Warframe Tier list 2023
Broken-up war frames into archetypes should make any tier list easier to create. Each frame can be seen as a tool, support, DPS, tank, crowd control and farmer frame. Many frames have similar uses with loads of overlap.
Brief description of each archetype.
- Support – Frames which offer buff and debuffs, various bonuses which benefit the squad.
- DPS – Damage-focused frames whose kit or parts focus on it.
- Tanks – Frames which offer some survival tools that allow them to absorb damage.
- Crowd control – Focus on controlling enemies
- Farmer – Make it easier to frame resources or increase the odds or increase farm speeds
Rating system
S = Completely broken, A is excellent, B is great, C is okay, D is playable but not okay and F freaking sucks.
Frames which fall between A and C range what you most commonly see being played. + and – just bonus ranks to help show the power levels within the ranks. I have decided to include some comments on the frames I think need to be addressed or reworked or changed.
Support frames
- S
- A+ Wisp
- A Octavia, Protea
- B+ Volt
- B Rhino, Harrow
- B- Xaku
- C Trinity
- C- Oberon
- D Valkyr
Valkyr’s big problem is warcry can be subsumed, the rest of her kit is rather lacking.
Oberon has an armour strip and heal, plus a ton of radiation procs. Armour strip is conditional, healing is rather low with a huge energy drain per number of allies being healed. Wisp and Trinity both offer far stronger heals.
Trinity is the opposite of valkyr, with poor base stats but the tools to stay alive. Lacklustre kit but one or two good ideas. Focus on one thing and everything else sucks or is not useful.
DPS
- S
- A+ Octavia, Khora, Saryn
- A Ember, Mesa, Titania
- A- Gara, Protea, Baruuk
- B+ Ash, Ivara, Volt, Excalibur, Styanax
- B Nyx, Mag
- B- Caliban
- C Equinox, Nyx, Gyre Yareli
- D Atlas
- F Hydroid
Hydroid nothing redeems him, the concept is here but everything is awful. If you could use a helminth to replace everything here I would do it. Hope that explains just how awful this frame is at the moment.
Atlas’s big problem is being one trick. The landslide machine sometimes has fight stuff that is untargetable. The General ability to tank is rather much linked to landslides. Some changes to the gameplay loop are needed here.
Equinox is two frames in one, without scaling. Old school stance switcher without much reason to switch.
Gyre needs a compromise when comes to damage scaling and output. Pre bugged version was good but the current state is rubbish.
Yareli has a weird slash-spam build but sort of works. K drive idea just flat up feels awful in certain maps.
Crowd control
- S
- A – Nova, Octavia
- B+ Xaku, Vauban
- B Ivara
- B- Limbo
- C – Frost
- D – Nyx, Loki
Limbo is a weird rift magic man, nerfs to his ability to be immune. Eximius units can now target limbo inside the rift and he can’t target anything outside of it. He is all about controlling and picking fights.
Frost’s main benefit at the moment is armour stripping, freezing stuff is one of the worse types of CC.
Nyx and Loki both have aged poorly, Nyx has a budget version of radiation damage and Loki can disarm people.
Tanks
- S
- A + Nezha, Zephyr, Revenant
- A Baruuk, Hildryn, Grendel
- A- Guass, Wukong, Volt
- B + Harrow, Ivara
- B Nidus, Rhino, Harrow, Loki, Sevagoth, Voruna
- B- Atlas, Mirage, Trinity
- C Oberon, Lavos
- C- Chroma, Inaros, Loki
- D – Valkyr
- F – Frost
Frost is an immobile tank.
Valkyr is just an armour pool with health but that is good enough. Chroma is slowly being replaced by various other frames. Inaros has a health pool. Oberon has an okay heal with armour buff plus strip. Lavos in railjack is an excellent tank pilot.
Loki is here due to his stealth and that is it.
Farmer frames
- S
- A+ Khora, Titania
- A Nekros, volt
- B Xaku
- C Limbo
- D Atlas
- F Hydroid
The hydroid worse frame trend carries on being worse in every single tier. Everybody does farm better. Nekros is being carried by one power here.
Rework and buff candidates
Here are the frames that I feel should be reworked or seriously considered for being changed.
- Hydroid
- Frost
- Atlas
- Chroma
- Oberon
- Valkyr
- Inaros
- Limbo
Inaros is being looked at for possible changes in the future. Grendel recent rework was rather good. I would however prefer Hydroid or frost to be looked at first. I don’t think the rest need that many changes to be better. Designers need to pick a lane for limbo.