Players of Warframe don't just rely on the eponymous exosuits to defeat hordes of aliens in high-intensity battles. Aside from Warframe abilities, the player's Tenno wields a variety of weapons and gear to maximize their skillset. However, players shouldn't neglect an integral part of their Warframe builds: Mods.
Mods, also called Modules or Modifications, serve as "upgrades" to various elements of Warframe gameplay. Theoretically, players use Mods not just on their Warframes, but also on their Weapons and Companions to further improve a player's performance. Moreover, players can find Mods across various rarities, potencies, and synergies. Sadly, newcomers to Warframe might find its Mod System a bit overwhelming. However, for beginners, just which Mods should they prioritize trying out?
Updated on October 1, 2021, by Rhenn Taguiam: Warframe remains a unique title among its sci-fi companions thanks to its fast-paced action combat component. After all, not only do players get to wear various warsuits (Warframes) with different abilities.
Rather, they can use a variety of weapons and supplementary Mods to further customize their stats and even unleash powerful combos. Mods, in particular, are capable of granting Warframe various effects that could improve its performance in terms of exploration or certain aspects of combat. For players new to Warframe, certain Mods dominate the rest as must-haves to improve their experience.
15 Corrosive Projection (Uncommon)
A Warframe’s efficiency is best measured not by how creative their kits are, but by how fast they eliminate foes. With Corrosive Projection, a Warframe can penetrate an enemy’s defenses much faster. When equipped, Corrosive Projection can give up to an 18-percent reduction to enemy Armor. This should give a Warframe more damaging room when it comes to tearing through hordes of enemies.
Perhaps more interesting is the Mod’s stackable nature. If a fireteam of four Warframes has Corrosive Projection equipped, they can bestow up to 72-percent Armor reduction to enemies. This may be enough to tear through elite enemies and even bosses with ease.
14 Intensify (Rare)
Despite the many ways a Warframe can fight enemies, players rely on their chosen Warframe’s abilities to create their preferred rotations and mixups. Unfortunately, some abilities do tend to last too short to make much of a difference on the battlefield. The Continuity Mod changes this, as this can boost ability duration of up to 30-percent. Not only that, but the Mod comes with a hidden buff wherein ability costs can also get reduced up to 3.33-percent.
This Mod, befitting its Rare status, can easily become a game-changer against larger mobs, Elites, and even Bosses. When used properly, powerhouses such as Limbo can become much deadlier foes to face.
13 Stretch (Uncommon)
Players will almost always have a story where they could’ve won a duel if it weren’t for an ability that just couldn’t reach their target. Despite the efficiency of some Warframes, their ability ranges can become a detriment to how they perform in combat. With the Stretch Mod, players can get as much as a 45-percent range boost for their Warframe’s abilities.
While Stretch does extend the range of a Warframe’s abilities, it’s not recommended to use this when trying to reach a target from afar. Rather, Warframes should best use Stretch with AOE attacks. That way, they can land in the middle of the room and trigger an AOE burst - this time, with Stretch giving players the potential to hit almost everyone in the room.
12 Continuity (Rare)
A Warframe is only as effective as their specializations. Unfortunately, some Warframe abilities tend to last too short to make a difference in the firefight. Thanks to the Continuity Mod, a Warframe can get as much as a 30-percent boost to their ability duration. That way, a Warframe can maximize its ability usage when facing tougher foes.
Perhaps what makes Continuity more frightening is its stackable nature with other duration boosters. When stacked with Narrow Minded, Augur Message, and Constitution, players can get as much as a 181-percent boost in ability duration.
11 Ammo Case (Common)
Warframes that frequently engage multiple enemies in combat need weapons that reliably shoot bullets, and Ammo Case does exactly this when equipped with a Carrier. At its core, Ammo Case is a Carrier (Sentinel) Mod that gives up to a 25-percent boost to ammo capacity. Moreover, picking up any unused ammo pickups converts them into the appropriate ammo type for the weapon being used.
Despite its status as a Common Mod, Ammo Case enhances the efficiency of a Warframe’s equipped firearm. Given the advantage of ranged combat towards mobility, then Ammo Capacity can enhance a Warframe’s ranged potential.
10 Redirection (Common)
With the Redirection Mod, players enjoy increased Maximum Shield Capacity for their Warframe. A Rank 0 Redirection could give a measly 40-percent, whereas a Rank 10 Redirection could boost Maximum Shields for up to 440-percent. Players should remember that Shields naturally regenerate whereas HP doesn't. Meaning, it's much more beneficial to have higher Shields to guarantee safety instead of relying on higher HP numbers.
Thankfully, this Mod for Warframe beginners is a massive help. Essentially, the Orbiter gives players the Redirection Mod as soon as they activate the Mods console for the first time.
9 Vigilante Vigor (Common)
Aside from Maximum Shield Capacity, Shield Recharge ensures that players get their Shields up and running as soon as they need to. Thanks to the Vigilante Vigor Mod, players can get a 10-percent (Rank 0) and up to 60-percent (Rank 5) in Shield Recharge rate. Essentially, Warframes can recover their Shields faster in just a few seconds of escaping combat or taking cover. This is essential for high-intensity fights and even boss fights where players have to move in and out of cover quickly to recover.
Interestingly, Vigilante Vigor also stacks with other Shield Recharge enhancers. For instance, players can combine Vigilante Vigor with the Fast Deflection Mod and Fortitude Mod to get up to a whopping 230-percent recharge rate increase.
8 Vitality (Common)
Players soon realize that damage will only start chipping their Health once their Warframe's Shields run out. Sadly, unlike Shields, Health doesn't exactly regenerate. Thankfully, a Common Mod like the Vitality Mod can increase Health from a measly 40-percent (Rank 0) to as high as 440-percent (Rank 10).
Interestingly, players should also equip the Vitality Mod not just for its Health benefits. This Mod becomes a great asset against Toxin and Slash effects, two of the more common damage types in the game. Additionally, low-Shield frames such as Nidus and Inaros can benefit from the Health boost of the Vitality Mod. Likewise, high-armor Warframes could benefit from the synergy between the Vitality Mod and the Steel Fiber Mod.
7 Intruder (Common)
In Warframe, players often encounter locked rooms and alarms that could use a little Hacking. Depending on the species involved, players either need to solve a timing mini-game or a line-connecting mini-game to "hack" into systems. Sadly, in time-sensitive Sabotage Missions, the low-amount timers of these Hacking mini-games cause frustration among players. Thankfully, the Intruder Mod can easily increase the available time players need to hack. Essentially, the Intruder Mod adds eight more seconds to a hacking deadline - more than enough time for players to become successful.
Despite its simple nature, the Intruder Mod can become a lifesaver for most beginners. This is especially during times where players have yet to understand how to maneuver their Warframe in high-intensity Sabotage Missions.
6 Thief's Wit (Common)
As players progress in Warframe, they'd soon realize that they can almost always acquire any Warframe, Weapon, or even Mod they wish - provided they can find the resources to craft them. However, players can solve this dilemma with the Thief's Wit Mod. Essentially, this Mod enhances the minimap by displaying things such as lootable corpses, crates, chests, lootable canisters, and resources that players can acquire.
A base Thief's Wit Mod can have an effective range of 7 meters (Rank 0) and up to 42 meters (Rank 5). However, while it's simply a "loot map," it does highlight important elements in the map such as Cephalon Fragments. This makes the Thief's Wit Mod an essential Mod for any Warframe build that focuses on gathering resources.
5 Animal Instinct (Rare)
Albeit a Rare Mod, players should try their best to acquire the Animal Instinct Mod for their Companion to use. This Mod acts as a mini-map modification that enhances its detection abilities. Essentially, the Animal Instinct Mod provides Companions with the means of both loot detection and enemy detection - perfect for scouting missions and even farming encounters. The Animal Instinct Mod can provide base abilities of 5-meter loot radar and 3-meter enemy radar (Rank 0) and can reach as high as a 30-meter loot radar and an 18-meter enemy radar (Rank 5).
Players can acquire this Mod when embarking on higher-level Nightmare Mode missions. However, despite its rarity, players should try to acquire this Mod as it also synergizes with other loot radars such as the Thief's Wit and the Loot Detector Mod. When combined, their effective range can give players up to 102-meters of loot detection.
4 Enemy Sense (Rare)
Aside from the Animal Instinct Mod, players should try to obtain the Enemy Sense Mod as well. As the name implies, this Mod enables players to detect enemy movements within a particular range. For instance, players can detect enemies within a 5-meter (Rank 0) or up to 30-meter (Rank 10) range. Essentially, this detection Mod poses a huge advantage to players who want to clear Missions much quickly.
Additionally, the Enemy Sense Mod can also stack with the Enemy Radar Mod. Unlike the former, the latter serves as an Aura Mod. When equipped, players get an enhanced enemy detection effect of up to 60-meters.
3 Steel Fiber (Common)
Despite being more of an "invisible" stat, Armor remains an integral component of Warframe safety. Essentially, having higher armor drastically improves the damage mitigation capabilities of a Warframe. In turn, higher armor values give players some legroom to receive more damage before their Shields and HP get decreased. Thanks to the Steel Fiber Mod, players can further increase their Armor from 10-percent (Rank 0) to as high as 110-percent (Rank 10).
In turn, players who want to build more tankier Warframes should probably start investing in Armor-boosting Mods such as the Steel Fiber Mod. Players can obtain the Steel Fiber Mod by doing Cetus Bounty Missions or partaking in various Excavation and Survival Missions. Likewise, enemies such as the Nox, Crawler, and Tyl Regor can drop the Steel Fiber Mod with different drop rates.
2 Equilibrium (Uncommon)
Given the rarity of Health Orbs and Energy Orbs in Missions, players would want to maximize them as soon as they appear. Thanks to the Equilibrium Mod, players always get a bit of both Health and Energy regardless of the Orb they encounter. In turn, it can convert a measly 10-percent (Rank 0) or up to 110-percent (Rank 10) of any resource Orb into its counterpart. That way, players almost always benefit from the occurrence of the Health and Energy Orbs in the game.
Additionally, players who acquire the Equilibrium Mod should consider placing it in a Companion that always takes damage. That way, even the player's Companions can benefit from the Equilibrium Mod when damaged - as the Warframe no longer benefits from the Mod if they have either full Health or Energy.
1 Rejuvenation (Uncommon)
Wouldn't it be nice to always have Health regeneration? On the off chance that a player acquires the Rejuvenation Mod, they can extend this benefit even to their teammates! At its core, this Uncommon Mod allows players to recover as little as 0.5 Health (Rank 0) to as high as 3 Health (Rank 5) every second. Additionally, the Rejuvenation Mod also affects a Warframe's allies - Defense Objects, Defense Operatives, Hostages, Specters, Eidolon Lures, and Companions.
This Mod easily becomes an asset in the challenging Nightmare Mode missions, where some challenges even restrict a Warframe's Shield access. Despite its Uncommon rarity, players often get to earn the Rejuvenation Mod in Nightmare Offerings, which does mean players may need to start getting used to Warframe's challenges to enjoy the perks of this Mod.
Warframe was released on March 25, 2013, and is available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.