Un-Official Warframe Tier List

[Mhak]

High Wave Defense

Rhino: 1/10

You know that Rhino stomp has double the radius the Vaubeard's Bastille, right? It may not stop enemies that walk into it after it's up, but with stretch it's insane. Every ability the Rhino has except their Ironskin brings CC to the table. A well-played Rhino is far and away from a 1 in high-wave endless defense, and I believe a group that posted on these forums breaking wave 120 or 130 had a Rhino on the team.

Edited June 25, 2013 by Mhak

[JollierThanThou]

You know that Rhino stomp has double the radius the Vaubeard's Bastille, right? It may not stop enemies that walk into it after it's up, but with stretch it's insane. Every ability the Rhino has except their Ironskin brings CC to the table. A well-played Rhino is far and away from a 1 in high-wave endless defense, and I believe a group that posted on these forums breaking wave 120 or 130 had a Rhino on the team.

 

That's... really impressive. I would be terrified of a Grineer roller wrecking the pod during the cast.

[DrThunder]

I have potatoed and maxed all the frames. The list is pretty good. I defenitley did not use all the abilities on all the frames. though it does seem somewhat slanted toward defence except for trinity.

 

Vauban - one of if not the only frame I regularly have all 4 abilites up. agreed a ton of fun to play and very powerful.

 

Nyx - Chaos is king, mind control is useful (esp on ancient healers). absorb is a good idea but you are locked in once you start it, If you could exit out early I would probably use it. love the animation. and barely used phsy bolts.

 

Banshee - probably going to give it another look, didnt use sonic boom enough. sonar is expensive but effective. silence is acceptably situational and with more stealth coming will grow into the power. ult takes too long, massive range but not great damage.

 

Frost - awesome on defence vs corpus/grineer, just OK everywhere else, barely used first 2 powers. ult is good. not my play style.

 

Saryn - molt is good, miasma is good (where is the damage indicator), venom is OK/situation. contagen is useless.

 

Trinity - has a lot of exploits which I like but didn't like the frame for some reason. not my play style I guess.

 

Ember - I think it has been buffed since I last played it. has some good abilities but they all feel almost the same - fire damage x4.

 

Excalibur - great all around frame, blind is kinda weak.

 

Ash - haven't played since the last buff, but has some good utility and speed, great for farming while leveling melee.

 

Loki - really suprised he is down at mid, radial disarm is pretty bad (rarely use it), but the other 3 powers are awesome.

 

Rhino - charge is good for getting him around, iron skin needs to be actual invincability again, radial blast is weak, stomp was cool til bastille came out.

 

Volt - only good for corpus ship missions against corpus.

 

Mag - crush is perfect for mobile defence, just enough damage to kill them in 1 hit, great range, realatively fast cast. Pull was OK but difficult to use/justify. shield disruptor was terrible, and bullet attractor asside from using it with radial javalin was a waste.

[ava0905]

RHINO has become a really poor X(

Edited June 25, 2013 by ava0905

[Notso]

You know that Rhino stomp has double the radius the Vaubeard's Bastille, right? It may not stop enemies that walk into it after it's up, but with stretch it's insane. Every ability the Rhino has except their Ironskin brings CC to the table. A well-played Rhino is far and away from a 1 in high-wave endless defense, and I believe a group that posted on these forums breaking wave 120 or 130 had a Rhino on the team.

 

Rhino Stomp is instantaneous but Bastille stops anybody coming into it for its duration. After you pop RS mobs outside the radius can walk in freely.

[AnonMD]

https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/69519-yknow-what-volt-needs/

[J.C.Santos]

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?

 

Hmm, agree with Vauban. I don't go as far as to say he should be nerfed but right now he's basically one of the most overpowered no doubt. Everytime I get a Vauban on defense it's always super fun with all his shenanigans but it's also super easy which reveals how overpowered he might be. With the "High Tier", completely agree because those four Warframes are really good but I would probably include Trinity. Never playied with her but I think she's quite useful and actually really good when playied but someone that knows her well. Mid tier, nothing against. For low and useless tier, kinda agree. Rhino lost a bit of it's power which is a shame, Volt only has one true good ability and even that ability doesn't reach the same potential as Miasma or Sound Quake. About Mag, I see Crush being the only useful ability on her but on lower levels so I think it's correct.

[CharginTarge]

I have every single frame in the game, all potatoed, some polarized.

From what i see.

 

High Tier.

 

1. Vauban ( Good Crowd control and damage abilities but low survivability) ( the bounce skill is my gripe here it's funny but i'd rather have a turret )

2. Frost. (  High  survivability, really good on defense missions, okay damage abilities, slow as hell and squishy ) ( first 2 abilities pointless )

3. Excalibur ( Average survivability, decent damage potential, decent mobility/utility, weak crowd control abilities ) ( free from start )

4. Banshee ( Good AOE board clearing ultimate, Decent utility abilities, average survivability. ) ( hard to farm. ) ( Those shoes man. )

 

Mid Tier

 

1. Nyx ( Decent survivabilty, good crowd control, great ult when works , average mobility ) ( first 2 skills kinda useless) ( no quick nukes )

2. Loki ( low survivability, good utility and mobility ( fastest frame in the game ) ( good for soloing ) ( Useless in pvp ) ( Dat helmet ) ( Dat alt helmet )

3. Trinity ( okay survivability, good supportive abilities, low mobility/utility, no crowd control to speak of. ) ( Best tank the the game cough.. cough )

4. Volt ( Decent survivability, really high mobility, situational ultimate. ) ( first skill needs a change. ) ( Third skill could use a buff alongside ult )

 

Pointless tier ( aka others do that job already )

1. Ember ( average survivability, low mobility, no utility, no late game spells, trivial crowd control. ) ( Banshee does your job better. ) 

2. Rhino ( high survivability, decent crowd control, really low mobility. ) ( Trinity tanks better ) ( Vauban has better crowd control ) ( Casts Fist at least

3. Mag If pressing 4 makes you feel good look no further.

 

I know ash is missing that' cause he ( good or bad ) is my fav frame so i decided to devote more time to this one.

EDIT: gonna do that later it's late here e.e

 

So, Saryn belongs to the invisible tier then? ;)

[scavenge]

Hmm I don't see Vauban as this overpowered but then again I only really used him for pluto type defenses.

He's good and fun but not that god-uber-power-tier'ish.

[weezedog]

There really is only 2 tiers: Mandatory and Other

There are certain frames that you must have on your team to be successful in higher tier content. This includes:

 

Banshee - Sonar

Frost - Snowglobe

Nyx - Chaos

 

If infested, you could substitute Nyx for Vauban for Bastille.

 

All other frames would fall into the Other category. Lots of other frames have abilities that could be useful on your team (Trinity, Saryn etc) but they generally aren't absolutely necessary for success.

Edited June 25, 2013 by weezedog

[Troublechutor]

This list can't be all inclusive with regards to level design + utility.  

 

If it is, then Loki has to be top tier (god tier?) because with essence helmet and max energy/utility mods, loki is e-z mode.  Quite simply can not be killed/stopped and will have his way with any mission in the game with multiple paths of execution.  The only area where he falls apart is solo-defense (from my experience) because invis breaks aggro which then targets the pod/artifact and decoys are not 100% effective in holding aggro.

 

Regardless, I have no doubt that with skillful play, every frame out there can be top-tier quality because "story mode" missions snap together in ways that allow anyone with a brain to succeed with once they have the right kit to do them.  The only real dividing line is endless defense because at some stage, some wave number, some map layout... every frame will be pushed to it's breaking point.  In solo play, Loki has real problems with high wave count defense missions simply due to how aggro swapping/holding works against his strong points, but in team play I see Loki + anything as a massive boon to the late game wave mechanics.

 

I'm also bias because I only play loki :p

Carry on 

[Mhak]

Rhino Stomp is instantaneous but Bastille stops anybody coming into it for its duration. After you pop RS mobs outside the radius can walk in freely.

And I said "It may not stop enemies that walk into it after it's up, but with stretch it's insane." I was talking about the trade-off of how RS doesn't stop enemies that walk into it's AoE after the skill is used but in exchange gets double the radius. Granted not a completely fair trade-off, I'd say Bastille is still better overall, but not by a wide margin when RS can have nearly a 30 meter radius which is damn impressive.

[weezedog]

RS needs to slow enemies down that enter into it, like it's a bubble of slowed time. New enemies wouldn't be knocked off their feet, and they still would be able to shoot (at a greatly reduced fire rate) but that would make it a more useful CC. To compensate though, it would need it's range reduced a bit. I would say increase the duration from 9 to 15 seconds and drop the range to 15 meters.

Edited June 25, 2013 by weezedog

[King_p]

I chose mag as my first warframe and oblivious to the fact that crash is mostly useless against any high level enemies I put a potato in. my next warframe is going to be trinity so hopefully i can make up for my mistake. I would love to see mag get buffed possibly make pull able to go though fences or guard rails. I have most often found myself trying to pull an enemy off a higher platform only for it to fall down were it is.  

[CerebrateJoe]

I own every frame except for Frost/Frost Prime (just need that system) and I have to admit.  This is spot on.  When I see at least one of the high tier frames at the start of defense, I know its going to be a good run.  When I see the others, I know I'll have to bring by best game.  I don't hate anyframe.  I even love my Mag.  But without crush, stretch, and the Coil Mag helm, and Focus she's not very impressive.

 

I want to applaud the creators of this.  And, after watching the latest livestream, I know the designers noticed it too.

[Xathule]

My friend plays a ash and in tier 3 void he has no probs and that ment to be the hardest thing and as for team support well you don't need to support if everything is dead. also loki needs his own tier above the mag =\

[SnokyoDrift]

 I would love to see mag get buffed possibly make pull able to go though fences or guard rails. I have most often found myself trying to pull an enemy off a higher platform only for it to fall down were it is.  

 

Oh I seriously hope they fix this. Mag can pull a lancer over a rail in the first trailer for the game but can't even do it in game? Fortunately they reverted into in-game only animations for the current trailer, but this is something that just needs to be in the game.

[WarG0d]

I chose mag as my first warframe and oblivious to the fact that crash is mostly useless against any high level enemies I put a potato in. my next warframe is going to be trinity so hopefully i can make up for my mistake. I would love to see mag get buffed possibly make pull able to go though fences or guard rails. I have most often found myself trying to pull an enemy off a higher platform only for it to fall down were it is.  

 

Oh boy, next stop...disappointment.

[X3Evanescence]

Me? I agree with the ratings on all the Warframes (Why oh why Rhino thy fallen King) and I have basically tried out almost all the frames while playing between multiple accounts, and I can say that Vauban's spot in the highly privileged God Tier is well deserved for him.

 

A nerf? I believe he is quite fine in almost all aspects, both in dueling and normal gameplay. Just a few tweaks to his crash-inducing Vortex (I believe that was fixed) will be sufficient.

 

For the Middle Tier Warframes (Excalibur, it's okay, you will get your chance next time.) Just a few tweaks is needed for some warframes' skills. But they are pretty well-deserved though. Trinity may be in Mid-Tier, but her usefulness transcends her tier and renders her still an invaluable teammate to have in HWD and Tier 3 Void Missions.

 

The high tier is also a privileged spot. Frost maintains his superior role as the King of Defence, with his ever so useful Snow Globe, a decent ultimate and two more decent skills which are mostly defence based. Banshee is easily the most versatile frame despite the nerf to her Uber. With a skill to spare for almost every situation, Banshee's spot in high tier is well deserved. Nyx remains extremely powerful as a warframe. Her ultimate, Absorb, is a broken skill at the moment and she has a useless skill in Psychic Bolts, but one skill sets her apart from the other warframes, Chaos. Although it is nerfed, it is arguably one of the best skills in the game, which has the ability to turn the tide over on seemingly impossible situations. For these Warframes, only Nyx requires a small fix for her Uber, and these frames are already close to perfection, remaining fierce competitors for the God-Tier.

 

The low tier Warframes need attention. Volt does not fulfill his role as the alternative to gunplay with his skills being near useless, especially Shock. Overload and Speed has their uses, but sort of loses out when taking on some of the tougher factions in the game. Rhino, who had fallen into low tier due to the massive nerf to his core skill, Iron Skin, and the introduction of Vauban's Bastille proving to be the superior CC skill over Rhino's Ultimate, also is in desperate need for a rework.

 

Mag is an unfortunate Warframe, overlooked by the DE for a long time. With other Warframes overshadowing the uses of her skills, with the only liable skill being Crush, she is absolutely "Crushed" due to her lack of utility in most situations, outside of using crush. This is the Warframe that requires the most attention, people.

[Strykar]

I have only played Ash and Excalibur and haven't played Ash enough to speak of its merits.

 

Excalibur on the other hand, I've played alongside all the other frames brought by my clan and I feel could some love.

Radial Jump: Allow it to increase the damage or knockback of weapons when ended by ground slamming a weapon.

Radial Blind: Decrease its power cost or increase the base range. It's duration seems a bit short when Ancients are swarming around.

 

Someone hit the spot earlier in this thread, team-play, target selection, timing and aim factor in to make the biggest difference in the harder waves.

Excalibur's health is what makes him weak against Ancients, so that's a forma'd slot for Vitality gone.

Fix Radial Blind, it's a fun frame to play maxed out even now.

[khorcal]

I have all frames other than Trinity and Loki, most to 30 other than Mag. I would have to agree with the OPs rating mostly.

 

After writing up a long post I read the whole thread and saw my points had already been made several times so I'll just make a couple points

 

Nyx, I'd like an aiming fix on Psychic Bolts so they don't miss so often but otherwise she's good as is.

 

I don't play frost as I think Freeze and Ice Wave are mostly useless and I like using the lower tier abilities.

 

The problem that makes Vauban OP is Bastille on Defense missions, other than that I think he's fine. Telsa can be a little too good at times, but they are limited at other times so balanced.

 

Rhino needs some work, the Iron Skin nerf was too hard and his Ult is now unreliable so I just don't bother with it. If Iron Skin could be balanced better and his Ult be fixed/reworked I think he'd be a lot better.

 

Volt needs a buff to both Shock and Overload

 

Mag needs some help, seriously needs some help

 

 

 

 

[Stafer]

I know most about most frames, and yeah this list is basically right in all respects.

My favourite, and most frequented frame is Rhino, so I'll say a word on that frame. His iron skin nerf was not a huge turnoff for me, the aggro does screw you over, so sometimes it's better to just not use it at all, but I do value its knockdown/stun immunity. For his AoE skills, well... if the iron skin nerf was to pronounce him to play an intended crowd control role, then those respective skills should get about a 30% increase in base range, certainly rhino stomp should out-range bastille. All in all, Rhino just needs to see a bit of improvements and he's gold.

I've also heard rhino stomp and radial blast are going to be mixed into one skill in the near future, and I am thrilled, and eager to see what great new (hopefully ult) skill DE has in store for Rhino.

[Notso]

certainly rhino stomp should out-range bastille.

 

It does.

[LazerusKI]

I have all frames other than Trinity and Loki, most to 30 other than Mag. I would have to agree with the OPs rating mostly.

 

After writing up a long post I read the whole thread and saw my points had already been made several times so I'll just make a couple points

 

Nyx, I'd like an aiming fix on Psychic Bolts so they don't miss so often but otherwise she's good as is.

 

I don't play frost as I think Freeze and Ice Wave are mostly useless and I like using the lower tier abilities.

 

The problem that makes Vauban OP is Bastille on Defense missions, other than that I think he's fine. Telsa can be a little too good at times, but they are limited at other times so balanced.

 

Rhino needs some work, the Iron Skin nerf was too hard and his Ult is now unreliable so I just don't bother with it. If Iron Skin could be balanced better and his Ult be fixed/reworked I think he'd be a lot better.

 

Volt needs a buff to both Shock and Overload

 

Mag needs some help, seriously needs some help

Freeze can be usefull if you want to revive someone in a bossfight

Ice Wave...i dont know, it can be usefull against infested waves, but i dont use it.

Vaubans Bastille is the equivalent to Frosts Snowglobe.

Frost gives you Ultimate Defense agaisnt ranged, Vauban gives you Ultimate Defence against Melee. I dont see a problem with that, Frost is even stronger, because it slows the Melee guys. Vauban is useless against grineer and Corpus, they can just outrange it.

If there would be a Ranged-Infested...pray to your god if you dont have Frost in your round.

Edited July 1, 2013 by LazerusKI

[Duralumin]

High Tier:

Vauban - [Not studied enough, but from what I've seen he's strong]

Banshee - Sonar helps decimate ancients, Sound Quake helps mop up light mobs, Sonic Boom keeps stuff away from the pod. Silence sucks.

Trinity - Best tank in the game, hands down.

Excalibur - Slash Dash, Radial Blind and general high mobility

Loki - Utility and GOING FAAAAST

 

Mid Tier

Frost - Snow Globe is god tier for defense, but everything else about him is lackluster.

Nyx - Used to be high tier, but with the "power in use" thingie added to Chaos, she's become meh.

Saryn - Miasma is good, but everything else is just... meh.

 

Low Tier

Ember - Only good against infested, terrible against other factions.

Ash - Only redeeming things are his stats and Invisibility, everything else is lackluster.

Mag - Bullet Attractor draws fire away from weakpoints, Crush has an incredibly long casting animation and is weakened by armour, Shield Polarize is too expensive.

Volt - Electrical damage is resisted by lots of things. Speed makes the camera trip out.

Rhino - Iron Skin has a cap which is reached in seconds at higher enemy levels. Rhino Charge is an inferior Slash Dash. Slow as molasses yet shares shield and health capacity with many supposedly "lighter" frames.

Edited July 1, 2013 by Duralumin