What to Do First in Warframe: A Beginner's Guide

Your first goal in Warframe is simple: complete the introductory 'Vor's Prize' quest, then start clearing the path of missions on your Star Chart from Earth to Venus, then Mercury, and finally unlock the Junction to Mars. This focused push will introduce you to the game's core systems, unlock crucial new resources, and give you a tangible objective in a universe overflowing with content. Everything else—the sprawling open worlds, complex crafting, and deep lore—can wait. For now, your mission is to get your ship's systems online and take your first steps into the solar system.

01

Which Starter Warframe Should You Pick?tag

After a dramatic opening cutscene, Warframe presents your first major choice: selecting one of three starter Warframes. These are the biomechanical suits you pilot, each with four unique abilities. While you can eventually craft or acquire all of them, your first pick will define your initial hours. Don't overthink it; there is no wrong answer, and the best choice is the one that sounds most fun to you.

• Excalibur: The poster child of Warframe. Excalibur is a straightforward, sword-themed frame focused on mobility and melee damage. His 'Slash Dash' lets him dart through enemies, 'Radial Blind' stuns them, and his ultimate ability, 'Exalted Blade', summons a sword of pure energy. He's a fantastic, well-rounded choice for new players who want to get stuck into the action. He also has a passive that makes him more effective with sword-type melee weapons, like the Skana offered in the tutorial.
• Mag: A master of magnetism and shields. Mag is more of a caster, manipulating enemy defenses and using magnetic fields to group and destroy them. She can be incredibly powerful in the right hands but is also more fragile (or 'squishy') than the other two. Her abilities require more energy management, making her a slightly more advanced pick, but one that pays off with massive damage potential later on.
• Volt: The versatile speedster. Volt's kit is a mix of offense, defense, and utility. He can create an electric shield, unleash a chain lightning attack, and most famously, use his 'Speed' ability to grant himself and his allies a massive boost to movement and melee attack speed. He's a great all-rounder who remains useful throughout the entire game, whether you're rushing through a mission or defending an objective.

Again, this choice is not permanent. You'll be able to acquire the blueprints for the other two Warframes relatively early in your journey. Pick the one whose fantasy appeals to you most and dive in.

02

Surviving the Tutorial: 'Vor's Prize'tag

Once you've chosen your frame, you're thrown directly into the tutorial quest, 'Vor's Prize'. This multi-mission arc introduces you to the Grineer, a decaying empire of clones who will serve as your primary antagonists for the early game. Their leader, Captain Vor, has captured you and is attempting to control you with a device called an Ascaris.

This quest is your boot camp. It will teach you the fundamentals of Warframe's celebrated movement system and combat loop. Pay attention to these key lessons:

• Movement is Everything: You'll learn how to slide, wall-run, and, most importantly, 'Bullet Jump'. To do this, you crouch and then jump, launching yourself through the air in the direction you're aiming. Chaining slides and bullet jumps is the primary way you'll navigate levels quickly.
• The Weapon Triangle: The tutorial will have you pick one of each weapon type: a Primary (rifle or bow), a Secondary (pistol or throwing knives), and a Melee weapon. You can switch between them at any time. Early on, a reliable hitscan rifle like the Braton and a fast melee weapon like the Skana are excellent choices.
• Basic Interacting: You'll be taught how to hack Grineer consoles to open locked doors. It's a simple timing-based minigame that becomes second nature.

Follow the objective markers, listen to the guidance from the mysterious Lotus, and fight your way through the Grineer forces. Your goal is to escape Vor's clutches and recover the missing segments for your personal spaceship, the Orbiter.

03

Your Ship, Your Sanctuary: The Orbitertag

After the initial tutorial mission, you'll find yourself in your Orbiter. This is your home base, your mobile command center, and the hub where you'll manage every aspect of your progression. Initially, most of its systems are offline. Completing the missions in the 'Vor's Prize' quest will bring them back online one by one. The four most important consoles for a new player are located in the main circular room.

• Navigation: The console at the very front of the ship. This is where you access the Star Chart to select missions.
• Arsenal: To your right as you walk in. Here, you equip your Warframes, weapons, and companions. This is also where you will apply 'Mods' to upgrade your gear.
• Foundry: To your left as you walk in. The Foundry is your crafting station. You'll bring blueprints and resources here to build new weapons, Warframe components, and other essential items. A golden rule for new players: always have something building in the Foundry. Crafting takes real time (12-24 hours for weapons, 72 hours for a Warframe), so it's best to get things cooking while you're busy with other tasks.
• Mods: Directly behind the Arsenal. This station lets you manage your entire collection of mods and upgrade them using a resource called 'Endo'.

Get familiar with moving between these four stations. They form the core loop of the game: play missions from Navigation to get resources and blueprints, use them at the Foundry to craft new gear, and then power up that gear at the Arsenal and Mods station.

04

The Main Goal: Clear the Path to Marstag

With 'Vor's Prize' complete, the game opens up, and this is where most new players feel lost. Your immediate, concrete goal is to work your way across the Star Chart to Mars. The Star Chart is your map of the solar system, with each planet containing a series of mission 'nodes'. Completing a node unlocks the next one connected to it.

To travel to a new planet, you must reach a special node called a 'Junction' and complete a series of required tasks. You can view these tasks by hovering over the Junction on the Star Chart. Your path looks like this:

1. Clear Nodes on Earth: Start at E-Prime and complete the missions along the path to the Venus Junction.
2. Complete the Venus Junction: The requirements are straightforward, like defeating a certain number of enemies and collecting Mods. Fulfilling them unlocks Venus.
3. Clear the Path to Mercury: Once on Venus, make your way across its nodes to unlock the Mercury Junction.
4. Clear the Path to Mars: From Mercury, your final early-game objective is to complete the tasks for the Mars Junction.

Reaching Mars is a critical milestone. It opens up new resources, enemy types, and a wider variety of missions that are essential for your continued progression. Don't feel obligated to complete every single node on a planet before moving on; focus on the most direct path to the next Junction.

05

Powering Up: A Crash Course in Mods and Masterytag

As you play, you'll quickly realize that your weapon's level (which caps at 30) doesn't make it much stronger. The real power in Warframe comes from Mods. These are upgrade cards that you slot into your gear in the Arsenal screen. Enemies drop them randomly during missions. Early on, you don't need to worry about complex builds. Just focus on equipping these essential types:

• For Warframes: Mods that increase Health (Vitality), Shields (Redirection), and Armor (Steel Fiber).
• For Weapons: The most important mod is your base Damage mod (e.g., Serration for rifles, Hornet Strike for pistols, Pressure Point for melee). Equipping and upgrading this one mod will dramatically increase your effectiveness.

At the same time, you'll be earning 'Mastery Rank' (MR). This is your account's overall level. You gain Mastery Points by leveling up a piece of gear—a Warframe, weapon, or companion—for the first time. Each time you max out a new item at Rank 30, you contribute a chunk of points to your MR. Once the bar is full, you can take a short qualification test to rank up. Increasing your MR is crucial as it unlocks the ability to use more powerful weapons and access more of the game's systems.

Your Early Game Checklist:tag

1. Always be crafting. Keep your Foundry busy building new weapons to level up for Mastery Rank.
2. Equip basic mods. Don't leave your mod slots empty. A simple Vitality and Serration mod make a world of difference.
3. Spend your starting Platinum wisely. You get a small amount of the premium currency, Platinum, at the start. The best use for it is to buy one or two extra weapon or Warframe slots from the in-game Market. Do not spend it to rush items in the Foundry.

06

The Journey Beginstag

Warframe is a marathon, not a sprint. It's a vast and complex game, and it's easy to get overwhelmed. By focusing on the simple, tangible goal of reaching Mars, you give yourself a clear path through the initial confusion. Complete your quests, learn how to move, equip your first mods, and keep pushing through the Star Chart. The rest of the universe will be waiting for you when you're ready.