Warframe Returning Player Guide: What Do I Do?

So, you just logged into Warframe for the first time in a while… maybe a long while. Your UI is a crazy clutter of conflicting notifications and overwhelming systems, leaving you wondering what to do as a returning player. Don’t panic — this Warframe returning player guide breaks down exactly how to catch up and what to do first so you don’t get overwhelmed.

At a glance:

• Warframe is a highly complex game built from layers of tools and content.
• If you’ve only invested a few hours in Warframe overall, start by:
  1. Completing Vor’s Prize
  2. Clearing Junctions in Warframe
  3. Completing “The Teacher” quest
  4. Join a Clan in Warframe
  5. Use your free Platinum on inventory slots
  6. Complete Mastery Tests
• If you invested quite a bit of time in Warframe in the past but need to catch up, start by:
  • Optimizing your mods
  • Crafting components
  • Adjusting your style
  • Pushing Mastery Ranks
• This is the chronological order in which you should complete recent quest content in Warframe:
  • The Second Dream
  • The War Within
  • Rising Tide
  • Plains of Eidolon
  • Orb Vallis
  • Heart of Deimos
  • The New War
  • Angels of the Zariman
  • Duviri Paradox
  • Whispers in the Walls
  • The Lotus Eaters
  • The Hex
  • The Old Peace

Complexity is one of Warframe’s greatest strengths, but can also be one of its biggest weaknesses. In this guide, I’m going to explain what to do as a returning Warframe player.

Whether you’ve been away for 5+ years like I was or you’ve just taken a break over the last year or so, I’m going to give you both a basic and advanced checklist, and I’ll also guide you through which content to do in what order to make sure you’ve knocked out the prerequisites and you understand the story.

✅ Warframe Returning Player Checklist: The Basics

We’re going to start with a basic checklist of what you want to make sure you’ve completed before you continue.

For most returning players, you’ll already have done this, but I did want to make sure to include all these items for those of you who just basically jumped into the game once — maybe for a few hours — but didn’t really progress very far along the path.

1.) What is Vor’s Prize in Warframe?

Vor’s Prize is the initial quest in Warframe in which you choose your first Warframe, set up your Orbiter, and you meet one of the primary early antagonists of the game, Vor.

This is an essential step for onboarding new players, but it’s entirely possible if you only played Warframe for a few hours that you didn’t actually complete this.

After completing Vor’s Prize, the remainder of Warframe’s vanilla quests will be ready to tackle. Make sure to complete the entire Warframe original questline to prepare yourself for DLC quests that have been added over the years.

2.) How do you clear Junctions in Warframe?

Completing all the Junctions in the Star Chart is an essential component of early-game progression in Warframe. Located between every planet, each Junction has a boss that’s intended to test your strength.

Just make sure you have some reasonably good Mods on your frame and your weapons, then tackle every Junction. Progress through each planet and get to its Junction so you can make sure the whole Star Chart is unlocked.

3.) What is The Teacher in Warframe?

The Teacher quest is Warframe’s best effort to date for onboarding new players. As the name suggests, The Teacher will guide you through some basics of the game, including how to use Mods.

Even if you think you already know how to do all this, you might want to run through The Teacher as a refresher course — especially if you’ve been away from Warframe for a long time.

4.) Why are Clans important in Warframe?

Clans in Warframe are essential for socialization and accessing important resources and Blueprints. Definitely join a Clan, which will help you along in your journey.

5.) What should I do with my free Platinum in Warframe?

Every new Warframe account starts with 50 Platinum. If you’re not sure what to do with it, your best bet is buying additional Warframe or weapon slots.

You’re going to run out of space pretty quickly, but you have enough Platinum from the beginning to unlock both some Warframe and some weapon slots. That’s the best bang for your buck with your free Platinum.

6.) How do you complete Mastery tests in Warframe?

In Warframe, there are unique tests at every Mastery Rank that will test your efficiency or movement skills. You get extra perks, such as additional maximum daily Syndicate Standing, with every Mastery Rank.

Gaining Mastery and going up in Mastery Rank (MR) is one of the main goals in Warframe. You get Mastery Points every time you master a piece of equipment — whether that’s a Warframe, a weapon, a pet, etc.

If you’re currently ready for a test, go ahead and do it. Though, it may also be prudent to preview your Mastery Test before you do it. You can do that by going to Cephalon Simaris’ Sanctuary in any Relay.

✅ Getting Back into Warframe Checklist: Advanced

That does it for the basic stuff you should do if you’re basically brand new to Warframe or if you need a refresher on some of the basic mechanics.

Now, we’re going to get into a more advanced checklist for returning players who have sunk at least 20-100 hours into the game.

A.) Optimize Your Mods

One of the first things you should do as a reasonably experienced returning player is optimize your Mods. I’m talking about the Mods on your Warframe, on your weapons, then also on any pets you may have unlocked, your Archwing, etc.

For most gameplay, what’s going to be important is making sure that your Warframe and weapon Mods are reasonably optimized.

To check your Mods:

• Go to your Arsenal.
• Hover over a piece of equipment.
• Select “Upgrade.”

I recommend that you research each Mod you’re using. Make sure they actually belong there. Make sure there isn’t a more optimized option to slot.

B.) Start Crafting Components

When it comes to Blueprints in Warframe, just make sure you are always building something. You will need all these components in the long run.

For instance, Forma: You will need quite a bit of this for proper optimization. So, if you have any Forma Blueprints, make sure you’re running them.

• NOTE: The best source of Forma Blueprints in Warframe is Void Fissures.

The same goes for Orokin Catalysts and Reactors. If there are any frames or weapons you have not mastered, now would also be a good time to start making those as well.

C.) Adjust Your Style

Don’t forget that FashionFrame is the true endgame in Warframe. If it’s been a while since you’ve been in the game, your fashion sense may have changed.

Go through your frames and your weapons, ensuring that you like your color choices, your Attachments, your skins, etc.

Spend some time upgrading your appearance or simply changing it around. For me and for many others, aesthetics is one of the most rewarding parts of Warframe.

D.) Push Mastery

Mastery becomes even more important the more time you put into Warframe. The overall goal is to get to at least Mastery Rank 30.

So, if you’re at a relatively low Mastery Rank, craft any weapons or frames you have available and have not mastered yet, and start mastering them.

What is the most efficient activity for farming Affinity in Warframe?

The most efficient activity for mastering equipment in Warframe is Elite Sanctuary Onslaught (ESO). In this activity, there are tons and tons of enemies, and it really does not matter if your build is optimized or not, because other people go here to farm for different reasons.

Almost all the time, you can just passively hang out somewhere hidden, and other people will get the kills for you. If you find that to be unethical, you can go do other activities.

If you just go through 2-3 rounds of Elite Sanctuary Onslaught, any weapons you’ve equipped will be Mastered.

Do remember to unequip any weapons that are already mastered — or that you don’t want to level up — because the Affinity you get in any Warframe activity is shared between your weapons and your frame. Only equip the weapons that you actually want to level up.

That does it for the checklist. Now, we’re going to talk about all the content that may have come out while you were gone and the order in which you should tackle it.

⏳ Returning to Warframe After 5+ Years

If you’ve been away from Warframe longer than 5 years, the first quest you’re going to want to tackle is The Second Dream.

This is a crucial piece of story content in which the identity of the Operator of your Warframe is revealed, and it is a vital prerequisite to other content.

Right after The Second Dream comes The War Within, another piece of core story content in the game.

One of the features you unlock by completing The War Within is a quest called Rising Tide, which allows you to unlock your Railjack — a large, combat-oriented spaceship that you will need for some of the coming quests.

Does Warframe have open-world areas?

Once you’ve gotten there, it’s time to explore some of the open-world areas that have been added to Warframe over the years.

Going to the Plains of Eidolon on Earth, for instance, is essential to getting a new Amp for your Operator, which is highly recommended for some of the coming story quests.

Plus, the open-world areas in Warframe are some of the most fun to explore. You can fly around in your Archwing. They consist of very large areas to run around with lots of different stuff to do.

While Warframe isn’t truly an open-world MMO, these open-world areas are the closest you can get.

The next open-world area to explore is Orb Vallis on Venus. This is more of a frigid wasteland. It’s where you get your K-Drive, which is basically a hoverboard you can jump on and do tricks with — kind of like a hover-snowboard.

Not only is this area a lot of fun with new and unique mechanics, but it features story content you’ll need to explore for future quests, including access to Fortuna, which is home to critical vendors.

The most recent traditional open-world — or as Warframe calls it, “Free Roam” — area added to the game is Cambion Drift on Deimos.

This place has a much darker and creepier aesthetic, but doing the Heart of Deimos questline is essential for unlocking your Necramech.

What is The New War in Warframe?

Once you’ve done all that, it’s time to tackle The New War. This is a huge and lengthy piece of story content that takes around 4-6 hours to complete, and you need to have a Railjack to do it.

You also need to have done the first quest in the Heart of Deimos story line. Though, you do not have to build the Necramech you get from that. You will be provided a loaner during the quest.

The New War does take a long time. It features a lot of varied content, and you will be spending quite a bit of time in Operator Form, which means you probably should get an upgraded Amp — something I’m going to provide a dedicated guide on in the near future.

⏳ Returning to Warframe After 4 Years (Angels of the Zariman)

Say you’ve already done all that — you’ve already done The New War — but you’ve been away from the game for 4 years. That means you missed the Angels of the Zariman questline.

That’s what comes directly after The New War. It is also a lengthy story quest, but it unlocks a great deal of additional content once you complete it.

So, you should do Angels of the Zariman if you’ve been away for 4 years. But, what if you’ve been away from Warframe for 3 years?

⏳ Returning to Warframe After 3 Years (Duviri Paradox / Whispers in the Walls)

In the last 3 years, The Duviri Paradox has come out, which you can jump into immediately. However, I’d recommend you do Angels of the Zariman first for proper continuity.

Something else that came out around the same time as The Duviri Paradox is the Whispers in the Walls questline. This requires that you complete Heart of Deimos and The New War.

Once you’ve completed Whispers in the Walls, you’ve caught up to where Warframe was about 2 years ago.

⏳ Returning to Warframe After 2 Years (The Lotus Eaters / The Hex)

To continue chronologically, you’re going to want to do The Lotus Eaters quest. And then, if you’ve already done The Duviri Paradox, The Hex questline will unlock, which is associated with the Warframe 1999 expansion.

To access The Hex, you will need a Railjack. And, if you do not have a Necramech built yet, a loaner will be provided to you.

Something else that unlocks after you do The New War is Jade Shadows. And then after you do Jade Shadows, there’s Jade Shadows: Constellations.

⏳ Returning to Warframe After 1 Year (The Old Peace)

Say you’ve been away from Warframe for just one year — or you’ve followed me along to this point, and now you’ve done everything else.

The most recent thing to do is The Old Peace questline. This only requires completing The Lotus Eaters. Then, you can jump into The Old Peace, and you will be caught up with Warframe.

🤔 Getting Back Into Warframe: Final Thoughts

That does it both for the Warframe checklists you should follow as a returning player and my chronological rundown of all the Warframe content you may have missed and the prerequisites to do it.

To finish up, I’m going to provide some basic advice on how to approach doing all this:

• Catching up on Warframe, especially after a long break, can definitely lead to burnout.
  • That’s why it’s best to just focus on one system at a time.
    • For instance, for a whole day, I focused on getting a new Amp.
    • And then recently, I’ve been focusing on grinding Mastery.
    • On other days, I’ve just focused on getting Endo or Platinum to upgrade my mods.
  • You don’t need to do it all at once.
    • Start with what’s most interesting to you, and then go from there.
• To make sure you understand where the game is at and experience all the content available to you, you should run through all the quests first.
  • But personally, I haven’t caught up with the quests yet.
    • I’ve been focusing on enjoying the game and improving my power, checking out Arcanes — all the other stuff that I’ve missed or forgot about.
• Even if you’ve been gone for a long time, remember that you don’t have to throw away all your old work.
  • The fundamental structure of Warframe consists of layers of content and systems that are building on each other over time.
    • Everything you’ve done previously is still valid.
    • It may require some optimization, but you don’t have to start completely over.
  • Start checking out all the new systems, all the new paths to power, and add them on as you’re comfortable and ready to do so.
  • Warframe essentially consists of an ever-expanding palette of tools.
    • Some of these are more essential than others.
    • All of them are worth exploring.
    • The point is to take your time with it and not try to do everything at once.

Conclusion

I really hope this guide was helpful in providing some basic priorities and timelines for returning Warframe players. However, I do definitely know I’ve only scratched the surface in terms of depth and complexity.

For every system, every questline, everything I mentioned in this guide, I do plan to eventually come out with a dedicated guide getting into the nitty-gritty of how to do it, what it does, etc.

This kind of thing takes time though, and my first goal was helping people onboard back into Warframe with a general overview.