Quick Tips for Missions in Warframe

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Let's face it, there are quite a good number of missions in Warframe.  So how does one go about playing each one and succeeding?  Fret no longer my friends, I have created some short guides on how to beat these bad boys.  Each section has a brief description of that particular mission.  I explain a bit further in the Youtube videos that follow each summary.  The link below each video is the actual Youtube link, in case you want to do something with it.

NOTE:  Updated as of March 2024!

  1. Arena
  2. Assassination
  3. Capture
  4. Defection
  5. Defense
  6. Disruption
  7. ESO/SO
  8. Excavation
  9. Exterminate
  10. Free Roam
  11. Hijack
  12. Infested Salvage
  13. Interception
  14. Mirror Defense
  15. Mobile Defense
  16. Rescue
  17. Rush and Pursuit
  18. Sabotage
  19. Skirmish
  20. Spy
  21. Survival
  22. The Index
  23. Void Armageddon
  24. Void Cascade
  25. Void Flood
  26. Volatile

Arena

There are currently 4 nodes that offer this type of gameplay: Yam,Yodyanoi, and Nakki over on Sedna and The Index on Neptune.  I will be talking about the Index in another section, so we will be focusing on Sedna only. Although these can get super frustrating since the AI is way better than other missions, here are some quick tips to ensure you have a good time.  Or at least get by and unlock the node to progress.
  1. Unlike other nodes, these nodes have a specialized AI.  They are actively wanting to kill you.  Bring something that can sustain damage but dish it out as well.  If you bring a squishy warframe, you will probably suffer and wish you never did this to begin with.
  2. You do not have access to your gear wheel or your companion.  You do, however, have access to some map pickups such as energy, health, and ammo restores.  Getting to know where these are located can help you tremendously in surviving these missions.  Remember that each restore point has a timer, meaning that once you pick up an item, it will take time to respawn.
  3. Keep.  Moving.  Standing still in one point can seem like a great idea at times, but in the end it isn't.  You can get locked in an area, surrounded by enemies and you might not make it out alive.  Since these missions are point based, dying is not an ideal solution.  
  4. Each time you enter one of the arenas, there is a modifier that gets applied.  Now, these modifiers can either help you or hurt you.  As of right now, there are 11 different modifiers that can be popped, so approach each arena with that in mind.
  5. You need to kill 25 executioners in order to win.  Currently there are 9 different types, each with their own set of tactics and equipment.  Get to know who you are fighting and apply fighting tactics accordingly.  
  6. Playing solo or with randoms can work out for you.  I prefer playing with others because it makes the matches go by quicker.  You do you in the end.
  7. If you have Ash, using his Fatal Teleport mod works right along with the covert lethality mod in this mission.  Just pop the teleport and shank that baddie.  This combination pretty much ensures that 1 hit ko since it's pretty hard getting the stealth attack on enemies as is. Depending on what level of arena you are doing, sometimes just the dagger mod will work.

Assassination

In these missions, you are tasked with finding the target. Sometimes these are referred to as bosses, but in the end, they are going to die.  These can get pretty hard, solo or with buddies, so let's get some quick tips out there to help you manage your murder spree.
  1. You will have to go through the map like every other map, killing the angry peasants just to get to the target.  True, most of the time you can just run by the majority of enemies, so plan accordingly.  No point in dying before you reach the target!
  2. If you are one that angers easily, best not pay attention to the banter talk from the target.  The target will do this up until you reach the door of where they are lurking.
  3. Each boss has a set rotation.  If you're new to this boss, failing won't be the downfall of your epic tale in Warframe. Learn the rotation and try again.  If you've made friends in the game, ask them how to combat it or ask if they can help.  Hell, wiki it if that's all you can do.  Just don't go in blind and get frustrated if you fail.  
  4. There are currently 18 missions in Warframe that deal with assassination, so getting to know the bosses might be in your best interest.  Remember that the bosses have a drop table that consist of either warframe parts or weapon parts.
  5. If you are into the lore of the game, I'd suggest paying attention to some of the dialogues the bosses say.  It can get pretty interesting.

There are curently 22 assassination missions, each with a drop table of items you can receive.  Below is a list of each planet/space mass, then the target, what node they are found on, and what drops (weapon parts/other parts and warframe parts):
  • -Mercury
    • -Captain Vor - Tolstoj node
      • -Cronus parts
      • -Seer parts
  • -Venus
    • -Jackal - Fossa node
      • -Rhino parts
  • -Earth
    • -Councilor Vay Hek - Oro node
      • -Hydroid parts
  • -Mars
    • -Lieutenant Lech Kril - War node
      • -Excalibur parts
  • -Phobos
    • -The Sergeant - Iliad node
      • -Mag parts
  • -Ceres
    • -Captain Vor + Lieutenant Lech Kril - Exta node
      • -Frost parts
      • -Miter parts
      • -Twin Gremlins parts
  • -Jupiter
    • -Alad V - Themisto node
      • -Valkyr parts
    • -Ropalolyst - The Ropalolyst node
      • -Wisp parts
  • -Europa
    • -Raptors - Naamah node
      • -Nova parts
  • -Saturn
    • -General Sargas Ruk - Tethys node
      • -Ember parts
  • -Uranus
    • -Tyl Regor - Titania node
      • -Equinox parts
  • -Neptune
    • -Hyena Pack - Psamathe node
      • -Loki parts
  • -Pluto
    • -Ambulas - Hades node
      • -Trinity parts
  • -Eris
    • -Jordas Golem - Jordas Golem node
      • -Atlas parts
    • -Mutalist Alad V - Mutalist Alad V node
      • -Mesa parts
  • -Sedna
    • -Kela De Thaym - Merrow node
      • -Saryn parts
      • -Twin Kohmak parts
  • -Deimos
    • -Lephantis - Magnacidium node
      • -Nekros parts 
    • -Zealoid Prelate - Exequias node
      • -Pathocyst parts
    • -The Fragmented - Effervo node
      • -Manus Sumdali + Steel Essence
  • -Invasion
    • -Phorid - Phorid Manifestation
      • -Nyx parts
  • -Neptune Proxima
    • -Sister of Parvos Confrontation
      • -Sister of Parvos
      • -Sister of Parvos Weapon
  • -Saturn Proxima 
    • -Kuva Lich Confrontation
      • -Kuva Lich
      • -Kuva Lich Weapon
You will have to do these missions a few times in order to get some if not all the parts.  Remember that RNG is real in this game and sometimes you will have to grind out a mission more than others, just to get a part.

Capture

The concept of a capture mission is to find the target, down them, then vaporize them off to the extraction point.  This is probably the quickest mission anyone can complete in the game, so here are some tips!
  1. Depending on what planet you are on, the enemies can get REALLY annoying when you are trying to extract the target.  One way to deal with this is to utilize your operator.  Get into operator mode and then do the invisible thing, you know, where you are unseen to the untrained eyes of everything in this game but other fellow Tenno :)  The enemies won't see you and you can extract the target easy peasy.
  2. Using a stealth Warframe can be beneficial.  Ivara, Octavia, Ash, and Loki are some great choices for capture missions, mostly due to the fact that the target will never see you coming!  This is also super helpful for the same exact reasoning I made for the operator in the previous tip.
  3. Limbo can be pretty useful on this type of mission.  I personally use him for these because I can go into limbo, run through the hordes of enemies trying to kill me, find the target, pop back into reality, down the target, pop back into limbo, and send the target to extraction.  If this sounds like a great idea to you, make sure you bring a REALLY POWERFUL weapon to down the target asap.  That way you are not left out there in the cold with the enemies swarming around you, ESPECIALLY since Limbo is a more squishy frame!
  4. Volt can be pretty viable for this mission as well.  Mostly due to the crazy crowd control he can provide when extracting the target, but the speed buff as well.  Nezha can also pretty much do this as well, so pick your preferred type :)

Defection

Defection missions are like rescue missions, with smuggling added.  You are basically smuggling out the defectors but everyone knows of your plan, including the enemies. This is probablye one of the more annoying missions in the game, so here are some quick tips to make it less problematic.
  1. If you are just wanting to unlock the node, going solo isn't 100% bad.  You only need to save 2 groups of defectors, then head to extraction.  If you are doing it for sorties, you're going to need a bit more finess to get by.
  2. Great warframes to take on this type of mission: anything that can do crowd control, make the defectors jump ahead in the map (like Loki's switch teleport or Nova's worm hole), or provide healing to the defectors.  Since there is something in the air that is slowly killing the defectors, they are constantly losing health, unless they are next to a med booster.  Med boosters are labeled as A, B, C, etc and are what needs charged with the power cells dropped by the carriers. You can see where power cells are by looking at the map and seeing little yellow pill images. Pick one up and get near a med booster to recharge.
  3. Trinity is probably one of the best warframes to take on this mission, mostly due to her #4 skill as well as providing energy pinatas for the group. Her #4 skill also affects the defectors, so it's a win win situation.  Other warframes that I've personally used for this are Limbo, Khora, and Equinox - mostly due to the healing that they provide or with the void banishment.
  4. Defectors are marked with a blue icon. When it starts to go red, that means they took some damage.  Healing them or getting them to a med booster is the only way to save them.  Sure you can wait for them to get downed and then rez, but you also have enemies surrounding you and killing you.
  5. If you can't find a defector group, find a console and interact. This will spawn the next group.  USE WITH CAUTION. If you get too many defector groups out, and enough die, you will fail the mission.  Most of the time 1 or 2 groups is more than enough to handle.
  6. When doing this for sorties, for the love of god do 1 group at a time UNLESS you are 115% confident you can escort a defector team, solo, to the rest of the group or even to the extraction.

Defense

The concept of defense missions is to protect the target, whether it be a cryopod, reactor, or operative.  Don't let the baddies win in these types of missions because nothing is more demoralizing than hearing the disappointment in the Lotus when you fail.

  1. Bring something sturdy.  Leveling can be great on these types of missions.  In fact Hydron over on Sedna is almost a default-go-to leveling station.  Just remember if you die before extraction comes up, you're not going to benefit from the time spent.  Use your best judgement.
  2. Pop. Those. Specters.  If you are starting to struggle and extraction is a few waves off, utilize what you got!  No harm in using them, I mean, what are you going to use them for?  A tea party?  Specters are your friends.
  3. If you're playing with others and an extraction option comes up, there is like, 10 seconds to decide whether you're going to stick it out for another 5 waves or so.  Use your best judgement here.  If others are choosing to extract, decide whether or not you can survive for another 5 waves.  Also, if you and/or your party start to get downed A LOT when extraction comes up, you might want to go ahead and extract.  It would suck if you failed.  Keep in mind that as the waves increase, the enemies increase in level.
  4. Sometimes enemies get stuck inside things.  Make sure you can take care of that type of situation.  Also bring along a companion or a mod on your warframe that shows you where enemies are at.  Enemies can get stuck on corners and locating them is essential in order to continue on.  
  5. Keep an eye on the objective's health!  This is especially true when you are providing defense on an operative.  It already can be a pain in the butt when you have to babysit a moving target, but letting it die when you are more focused on murdering the lot is tragic.  Bringing Gara or Limbo can help in this type of situation with Gara's wall or Limbo's bubble OR using Limbo's #1 skill which puts the operative in limbo.  If you are defending a stationary objective, Frost's snowglobe can provide some extra protection.


Disruption

You are tasked with fighting against Amalgams in a similar fashion as mobile defense, only you need to find matching keys for the conduits and defeat the Demolyst before it reaches that conduit.

  1. DON'T ACTIVATE MORE THAN ONE!  Unless you are in a team that you feel are capable of defending more than 1 conduit, please don't activate a second or more.  Sure you have the key but trust me, you can wait.  Hell, you can even drop the key and pick it up later.  Another reason for doing one at a time is that there are either buffs or debuffs that affect you.  It would be a shame if you had 2 debuffs while fighting these things.
  2. You don't want to have the mindset that letting one get destroyed and it'll be fine.  If it was applying a debuff, that debuff will last you the entire round.  That would suck immensly since other conduits could apply debuffs as well.  On the flip side, successfully defending a conduit with a buff will provide that buff for the entire round.  In the end, don't let a conduit get destroyed.
  3. As with other endless missions, if you feel like you need to leave but the rest of the team doesn't, you can extract without them.  Just head over to the extraction point and you will be extracted within a minute while the rest are continuing on.
  4. Besides bringing a warframe that has great survivability, you will want to bring a weapon that can easily take down a Demolyst.  These things are like, Amalgams on steroids and asking them to stop for a cup of tea is out of the question.  Just bring some heavy damage to take them down.


ESO / SO

Sancutary Onslaught and Elite Sanctuary Onslaught are found in the navigation bar of your orbitor. SO and ESO are pretty much just like survival missions,because you are fighting against enemies whose levels increase the further in you go.

  1. You need to keep killing.  The deciding factor if you continue on in SO is how good you are at murder.  If the efficiency drops to 0, you do not progress further.  Easy enough, but as you go further in the zones, the faster efficiency drops and the higher the enemies become.
  2. Your gear wheel does not work here.  If you are dependent off of items in your gear wheel, bad news.  This makes SO a nice testing ground due to the fact you are basically utilizing your raw self with no assistances.
  3. There are items called Efficiency Stimulus that appear in all zones, up until completion of zone 15.  These things make a weird chime sound and look like gold DNA.  Picking these up increases your team's efficiency by 10%.  Honestly, try to find them all because it really does help in the end.
  4. When you enter the conduit for the next zone, everything resets.  Your energy goes back to base level, your ammo goes back to 100%, etc.  Ideally, going all out in each zone is the best thing to do.  No point in holding onto things that won't transfer to the next zone.
  5. When it comes to ESO, you need to play a little more responsibly.  First of all, you need a level 30 warframe to enter.  Second of all, you cannot spam your  abilities like you usually do.  Spamming too often will result in Cephalon Simaris disabling that ability for a short time.
  6. It can become pretty frustrating if you are hunting for Khora parts, especially since 2 of them have a possibility of dropping in rotation c.  Don't burn yourself out on trying to get her.  Take your time and it will eventually happen.
  7. If playing with others, check to see if they go through the conduit for the next zone.  Many a time I have gone through without looking and ended up alone in a high level zone.  You only have 4 revives, so keep your eyes open.

Excavation

In excavation missions, you are tasked with finding a dig site, defending the drill that drops, and supplying power cells to keep it running.
  1. Any defensive warframe would prove beneficial to these missions, mostly because they can babysit the excavator and still deal some wicked damage. Like all endless missions, as you continue in the mission, the enemies get harder to kill.
  2. It might be tempting to run and start every single dig site, but please restrain yourself.  Depending on your party composition, starting the next one too soon could cause some hostility amongest your current mates when either active site is destroyed.
  3. Some Warframes, such as Frost, Khora, and Limbo have an ability that creates a dome stucture which can last for quite a bit of time it built correctly.  Placing these on an excavator 30 seconds out from the timer finishing can help speed up the process of mission completion.  Just pop the dome, then run to the next site.
  4. When moving to the next site, PLEASE have a power cell in hand. You can insert it on the new excavator that lands, adding time to the excavator before it runs out of power. You can see small yellow capsule images on your minimap which indicate where more dropped power cells are.
  5. When playing with others, try to move as a team when relocating.  Sometimes the game likes to add a new dig site in between your previous dig site and the next target dig site.  Getting close to that new dig site on your way to your teammates can trigger the excavator to land. If too many excavators die, the mission will fail.
  6. Relic excavation missions can be a bit harder, mostly in making sure everyone has their 10 reactants before the 2nd excavator site is complete.  If you slow down on powering the excavator, even allowing it to halt, you can get the needed reactant, then start powering it again. If you're one of those that don't care about others getting their reactant, just remember that they have a relic too and it might have something you want.

Exterminate

The concept of exterminate missions are....exterminate of course!  You are tasked with removing the enemy at a particular node and the Lotus will not be happy until you have met her target number.  In general, the higher tier you go, aka the further in the solar system you go, the higher the number of enemies you need to murder. 
  1. Kill all the things.
  2. Scan things.  Whether it be the introductory codex scanner or the one from Cephalon Simaris, a scanner is a scanner.  Scanning things puts the entries in your Codex, which is basically the wiki, only in game.  There are also a few other perks for doing such a tedious task: 
    1. Gaining Cephalon Simaris reputation so that you can acquire some awesome items from him (I'm looking at you Exilus adapter blueprint)
    2. Scanning plants can give you the corresponding extracts that are used in crafting antitoxins
    3. Scanning special items such as Somachords/Warframe fighter frames/Cephalon fragments
    4. Scanning Kavats can give you a chance at acquiring a Kavat genetic code
    5. Have the capability of performing a damage test against any fully scanned non-boss 
      enemy in the simulacrum
    6. And I'm sure there are other things not mentioned here that I have forgotten
  3.  Resource gathering.  Needless to say, any planet and any node gives you this option, but I feel exterminate missions are some of the more easy nodes to accomplish this task.  The enemies have a stopping point on the spawning capability, so you don't have to worry about more enemies showing up while you are scanning/Kubrow egg farming/case smashing/syndicate medallion searching/Ayatan sculpture finding/resource cache seeking.  I do, however, think that infested nodes don't have a stopping point, so consider yourself warned.  
  4. Stealth stuff.  Want to practice your mission impossible tactics?  Exterminate missions are probably THE best place to get that out of your system.  Grab your Loki or other Warframe and just go around shanking the baddies.  For me personally, I try to do a full missionwithout setting off any alarms.  If you can do that, you are one bad ass mofo.

 

Free Roam

These are currently found on Venus at Fortuna/Orb Valis, on Earth at Cetus/Plains of Eidolan, and Deimos at Necralisk/Cambion Drift.  You can choose to wander around aimlessly or you can do bounties.  Either or, you are bound to get something good!
  1. Be aware of your revives! This is especially true when hunting the bosses at either place. There have been times where I ran out of revives and I didn't get the rewards. Super humiliating!  Don't do that! Keep a count of how many times you've died and just head back to the gate when you feel the time is right.
  2. If you are doing bounties, you don't have to go back inside to start the next one. If you are out in Orb Valis, there is an NPC near the Fortuna building. If you are out in Plains of Eidolan, there are tents in several areas.  If you are out in the Cambion Drift, you can locate Mother in a few areas.  All places give more bounties, so stop exiting after just the one!
  3. Keep in mind that there are 2 different cycles.  For Earth, there is day and night while on Venus, there is cold and warm.  Deimos has Vome and Fass cycles, usually accompanied with an epic show of the two blasting the hell out of one another.  Some fish and fauna are only caught at certain times while some bosses are only out at certain times. Plan accordingly.
  4. Bring your best Archwing for the situation.  I personally like the Itzal due to the #3 skill that pulls all the loot to one spot. The #1 skill also helps getting from point A to point B in a hurry.
  5. Pop those specters if you need the assist!  Don't be afraid to use them, especially when it comes down to your last revive.

Hijack

You are tasked with running through a map to the destination target.  These targets are either a moving vehicle aka Corpus missions or a hovering on-rails power core aka Grineer missions.
  1. Bring something that won't die easily.  I say this because you are going to be battling some angry enemies while stealing their things.  The target object requires your shield energy to move forward, towards extraction.  This can get tricky, so have some type of Warframe in mind.
  2. Nidus is one of the default Warframes taken to this mission.  If you don't have him, like me, don't fret!  I usually take my Frost in these missions since he has a huge shield capacity as well as some decent crowd control.  If you still can't quite cut it, open up the party to randoms.
  3. If you're worried about your companion getting downed, this is probably not a good mission to take Fluffykins out on.  Too often I've seen companions get downed, someone or someones go back to rez, and the target starts taking on damage or worse, it heads backwards. Don't let your team down, just take a sentinel for the mission - unless you believe in your companion or your companion has high survivability rate.
  4. If running solo, I find that bringing something that helps rejuvenate your shields can help immensely.  Trinity can do this as well as a Raksa Kubrow or a sentinel that has Guardian equipped.  These can help the shield drain - just remember what I said before in tip #3 about squishy companions.
  5. Don't get in front of the Corpus vehicle.  If someone gets downed or if you get caught going against the enemies while in front, it will run you over and respawn you as if you jumped off the map.

Infested Salvage

If you are one of those that like constant battling while fearing for your life, then this is the mission for you. Being that Nidus is the Warframe from this endless mission type, here are some quick tips to help you not run away, screaming, to the market for purchasing him.
  1. Treat this like a high intensity survival mission. If you have a Warframe that can survive some seriously hostile survival missions, it would probably succeed in this mission. I'm not joking on how intense this mission can get, especially if doing it solo or with not skilled players. If you are wanting to get Nidus parts, make sure you can last to round 4.  That's when his parts drop.
  2. Some suggested Warframes that I've used: Rhino, Nekros, Trinity, Chroma, and Equinox. I'm sure there are other great Warframes that rock this mission, but these are the ones I've found do a pretty good job at surviving and kicking some ass.
  3. Pay attention to the status of all 3 data consoles, which you can see in the upper left corner of your screen, next to your name.  If one turns red, you need to deposit an antiserum charge or two, in order to get it back to blue.  Remember, you want to get to 100% decryption via the Lotus.  Having red data consoles slows this process down.
  4. You also need to pay attention to your armor %.  This goes down when you are traveling outside of the safety bubbles, and it goes down pretty fast.  Once it hits 25%, the Lotus will notify you of a console that you can access.  Upon accessing it and departing with one of the antiserum charges, your armor will be fully restored.  Having an antiserum injector equipped on your gear can be useful here as well. Just access it via the gear wheel and boom, you're back to 100%. If you can't get to the console or if you don't have any antiserum charges, you can just down yourself and hope someone will rez you.If not, just revive and you'll be back to 100%.
  5. When the armor corrosion gets tight, you can always use your operator.  Luckily, the corrosion doesn't affect him or her, so void jumping from bubble to bubble can be a legit mode of transport. Just don't forget about your Warframe. If left unattended and the bubble goes away, it will start taking damage.
  6. When the end of the round is ticking down from 20, you can run around the map to pick up loot from the other bubble areas.  You will not take corrosive damage to your Warframe, so get to running!

Interception

These missions deal with intercepting the enemy communications at 4 different spots on a map, with first team to score 100 points win.
  1. Bring a decent crowd control Warframe.  This honestly leaves up a ton of options of who to bring, just make sure it can disperse the enemies in an area quickly.
  2. Popping specters can be a pretty nice helping hand when you start getting into the harder territories.  Remember that you can pop more than 1 specter, as long as they are not of the same type.  
  3. You don't have to keep all 4 towers at once.  As long as you reach 100 points before the enemies do, you're golden.  True it takes less time if you hold all 4 towers, but it won't be life or death if you lose 1.
  4. If you want to do these solo, don't spend all your efforts defending a tower while the others get captured.  Rotate the towers while applying crowd control helps reduce the amt of enemies you have to fight at once, as well as keeping you on your toes and not getting bored.  You can even leave a long duration ability at a tower to help keep it captured.
  5. If you are playing with more than just yourself, there are 2 ways to making this work.  One is to defend an area which encompasses 1 or more towers.  Another way is to play response medic and head to the tower that is under attack.  You can see the status of the towers in the top left area of your screen.  If one of them is blinking, it is under attack.
  6. Archwing missions of this type can be a real pain, mostly due to the air combat and flight.  I honestly play the response medic in these types of missions, regardless if I'm playing with others.  Just remember that you need to reach 100 points before the enemies do.  You're Archwing can also be a vital tool in these missions to help against the enemies.

Mirror Defense

If you're familiar with the normal, run-of-the-mill defense missions, then this should be an easy recap but with a twist.  This particular type of defense mission has crystals that you can farm for Citrine or gathering standing for Qorvex, so let's get into some quick tips to help this mission go a little easier.
  1. Just like regular defense missions, you are tasked with keeping the target intact.  UNLIKE regular defense missions, these targets do not regain health lost once they take damage UNLESS you do the next tip.
  2. DO. NOT. AFK. FOR. THIS. MISSION.  No matter which type of mirror defense mission you're running, either Tyana Pass or Munio, collecting 50 of the floating items is ideal.  Every 50 items collected by the group provides overshields to the active target and summons some type of defense that inflicts status effects to nearby enemies.  They also HEAL the targets.
  3. The floating items are not something you can gather with abilities nor mods. What this means is that some of the beloved Warframes, like Limbo, Mag, or Vauban cannot pull them closer for quicker gathering.  Mods like vacuum and fetch for companions don't affect the gathering either.  You literally need to get moving and running into the crystals or the glyphs to pick them up.
  4. If you are farming for resources, I'd recommend going Steel Path.  You tend to get more per round and if you're doing public teams, people tend to not stick around after a few rounds so nothing really lost.
  5. During the in between phase, you know the part where you're traversing a large open gap while going from point a to point b, gathering those crystals or glyphs can help prepare the next target with overshields and the summoned defensive item.  This is extremely helpful if you or your team are taking some time to get moving to the next target.
  6. Don't get super focused on just gathering the crystals or glyphs.  This is especially important for the Steel Path route.  The targets can still take enough damage and cause the mission to fail if you stop paying attention to the health.
  7. These particular missions rely on time, not enemy counts in order to complete a round.  What this means is that bringing a Fastva aka fast Nova won't make the rounds end quicker.  Plan accordingly.
  8. If you need more incentive as to why you should gather the crystals or glyphs: every 50 crystals collected yields either 5 Rania crystals or 5 Belric crystals or 3 Stela.  Great way of gathering extra resources!

Mobile Defense

Mobile defense missions consists of you grabbing a data module, sticking it in enemy consoles, defending it for x amount of time, then grabbing the data module again and moving to the next enemy console.  Believe it or not, this mission is extremely similar to Defense missions.
  1. Crowd control Warframes can be a huge benefit to these types of missions.  Sure they are great in regular defense missions, but when you gotta pick up the data module and run to the next console, spamming that ability is awesome.  You get those irritating ancients off your back and you can just run like hell.  FREEDOM!  
  2. Always check to see that you or someone in your party has the data module.  Nothing is more irritating than running to the next point just to find out that the data module was left back at the previous location (or even the start).  Easy way to check is to look at the minimap.  Swapping weapons is the biggest culprit to dropping the silly thing, so be mindful of what you are doing.
  3. Don't think that all you have to do in these missions is defend.  These missions have a history of going from Mobile Defense to Exterminate.  This is not a bug, this is normal.  Just continue on your killing spree and murder the lot.

Rescue

Rescue missions are those where you run through angry enemies to basically jailbreak an operative who screwed up and got themselves caught.
  1. Speedy Warframes can be a benefit here, but not a deal breaker.  Honestly, just running as fast as possible to the target area while ignoring the masses of hostile enemies is good enough.
  2. If you are not up to par for hacking systems, either bring a MOA who can or bring a stealthy Warframe.  Nothing is more frustrating when you are inside the compound, trying to hack a system and then you fail it.  If you are running out of time, the hostage will bang on the door around the 15 second-til-failure hits.  This will tell you where they are.
  3. Before running in and hacking the main gate, which is probably surrounded by enemies, check to see if there is a secret way in.  That way you can just sneak in, grab the hostage, and run out.  True the enemies will still be around but it is less alarm-triggering than notifying the whole prison that you are there.
  4. Limbo can be a great help here because of his #1 ability.  Just aim at the hostage and press it.  Doing this puts the hostage in limbo and the enemies can't hurt it.
  5. Moon rescues can be a bit more of a hassle, mainly due to the prison cell being one of many possible portals.  Once you have found the right portal, the hostage will say "I'm here!".  DON'T DO ANY MORE PORTALS.  If you do, you could easily change to another portal, failing the mission.  Just jump in, then run away to extraction.
  6. It might be enticing to give the hostage a gun to help defend itself, but honestly - just run to extraction.  They will teleport to the closest player to extraction, so just suck it up and run.
  7. Need some specter prints?  These missions drop them as a reward.  Depending on how awesome you are at rescuing determines how awesome a specter print you get.

Rush and Pursuit

If you are in need of some Archwing mods, okay Endo drops, or relics, these missions can do it for you.  Currently, the Rush mission only appears at Kepler over on Phobos, while the only Pursuit mission appears at Pandora over on Saturn.  Both missions are KIND of similar in style, but not really.  They do have a few similar quick tips to think about when playing them though, so here we go.

  1. You don't need a fast Archwing to complete these missions.  It DOES, however, help you tremendously when playing them.  The Itzal is well known for it's fast flight speeds so if you are struggling to get by, perhaps looking into one would benefit you.
  2. High damage weapons are kind of the same thing as tip number 1. They do help make the mission a bit more bearable.  Find yourself some decent mods for a decent weapon, you will be good to go.
  3. When doing the Rush mission, make sure you keep your eyes open for the drones.  You need to kill them because if not, they will provide shields for the transport.  This gets you nowhere.  You need to destroy 1 transport in order for the mission to succeed.
  4. When doing the Pursuit mission, focus on slowing it down first. This can be done by shooting out the engines which buys you some time to attack the shield generators. These engines do get repaired over time, so be quick. If you're not fast enough at disabling the ship and have to shoot out the engines 3 times, you will fail the mission.

Sabotage

Sabotage missions are missions that deal with you finding the target, destroying it by some means, then running like hell while acting like you had nothing to do with it - towards extraction.

Quick note - there are quite a few varieties of this type of mission, so some of the tips might pertain to a certain one.
  1. Most sabotage missions deal with finding the target, destroying it, hacking a console, with the possibility of defending for a certain amount of time.  Keep aware of what has to be done or else you might be standing around, confused as to why the mission hasn't progressed.
  2. If tasked with finding tumor nodes, keep in mind these things are generally in the nearby vicinity, just maybe not in the same room.  A crowd control Warframe can be useful to help keep the infested at bay while looking for the nodes.  As you progress through the mission, the infested will increase in spawn rate as well as triggering an environmental hazard. This won't break the mission, unless you're bad at surviving and killing, but keep it in mind.
  3. Orokin sabotage can get a bit tricky, mostly because after you've defended some consoles from enemies, you are tasked with killing a mini boss for the data module that closes the void portal.  Once the data module has been inserted, a timer starts.  You need to exit the portal before it runs out or you will die and have to rez.  Such a waste of time, so just leave the portal.
  4. Stealth Warframes can be helpful here if you want to go more mission impossible theme.  Just don't be super squishy or else the enemies will probably down you in 0 seconds flat.
  5. Some of these missions have caches that when found, have the possibility of rewarding Nitain extracts or a part for the Xiphos ship.  This can be pretty useful, so equipping a loot detector would be great.
  6. If you have the spare antitoxin, you can insert it on some missions.  Doing this gives you an additional drop of something - sometimes even a forma blueprint.  Just make sure you get the antitoxin to 100% before moving on.

Skirmish

This mission is associated with the exterminate version for Railjacks and can get pretty confusing for those of you new or returning to the Railjack system.
  1. Depending on your crew, whether it be NPCs or other players, figuring out what needs done where is top priority in order to finish quick.  I recommend playing this with random players instead of solo because most of the time, the other players will take it upon themselves to handle other tasks.  If you find yourself alone in this mission, make sure you have assigned your NPC crew to handle the Railjack while you leave to handle the ground task.  
  2. If you are struggling to get through the mission, my best recommendation would be to focus on depleting the fighters first, then the enemy Crewships, THEN the ground task(s).  Keep in mind this is generally something I've done when I find myself alone in this mission, especially at the higher levels.  
  3. Make sure you have put SOME effort into upgrading your Railjack.  I know that starting out can be a bit difficult, but the components, mods, materials, EVERYTHING that is dropped in these missions help you improve your Railjack overall.  Everyone plays their Railjacks differently, so find a style that works well with you.  She is your Railjack in the end.
  4. Remember to work on your intrinsics!  Overall, upgrade as you progress further into the Railjack system as needed, but I highly recommend you put a bit more focus on Command at first.  This is where you get your crew members that are hired through Ticker on Fortuna.  Best ones to look for are Gunners and Engineers with Endurance, Combat, and Repair in any order. This way you will have some sturdy crew members to rely on while piloting around and dispatching enemies.
  5. It isn't uncommon to abort the ground task to save your crew when things get out of hand.  When you are doing the ground task, keep an eye on your Railjack status.  If things start looking bad, you can either run back to the entrance OR use the Omni tool to instant teleportation.  There will be times where things get tough and you have to keep returning to the Railjack just to keep the mission from failing.  The Omni tool will become your best friend in these situations.
  6. If your Railjack isn't holding up during the seemingly never ending ship combat part, I recommend blasting through the area and heading to a more "remote" zone.  This will allow you to recover Railjack shields and health, tend to the forge, and re-orient yourself towards the incoming enemies.  This maneuver comes in handy at the higher level missions.
 

Spy

The concept of a spy mission is to find 3 data vaults, extract the information, and get the hell out of dodge.  These missions can get SUPER annoying and frustrating, so here are some tips.
  1. Sometimes doing these solo or with friends is better than with a bunch of randoms. I say this because there have been times where a random fails the data extraction.  Now, it isn't important for most of these spy missions, but if you fail a single data extraction in a sortie? You failed the mission entirely.  Choose wisely how you want to go about these.
  2. Bringing a stealthy Warframe can be SUPER U S E F U L.  When you are hidden from prying eyes, hacking the data vaults can be a piece of cake, unless you are bad at hacking through those panels.   Not many people think Limbo can be useful, but that portal he can drop that others can go through can be super helpful for running through lasers.So gear up your Ivara, Loki, Octavia, or Limbo. Your operator can be useful as well, but it gets a bit more difficult trying to dodge at the right time and at the right place.
  3. Speaking of hacking.  If you are one of those that just can't hack the hacking (lol see what I did there?) you can bring along a specifically built MOA that will do it for you.  WARNING: I have a hit or miss with my MOA on this part.  If it gets stuck somewhere weird, it won't be there with me at the console to hack.  I've had better luck running crazy through the enemies to arrive at a console and hope to god it teleports to me.  Also, it seems to have issues navigating at times, so don't depend solely on this MOA to save your ass.
  4. Don't panic!  If you trip the alarm while on your way to the console or during the actual console hacking, you still have time to finish it.  True there will be enemies coming to kill you, but this is where stealth frames can help.  As I mentioned earlier, you can fail 1 or 2 of the console hacking and still succeed the mission, unless you are doing sorties or spy alerts.
  5. If you are playing with a public group, do everyone a solid and DON'T enter an occupied vault.  You could trigger an alarm and you could screw up the other player doing that vault
  6. Alternate Warframes to consider: Equinox with her Rest (puts everyone and everything asleep for a while), Ash with his Shuriken (kills cameras and enemies silently) and his Teleport (bypass barriers and annoying obstacles - stupid windows) and his Smoke Screen (to hide from sight - although beams WILL detect you), and Wukong with his Cloud Walker.
Last thing to mention:  PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE.  You will not get any better at these
unless you practice.

Spy

Survival

The concept of survival missions is DON'T DIE!  You are tasked with staying alive at any of these nodes while the enemies are trying to kill you via shutting off life support systems.  As with everything in this game, the higher tier you go, the higher the enemy levels.  Plan accordingly.
  1. DON'T PANIC.  You will be fine.  The Lotus will provide life support capsules every 90 seconds.  These suckers give you 30% of your life support back.  If that isn't enough, killing the enemies gives you a chance to get a small life support module that gives you 5% life support back.  Just don't activate the large capsules too soon or else you will not fully benefit from it.
  2. There are various ways to approach these missions.  You either keep moving around, killing everything in sight OR you bunker down in an area and fend off the baddies as best as you can.  This does tend to depend on what Warframes are with you during the mission.  If you have some strong AoE frames, bunkering down in a corner is a very viable method.  Plus, you can farm things!  
  3. Time yourself appropriately.  Every 5 minutes is a reward.  Extract before a 5 min interval, you lose out on what you could have gotten for putting up with the bullshit. If you are struggling to survive, pop a specter or something until you get to the extraction point.  Once that life support is gone, you're technically sol.  Sure there is your life draining out of your Warframe after the life support dies, but don't risk it.  Fixating your position near the extraction point can prove to be beneficial on the harder nodes.
  4. Survival can be a great way to level up a weapon passively.  Just plan accordingly so you don't get screwed over by the enemies.
  5. If you are in a public group and you want to leave, you can head to the extraction w/o the others.  You will be extracted w/o hindering the rest of the team.  This goes for just the opposite as well.  
  6. Dark sectors aka infested nodes, can be a little more challenging due to the fact they have a higher level range when compared to the rest of the planet.  These nodes give out bonuses since they are indeed dark sectors, so it can be well worth the time to do them.  
  7. Make sure you have a companion equipped to help gather all the loot that drops.  These nodes are super active with enemies and since you're killing them, loot is gonna drop.

The Index

If you are in dire need of credits in a hurry, look no further.  The Index is an arena node over on Neptune, but since it is different enough from other arena type missions, it gets it's own section.
  1. The Index is probably the best go to place for credits.  With some initial investment, you can bank a LOT of credits.  Bring a sturdy Warframe and some damage dealing weapons. You will be fighting Corpus enemies, so build some weapons to help fight that.
  2. When you kill an enemy, they drop a green point.  You want to pick that up.  Ideally, you want to have a lot of points before depositing because the more you have, the more additional points  you get.  My ideal base deposit is 10, but no more than 20.  At 10, you gain an additional 4 points and the efficiency is at 40%. You don't gain anything past 20 points when you deposit and the efficiency is lower.
  3. Efficiency deals with the financial stress that is mentioned when you sign up.  This nasty thing reduces your max health and shields while draining your energy. The higher level you invest in can affect the financial stress you undergo.
  4. Each point (excluding the bonus points) gives you an additional 10 seconds on the clock.  If push comes to shove and you are running out of time, deposit what you have. I know, it sucks, but it sucks even more if you can't out perform the enemy team and you lose your investment.
  5. When playing this mode, try to stick it out to at least 3 runs at a time.  When you initially invest in the match, that credit gets taken out.  When you continue on, that initial investment DOESN'T get taken again.  In other words, you invest once and can keep playing until the cows come home without paying more.
  6. If you can't find others to play with and the matchmaking god isn't on your side, you won't be alone.  The game will spawn temp NPCs on your side that will fight and collect points.  These are not the best substitutes when compared to actual players, but they do manage to keep you afloat.
  7. You do not have access to your gear wheel or your companion.  You do, however, have access to some map pickups such as energy, health, and ammo restores.  Getting to know where these are located can help you tremendously in surviving these missions.  Remember that each restore point has a timer, meaning that once you pick up an item, it will take time to respawn.

The Index

Void Armageddon

The idea of this mission protect 1 of 2 Exodampers that are protecting the Eternal Relic.  You are given a way to build some armaments that assist with defense, but this mission can get out of hand in a hurry.
  1. Don't.  Sleep.  On.  The.  Argozene.  Supply.  This Argozene is something pretty important to the success of this mission, so grabbing the free drop at the beginning of each round should be a top priority.  Remember, more Argozene is more Armaments!
  2. Keep in mind WHO you are fighting.  There are cycles on the Zariman which involve either Corpus or Grineer enemies to spawn.  Some of the Armaments work better against a particular faction, such as Mazuka for Grineer and Faradon for Corpus.  Knowing this can come in REAL handy in the higher level missions.
  3. You do encounter Void Angels in these missions.  Remember to bring a decent Amp for these fights or else you could be stuck in here for a while, especially if you are soloing. If you are struggling with a decent Amp build, I have a guide for that!  Check my Amps and More Amps guide here!
  4. Don't think that letting an Exodamper get destroyed is okay.  If anything, it is probably one of the worst ideas one could ever have.  When an Exodamper gets destroyed, it actually BUFFS enemies, making it even HARDER to fight them.  Some even buff the Void Angel!
  5. Keep an eye on the Eternal Relic's health during the mission.  Once you've finished defending an Exodamper, clear all remaining enemies.  Sometimes, these enemies can actually get to the Eternal Relic and damage it to the point of mission failure.  Since you rarely have enough time to get from point A to point B, grab the Argozene drop, build the Armaments, you can build a turret or two near the Eternal Relic to ensure nearby enemies die.

Void Armageddon
 

Void Cascade

The goal of this mission is to spawn Exolizers, defend them, find more Exolizers, and keep the status bar in your favor.  This mission can get quite tricky to understand, but let's see if these tips can help you succeed in this mission.
  1. Knowing the basis of the gameplay for this mission is pretty important.  Essentially it goes as such: shoot the void tears as your operator, shoot the thrax ghost that shows up while still in your operator, pop into your Warframe and shoot the fully formed thrax that shows up, pop back into your operator and shoot the thrax ghost again, then fill up the gauge by killing the enemies inside the golden circle.  Profit.
  2. You NEED to get all 4 Exolizers purged.  The meter that shows up tends to fill up fast if you're not paying attention, and until you get the initial 4 Exolizers done, you can fail the mission.  After those initial 4 are dealt with, you can coast through the mission without much worry because once the meter fills up in the negative, you'll be instructed to extract.
  3. If you are struggling with this mission due to Warframe choices, I suggest a fast or a sturdy Warframe.  If you choose fast, you can be responsible for spawning more Exolizers without having to stick around long at each one.  If you choose sturdy, you will tend to be the one that goes to an Exolizer and hold your own ground all the way through.  Both types of Warframes are essential to this mission type.
  4. If you're in it for the long haul, Exolizers are spawned with predetermined points. What this means is that after some Exolizers are dealt with, you'll be returning to a previous room just to repeat them over again.  This is great for long missions!
  5. If that meter isn't going well into your favor, kill as many enemies as possible inside the golden area of an Exolizer.  What this does is essentially brute force the meter to drop back down to a reasonable level.  
  6. Some groups can play as split or together.  Split groups tend to have Warframes that go initiate the Exolizers in other rooms, while having other Warframes babysit the currently active Exolizers until they're done.  This group composition tends to finish the mission quickly.  Groups that stick together tend to have mostly Warframes that are babysitting the Exolizers in the same room as everyone else.  Groups like this tend to vary on finishing fast or slow, depending on what each player is doing.
  7. Be sure to make a mental note to where Exolizers are located in a room.  Thrax that are killed drop Thrax plasm, which is a material used for crafting a lot of items.  It can also be exchanged for other things.  Basically, don't skimp out on dropped Thrax plasm.
  8. Void Angels appear in this mission.  If you happen to find one, wait until the initial 4 Exolizers are completed before touching it.  If the fight with the angel takes longer than planned, you won't have to worry about Quinn telling you that the mission is about to fail due to the meter not being in your favor.
 
Void Cascade
 

Void Flood

Object of this mission type is to gather Vitoplast in your little drone that is visible on the side of your Warframe.  The collected Vitoplast is then deposited into a Void Rupture, thus sealing it.
  1. Gather Vitoplast as fast as possible.  This isn't as important when you launch this via a Duviri Circuit or story, but if you're doing these through Quinn over on the Zariman, faster is better.  Quinn's bounties that involve this particular type of mission might have an additional requisite that asks for the gauge to stay below 70%.  If this is active and it goes over that threshold, the mission will immediately fail.
  2. Don't stray to tile rooms that don't have a Void Rupture visible.  When someone does this, there is an increased chance of Skittergirl spawning, thus delaying the completion of the round.  If she does spawn and attacks you, you can either go after her for the stolen energy and Vitoplast OR just ignore her and keep gathering.  Killing her will yield a LOT of  Vitoplast, probably even more than you initially had.  Keep in mind that once Skittergirl has spawned, she will most likely return.
  3. Keep. An. Eye. On. The. Gauge. It can become very easy to ignore the gauge while you're doing the Vitoplast gathering and fighting enemies.  You might think that it's fine, you can work it down later. But when the gauge hits each one of those dots, either the enemies gain a buff or the players gain a debuff.  Either one of these don't help the team finish quickly, especially if it's Steel Path.
  4. Try to keep the amount of Void Ruptures to a minimum.  The more that are open, the faster the gauge fills. Remember that we don't want that gauge to fill up.
  5. Having a Warframe that groups enemies up into a small area would work great for farming Vitoplast.  Remember that enemies drop Vitoplast, Eximus dropping larger balls of it. These particular types of Warframes excel greatly in Duviri Circuit.
  6. Remember to gather that Thrax plasm post fight because it takes FOREVER to get enough for building parts.
  7. If you are determined to hunt Voidplumes, try not to collect a lot of Vitoplast. Skittergirl tends to go after those who are not near the group, aka Voidplume hunting Tenno. That Vitoplast that you gathered could have been saved for someone else who is trying to fill the Void Rupture.
  8. Putting some thought into focus schools can help your operator a bit here. Some of the tile rooms have pretty high vaulted ceilings that harbor quite a bit of Vitoplast. In the Duviri Circuit, some of those tiles have high-hanging Vitoplast or ones lingering on the edges of narrow ground. Having enhanced Void Sling would excel here.  Schools such as Madurai and Naramon come to mind.

Volatile

The idea of this mission is to infiltrate an enemy capital ship, tinker with the thermostat, then escape and blow the ship with your Railjack.  This mission can be easily done, but it can also easily fail.
  1. Be sure to CHECK the prerequisites!  There have been times I get into a groove and don't realize that some of the objectives have changed.  When one mission had you destroy 2 crewships and 70 fighters, another mission might have you destroy 2 nodes and run off with an enemy crewship.  Check at the beginning of the mission to save the time and hassle.
  2. When you enter the main objective, you will have to keep an eye on a few things.  There is a temperature gauge that you need to keep in a certain range, there are a LOT of places a pipe will be located that needs to be broken, AND there are random Engineers that show up to fix things.  Be sure to keep the temperature inside the brackets or else the mission will fail.
  3. I generally have my overlay map on all the time, but this mission in particular REALLY excels at utilization.  The overlay map will show you where the pipes are that need breaking AND the Engineers.  Sometimes I get a bug where the pipes don't show up for me, but the overlay does show it.
  4. The Engineers are a bit more tanky than the other enemies, but not as tanky as an Eximus.  These NPCs are heading to a particular console, in which you need to stop them.  If you are familiar with disruption missions, it kind of feels a little like that.  Only the Engineer is the beeping unit and the console is the conduit.
  5. Once you manage to complete the thermal task and have extracted back to the Railjack, MAKE SURE YOU GET ON THE FORWARD ARTILLERY!  There have been a few missions where I would just shoot the red circles and nothing happens because I just blanked out in attention.  You NEED the forward artillery to hit the red circles.  Nothing else will work. 


 
As new things happen, I will keep these updated.  Happy hunting, Tenno.