Warframe · Chroma Prime

A pelt, a temper, a gun buff.

A vengeful spirit, Chroma is as deadly as it is majestic. This warrior dragon weaves together elemental damage and fortifies its allies.

Find your build Learn the kit

Kit Fashion Loadout Builds Watch Farm Find a build

New to Warframe? Every guide on this site uses the same six rooms — Kit, Fashion, Builds, Farm, Watch, Find a build. Open the New Tenno walkthrough.

Watch

How To Use Your Chroma - A User's Manual

Deathcrown's Variety. Elemental Ward, Vex Armor, Effigy, the energy-color alignment. Long-form kit, not a 2016 tank recap.

Play here All videos

Update 16.0 (19 Mar 2015) · Vex Armor kill-ramp 2025 · Prime vaulted on a cycle. MR No mastery lock. Sprint 1. Naramon · Madurai.

Works on base Chroma and Chroma Prime. Polarities differ; the mods on these cards do not require Prime.

By stage

Pick where you are

Just crafted

First Scales

Learn the color swap and the two Vex bars.

Squad tank

Everlasting Hide — Endgame

Everlasting Ward + Guardian Armor.

Gun Chroma

Heat Inherit Dragon

Roar over 1. Heat inherit.

Ice coat

Frosted Pelt

Cold Ward + ice weapons.

Credits / joke

Empty Coat

Park the pelt.

The kit

Pick a color. Cast Vex. Shoot.

Spectral Scream

Hold to pick Heat, Cold, Electric, or Toxin. Tap to breathe it. Helminth bait.

Elemental Ward

Heat = health. Cold = armor. Electric = shields. Toxin = reload. Aura for the squad.

Vex Armor

Scorn armor from shield hits / melee kills. Fury gun damage from health hits / gun kills. The kit.

Effigy

Peel the pelt. It becomes a sentry. You become squishier. Meme / credits.

Loadouts

Five builds

All builds

Starter0–2 FormaStarterHigh confidenceStar ChartShards optional

First Scales

Learn the frame.

Best for: Star Chart, first Chroma, learning Scorn and Fury

Vex Armor is the whole kit. Tap 1 to pick Heat or Cold, cast 3, then take a hit so the buffs actually turn on.

Vex Armor is Chroma. Everything else is a coat of paint.

Investment: 2 Forma · Reactor · 1 shard

Inventory unknown · Codex Checked 5 Sept 2026 · PC · Update 43.5

High — How strongly the Codex recommends this for its stated purpose — not a test log.

Dmg: 3/5 Dmg
Sur: 5/5 Sur
En: 2/5 En
Mob: 2/5 Mob
Ease: 5/5 Ease

Your next step: run this until it feels easy. Then First Scales — Star Chart.

Star Chart2–3 FormaModerateHigh confidenceStar ChartSteel Path

First Scales — Star Chart

First serious version.

Best for: Junctions through the Outer Terminus. Steel Path is the next card, not this one.

Vex Armor is the whole kit. Tap 1 to pick Heat or Cold, cast 3, then take a hit so the buffs actually turn on. Primed Continuity and Primed Flow are the first real upgrade — not Blind Rage.

Vex Armor is Chroma. Everything else is a coat of paint.

Investment: 3 Forma · Reactor · 2 specialised mods

Inventory unknown · Codex Checked 5 Sept 2026 · PC · Update 43.5

High — How strongly the Codex recommends this for its stated purpose — not a test log.

Dmg: 3/5 Dmg
Sur: 5/5 Sur
En: 3/5 En
Mob: 2/5 Mob
Ease: 5/5 Ease

Your next step: run this until it feels easy. Then Everlasting Hide — Steel Path.

Steel Path3–4 FormaAdvancedMedium confidenceStar ChartSteel PathShards optional

Everlasting Hide — Steel Path

Your first endgame-capable version.

Best for: Steel Path Star Chart, Circuit, first Archon. Helminth is the next card.

Everlasting Ward plus Guardian Armor. You are the squad's coat. Adaptation does the rest. This is the peak you can run the day Steel Path unlocks — galvanized / arcanes, no Helminth.

Guardian Armor no longer dumps the squad's damage onto your health — 2025 patched that. It is just DR now.

Investment: 4 Forma · Reactor · 1 shard · 3 specialised mods

Not yet · Codex Checked 5 Sept 2026 · PC · Update 43.5

Medium — A solid recommendation with more situational dependencies. Confidence is not verification.

Dmg: 4/5 Dmg
Sur: 5/5 Sur
En: 2/5 En
Mob: 2/5 Mob
Ease: 4/5 Ease

Your next step: run this until it feels easy. Then Everlasting Hide — Optimised.

Optimised4–5 FormaEndgameMedium confidenceNetracellsArchon HuntsShards optional

Everlasting Hide — Optimised

Spend resources to push it.

Best for: Netracells, Archon, EDA. You have Helminth or you don't need it.

Everlasting Ward plus Guardian Armor. You are the squad's coat. Adaptation does the rest. Shards and a finished config. Tauforged is the last card.

Guardian Armor no longer dumps the squad's damage onto your health — 2025 patched that. It is just DR now.

Investment: 5 Forma · Reactor · 3 shards · 4 specialised mods

Not yet · Codex Checked 5 Sept 2026 · PC · Update 43.5

Medium — A solid recommendation with more situational dependencies. Confidence is not verification.

Dmg: 4/5 Dmg
Sur: 5/5 Sur
En: 2/5 En
Mob: 2/5 Mob
Ease: 3/5 Ease

Your next step: run this until it feels easy. Then Everlasting Hide — Endgame.

Needs Helminth or shards. Open the Starter first if those are locked.

Endgame4–5 FormaEndgameMedium confidenceProfit-TakerShards optional

Everlasting Hide — Endgame

Only if you actually need it.

Best for: endgame / endurance groups, Profit-Taker support, anyone who picked the dragon to not die

Everlasting Ward plus Guardian Armor. You are the squad's coat. Adaptation does the rest.

Guardian Armor no longer dumps the squad's damage onto your health — 2025 patched that. It is just DR now.

Investment: 5 Forma · Reactor · 3 shards · 4 specialised mods

Not yet · Codex Checked 5 Sept 2026 · PC · Update 43.5

Medium — A solid recommendation with more situational dependencies. Confidence is not verification.

Dmg: 4/5 Dmg
Sur: 5/5 Sur
En: 2/5 En
Mob: 2/5 Mob
Ease: 2/5 Ease

Your next step: stop here unless a specialist card fits the mission.

Needs Helminth or shards. Open the Starter first if those are locked.

Endgame5 FormaEndgameMedium confidenceSteel PathHelminthShards optional

Heat Inherit Dragon

Only if you actually need it.

Best for: Steel Path weapon platforms, Incarnons, Kuva / Tenet Heat guns

Roar over Spectral Scream. Heat Ward paints Heat status. Heat weapons inherit it and delete tiles.

2026 Heat inherit is why Chroma still has a damage identity after every other dragon video died.

Investment: 5 Forma · Reactor · Helminth (Roar (Rhino)) · 2 shards · 5 specialised mods

Not yet · Codex Checked 5 Sept 2026 · PC · Update 43.5

Medium — A solid recommendation with more situational dependencies. Confidence is not verification.

Dmg: 4/5 Dmg
Sur: 2/5 Sur
En: 3/5 En
Mob: 2/5 Mob
Ease: 2/5 Ease

Your next step: stop here unless a specialist card fits the mission.

Needs Helminth or shards. Open the Starter first if those are locked.

Steel Path4 FormaAdvancedMedium confidenceLevel capProfit-TakerShards optional

Frosted Pelt

Your first endgame-capable version.

Best for: Cold Incarnons, Glacier-style weapons, people who hate Heat tilesets

Cold Ward plus ice weapons. Armor coat, reflected bullets, freeze guns that actually enjoy the color.

Heat is the inherit meta. Cold is the 'I want to be unkillable and also freeze people' config.

Investment: 4 Forma · Reactor · 2 shards · 4 specialised mods

Not yet · Codex Checked 5 Sept 2026 · PC · Update 43.5

Medium — A solid recommendation with more situational dependencies. Confidence is not verification.

Dmg: 3/5 Dmg
Sur: 4/5 Sur
En: 2/5 En
Mob: 2/5 Mob
Ease: 4/5 Ease

Your next step: run this until it feels easy. Then Everlasting Hide — Optimised.

Steel Path3 FormaAdvancedExperimentalSteel PathLevel capShards optional

Empty Coat

Your first endgame-capable version.

Best for: Credit boosters, Index-adjacent jokes, people who want a turret that looks like them

Park the pelt as a sentry. You run around as a skinny dragon. This is the meme. It still credits-farms.

Effigy is why veterans still own a Chroma they never take to level cap.

Investment: 3 Forma · Reactor · 1 shard · 1 specialised mods

Not yet · Codex Checked 5 Sept 2026 · PC · Update 43.5

Experimental — Interesting interaction — less proven or more demanding. Not the same as untested.

Dmg: 3/5 Dmg
Sur: 3/5 Sur
En: 2/5 En
Mob: 2/5 Mob
Ease: 4/5 Ease

Your next step: run this until it feels easy. Then Everlasting Hide — Optimised.

First week

Starter rotation

Don't

Key mistakes

Never filling the Vex bars
Casting 3 is not enough. Shoot for Fury. Stab or eat a shield hit for Scorn. Watch the icons.
Pressing 4 on a tank config
Effigy peels your armor. Park the pelt only on the meme loadout.
Helminthing Vex Armor
Then you brought a coat. Spectral Scream is the dump. Always.