Fellow Tenno, as you traverse the vast expanse of the Origin System, you must heed the call to ascend not only in prowess but also in the mastery of your gear. In the pursuit of your righteous cause, the leveling of your warframes and weapons stands as a testament to your dedication to the ancient traditions of the Orokin. This Warframe leveling guide will explain how equipment ranking works. We’ll cover the experience system, explaining what actions give you bonus experience, and then we’ll go over each type of equipment and talk about the best ways to rank it up.
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Warframe Affinity Explained
Instead of a classic Warframe leveling system where your character gains a new level when they obtain the required amount of experience points(XP), each piece of gear you have equipped on your warframe gets leveled up separately. Therefore, if you’re wondering how to level up fast in Warframe, you must consider leveling each piece of gear equipped at the same time. This is considered the fastest way. Now, let’s explain a few things:
- Ranks - is what the game calls levels. Gaining a new rank increases the base stats, but more importantly, it increases the mod capacity.
- Mastery Rank (MR) - the metric that represents your overall progression; it is increased by ranking up gear, playing through new content, etc.
- Affinity - the in-game equivalent of XP. All equipment in the game is capable of earning it. It is obtained by doing a lot of stuff like using Warframe powers, shooting, flying, completing objectives, and picking up Affinity Orbs.
- Affinity orb - is a pick-up item that looks like a yellow orb. It grants 100 Affinity to the player’s current equipment. The amount can be increased using boosters. The orbs drop from lockers, containers, and Kubrow Dens.
Affinity belongs to each separate item, instead of the player or account. It can be seen in the player’s profile as a number. Anywhere else, Affinity is shown as a progress bar. You can see it in the Arsenal, its the blue line under the name of the piece of gear. Keep that in mind when trying fast leveling Warframe, because if you’re not careful you could end up getting less instead of more.
Gaining a higher rank increases the mod capacity, but if the equipment rank is greater than the player’s Mastery Rank, a new rank will increase the mode capacity by 2 instead of 1.
The following is also essential to understand if you want to learn how Warframe level up fast methods work. For each new Rank of an unranked Warframe, you will get 200 Mastery Points. Ranking other equipment gets you 100 Mastery Points. You can see how much Affinity every piece of equipment has earned during the mission in the post-mission report screen.
In the following sections of the Warframe fast leveling guide, we’ll discuss how ranking works for different item types. But there are these so-called Affinity Boosters that can be bought with Platinum. They double the Affinity gain for different amounts of days (3-30). BLOG20
Ranking Warframes and Weapons
It’s time to talk about Warframe how to level up fast. Affinity you earn is distributed between all of your equipment following this rule: 25% of the Affinity earned goes to Warframe, and 75% is equally divided among the rest of the equipment. Things that you deploy, like Archwings, K-Drives, and Necramechs, only gain Affinity when they are deployed. Now, let’s have a look at actions that will give you Affinity:
- Warframe ability kills exclusively benefit the Warframe, receiving the entirety of the earned Affinity. So, if your goal is to rank up your new frame, try only using its abilities and keep track of energy so that it doesn’t run out. Make a build that increases energy pool to be able to use abilities more often.
- When a weapon is used to eliminate an enemy, the Affinity is evenly split: 50% goes to the Warframe, and the remaining 50% is allocated to the weapon itself. This is simple enough to grasp. Half goes to your weapon and another half to the frame.
- Affinity is granted to you when an allied Warframe eliminates an enemy nearby within a range of 50 meters (or 250 meters in open-world missions). It means that playing with friends is actually better than farming solo.
- Parazon Mercy kills divide the Affinity equally between the Warframe and the last equipped weapon, each receiving 50%. It’s not that hard to keep track of which weapon you’ll going to rank up this way, because you don’t need to switch weapons before performing a finishing blow.
- Affinity earned from Railjack turret kills is channeled entirely into the Plexus. So, remember that this is no way to level your regular weapons and gear.
- In the case of Railjack artillery kills, 25% of the Affinity contributes to the Warframe, while the majority, 75%, enriches the weapon. During Operator mode, the Affinity is split evenly between the Operator and the Amp, with each receiving 50%.
In Archwing missions the range at which you can get the shared Affinity from your friends is also increased to 200 meters. While in Railjack, the range is infinite which is something to keep in mind when trying to farm Warframe fast exp.
Ranking Your Operator
Just like Warframes, your Operator can also gain Affinity, and just like any deployable equipment, your Operator must be “out of their shell” to gain Affinity. You’re going to want to Warframe level up quickly and do that for your Operator, too.
- Operator ability kills - 100% goes to the Amp.
- Kill with Amp - 100% goes to this weapon.
- Shared Affinity - when you’re in range and someone from your team kills an enemy, you get the same amount of Affinity as the person who did the killing. The sum distributes like so: 25% for the Operator, 37.5% for the Amp, and 37.5% for the unused melee slot.
If no Amp is equipped, the Affinity is lost. The Operator himself doesn’t gain it.
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Ranking Your Companions
Your Kubrow, Kavatts, and Sentinells all get their Affinity as well. The way they obtain it is similar to weapons but has its own nuances:
- Any enemy kill by Tenno - 100% of Affinity earned goes to Companion as well. That means double affinity for you and your buddy! The Affinity gained that way is split equally between the Companion and its weapons.
- Companions - They keep all the Affinity they earn from kills, but you don't get any. Which is fair enough!
- Mechanical Pet Weapons - Affinity splits 50/50 between the weapon and your companion. Same deal as with your frame - both the weapon and its user get the experience.
- Kubrow/Kavatt kills (no weapon) - 100% of Affinity earned goes to Companion. These two need no weapons, they use their fangs and claws!
- Companion Ability kills - 100% of Affinity earned goes to Companion. In rare cases of your companion using special abilities, they inherited thanks to the breed or model, they get full XP, which is essentially the same as the previous point in this list.
To put it simply, if your companion kills something, they get all of the XP; if they have a weapon, it is split equally between the companion and the weapon. Also, if you (as a warframe) kill an enemy, your companion will still get the same amount of XP.
Other Sources of Affinity
Completing missions and successfully extracting back into Obriter will give you a nice bonus. The bonus is equal to 125% of the base volume earned.
Leveling an item in Warframe can be expedited through bonus Affinity gained during missions. Achieving specific ranks within a single mission can lead to the item reaching its maximum rank:
Regular Weapons:
- Reaching Rank 20 during a mission will automatically advance the item to Rank 30 upon mission completion.
Special Weapons (Rank 40):
- Weapons such as Kuva Weapons, Tenet Weapons, or the Paracesis, which require 5 Forma, follow a different progression.
- Attaining Rank 26 and two-thirds during a mission will result in the weapon reaching Rank 40 upon mission completion. BLOG20
In both cases, bonus Affinity accumulation expedites the leveling process, allowing players to efficiently max out their equipment within a single mission. Other sources of Affinity include:
Activity/Action | Affinity Earned |
Use a Warframe/Archwing ability | Equal to base energy cost |
Hack a terminal | 50 Affinity |
Complete an objective | Varies depending on the objective |
Collect an Affinity Orb | 100 Affinity |
Scanning with the Codex Scanner | |
- Scanning objects | 10 Affinity |
- Scanning enemies | Affinity equal to 1/3 of gain upon killing the enemy (rounded down) |
- Stealth scan | Affinity equal to gain upon killing the enemy |
Stealth kills in Warframe offer a unique opportunity to maximize affinity gain, providing a significant boost when executed effectively. Here's how they contribute to affinity accumulation:
Initial Bonus:
- Upon eliminating an unaware enemy, players receive a base bonus of 100% affinity, showcased in the HUD.
Multiplier Stacking:
- Subsequent stealth kills within a 30-second window add another 100% to the bonus, progressively increasing the multiplier.
- This stacking effect caps at 500%, granting substantial affinity gains for consecutive stealth takedowns.
Melee Advantage:
- Melee weapons yield double affinity compared to ranged weapons or abilities for stealth kills, incentivizing close-quarters engagements for maximum efficiency.
Reset Conditions:
- Alerting enemies or being attacked by them resets the bonus, emphasizing the importance of maintaining stealth throughout engagements.
Exceptional Triggers:
- Certain Warframe powers and specific melee combos, even if performed after the enemy's awareness, may still trigger stealth kill bonuses, adding tactical depth to combat strategies.
Spawn Time Exclusion:
- Recent enemy spawns within 5 seconds are exempt from contributing to the stealth affinity multiplier, encouraging players to focus on established targets for optimal gains.
While stealthy approach is not always an option, certain mission types do start with you being undetected by the enemies. If you stick to using stealth for as long as possible and not raise any alarms, this is going to be you fastest way to level in Warframe.
Warframe Affinity Scaling
As an item's rank increases in Warframe, it demands more Affinity to progress to the next level. The calculation for this Affinity requirement is straightforward: it involves multiplying the rank by itself (squaring it) and then multiplying the result by 1000. This means that the Affinity needed increases exponentially with each rank. Take a look at this pie chart, and you’ll see how it looks. It shows how much each new rank requires compared to the previous.
Fortunately, in Warframe, the amount of Affinity you receive increases as the enemy level rises. This scaling follows a specific formula: the Affinity Multiplier equals 1 plus 0.1425 times the current level raised to the power of 0.5. This means that killing a higher-level enemy is not really super beneficial. For example:
- Killing Napalm (Grineer) level 100 will give you - 1213 Affinity.
- Killing Napalm (Grineer) level 3 will give you - 623 Affinity.
The difference in affinity is less than half, whereas the level difference is much greater! So, if you want to farm Affinity, it’s still better to do on lower level enemies.
Warframe Leveling Tips
We want to talk more about the best ways for fast leveling in Warframe. There are things that you should know about the system that will affect how fast you level up.
- Fully ranked equipment continues to accumulate Affinity, even though it may not be displayed on the mission end screen. Check your total Affinity from your profile page.
- Profile doesn't show equipment affinity after polarization.. It only increases when cumulative Affinity earned before polarization is exceeded.
- Equipment doesn't gain Affinity when at their temporary max level until polarized five times. Monitor this on your profile page.
- Killing enemies in the Simulacrum doesn't yield Affinity.
- Mastery Rank Tests focus on skill, not gear progression, so they don't award Affinity.
Focus on unranked weapons in teams: This avoids high-ranked weapons "stealing" Affinity from the ones you want to level up. - Utilize mass crowd control abilities like Equinox's Mend & Maim , Mirage's Sleight of Hand, Saryn's Spores, or Volt's Discharge.
- Discharge to generate significant Affinity for teammates during farming sessions.
Apart from the Warframe leveling tips, we can give you a list of missions that are better suited for rank farming. These may change with time and get outdated with time.
Faction Icon | Planet | Location | Mission Type | Additional Notes |
Sedna | Hydron | Defense | Common Affinity farm. Helene: Less Affinity due to lower levels. | |
Saturn | Helene | Defense | ||
Pluto | Oceanum | Spy | Stealth run all data vaults for specific weapon Affinity. | |
Sedna | Adaro | Exterminate | Extreme Affinity with Stealth Kill Bonus from stealth Warframes. | |
Veil Proxima | R-9 Cloud | Skirmish | Highest-level Empyrean mission, allows Archwings and Necramechs. |
You can also do Dark Sectors - these are modified versions of regular missions that pop up randomly on the start chart. These offer another Affinity bonus.
Conclusion
Ranking in Warframe is a bit different than in other similar games. If you’re still not sure how to do it at this point, here’s a little summary for you.
Everything you have in terms of equipment can be leveled up to rank 30 or to 40 if you spend 5 Formas on polarization of mod slots. Just go into any mission while equipped with everything that doesn’t have max rank yet. You can pick any mission, but we suggest picking something that has no time limit - Defense, Survival, etc. These mission types don’t force you to extract. You can stay there for as long as you need. Just keep in mind that farming Affinity on high-level enemies is not worth it.
When you have leveled one item to max rank, just go ahead and unequip it in Arsenal. That way, the Affinity will be distributed between those items that can still be leveled. Otherwise, you’d be wasting experience points. And that’s basically it. If you want some more details, just skim through this guide one more time. It covers pretty much everything there’s to know about Warframe leveling.
F.A.Q.
How to level up fast in Warframe?
To level up quickly in Warframe, focus on equipping a variety of gear and participating in missions that offer high Affinity rewards, such as Defense or Survival missions on high-level planets like Sedna or Pluto.
How to rank up Operator in Warframe?
To rank up your Operator in Warframe, utilize Operator abilities during missions, particularly in challenging encounters where they can contribute effectively. Additionally, focus on completing quests and activities that involve Operator gameplay to earn Affinity for progression.
What's the best mission to level up in Warframe?
The best missions to level up in Warframe are ones that offer high enemy density and Affinity rewards, such as Defense missions on Sedna (Hydron) or Spy missions on Pluto (Oceanum). These missions provide ample opportunities for Affinity farming.
How to level up past rank 30 in Warframe?
To level up past rank 30 in Warframe, you can utilize Forma to reset the rank of your equipment and continue leveling it up. By applying Forma and polarizing mod slots, you can increase the maximum rank of your gear to 40.
How long it takes to level up all Warframes?
The time it takes to level up all Warframes in Warframe varies depending on factors such as mission efficiency, playtime, and use of boosters. On average, leveling up each Warframe to maximum rank (30) can take several hours of gameplay, totaling hundreds of hours to level up all Warframes.