Arbitrations

Arbitrations

Arbitrations are a special Alert variant hosted by the Arbiters of Hexis, featuring "elite" versions of endless missions with additional modifiers for greater difficulty. They were introduced in Update 23.10 (2018-10-12).

Mechanics

In order to access Arbitrations, players must have completed all nodes on the connected Star Chart, including Dark Sectors, Lua and the Kuva Fortress, and Deimos. The only exceptions are the disconnected Assassination nodes of Mutalist Alad V and the Jordas Golem on Eris, and the Zealoid Prelate on Deimos. Players can check on what nodes they need to complete by talking to the Arbitration representative in the Arbiters of Hexis' Relay enclave.

Note that this also entails completing the Ropalolyst node, which requires players to have completed the Chimera Prologue and all the story quests leading up to it.

Once players have Arbitrations unlocked, it will be displayed on the Operation window. There is only one Arbitration alert up at any given point on the Star Chart, changing nodes on an hourly basis. Arbitrations will only select nodes with endless missions (Survival, Interception, Defense, Excavation, Defection, Infested Salvage or Disruption) and the enemy level range will start at 60-80.

Rules

• A Rank 30 Warframe is required to play Arbitrations, similar to Sortie Missions.
• Once a player loses all their Health, they do not enter the Bleedout phase; they die instantly. Furthermore, they are not allowed to revive themselves.
  •  Sacrifice does not work in Arbitrations, and neither will  Inaros' Undying Passive.
    • However  Nidus' and  Wukong's revival passives,  Loki's  Savior Decoy,  Oberon's  Phoenix Renewal,  Khora's  Venari Bodyguard, and  Protea's  Temporal Anchor still function normally.
    • In general, only effects that do not enter the bleedout phase at all will work.
  • Note that the absence of Bleedout also extends to the player's Companions. Kavats can prevent death by being equipped with  Tek Assault,  Sly Devolution,  Crescent Devolution, and  Panzer Devolution, and Sentinels equipped with ( Primed)  Regen or  Reawaken will function as normal.
  • When a player dies, a Revive Tower will appear at their place of death with a waypoint, and Arbitration Shield Drones (see below) will begin to drop Resurgence Tokens on death.
    • Resurgence Tokens function identically to Index Points: Picking them up will give the stacking Resurgence Burden debuff, which lowers Warframe maximum health and shields and constantly drains energy.
    • 5 Resurgence Tokens are needed to revive a dead player, but they do not need to be carried by the same Warframe. Warframes carrying a cumulative total of 5 points must bring them to the Revive Tower at the same time.
    • If a Warframe carrying Resurgence Tokens dies, all the tokens they are carrying will be lost.
    • Resurgence Tokens are unaffected by  Vacuum and  Fetch.
    • Once all players are revived or the dead players leave the mission, excess Resurgence Tokens will disappear, removing the debuff.
• The missions sport modifiers unique to each:
  • Excavation: Excavation time is increased from 100 seconds to 180 seconds, and takes two excavations to count for one round of rewards.
  • Survival: Life Support Capsules are worth 75% of usual.
  • Interception: Enemy towers fill twice as fast.
  • Defense (except Stöfler node at Lua): The defense objective is a Hexis Operative NPC armed with  Telos Akbolto. Unlike Sortie Defense, the Operative follows a chosen player instead of roaming by themselves, and can't be given a weapon by a Tenno. Downtime between waves is reduced to 2 seconds. Like players, the Operative will not enter Bleedout, and their death will be an instant mission failure.
  • Defection: Rescue targets cannot be revived.
  • Infested Salvage: Consoles have half their normal health.
  • Disruption: Demolyst and Demolisher beeping range is halved and are marked when within 15 meters of a Tenno (from 30 meters).
• While quitting the mission will not yield any rewards, failing the mission keeps any rewards earned at the end of a rotation, but not any resources or credits enemies may drop.

Arbitration Shield Drones

Arbitration Shield Drones will spawn among the enemy ranks. They function similarly to Shield Ospreys, but instead:

• Grant complete Damage and Warframe Ability immunity to nearby enemies (except other Arbitration Drones). They are also immune to Warframe abilities themselves.
  • The ability immunity extends to  Limbo's Rift Plane, in that they are unable to enter it and therefore cannot be killed by someone inside the Rift even while inside a  Cataclysm. You can still switch to your Operator to damage the drones as it cannot enter the Rift Plane either. Enemies protected by the drones will not damage players inside the rift.
  • Builds focusing on area of effect damage might be difficult to employ as most enemy squads are being escorted by Arbitration drones. As the explosion of the drones provides a form of area damage and crowd control, focusing on single-target damage can be more viable to some.
  • Despite being weapons, the drones are also immune to all damage and effects from all Exalted weapons.
• Explode on death, dealing 3000 damage to all enemy units, including other Arbitration Drones, in an area of effect.
  • It's recommended that players deal with the drones as quickly as possible. Projectile launchers or weapons with large projectile hitboxes such as  Arca Plasmor are ideal for this task, as the drones are fairly small and move around quickly. Sniper rifles are also a good choice to pick out the drones from afar.
  • The death explosion can damage nearby Arbitration Shield Drones. Use this to your advantage.
  • As of Hotfix 23.10.7 (2018-10-24), Arbitration Shield Drones do not benefit from the Ancient Healer's damage reduction aura.

Bonuses

• To encourage gameplay diversity, players are given a +300% Ability Strength bonus and a +300% Damage bonus to a random Warframe and Weapon for each alert. The affected Warframe and weapon change from one player to another: for example, one player could be given bonuses for playing with  Excalibur and/or a  Skana while another player can be given bonuses for playing with  Mag and/or a  Braton.
  • The bonus can also be applied for Warframes and Weapons the player does not own.
  • Bonuses will also apply to any variants the Warframe or weapon may have (Prime, Syndicate, etc.).

Rewards

Mission

Arbitration Alerts reward one unit of Vitus Essence for every rotation completed, with more of it being an uncommon drop from Arbitration Drones. Players can use their collected Vitus Essence to purchase unique items and mods from the Arbitration representative in the Relays' Hexis Enclave.

Rewards are on a AABBCC... rotation, as opposed to the AABC rotation used in normal missions. After the first four rotations, the Arbitration will continue on the C rotation endlessly.

For Disruptions, rewards tier is determined by the standard Disruption reward system with no alterations, dependent upon round and conduits defended.

View Rewards List▾▾

A		B		C
Endo x900	44%	Endo x1200	44.5%	Endo x1500	33%
Ayatan Ayr Sculpture	9%	Ayatan Piv Sculpture	12%	Ayatan Orta Sculpture	20%
Ayatan Sah Sculpture	9%	Ayatan Vaya Sculpture	12%	Vitus Essence x3	7%
Ayatan Valana Sculpture	9%	Vitus Essence x3	7%	Arcane Blade Charger	5%
Vitus Essence x3	7%	Arcane Blade Charger	5%	Arcane Pistoleer	5%
Arcane Bodyguard	5%	Arcane Bodyguard	5%	Arcane Primary Charger	5%
Arcane Pistoleer	5%	Arcane Primary Charger	5%	Arcane Tanker	5%
Arcane Tanker	5%	Adaptation	2.5%	Seeding Step Ephemera Blueprint	5%
Adaptation	2%	Combat Discipline	2.5%	Aura Forma Blueprint	4.5%
Aerodynamic	2%	Shepherd	2.5%	Combat Discipline	3.5%
Combat Discipline	2%	Aura Forma Blueprint	2%	Melee Guidance	3.5%
Aura Forma Blueprint	1%			Swift Momentum	3.5%

Locations: See in-game World State Window, must complete all nodes on Star Chart

Drop tables outdated? Readers can update Module:DropTables/data and cross reference with official drop tables on https://www.warframe.com/droptables.

Tips

• The most common way to suddenly die is by an enemy grenade. They make a beeping noise and are shown by a red marker. Be wary of them, as they can blast through even the tankiest Warframes.
• At the beginning of the mission, ask how many waves your squad wants to finish. The last thing you want is to press your luck when most of your squad has left.
• During Defense missions, it is recommended to have at least one healer as  Trinity,  Oberon, or one player using Protective Dash to keep the target's health up.
•  Adaptation,  Quick Thinking, and  Rolling Guard are useful non-Warframe-specific mods for improving the chance of survival.
• Despite the presence of Warframe-specific bonuses, they will rarely make for more viable choices than survivability-focused Warframes. Survival is key to success, so it is helpful to use a Warframe with high survivability capabilities such as  Rhino,  Nezha,  Inaros, or  Revenant.
  • The bonus can open up alternative builds however, as it will provide high Ability Strength that would otherwise require several mod slots, capacity, and penalties from Corrupted mods.
    • A Trinity for instance can focus entirely on Duration, Range, and her own survivability, while the bonus caps out her  Blessing's scaling.
• The Arbitration Drones accompanying almost any decently sized pack of enemies heavily impacts the value of area-of-effect weapons or Warframe abilities, as the hordes of lesser enemies who would succumb to AoE damage are protected by the drones, and then usually wiped out by destroying them. The largest threats are the drones themselves and enemies who are tough enough to withstand their detonations; as such, single-target damage is generally more effective.
• Specters can be used to aid you and your allies throughout these missions, making it ideal to bring them in situations where defending a key point is the objective (Defense, Interception, and Infested Salvage). It isn't advised to use specters that do not prioritize following the player (Ancient Healer specter, Charger specter, etc) in the other endless missions (Survival, Defection and Excavation), as movement is mostly key to success there. 
  • Trinity Warframe specters are able to heal the defense target in Defense missions, while also offering great energy regeneration, making it an ideal Warframe specter to bring to this mission type.
  • Ancient Healer specters can be used to reduce incoming damage greatly for you and your teammates, and Shield Ospreys can be used to grant extra shields and a greater shield regeneration rate.
  • Other specters that have no special abilities or traits, such as the Charger or Roller specter are not recommended as their durability is very low and they tend to not follow the player. However they can serve as a distraction, drawing aggro away from both you and your teammates.

Bugs

• The randomly selected Ability Strength and Weapon Damage bonuses may not consistently apply to all Prime Warframes and Prime Weapons.
• Resurgence tokens collected by players who did not revive the downed player will not always disappear.
  • For example, P1 dies, P2 collects 2 tokens, P3 collects none, P4 collects 5 and revives P1.
  • After P1 is revived, P2 will still have 2 tokens .
• Due to the absence of any weakspots on Arbitration Shield Drones, they always require at least two hits to be killed because of shield gating.

Trivia

• Arbitrations were originally known as "Elite Alerts" when they were pitched by the Development Team.

Patch History

Update 28.1 (2020-07-08)

• Fixed the 30 second warning Transmission from the Lotus not playing in Arbitration Survival missions.

Hotfix 27.5.4 (2020-05-20)

• Fixed an abrupt Mission Failed due to Arbitration Defense targets dying randomly when attempting to teleport to the player when falling behind or just simply falling through the ground to their demise. As reported here: https://forums.warframe.com/topic/1194047-defense-arbitration-missions-spawning-bug-investigating/

Update 27.4 (2020-05-01)

• Fixed multiple script errors related to Host migrations in Arbitration missions.
• Fixed ending up with no UI if you were killed in an Arbitration mission before a Host migration and did not spawn until the migration was complete.

Update 27.3 (2020-03-24)

NEW ARBITRATIONS MODS (Max Rank)

Add these new Mods to your Arsenal to spice up your life! These Mods can be purchased from the Arbitrations Honors store in Relays.

Preparation (Warframe)
+100% maximum Energy is filled on spawn.

Aerial Ace (Rifle)
On Kill: Refresh Double Jump up to 6x while Airborne.

Mending Shot (Rifle - No AoE)
Shoot Health Orbs to obtain them with +110% extra effect.

Energizing Shot (Pistol - No AoE)
Shoot Energy Orbs to obtain them with +110% extra effect.

Update 27.2 (2020-03-05)

• Fixed Conduit count in Arbitration Disruption missions going above the needed amount to extract (ex. 5/4).

Update 26.0 (2019-10-31)

• Reduced the number of Kavor Defector squads required for a reward in Defection Arbitration missions to match other mission types.
  • Reward is now every 2 Defector squads instead of every 4 squads

Hotfix 25.7.6 (2019-09-18)

Abritrations Revisited

Last week we released a Dev Workshop (link on those words: https://forums.warframe.com/topic/1128051-arbitrations-revisited-part-2/) outlining our plans to improve Arbitrations, revisiting the droptables and improving reward frequency to be more consistent between modes. From new players who just completed the Star Chart, to veterans returning for new Arcanes and Aura mods, we hope these changes result in a more satisfying gameplay experience overall.

All changes are potentially subject to later changes based on feedback, so try out a few mission types and tell us your thoughts!

Reward and Rotation Changes:

In the original Arbitrations, Excavation missions were the clear outlier in terms of reward output for time spent. The following changes are intended to bring all other missions to the same level as Excavation, and also iterate on other community feedback:

• Arbitrations now use regular rotation length for their rewards, with the exception of Excavation. Excavation timers have been adjusted to compensate. Example:
  • EX: In lieu of a reward every 10 waves of Defense, you will now receive a reward every 5 waves.
• Arbitration rotation cadence has been changed from “ABCCCCC...” to “AABBCCCCC...”, so that the same level of time investment is encouraged.
• Reduced Endo Rewards drop percentage in the drop tables. Rare non-endo reward drop rates are unchanged - you’ll just get twice as many chances!
• Arbiter Drones will now have a small chance to drop Vitus Essence on kill.
  • Vitus Essence dropped by destroyed Arbitration drones will have the special pickup notification.

New Arbitration Rewards:
The following rewards have been added to the Arbitrations drop tables:
Stats shown at max rank*

• New Aura Mods:
  • Aerodynamic: 6 seconds added to Aim Glide/Wall Latch time, decreases damage taken while Airborne by 24%*
  • Swift Momentum: 30% faster Charge Attack speed, 6 seconds added to Melee Combo time*
  • Shepherd: Increases Companion Armor by 180 and Companion Health by 300*
  • Combat Discipline: Allies gain 20 Health when they make a kill, but the aura bearer loses 10 Health when the bearer makes a kill.*
  • Melee Guidance: Reduces Melee Combo timer on Self by 6 seconds, increases Melee Combo timer for Allies by 12 seconds*
• New Arcanes:
  • Arcane Primary Charger: On Melee Kill: 20% chance that Primary Weapon damage is increased by 200% for 8 seconds*
  • Arcane Blade Charger: On Primary Weapon Kill: 20% chance that Melee damage is increased by 200% for 8 seconds*
  • Arcane Pistoleer: On Pistol Headshot Kill: 30% chance to gain 100% ammo efficiency for 4 seconds*
  • Arcane Bodyguard: On Six Melee Kills Within 30 seconds: Heal companion by 600*
  • Arcane Tanker: On Heavy Weapon Summon: Gain 1200 armor for 16 seconds*
  • Per usual rules, an equipped maximum rank Arcane will also grant an extra Arcane Revive
    • Note: You may notice that the new Arcanes have default icons - we will be updating these in the near future with unique imagery.
• Added 3 x Vitus Essence bundle to the Arbitrations drop table.

Arbitrations Changes and Fixes:

• With the increased reward cadence resulting in more than double the Vitus Essence Output as before, prices in the Arbiter’s reward manifest have increased by roughly 1.5 times. To offset this change, we have run script to increase players’ existing Vitus stockpiles by an equivalent amount. Your Vitus should be increased to the correct amount upon login!
• Arbitration Disruption Missions:
  • Changed the extraction requirements for Disruption missions in Arbitrations from 8 completed Conduits to 4.
  • Added “extraction available” pop up when it is ready if the round is reached and 4/4 Conduits were completed.
  • Fixed round counter missing from the UI.

Hotfix 25.7.4 (2019-09-05)

• Disruption Arbitration now requires 8 completed Conduits to extract. It was always meant to be 8, but Mainline didn’t include that change!
  • Rewards are still given every other round: 4 Conduits per Round = 2 Rounds to extract.

Update 25.7 (2019-08-29)

DISRUPTION EXPANSION

NOTE: New Nodes have been added which means to be eligible for Arbitrations, you must complete them!

Update 25.0 (2019-05-22)

• Slightly increased the drop rate of the Seeding Step Ephemera and Aura Forma Blueprint in Arbitrations.

Hotfix 24.8.2 (2019-04-30)

• Fixed not receiving rewards at End of Mission if you’re awaiting revival while extraction is triggered by the remaining squadmates.
• Fixed losing Arbitration Warframe/weapon buff each time a player respawns.
• Fixed the Resurgence Burden UI lingering on the screen saying 0/5 if a player is near a Revive tower and doesn't have any Resurgence Burdens and another player performs the Revive.

Hotfix 24.8.1 (2019-04-26)

• In an effort to increase visibility, both the Arbitration Shield Drone beam and Resurgence Burden colors have been changed to a more orange hue! We've also cranked up the contrast and added a more recognizable pulsing FX.
• Resurgence Burdens are no longer affected by Vacuum.
• All Resurgence Burdens will now be removed if the player needing revival leaves/dies, and if you die while carrying Resurgence Burdens.
• Changed the VITUS ILLUMINA EMOTE to its proper name of ILLUMINA JUDICIUM.
• Fixed losing all Resurgence Burdens after a Host migration if a player was still in need of revival.

Update 24.8 (2019-04-24)

Arbitrations ‘Iteration 1’ Changes

Our goal with this update is to maintain the challenge that Arbitrations promised, while also ensuring that if you or a teammate is knocked out, they still have a chance to jump back into the fight! Iteration 1 brings the discussed Revival mechanic and enemy scaling changes to mirror normal Endless mission modes. We will be watching how these changes play out as we plan to iterate further on the mode in the future, with our next review for Arbitrations focusing on reward pacing.

BE KIND, REVIVE

The rules of Arbitration death have shifted: players are still downed with no bleedout timer, but a Revive tower is now placed at the player’s spot of death. If any squadmate is awaiting Revival, the Arbitration Drones will begin dropping unique pickups known as a “Resurgence Burden”. These pickups function similar to Index points (otherwise known as “Financial Stress”), debuffing the players who carry them.

In order to revive a player, 5 of these Resurgence Burdens must be taken to their tower simultaneously. These 5 pickups can be delivered by one or multiple squadmates, but cannot be “dropped off” at the tower - it’s all or nothing!

NEW REWARDS

You can now spend Vitus Essence in the Arbitrations Market to purchase Archgun Rivens (if you are below your Riven cap), as well as new cosmetics! The new cosmetic offerings include:

AMPREX TELOS SKIN

ATOMOS TELOS SKIN

ATTERAX TELOS SKIN

ILLUMINA JUDICIUM (name showing incorrectly in game. Will be hotfixed)

Let Arbitration begin.

A similar Emote style to the TennoCon 2019 Emote, the Illumina Judicium displays your true dedication to Arbitrations with a looping Vitus Illumina Glyph whilst doing an angsty Meditation pose.

JUDICIAL OCULUS

Eyewear created by the Arbiters for those they deem worthy.

Also, enemies now have a chance to drop the elusive Aura Forma Blueprint! Craft Aura Forma to further customize your Warframe and fine-tune your Mod builds.

General Arbitrations Changes

• Removed custom enemy level scaling from Defense, Survival, Interception, Excavation, Defection, and Infested Salvage modes in Arbitrations. Enemy scaling now mirrors normal Endless missions that increase as the missions progresses.
• Reduced Vitus Essence crafting cost for the Amber Star Blueprint from 2 to 1.

Hotfix 24.0.9 (2018-11-21)

• Fixed Arbitration Warframe Mods being usable in Archwing missions.

Hotfix 24.0.2 (2018-11-09)

• Fixed Arbitrations hint not appearing in the World State Window for players that have almost completed the Star Chart.

Update 24.0 (2018-11-08)

• Fixed Infested spore swarms spawned by Swarm Mutalist MOAs applying buffs to non-Infested agents (e.g. the Arbitration Drone).
• Fixed Arbitration Drones taking damage from Gara’s Splinter Storm.
• Fixed Arbitration boon selecting the MK1-Braton.

Hotfix 23.10.8 (2018-10-25)

• Fixed an AI bug in Arbitration Defense missions that was causing enemies to stand around after spawning.
• Slightly increased the hitbox of Arbitration Drones

Hotfix 23.10.7 (2018-10-24)

• Arbitration Drones are now exempt from Infested Ancient Healer Auras.
• Reduced Arbitration Defense Wave length to balance mission time played in comparison to Arbitration Survival missions.

Hotfix 23.10.6 (2018-10-18)

• Fixed loading into a default Dark Sector mission instead of the intended Arbitration mission.

Hotfix 23.10.5 (2018-10-18)

• Fixed Defection missions being unplayable when picked for an Arbitration.
• Fixed cases of Arbitration bonus not being applied to Prime Warframe variants. This applies to weapon variants as well (Cernos vs Rakta Cernos).

Hotfix 23.10.2 (2018-10-12)

• We have live fixed Arbitration missions rewarding the incorrect amount of Vitus Essence at End Of Mission, and inability to complete the Mastery Rank 26 test.
• Fixed earning multiple Ayatan Statues in an Arbitrations mission, but only receiving one once returning to your ship.

Update 23.10 (2018-10-12)

• Introduced.

Last updated: Hotfix 25.7.6 (2019-09-18)