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.
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, as well as the lone nodes of the Orokin Derelict. The only two exceptions are the disconnected Assassination nodes of Mutalist Alad V and the Jordas Golem on Eris. 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
- 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 and
Khora's
Venari Bodyguard still function normally.
- In general, only effects that do not enter the bleedout phase at all will work.
- However
- Note that the absence of Bleedout also extends to the player's Companions. Kavats can prevent death by being equipped with
Tek Assault, 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.
- Survival: Life Support Capsules are worth 75% of usual.
- Interception: Enemy towers fill twice as fast.
- Defense: 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.
- The ability immunity extends to
- Explode on death, dealing 3000
Blast 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, Arbitration Shield Drones do not benefit from the Ancient Healer's damage reduction aura.
- It's recommended that players deal with the drones as quickly as possible. Projectile launchers or weapons with large projectile hitboxes such as
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.).
- Note:
Mutalist Cernos and
Mutalist Quanta are considered separate weapons from their other counterparts, and receive bonuses separately.
- Note:
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.
Rotation A | Rotation B | Rotation C | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | 44% | ![]() | 44.5% | ![]() | 33% |
Ayatan Ayr Sculpture | 9% | Ayatan Piv Sculpture | 12% | Ayatan Orta Sculpture | 20% |
Ayatan Sah Sculpture | 9% | Ayatan Vaya Sculpture | 12% | ![]() | 7% |
Ayatan Valana Sculpture | 9% | ![]() | 7% | | 5% |
![]() | 7% | Arcane Blade Charger | 5% | Arcane Blade Charger | 5% |
Arcane Bodyguard | 5% | Arcane Bodyguard | 5% | Arcane Pistoleer | 5% |
Arcane Pistoleer | 5% | Arcane Primary Charger | 5% | Arcane Primary Charger | 5% |
Arcane Tanker | 5% | ![]() | 2.5% | Arcane Tanker | 5% |
![]() | 2% | ![]() | 2.5% | | 4.5% |
![]() | 2% | ![]() | 2.5% | ![]() | 3.5% |
![]() | 2% | | 2% | ![]() | 3.5% |
| 1% | ![]() | 3.5% |
Up to date as of Hotfix 26.1.3
Pre-rework reward table
Rotation A | Rotation B | Rotation C | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | 36.5% | ![]() | 48% | ![]() | 47.5% |
Ayatan Ayr Sculpture | 18% | Ayatan Piv Sculpture | 20% | Ayatan Orta Sculpture | 29% |
Ayatan Sah Sculpture | 18% | Ayatan Vaya Sculpture | 20% | | 5% |
Ayatan Valana Sculpture | 18% | ![]() | 2.5% | | 4.5% |
![]() | 2% | ![]() | 2.5% | ![]() | 3.5% |
![]() | 2% | ![]() | 2.5% | ![]() | 3.5% |
![]() | 2% | ![]() | 2.5% | ![]() | 3.5% |
![]() | 2% | | 2% | ![]() | 3.5% |
| 1.5% |
Arbitration Honors
- Vitus Essence is used to buy items from the Arbitrations Vendor NPC in the Arbiters of Hexis room of any relay.
Item | Type | Vitus Essence Cost |
---|---|---|
Amprex Telos Skin | ![]() | 15 |
Arbitration Statue | Decoration | 15 |
Archgun Riven Mod (Veiled) | Mod | 35 |
Atomos Telos Skin | ![]() | 15 |
Atterax Telos Skin | ![]() | 15 |
Ayatan Amber Star Blueprint | Resource | 10 |
Ayatan Zambuka | Resource | 50 |
Bleeding Body Ephemera Blueprint | Cosmetic | 30 |
![]() | Mod | 20 |
Grendel Chassis Locator | Warframe Locator | 25 |
Grendel Neuroptics Locator | Warframe Locator | 25 |
Grendel Systems Locator | Warframe Locator | 25 |
Illumina Judicium | Emote | 75 |
Judicial Coils | Operator Cosmetic | 30 |
Judicial Oculus | Operator Cosmetic | 30 |
![]() | Resource | 25 |
![]() | Mod | 20 |
![]() | Mod | 20 |
Scars of Arbitration Sigil | Cosmetic | 20 |
![]() | Mod | 20 |
![]() | Mod | 20 |
Vitus Emblem | Cosmetic | 5 |
Vitus Essence Decoration | Decoration | 15 |
Vitus Illumina | Decoration | 15 |
Total | 575 |
Last updated: Update 26.0
- Vitus Essence is also used to craft items, mainly Ephemeras.
Vitus drop.
Blueprints | Type | Quantity (Research) |
---|---|---|
Ayatan Amber Star | Resource | 1 |
Blazing Step Ephemera | Cosmetic | 1 |
Bleeding Body Ephemera | Cosmetic | 1 |
Freezing Step Ephemera | Cosmetic | 1 |
Seeding Step Ephemera | Cosmetic | 1 |
Shocking Step Ephemera | Cosmetic | 1 |
Smoking Body Ephemera | Cosmetic | 1 |
Synthula | Resource | (1) |
Total | 7 (+1) |
Last updated: Update 24.8
Tips
- The most common way to die suddenly is by enemy grenade. They are small and hard to see, but they do make a beeping noise. Be wary of them, as they can blast through even the tankiest frames.
- Do not bring self-damage weapons, unless you really know how to use them. Even then, you probably shouldn't. If your weapon is modded to do significant damage to Arbitration enemies, any self-damage will probably one-shot you through whatever damage reduction you have. Fatal self-damage will not trigger death prevention effects, such as
Quick Thinking,
Phoenix Renewal, and
Nidus' Undying passive.
- The most useful non-Warframe specific mods for survival are
Adaptation and
Quick Thinking, and it is highly recommended to have at least one of them equipped.
- Since Adaptation can only be obtained from Arbitrations, it is often prudent to trade for it, and sell the copies you will inevitably get as rewards to recoup the cost.
- Despite the presence of Warframe-specific bonuses, they will rarely make them more viable than survivability-focused frames. Survival of yourself, your teammates, and the objective (depending on mission type) is key to success, so it is wise to use a frame with high effective health such as
Rhino,
Nezha,
Inaros, or a frame with healing and damage reduction support such as
Trinity or
Oberon. Killing the enemies is no harder than a sortie mission, so the large increase in Power Strength is welcome but ultimately unnecessary.
- The bonus can open alternatives to builds however, as it will provide massive Power Strength that would otherwise require several Mod slots, capacity, and penalties from Corrupted Mods. A Trinity for instance can focus entirely on Duration and her own survivability, while the boon caps out her
Blessing's scaling.
- The bonus can open alternatives to builds however, as it will provide massive Power Strength that would otherwise require several Mod slots, capacity, and penalties from Corrupted Mods. A Trinity for instance can focus entirely on Duration and her own survivability, while the boon caps out her
- 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 really 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.
Trivia
- Arbitrations were originally known as "Elite Alerts" when they were pitched by the Development Team.
Patch History
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- DISRUPTION EXPANSION
NOTE: New Nodes have been added which means to be eligible for Arbitrations, you must complete them!
- Slightly increased the drop rate of the Seeding Step Ephemera and Aura Forma Blueprint in Arbitrations.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Fixed Arbitration Warframe Mods being usable in Archwing missions.
- Fixed Arbitrations hint not appearing in the World State Window for players that have almost completed the Star Chart.
- 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.
- Fixed an AI bug in Arbitration Defense missions that was causing enemies to stand around after spawning.
- Slightly increased the hitbox of Arbitration Drones
- 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.
- Fixed loading into a default Dark Sector mission instead of the intended Arbitration mission.
- 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).
- 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.
- Introduced.
Last updated: Hotfix 25.7.6
Missions | |||
---|---|---|---|
PvE | Standard | Assassination • Capture • Defection • Defense • Excavation • Exterminate • Hijack • Interception • Junction • Mobile Defense • Rescue • Sabotage (Deception, Hive, Orokin, Reactor, Sealab) • Spy • Survival | |
Archwing | Exterminate • Interception • Mobile Defense • Pursuit • Rush | ||
Unique | Arena (The Index, Rathuum) • Assault • Disruption • Infested Salvage • Recovery • Sanctuary Onslaught | ||
Free Roam | Bounty • Heist | ||
PvP | Clan | Duel | |
Arena | Cephalon Capture • Annihilation • Team Annihilation • Lunaro | ||
Arbitrations • Crossfire • Dark Sectors • Hazards • Invasion • Nightmare Mode • Nightwave • Sortie • Tile Sets • Void Fissure |