Defection

Defection is an Endless Mission type introduced in Update 19.12 (2017-03-02) for the The Pacifism Defect event. This game mode tasks players with escorting small squads of Kavor defectors to an extraction point, while defending against the Infested.

Originally introduced under the name "Evacuation", this mission type was renamed as part of Update 21.0 (2017-06-29), and is now the source for  Harrow's Systems component. All three Defection nodes are Dark Sectors.

Mechanics

Players start near a shuttle bay room, which the Kavor defectors must reach in order to escape the ship. The mission begins once a player hacks the door leading out of the shuttle bay.

Kavor defectors will spawn 30 seconds after the mission officially begins, and every 40 seconds after the previous group is rescued, though this countdown can be set to zero instantly if one player activates a rush panel indicated by an orange icon. These Kavor defectors will then head towards the nearest Med Boosters, a structure that will heal nearby Kavor defectors with a green beam. Med Boosters will consume power as they heal Kavor defectors, with more survivors resulting in faster energy drain. To keep the Med Boosters powered, players can acquire Power Cells dropped by Mutalist Osprey Carriers, which they can carry to a Med Booster to recharge its power by 20% (40% for solo play) per Power Cell. Players must issue a Move Out command on the Kavor defectors to make them proceed to the shuttle bay for extraction.

After two groups of survivors have been evacuated, the player's extraction point will be opened up, and the second Med Booster will spawn in a different location of the map (B). After two more groups have been evacuated, a third Med Booster will spawn along with opening up more of the map (C). From this point on, points B and C will begin hosting a group of Kavor defectors, with them both pathing to A's Med Booster, and then to their evac location.

Kavor defectors will slowly take damage over time from the Infested spores in the air. Downed Kavor defectors will enter bleedout, and will die unless revived by players. If 10 Kavor defectors are killed, the Lotus will abort all further evacuation efforts; no more Kavor defectors will spawn, any Kavor defectors still alive on the map will not count toward the player's totals if they reach the shuttle, and the players will have five minutes to extract.

Grineer Manics will spawn periodically upon the second Med Booster being opened, and will attempt to attack the Kavor defectors. Killing these Manics will make them drop Large Power Cells, identifiable by their white energy glow, which can instantly restore a Med Booster to 100%.

Every 7 squads rescued will cause enemy Red Veil Operatives or Fanatics to spawn. They are essentially the same units encountered during the Chains of Harrow Quest. They will primarily target the Kavor defectors during the mission and scale in level as the mission progresses (confirmation needed). This will occur regardless of player standing towards that Syndicate; killing them will not lower Standing towards them either.

Defection Missions

Template:DisplayMissiontype

Rewards

Besides the bonus amounts of materials, experience, and mods from the increase in enemies compared to normal missions, certain rewards can be awarded as the mission progresses. Mission rewards will vary depending on mission tier (based on starting enemy level, and listed in the above table), and mission rotation, based on the number of squads evacuated.

• Drop Rotation (rewards cycle every 8 squads):
  • Rotation A: 2, 4 squads; 10, 12 squads; etc.
  • Rotation B: 6 squads; 14 squads; etc.
  • Rotation C: 8 squads; 16 squads; etc.

View Rewards List▾▾

• Dark Sector

• Tier 1
• Tier 2
• Tier 3

A		B		C
x2000 Credit Cache	13.92%	Lith A6	10%	Harrow Systems Blueprint	15%
x2000 Credit Cache	13.92%	Lith C11	10%	Quickening	15%
x2000 Credit Cache	13.92%	Lith G10	10%	Lith A6	10%
x2000 Credit Cache	13.92%	Lith G9	10%	Lith C11	10%
Endo x100	13.92%	Lith P8	10%	Lith G10	10%
Endo x100	13.92%	Lith R5	10%	Lith G9	10%
Endo x100	13.92%	Lith T10	10%	Lith P8	10%
Smite Corrupted	2.58%	Bane of Corrupted	8%	Lith R5	10%
		Cleanse Corrupted	8%	Lith T10	10%
		Expel Corrupted	8%
		Harrow Systems Blueprint	6%

Locations:

• Memphis, Phobos

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

A		B		C
x2500 Credit Cache	16.24%	Meso A5	10%	Harrow Systems Blueprint	15%
x2500 Credit Cache	16.24%	Meso B9	10%	Enduring Strike	15%
x2500 Credit Cache	16.24%	Meso G6	10%	Neo A11	10%
Endo x150	16.24%	Meso H5	10%	Neo F3	10%
Endo x150	16.24%	Meso H6	10%	Neo K6	10%
Endo x150	16.24%	Meso M4	10%	Neo K7	10%
Expel Corrupted	2.58%	Meso W3	10%	Neo S18	10%
		Bane of Corrupted	8%	Neo W1	10%
		Cleanse Corrupted	8%	Neo Z10	10%
		Smite Corrupted	8%
		Harrow Systems Blueprint	6%

Locations:

• Caracol, Saturn

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

A		B		C
x3000 Credit Cache	24.35%	Neo A11	10%	Harrow Systems Blueprint	15%
x3000 Credit Cache	24.35%	Neo F3	10%	Life Strike	15%
x3000 Credit Cache	24.35%	Neo K6	10%	Axi A17	10%
Endo x250	24.35%	Neo K7	10%	Axi A18	10%
Expel Corrupted	2.58%	Neo S18	10%	Axi B7	10%
		Neo W1	10%	Axi D5	10%
		Neo Z10	10%	Axi G11	10%
		Bane of Corrupted	8%	Axi L6	10%
		Cleanse Corrupted	8%	Axi P6	10%
		Smite Corrupted	8%
		Harrow Systems Blueprint	6%

Locations:

• Yursa, Neptune

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

Tips

•  Trinity's  Blessing affects defectors, essentially making her a mobile healing beacon and is a massive advantage in any defection missions. A maximum efficiency and energy capacity build can make for a large breathing room in later stages of a defection run.
  • Likewise, Trinity's can be used in to create a temporary healing beacon. Given the mob density common in infested tilesets, a resourceful Trinity can create healing beacons along the defectors' path.
•  Loki's  Switch Teleport effects individual defectors and can be utilized to cover ground very quickly given a clear line of sight. Loki can also save defectors who are stuck in their path due to the environment. The augment  Safeguard Switch seems to protect from damage but not the health drain.
  • Loki's  Decoy can be used to distract the infested from defectors provided it is within their vicinity. This can prove useful in a mid-tier scaled stretch of a defection run to provide a few seconds worth of relief should things go south.
  • Loki's  Radial Disarm procs can create some breathing room if need be, though it is risky. Use with caution when surrounded by infested because they may still target the defectors if they are close enough.
•  Nova's can be used to speed up groups of defectors massively but is tricky to use. In some cases, defectors may get stuck but can usually be freed again with additional portals. Also note that certain rooms have 'checkpoints' which defectors will go to even when teleported past them.
  • Slow Nova can be quite useful for keeping the Infested off of the defectors.
•  Mirage's  Eclipse with the  Total Eclipse augment can help defectors' survival on longer defection runs. An extended duration and range build is recommended to ensure a whole cluster of defectors gets the bonus per individual cast.
• Destroying containers can drop additional powercells as well, including Large ones.
•  Oberon's  Renewal can give the defectors very high health regeneration allowing them to out-heal most of the health drain they experience. This can also allow them to out-heal other damage sources such as toxin clouds, etc.
  • Oberon's  Hallowed Ground can be a good way of spreading procs. This disables auras from Ancient Healers, Ancient Disruptors, and Toxic Ancients while also diluting the aggro of enemies which in turn reduces the effective threat level of the defectors.
•  Equinox's  Mend & Maim is a powerful damage dealer and crowd control against Infested, while also providing great amounts of healing for whole clusters of survivors. Coupled with  Pacify & Provoke's damage reduction potential, extremely useful on melee enemies, she can allow for the survivors to outlive even Syndicate attacks.
• Stims are currently the only way to affect the movement speed of survivors. However their high build cost and underwhelming effect make them questionable for use.
  •  Zephyr's  Jet Stream augment,  Volt's  Speed and  Nova's  Escape Velocity augment are not capable of increasing the survivor's movement speed.
•  Khora's  Venari can be used to heal defectors and will follow them until they reach the evacuation area regardless of the distance between Khora and Venari, allowing you to leave the defectors and go rush the consoles.  
  •  Strangledome is an excellent way of dealing with the incoming infested. 
  •  Khora's movement speed boost passive is useful for traversing to and from the objectives.
•  Limbo's  Banish affects defectors for the duration, defectors in the Rift won't be damaged from enemies not in the Rift. It may be necessary to occasionally get them out of the Rift (by casting Banish on them while you're in the Rift yourself), as they can't be healed by Med Boosters otherwise. You could also use other ways of healing, like equipping Limbo's  Rift Haven augment or use Vazarin's Protective Dash.
  • Defectors in the Rift will still take damage over time from the air however.
  • A variant of this usage, banishing all the enemies nearby into the Rift but not defectors will also work.
•  Garuda's  Blood Altar can quickly heal the defectors by using infested in their path
  • Blood Altar can also be used to temporarily disable manics and red veil operatives, preventing them from killing defectors.
  •  Seeking Talons is a powerful damage dealer and crowd control against Infested.
• Vazarin's Protective Dash will both heal and provide a brief immunity to survivors.

Notes

• When running solo, there is only one squad that consists of 3 Kavor defectors that need to be evacuated throughout the mission regardless of its rotation and amount of med boosters available.

Trivia

• The Shuttle Bay room used as the evacuation point is the same room used on Capture missions as the target's escape room.
• Defectors who are allowed to bleed out for too long die, causing a special Infested Carrion Charger to spawn from a pod from their body. These special chargers have their own codex entry that requires 3 scans.
  • If revived and allowed to reach the bleed out stage again, defectors will instantly die and turn into said Charger upon death.

Media

WARFRAME - Defection Mission Strategy Guide 2019 (Solo Focused)

Newer, updated guide as of 2019

WARFRAME - Defection Mission Strategy (For Farming Solo and in Squads)

This is an old guide, while the strategies explained are still relevant, it features Focus 1.0 and the  Synoid Simulor before it was reworked

Patch History

Update 25.3 (2019-07-06)

• Fixed AI traffic jams in the Grineer Asteroid Defection tileset as reported here

Update 25.0 (2019-05-22)

• Non-Endless Survival/Excavation/etc missions (i.e. Alerts, Sorties, Syndicate dailies, etc) now disable individual extraction as it leads to unnecessary Host migrations

Update 24.4 (2019-03-08)

Individual Extraction - Non-Wave Endless!

You are now able to extract from Survival, Excavation, and Defection missions independent of your squad.

• Once the 'mission complete' interval is met, players can head to extraction any time they choose (i.e 5 minutes for Survival).
• Any player at extraction triggers a countdown timer.
• If all players leave the extraction zone, the countdown timer is cancelled.
• When the timer is up, the extraction ship arrives and any players in the extraction zone leave.
• Anyone still playing can extract later any time they choose.

Hotfix 24.2.7 (2018-01-09)

• As per feedback, Harrow’s Systems Blueprint has been added as a Rare drop in Rotation B for Defection missions. This means you have 2 chances in the Endless loop to obtain Harrow, not just one at Rotation C. To maintain balance, a Bane of Corrupted Mod has moved to Rotation A.

Update 19.12 (2017-03-02)

• Introduced in Operation: The Pacifism Defect.