Grineer

"From the chaos of the Collapse, they emerged, Violent hordes of decaying clones, overflowing from their toxic womb. They flood the Origin System, swallowing colonies whole. The twin Queens, the SISTERS, have devised a plan to transform the scattered colonies into an Empire across the planets. The Sisters have sent their most trusted brood on a vital quest - the TENNO, hidden and asleep, must never awaken."

- In-game Lore Description

The Grineer are the first enemies encountered by newly reawakened Tenno. They utilize technologically crude but undeniably effective weapons. More than one Tenno has fallen because they underestimated the accuracy of a Grineer Lancer with their Grakata rifles while waiting for shields to recharge.

To a man, the Grineer are clones; products of ancient, half-remembered technologies. Copies of copies, Grineer soldiers are produced in industrial quantities, and all are genetically defective, their genome damaged by the invasive cloning procedures used to birth each generation. As a result, they have very limited lifespans, and have a life cycle that is limited to only a few years. However, these defects are as mass-produced as the Grineer themselves, allowing for the rapid standardization of techno-augmetic adaptation between such generations. Indeed, it could be argued that the Grineer are better at fixing broken bodies than they are at making ones that function to begin with. Their homeworld is a ruined, uninhabitable Earth. They are people acting on an ultimate xenophobia, fueled by hereditary madness, and a burning hate of anything and anyone not like themselves. In the end, should they succeed, there will only be Grineer left alive in the solar system.

In battle, the Grineer use heavy armor coupled with attrition and ambush tactics. While they are fairly weak individually, they are a potent threat in groups, able to lay down withering streams of fire at all ranges from behind cover. Specialty troops use more advanced weapons, and many are even issued comparatively advanced reactive armor to give them an edge.

The armor on the average Grineer deserves special mention because it makes them the faction with the highest resistance to damage. This coupled with several elemental resistances and the fact that the relatively common Elite Lancer is heavily armored makes them the most durable faction, with their Medium and Heavy units becoming absolute bullet sponges at higher levels.

Weaponry


Fittingly for a military power like the Grineer, they have developed a wide variety of weapons and equipment used in their ceaseless conflicts with the Tenno, Corpus, and Infested. Ranging from simple pistols to heavier rifles, shotguns, and machine guns; to missile launchers, flamethrowers, and melee weapons featuring superheated surfaces. Grineer weaponry is largely conventional or industrial in operation. Grineer aesthetics largely eschew right angles and instead have a curves-and-spot-welding look, perhaps indicative of the large amounts of tough, temperature- and shock-resistant Ferrite and Alloys used in Grineer construction and manufacturing - a Grineer rifle isn't laboriously cast or machined for precision; it's pressed from molds, quickly filed down, and assembled by the billions, designed with as many loose tolerances as possible to further streamline the process. Fittingly enough, Grineer weaponry isn't generally designed to be used against the Grineer, being primarily engineered to deal damage with their weapons for use against the Corpus and their shield systems, or  for use against the Infested. Many Grineer weapons also lack full stocks, relying on their wielder's augmented strength and/or heavy, padded armor to absorb the recoil. Other Grineer weapons simply are too large or heavy for other races to consider practical, whether they be hydraulically-assisted axes or hammers, or flail-like whips that include a set of grinding blades.

...Not that this stops the Tenno from making use of them if able.

Despite their manufacturing processes being centered around mass-production, Grineer engineers are fiendishly clever in incorporating unusual and unorthodox ideas and new technologies into their weaponry, even if such technology is not something they'd otherwise have much familiarity with. A good example of this can be seen in Captain Vor's Seer; this is a long-ranged pistol with sniper optics that incorporates Orokin technology. Other good examples include the Jat Kittag - a Grineer warhammer that incorporates a series of jet engines to allow it even more destructive force. As of the most recent updates, the Grineer have, despite the best efforts of the Lotus, developed primitive microwave and plasma weapons as well as a rifle that fires guided projectiles. It is noted that these radically different weapons are not used by any units of the game however, and is assumed to be reverse engineered prototypes stolen from the tenno before mass production began and before they began to see actual combat use, exception being in Captain Vor's Seer.

Enemies
Grineer have a dual classification system. Primarily, they are classified by their armor class - Light, Medium, and Heavy - which describe their base armor and their shared damage multipliers. Secondarily, they are classified by their role or engagement style. Infantry use rifles and shotguns and tend to find good cover and engage at medium to close range. Special Weapons units use non-standard weapons (ex: rocket launchers, miter, snares, etc.) and typically have various roles in combat based on their loadout. Finally, Butchers engage at close range and use primarily melee weapons.

Light
Light Grineer units are melee units with decent damage with low durability. Some of them have special abilities. Butcher=


 * -|Flameblade=


 * -|Powerfist=


 * -|Scorpion=


 * -|Shield Lancer=


 * -|Guardsman=

Medium
Medium troops make up the bulk of the Grineer army. They are not particularly dangerous when alone, but in groups they can pose a serious threat. Ballista=


 * -|Eviscerator=


 * -|Hellion=


 * -|Lancer=


 * -|Elite Lancer=


 * -|Scorch=


 * -|Seeker=


 * -|Trooper=

Heavy
These units are the strongest and toughest of the Grineer. Apart from the Grineer Commander, these units don't take advantage of cover. Most Heavy Grineer cannot seem to retaliate while under attack, showing a vulnerability to status effects; therefore it is possible to dispatch lone Heavy units easily with sustained firepower. Heavy units typically have significant base Health and armor. Bombard=


 * -|Commander=


 * -|Drahk Master=


 * -|Heavy Gunner=


 * -|Napalm=


 * -|Manic=

Utility
The utility enemies of the Grineer are dangerous in their own right, such as the Roller, one of the most infamously annoying enemies in the game.
 * -|Drahk=


 * -|Latcher=


 * -|Roller=


 * -|Regulator=


 * -|Sensor Bar=


 * -|Arc Trap=


 * -|Target=


 * -|Warden=


 * -|Power Carrier=


 * -|Spark=


 * -|Manic Bombard=

Archwing
Troops deployed in Archwing game mode. Ogma=


 * -|Dreg=


 * -|Lancer Dreg=


 * -|Temporal Dreg=


 * -|Dargyn=


 * -|Shield Dargyn=


 * -|Hellion Dargyn=


 * -|Shield-Hellion Dargyn=

Bosses
Bosses are officers within the Grineer faction. Capt. Vor=


 * -|Councilor Vay Hek=


 * -|Gen. Sargas Ruk=


 * -|Kela De Thaym=


 * -|Lt. Lech Kril=


 * -|Tyl Regor=


 * -|Grustrag Three=


 * -|Sprag=


 * -|Ven'kra Tel=

Trivia

 * Before Update 10 was implemented, the Grineer troops used to speak fluently in English, this was then changed to Grineer language in order to retain the lore of Grineer with aggressive dislike to foreign races.
 * One of the more infamous voice lines from pre-Update 10 Grineer was "Combat formation Bravo!". It was jokingly explained by a DE staff member that a key requirement of Formation Bravo is to never mention anyone's mother. Other joking fan interpretations of Formation Bravo refer to the "enemy tower" bug.
 * Other popular lines from pre-Update 10 were "Stay close to the walls." and "Hey, leave my mother out of this."
 * So far, the Grineer are the only voiced faction to have a strong direct aggression against the Tenno, speaking their name during their attacks in their language.
 * They also have been heard saying Wafram, as in Warframe, when spotting one themselves.
 * The same applies to many phrases the Grineer use, such as yelling "attaf!" instead of "attack!" and "ket klem!" instead of "get them!" (The Grineer word "klem" has been created into a fictional fan character whose name is the word itself. DE has stated in a Devstream that he is the Medallion Merchant for the Steel Meridian in their syndicate room as well.)
 * In essence, Grineer still speak English, but since Update 10, it has been adjusted to account for their decaying flesh and how that might affect their speech, essentially giving them a speech impediment.
 * In a Devstream, DE has stated that the Grineer are british.
 * A fact that backs this up is that they still use the terms Queens and other terms.
 * A fact that holds these facts back are that the Grineer-like enemies in Dark Sector were Russian. Also, most players believe female Grineer's voices are Russian.
 * When playing an Invasion mission, while the player has sided with the Grineer, they still will cry out quotes like Tenno Scum, because although the AI is allied with the player the voice choices still do not alter. The same goes with Shadow Grineer, shouting at other Grineer the same anti-Tenno aggressive lines.
 * The Corpus nicknamed the Grineer as the "dogs", not because of their degraded appearances but to their aspect of extreme servitude towards their leaders (and possibly creators), the Twin Queens. This was mentioned by Alad V during The Gradivus Dilemma.
 * Their name "Grineer" seems to be a portmanteau of the words "Genetically"  and "Re-engineer" which makes sense given the lore behind them.
 * In Update 13.2, the female Grineer received an audio overhaul. Speaking in a deeper and more aggressive tone, with long pauses and slurs, adding viability to their genetic deterioration.
 * Despite the Grineer being a xenophobic race, in the trailer for Vor's Prize, which was leaked at the end of Devstream 32, Captain Vor and the Twin Queens are heard speaking in English. Sargas Ruk and a number of other notable Grineer speak the language as well.
 * As evidenced by Grineer Lancer's Synthesis imprint, the Grineer existed in the same time period as the Orokin. This is further confirmed by the Arid Eviscerator's imprint.
 * According to the Liset's Radio, the Grineer still used Solar Rails. They also control mining colonies by attacking them and killing anyone that opposes them (eg. Rebels).
 * The Grineer wants to spread their power into the whole of the Origin System.