Character progression is very unique in Warframe. You do get increased health, greater energy pools, and more powerful abilities when you level up your individual ‘frames. But the vast majority of your progress comes from installing and leveling up mods. But which ones should you focus on first? That’s the real question that Warframe doesn’t explain much at all. And that’s why we’ve put together this list of the best, most important mods for beginners in Warframe.
Although that might just make you wonder what’s next. Well, the idea is to use “fusion” to make these mods as strong as humanly possible. The more you upgrade a mod this way, the better it becomes. Although it will also require more mod capacity on your weapon or Warframe. You’ll also need to either fuse more mods into the one you selected, or spend a resource called Endo to effectively level the item up. This guide will nudge you in the right direction — basically informing you about the best Warframe mods to prioritize when you first start the game.
Got all that? Good! Then let’s dig in.
- Here’s the Lore: Warframe – What is a Warframe?
- Warframe Bullet Jump Guide – How to Get Around Quickly
- Warframe Mastery Rank Guide: Unlocks, Tests, & More
The Best Warframe Mods for Beginners
Our Warframe mods guide can explain the basics of how to actually equip these important items. But you still ought to know which mods to focus on first. Thankfully, you’re basically guaranteed to get the most important starting mods just as random drops. The following are three great mods to retrieve for your chosen Warframe (i.e. the exosuit you inhabit during the game):
- Vitality (increases health)
- Redirection (increases shields)
- Steel Fiber (increases armor)
You might notice a pattern here. Specifically, all these mods focus on boosting your survivability. That’s important! Early Warframe enemies aren’t tough to kill, but can overwhelm you with sheer numbers if you’re not careful. And while dying isn’t the end (you can resurrect up to four times per mission in Warframe) it is costly. Self-reviving costs Affinity (the game’s term for experience points). And too much dying will slow down your progress toward leveling up guns and Warframes.
The Best Weapon Mods for Beginners
Next up we have some important Warframe weapon mods. These are also (mostly) found as common, random drops from basic enemies and mission types. So don’t lose sleep over farming them; just make sure to pick up every mod you find in the world! These also mostly focus on raw damage. We’ll get to specific Warframe damage types next.
- Serration (increases rifle damage)
- Hornet Strike (increases secondary weapon damage)
- Pressure Point (increases melee damage)
- Split Chamber (increases rifle damage by producing more projectiles per shot, for no extra ammo — rare drop)
- Barrel Diffusion (the same as Split Chamber, but for secondary weapons — very rare drop that’s also available from Dark Sector defense missions)
- Point Blank (the same as Serration, but for shotgun-type weapons — uncommon drop that’s easiest to get from Plains of Eidolon bounties)
Basic Warframe Damage Type Mods
Now, as promised, let’s go over the damage type mods. We already explained the importance of these various types in our Warframe damage guide — and you don’t really have to worry about matching damage types to enemies at first. But matching damage mods to weapons is a great way to seriously boost your best primary, secondary, and melee weapons in Warframe.
The idea is to basically play to your given weapon’s strengths. The Pyrana, for instance, mostly does Slash damage. So the Razor Shot mod — which increases Slash damage on secondary weapons by a fixed percentage — is a good fit. However, No Return — which increases Puncture damage — is not. Since the Pyrana barely does any Puncture damage, the percentage increase provided by the latter mod is also lessened.
Now let’s go over the basic, damage-specific mods that you should beef up right away in Warframe. That way you’re in a prime position to maximize DPS from every weapon in the game — no matter what kind of damage it does.
Primary Mods
- Stormbringer (increases Electricity damage)
- Cryo Rounds (increases Cold damage)
- Hellfire (increases Heat damage)
- Infected Clip (increases Toxin damage)
- Rupture (increases Impact damage)
- Piercing Hit (increases Puncture damage)
- Sawtooth Clip (increases Slash damage)
Secondary Mods
- Convulsion (increases Electricity damage)
- Deep Freeze (increases Cold damage)
- Heated Charge (increases Heat damage)
- Pathogen Rounds (increases Toxin damage)
- Concussion Rounds (increases Impact damage)
- No Return (increases Puncture damage)
- Razor Shot (increases Slash damage)
Melee Mods
- Shocking Touch (increases Electricity damage)
- North Wind (increases Cold damage)
- Molten Impact (increases Heat damage)
- Fever Strike (increases Toxin damage)
- Heavy Trauma (increases Impact damage — a rare drop mostly from the Orokin Void and Infested enemies)
- Sundering Strike (increases Puncture damage — a rare drop mostly from Grineer enemies)
- Jagged Edge (increases Slash damage — a rare drop mostly from Corpus enemies)
And there it is! We hope this basic breakdown of the best Warframe mods for new players is helpful. We’ll make sure to update it over time as the game grows and evolves. In the meantime, be sure to check out the rest of our Warframe coverage elsewhere on the site. And have fun out there, Tenno! That’s always the most important thing.
