning at Warframe, then frames that speed up this process should be in their own league.
There are a few different frames that can technically increase your loot from a drop source, but these three tower above the rest:
- Nekros (and Nekros Prime): Compared to the abilities of the other two Warframe on this tier, Desecrate has relatively less resource-boosting chance per enemy. However, this is balanced out by a huge range and no limitations on number of affected enemies within that range. On top of this, Nekros comes with an armor strip and innate durability if you're running Shield of Shadows.
- Khora (and Khora Prime): Khora excels as the best loot-based Warframe to run on endless missions. Long survivals are the natural habitat of a long-time Khora player, as Whipclaw can provide enough DPS at level cap if you run the right stat stick build.
- Hydroid (and Hydroid Prime): Previously an overlooked frame, Hydroid rose to prominence as an all-rounder with loot-duplication providences since his rework. With this Pilfering Swarm build, you can easily set up camp in a Grineer Galleon, and farm resources indefinitely.
All three of these frames increase enemy loot drop chance, but they achieve this task with different flairs.
Khora has a high DPS ceiling built into her kit thanks to the pseudo-exalted Whipclaw, but it forces you to camp in one place. On the other hand, Nekros and Hydroid can be flexible with more mobile playstyles and possess the ability to fully armor strip opponents.
2) S-tier
Warframes in this tier are the apex predators of the meta in terms of power and viability in different setups. These are the foremost frames or Primes you should prioritize collecting if you feel like expanding your repertoire.
Had the focus of this game not been PvE content, everything in this tier would come under the nerf hammer. Looking at the power-creep curve of the last few patches, it is safe to assume that any time and Forma you sink into these Warframes will pay dividends for a long time.
- Protea (and Protea Prime) - Sheild Satellites is one of the best instant shield restores in the game for the squad. If you toss in a group-up tool, Blaze Artillery can clear Steel Path hordes in the blink of an eye.
- Saryn (and Saryn Prime) - Arguably, it is the only frame that has been consistently worthy of S-tier since its release. It has one of the best-scaling area DPS skills with spores and becomes among the most versatile gun-buffing frames with its Augment.
- Wisp (and Wisp Prime) - The most popular support frame, providing squad-wide buffs to fire rate and raw health pool. Also has a deceptively helpful crowd-blinding tool with Breach Surge.
- Jade - Armor strip, squad-wide healing, damage boost, free flight - Jade has it all. If she doesn't undergo the Dante nerfhammer treatment, Jade is here to stay in the S-tier.
- Revenant (and Revenant Prime) - The best tank in the game by a mile that trivializes enemy damage scaling. Can solo otherwise difficult end-game content like Arbitration, Archon Hunts or Netracells.
- Mesa (and Mesa Prime) - One of the easiest Warframes to pick up and coast through the entire game by aim-botting all enemy targets on your screen. If built right, Mesa can also be quite durable, thanks to Shatter Shield.
3) A-tier
Frames in this tier have a lot of strong suits, and they can even be the best in particular niches. Being merely a few buffs shy of becoming S-tier frames in some cases, these Warframes can become staples in your arsenal once you master them.
- Ash (and Ash Prime)
- Baruuk (and Baruuk Prime)
- Banshee (and Banshee Prime)
- Citrine
- Cyte-09
- Dante
- Ember (and Ember Prime) - Save for Saryn, Ember beats out other pure element-based frames due to how useful Heat is.
- Hildryn (and Hildryn Prime) - After the reworked Strain mods in Companion Rework 2.0, pure Health-based tanks like Nidus and Inaros can scale far more than they once could. Nevertheless, Hildryn is still at a good spot regardless of these changes - as she offers a far easier sustainable tanking setup without having to rely on elaborate Strain set shenanigans. One important niche where Hildryn beats other tanks is Deep Archimedea runs, where none of the debuffs can hamper her tanking or armor-stripping.
- Frost (and Frost Prime)
- Garuda (and Garuda Prime)
- Gara (and Gara Prime)
- Gauss (and Gauss Prime)
- Kullervo
- Lavos - Formerly a useful tool for Railjack, Lavos is right now in a very good spot due to a series of reworks in the last years, ranging from status rework to companion rework 2.0. This is possibly the most preference-based A-tier placement on this Warframe tier list, as this is one of those git-gud frames. Lavos requires you to understand and engage his kit completely in order to dish out good damage.
- Mag (and Mag Prime)
- Nezha (and Nezha Prime)
- Nyx (and Nyx Prime)
- Octavia (and Octavia Prime) - Octavia is the poster-girl of infinite scaling gimmicks. She has long been a strong contender for the best Warframe to run endurance missions of all forms. However, to fully utilize her infinite scaling method requires full committal into an ability-maintenance minigame, which might not be up to the taste of many players. Depending on how you like this playstyle, this Warframe can go all the way to S-tier.
- Rhino (and Rhino Prime)
- Sevagoth (and Sevagoth Prime) - With the augment mods Shadow Haze and Dark Propagation, Sevagoth can be one of the best scalable nuke frames in the game right now.
- Volt (and Volt Prime)
- Voruna
- Wukong (and Wukong Prime)
- Xaku (and Xaku Prime) - The more mobile (and in my opinion, more fun) version of Octavia with infinite scalability but less party-wide utility. The enemy resistance rework buffed enemy health across the board, meaning Xaku less stronger than he was a few patches ago, but he's still pretty good.
- Zephyr (and Zephyr Prime)
4) B-tier
Frames placed in this tier can be above average, but they often require a lot of work to achieve things higher-tier frames can do easier. While their skillset may sometimes have interesting synergies, these frames have been superseded by better replacements.
They can circumstantially become A-tier, but only with the right combination of augment mods, arcanes, and Helminth abilities.
Note that being in the B-tier on this tier list doesn't make a Warframe bad, their difference with A-tier contenders can sometimes be something subjective, like how well it gels with your playstyle.
- Atlas (and Atlas Prime)
- Caliban
- Dagath
- Equinox (and Equinox Prime)
- Excalibur (and Excalibur Umbra)
- Grendel (and Grendel Prime)
- Gyre
- Harrow (and Harrow Prime)
- Inaros (and Inaros Prime) - Inaros' changes put him at a very good spot in being a tank with his own niche. This niche, unfortunately, is aggro-control and CC that does not make mobs easier to kill for teammates—which is not that useful in the vast majority of cases.
- Ivara (and Ivara Prime)
- Koumei - Koumei's RNG mechanics inherently make her less reliable. If you're into the fun factor, this is a well capable frame for most content out there, but the artificial limitations imposed by the dices make the Dice-maiden mediocre outside of the 6.2% of cases where you get the good rolls.
- Mirage (and Mirage Prime)
- Nidus (and Nidus Prime)
- Nova (and Nova Prime)
- Qorvex
- Styanax (can be a tier higher with the Intrepid Stand augment mod)
- Stalker - Only occasionally available in The Circuit if you take the Rank 10 perk in Opportunity Intrinsics.
- Titania (and Titania Prime)
- Trinity (and Trinity Prime)
- Vauban (and Vauban Prime)
5) C-tier
Unlike many weapons in this game, Warframes generally cannot be written off as "Mastery Fodder." However, frames in this tier come close to that tag, having outgrown their usefulness in the meta. Whether due to an outdated skillset or lack of meaningful impact, these frames are in dire need of reworks.
- Chroma (and Chroma Prime) - Almost exclusively used in Profit Taker runs.
- Limbo (and Limbo Prime)
- Loki (and Loki Prime)
- Oberon (and Oberon Prime)
- Valkyr (and Valkyr Prime)
- Yareli
6) D-tier
Originally, this tier was reserved for Warframes who are in dire need of reworks to the point where their original kit feels hamstrung. Currently, there are a few Warframe abilities that get close to that useless Helminth-slot tag. However, as a whole, there are no more D-tier Warframes in the game after the Caliban rework.
Check out other guides on this game from Sportskeeda:
