Warframe Arbitrations: Everything You Should Know in 2024

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Warframe is packed with diverse mission types and challenges, but if you’re a veteran looking for a truly rewarding and challenging mode, look no further than Arbitrations. This mode ups the difficulty and rewards for players who’ve already proven their prowess by clearing the Star Chart. Here’s a full guide to get you started with Arbitrations, from basic requirements to tips and tricks for dominating these intense missions.

Table of Contents

What Are Warframe Arbitrations?

Arbitrations are high-difficulty, endgame missions available to Tenno who has completed the Star Chart by clearing every node. They offer boosted rewards, exclusive mods, and resources like Vitus Essence, but they come with a unique set of rules and challenges that make them different from regular missions. To get the most out of Warframe Arbitrations, you need to adapt to some gameplay twists and work as a coordinated team—especially since death penalties are more severe than in normal missions.

Requirements for Arbitrations

Before you can jump into Arbitrations, you need to meet a few key requirements:

Complete the Star Chart: You must have cleared every node on the Star Chart. This ensures you’re experienced enough for the higher difficulty of Arbitrations.
Minimum Mastery Rank: While there’s no specific Mastery Rank needed, the requirement to clear the Star Chart means you’ll likely be at least Mastery Rank 5 or higher.

Once you’re eligible, you’ll get a notification from the Arbiters of Hexis, who will assign an Arbitration mission every hour. These missions rotate between different game modes and planets, so you’ll always have a new challenge on your hands.

The Rules of Arbitrations

Arbitrations don’t just crank up enemy levels; they also impose unique conditions that make them more challenging:

One Life Only: In Arbitrations, there’s no automatic revival if you go down. You die, you’re out for the rest of the mission unless a teammate revives you. This rule alone makes arbitration much riskier.
Powerful Drones: Arbitration Drones make enemies around them invulnerable to damage. You have to take out these drones before you can kill the protected enemies, making target prioritization essential.
Revival Mechanics: If a teammate dies, they drop a revive token. Other players must collect five of these tokens to bring the fallen player back. But beware: holding tokens reduces your maximum health, adding a layer of risk.
Boosted Rewards and Mods: Arbitrations offer unique rewards, including Vitus Essence, Endo, and exclusive mods. These rewards make the extra challenge worthwhile, especially for veteran players looking to optimize their Warframe loadouts.

Rewards in Arbitrations

So why take on this challenge? The rewards are some of the best in Warframe, especially for players looking to boost their power or farm exclusive resources.

Vitus Essence: This unique currency can be used to purchase items from the Arbiters of Hexis in the Relay, including Aura Forma, Endo, Ayatan sculptures, and exclusive mods. Vitus Essence drops from Arbitration Drones and enemies, as well as mission completion rewards.
Endo and Ayatan Sculptures: If you’re looking to max out mods, Warframe Arbitrations are a fantastic way to earn Endo quickly. Each completed rotation in an Arbitration mission rewards a hefty amount of Endo or an Ayatan sculpture, which can be sold for even more Endo.
Arbitration Mods: These exclusive mods provide unique effects that enhance gameplay, such as higher energy regen, boosted damage resistance, or even automatic health restoration when you’re near death. They’re useful in many high-level missions and can be swapped into certain builds for added survivability or DPS.
Aura Forma: Arbitrations offer an Aura Forma Blueprint, allowing you to change an Aura slot to any polarity you want. This is an invaluable resource for customizing Warframes, especially if you’re building for specific game modes or team compositions.
Galvanized Mods: Galvanized mods are essential for any serious primary or secondary weapon builds. They provide stacking damage boosts that ramp up as you kill enemies, allowing for incredible damage output. Galvanized Mods are particularly valuable for Warframe Arbitrations and other high-level content.

Warframe Arbitrations Mission Types

Arbitrations cycle through the classic mission types, but the rules add unique twists to each one. Here’s a quick breakdown of what to expect:

Survival: This mode becomes more intense since enemies spawn at higher levels, and life support drops are less frequent. Staying alive and efficiently managing life support is critical. Additionally, enemy damage and health are significantly boosted, so you need a powerful frame and weapon setup.
Defense: Defense Arbitrations are not endless and have a set number of waves (10 waves per rotation). Protecting the target is essential, as losing it means mission failure for the entire team.
Interception: Interception missions in Arbitrations feature harder-to-kill enemies, so holding multiple points simultaneously can be challenging. Effective crowd control or tanky frames are great choices here.
Excavation: Excavation missions require efficient power cell management since enemies are tougher and dig sites need protection from swarming enemies.
Infested Salvage: A unique Arbitration mode where you defend three machines from Infested enemies. It’s a less common mode, but when it shows up, make sure to equip anti-infested weapons.

Best Warframes Arbitrations

Choosing the right Warframe Arbitrations can make a massive difference. Here are some top picks:

Rhino: Rhino is a solid choice for his Iron Skin, which provides a hefty shield against incoming damage. He’s especially useful in Defense and Excavation missions.
Inaros: With his high health and strong sustain abilities, Inaros can tank through tough encounters and avoid going down easily.
Trinity: Trinity is excellent for her healing abilities, which can keep the whole team alive longer. Her Energy Vampire ability also helps keep your team’s energy topped up.
Nova: Nova’s Molecular Prime can slow down enemies, making it easier to control the battlefield. This is especially helpful in Survival and Defense Arbitrations, where crowd control is crucial.
Khora: Khora’s Strangledome is a fantastic crowd-control ability that can help control high-level enemies, making her useful for Defense and Survival missions.
Wukong: Wukong is popular due to his ability to clone himself with Celestial Twin and survive with Defy, providing a high DPS and survivability combo.
Saryn: Saryn is perfect for DPS-focused teams, as her spores can spread quickly and deal substantial damage to groups of enemies. She’s especially effective in Interception and Survival missions.
Revenant: His Mesmer Skin ability provides great survivability, reflecting damage back at attackers and keeping him alive in the middle of tough fights.

Top Weapons for Arbitrations

Having the right weapons can be just as important as picking the right Warframe. Here are some highly recommended options:

Kuva Nukor: This secondary weapon is one of the best for high DPS, with its ability to chain attacks between enemies. It’s great for mowing down mobs in Survival or Interception Arbitrations.
Acceltra: For players who like rifles, Acceltra offers high-speed projectiles and explosive damage, making it excellent for clearing large groups of enemies quickly.
Ignis Wraith: This flamethrower is an excellent crowd-control weapon, especially when modded for status effects. Its area damage is perfect for Defense and Interception.
Melee Weapons: Weapons like the Gram Prime or Redeemer Prime provide both power and versatility, with Gram Prime being excellent for heavy attacks and Redeemer Prime working as a melee and ranged weapon hybrid.
Tigris Prime: This shotgun deals massive single-target damage, perfect for taking down Arbitration Drones or other high-priority targets.

Tips and Tricks for Success in Arbitrations

Focus on Drones: Always prioritize Arbitration Drones, as they make enemies invulnerable. Take them out first to weaken the enemies around them.
Coordinate with Your Team: Communication is key. Let your teammates know if you’re carrying revive tokens, need assistance, or want to take on specific roles.
Stay Mobile: Arbitrations feature high-level enemies, so staying on the move is crucial to avoid taking damage. Use Warframe abilities to increase mobility, dodge, or reduce damage.
Energy Management: Energy can be hard to come by in Arbitrations, so Warframes with energy regeneration or conservation abilities, such as Zenurik’s Energizing Dash, can be helpful.
Bring a Balanced Loadout: Make sure your weapons and Warframe abilities can handle different enemy types and adapt to situations. For instance, carry a high DPS weapon, a crowd control ability, and a durable Warframe.
Be Prepared to Sacrifice: If you’re holding revive tokens, you’ll take on a health penalty. Sometimes it’s better to leave tokens for someone else to pick up or focus on completing the objective.

Warframe Arbitrations are not only challenging but also highly rewarding for those who can adapt and persevere. With the right Warframe, weapon loadout, and team coordination, you’ll be able to maximize rewards and take full advantage of this endgame mode. Whether you’re farming Vitus Essence for exclusive mods or just looking for a fresh challenge, Arbitrations offers a unique twist on familiar mission types and brings an extra level of strategy to the Warframe experience.