Defense

Endless Defense Mission is a game mode in which the player(s) must defend either a Cryopod (all faction tile sets) or a Power Core (some Grineer tile sets) from waves of enemies. The wave will be considered cleared when all the enemies in the wave have been killed.

Every 5 waves the player(s) will receive an option to either leave the mission and receive a displayed reward or to continue against progressively harder enemies for an additional 5 waves. The mission is considered completed whenever the team accepts the offer to claim a reward and exit and fails if the Cryopod/Power Core is destroyed or the entire team dies.

Endless Defense Missions
There are a total of 31 Endless Defense missions for eight tile sets available. Four of them are mostly specific to the Grineer: The other five are mostly specific to the Corpus: When an Infestation is occurring on a defense mission, the infested use the original tile set.
 * Grineer Galleon ([[Media:2013-06-08 00007.jpg|A]]: Defend at a raised platform in a galleon's ventilation complex).
 * Asteroid, Cave ([[Media:2013-06-08 00004.jpg|B]]: Defend a cylindrical Orokin Reactor in a dark cave).
 * Grineer Settlement, Shelter ([[Media:Grindeer_3.png|G]]: Defend a cryo pod within a metallic shelter, with entrances all around you.)
 * Grineer Shipyards ([[Media:GrineerShipyard.png|I]]: Defend a cryo pod that's sitting on a tram in a multi-decked shipyard.)
 * Corpus Ship, Cargo Bay ([[Media:2013-06-08 00012.jpg|C]]: Defend a raised platform, with two main avenues of approach and 2 approaches from behind).
 * Corpus Base, Ravine ([[Media:Defense map D.jpg|D]]: Defend out in the open, surrounded by snowy caves and cliffs).
 * Corpus Base, Courtyard ([[Media:2013-06-08 00015.jpg|E]]: Defend in a courtyard in a frigid Corpus outpost).
 * Corpus Base, Dam ([[Media:2013-06-08 00019.jpg|F]]: Defend in a frozen dam complex, with enemies storming across two bridges).
 * Corpus Gas City, Deck ([[Media:Defense_Map_H.jpg|H]]: Defend on the multi-level deck of a gas city ship, with enemies approaching from three ascents).

The maps A, B, E, and G have the objective in the center (enemies come from every direction), while the maps C, F, H, and I are not so open to approach, making them often more easy to defend (the Reactor is near the edge of the map, where the enemies can't spawn).

Map D has 3 different locations where a Cryopod can randomly spawn: one is in the lower area of the map, one is in the upper area of the map, and one is up on the raised platform above the upper area.


 * The lower area has 3 avenues of approach (the vast majority of enemies only come from 1 direction - this is the easiest location to defend on this map).


 * The upper area has 4 avenues of approach (enemies are more spread out among the 4 - this is generally the hardest location to defend).


 * The raised platform only has 2 avenues of approach and MOAs can jump up the side of the platform as well (the majority of enemies only come from 1 direction - this is the second easiest location to defend).

On map D, once the game begins, the Cryopod remains in the same location for the duration of the mission; there is no way to select the spawn point of the Cryopod (but you can exit the mission and restart it to have it randomly select a new location). Note: If the Cryopod spawns in the upper area and you run underneath it (in the caves below, usually while collecting loot before the mission begins), it will trigger the start of the mission. (This is most likely a bug.)

On map I the cryo pod is sitting on a tram that randomly moves along a rail between 2 locations.
 * The tram usually stays in one location for multiple waves, with a chance of moving at the end of a wave. Tenno can also ride the tram while it's moving.
 * The cryo pod will always spawn in the same location.
 * Councilor Vay Hek's Prosecutors begin to spawn on wave 5 and every wave thereafter.

Currently there are several planet-exclusive defense maps:
 * Grineer map G is available only on Phobos.
 * Corpus map H is available only on Jupiter.
 * Grineer map I is available only on Ceres.

[*] This shows the tier of waves 5, 10, and 15

The "tier" of a set of 5 waves depends on the level of the enemies within those waves. The tier will change as enemy levels increase. There are a total of three tiers. The tier determines the reward pool players have access to at each 5th wave checkpoint.

Composition
Corpus
 * Waves 1-4 consist of MOAs, Crewmen, Prod Crewmen.
 * Waves 5-9 consist of Shockwave MOAs, Shield Ospreys, Sniper Crewmen, Techs in addition to previous waves.
 * Waves 10+ consist of Railgun MOAs, Fusion MOAs, Mine Ospreys and Scavenger Drones in addition to previous waves.

Infested
 * Waves 1-4 consist of Volatile Runners, Leapers, Chargers.
 * Waves 5-9 consist of Ancient Disruptors, Ancient Healers in addition to previous waves.
 * Waves 10+ consist of Toxic Ancients in addition to previous waves.

Grineer
 * Waves 1-4 consist of Grineer Lancers, Grineer Troopers.
 * Waves 5-9 consist of Grineer Heavy Gunners, Grineer Ballistas, Grineer Shield Lancers, Grineer Scorch in addition to previous waves.
 * Waves 10+ consist of Grineer Rollers, Grineer Seekers, Grineer Bombards, Grineer Scorpion in addition to previous waves.

Rewards
Keep in mind, that values listed below are most probably outdated, since datamining is now impossible.

Tier 1=
 * -|Tier 2=
 * -|Tier 3=

The percentages are an indicator of what you can expect as a wave 5, 10, etc. reward.

Updated with datamined tables as of Update 10.3.0.

Note that rewards from Wave 15 onwards are predictable with high accuracy. There are tools available to predict wave rewards for you: web based predictor (outdated U9) and AHK script(outdated U10).

Eris appears to still be drawing from the Infested reward pool.

Bugs

 * There is a bug where you will click to exit the defense mission, but you will stay in the mission without a HUD, and sometimes not being able to move or chat at all. Dying will not bring back the HUD and you will not be able to revive. The only way to leave the mission is to force close the game using Alt + F4 or through a process manager.
 * Having the chat window open and active while in the process of choosing between 'Claim and Exit' or 'Battle' will result in the typing player ending the mission as if they chose 'Claim and Exit', even if they chose 'Battle' explicitly.