Why this list is grouped by job
A tier list that ranks a tank above a nuker is answering a question nobody asked.
Every frame here is grouped by what it does, and every group is a real answer to a mission type.
Survivors: the highest base stats
These frames are listed from the highest base values in the dataset, and they are the ones that survive a bad mistake.
Inaros Prime: 2215 base health, the highest in the set. The original health tank, with no shield at all.
Inaros: 2110 base health. The same frame without the Prime bump.
Valkyr Prime: 1000 base armor, the highest armor in the set. She converts damage into survival rather than absorbing it.
Qorvex: 875 base armor, the highest non-Prime armor value.
Grendel: 1095 base health, and a frame that eats enemies instead of shooting them.
Shield frames
Shield frames trade raw health for regeneration. They recover between fights and punish sustained pressure differently.
Hildryn Prime: 1380 base shield, the highest in the set. She spends shields to fuel abilities.
Hildryn: 1280 base shield, with the same kit at a lower value.
Styanax Prime: 925 base shield, on a frame built around throwing and area damage.
Damage frames, or nukers
These frames kill rooms rather than targets. They carry clear-speed missions and fall behind on single targets.
The common names in this group: Saryn, Volt, Mesa, Ember, Equinox, Gara, Protea, Xaku, Sevagoth and Dagath.
Nukers need range and strength. A nuker built without range clears one corner instead of one room.
Support frames
Support frames keep a squad alive or make it stronger. They matter most in squad content.
Trinity: the pure healer and energy battery.
Wisp: buffs health, fire rate and movement through placed motes.
Harrow: converts kills into crit buffs and energy.
Oberon and Citrine: healing tied to standing in a zone.
Dante: shields the squad with overguard, which most of this list cannot do.
Stealth and solo frames
These frames avoid the fight instead of winning it. They carry spy missions and solo content.
Loki, Ivara, Ash, Octavia, Wukong, Voruna and Cyte-09 all sit in this group.
Ivara is the pick for spy missions because she does not trip lasers. Octavia is the pick for anything you can hide from.
Farmers
Farming frames raise how many resources a mission gives you.
Nekros desecrates corpses for extra drops. Khora through Pilfering Strangledome, and Hydroid through Pilfering Swarm, add drop chance on top of his.
A farming squad stacks those three. That is the whole point of the group, and it works.
The farming guide has the per-resource side of this — which planet drops what, and which frames actually help there.
Control frames
Control frames decide where enemies can stand, which is how you hold a point.
Nova, Vauban, Khora, Limbo and Nyx all do this in different ways. A slow Nova is the best-known crowd answer in the game.
Pick a frame by mission type
The groups above answer “what does this frame do”. This section answers the question you actually face at the star chart: which frame do I bring to this mission.
| Mission type | Bring | The ability doing the work |
|---|---|---|
| Spy | Ivara, Loki | Invisibility. Ivara’s Prowl walks through laser grids without tripping them |
| Defense | Frost, Gara, Limbo | Snow Globe, Mass Vitrify and Cataclysm keep enemies off the objective |
| Mobile Defense | Frost, Gara | The same barrier, moved between terminals |
| Excavation | Frost, Gara, Khora | Protect the excavator instead of a console |
| Interception | Nova, Vauban, Khora | Molecular Prime, Bastille and Strangledome deny four points at once |
| Survival | Saryn, Nekros, Revenant | Saryn keeps the kill rate up, Nekros adds drops, Revenant simply does not die |
| Disruption | Mesa, Ash | Single-target burst to kill the Demolyst before it reaches a conduit |
| Defection | Trinity, Oberon | Blessing and Renewal keep the defectors alive; they cannot be healed by you directly |
| Capture | Volt, Gauss, Wukong | Movement. The mission is a race to one target |
| Rescue | Loki, Ivara | Stealth to the cell, then out without raising the alarm |
| Netracells and Deep Archimedea | Inaros, Revenant, Nidus | No self-revive, so bring the frames that refuse to go down |
| Eidolon hunts | Volt, Harrow, Chroma, Trinity | The classic four: shield, crit buff, damage buff, healer |
Why the Eidolon squad is fixed
Eidolon hunts are the one place where the composition is not a matter of taste.
Each of the four covers something the others cannot: Volt places a shield for projectile cover and the damage boost, Harrow hands out critical chance with Covenant, Chroma stacks the damage buff through Vex Armor, and Trinity keeps everyone standing through Blessing. Swap one out and the group loses a multiplier, not just convenience.
The Eidolon hunt guide covers the fight itself and the amp requirement.
Why Deep Archimedea changes the answer
Most missions forgive a death. Deep Archimedea does not — there is no self-revive, so a frame that relies on going down and getting back up is the wrong pick no matter how much damage it does.
That single rule reorders the whole roster for that mode. Survivability stops being a preference and becomes the entry requirement. The Netracells and Deep Archimedea guide covers the modifiers that make it harder still.
The three-frame rule
If you are building a roster rather than answering one mission, you need three frames and no more:
- One survivor for content where dying ends the run.
- One nuker for clear speed and farming.
- One farmer for resources.
Everything else is preference. Players who own forty frames and three of these still clear content faster than players with all forty and no plan.
Every other mode asks the same two questions
Railjack, the Index, Plague Star and Archon Hunts all look like they need their own answer. They ask the same two questions as everything above:
- Can this frame survive the mode’s failure case? A defence that lets the console die and a Deep Archimedea run with no self-revive punish the same thing.
- Does the frame’s damage have the right shape? A room-clearing nuke is the answer to adds and the wrong answer to a single armoured boss.
Answer those two and the specific frame follows. The Railjack guide, Steel Path guide and Archon Shards guide each cover what changes inside their mode.
How to pick from this list
Ask what the mission needs, then pick the group that answers it.
Most players need three frames: one survivor for difficult content, one nuker for clear speed, and one farmer for resources.
Read the warframes database for the full base stats, and the best weapons page for what to carry.