Warframe – The Circuit Weekly Warframes vs Their Normal Acquisition (The Ultimate Comparison)

This article provides summaries for how far into the game every Circuit-earnable warframe is normally gated, as well as difficulty (or ease!) of grinding for them. Also warnings for Circuit picks you won’t be able to craft right away.

Intro

This article contains only the info on Circuit-earnable Warframes you can every week to progress towards. The Circuit is a great way to circumvent some sluggish grinds for certain frames, though I must preface this article by saying: If you’re new, pick Warframe that seems coolest to you!

That being said, if you’re struggle to make a choice and would like to get two or all three of presented Warframes, there’s a good chance that you’ll be able to just farm them via the normal way before the same Circuit rotation is repeated! This article shall aid you in comparing how far into the game every pick is gated and how hard will it be to grind for them.

Info is compiled with brand new players in mind, so warframe jargon is kept to a minimum. Besides that, the guide also can come in handy if you are not willing to cross reference 6+ wikia articles, when picking a warframe you’re missing yourself or helping a friend/clanmate to make a choice.

General Guide Notes

• You may use this guide without reading the notes =]
• Week numbers are only there for convenience, they don’t roll in order.
• The warframe’s power-level is only denoted trough community rankings (for which overframe.gg open tier list was used). The rank mostly reflects the popularity amongst community, rather than power, although when a Warframe is popular, there is a good chance that it excels in several areas or pleasant/easy to use.
• Main Storyline Quests are shortened down to their order number instead of a name. So MSQ-1 is the very first quest player completes when starting the game – “The Awakening” tutorial. MSQ-2 is “Vor’s Prize” that new players must complete to unlock Venus via a solar rail Junction. And so on.
• The first cinematic quest is MSQ-7: “The Second Dream”. Starting with it, all MSQ’s are bolded, to denote spoilers.
• Junction rewards and requirements are mentioned as “unlocking a planet” and “MSQ-x locked” respectively. When you see “Hidden Messages quest becomes available by unlocking Sedna” and “Sedna is 13th planet; MSQ-8 locked” this means that said quest is rewarded for beating the Pluto to Sedna junction has a requirement to complete 8th Main Story Quest.

Notes for new players

• Crafting most Warframes requires Orokin Cells, Neural Sensors and Control Modules. These are rare resources first found on Ceres (6th planet, MSQ-3 locked) Jupiter (7th planet, MSQ-4 locked) and Europa (8th planet, MSQ-5 locked) respectively.
• Reaching MSQ-4 is expected to take about a week of playing normal pace without external help. Rushing with a new player’s guide will cut this time in at least in half, and being carried by a seasoned friend/clanmate may cut it down to ~2 long playsessions.
• In the same vein, reaching MSQ-6 expected to take a about a month, and reaching MSQ-7 is memed about “Have 150 hours in-game, finally done with the tutorial and created a character.“

Notes for Veterans

• For craft/farm requirements, this guide also denotes what requirements can circumvented trough taxiing and trading and what can’t be. This is intended for seasoned players, who help to gear up a new player. For Example, the Jordas Golem and the Exploiter Orb bossfights can be started by anyone sho owns a boss key, while the Ropalolyst and the Profit-Taker Orb bossfights require all players in your squad to have correct account progression to start them. OR when crafting open-world warframes such as Baruuk, you can trade refined Thyst and Zodian gems so the recipient don’t need the Solaris United rank-4 locked blueprints, while ore such as Hesperon is untradable, so the player in question must both mine their own Hesperon and rankup Solaris United to 2 for the blueprint to refine it.

Week 1 – Excal, Trinity, Ember

Excalibur

• Main blueprint is credit-bought
• Components are freely farmable from Mars, short multi-staged boss
• Mars is 4th planet; MSQ-3 locked
• Community ranking: B – Solid option for specific tasks.

Trinity

• Main blueprint is credit-bought
• Components are farmable from Pluto, very long multy-stabged boss, every run costs bosss tickets to enter. Ticket requirement can NOT be circumvented by any means.
• Boss tickets must be farmed from a map-event enemy on Pluto missions.
• Pluto is 12th planet; MSQ-8 locked.
• Community ranking: A – Very strong, good in most situations.

Ember

• Main blueprint is credit-bought
• Components are freely farmable from Saturn, short-ish multi-staged boss
• Saturn is 9th planet; MSQ-6 locked
• Community ranking: A – Very strong, good in most situations.

Week 2 – Loki, Mag, Rhino

Loki

• Main blueprint is credit-bought
• Components are freely farmable from Neptune, short-ish single-stage bossfight
• Neptune is 11th planet; MSQ-7 locked
• Community ranking: B – Solid option for specific tasks.

Mag

• Main blueprint is credit-bought
• Components are freely farmable from Phobos, shortest bossfight in the game
• Phobos is 5th planet; MSQ-3 locked
• Community ranking: A – Very strong, good in most situations.

Rhino

• Main blueprint is credit-bought
• Components are freely farmable from Venus, long multi-stage bossfight
• Venus is 2nd planet; MSQ-2 locked
• Crafting components requires only Gallium and Plastids, resources first found on Mars and Phobos, 3rd and 4th planets, both MSQ-3 locked.
• Community ranking: A – Very strong, good in most situations.

Week 3 – Ash, Frost, Nyx

Ash

• Main blueprint is credit-bought
• Components must be farmed from RAILJACK endless missions, one component for every Corpus proxima up to Pluto Proxima
• Joining a Railjack mission is MSQ-4 locked
• Hosting a RJ mission requires owning a Railjack that’s MSQ-8 locked and is effort-intensive to build
• Community ranking: B – Solid option for specific tasks.

Frost

• Main blueprint is credit-bought
• Components are freely farmable from Ceres, short multi-staged bossfight
• Ceres is 6th planet; MSQ-3 locked
• Community ranking: B – Solid option for specific tasks.

Nyx

• Main blueprint is credit-bought
• Components are freely farmable from time-limited Infestation Outbreak boss, extremely short single-staged bossfight. The boss may not always be available, as it can take over any boss node in the Star Chart, bit it’s appearance is frequent enough.
• Community ranking: C – Average, or only situationally useful.

Week 4 – Saryn, Vauban, Nova

Saryn

• Main blueprint is credit-bought
• Components are farmable from Sedna, long multi-staged boss, every run costs boss tickets to enter. Ticket requirement can NOT be circumvented by any means.
• Boss tickets must be earned by completing Arena missions on Sedna. The missions are commonly farmed for Endo.
• Sedna is 13th planet; MSQ-8 locked
• Community ranking: S – Crowd favorite.

Vauban

• Main blueprint is credit-bought
• Components are purchasable from Nightwave Store for 25 Nightwave Cred each (in total same as 1 Orokin Reactor/Catalyst would). Cred is time-gated and limited, but unlocking Rank 1 after doing just a couple of challenges will net enough cred
• Community ranking: A – Very strong, good in most situations.

Nova

• Main blueprint is credit-bought
• Components are freely farmable from Europa, medium length mullti-staged bossfight
• Europa is 8th planet; MSQ-5 locked
• Community ranking: A – Very strong, good in most situations.

Week 5 – Nekros, Valkyr, Oberon

Nekros

• Main blueprint is credit-bought
• Components are freely farmable from Deimos, long multi-staged bossfight
• Deimos is 5th planetoid; MSQ-3 locked
• Community ranking: A – Very strong, good in most situations.

Valkyr

• Main blueprint is credit-bought
• Components are freely farmable from Jupiter, short single-staged bossfight
• Jupiter is 7th planet; MSQ-4 locked
• Community ranking: B – Solid option for specific tasks.

Oberon

• Main blueprint is credit-bought
• Components must be farmed from RAILJACK! grineer missions,
• Joining a Railjack mission is MSQ-4 locked,
• Building your own Railjack is MSQ-8 locked
• If you are a returning player, you may have his components already laying around in your inventory as they used to plentifully drop from any Eximus enemies
• Community ranking: B – Solid option for specific tasks.

Week 6 – Hydroid, Mirage, Limbo

Hydroid

• Main blueprint is credit-bought
• Components are freely farmable from Earth, rather long multi-staged boss
• Despite the Earth being the starter planet, the boss node itself is Mastery Rank 5 locked, to get to it yourself you’ll need to clear an Archwing (MSQ-4 locked) node
• Community ranking: C – Average, or only situationally useful.

Mirage

• Main blueprint is credit-bought
• Components blueprints are a quest reward for MSQ-7 locked Hidden Messages quest, that becomes available by unlocking Sedna, the 12th planet
• Community ranking: A – Very strong, good in most situations.

Limbo

• Main blueprint is credit-bought
• Components are quest reward for MSQ-4 locked Limbo Theorem quest, that becomes available by unlocking Europa, the 8th planet
• Community ranking: B – Solid option for specific tasks.

Week 7 – Mesa, Chroma, Atlas

Mesa

• Main blueprint is a quest reward for MSQ-8 locked Patient Zero quest, that becomes available by unlocking Eris, the 12th planet
• Components farmable from mid-length multi-stage Eris key-based boss. The keys are crafted with time-gated material from Infestation Outbreaks.
• Key requirement can be circumvented by other player starting the mission.
• Crafting components does not require Control Modules, only Orokin Cells and Neural Sensors, resources first found on Ceres (6th planet, MSQ-3 locked) and Jupiter (7th planet, MSQ-4 locked) respectively.
• Community ranking: S – Crowd favorite!

Chroma

Warning! Crafting Chroma requires a Saryn systems, which must be farmed from very long MSQ-8 locked boss on the 13th planet with every run consuming boss tickets.

• Main blueprint is a quest reward for completing the MSQ-5 quest: “The New Strange”, that becomes available by unlocking Europa, the 8th planet
• Components are rewarded for unlocking Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, later of which is 12th planet, that is MSQ-8 locked
• Community ranking: A – Very strong, good in most situations.

Atlas

• Main blueprint is a quest reward for MSQ-8 locked The Jordas Precept quest, that becomes available by unlocking Eris, the 13th planet
• Components are freely farmable from Eris boss. Bossfight is short and single stage, however Archwing and Arch-guns instead of your main Warframe equipment!
• Eris is the the 12th planet; MSQ-8 locked
• Crafting components does not require Control Modules and Neural Sensors, only Orokin Cells, resource first found on Ceres (6th planet, MSQ-3 locked).
• Community ranking: B – Solid option for specific tasks.

Week 8 – Ivara, Inaros, Titania

Ivara

• Main blueprint and all components are farmable from various Spy missions across the Solar System and have relatively low drop chance.
• Two of four components must be farmed on MSQ-8 locked planets such as Pluto, MSQ-8-Spoiler-Planet and MSQ-9-Spoiler-Planet
• Community ranking: A – Very strong, good in most situations.

Inaros

• Main blueprint and components are a quest reward for a Mastery Rank 5 locked quest Sands of Inaros. The quest itself that must be purchased from Baro Ki’teer during one of his bi-montly visits.
• Note that a Baro visit may happen on the Pluto relay, that requires Mastery Rank 8 to enter, and MSQ-8 locked
• Quest acquisition can be circumvented via player trading, though Mastery Rank 5 lock remains
• Community ranking: B – Solid option for specific tasks.

Titania

• Main blueprint and components are a quest reward for a MSQ-8 and Mastery Rank 7 locked quest The Silver Grove.
• Community ranking: A – Very strong, good in most situations.

Week 9 – Nidus, Octavia, Harrow

Nidus

• Main blueprint is a quest reward for MSQ-9 locked quest The Glast Gambit
• Components must be farmed via endless Infested Salvage mission (located on Eris) with rather low drop chance.
• Eris is 13th planet; MSQ-8 locked
• Crafting components does not require Control Modules.
• Community ranking: A – Very strong, good in most situations.

Octavia

• Main blueprint is a quest reward for a MSQ-8 locked quest The Octavia’s Anthem.
• Components must be farmed from various MSQ-8 locked missions with a fair drop chance.
• Crafting components does not require Control Modules.
• Community ranking: S – Crowd favorite!

Harrow

• Main blueprint is a quest reward for MSQ-9 locked quest Chains of Harrow. To unlock the quest you also need to complete the last Void mission, connected to Sedna, the 13th planet.
• Two components must be farmed from various MSQ-9 locked missions with low drop chances. The third component is extremely common drop from any Void Fissure mission.
• Community ranking: A – Very strong, good in most situations.

Week 10 – Gara, Khora, Revenant

Gara

• Main blueprint is a quest reward for MSQ-2 locked quest Saya’s Vigil
• Components are farmed from low-to-mid Earth open world activities with fair drop chances.
• Crafting components requires common Earth open world materials, some of which are locked behind early ranks of the primary local syndicate (Ostron) up to rank 1. These are untradeable, so can’t be circumvented trough player trading.
• Crafting components does not requires Neural Sensors or Control Modules, only the Orokin Cells, which are rare resource first found on Ceres (6th planet, MSQ-3 locked).
• Community ranking: A – Very strong, good in most situations.

Khora

• The Main blueprint and components are farmed from MSQ-6 locked Sanctuary Onslaught game mode with low drop chances.
• Crafting components you would require some common resources from Plains of Eidolon open world and rare resources from Deimos (5th planet, MSQ-3 locked) missions.
• Crafting components does not requires Neural Sensors or Control Modules, only the Orokin Cells, which are rare resource first found on Ceres (6th planet, MSQ-3 locked).
• Community ranking: A – Very strong, good in most situations.

Revenant

• Main blueprint is a quest reward for MSQ-9 locked quest Mask of the Revenant.
• Components are farmed from high-level Earth open world activities with feasible drop chances.
• Building components requires to kill some Earth open world enemies at night and gather some local resources.
• Community ranking: A – Very strong, good in most situations.

Week 11 – Garuda, Baruuk, Hildryn

Garuda

• Main blueprint is a quest reward for completing introductory Venus open world quest.
• Components are farmed from low-to-mid level Venus open world activities with generous drop chances.
• Crafting components requires common Venus open world materials, some of which are locked behind early ranks of the primary local syndicate (Solaris United) up to rank 1. These are untradeable, so can’t be circumvented trough player trading.
• Crafting components additionally requires rare Venus open world materials that are locked behind second-to-last Solaris United rank. These can be circumvented trough player trading.
• Crafting components does not requires Orokin Cells, Neural Sensors or Control Modules.
• Community ranking: B – Solid option for specific tasks.

Baruuk

• Main blueprint and components are bought from secondary Orb Vallis syndicate, requiring considerable standing and achieving rank 3 with said Syndicate.
• The Orb Vallis secondary syndicate is MSQ-8 locked AND reacquires reaching max rank with the primary Orb Vallis Syndicate to unlock it.
• Crafting components requires common and rare Venus open world materials, some of which are locked behind early ranks of the primary local syndicate (Solaris United) up to rank 2. These are untradeable, so can’t be circumvented trough player trading.
• Crafting components additionally requires rare Venus open world materials that are locked behind second-to-last Solaris United rank. These can be circumvented trough player trading.
• Crafting components does not requires Neural Sensors or Control Modules, only the Orokin Cells, which are rare resource first found on Ceres (6th planet, MSQ-3 locked).
• Community ranking: A – Very strong, good in most situations.

Hildryn

Warning! Crafting Hyldrin components after acquiring blueprints via the Circuit will require rare Orb Vallis – exclusive material, obtainable exclusively trough the same bossfight, as the components normally dropped. 6 runs in total required (only 3 with Resource Booster). The unique resource can’t be traded from another player.

• Main blueprint is bought from secondary Orb Vallis syndicate, requiring reaching rank 3 with them.
• Components are farmed from extremely long key-based high-level Orb Vallis (Venus open world) boss.
• Keys to summon the boss are acquired by participating in special Venus open world activity: Thermia Fractures.
• Key requirement can be circumvented by other player summoning the boss.
• Crafting components requires some common resources exclusive to Venus open world.
• Crafting components does not requires Neural Sensors or Control Modules, bit does require Tellurium, which is rare resource firs found on Uranus (10th planet, MSQ-6 locked).
• Community ranking: B – Solid option for specific tasks.