Warframes

"Warframe exo-armor uses unique combative technology to create the ultimate weaponry. The Warframes hold many mysterious powers and mastering one requires dedicated use."

- Warframe Official Website


 * ''For the game itself, see Warframe (Game).

Warframes are the name of the exoskeletons worn by the Tenno, in the Warframe universe. They protect the wearer with regenerating shields while allowing him or her to use special abilities such as faster movement speed, higher jumping heights or control over elemental forces.

Overview
Warframes are dynamic and do not adhere to a single archetype, allowing them to be tailored to any play style. Though there are some Warframes that excel in certain situations, they are not necessarily limited to any particular role.

The extent to which a Warframe may be customized is primarily determined by the configuration of its modules, which may be installed to upgrade certain Warframe Attributes and even alter their abilities. Further bonuses can be achieved by equipping add-ons, such as Helmets.

Every Warframe features four unique powers that allow for a large degree of control over the surrounding environment. These powers can allow a Tenno to cast virtually anything, ranging from devastating waves of energies to defensive barriers, or even mass healing. Warframes greatly augment the physical abilities of a Tenno as well, affecting natural skills like swordsmanship, marksmanship and most notably acrobatics. New players start as an Excalibur Warframe in a tutorial session. Upon completion, players are given a choice to start the game using either Excalibur, Loki, or Mag. As of update 14 Loki was replaced by Volt as a starter. By default, players are allotted 2 Warframes slots, each additional slot costing  20.

Acquisition
All Warframes can be acquired by two different ways:

Foundry
Every Warframe is comprised of three parts and a main blueprint: To acquire the parts of the desired Warframe, players have to first obtain the blueprints of the parts by completing various Assassination missions or Clan Dojo research. After each part has been built in the Foundry using various resources, players can then purchase the Warframe's main blueprint with from the Market to complete the final construction process.

Market
Warframes can also be purchased in the Market with. Any Warframes acquired in this manner come with a pre-installed  and their own slot.

Leveling Up
Warframes require affinity, conventionally known as experience points (XP), in order to attain higher levels. Frames level up separately from others and from the player to a max of level 30. During missions, players can be rewarded XP through actions getting such as killing enemies, using abilities, completing objectives, reviving downed teammates or simply completing the mission. With each successive level, a Warframe gains mod capacity and passive increases to shields, health, energy capacity, and 200 mastery points. Status boosts received from ranking up are calculated from the base value of the Warframe for each status, preventing modules from affecting the bonus.

Attributes
Attributes are the stats and functionality of warframes such as Health, Armor, Shields, Energy, Stamina and Movement Speed. Each warframe is made unique with a different combination of these and their powers.

Cosmetics
Every Warframe thus far can equip various kinds of alternative equipment or skins. These cosmetic items include Helmets, Idle Animations and holographic Emblems.

Some of these items are available by default, some can either be bought from the Market or found as blueprints via the Alerts system. They can all be equipped in the Customize Colors page under Select Skin.

Origins
The name "Warframes" comes from a 1950's Boeing (Company) WWII research project equipping WWII soldiers with exoskeletons, as mentioned by Steve Sinclair during Devstream #1.

Bugs
The majority of Warframe abilities with duration or changes to the user/enemies will be cancelled if the player falls into a pit. (e.g Shadows Of The Dead and Invisibility)