Warframe Tier List April 2025: All Frames Ranked (Update 38.5)

With the release of Temple, there are now 60 unique Warframes 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.

Note: Tier lists are subjective by nature, and as such, some elements of this article are based on the author's opinion and preference.

Warframe tier list, ranking all 60 frames (April 2025)

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

Nekros is one of the most popular frames due to his loot-duplication ability (Image via Digital Extremes)

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 used to be the natural habitat of a long-term Khora main, as Whipclaw was easily the most overpowered way to channel a stat-stick. After the Pseudo-Exalted rework in Techrot Encore, that is now gone. Where does that leave Khora? You no longer deal absolutely overkill amounts of damage, as the DPS ceiling has been nerfed by ~75% compared to Riven-empowered stat-stick builds. To offset this, she is much easier to pick up and play without investing too much, as combo-building is much easier now. Even when you take away all her damage, she still is a specialist at loot-generating.
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

Protea is arguably the best all-rounder frame right now (Image via Reddit u/KorvoZ)

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.

Dante - Overguard generation. Plus other stuff. But most importantly, Overguard generation. Dante got nerfed big-time shortly after his release due to how overpermant his versatile kit is. A great Exalted that also got buffed now thanks to Arcane slottability, the most broken version of providing support to your squad, in-built Slash nuke — Dante really does have it all.
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. This also pairs up with heat-inherit primers, if you are into min-maxing for higher-level viability.
Saryn (and Saryn Prime) - Arguably, it is the only frame that has been consistently worthy of S-tier since its release. Staying a top-tier frame for twelve years in a row is no small feat, and it means Saryn loyalists don't ever need to side-grade to something else. I know I haven't. Saryn is my personal favourite Warframe, and my most-played. She has one of the best-scaling area DPS skills with Spores and becomes arguably the most powerful gun-buffing frame with its Augment.
Wisp (and Wisp Prime) - The most popular support frame, providing squad-wide buffs to fire rate and raw health pool. The Wisp fanbase is a forever-thriving community, thanks to their easy-to-deply healing technology. Stack some Ability Strength, and pop down your motes to succeed; it's that simple. If you want to get crafty, she also has a deceptively helpful crowd-blinding tool with Breach Surge, which you can combo with a wide range of things with satisfying results. Also, she gives you permanent invisibility if you can bunny-hop.
Revenant (and Revenant Prime) - Revenant was the highest-played Warframe overall in 2024, and unsurprisingly, qualifies as the most obvious S-tier entry for this Warframe tier list. Enemy damage scaling at level cap? Mesmer Skin. Annoying Eximus status effects? Mesmer Skin. Boss mechanics? Mesmer Skin. He can easily solo otherwise difficult end-game content like Arbitration, Archon Hunts or Netracells, as long as you remember to refresh the second ability once in a while.
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. That right build in question may involve some combo-stacking Shenaingans with Secondary Outburst and Incarnon Ceramic Dagger, but the payoff is making her a far more Steel Path-viable frame. If you're not into said shenanigans, Mesa is still probably the best way to farm Aya solo, as she breezes though all the open-world bounties.
Frost (and Frost Prime) - This will be a bit contentious as an S-tier entry, but after picking him up again in 2025, I stand by his placement on this tier list. After literal years of drip-fed buffs and QoL additions, Frost is at a place where he can comfortably do almost everything you want in a versatile Warframe. Overguard? Check. Armor-strip? Check. Crowd-control? Check. Damage? Definitely check - Frost deals insane crits now with Biting Frost, plus the new interaction between Cold status and crits.

3) A-tier

Gauss is one of the best frames for daily activities like Sorties (Image via Digital Extremes)

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) - Ash is touted as a level-cap specialist, and will be getting a series of QoL buffs with the Techrote Encore update. After this rework, Ash gets a pretty high-duration invisibility with 12s at base (Step aside Loki), and Blade Storm is much easier to proc. Ash was not harmed much by the removal of stat-sticks from Pseudo-Exalted, since his combo-chance and attack speed had a hard-cap on it anyway. Take it from someone who has played Ash since release: he's much better now. Does he still deserve A-tier, though? Personally, I think yes, he does.
Atlas (and Atlas Prime) - Atlas is getting the biggest amount of buffs out of the pseudo-exalted rework in Techrot Encore. If I'm reading the numbers right, he might be A-tier now. I'll revise this entry after I've tried him out with a build refresh.
Baruuk (and Baruuk Prime) - After the pseudo-exalted rework, the energy waves from your punches will build up combo. This is a massive win for Baruuk, and he's much more playable now without the need for combo-duping shenanigans. Also got a significant buff with the pseudo-Exalted rework. He still locks you into a rather static playstyle, so he's more of a A- or B+ tier than A-tier.
Banshee (and Banshee Prime)
Citrine - Support players (if such an affinity still exists in modern-day Warframe) would easily put this up as a S-tier Warframe. At her peak, Citrine can arguably do the Support job better than Wisp. Why, then, is Citrine down here, and Wisp up there? Because Citrine requires some hard work to maintain that peak, whereas Wisp is a fire-and-forget healer. This makes Wisp the ol' reliable, whereas Citrine is the quirkier alternative with asterisks, conditions, and operational costs.
Cyte-09 - If you're a precision-hit player, Cyte-09 can be easily S-tier due to an array of tools that make him versatile both in solo and co-op play. You'd think that a sharpshooter gimmick would end up being the Achilles' Hell that holds him back, but Cyte-09 can actually be absurdly good at mobbing with specific weapons, all thanks to his wall-hack.
Ember (and Ember Prime) - After Temple, Ember no longer holds the unique limelight of being the Fire-elemental frame. But she has Overguard generation, damage mitigation, and surprisingly high damage output if you give her a little extra Casting Speed.
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.
Garuda (and Garuda Prime)
Gara (and Gara Prime)
Gauss (and Gauss Prime)
Grendel (and Grendel Prime)
Gyre - Gyre is certainly an underrated gem. Think Saryn, but with Electricity damage. With some help from the Mecha set, Gyre is an adept of room-clearing, and with a Huras Kubrow, you also get an easy solution for your survivability problems. Gyre ranks among the most well-designed frames of all time, but with one big weakness: squad play. She can only shine when she is doing the killing, and that is a big ask in an unorganized Warframe squad.
Jade - Armor strip, squad-wide healing, damage boost, free flight - Jade has it all. She also didn't undergo the Dante nerf-hammer treatment, because her numbers were never unintentionally high. Jade sits at the all-too-familiar crossroads between her support identity and her capability for high KPM, and the weightage is more on the latter. She cannot match up to the aura-bot credentials of Citrine or Wisp, but she can certainly deliver with great mob-clearing and durability without sinking many Formas.
Kullervo
Lavos (and soon-to-be Lavos Prime) - 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)
Mirage (and Mirage 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 a pure nuker. This is the only one with health-based nuke scaling, so you can take it to level cap. So why is this still not S-tier worthy? Because in my experience, the Shadow is quite finnicky to use, and tends to get stuck on corners all too often. This happens less on certian tilsets, but I found it frequent enough to be a gameplay deterrence.
Volt (and Volt Prime) - A Shield that stops all damage from the front, a nuke that's iconic staple for farming Santuray Onslaught, and the ability to suddenly make your teammate start bumping into furniture. What's not to like?
Voruna - Voruna's nuking credentials are nutty. This is very much a specialist's frame that requires with a learning curve to get through, but the effort is rewarded with consistently high KPM, and a fun playstyle (although the latter part is subjective).
Temple - The newest addition to the band, the David-Bowie of Warframe makes a great first impression. Temple might even overtake Ember as the greater Heat-based frame, but we'll know for sure once they have been figured out a bit better. For now, I'm placing them in the A-tier based on how good their abilities seem.
Wukong (and Wukong Prime)
Qorvex - This was the least-used Warframe in 2024, but that's an unfair statistic. With his new Augment in Techrot Encore, plus Arcane Universal Fallout, Qorvex can now be a self-propagating blender of death. The laser-focused scope of this playstyle may feel boring to some, but I think it's good enough to be A-tier.
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) - Zephyr has received what is historically the most effective rework, going from zero to hero. You have a single-button invulnerability (mostly), a group-up tool that's actually functional and skyrockets the useability of some weapons, the ability to do bird stuff with meaningful buffs, and peck at your enemies if you like.

4) B-tier

Ivara is far from a weak Warframe, but there's good reasons she is an uncommon pick (Image via Digital Extremes)

Note: 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.

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.

Caliban
Dagath
Equinox (and Equinox Prime)
Excalibur (and Excalibur Umbra)
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.
Nova (and Nova Prime)
Styanax (can be a tier higher with the Intrepid Stand augment mod)
Titania (and Titania Prime)
Trinity (and Trinity Prime)
Valkyr (and Valkyr Prime)
Vauban (and Vauban Prime)

5) C-tier

In 2025, Nidus demands too much for too little return (Image via Digital Extremes)

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)
Yareli
Nidus (and Nidus Prime)
Stalker - Only occasionally available in The Circuit if you take the Rank 10 perk in Opportunity Intrinsics. He comes with some cool stuff like baked-in complete Arcane Energize and Primed mods, but overall, it's a meme. I didn't know where to put this, so I just put him here because I didn't want to make an exclusive meme-tier for Stalker.

6) D-tier

Caliban got reworked recently, leaving no D-tier frames (Image via Digital Extremes)

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 obvious D-tier Warframes in the game after the Caliban rework.

So for now, we will use this tier to highlight Warframes that do need some pick-me-up. Currently, I think the only two Warframes that kind of qualify for the "needs buffs big-time" bucket is Loki and Oberon.

Loki (and Loki Prime)

I used to be a Loki main when I started playing Warframe back in 2014. Back in those days, Loki's pure utility kit made hive virtually the only "infinite-scaling" Warframe as he remained relevant no matter how much tougher the enemies got. This is because his gimmicks - disarming, going invisible, distracting enemies, and swapping positions - don't care about raw numbers or damage calculations.

But that was back in the good-old-days of 2014. It's been over a decade since then, and all the wind is gone out of Loki's sail. After the Ash rework in Techrot Encore, Ash is tied with Loki for the highest-duration invis (I am not counting Ivara because that's a different niche), so there's little point to using Loki rather than Ash anymore.

The only place where Loki is indisputably useful is Riven Challenges where you'll need to wall-latch, because of Loki's very rudimentary passive that oozes old-school energy. Digital Extremes, please throw Loki a bone.

Oberon (and Oberon Prime)

Loki needs the lite-rework treatment Nyx and Trinity got recently. Meanwhile, with Oberon, the issue is not just the outdated kit, but also the numbers. Oberon takes so much to do things that other Warframes do far easier, and you will be stretched thin between needing to pump Ability attributes as well as base defense stats to the point where using Augment mods is a very hard judgment call to make.

Check out our other tier lists:

About the author

Sambit Pal is an esports Journalist on Gaming and MMO at Sportskeeda. He has Master's degree in English Literature. In his spare time, he is an amateur sleuth trying to trace the Riven Mafia in Warframe, and a recovering Bethesda modding addict. He also secretly enjoys action Roguelites, a severe lack of gitting gud notwithstanding.

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Edited by Ritoban "Veloxi" Paul