Warframe Beginner Guide 2026 - I just helped my cousin start playing Warframe last month and watching him make the same mistakes I made years ago reminded me how confusing this game is when you first jump in. Let me share what I wish someone had told me when I started so you don't waste your first 50 hours like I did.
Warframe is probably the worst game at explaining systems to beginners.
When you start, Warframe throws like 15 different systems at you in the first hour and doesn't really explain any of them properly. You've got mods, mastery rank, the foundry, platinum, syndicates, damage system, quests, open worlds, and the star chart all hitting you at once. It's overwhelming for a new player. I learned the damage system the hard way when I reached Sedna, I was carried by a friend back in the day.
I'm at MR 28 now with 4000+ hours, but I still remember being stuck on boss fights for like a week because I didn't understand how modding worked.
Pick Your Starter Frame (It Doesn't Matter That Much)
You get to choose between Excalibur, Mag, or Volt at the very beginning.
Here's what they do:
Excalibur - Good damage with his 4th ability (Exalted Blade), has some crowd control, decent all-around starter. Most popular choice for brand new players. Survives the starter map areas pretty well.
Mag - Pulls enemies together and strips shields, really good against Corpus enemies, but struggles a bit in the early game without the right mods. Not recommended if you don't know anything.
Volt - Speed boost, shields, and electric damage. Probably the most versatile of the three. Great for moving through missions fast. The shield will help you tank damage many times.
I picked Excalibur when I started. It's the coolest starter frame. But, Honestly? Any of them works fine. You can farm all three later anyway, so don't stress about this choice. The frame you pick matters way less than learning how modding works.
Still not able to make your mind? Just pick Excalibur if you like melee, or Volt if you want to speedrun and survive.
Your Starter Platinum - DO NOT WASTE IT
This is the biggest mistake new players make. You start with 50 platinum. I spent it on forma right away. (don't be like me) ^.^
DO NOT spend it on:
- Weapons (you can craft these)
- Warframes (you can farm these)
- Resources (seriously don't)
- Cosmetics (fashionframe is cool but you need to survive the game first)
ONLY spend it on:
- Warframe slots (20 plat for 1 slot)
- Weapon slots (12 plat for 2 slots)
I spent my starter plat on a sword skin when I first started. Huge mistake. I had to delete Warframes I farmed because I didn't have slots to keep them. But I was lucky enough in the second week, I got a 75% discount and grabbed the max platinum pack.
Recommended Tip: Spend 20 plat on 1 Warframe slot and 24 plat on 4 weapon slots (12 plat gets you 2 weapon slots). That leaves you with 6 plat. Save it. You'll need slots way more than anything else as you progress.
There's actually a bundle in the market right now that gives you 2 frame slots, 2 weapon slots, and 2 companion slots for 45 plat. Better value but you'd need to buy more plat first.
Mods Are Your Power (Not Your Weapons)
OK so here's the thing most new players don't get. Your weapons and Warframe don't really matter early game. What matters is YOUR MODS.
A fully modded starter weapon will destroy a brand new weapon with no mods equipped. The mods are where like 90% of your power comes from. Including elemental combos, which I will talk about in the next section.
You need these mods as soon as possible:
For Your Warframe:
- Vitality (+440% Health)
- Redirection (+440% Shields)
- Intensify (+30% Ability Strength)
- Streamline (+30% Ability Efficiency)
- Continuity (+30% Ability Duration)
- Stretch (45% Ability Range)
I asked my clan for these mods and got them all for free. At this point, I have like 50-60 duplicates of each mod; they are very common.
For Your Weapons:
- Serration (damage for rifles)
- Hornet Strike (damage for pistols)
- Pressure Point (damage for melee)
- Elemental mods (Cryo Rounds, Hellfire, etc.)
Most of these drop from early game enemies, or you get fixed versions from the Vor's Prize quest. The "flawed" mods you start with are weaker versions (also called Broken mods). Replace them when you find the normal versions. Do not buy them, keep on progressing through the star chart, and you will find all important mods.
I didn't understand this for a very long time, as I had a friend carrying me. Until I reached Sedna, where you have to fight Kela De Thaym, one of the hardest bosses in the game.
Element Combos Matter
When you combine certain elemental mods, you get different damage types:
- Cold + Toxin = Viral (good against health)
- Electric + Toxin = Corrosive (good against armor)
- Heat = just Heat (also good against armor)
For the early game, just slap Viral on everything. Cold mod + Toxin mod in that order. Works against most enemy types while you're learning the system. Lower-level enemies are not even that big of a problem until you reach bosses.
The order you put mods in also matters a lot. If you put Cold in slot 1 and Toxin in slot 2, you get Viral damage. If you put Heat in slot 1, then Cold in slot 2, then Toxin in slot 3, you get Heat + Viral instead of Corrosive.
It depends on what mods you have at the time. Don't overthink it early on. Just get some damage mods equipped and you'll be fine for the first few planets.
Rush The Star Chart (Kind Of)
The star chart is the map of all the planets and missions. Your main goal early game is to unlock as many nodes as possible to progress to better farming spots.
People will tell you to rush through it as fast as possible. That's half right.
What you should actually do:
- Clear 3-5 new nodes per play session
- Complete junction requirements (these unlock the next planet)
- Craft new weapons when you have blueprints
- Farm for mods you need when you're stuck on a difficult node
I tried to speedrun the star chart when I started and hit a wall on Jupiter because my mods were garbage. Don't be like me. Mix in some mod farming.
Recommended Tip: If a mission feels too hard, stop and upgrade one damage mod on your main weapon. Even taking Serration from rank 2 to rank 4 makes a massive difference early on.
Where To Level New Gear
For the first chunk of the star chart (Earth through Mars), just level your weapons naturally by doing star chart missions. Keep on unlocking nodes one by one.
Once you unlock Helene on Saturn or Hydron on Sedna, those become the main leveling spots. People run Defense missions there specifically to level gear because enemy spawns are consistent. After a while, you will find a spot you like. I usually only level my gear through relic missions.
Don't worry about "optimal" leveling early on. Just play through the star chart with at least one good weapon equipped so you don't get rekt by the enemies. The playerbase is pretty calm but if you're in a public mission, after a while other tenno will get tired of reviving you.
I tried to level 3 unranked weapons at once on, like, Mercury, and got absolutely dumpstered by a Stalker spawn. Keep one maxed weapon on you at all times. Also use carrier or a companion that can take care of you.
Join A Clan ASAP
Clans give you access to way more weapons and Warframes through the dojo. Some of the best early game gear is clan-exclusive.
You can't get frames like Wukong, Nezha, or Volt (if you didn't pick him as starter) without a clan. Same with weapons like the Hek shotgun which is one of the best early game primaries.
I didn't join a clan until MR 8. That was stupid. I locked myself out of good gear for no reason.
Finding a clan is very easy through recruit chat. Just ask in recruit chat "LF clan inv" (looking for clan invite). You'll get spammed with invites. Pick a clan that's active and has a completed dojo. Usually, every clan has helpful players.
Don't Max Every Mod You Find
Mods require Endo and Credits to rank up. Early game you don't have much of either.
Maxing a basic mod from rank 0 to rank 10 can cost like 20,000+ Endo and hundreds of thousands of credits.
Only upgrade the mods you're actually using. Don't max them to rank 10 right away either. Take your damage mods to rank 6 or 7 and leave them there for a while. Way cheaper and still gives most of the benefit.
I maxed a Redirection mod to rank 10 when I was MR 3 and then didn't have any Endo left for my damage mods. My Warframe had huge shields but my weapons hit like wet noodles. Bad decision.
Mods to prioritize upgrading first:
- Your main weapon's base damage mod (Serration, Hornet Strike, Pressure Point)
- Elemental mods for your main weapon
- Vitality on your Warframe for survivability
Everything else can wait until you have spare Endo sitting around.
Mastery Rank Actually Matters
Mastery Rank (MR) is your account level. You gain mastery by leveling weapons, Warframes, companions, and other gear to max rank (usually rank 30).
Each weapon or frame gives you mastery XP the first time you max it. After that it gives nothing even if you forma it and level it again.
Why MR matters:
- Unlocks better weapons and Warframes (many require MR 5, MR 8, etc.)
- Increases your daily standing cap with syndicates so more syndicate mods
- Increases starting mod capacity on unranked gear
- Gives you more daily trades
You level up your MR by taking tests at relays. When you have enough mastery XP, a test becomes available every 24 hours. If you fail, you can retry after 24 hours, always practice before an attempt.
I failed my MR 9 test three times because I didn't practice the stealth one. Wasted 3 days.
What To Craft In Your Foundry
The Foundry is where you build everything. Whenever you get a blueprint and have the resources, start the craft. You'll have to craft almost everything eventually because this is where you gain MR.
Most weapons take 12 hours to build. Warframes take 3 days (you build the parts first, then combine them into the frame).
Craft times are real-time. You can't speed them up without spending platinum. Just start crafts before you log off so they finish while you're away.
Things to craft early on:
- Rhino (boss drops on Venus, super tanky frame, great for beginners)
- Hek shotgun (clan dojo, requires MR 4, will carry you through the star chart)
- Boltor rifle (MR 2, decent early primary, decently modded Boltor can carry you)
- Taxon sentinel (good companion that gives shields)
I let blueprints sit in my inventory for weeks when I started. Don't do that. If you can craft something, craft it. You get mastery XP from leveling it even if the weapon is bad.
Are you crafting stuff while you sleep? You should be. Always have something cooking in the foundry.
Platinum Farming (Once You're Ready)
You can earn platinum by trading with other players. You can't trade until you're MR 2 and have completed the tutorial.
What to sell for platinum:
- Prime parts from void relics (always check warframe.market for prices)
- Rare mods you don't need (not very reliable but works)
- Syndicate weapons and mods (once you unlock syndicates)
NEVER use in-game trade chat for buying or selling, it's full of lowballers or scammers. Use warframe.market instead. It's a website where you list what you're selling, and buyers message you in-game.
Mistakes That Will Actually Hurt You
1. Selling weapons that are needed for other weapons
Some weapons are crafting ingredients for better weapons. If you sell them for credits you have to rebuild them later. Check the wiki before selling anything.
2. Selling Prime parts for credits
Prime parts can be traded to other players for platinum. Credits are easy to farm. Platinum is not. Never sell Prime parts for credits in your inventory. Either use them to build the Prime gear or sell them to players for plat.
3. Not doing fissure missions
Fissures give you Prime parts and void traces. You should be running a few fissures per play session once you unlock them (after you complete the Vor's Prize quest). I ignored fissures for like 50 hours and had zero Prime parts to trade.
4. Trying to do everything at once
Warframe has open worlds, quests, syndicates, farming, the star chart, and a bunch of other stuff competing for your attention. Don't try to do it all at once. Only, Focus on the star chart in the beginning. Everything else can wait.
5. Not walking over resources and mods
Mods and resources don't auto-pick up. You have to walk over them or use your Companion to vacuum them. I missed so many rare mod drops early on because I didn't know they were on the ground.
This isn't a speedrun guide. Take your time. Warframe is a marathon, not a sprint. I tried to rush everything, and you do not scale fast, but the enemies do.
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.
