CHOOSING YOUR WARFRAME
After the introductory cinematic, you’ll be given a choice of three Warframes. In time you will be able to construct or purchase additional Warframes to master!
Excalibur is a Warframe with a balanced set of powers. Use Slash Dash to violently lead the charge into battle and follow up with Radial Blind to stun any nearby survivors. Super Jump can be used to quickly cover ground and scout ahead of your squad. When executed, Radial Javelin will skewer any enemies foolish enough to be in the deadly range of an Excalibur Warframe.
Volt has several abilities that offer an alternative, or supplement, to gunplay. Use Shock to deliver a jolt of electricity that will jump to nearby enemies and damage them as well. Speed increases the movement speed and melee attack rate of all nearby allies, allowing them to get away from danger, as well as navigating missions more quickly. Use Electric Shield to provide cover for you and your teammates; enemies will be unable to shoot through it, but players can, and their weapons will gain bonus electric damage as they shoot through the shield. Finally, Overload will make Volt surge with electricity that radiates outward, damaging enemies, and will cause electronic equipment to explode and deal even more damage.
With full command of surrounding magnetic energy,
Mag is an expert at energy manipulation. Use Pull to drag enemies out of cover, or allies to safety. Shield Polarize can drain an enemy's shields, softening them up for an assault, or it can replenish the shields of your friends when they need help. Hitting an enemy with Bullet Attractor will make any nearby bullets hone in on the target; even those fired by other enemies! Mag's ultimate ability lives up to its name: Crush will lift nearby enemies into the air and deal massive damage as they're crushed by gravitational forces.
CHOOSING YOUR WEAPONS
Your melee weapons allow you to perform special stealth attacks on enemies that are unaware of your presence. If you are able to perform a stealth attack on an enemy, a special context action will be available (Default: Right Bumper). Stealth attacks will deal massive damage, killing weaker enemies outright. You may find missions easier to complete by eliminating enemies stealthily before they can raise the alarm.
The Skana is a balanced weapon that has a high attack speed.
The Mk-1 Furax has a jump attack that will send enemies flying in a large radius.
The Mk-1 Bo has slow, sweeping attacks that can easily hit multiple enemies at once.
Your sidearm may not be as strong as your primary loadout weapon, but has a separate ammo reserve, and can be used while you're in a near-death bleedout state. Properly modded, your secondary weapon may become the deadliest weapon at your disposal!
The Lato is a pistol that deals average damage, and is highly accurate thanks to its low recoil.
The Furis boasts a high rate of fire, deals high damage, but can run out of ammunition easily.
The silent Kunai travel in an arc when thrown, allowing you to hit enemies that are behind cover without raising an alarm.
Your final selection will be your primary weapon. With a primary weapon, your loadout will be complete; try a weapon that covers the shortcomings of your other weapons so you can handle most situations you’ll come across.
The Mk-1 Braton is a well-rounded assault rifle that fires quickly and is accurate at most ranges.
The Strun is a shotgun that deals high damage at close range, but has a small magazine size.
The Paris isn’t a gun like your other choices, but a bow. Perfect for killing enemies without being heard be sure to hold the fire button to maximize the damage before you shoot.
LOOT CONTAINERS
Lockers and other loot containers will appear in your missions, and contain supplies that will help you in your current mission (such as health and energy pickups for your Warframe, as well as ammo for your weapons). They can also contain items that will be useful between missions, such as Credits to purchase new items, and resources to construct items in your Foundry. Lockers can be opened (Default: B), but other containers will need to be destroyed with your weapons to drop their contents.
ADVANCED MANEUVERS
Performing a melee attack while midair will cause your Warframe to
slam the ground with their weapon. Melee weapons can behave differently, but this move will commonly throw nearby enemies to the ground.
Pushing the crouch button while running will cause your Warframe to
slide, enabling you to slip under low-hanging obstacles that may be impossible to run through.
Performing a slide while midair will cause your Warframe to
kick, which will knock down any weaker enemies you hit.
Enemies that have been knocked to the ground are susceptible to a
ground finisher, a special attack that deals bonus damage, similar to the stealth attack.
Blocking (Default: Right Trigger) with your melee weapon equipped will cause incoming frontal attacks to reduce your stamina, rather than directly damage your Warframe. Blocking can still be performed during several maneuvers, such as jumping and sliding, but your stamina will recover more slowly than a Warframe that is not blocking.
Channeling your melee weapon (Default: Let Trigger) while it’s equipped causes your Warframe’s energy to augment your melee attacks. Hitting an enemy while channeling will deal additional damage, but will drain energy for each successful hit.
Blocking and channeling at the same time can cause enemies to be staggered when they attack you, opening them up for a
counterattack that will deal bonus damage.
Wallrunning will allow your Warframe to traverse missions in unorthodox ways, and weapons still function while performing wallruns. Move towards a vertical surface, jump toward it, and hold down the jump button. Your Warframe will begin to run along the wall until they reach the edge of the surface they are running on. Releasing the jump button will launch you away from the wall, while pressing the melee button will launch you parallel to the wall, while performing a unique attack animation.
HACKING
Sometimes hacking will be necessary to continue a mission, such as when doors become inoperable from a security lockdown. Approach a security terminal and press the context action button to begin the hack. While hacking, rotate the hexagon tiles to line up the pattern before time runs out. If a hack isn’t completed in time, you can attempt again, against a different set of tiles.
Ciphers can be acquired that will cause the hack to succeed instantly. These are useful for when a terminal needs to be hacked while enemies are nearby. Select the 'Use Cipher' button to consume one of your ciphers and complete the hack.
YOUR SHIP, THE LISET
Once your first mission is complete, you’ll find yourself aboard your personal ship, which will serve as your base between missions. Initially the Liset will be missing vital segments, but these will become available as you complete tutorial missions.
The Arsenal segment will allow you to modify your Loadout as you acquire additional weapons and Warframes. You can also change the appearance of your Warframe and weapons by equipping cosmetics and changing their colour schemes.
As your Weapons and Warframes level up through use, they'll be able to accommodate more powerful mods. Your Warframe's base stats will also increase as they level up.
The Market is where you purchase Warframes, weapons, cosmetics, blueprints, consumables, and other items. Blueprints will commonly be available for Credits, while other items may require Platinum instead to purchase them.
Missions are selected from the
Navigation console. The readouts will tell you the enemy faction present in that mission as well as their average level, to help you decide if you're ready to tackle it. More missions will become available as you complete the ones already unlocked for you.
You can also consult the top-right of the navigation screen to see which Foundry resources will be present at that location.
The Mod Station lets you sell unwanted mods, or transform them into new mods. You can even use spare mods to further increase the strength of your most used mods.
Fusing allows you to rank up mods, which will increase their effect, at the cost of requiring additional energy to be installed in your loadout. Fusing will consume Credits, as well as destroy whatever you fuse into the original mod.
The Foundry allows you to construct items from the blueprints you've acquired. Once you’ve collected the component resources, you can begin construction, although there is a build time before the item is available to use.
Some blueprints will create multiples of the same item simultaneously; this can be useful when building consumable items you use commonly during missions.