- For the Assassin, see Zanuka Hunter.
Alad V was the head of Grineer Relations and reported directly to the Board of Directors. In spite of his position, Alad V showed a particular contempt towards the Grineer (whom he refers to as 'dogs') and to a lesser extent, the Tenno. He is the most decorated Corpus boss in terms of his involvements with many Events. He eventually became obsessed with the promise of biological research on the Infested, with the hopes of creating very powerful bio-weaponry, going as far as using Technocyte on his own armor and sacrificing prototypes from his Zanuka Project.
He is accompanied by a robotic pet/guardian, Zanuka, which he built from Warframe parts that he gathered.
Upon completion of his assassination mission, player will receive either the Valkyr Chassis, Neuroptics, or Systems blueprint.
Lore
Due to the nature of the starchart progression being altered in Update 19, some of the lore orders listed here may not match the current game's order. This section lists the last known order before the retcon created a story loophole.
General
Alad V was the head of Grineer Relations and reported directly to the Board of Directors. In spite of his position, Alad V showed a particular contempt towards the Grineer (whom he refers to as 'dogs') and to a lesser extent, the Tenno. Over the course of his career Alad would develop an obsession with the Tenno and (later on) the Infested, believing that he could harness their power for his own benefit.
Operation Sling-Stone
During one set of negotiations, The Twin Queens demanded that Alad reduce the price of some materials after several stockpiles were discovered, threatening to unleash a Fomorian-class 'supership' if he refused. Alad decided to call their bluff, unaware that these Fomorian ships did exist. When he realized his mistake, he turned to the Tenno for assistance.
Although The Lotus did not want to play any part in the conflict, the threat of Grineer power expanding convinced her to reconsider Alad's plea. This resulted in Operation Sling-Stone, where the Tenno would sabotage the Fomorians' reactors by corrupting them with Infested material. Eventually the last of these ships fell and the Grineer withdrew, although Alad dispatched scouts to Pluto in response to rumors of surviving ships.
Operation Arid Fear
Ultimately, the Queens agreed to Alad's initial contract, but decided to pay more than what he asked for in exchange for his assistance; the Grineer had several unknown settlements that they wanted to hide from the Tenno. Knowing that the Tenno are aware of their methods via their capture missions, Alad decided to send his scouts and navigators to The Void, in the hopes of hiding the information as long as he could. Despite this, The Lotus discovered his covert operations (dubbed Operation Arid Fear) and sent the Tenno to hunt down his scouts. Despite Alad's best efforts, the Tenno recovered the information and were able to find the settlements' planet (which was originally Phobos at the time the event took place, but has presumably been retconned to Mars in Update 19).
The Gradivus Dilemma
Later on, Alad would focus his resources on the Zanuka Project after discovering a cache of unawakened Tenno near Sedna. Upon hearing this, Sargas Ruk ordered Alad to hand the cache over to the Grineer, on the grounds that they were found in Grineer territory. Alad responded by setting up a defensive force on Mars in order to repel the offensive. Enraged, Ruk demanded that all Corpus territory would be handed over to the Grineer, or else there would be swift consequences.
This information was picked up by The Lotus, who was unwilling to sway the Tenno towards either side. Instead she left the Tenno with two options; support the Grineer to rescue the sleeping Tenno, at the cost of the Grineer gaining more control or support the Corpus to drive off the Grineer, sacrificing their fellow Tenno in the process. The ensuing conflict would later be known as The Gradivus Dilemma.
After several skirmishes, the Board of Directors decided to stop bankrolling Alad due to the resources that were wasted during the Dilemma, resulting in a Grineer victory. The Board also stopped the funding of the Zanuka Project, forcing Alad to continue his project without their assistance. He subsequently set up research facilities on Jupiter.
The Hunt For Alad V
Following the Dilemma, the Tenno discovered that Alad had a captured Warframe he was experimenting on as part of the Project. Alad's former colleague Frohd Bek was tracking him down in response to the massive debts he accrued due to the Dilemma (though Frohd had his own reasons, namely fearing that Alad could gain more power in the Board should the Zanuka Project prove successful). In response, Alad diverted the Infested to Frohd's ships, overwhelming them in the process and slowing down Frohd's progress.
Frohd Bek decided to cut a deal with the Tenno; eliminate the Infested from his ships so that the both of them can locate Alad. Despite Lotus' initial distrust, she ultimately agreed to Frohd's terms, and the ensuing manhunt ultimately uncovered Alad's location. Although he was able to construct a working Zanuka prototype by the time he was found, the Tenno defeated him and rescued the Warframe under his clutches. Despite this, Alad continues to work on the Project and occasionally sends out Zanuka Hunters to search for more "donors".
Suspicious Shipments
After a long period of inactivity, The Lotus discovered several Corpus ships that were travelling well outside usual shipping routes. These ships were heavily armored, and used several measures to keep themselves hidden from prying eyes. Suspicious about their purpose, Lotus sent the Tenno to investigate these ships and their mysterious cargo.
The Tenno discovered that many of these ships contained samples of Infested tissue, heavily guarded by Corpus platoons, though some of these ships have suffered containment breaches and have been overrun with the Infested. Alad contacts the Tenno during their investigations, explaining that he disagrees with the Corpus ban on Infested Biotechnology, and has decided to focus his resources on this forbidden line of research.
Operation Breeding Grounds
The Lotus learns that Alad's experiments have allowed the Infestation Virus to evolve, allowing it to infect and corrupt inorganic beings. Lotus also discovered that Alad has also engineered Infested Hives as a means of directing the spread of the Infested, as these hives can quickly corrupt new ships or colonies almost immediately.
After hearing word of a massive Infestation outbreak near Eris, Lotus ordered the Tenno to intercept the Infested ships and destroy the hives in order to halt the outbreak, fearing that the newly evolved strain would quickly overrun the system if left unchecked.
Although the Tenno succeeded in stopping the outbreak, Alad sent out one last message that mocked the Tenno's efforts, claiming that their actions have left Alad with the hardiest, most vicious strains at his disposal.
Operation: Mutalist Incursions
With the evolved Technocyte virus at his disposal, Alad unveiled his plan to unleash a new "Mutalist Empire," infecting Tenno, Grineer, and Corpus alike in an attempt to unify and subordinate them. At this point The Lotus believes that the Infestation has corrupted Alad's mind, describing him as the Infested itself. From there, Mutalist Infestations would periodically surface across the Solar System, and the Tenno were tasked to purge them with the help of the Corpus and the Grineer.
Through the valiant and combined effort of the three factions, the Mutalist Infestations were quickly pushed back into minimum, but ultimately failed to fully exterminate the new breeds and so remained a permanent threat to the system.
Patient Zero
In the midst of the Mutalist Infestations, the Lotus also directs the Tenno to locate Alad -who at this point has hybridized himself with Infested tissue- and destroy his research labs. During their searches, Alad contacts the Tenno and reveals that he has another Warframe in his possession, and plans to infuse it with Infested tissue. The search continues, and as they locate his research labs, they encounter the Infested Warframe -the epitome of Alad V's Mutalist experiments. The Lotus instructs the Tenno to put it out of its misery.
Despite the destruction of his experiments, Alad expresses no grudge towards the Tenno and instead announces his disappointment at them, remarking that this was a chance for them to redeem their past "mistakes".
Operation: Tubemen of Regor
After a long period of inactivity, Tyl Regor has built secret underwater research facilities on the moons of Uranus as part of his efforts to repair the Grineer's genetic degradation, and his research soon bears fruit in the form of "tubemen", specimens of Grineer that are stronger and healthier than normal Grineer. Regor's research gets Alad's attention, and Alad (regretting his experiments with the Infestation) sends a message to the Lotus, asking the Tenno to obtain Tyl Regor's research before sabotaging his labs in the hopes of finding a cure for his infested self. Nef Anyo, however, sees his plea to the Lotus as a threat to his position in the Corpus board and immediately broadcasts his alternate proposition to destroy Tyl Regor's lab outright, wanting to prevent Alad V from possibly developing the cure and regain power in the board.
As both sides offers the locations of the underwater labs to do their willing, the Lotus refuses to sway the Tenno into a specific choice, and it is ultimately up to themselves to decide which of the two is the lesser evil. In the end, Alad V proves victorious in the PC and XB1 builds of the game, whereas Nef Anyo is triumphant in the PS4 build.
The Second Dream
In order to figure out Hunhow's plans, Alad, whose Infestation has significantly receded compared to his last encounter with the Tenno, offers his assistance in locating the Sentient's remains in exchange for a future favor, and stays in contact with the Lotus as the Tenno pursue the Stalker to the Void. As the Tenno encounter a Sentient Battalyst, Alad expresses his desire to dissect one for further research.
In the Void, Alad expresses his amazement when the Lotus reveals she hid the Orokin-Terraformed Moon deep in the Void to protect it from the Sentients, and as the Tenno defend the Moon from Hunhow's forces, Alad asks the Tenno, "Where is [your] heart, if not in [your] chest?", suggesting that Alad has some awareness that Warframes are not what they seem, but was still unable to pinpoint their true nature. During the conflict, Hunhow addresses Alad (referring to him as "Orokin" on several occasions) and ultimately threatens to kill him, forcing Alad to flee but not before reminding the Lotus about his favor.
Operation: Shadow Debt
Calling in the favor he obtained during The Second Dream, Alad requests the Tenno's assistance in locating and hunting down the Acolytes (individuals whom the Stalker has convinced to join his cause) as they have been deployed to hunt down Alad. Alad instructs the Tenno to break into Corpus and Grineer systems to collect security data, and from there Alad uses the data to locate the Acolytes for the Tenno to hunt down.
Once most of the Acolytes were defeated, Alad found out that there was one more Acolyte heading his way. Fearing that the last Acolyte was possibly the strongest out of the group, he asked the Tenno to defend him directly. After the Tenno protected Alad from the Acolytes, he gave the Tenno the rewards he had promised, asking them not to tell anyone about their deal. It remains unknown why the Stalker sent the Acolytes after him.
The Duo
| Alad V | General | Drops | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Introduced | Undetermined | Mod Drops: Quickdraw Slip Magazine Vitality Gunslinger Heated Charge IntensifyOther Drops: Orokin Cell Sedna Nav Segment Neural Sensors Alad V Sigil | |
| Tileset | Corpus Gas City | |||
| Ability | Electric Shield Flame Pulse Blinding Beam | |||
| Codex Scans | 3 | |||
| Statistics | ||||
| Flesh | 900 | |||
 +  ++  ++  -  -
| ||||
| Proto Shield | 1,500 | |||
+ + +++ ‐‐ ‐‐ ‐‐
| ||||
| Ferrite Armor | 250 | |||
++ +++ -  -
| ||||
| Base Multiplier | Head: 2.0x | |||
| Affinity | 1,500 | |||
| Base Level | 1 | |||
Alad himself appears as a man in a metallic blue robe, with a disc-shaped controller around his neck which powers Zanuka.
He has no offensive capabilities, and will simply attempt to run around the arena and stay away from the Tenno while Zanuka does the dirty work. He does however have a few defensive capabilities to help himself survive.
- Electric Shield: Akin to Volt's power, he can summon a white energy shield to block bullets from afar.
- Flame Pulse: When close enough to Alad, he will summon an AoE fire burst around himself to knock the Tenno away. It has little to no recharge time, meaning attempts to do close quarters attacks are futile and can always be defended against. The pulse does not seem to be avoidable by jumping.
- Blinding Beam: A lightning bolt strikes from his hand and connects to a target Tenno. After a second, the target will be blinded for a few seconds as the entire screen flashes white.
| Zanuka | General | Drops | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Fast with claw and missile attacks. |
Introduced | Undetermined | Mod Drops: None. Mods drop from Alad V Other Drops: Orokin Cell | |
| Tileset | Corpus Gas City | |||
| Ability | Missile Strike Frost Bomb Dispel | |||
| Codex Scans | 3 | |||
| Statistics | ||||
| Robotic | 1,000 | |||
+  ++  + - -
| ||||
| Proto Shield | 15,000 | |||
| + + +++ ‐‐ ‐‐ ‐‐
| ||||
| Alloy Armor | 25 | |||
+ + +++ ‐‐ ‐‐ ‐‐
| ||||
| Affinity | 1,500 | |||
| Base Level | 1 | |||
Zanuka is Alad V's pet created with parts of various Warframes, this is also the proudly announced product of the Zanuka Project. Both Alad V and Zanuka are encountered together on Themisto, Jupiter.
Zanuka appears as a cyan armored robotic canine. It is highly aggressive and agile, capable of doing dodge rolls and jumping around terrain. It will continuously chase the Tenno while launching attacks. Aside from the basic claw strikes, it has several ranged abilities.
- Missile strike: Launches several guided missiles, doing moderate damage. Due to their powerful guiding capabilities, the most reliable way to dodge them is still to hide behind cover.
- Frost bomb: Launches a gray spherical bomb that explodes in a small AoE, applying Cold and slowing down any Tenno within the explosive radius temporarily.
- Dispel bomb: Uses when a Tenno has deployed a self-buff such as Iron Skin. The bomb acts similar to the Frost bomb, but dispels active abilities on hit. Unlike the Stalker's Dispel, this one will not stagger the victim. It also affects Shade's cloak as well.
- Antimatter Drop (Zanuka only uses it when you down Alad V in order to allow it to revive him).
- Revive Alad V, which will reduce Zanuka's shields to zero during the rescue attempt.
Strategy
Unlike with most other bosses, enemies will continuously spawn within the arena throughout the fight. However, the arena tends to start without any enemies waiting within.
Shielded Phase
Zanuka possesses a near invulnerable shield, which can only be disabled after Alad's shields have been destroyed. During this phase, simply keep running away from Zanuka and attempt to damage Alad from a distance, as his Flame Pulse will keep close combatants at bay.
Similar to Jackal, Zanuka's shields are not actually invulnerable, and are simply extremely high and have severe damage reduction. It is possible to brute force your way through it with high-end gear, like the Brakk. It is possible to use Ash's Fatal Teleport on Zanuka and easily kill it with a strong melee weapon (or a Covert Lethality dagger).
Avoid using any variety of Toxic damage, as this damage bypasses shields and may deplete Alad V's health before the shield, making it extremely difficult to deal with Zanuka.
Health Phase
After Alad's shields have been removed, Zanuka's shields will be disabled, allowing both to be damaged. However, Alad will never die until Zanuka is destroyed. In the event that the player continues to chase Alad and take his health down to zero, he will fall over into a Downed state, and Zanuka will rush to his aid and revive him. Upon revival, Alad's shields will be semi-recovered, meaning Zanuka will be invulnerable once more and the shielded phase has to be repeated.
As such, while Zanuka becomes an easy target when attempting to rescue Alad, it may actually be easier to ignore Alad after his shields have been disabled and attack Zanuka until it is destroyed, then finish off Alad at your leisure.
Though Zanuka is agile, most players will still be faster than it by a significant margin, making outrunning it the best strategy. As the Bombs Zanuka deploys are purely for support, the only real threat it possesses are guided missiles, which can be tanked with moderate shields. Simply kite until it goes down or disable it with control skills like Vauban's Bastille.
Trivia
- The Lotus pronounces Alad V's name "Alad Vee" and not "Alad Five".
- Alad V has a continued and deep interest towards biotics in general and perhaps possesses high knowledge in biology. This is shown by him being the first person to manipulate Warframes (to create Zanuka) and commanding the Infested (and evolving them).
- Alad V is the character most involved in the lore of Warframe Era, totaling seven events, one special alert and two quests of exposure, making him the most ubiquitous character in Warframe lore-wise.
- Like General Sargas Ruk, Captain Vor, and Shik Tal, Alad V is voiced by Kol Crosbie.
- Alad V favors diplomacy and bribery over fighting, using his skills in linguistics to gain profits and defeat opponents, and uses his robotic pet as a primary means of fighting when the need arises (from Livestream 14).
- His diplomacy skills seem to be sorely lacking, as evidenced from most interactions with even the Tenno that sided with Corpus in the Gradivus Dilemma event. Boasting about what he will do to captured Tenno cryopods, saying Tenno have no eyes for unknown reasons, and also talking about how much it pains him to give rewards to Tenno that supported his cause.
- Alad V believes the Tenno do not have eyes. This could be a reason to the Zanuka Project, as Alad V has minimal knowledge about the nature of the Tenno and wishes to do research, not even knowing that the Tenno are not controlling their Warframes directly, rather than from inside the suits.
- This might also hint at the relationship between the Tenno and their Warframes. Other characters such as Captain Vor also hint at a similar conclusion in their respective dialogues
- This might also actually be an insult, having "no eyes" may mean not "seeing" the scheme of things. This could relate to the Tenno being the "Betrayers" for not embracing Orokin technology, as the Corpus do.
- Ironically, save Vor and allies of the Tenno, Alad V expresses the strongest interest in the Tenno despite his lack of knowledge compared to other characters such as Lech Kril and Maroo (who are both aware that Warframes are merely suits for Tenno).
- Despite the animosity between the Corpus and the Tenno, Alad V still treats them like potential business partners, as evidenced by his dialogue in the Gradivus Dilemma.
- The fan base considers his slogan to be "Profit numbs the feeling."
- He has created a forum account on the Warframe forums to argue with General Sargas Ruk: Alad V
- A leaked trailer was released in the forums as the showcase for the PS4. Though the original trailer was released a short time after.
- In the PS4 trailer, the letters on Alad V's neck piece translate to "ALADV GREG", most likely a humorous reference to level designer Scott McGregor.
The letters on the shoulder plates which translate to "ALADV GREG"
- When downed, Alad will refer to Zanuka as a female. This might be in a literal sense or simply calling it "her" shows his affection toward it, like any other pet.
- The following depicted abilities on the "Profit" trailer are known to be false and do not apply completely to Zanuka's actual boss fight:
- Antimatter Drop is used outside of its normal circumstance. Normally, Zanuka will only use it when rushing to revive Alad.
- Rhino Stomp did not cause a time-stopping effect as it normally should.
- Dispel causes stagger in actuality rather than knockdown as shown in the trailer.
- It seems that Alad V was to be replaced by Darvo as the new chairman of the Corpus Board, the main aristocratic leadership on Corpus politics. His ranking was known on the Profit trailer as he makes a transaction among his fellow Corpus leadership through the Zanuka Project, although, this has changed as one of the chairmen from the board called Alad V an impeachment, specifically Frohd Bek, who is the actual father of Darvo, which resulted in The Hunt For Alad V. Exiled, his seat from the board is thus left empty as Darvo has shown disdain for Bek's ambition.
- So far the only humanoid Corpus bosses are Alad V and The Sergeant.
- In The Second Dream quest, Alad was addressed as Orokin by the Sentient Hunhow. This could be a misinterpretation on Hunhow's part, however; due to him being sealed in a tomb for thousands of years he could be unaware of the existence of other factions aside from the Orokin and the Tenno. However, Cephalon Fragment entries indicate that some members of the Corpus leadership claim to be direct descendants of Orokin heritage. Hunhow's statement might suggest that this is in fact true.
- The Zanuka is the first, and currently only, evidence of any faction other than the Orokin having any success manipulating Warframes. The game has made mention of the both the Corpus and Grineer being unsuccessful trying to utilize their power in the past, although new evidence from the Second Dream suggests that Alad V might also be Orokin.
- In his appearance during the Second Dream, Alad appears to be fully cured (though with a scarred face) from his Infestation. Because the order of the story for each player is dependent on player choice, D.E. may have chosen to "cure" Alad V so as to leave the timeline ambiguous.
- If one looks closely, the arc-like beams on Zanuka's head seems similar to the Corrupted / Frost Prime headpieces.
- A Nekros can create a Zanuka Shadow with Shadows Of The Dead if the Nekros is the Frame to strike the killing blow. If this occurs, it will primarily use its missiles. This is the only known case of a boss that can be made into a Shadow.
- Due to the similarities between the term and his name, Alad V has acquired the derogatory nickname "Salad V" in some areas of the Warframe community. This has also carried over to his Mutalist incarnation. Also his "collar" has often been compared to a toilet seat.
- Alad V's controller for Zanuka looks like a Middle English ruff, which was worn during the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods.
- Valkyr's Gersemi skin, which is meant to show Valkyr before the Corpus experiments on her, has almost exactly the same coloring as the Zanuka that Alad controls, hinting that the outer layers of Valkyr's Warframe were literally stripped and grafted onto the Zanuka.
- According to Lockjaw & Sol's codex entry, Alad designed the Helios sentinel.
Bugs
- Zanuka has been known to disappear while being kited through the ducts leading up to the arena. When this occurs, Alad V is vulnerable to being killed.
- Sometimes when downed, Zanuka will revive him, but he gets stuck in a shield and cannot be damaged except using the slam attack of a melee weapon.
- Sometimes when Alad V is downed, Zanuka will revive him, but he will get stuck inside of walls and/or the floor and take no damage regardless of attacks.
- If Zanuka is pushed out of the map, defeating Alad V will not be possible. It seems that Zanuka is still alive beneath the map if you push it off (tested with Soul Punch and Kestrel). Zanuka eventually appears near Alad V and revives him.
- There's a chance that the blind effect employed by Alad V can get stuck on a character, this bug is fixed via revival.
- Zanuka can be locked down for an infinite duration (or until it dies) with Trinity's Well Of Life. Energy Vampire can then be used to cause damage to Zanuka while also replenishing the energy of Warframes close by.
- There appears to be a bug where Alad V can be killed when using a fast enough melee weapon, e.g. Obex. In these cases, if Alad is repeatedly downed in close combat, he will eventually be killed outright. Even if Zanuka is still alive at this point, Lotus will respond with the objective completed message and direct you to extraction. Zanuka can still be killed at this point.
- If a Nekros uses Shadows of the Dead to revive Zanuka and then kills Alad V, the shadow Zanuka will still revive Alad V when he dies.
- Alad V can possibly bleed out if Zanuka is kept from reviving him long enough (achievable with Nyx's Chaos ability).
