Un-Official Warframe Tier List

[OoKeNnEtHoO]

Endless Defence is basically the hardest mode in the game at the moment. Take any one of these 'frames out of defence and put it into another mode and it'll only perform better. 

 

In endless defence, you have a cryopod to defend.

 

This also means you have to kill everything to progress in the mission.

 

In other missions, apart from extermination and perhaps rescue, you are not required to kill everything.

 

Some frames will naturally be able to finish these missions faster but they may not do well in defense.

 

Basically, there are frames which are more reliant on their skills and less "tanky" or good in survival and there are frames which can survive even without using their skills because of their base stats.

 

For a more skill reliant but less "tanky" frame to do the non-defence missions fast, they have to keep using their skills and pick up energy orbs while the less skill reliant ones can just kill the ones that are more likely to kill them and leave the rest alive if they know that they will lose the fight.

 

In defence missions, you get plenty of ammo and orbs mostly within a radius around the cryopod. In other missions, there are less enemies and they are more spreaded so some skills which may work well in defense where enemies gather towards a chokepoint or area may not be as energy efficient.

Edited June 18, 2013 by OoKeNnEtHoO

[JollierThanThou]

Is this list for high wave defense? It looks good. I'd move Frost and Nyx up to Godly, Trinity (with Rage) up to High, and Saryn down to Mid.

 

Despite Volt being low tier, I use him almost exclusively for boss runs. Speed is that good. Loki also gets a special mention for trivializing the timed puzzles in the Void.

 

Vauban is the only frame I haven't played. I've played the others to 30 except Nyx, Saryn, and Ember.

[leo158]

Completely disagree. Every frame has a different play style different people like. I played all frames, and the only one I couldn't really wait to be done with was Rhino. Every single frame has its own pros and cons and different people will rank them differently. 

The whole tier char is biased according to player opinion. For example I would not even have a God Tier, and move Vauban to high. He's good but he has his own downsides. Also because I don't enjoy playing Trinity, I would move her to useless. I know she can pull off some unique and amazing combo, but I just don't like it. Tier chart is not accurate and does not reflect the opinions of the players.

[red6down]

Hmm, I am interested in what the rest of the community thinks of this list. Do you agree/disagree? Have you played all 13 frames, or are you in a clan or squad with access to all 13, and found clear disadvantages as suggested in this image?

Coming from a small clan, I have played with all of these frames at least once on my team and after talking to other members we all pretty much agree on this tier list, with a few tweaks that each of us would make individually. Following are a summary of thoughts from us on the bottom 3.

 

Mag and Rhino are a very sad case where although what seems to be a very clear overall design intent, they are both simply too ineffectual. As other people can probably attest pull is ok but could be looked at, polarize doesn't do enough damage and is thus only used on the pod, bullet attractor actually lowers dps because it eliminates weak spots and her ult does damage and crowd controls, which while good for the team, it is simply outclassed by other frames abilities in damage and crowd control potential.

 

Rhino meanwhile has abilities that suit him for the cc tank role but these abilities are likewise outclassed by other frames, or in the case of iron skin the damage cap is ridiculously low and simply not practical because flat non percentage damage reduction doesn't account for higher level worlds and enemies at all.

 

Meanwhile Volt is also ineffectual but should be easier to fix because we have a precedent for a frame that is good against one faction but doesn't completely fall apart against others, her name is ember, please make him about as a good as ember. More in depth, shock is garbage, needs to stun more or do more damage, speed is ok, but could be more such as affecting reloads or not making the camera hate us, the shield is a decent idea but in a game where enemies do try to circle, it doesn't wrap around enough. Finally his ult is a bit too situational relying on the level itself. This leaves volt with neither good enough abilities to be used for more than overload or to ever be used against other factions besides corpus.

[Sideway]

In endless defence, you have a cryopod to defend.

 

This also means you have to kill everything to progress in the mission.

 

In other missions, apart from extermination and perhaps rescue, you are not required to kill everything.

 

Some frames will naturally be able to finish these missions faster but they may not do well in defense.

 

That's why Loki and Ash are not in the Low Tier. It's not "Endless Defense Tier List", it's "Overall Tier List". This means also normal missions (but they are VERY easy) and Void Missions (Tier III Raid is where Ash and Loki shine) are important here. But not -as- important as Defense and Tier III Void. Rhino is very good at "Kappa" but so is any other Frame, this mission is just zerg rush defense with low level mobs. But Rhino in Void III Extermination... tsk... not so beefy anymore.

 

 

 

Completely disagree. Every frame has a different play style different people like. I played all frames, and the only one I couldn't really wait to be done with was Rhino. Every single frame has its own pros and cons and different people will rank them differently.

 

It's not about the pleasure or fun, it's about overall usefulness ;)

Edited June 18, 2013 by Sideway

[DJSmash]

You know this post reminds me most about Dota about re-balancing/players voicing out/comparing different heroes abilities and such.

I can only assume that IF someone else was to start another similar post, you'd get different opinions/ranking of the frames. so you'd be back at square one again - debating about each frames abilities/usefulness?

Ultimately each frame was made differently and that's the whole point. How you use it, thats a different story.

Edited June 18, 2013 by DJSmash

[Hatr]

Miasma. Miasma Miasma Miasma.

 

Saryn cannot possible be low tier. Miasma is just too good.

That's the only good skill, and this is what i was talking about.

Okay then DEs should do as you say, remove all the other skills and leave Saryn with miasma.. as the others aren't any worth the energy

[FLSH_BNG]

I've played:

Excalibur; He's good and balanced but I feel his Radial Blind could use a moderate energy cost reduction. 50 seems a bit much. Try 30.

Rhino; Loved this guy before the 7.11 nerf. His Iron Skin is still underpowered for any mission higher than level 25 and mods dedicated to improving it just aren't enough. I wouldn't mind seeing his Iron Skin returned to it's original glory and increase in cost to 75 while his Radial Blast's cost decreases to 50 or 60.

Nyx; The most fun I've had so far, but her Absorb badly needs a taunt to draw aggro. Her Psychic Bolts are also useless in higher levels, not to mention that they fly like $&*&*#(%& birds into everything except the enemy who's right in front of me.

 

My roommate has played:

Mag; The only reason he still uses this frame is because of her ultimate. Mag is scary in his hands, and with Crush he clears entire rooms even at the highest levels. Pull is underpowered against enemies since all it does is drag them into cover and actually make it harder to kill them. Rather, it should drag enemies over and around obstructions, dealing damage with and to every object it comes in contact with, especially if you grab the back person from a conga-line coming toward you. Shield Polarize is worse than useless except against shield drones. It needs to perhaps stun enemies or be renamed "Polarize" where it disables shields and enemies in a small area for a time. And/or cause feedback with shield drones, destroying the drone and stunning anybody under it protection, possibly arcing to other nearby shield drones to repeat the process. And Bullet Attractor actually makes it harder to kill enemies because shots fired at the target go straight to the center rather than to any place that might be a weak-spot. Instead, placing it on an enemy should jam the target's weapon and any others that are inside the sphere, while placing it on an ally should repel arms fire in a random direction, simultaneously jamming enemy weapons inside the sphere.

 

Ash; Almost useless. Shuriken is too costly to bother with, especially with it's low damage output. Smokescreen, enemies still continue to fire at you, any movement on your part ends the invisibility. In short, it doesn't do what it says it should. It should work for allies nearby as well, a quick escape for the whole cell if necessary. Teleport, works like it says but should not require you to teleport to an enemy, as a ninja, Ash should be able to go from one end of a room to the other to remain hidden. It should be a second quick escape. Bladestorm is too temperamental, it's difficult to judge which enemy is the best to target with it, and if anyone leaves or enter the area after casting, they aren't affected. It should allow for multiple strikes on the same enemy if the first or even second didn't put it down, especially if there is only one enemy do deal with, but with a rapidly decreasing damage output: 100% first hit, 60% second, 36% for the third, etc.

 

This is all I have that I can speak about with any certainty and what I think would improve matters.

Edited June 18, 2013 by FLSH_BNG

[Orovo]

I mostly agree with this tier list. Just move Trinity and Nyx up to God tier.

[Notso]

Is this list for high wave defense? It looks good. I'd move Frost and Nyx up to Godly, Trinity (with Rage) up to High, and Saryn down to Mid.

 

Despite Volt being low tier, I use him almost exclusively for boss runs. Speed is that good. Loki also gets a special mention for trivializing the timed puzzles in the Void.

 

Vauban is the only frame I haven't played. I've played the others to 30 except Nyx, Saryn, and Ember.

 

The God tier is where no 'frame should be. Vauban is just too good. Frost and Nyx aren't anywhere near as good as Vauban.

 

 

Completely disagree. Every frame has a different play style different people like. I played all frames, and the only one I couldn't really wait to be done with was Rhino. Every single frame has its own pros and cons and different people will rank them differently. 

The whole tier char is biased according to player opinion. For example I would not even have a God Tier, and move Vauban to high. He's good but he has his own downsides. Also because I don't enjoy playing Trinity, I would move her to useless. I know she can pull off some unique and amazing combo, but I just don't like it. Tier chart is not accurate and does not reflect the opinions of the players.

 

We're not talking about differences in playstyle or how much people like them. We're talking simply about how good they are. I love Mag. I play her a lot. But there's no way in hell she's anything more than Low Tier. Likewise I hate playing Loki, but I can't deny that he's a decent 'frame.

[Notso]

That's the only good skill, and this is what i was talking about.

Okay then DEs should do as you say, remove all the other skills and leave Saryn with miasma.. as the others aren't any worth the energy

 

You originally asked why Saryn is in High Tier. I answered. The fact that her other skills aren't as good as Miasma doesn't mean she's not High Tier [hell, if they were, she'd probably be God Tier, like she was when she was first released]. I was never talking about how she could be improved. Also, is making straw men a hobby of yours?

[EyeHaveYou247]

When I first looked at this tier list, I mostly agreed with it (maybe a little biased because I am a Vauban player = I am Warframe God? :P), but after thinking about it a little bit I have to say that I feel many of the frames could easily move around this list, up or down. Let me explain what I mean by this, I feel a frame’s capability is all about how much time and effort you put into your frame and your gameplay style (ultimately it's about the player). If you take the time to play around with a frame, and put in the effort to understand your frame and its abilities, you will be able to tailor that frame to your gameplay and make it viable for you. Now some frames’ abilities really do need some tweaks, like Rhino could use some tweaks to Iron Skin and Rhino Stomp, and I would have to agree with the comments that say Mag could benefit from a complete overhaul; why not make Mag the first female bruiser frame?

[Piell]

As someone who has every frame, I'd say the initial listing is roughly accurate. Certainly you can make arguments to shift frames upwards/downwards (I might put Trinity and Ember a rank higher), but there's nothing obviously incorrect. Once you've unlocked the map, there's three mission types that stand head-and-shoulders above anything else in terms of rewards. Boss missions, mobile defense missions (well, really just Kiste) and endless defense missions, for rewards of warframe parts/XP/mods & keys, respectively. (We'll ignore alerts in this comparison, since there is no way to predict them).

 

Killing a boss is mostly reliant on DPS, and so weapons are the most important. In terms of warframes, the most important thing is CC in the form of either damage mitigation (preferably party-based). You can see that the God Tier and High Tier Frames have powers that enhance this. Vauban can lock down a boss and not even let them attack. Banshee has Sonar to massively increase damage. Frost has Snow Globe to block damage from ranged bosses. Saryn has Molt to draw fire and is a heaviest maxed-out tank frame. Nyx, of course, has Chaos. Conversely, the low and "useless" tier frames don't tend to have these types of abilities. Rhino's Iron Skin is self-only. Volt has electric shield, but it's difficult to fit multiple players behind it, especially for the more mobile bosses. Mag's Bullet Attractor can be nice, but a number of bosses have specific weak points that make this ineffective, not to mention if the group includes a Banshee to use sonar.

 

The other two types of missions are related (defense and mobile defense). In comparison to bosses, this requires a little more emphasis on individual defense and ability to stop enemies from attacking a cryopod rather than other players. Killing enemies as quickly as possible is the goal, especially for mobile defense. Mobility is also less important here. In contrast to bosses, a high-damage armor-ignoring AoE is often useful, at least until the levels get to high. Again, we see that all the god- and high-tier frames have an armor-ignoring AoE. The previously mentioned powers are also still come in excellent use at high waves, when the AoE's aren't instant kills anymore. Sonar mass-increases damage, Frost Snow Globes the crypod, Saryn Molts and tanks (and Miasma is arguably the strongest AoE burst), and Nyx uses Chaos to force the enemies to attack each other rather than the cryopod. In comparison, Rhino and Mag don't have armor-ignoring AoEs, and Volt's is heavily map- and area-dependent to work.

 

The mid-tier frames tend to have "selfish" defenses (Trinity's Link, Ash and Loki's invisibility, Ember's Overheat) along with lacking a mass-AoE power.

Edited June 18, 2013 by Piell

[Amistyrja]

Blessing.

[Nerokerubina]

My opinion is fact, your opinion is wrong. This, this is the most accurate tier list ever created. 

 

 

 

Edited June 18, 2013 by Nerokerubina

[Lumireaver]

Hmm, I am interested in what the rest of the community thinks of this list. Do you agree/disagree? Have you played all 13 frames, or are you in a clan or squad with access to all 13, and found clear disadvantages as suggested in this image?

 

I'm mostly in agreement with that particular list. Please discuss balance next livestream. :-)

 

I feel the best way to balance strong abilities would be to make them more than one-click solutions to the Grineer/Corpus overpopulation problems.

[TickTockMan]

My opinion is fact, your opinion is wrong. This, this is the most accurate tier list ever created.

First of all, Nyx is way too low. She's just too strong. I don't care what the objective is, or what your team comp is, adding a Nyx will always be beneficial (even if your team already consists of 3 Nyx's).

 

Now that that's out of the way, why is Ash so high?

 

Excal is certainly not top tier. He's just not good at anything.

 

Loki brings more to the table than Ash, swap their places (longer duration invis+decoy+radial disarm all > any utility Ash has)  

 

I'd be interested to hear why you put those frames where you did

Edited June 18, 2013 by TickTockMan

[Geshoku]

I agree with op on everything except ash. He should be in low tier my reasoning's are, his shurikens don't do enough to make a real difference in a fight

when compared to another 25 power skill like slash dash or mind control. My suggestion is either have him throw more shuriken or at least have the two he throws bounce and hit other enemies.His smoke screen is fine as it is but could use a slight buff in duration. Teleport right now feels to situational only being able to teleport to enemies and objects if very limiting and when you get there you're just gonna get smacked,my suggestion is making him go into a mini stealth after you teleport to something with ash being the most ninja of all the warframes him having less stealth than loki kinda doesn't make sense.And the problem with bladestorm is the skill itself, only hitting 12 enemies that are close to each other is pointless when I can just use smoke screen and kill them twice as fast and with less energy.Removing the limit from the skill would fix that but in large groups of enemies I doubt most people want to sit there and watch an animation that may take like 45 seconds to a minute. The only thing I could think of that would make bade storm better is to make it instant like ash just does a channel or something and afterimages of himself murder the enemies in range. Thats all I got on this subject though.

Ps.Buff mag.

[DreadWolf7]

I have used Mag often as she was my first WF and I use her on alerts she is far from useless but osme of her skills 2 of them could use help. Pull it's basicly just a joke you pull something to you then you have to beat that something to death with a weapon or it will hit you or shoot you in the face. 

 

Shield polarize... I have used this on friends who told me they didn't notice any shield recovery even when my skill was at max level. on pods you can restore a minor amount of shielding and this can remove a bosses shield... if it worked on them...  It is not good for normal combat as it's never single targets you or your party fight... It could do more to restore or remove shield and should have an aoe around Mag. 

 

As for Vauban I don't feel he is to powerful mine tends to have issues not being shot to death even at 25 with mods so on to boost shields and or health. 

 

Some could say I just suck at using him but they wouldn't know as they likely haven't seen me use him so that being said I think it's just that older warframes may need to be upgraded power wise in order to bring them back to par with the new warframes that are add so people don't spend so much time saying nerf or boost and can just get back to the normal my warframe is better crap they tend to like to do.

[Hauteclere]

I won't bother to argue where Mag sits on the tier list because that might actually get her fixed. 

 

I have my own opinions of course, but I didn't create the Mag improvement thread I did just so it could be ignored. 

 

That said...SHAMELESS ADVERTISING TIME!

https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/56397-a-look-at-mag-suggested-tweaks-and-noted-observations/'>A Look At Mag -Suggested Tweakes and Noted Observations-

 

I'd honestly love for people whom have tested all the warframes to also post here and give their thoughts. I don't particularly care if you don't agree with what's in my post, but I do care if people have an opinion about Mag and aren't willing to share it. You don't fix a Warframe by just saying its useless, you have to provide suggestions that give everyone else something to think about---or even put things in perspective so that we can come up with suggestions.

Not that I'm saying that's what this thread is doing, so far it seems we're somewhat avoiding that issue. 

All of my opinion on Mag is in this thread, and its grown as I played her.

 

I'll note part of what's probably got her put in the useless tier is what happens when the magical numbers 25+ start appearing in mob game-play. 

[Sideway]

I'd honestly love for people whom have tested all the warframes to also post here and give their thoughts. I don't particularly care if you don't agree with what's in my post, but I do care if people have an opinion about Mag and aren't willing to share it. You don't fix a Warframe by just saying its useless, you have to provide suggestions that give everyone else something to think about---or even put things in perspective so that we can come up with suggestions.

Not that I'm saying that's what this thread is doing, so far it seems we're somewhat avoiding that issue. 

 

I can give you the short version of our "General Mag Brainstorm" :)

 

We've decided that "She's already beyond redemption" and it's impossible to tweak/fix her with her current skills set. She needs complete overhaul and mechanic rework. She needs defined role on the battlefield. Only Crush is acceptable as it's now (well... almost. It should have complete Armor Ignore). Other 3 skills should be trashed and reworked as something new and unique. Something that will allow her to be a vital part of Void Tier III Missions and Defense Support. But if DE decides simply to tweak her current skills... then Low Tier is max she can count on.

[Notso]

My opinion is fact, your opinion is wrong. This, this is the most accurate tier list ever created.

 

I don't think you understand what the "God Tier" is supposed to be. It does not mean a 'frame is useful in all situations. It means that if one player was to use this 'frame, he would completely outclass any other player of equal skill using another 'frame. This is Vauban currently, no other 'frame is this good.

[JollierThanThou]

Vauban is just too good. Frost and Nyx aren't anywhere near as good as Vauban.

 

How so? Snow Globe seems so much more powerful than Bastille. I don't think you can even attempt high wave Corpus or Grineer defense without Snow Globe, but Bastille feels interchangeable with Chaos.

[revizion]

Without having used Vauban (so take this with a grain of salt, but I do own every other frame in the gam,e) I'd say that Saryn should be God tier also, and Banshee is really somewhere between God & High. Generally speaking, it seems as though this list is biased towards CC frames, which says a lot about how players view the game, IMO.

 

-----

 

Saryn's mix of armor, speed, high health & devastating ulti make her one of the most useful frames in the game, for ALL types of missions. The fact that her ulti will stun anything it doesn't kill outright is really what pushes it over the top. Moult is also incredibly useful for either getting yourself out of a pinch, or funneling enemies for the team.  PLEASE DON'T NERF HER. I actually *enjoy* killing things. Bring the other frames up.

 

Banshee could be God tier, except with the ulti nerf a few updates ago that removes damage protection, she's very, very vulnerable to high-level Grineer - and too a lesser extent Corpus - because of the range at which those enemies engage us.

 

Frost is THE tank of the game. (R.I.P. Iron Skin) and with Globe, he owns Grineer & Corpus defense missions. Sidebar: If you're using Frost, there is no reason to Globe the pod against infested. They don't shoot and it keeps us from being able to shoot them. You're not helping, you're hurting.

 

Mag's only use is Crush. And above level 35 or so, even that's not that useful. One of the reasons her usefulness fell of is because of weapon variety. Now, it seems like at least SOMEONE  (usually me, lol) is using either a bow, a bolt weapon, or Kunai/Dread. None of which are able to take advantage of Bullet Attractor, drastically reducing its usefulness. She needs love. Period.

 

My outsider perspective on Vauban is that he is indeed top of the ninja heap. I've been in missions with people who played as if they were using K+M with their feet while they were tied together, yet they were still able to decimate whatever enemy we were facing. I honestly don't know how to go about "fixing" him without nerfing him into oblivion (R.I.P. Iron Skin), but yea, he deserves a second look. But whatever you do, PLEASE take of the effect of Vortex on team mates. Nothing more infuriating than seeing "Cannot use power in air" over and over again and being whipped around the map. Stunlock sucks because its loss of player control. Same idea.

 

Seems like all the other frames' weaknesses are that they are highly situational. Trinity is middling for me only because in a team she's perhaps THE most valuable frame, but its damn near impossible to run her solo or duo.

[Solaurus]

I agree with this list. Volt definitely needs a buff I have a topic deducted towards this. Been up for like a week.