Archon Shards Warframe - When Archon Shards first came out, I had no idea what they were even used for. I kept ignoring them and completing my usual daily sortie mission and logging out. Until I saw a video from a Warframe YouTuber.
For those who don't know what these even are, Archon Shards are basically permanent stat boosts you socket into your Warframes. You install them at the Helminth segment on your ship. Each frame has 5 shard slots. You pick what stat each shard gives you when you socket it in. My favorite is increased Wisp Strength and Duration, unlimited shocks, speed and shooting speed, what else do you even need?
To be able to access Archon Shards, you need to finish the New War quest first AND the Veilbreaker quest. If you haven't done those yet, this whole guide won't help you. Come back after you finish the story stuff.
How To Farm Archon Shards?
OK, so there are a few different sources. The main one is weekly Archon Hunts, but there's other stuff too.
Archon Hunts are your guaranteed source. Every Monday, the game gives you a new Archon Hunt. It's 3 missions plus a boss fight at the end. Takes maybe 20-30 minutes if your squad is decent. At the end, you get one Archon Shard guaranteed. This Archon Shard can be Tauforged if you're lucky (I never get them).
The colour depends on which Archon shows up that week. Amar gives you Crimson shards (red ones). Boreal gives Azure shards (blue). Nira gives Amber shards (yellow).
Shards also have Tauforged versions that offer 50% better stats. You've got a 20% base chance to get Tauforged instead of the normal variant. If you don't get it, your chance goes up by 20% the next time that specific Archon appears.
So, if I don't get a Tauforged Crimson from Amar this week, next time Amar shows up, I'll have 40% chance. Then 60%. Then 80%. Eventually, you hit 100%, and you're guaranteed to get it. Which is crazy loot protection, only offered by the legendary devs.
I went 7 weeks without a Tauforged Azure once. The bad luck protection finally kicked in and gave it to me in week 8 at 100%. Felt bad, but at least the system works.
Netracells Give You More Shards Per Week
Netracells is probably the easiest source from where you can farm Netracells. You can run 5 Netracell missions per week. Each run has about a 65% chance to drop a random Archon Shard.
The type is random. Could be Crimson, Azure, or Amber. Tauforged can drop, but it's only like 4% chance per type.
I did my 5 Netracells yesterday and got 3 shards: 2 Crimsons and 1 Azure. No Tauforged, but whatever. You can slot them on the frames that you don't use much.
Netracells are worth running if you want to speed up your shard collection. But honestly, I forget to do them half the time because they're kinda boring. People keep on leaving at random times and eliminating enemies outside the circle.
Other Sources I Don't Use Much
There's also Deep Archimedea and Temporal Archimedea. These give shards as rewards. You can run them weekly. The harder versions (Elite Deep Archimedea) have better drop rates. These are not exactly the top-tier warframe experience, so I usually ignore these.
I don't run these much. The modifiers can be annoying, and I'm lazy.
Bird 3 shop in the Sanctum lets you buy 1 Archon Shard per week for 30,000 standing. You need to be Rank 5 with the Cavia syndicate. The colour rotates each week.
If you haven't done the Whispers in the Walls quest, you can't access this yet. I will recommend you complete this quest as early as possible, great storyline and giant enemies.
There are also shards from the Hex calendar thing in the 1999 content. I haven't farmed that much, so I can't really explain it.
What Stats Each Color Gives You
Three colors. Red, Blue, Yellow. Different stats for each.
- Crimson (the red ones) give you ability strength, ability duration, sprint speed, parkour velocity, or casting speed. Strength is +10% per shard, or +15% if it's Tauforged. Duration is also +10% or +15% Tauforged.
- Azure (blue shards) give you energy max, health, shields, armor, or energy regen. Energy max is +50 per shard or +75 if Tauforged. Health is +150, shields is +150, armor is +150. Energy regen is +5 energy per second.
- Amber (yellow shard) gives casting speed, parkour velocity, reload speed, secondary crit chance, or ability efficiency. Casting speed is +30% or +45% Tauforged. Efficiency is +15%.
You can also fuse shards together, but that is a post for another day. This one focuses solely on the farming aspect of it.
What Stats Actually Matter (From My Testing)
I've tested a bunch of combinations on different frames, here what's I've figured out:
Energy Max from blue shards is probably the most universally useful stat. A more energy cap means you can hold more energy from orbs or whatever energy source you're using. Going from 300 energy to 450 energy feels way better. Let the energy spam begin.
Frames that really want this: Protea (bigger pool for her 4), caster frames in general, anything that spams abilities a lot.
I run 2 or 3 Blue Energy Shards on most of my frames. It's hard to go wrong with extra energy.
Ability Strength from red shards is good on damage frames and buff frames. It's +10% per shard and stacks additively with your mods. So if you have +200% strength from mods and add 2 Crimson shards you get +220% total.
My Wisp has 2 or 3 Crimson strength shards socketed. Her buffs scale really well with strength. Saryn also wants strength. Mesa wants strength. You get the idea.
Should You Chase Tauforged Shards
Tauforged gives 50% better stats than normal. Normal Crimson gives +10% strength, Tauforged gives +15%. Is that worth chasing?
It completely depends on how much you're playing. If you're consistently doing weekly Archon Hunts, you'll eventually get enough Tauforged thanks to the DE's bad-luck protection system. After about 15 weeks, you're basically guaranteed to have at least one Tauforged of each colour. Mind you, that is not enough.
What To Do When You First Unlock This System
If you just unlocked Archon Shards and you're looking at 5 empty slots on your frame, don't socket all 5 immediately. Figure out what works best for your frame. What is the ability you're focusing on?
Start with 2 or 3 shards. Test them out. See how they feel.
Save the rest until you know what you actually need for that frame.
Removing shards costs Bile, which is annoying to farm early on. I socketed 5 shards into a frame I barely use, and now I'm stuck farming Bile to pull them out. Learn from my mistake.
Recommended Tip: Only slot the best Tauforged shards on your top played frames (make a selection for all mission types). Don't spread them across 20 different frames you never touch. That's a waste.
I use Protea, Wisp, and Saryn the most, so those three got all my best Tauforged shards. My other frames get normal shards or no shards at all.
About the Author
Vikas Bhatt
Warframe veteran with 4,000+ hours of gameplay, playing since the "Void Keys" era. With over ten years of editorial experience, he specializes in relic farming optimization and Prime acquisition strategies. Vikas's articles have been featured on multiple gaming outlets like IGN, Gamespot, Kotaku to name a few. He is also the founder of Warframe Relics.
