Highlights
- Warframe offers a diverse range of characters, each with unique abilities and playstyles, including defensive Frames that excel at protecting and surviving in missions.
- Vauban, Nekros, Nidus, Hildryn, Wisp, Khora, Gara, Grendel, Equinox, Banshee, Octavia, Nova, Saryn, Limbo, and Frost are all powerful defensive Warframes that players can choose from.
- Each of these Warframes has distinct abilities and strategies for defense missions, such as summoning contraptions, raising fallen enemies, manipulating enemies with sound, or creating protective barriers.
One of the best things about Warframe is the range of characters that players have to choose from. These characters, called Warframes (hence the name), can vary from great damage dealers, tanks, and sneaky spies that can get past enemies with ease.
This list's focus is on some of the best defensive Frames in the game. These Warframes can take on defensive missions with ease or can help other allies survive these missions. Some of these Warframes can cause mass destruction as well. While the best is still up to the player, this can be a general idea for players looking to start out. What are the Warframes for defense missions?
Updated September 26, 2023, By C.M Edwards: Warframe has remained a successful MMORPG with a dedicated player base with some of the most unique and innovative systems among most MMOs on the market. Warframe sets itself apart from most MMOs thanks to its unique class system, a system that games like The First Descendent have started to imitate. Digital Extremes has gone above and beyond to consistently deliver fresh content into the game, along with frequent expansions on the game's story, while being free-to-play. Warframes is filled with individual character classes that are each uniquely crafted with special abilities and stats. Warframe constantly releases new characters into the game that excel at various mission types in the game. Here are more Warframes that are great for defense games.
15 Vauban
- Tesla Nervos: Summon roller grenade that will attach to enemies and pulse out damage
- Minelayer: Four variations of mines: Flechette, Tether, Vector Pad, Overdriver
- Photon Strike: A laser crashes down on top of enemies
- Bastille: Create a wide energy cage that raises enemies, making them immobile
When it comes to protecting a point, keeping enemies at bay, or completely wiping them out, Vauban is a great Warframe in all of these situations. Vauban is a methodical warframe that has a solution for any type of engagement with multiple types of abilities stacked on top of each other.
Capable of summoning special contraptions that can manipulate the battlefield with ease, Vauban's reach is nearly limitless when built correctly. When all else fails, and Vauban's countless contingencies are overcome, he can call down a powerful laser from the sky to reset the battlefield.
14 Neckros
- Soul Punch: Damage a target, and upon death, fire off a damaging projectile
- Terrify: Inflict Fear or nearby enemies
- Desecrate: Increase the amount of loot that affected enemies drop on death
- Shadows Of The Dead: Raise fallen enemies as specters to fight alongside Nekros
Nekros is the resident necromancer of Warframe, capable of ungodly summoning and enemy manipulation. One of the most used Warframes, Nekros can survive in defense games with a full squad or by himself, constantly raising the enemies he kills and using them to turn against their own kind.
Nekros can decay approaching enemies and slowly wither them away and use their remains as weapons. Even when the odds are against him, Nekros can fill his targets with fear and send them running for the hill, giving him time to recover.
13 Nidus
- Virulence: Stomp and create a path of fungus that damages enemies it passes through
- Larva: Fire a spread of infected fungus and pull nearby enemies; enemies killed are devoured
- Parasitic Link: Link to an enemy, mitigating damage and increasing ability strength
- Ravenous: infect a small area and summon parasites to seek enemies and damage them
Of all the warframes available in the game, Nidus is one of the hardest to take down. Nearly completely overtaken by infection, Nidus uses the vile and putrid power of the derelict to his own needs to steal life from enemies and increase its own. Nidus can summon mass gatherings of infected tentacles and pull in unsuspecting foes, feeding him power and stacking his stats higher and higher. Even after taking massive damage, Nidus can remain in the fight by sacrificing the enemies it's devoured in order to keep on fighting.
12 Hildryn
- Balefire: Fire off bolts of energy from Hildryn's shields
- Pillage: Drain energy from enemy shields and armor to increase her own and her ally's
- Haven: Create a boost shield around allies, increasing their protections
- Aegis Storm: Take off, and rain down heavy bombardments of Balefires
As far as support warframes go, Hildryn's is one of the most unique and excels in the tank class role of warframe among Rhino and Atlas. Hildryn draws upon the power of her shields and uses that power to boost her abilities and the abilities of her allies.
Hildryn can also drain the shields and armor of enemies to replenish her own power and overcharge her and her ally's shields. Forging this energy into damage, Hildryn can take to the air and rain down havoc over the entire battlefield, making her a great pick for grinding wide-area defense missions with sporadic enemy spawns.
11 Wisp
- Reservoirs: Creat wells that boost Wisp and ally capabilities
- Will-O-Wisp: Attach a wisp to a target, confusing them and allowing Wisp to teleport to the summons location
- Breach Surge: OIpen breaches in a wide area, damaging nearby enemies
- Sol Gate: Open a portal to the sun and fire a condensed stream of thermal energy
Wisp sits at the epitome of support frames but can also hold her own in a defense mission of reasonable level and with appropriate weaponry and build. The crown jewel of Wisp's kit is her ability to buff her allies and herself. By summoning up to three monoliths, Wisp can boost movement speed, rate of fire, Health regeneration, and create a damaging field that electrifies targets. On top of this, Wisp has excellent mobility, able to teleport reasonable distances, in addition to having great crowd control with her Breach Surge.
10 Khora
- Whipclaw ability lets Khora attack enemies with a whip
- Ensnare ability entangles an enemy, and any enemy who gets too close
- Venari ability summons Khora's pet and controls its posture
- Strangledome summons a dome of chains that entangles enemies who attempt to cross through it
In terms of defense, Khora has a dome that can be cast around the area to protect it from enemies trying to break in. The ability Strangledome casts a large dome of living metal that can catch enemies and keep them trapped. This ability can allow damage dealers in the group to easily pick off enemies one by one.
Khora also gets the added benefit of having two pets. One of these pets is the Warframe's faithful companion Venari. Venari can cycle through three postures: attack, protect, and heal. This gives an added benefit when playing any mission type.
9 Gara
- Shattered Lash ability lets out a whip of shattered glass
- Splinter Storm ability destroys Gara's armor, making it into a cloud of shattered glass that harms enemies and buffs allies
- Spectrorage ability traps enemies in a carousel of mirrors
- Mass Vitrify ability creates a ring of molten glass that hardens into a shield
Gara has a few abilities that can help when it comes to defense missions. The best, however, is Mass Vitrify. This ability creates a ring of molten glass that the player can control the size of. Enemies caught in the expanse of it are turned to crystal. Once it is placed, the glass hardens and protects allies from gunfire.
Gara can then use the Splinter Storm ability to shatter its armor and have it coat enemies with shards of glass. The Shattered Lash ability can also be used to break pieces of the glass ring and send shards flying at enemies.
8 Grendel
- Feast ability consumes enemies and uses them as energy
- Nourish ability consumes enemies inside Grendel and provides a buff to allies
- Regurgitate ability spits out enemies as projectiles
- Pulverize ability causes Grendel to curl up in a ball and run over enemies
Grendel was an interesting Warframe when he was added to the game. This Warframe is based on the idea of consuming the enemy for power. Recently, many players have discovered how powerful Grendel really is in defensive missions.
The key to this is Grendel's first ability, Feast. This ability allows Grendel to consume enemies. Stand atop the objective and use Feast to feed on any enemy who gets close. Once enough enemies are eaten, either spit them out and let them suffer the effect of stacked damage or use Nourish to buff all nearby allies.
7 Equinox
- Metamorphosis ability changes Equinox from day/night form to the opposite form
- Rest & Rage ability puts enemies to sleep in night form and makes them more vulnerable to damage in day form
- Pacify & Provoke ability reduces the damage of enemies in night form and increases the ally power strength in day form
- Mend & Maim ability heals allies for killing enemies in night form and damages enemies with slashing damage in day form
While a weird Frame, Equinox is effective in defense missions. The key to using this Warframe is the Mend and Maim ability. Equinox can become two different Frames with different abilities. While in Night Form, Equinox can use the Mend ability to heal all allies in the area based on the number of enemies killed.
While in Day Form, Equinox can use the Maim ability. This ability can have a massive area of effect that causes bleed damage to affect all of the enemies caught in the area. This damage stacks over time, and if a player uses the Maim ability a second time, it causes a wave of damage to wash over all the enemies. This can have the effect of instantly killing them all.
6 Banshee
- Sonic Boom ability emits a sonic shockwave that throws enemies off their feet
- Sonar ability highlights enemy weak spots
- Silence ability creates an aura that silences Banshee's moves and confuses enemies
- Sound Quake ability releases constant sonic shockwaves that damage enemies
Banshee uses sound to silence her opponents and cause destruction on the battlefield. This Frame is one of the best when it comes to damage during defense missions. The ability Sound Quake causes Banshee to shake the environment, knock enemies over, and deal massive damage.
This ability helps slow enemies down and can even kill them as they spawn. It's not perfect, and enemies can get through it, but it does come in handy when dealing with large numbers. The main downside to it is that it uses a ton of energy to keep it going.
5 Octavia
- Mallet ability inflicts damage on enemies to the beat of the mandachord
- Resonator ability spawns a ball that combines with the Mallet to create a rolling ball that damages enemies
- Metronome ability buffs allies who perform actions to the beat of the music
- Amp ability draws in energy from the sound level in the area to create a damage buff
Octavia, like Banshee, controls sound to create devastating anthems that can annihilate enemies. This Frame is perfect for defense missions because of how well all of its abilities work together. When the abilities Mallet, Resonator, and Metronome are combined, it creates a rolling ball of music that can destroy enemies.
As an added bonus, players can use the Amp ability to amplify Octavia's damage along with ally damage. This ability also amplifies the damage of Octavia's Mallet. Octavia's metronome also offers buffs to players who move in time with the music.
4 Nova
- Null Star ability spawns anti-matter particles that seek out enemies
- Antimatter Drop ability spawns an anti-matter particle that detonates when it collides with an enemy or shot
- Worm Hole ability spawns in a portal that enables allies to teleport
- Molecular Prime ability primes enemies to either speed them up or slow them down
Players typically build Nova in two ways: slow or fast. Both builds work around Nova's fourth ability, Molecular Prime. Molecular Prime increases or decreases the speed of all enemies in an area around the player. This is useful in defense because it can either make the mission go fast or take long.
People prefer to have a slow Nova, so they have time to shoot enemies and not have them reach the defense target. Some players do prefer not to have a Nova, but this Frame works well when a group knows what they are doing.
3 Saryn
- Spores ability inflicts an enemy with spores that spread to other enemies when shot
- Molt ability allows Saryn to shed her skin and leave a decoy behind
- Toxic Lash ability allows melee strikes to burst spores on inflicted enemies
- Miasma ability releases a toxic cloud that poisons and degrades enemies
Saryn's poison abilities can help any team out in a defense mission. The spores can easily overwhelm enemies and take them down before they can even reach the defense target. All a player needs to do to be effective is cast the Spores ability on an enemy and then shoot the spores.
This will cause the spores to spread to nearby enemies and overwhelm them. The Miasma ability will also release a lethal poison that can help take enemies down. Players can build Saryn to be a killing machine.
2 Limbo
- Banish ability displaces a target into the rift realm
- Stasis ability freezes enemies caught in the rift
- Rift Surge ability increases damage dealt to enemies who have been banished
- Cataclysm ability causes a dome of rift energy to surge outwards and expand before collapsing
Limbo is often played in the wrong way, but when played correctly, this Warframe can be devastating to enemies in defense missions. The main ability that everyone likes to focus on is Cataclysm. This is because Cataclysm causes a devastating amount of damage when used correctly.
Limbo and allies inside the Cataclysm are protected from gunfire and can still kill enemies. The other thing that makes the Cataclysm ability amazing is the energy return that Limbo and their allies get from killing enemies inside the rift.
1 Frost
- Freeze ability fires a shard of ice at an enemy and freezes them
- Ice Wave summons a wave of ice to hit multiple enemies at once
- Snow Globe ability summons a dome of ice that slows enemies who enter and blocks bullets
- Avalanche ability summons ice that envelopes all nearby enemies and shatters
Frost is the original defensive Warframe, so it is only natural that they are on this list. Despite there being so many new Frames that are relevant for defense missions, Frost remains one of the best, if not THE best.
The key to defending with Frost is using the Snow Globe ability. This ability creates a shield of ice around where Frost is standing. Place it on top of the defense area, and enemies won't be able to shoot inside. The best part about this is that allies can shoot out of the globe. This ability also slows down and freezes all enemies that enter it.
Warframe is available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Switch.