Words
Glossary
One sentence for what it is. A second for why you care. Not a wiki.
- Star Chart / Navigation
- The map of the Origin System. Sit in the chair at the front of your Orbiter, or Esc → Fast Travel → Navigation. Planets unlock along rails. Moons (Deimos) appear after you finish a node on their parent. Junctions are specter fights that open the next planet.
- Warframe
- The character you play. There are 65 of them. You swap them in the Arsenal on your ship (the Orbiter). This site has a full guide for every one — same six rooms: Overview, Kit, Fashion, Builds, Farm, Watch.
- Arsenal
- The glowing Warframe stand in the middle of your Orbiter. Walk up to it, or press Esc → Equipment → Arsenal. This is where you put mods on, change weapons, and save loadouts.
- Mod
- A card you slot onto a Warframe or weapon. Each one changes a number (more Strength, more Health, more damage). Mods eat Capacity. Rank them up with Endo and Credits.
- Capacity / Drain
- Every mod costs Capacity. A rank-30 Warframe has 30 Capacity, 60 with an Orokin Reactor (the “potato”). Matching a mod’s polarity symbol to the slot halves the drain.
- Polarity
- The little symbol on a slot (V, D, dash, bar). If the mod’s symbol matches the slot, it costs half Capacity. If it clashes, it costs more. Empty slots accept anything.
- Forma
- A Foundry item that lets you change one slot’s polarity. Using it resets the Warframe or weapon to rank 0 — you level it again. Builds that say “6 Forma” mean you polarize six slots over time.
- Orokin Reactor
- Nicknamed a potato. Install it on a Warframe (Arsenal → Upgrade) to double mod Capacity. Nightwave, Sorties, and events hand them out. Do not buy them with real money until you have a spare.
- Aura
- The top-left mod slot on a Warframe. Aura mods add Capacity instead of spending it, and they buff the whole squad. You always want one in.
- Exilus
- A extra utility slot (travel speed, knock-down resist, Preparation). It stays locked until you install an Exilus Adapter on the Warframe.
- Endo
- The juice that ranks mods. Dissolve duplicate mods, run Ayatan sculptures, or do Arena / Arbitration. Credits are spent at the same time.
- Ability Strength
- Makes numbers on abilities bigger: Overguard, damage, duration of a buff. The most important stat on most Codex loadouts.
- Ability Duration
- How long buffs last. Triumph, Link, Ravenous, Roar. Below about 128% you will recast constantly.
- Ability Range
- How far abilities reach. Dante’s verses and Nidus’s Larva both care. Stretch is the cheap Range mod.
- Ability Efficiency
- How much energy an ability costs. 175% is the cap. Blind Rage lowers Efficiency — that is why Flow and energy arcanes exist.
- Overguard
- The fat yellow bar Dante puts on himself and allies. It sits on top of shields and health. Knockdowns and most status effects bounce off it. Triumph is how Dante manufactures it.
- Helminth
- The infested chair in your Orbiter. You feed it other Warframes so you can replace one ability on a different frame. That is how Dante gets Roar or Brightbonnet.
- Arcane
- A small enhancement that sits in two extra slots on a Warframe (and separate ones on weapons). Unlock the slots by ranking the Warframe. Rank arcanes by fusing duplicates.
- Archon Shard
- A gem you socket into the Helminth chair, five per Warframe. Amber Casting Speed is the one most loadouts beg for. Tauforged is the same gem, stronger.
- Platinum
- The premium currency. You can buy it, or earn it by trading Prime parts, mods, and arcanes with other players. Trade chat is the public market. Never feel guilty for buying a 15P mod.
- Foundry
- The crafting bench on the right of the Orbiter. Blueprints go in, resources and time come out. Warframe parts take 12 hours; the main blueprint takes 3 days (or a rush with Platinum).
- Rotation
- Endless missions pay in a cycle: A, A, B, C, then it repeats. “Rotation C” means stay long enough for the C reward (wave 20 Defense, 20 minutes Survival, round 4 Disruption, and so on).
- Steel Path
- A harder Star Chart you unlock after finishing every node once. Enemies hit much harder. Tick it on Progress so the advisor can recommend those cards.
- Mastery Rank (MR)
- Your account level, raised by ranking Warframes and weapons to 30. Most Warframes have no MR lock. Some weapons and mods do.
Why you careThe map of the Origin System.
Why you careThe character you play.
Why you careThe glowing Warframe stand in the middle of your Orbiter.
Why you careA card you slot onto a Warframe or weapon.
Why you careEvery mod costs Capacity.
Why you careMatching the symbol halves drain. That is what Forma is for.
Why you careA build that lists Forma is asking you to spend time re-levelling, not just a slot colour.
Why you careDoubles Capacity. Install it before you buy Platinum mods.
Why you careThe top-left mod slot on a Warframe.
Why you careUtility only. Skip the adapter until the eight main slots feel finished.
Why you careRanking mods costs Endo and credits together. Unranked cards are not the numbers in the guide.
Why you careMakes numbers on abilities bigger: Overguard, damage, duration of a buff.
Why you careHow long buffs last.
Why you careHow far abilities reach.
Why you careHow much energy an ability costs.
Why you careYellow bar on top of health. Knockdowns bounce off it. Many Steel Path cards assume you have a source.
Why you careUntil this chair is built, every Helminth loadout on this site is locked. Play the Starter.
Why you careTwo extra slots. Rank 0 still works; rank 5 is the real version.
Why you careOptional ceiling, not a gate. The loop runs without them.
Why you careTrade is often faster than the drop. The Codex will say so on the item page.
Why you careThe crafting bench on the right of the Orbiter.
Why you careIf a farm says Rotation C, you have to stay. Leaving at A is a different item.
Why you careThe advisor will not recommend Steel Path cards until you tick this on Progress.
Why you careMost Warframes have no MR lock. Do not delay a starter because your MR is low.
Still lost? New Tenno path.