Un-Official Warframe Tier List

[SinLortuen]

From my perspective the tierlist goes like this (for defense missions):

 

High Tier:

Nyx: Chaos is the best CC in the game. It's great against any level of mobs.

Vauban: Bastille is a beast if the player knows what he's doing. Can keep any faction in check and not only infested as many people claim.

Frost: Yeah globe is a must in every party.

Rhino: Replaces Banshee as his ulti has great range, damage and CC and he has more survivability overall.

 

Mid Tier:

Saryn: Best damage skill in the game. Still outclassed by the new Rhino Stomp because Miasma won't CC anything.

Ember: Good until wave 30-35. Overheat makes him mid tier to be honest.

Banshee: Dropped a tier because of the Rhino buff. Still good for some extra CC and damage through Sonar.

Trinity: Providing health and energy for the party is a great role. But nothing on killing.

 

Low Tier:

Loki: Good for keeping the aggro from the cryopod with Decoy until wave 15-20 but really nothing more.

Ash: Has good survivability but I really hate Warframes that are good with only single targeting. Not to mention his ulti bug.

Excalibur: Offers nothing more than a straight line of damage.

Volt: Even after the "buff" he won't do much damage to anything else than Corpus. 

Mag: The "buff" didn't matter at all. Her only decent skill is crush which can kill everything in early waves and seem like to CC everything in a huge range in later waves.

 

NOTE1: This tierlist is only for defense missions.

NOTE2: I have almost all warframes and I have seen all of them in action used by good players.

NOTE3: Imo there is no god and useless tier. Everyone is usefull to an extend and no one is "zomg banz dis NAW".

Edited July 11, 2013 by SinLortuen

[fishworshipper]

O_O I think I fixed it

I think you completely butchered it.

EDIT: Also, the OP needs to update the tier list :P

Edited July 11, 2013 by fishworshipper

[Rei_Ikari]

I just think its sad that a proper discussion cant be made without rabbid fanboys/girls coming in getting all butthurt that their favorite frames are deemed lacklustre. Its one thing to like your frame to bits, but another to be able to objectively evaluate it in the current climate; eg: i love excab, but i'll rate it lower on the tier since his only really usefull skills when things get bad is radial blind and prehaps radial jav. 

That said, a friend and i were having a rather passionate discussion about team lineup in defense missions. He argued for a lineup of 2X saryn, vauban/frost (depending on situation) and a trinity, while I went for a Nyx, Saryn, Frost/vauban and Trinity. His opinion was that having saryn was enough in endless defense given that those 2 tactical nukes were the game breaker, while Nyx wasnt neccessary as her mind control was 'slow and useless' and chaos being her only valid skill. In essence, Nyx was a slow and boring approach to endless wave which saryn presented a quick and simple answer to. 

On the other hand, i argued for Nyx's importance due to her excellent crowd control skills, being able to use mind control to manipulate the field (eg; using it to slow down mod movement in one area, or taking over a heavy grineer to stun enemies ). Chaos should be obvious enough, while Absorb was arguably questionable as its extremely buggy now. In essence, with a trinity around for endless energy, Nyx's utility value outshines Saryn's dmg's potential in the very long run. Hence, you only need 1 Saryn to run around and spam miasma, while nyx's keeps controlling the field condition to ensure stability. 

Tl;Dr: endless defense tier list: Nyx,Saryn,Vauban/frost,trinity VS 2XSaryn,Vauban/frost,Trinity. Which line up would work better?

Any thoughts? In a way, this also links back to the tier list, in which i personally felt that Trinity should be higher up in the list too. 

Edited July 11, 2013 by Rei_Ikari

[hobolyra]

I just think its sad that a proper discussion cant be made without rabbid fanboys/girls coming in getting all butthurt that their favorite frames are deemed lacklustre. Its one thing to like your frame to bits, but another to be able to objectively evaluate it in the current climate; eg: i love excab, but i'll rate it lower on the tier since his only really usefull skills when things get bad is radial blind and prehaps radial jav. 

That said, a friend and i were having a rather passionate discussion about team lineup in defense missions. He argued for a lineup of 2X saryn, vauban/frost (depending on situation) and a trinity, while I went for a Nyx, Saryn, Frost/vauban and Trinity. His opinion was that having saryn was enough in endless defense given that those 2 tactical nukes were the game breaker, while Nyx wasnt neccessary as her mind control was 'slow and useless' and chaos being her only valid skill. In essence, Nyx was a slow and boring approach to endless wave which saryn presented a quick and simple answer to. 

On the other hand, i argued for Nyx's importance due to her excellent crowd control skills, being able to use mind control to manipulate the field (eg; using it to slow down mod movement in one area, or taking over a heavy grineer to stun enemies ). Chaos should be obvious enough, while Absorb was arguably questionable as its extremely buggy now. In essence, with a trinity around for endless energy, Nyx's utility value outshines Saryn's dmg's potential in the very long run. Hence, you only need 1 Saryn to run around and spam miasma, while nyx's keeps controlling the field condition to ensure stability. 

Tl;Dr: endless defense tier list: Nyx,Saryn,Vauban/frost,trinity VS 2XSaryn,Vauban/frost,Trinity. Which line up would work better?

Any thoughts? In a way, this also links back to the tier list, in which i personally felt that Trinity should be higher up in the list too. 

 

The fact almost all ED map lists would use these similar make ups show what frames have better later game aplication over the rest...

Then again only Miasma (if those @(*()$ pustules would break, Venom) and Molt is usefull as Saryn, and snowglobe as frost.

[Eirshy]

Honestly, I feel Banshee deserves consideration for god status... Entirely because of Sonar.

 

Sonic Boom?

Good NO button, but meh most of the time.

 

Silence?

Trash.

 

Soundquake?

Meh.

 

SONAR though?

~15 seconds of a 6.5x damage amp on a random spot on an enemy when focus'd and continuity'd for 35-50 energy and in a 30-45 meter radius. Combine with a weapon that bypasses armor, and gee @(*()$ gee. You can oneshot level 7x grineer heavy gunners with that Snidal we just all got, without even maxing it.

 

 

 

The only reasons I can see against Sonar putting her there are:

 

The bug where any other texture overlay can override the splotch's vfx (the damage amp spot still exists, but good luck finding it).

 

How it's not completely clear where you need to shoot unless you main Shee for a good while.

 

And how if it doesn't pick the actual weakpoint you need an armor-bypassing weapon against level 6x+ enemies (but most people use those anyways when going against 6x+ enemies, so that doesn't really matter at the current moment)

[Verazix]

SONAR though?

~15 seconds of a 6.5x damage amp on a random spot on an enemy when focus'd and continuity'd for 35-50 energy and in a 30-45 meter radius. Combine with a weapon that bypasses armor, and gee @(*()$ gee. You can oneshot level 7x grineer heavy gunners with that Snidal we just all got, without even maxing it.

 

 

 

The only reasons I can see against Sonar putting her there are:

 

The bug where any other texture overlay can override the splotch's vfx (the damage amp spot still exists, but good luck finding it).

 

How it's not completely clear where you need to shoot unless you main Shee for a good while.

 

And how if it doesn't pick the actual weakpoint you need an armor-bypassing weapon against level 6x+ enemies (but most people use those anyways when going against 6x+ enemies, so that doesn't really matter at the current moment)

As much as I love Sonar, it's still a bit situational. The spread on most guns will disallow you from consistently hitting it, and a sniper rifle will already one shot anything that isn't a boss (which some bosses can be one shot without Sonar) or high end defense. So it's basically amazing on bosses/high end defense, but not really worth mention anywhere else because you can already clear entire rooms in seconds.

Though you did just teach me something new, Sonar scales with Focus? Wasn't aware at all.

[Aure7]

The problem with this tier list is that you are saying mid-high tier means they are in a good spot but several of the mid-high tier frames are there because their ultimate or some other ability is ridiculously strong while their other powers are hardly used (frost snow globe and miasma). The Vauban seems like the only frame where people like and use all it's powers (don't have one so I can't give any personal experience).

THIS

[Ganpot]

The problem with this tier list is that you are saying mid-high tier means they are in a good spot but several of the mid-high tier frames are there because their ultimate or some other ability is ridiculously strong while their other powers are hardly used (frost snow globe and miasma). The Vauban seems like the only frame where people like and use all it's powers (don't have one so I can't give any personal experience).

 

The tier list is supposed to give an indication of the overall quality of a frame.  Every single frame has at least one sub-par ability (even Vauban: Bounce Pad never should have been nerfed because it was already his most niche ability.  I'm not saying it's useless; it just doesn't make sense to use it (outside of trolling or personal mobility) when Bastille costs only 25 more energy).  Unfortunately, the devs seem to have taken notice of the tier list while not fully understanding why each frame is placed where it is. 

 

The only way we are going to fix that problem is to create a new thread which evaluates each individual power without commenting on the overall frames themselves.  The sooner we (the community) can organize that, the better. 

[Oizen]

Im not so sure I feel Frost is a Top Teir.

 

I mean, his only good skill in higher levels is snowglobe, and thats only on grineer/corpus. Hell Ice wave and Avalanche barely touch their HP bars

Edited July 11, 2013 by Oizen

[GTG3000]

The tier list is supposed to give an indication of the overall quality of a frame.  Every single frame has at least one sub-par ability (even Vauban: Bounce Pad never should have been nerfed because it was already his most niche ability.  I'm not saying it's useless; it just doesn't make sense to use it (outside of trolling or personal mobility) when Bastille costs only 25 more energy).  Unfortunately, the devs seem to have taken notice of the tier list while not fully understanding why each frame is placed where it is. 

 

The only way we are going to fix that problem is to create a new thread which evaluates each individual power without commenting on the overall frames themselves.  The sooner we (the community) can organize that, the better. 

 

That would be good to do, but that's a plenty of work. Guess we should make something of a public google doc so that a few people can work on it. Or just start a thread and accomodate what people tell about the abilities into the OP.

 

I don't own every warframe (yet), and I can't pretend to have spent enough time with each I do have to say anything about the ablities for most of them, so I won't take the torch.

Edited July 11, 2013 by GTG3000

[InFlames]

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 disagree totally. Vauban is not even close to be a "god" frame or whatever.

Rhino belongs to the Top tier with vauban as well, mag goes up to the middle ones the rest it's okay.

[ShardsSuperior]

I finally got a Streamline mod on my Ember. Combined with Flow, Phoenix helm, and Focus

So I'm on Xini, farming for Continuity to finish out my Ember. I usually cast World on Fire and Fireblast while next to the pod, burning the few enemies that make it past my tunnel camping the tunnels.

On wave 15, I decided to just screw defending the pod - one of my teammates, a Vauban, I think, was there, so I didn't feel too guilty.

I cast World on Fire and Overheat... And walked up to the clump of 5 Ancients, including 3 Toxics. Ran straight through them, then back again after basically looking at a few light Infested. They died so quickly... Which makes me think that Ember is REALLY, REALLY powerful against Infested.

Then I tried the same strategy against Grineer on Kiste. Basically same result.

What does that mean to you?

[Rei_Ikari]

I finally got a Streamline mod on my Ember. Combined with Flow, Phoenix helm, and Focus

So I'm on Xini, farming for Continuity to finish out my Ember. I usually cast World on Fire and Fireblast while next to the pod, burning the few enemies that make it past my tunnel camping the tunnels.

On wave 15, I decided to just screw defending the pod - one of my teammates, a Vauban, I think, was there, so I didn't feel too guilty.

I cast World on Fire and Overheat... And walked up to the clump of 5 Ancients, including 3 Toxics. Ran straight through them, then back again after basically looking at a few light Infested. They died so quickly... Which makes me think that Ember is REALLY, REALLY powerful against Infested.

Then I tried the same strategy against Grineer on Kiste. Basically same result.

What does that mean to you?

What it means to me is that you were probably mistaken, considering that only world of fire only hits 3 enemies I'm surprised 5 ancients fell, unless of course those additional 2 died of horror at seeing their friends being immolated to death. 

Ember currently belongs where she is, unless of course they buff her 4th skill to become a AOE effect then that will be a different story. She belongs to the nuke side of the frames, wherein she is currently only moderate when seen in relation to saryn. 

Edit: or probably the new Rhino too, with his new stomp. 

Edited July 12, 2013 by Rei_Ikari

[ShardsSuperior]

What it means to me is that you were probably mistaken, considering that only world of fire only hits 3 enemies I'm surprised 5 ancients fell, unless of course those additional 2 died of horror at seeing their friends being immolated to death.

Ember currently belongs where she is, unless of course they buff her 4th skill to become a AOE effect then that will be a different story. She belongs to the nuke side of the frames, wherein she is currently only moderate when seen in relation to saryn.

Edit: or probably the new Rhino too, with his new stomp.

Hmmm... I think I got 2 ticks in. Once as I rushed towards them, and once as I rushed through them.

Also, Mobile Defense enemies are usually weaker than wave 20 Xini enemies.

Edited July 12, 2013 by ShardsSuperior

[Deaths.Reap3r]

Im very sorry but at the moment Rhino is no where near where you place him on this list. He should be right under God tier. Solid solid pick now. Im loving him to death as my new main frame.

DAFAQ? LOKI AND VAUBAN IN USELESS AoE TIER?????

AND RHINO IN GOD TIER?

DA HELL YOU SMOKING?

Edited July 12, 2013 by Deaths.Reap3r

[LazerusKI]

Rhinos uber seems to be Armor Ignore now, so he is at the same level that Saryn is.

Maybe even higher, with his Roar he is usefull for his group, his Stomp is no Armor Ignore and CC, and his Iron Skin has no timelimit anymore.

so yes, Rhino could be God now, like Saryn.

 

Vauban is in High Tier in my opinion, Loki is very situational...you dont want Loki in defense, but for a boss-rush he is a god.

[Ganpot]

Rhinos uber seems to be Armor Ignore now, so he is at the same level that Saryn is.

Maybe even higher, with his Roar he is usefull for his group, his Stomp is no Armor Ignore and CC, and his Iron Skin has no timelimit anymore.

so yes, Rhino could be God now, like Saryn.

 

Vauban is in High Tier in my opinion, Loki is very situational...you dont want Loki in defense, but for a boss-rush he is a god.

 

Rhino definitely isn't god-tier, although I suppose he's probably high tier.  Iron Skin still doesn't scale well, and Sonar is still theoretically better than Roar (assuming your team knows how to aim).  Saryn was also never considered god-tier, since she lacks a lot of crowd-control (yes, Miasma stuns for 3-4 seconds, but that's not a lot). 

 

Vauban is usually considered God tier because Bastille and Vortex are two of the best crowd control skills in the game, and Tesla is great for spawn camping in defense (before higher waves). 

 

Lastly, Loki is actually decent for defense when combined with a Vauban.  Loki places his Decoy down, enemies swarm it, and Vauban throws down a Vortex (and Loki can also use Radial Disarm to force Grineer and Corpus to get into Vortex range).  He's still not amazing, but he's not as useless as say, Ash or Mag. 

[Sterbefix]

what about nova?

[JustAnotherRougeAI]

Haha. I guess I have good taste in warframes, then. Currently have Banshee, Frost Prime, and Nyx. Hooray for high tier!

[Empiren]

Am i missing something?

MIasma is a nuke, but it won't outright kill level 70+ heavy mobs or anything. Its still just cannon-fodder  ish stuff, which any ogris still does a better job with if you have the shot.

[Frostmire]

Am i missing something?

MIasma is a nuke, but it won't outright kill level 70+ heavy mobs or anything. Its still just cannon-fodder  ish stuff, which any ogris still does a better job with if you have the shot.

Ya , you can apply the same arguement to ( almost) all AoE ultimate

 

That gun is just godlike .

[philleapa]

I disagree i think God Tier would be, Rhino, Vauban, Nyx, Trinity, Saryn

 

Mid Tier:  Frost, Banshee Ember, Excalibur, Ash, Loki, Mag

 

Useless: Volt

 

Haven't Used: Nova

 

Vauban beat's volt in just about ever situation, Mag isn't useless I love mag, my first warframe, high shields, saved plenty of lives with pull, bullet attractor great when team is being mowed down by a boss and you need to revive, shield polarize is just awesome, with the new update mag is freaking amazing,

[NessOnett]

I think people severely underrate Mag due to a clear lack of understanding of how her skills work now. And by that I mean pull. Pull is the most stupidly overpowered skill against any grounded unit, especially melee ones(aka all infested). As it basically instantly kills them. Either through pulling them off a cliff where they fall and die. Or pulling them to an elevated area that their AI doesn't know how to get them out of. Now that it's an AOE, I've seen mags pull level 200+ enemies by the dozens to instant death. And if that is what qualifies as "useless" these days then I don't know what people want.

 

It may be mildly situational, and it may require knowledge of the map you're on to position properly. But given the benefit of it, it's worth the learning curve.

 

 

So does anyone care to explain why Xcal is in mid tier? He's pretty awful. Low base stats, terrible damage skills, bad utility. One skill that's completely worthless. What redeeming qualities does he have?

Edited July 16, 2013 by NessOnett

[ShardsSuperior]

I think people severely underrate Mag due to a clear lack of understanding of how her skills work now. And by that I mean pull. Pull is the most stupidly overpowered skill against any grounded unit, especially melee ones(aka all infested). As it basically instantly kills them. Either through pulling them off a cliff where they fall and die. Or pulling them to an elevated area that their AI doesn't know how to get them out of. Now that it's an AOE, I've seen mags pull level 200+ enemies by the dozens to instant death. And if that is what qualifies as "useless" these days then I don't know what people want.

 

It may be mildly situational, and it may require knowledge of the map you're on to position properly. But given the benefit of it, it's worth the learning curve.

 

 

So does anyone care to explain why Xcal is in mid tier? He's pretty awful. Low base stats, terrible damage skills, bad utility. One skill that's completely worthless. What redeeming qualities does he have?

Enemies don't die when they're pulled off cliffs anymore. They respawn somewhere else, just like Tenno.

Excalibur has decent utility. Slash Dash gets you out of situations, fast. radial blind has decent crowd control.

[ra9una]

I don't really think that the gaps between the frames is so large you should call them tiers. But, with nightmare mode here, and other challenges on the way it would be nice to see some less popular/powerful frames get a little boost.