Abilities

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Abilities are special skills that all Warframes possess which are used to provide tactical advantages in battle by either affecting enemies directly or bolstering teammates in some manner. Every Warframe has a set of four unique Abilities which directly influence their gameplay and their role within a team. For example, Frost's Abilities are based around slowing down enemies and blocking damage, making him more suited to a defensive role.  Nova, with her damage-oriented Ability set, is a good choice for offensive playstyles.

Abilities require Energy, which is spent every time an Ability is used. Warframes have only a limited Energy capacity, so Ability use must be carefully managed to prevent running out of Energy at critical moments. Energy costs vary between Abilities; in general the more advanced/powerful the Ability, the greater its Energy cost.

TypesEdit

Warframe Abilities are currently officially classified into four different types, according to their function:

DamageEdit

The most common Ability type, Damage Abilities primarily deal direct damage to enemies. They also typically have a secondary effect, such as applying a Status.

Buff & DebuffEdit

These Abilities are used to modify a unit's innate stats. Buff-type Abilities enhance a Warframe or their allies, while Debuff Abilities weaken or cripple enemies. Some Abilities can even perform both at the same time.

MobilityEdit

Mobility Abilities enhance a Warframe's ability to travel between two points or allow them to reach normally inaccessible places.

PerceptionEdit

Perception Abilities are used to confuse or distract enemies, making them engage false targets or prevent them from seeing the player entirely.

Certain Warframe Abilities can have two different classifications. For example, an Ability can be both a Buff/Debuff and a Damage type. Currently, the above classification of powers is used to determine which Abilities are affected by certain enemies, such as Corpus Combas.

Ability ModsEdit

Warframes Abilities can be affected by four types of modification: Ability Duration, Ability Efficiency, Ability Range, and Ability Strength. With the proper combination of mods and gear Abilities can obtain a maximized value. See Power Mods and Abilities

Ability DurationEdit

Main article: Ability Duration

These mods affect how long a Warframe Ability lasts.

Mods that affect Ability Duration positively:

Maximized at +206% with a negative effect of -66% range. Note that  Continuity and  Primed Continuity are mutually exclusive; the maximized value assumes the use of Primed Continuity.

Ability EfficiencyEdit

Main article: Ability Efficiency

These mods affects how much a Warframe Ability costs to cast. Ability Efficiency has a hard cap of 75%. For example, an Ability which costs 100 Energy cannot be reduced below 25 Energy.

Mods that affect Ability Efficiency positively:

Maximized at +90% with a negative effect of -60% Duration. The 75% hard cap mentioned above means it is inefficient to completely level Fleeting Expertise as well as Streamline in the same build, unless also utilizing a mod that decreases Ability Efficiency, such as  Blind Rage, or minimizing the drain of channeled Abilities with as few mods as possible.

Ability RangeEdit

These mods affect the radius and targeting range of Warframe Abilities.

Mods that affect Ability Range positively:

Maximized at +180% with a negative effect of -60% Ability Strength.

Ability StrengthEdit

These mods and Arcanes affect the damage and the potency of Warframe Abilities (such as Banshee's Sonar and Energy restored by Trinity's Energy Vampire).

Mods & Arcanes that affect Ability Strength positively:

Pax Bolt

In the arsenal, Power Strength is maximized at +259% (equipping all Umbral mods) with a negative effect of -55% Ability Efficiency and -27.5% Ability Duration. Maximizing together with a maxed  Fleeting Expertise on a Warframe that does not need much Duration is efficient since it will effectively triple the damage of Abilities and also make them 5% cheaper to cast (although it will use up 8 Warframe mod slots).

In-game, without any additional Warframe ability buffs or effects, Power Strength is maximized at +399% (equipping all Umbral mods,  Energy Conversion, Pax Bolt, and if all players in a squad equip  Power Donation). With the Arbitration bonus, Power Strength is maximized at +699% (equipping all of the above mods/Arcanes).

The theoretical max Power Strength for any Warframe (except Volt and Frost because of their Arcane Helmets and Nidus because of his passive) will be +~1,070.57% taking into account +80% Power Strength from Equinox's  Peaceful Provocation and 2.235x Power Strength mulitplier from Nidus' Parasitic Link when Arbitration bonus gives +300% Power Strength to Nidus.

• To achieve this, Equinox must first cast Pacify & Provoke then Nidus' cast Parasitic Link on any Warframe.
• Volt's theoretical max Power Strength will be +~1,092.92% if under the above effects with Arcane Volt Storm Helmet equipped.
• Frost's (with Arcane Frost Squall Helmet equipped) and Nidus' theoretical max Power Strength will be +1,104.09% if under the above effects.

Last updated: Hotfix 25.7.8

Ability RankingEdit

Since Update 15.0, Warframe Abilities unlock and rank up with affinity. Maximum Rank for Abilities is Rank 3.

Patch HistoryEdit