Warframe · Vauban Prime

Cage the room. Then laser it.

Vauban is an engineer who lifted a map and called it balance. Bastille holds, Photon Strike deletes Overguard, Tesla watches the door you are not looking at.

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.

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You can have a BLAST with Vauban!

TheKengineer. Bastille, Photon Strike, Tesla Nervos. The engineer traps.

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Update 7.11 (20 Mar 2013) · Bastille/Vortex folded into one 4 · Nightwave farm. MR No mastery lock. Sprint 1.00. Naramon · Madurai.

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

By stage

Pick where you are

Just crafted

First Bastille

Learn tap-4 and hold-4.

Want to kill

Artillery Officer — Endgame

Photon Repeater. This is 2026 Vauban.

Hallway duty

Nervos Net

Tesla Bank.

Gadgets

Vector and Nails

Vector pads.

Farming

Loot Vortex

Hold-Bastille vacuum.

The kit

Cage, laser, rollers, pads

Tesla Nervos

Throw roller drones that latch and arc Electricity. Tesla Bank dumps stored damage on death.

Minelayer

Tap: Tether-Flechette nails and pulls. Hold: Vector-Overdrive pad launches allies with a damage buff.

Photon Strike

Drop a beacon. Orbital laser. Double damage to Overguard. Photon Repeater recasts into the same beacon.

Bastille

Tap: lift and strip, steal armor. Hold: collapse all Bastilles into one damaging vortex.

Loadouts

Five builds

All builds

Starter0–2 FormaStarterHigh confidenceStar ChartDefenseShards optional

First Bastille

Learn the frame.

Best for: Star Chart, first Vauban, Defense / Interception

Tap 4 to lift a room. Hold 4 to vortex the leftovers. Photon Strike is the later nuke — learn the cage first.

Bastille is Vauban. The 2026 kit is a lift-strip cage, not 2016 bounce pads.

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

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

Star Chart2–3 FormaModerateHigh confidenceStar ChartSteel Path

First Bastille — Star Chart

First serious version.

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

Tap 4 to lift a room. Hold 4 to vortex the leftovers. Photon Strike is the later nuke — learn the cage first. Primed Continuity and Primed Flow are the first real upgrade — not Blind Rage.

Bastille is Vauban. The 2026 kit is a lift-strip cage, not 2016 bounce pads.

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

Your next step: run this until it feels easy. Then Artillery Officer — Steel Path.

Steel Path3–4 FormaAdvancedMedium confidenceStar ChartSteel PathShards optional

Artillery Officer — Steel Path

Your first endgame-capable version.

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

Photon Repeater plus Photon Strike. Drop the beacon, laser the Bastille pile, double damage on Overguard. This is the 2026 Vauban nuke. This is the peak you can run the day Steel Path unlocks — galvanized / arcanes, no Helminth.

Photon Strike deals double to Overguard. That is why Vauban still has a nuke job in 2026.

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: 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 Artillery Officer — Optimised.

Optimised4–5 FormaEndgameMedium confidenceNetracellsArchon HuntsHelminthShards optional

Artillery Officer — Optimised

Spend resources to push it.

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

Photon Repeater plus Photon Strike. Drop the beacon, laser the Bastille pile, double damage on Overguard. This is the 2026 Vauban nuke.

Photon Strike deals double to Overguard. That is why Vauban still has a nuke job in 2026.

Investment: 5 Forma · Reactor · Helminth (Nourish (Grendel) or Roar (Rhino)) · 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: 4/5 Dmg
Sur: 3/5 Sur
En: 2/5 En
Mob: 2/5 Mob
Ease: 3/5 Ease

Your next step: run this until it feels easy. Then Artillery Officer — Endgame.

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

Endgame4–5 FormaEndgameMedium confidenceSteel PathHelminthShards optional

Artillery Officer — Endgame

Only if you actually need it.

Best for: endgame / endurance, Overguard Eximus, people who want Vauban to kill not just hold

Photon Repeater plus Photon Strike. Drop the beacon, laser the Bastille pile, double damage on Overguard. This is the 2026 Vauban nuke.

Photon Strike deals double to Overguard. That is why Vauban still has a nuke job in 2026.

Investment: 5 Forma · Reactor · Helminth (Nourish (Grendel) or Roar (Rhino)) · 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: 4/5 Dmg
Sur: 3/5 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.

Steel Path3 FormaAdvancedMedium confidenceArchon HuntsDefenseShards optional

Nervos Net

Your first endgame-capable version.

Best for: Mobile Defense, hallways, people who like pets that zap

Tesla Nervos rollers latch and arc Electricity. Tesla Bank dumps extra damage when they die. Doorways become electric.

Tesla is the CC config, not the nuke config. Hallways love it. Open tiles less so.

Investment: 3 Forma · Reactor · 1 shard · 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: 2/5 Sur
En: 3/5 En
Mob: 2/5 Mob
Ease: 4/5 Ease

Your next step: run this until it feels easy. Then Artillery Officer — Optimised.

Steel Path3–4 FormaAdvancedMedium confidenceSteel PathFarmingShards optional

Vector and Nails

Your first endgame-capable version.

Best for: Speedruns, Index, people who like gadgets more than cages

Minelayer is two tools. Tap Tether-Flechette to nail and hold. Hold Vector-Overdrive to yeet allies (and enemies) down a hallway with a damage buff.

Minelayer got folded into one button with two holds. People skip it. Speedrunners do not.

Investment: 4 Forma · Reactor · 1 shard · 2 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: 2/5 Sur
En: 2/5 En
Mob: 3/5 Mob
Ease: 4/5 Ease

Your next step: run this until it feels easy. Then Artillery Officer — Optimised.

Optimised4 FormaEndgameMedium confidenceFarmingDefenseShards optional

Loot Vortex

Spend resources to push it.

Best for: Farming tiles, Sanctuary Onslaught, grouping for a loot frame teammate

Hold Bastille to collapse every cage into one vacuum. Repelling Bastille keeps new spawns out — or skip it and suck the map for loot + grouping.

Hold-Bastille is the 2026 vacuum. Old Vortex as a separate 4 is gone — it lives in the hold.

Investment: 4 Forma · Reactor · 2 shards · 2 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: 2/5 Dmg
Sur: 2/5 Sur
En: 2/5 En
Mob: 2/5 Mob
Ease: 3/5 Ease

Your next step: run this until it feels easy. Then Artillery Officer — Endgame.

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

First week

Starter rotation

Don't

Key mistakes

Laser on an empty floor
Bastille first. Photon second.
Building only Strength and skipping Range
A 4-meter cage is not a kit.
Playing bounce-pad Vauban from 2014
Minelayer is Vector and Tether now. The old pads are gone.