Defense

Quotes

Defense

Defend an important target against waves of enemy units. If the defense target is destroyed, the mission automatically fails. Every 5 waves choose to stay and fight or extract from the mission.

—In-Game Description

Defense is an Endless Mission type in which the players must defend the assigned primary objective or objectives from being destroyed by attacking waves of enemies. The wave will be considered cleared when all the enemies in the wave have been killed.

Every 5 waves each player will receive an option to either leave the mission individually and receive a displayed reward or to continue for more rewards against progressively harder enemies for an additional 5 waves. The mission is considered completed when players accept the offer to claim a reward and exit.

If you decide not to extract but subsequently fail to clear the next set of waves, you lose any rewards accrued for the waves already cleared, fail the mission and leave with nothing.

Defense Types

There are a total of 18 unique Defense maps for fifteen Tile Sets available.

Nine of them are mostly specific to the Grineer:

• A: Grineer Galleon; Defend a cryopod at an elevator platform in a galleon's ventilation complex.
• B: Grineer Asteroid, Cave; Defend a cylindrical Orokin reactor in a dark cave.
  • Under normal circumstances, only Infested units will be fought here.
• G: Grineer Settlement, Shelter; Defend a cryopod within a metallic shelter, with entrances all around.
• I: Grineer Shipyards; Defend a cryopod sitting on a tram in a multi-decked shipyard, the tram may move after every wave.
• J: Grineer Forest, Shelter; Similar to the Grineer Settlement, with an open roof.
• Grineer Sealab
  • O: Excavation Site; Defend 4 cryopods located in different corners of an Orokin excavation site.
  • R: Defend an embryonic injector within a cloning lab.
• P: Orokin Moon; Defend a cryopod on an Orokin platform in the middle of a crater on the moon.
• Q: Grineer Asteroid Fortress; Defend a Kuva injector in a Grineer fortress. This area has traps that can harm the player: turrets, tesla coils that electrify the floor around the injector, flamethrowers and toxic gas sprays in the corridors.

Six (and two which were removed from the game) are mostly specific to the Corpus:

• C: Corpus Ship (Old), Cargo Bay; Defend a cryopod on a raised platform, with two main avenues of approach and 2 approaches from behind. [Superseded by Temple defense when the Corpus Ship tileset was remastered.]
• S: Corpus Ship, Temple; Defend a cryopod on an elevator platform in the middle of a large square room. [Supersedes Cargo Bay defense.]
• Corpus Outpost:
  • D: Ravine; Defend a cryopod out in the open, surrounded by snowy caves and cliffs.
  • E: Courtyard; Defend a cryopod in a courtyard in a frigid Corpus outpost.
  • F: Dam; Defend a cryopod in a frozen dam complex, with enemies storming across two bridges.
• H: Corpus Gas City (Old), Deck; Defend a cryopod on the multi-level deck of a gas city ship, with enemies approaching from three ascents. [Superseded by Dynamo defense when the Corpus Gas City tileset was remastered.]
• T: Corpus Gas City, Dynamo; Defend a cryopod on top of a lightning harvester. A console beneath the cryopod can be activated once every few minutes to electrify the cryopod platform for several seconds, dealing heavy damage to anyone standing on it. [Supersedes Deck defense.]
• N: Corpus Ice Planet, Shipwreck; Defend a cryopod just outside of a landed shipwreck.

Two are specific to the Infested:

• K: Orokin Derelict; Featuring walkways and man entrances towards a cryopod on at the center of a stand
• L: Infested Ship; Defend a cryopod inside an infested Corpus ship with narrow paths towards a large room

The last one is specific to the Orokin

• M: Orokin Void; featuring a large room with laser defenses that will instantly kill anybody, Tenno included. 4 distinct paths converge down towards the cryopod.)

When an Infestation outbreak is occurring on a defense mission, the infested use the original tile set.

The maps A, B, E, G, L, N, P, Q, R and S have the objective in the center where enemies come from every direction, while the maps C, F, H, I and T are not so open to approach and have the defense objective near the edge of the map where enemies can't spawn and thus making them often more easy to defend. Maps A and S also have a moving objective, where the elevator platform can randomly raise or lower the objective to a different position every wave.

Map D has 3 different locations where a cryopod can randomly spawn: one is in the lower area of the map, one is in the upper area of the map, and one is up on the raised platform above the upper area.

• The lower area has 3 avenues of approach (the vast majority of enemies only come from 1 direction - this is the easiest location to defend on this map).
• The upper area has 4 avenues of approach (enemies are more spread out among the 4 - this is generally the hardest location to defend).
• The raised platform only has 2 avenues of approach and MOAs can jump up the side of the platform as well (the majority of enemies only come from 1 direction - this is the second easiest location to defend).

Map E also has 3 potential locations for the cryopod; either on the center platform where the two shorter bridges meet, or on either of the corners where the long bridges and center bridge meet. The center location is by far the easiest, as enemies are funneled through the short bridges. The corner areas are more challenging as enemies come from both of the bridges, including the small walkway along the long bride, climbing up from the ravine as well as flanking from the upper areas above the cryopods.

On map I the cryopod is sitting on a tram that randomly moves along a rail between 2 locations.

• The tram usually stays in one location for multiple waves, with a chance of moving at the end of a wave. Tenno can also ride the tram while it's moving.
• The cryopod will always spawn in the same location.

Map O has 4 cryopods located on 4 separate corners of the map. After each wave one of the four cryopods is randomly selected to become vulnerable to attack, indicated by a blue aura surrounding it, and will become the current enemy target. Players must thus move to each vulnerable Cryopod as they are marked every wave in order to defend them.

Map P has a single cryopod in the middle of a platform which collapses every 5 waves. Wave 6 has the platform collapse into an Orokin complex while Wave 11 has the platform fall into a huge moon cave. The platform does not fall any further after wave 11.

Currently there are several planet-exclusive defense maps:

• Grineer map G is available only on Mars.
• Corpus map T is available only on Jupiter.
• Grineer map I is available only on Ceres.
• Grineer map J is only available on Earth.
• Corpus map N is only available on Europa.
• Grineer maps O and R are only available on Uranus.
• Grineer map P is only available on Lua.
• Grineer map Q is only available on the Kuva Fortress.
• Infested map K is only available on Deimos.
• Orokin map M is only available in the Void.

Locations

There are a total of 33 Defense Missions

Planet	Mission Name	Faction	Credit Reward	Addtional Credit Reward	Wiki's DropTableAlias	Level	Tileset
Earth	Lith	Grineer	1,000	0	Defense1	1 - 6	Grineer Forest
Venus	Tessera	Corpus	1,200	0	Defense1	3 - 8	Corpus Outpost
Mercury	Lares	Infested	1,500	0	Defense1	6 - 11	Grineer Asteroid
Earth	Coba (Dark Sector)	Infested	1,500	12,000	DSDefense	6 - 16	Grineer Forest
Mars	Spear	Grineer	1,700	0	Defense1	8 - 13	Grineer Settlement
Venus	Romula (Dark Sector)	Infested	1,700	10,000	DSDefense	8 - 18	Corpus Outpost
Void	Taranis	Corrupted	1,900	0	VoidDefense1	10 - 15	Orokin Tower
Phobos	Gulliver	Corpus	1,900	0	Defense1	10 - 15	Corpus Ship
Mars	Kadesh (Dark Sector)	Infested	1,900	14,000	DSDefense	10 - 20	Grineer Settlement
Ceres	Casta	Grineer	2,100	0	Defense1	12 - 17	Grineer Shipyard
Jupiter	Io	Corpus	2,400	0	Defense2	15 - 20	Corpus Gas City
Deimos	Hyf	Infested	2,400	0	DerelictDefense	15 - 20	Orokin Derelict
Ceres	Seimeni (Dark Sector)	Infested	2,400	20,000	DSDefense	15 - 25	Grineer Shipyard
Europa	Paimon	Corpus	2,700	0	Defense2	18 - 23	Corpus Ice Planet
Jupiter	Sinai (Dark Sector)	Infested	2,900	14,000	DSDefense	20 - 30	Corpus Gas City
Saturn	Helene	Grineer	3,000	0	Defense2	21 - 26	Grineer Galleon
Venus Proxima	Falling Glory	Corpus	3,200	45,000	VenusProximaDefense	23 - 26	Free Space
Europa	Larzac (Dark Sector)	Infested	3,200	16,000	DSDefense	23 - 33	Corpus Ice Planet
Uranus	Stephano	Grineer	3,300	0	Defense3	24 - 29	Grineer Sealab
Neptune Proxima	Arva Vector	Corpus	3,400	50,000	NeptuneProximaDefense	25 - 28	Free Space
Europa	Icefields of Riddah	Corpus	3,400	0		25 - 30	Corpus Ice Planet
Lua	Stöfler	Grineer	3,400	0	Defense3	25 - 30	Orokin Moon
Neptune	Proteus	Corpus	3,600	0	Defense3	27 - 32	Corpus Ship
Kuva Fortress	Nabuk	Grineer	3,900	0	Defense3	30 - 32	Grineer Asteroid Fortress
Void	Belenus	Corrupted	3,900	0	VoidDefense3	30 - 35	Orokin Tower
Eris	Kala-azar	Infested	3,900	0	Defense3	30 - 40	Infested Ship
Pluto	Outer Terminus	Corpus	3,900	0	Defense3	30 - 40	Corpus Outpost
Sedna	Hydron	Grineer	3,900	0	Defense3	30 - 40	Grineer Galleon
Eris	Akkad (Dark Sector)	Infested	4,400	18,000	DSDefense	35 - 45	Infested Ship
Pluto	Sechura (Dark Sector)	Infested	4,400	20,000	DSDefense	35 - 45	Corpus Outpost
Sedna	Sangeru (Dark Sector)	Infested	4,400	16,000	DSDefense	35 - 45	Grineer Asteroid
Pluto Proxima	Obol Crossing	Corpus	4,800	100,000	PlutoProximaDefense	39 - 42	Free Space
Veil Proxima	Arc Silver	Corpus	6,000	137,500	VeilProximaDefense	51 - 55	Free Space

There are a total of three tiers which determines the reward pool players have access to at each 5th wave checkpoint.

Extraction

At the end of each round, the decision screen indicates what each individual player intends to do, with undecided players continuing to battle. It is not a vote and extraction occurs for individual players, not the group; these players will appear to disconnect. It is normally advised to decide on a leaving wave before entering the mission or alternatively shortly after it starts. If not, then everyone should leave at the same time as soon as one of the party members decides to extract.

Significant lag may prevent this option from appearing entirely for clients if the latency is from the host of the match, and the players will be forced to stay and have a host migrate. Keep this in mind if you join a match and notice an unusually high amount of latency.

Composition

Corpus

• Waves 1-4 consist of MOAs, Crewmen, Prod Crewmen, and Oxium Ospreys.
• Waves 5-9 consist of Shockwave MOAs, Shield Ospreys, Elite Crewmen, Detron Crewmen, Sniper Crewmen, Techs, Sapping Ospreys, and Leech Ospreys in addition to previous waves.
• Waves 10+ consist of Railgun MOAs, Fusion MOAs, Mine Ospreys, Nullifier Crewmen, Anti MOAs, and Scavenger Drones in addition to previous waves.
• On Io, Jupiter, near the end of every 5th wave, two or three Eximus Amalgam units will spawn.

Infested

• Waves 1-4 consist of Volatile Runners, Runners, Leapers, Crawlers, Nauseous Crawlers, Toxic Crawlers, Electric Crawlers, Lobber Crawlers and Chargers, along with a random mix of Ancient Healers or Ancient Disruptors.
• Waves 5-9 consist of Ancient Disruptors, Ancient Healers, Tar-Mutalist MOAs, Swarm-Mutalist MOAs and Mutalist Ospreys in addition to previous waves.
• Waves 10+ consist of Toxic Ancients, Brood Mothers, and Boilers in addition to previous waves.
  • The only Infested non-boss enemies that don't appear in survival are Mutalist Ospreys.

Grineer

• Waves 1-4 consist of Butchers, Flameblades, Powerfists, Lancers, and Troopers.
• Waves 5-9 consist of Heavy Gunners, Ballistas, Eviscerators, Shield Lancers, Scorches and Scorpions in addition to previous waves.
• Waves 10+ consist of Drahk Masters, Commanders, Rollers, Seekers, Bombards and Napalms in addition to previous waves.

Orokin

• Waves 1-4 consist of Corrupted Lancers, Corrupted Butchers, and Corrupted Crewmen.
• Waves 5-9 consist of Orokin Drones, Corrupted Heavy Gunners, and Corrupted MOAs, in addition to previous waves.
• Waves 10+ consist of Corrupted Ancients, Corrupted Bombards and Corrupted Nullifiers, (T2, T3 and T4 only), in addition to previous waves.

Rewards

Rewards from Defense missions are offered every 5 waves during the extraction prompt. If a player chooses to extract, they receive the reward for that particular wave along with rewards offered from previous extraction prompts on that mission. The order of the rotations is AABC.

• The percentages display the chances of a particular item being received as a reward during each extraction prompt.

• Normal Mission
• Void
• Deimos
• Dark Sector
• Venus Proxima
• Neptune Proxima
• Pluto Proxima
• Veil Proxima

• Tier 1
• Tier 2
• Tier 3

A		B		C
Ammo Drum	9.09%	Cryo Rounds	8.33%	Continuity	8.33%
Magazine Warp	9.09%	Hell's Chamber	8.33%	Master Thief	8.33%
Pressure Point	9.09%	Reflex Coil	8.33%	Metal Auger	8.33%
Trick Mag	9.09%	Shocking Touch	8.33%	Ravage	8.33%
Lith A6	9.09%	Meso A5	8.33%	Meso A5	8.33%
Lith C11	9.09%	Meso B9	8.33%	Meso B9	8.33%
Lith G10	9.09%	Meso G6	8.33%	Meso G6	8.33%
Lith G9	9.09%	Meso H5	8.33%	Meso H5	8.33%
Lith P8	9.09%	Meso H6	8.33%	Meso H6	8.33%
Lith R5	9.09%	Meso M4	8.33%	Meso M4	8.33%
Lith T10	9.09%	Meso W3	8.33%	Meso W3	8.33%
		Endo x100	8.33%	Endo x200	8.33%

Locations:

• Lith, Earth
• Tessera, Venus
• Lares, Mercury
• Spear, Mars
• Gulliver, Phobos
• Casta, Ceres

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
Meso A5	14.29%	Cryo Rounds	6.25%	Neo A11	11.06%
Meso B9	14.29%	Deep Freeze	6.25%	Neo F3	11.06%
Meso G6	14.29%	Fury	6.25%	Neo K6	11.06%
Meso H5	14.29%	Hell's Chamber	6.25%	Neo K7	11.06%
Meso H6	14.29%	North Wind	6.25%	Neo S18	11.06%
Meso M4	14.29%	Point Blank	6.25%	Neo W1	11.06%
Meso W3	14.29%	Reflex Coil	6.25%	Neo Z10	11.06%
		Stormbringer	6.25%	Metal Auger	4.51%
		Neo A11	6.25%	Ravage	4.51%
		Neo F3	6.25%	Stretch	4.51%
		Neo K6	6.25%	Vital Sense	4.51%
		Neo K7	6.25%	Endo x300	4.51%
		Neo S18	6.25%
		Neo W1	6.25%
		Neo Z10	6.25%
		Endo x150	6.25%

Locations:

• Io, Jupiter
• Paimon, Europa
• Helene, 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
Magazine Warp	10%	Deep Freeze	6.67%	Axi A17	11.06%
Trick Mag	10%	Hell's Chamber	6.67%	Axi A18	11.06%
Vitality	10%	Hornet Strike	6.67%	Axi B7	11.06%
Neo A11	10%	North Wind	6.67%	Axi D5	11.06%
Neo F3	10%	Reflex Coil	6.67%	Axi G11	11.06%
Neo K6	10%	Shocking Touch	6.67%	Axi L6	11.06%
Neo K7	10%	Streamline	6.67%	Axi P6	11.06%
Neo S18	10%	Axi A17	6.67%	Continuity	2.26%
Neo W1	10%	Axi A18	6.67%	Convulsion	2.26%
Neo Z10	10%	Axi B7	6.67%	Handspring	2.26%
		Axi D5	6.67%	Master Thief	2.26%
		Axi G11	6.67%	Metal Auger	2.26%
		Axi L6	6.67%	Ravage	2.26%
		Axi P6	6.67%	Split Chamber	2.26%
		Endo x200	6.67%	Stretch	2.26%
				Vital Sense	2.26%
				Endo x400	2.26%

Locations:

• Stephano, Uranus
• Stöfler, Lua
• Proteus, Neptune
• Nabuk, Kuva Fortress
• Kala-azar, Eris
• Outer Terminus, Pluto
• Hydron, Sedna

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

• Tier 1
• Tier 3

A		B		C
Lith A6	13.33%	Lith C11	22.12%	Lith A6	6.67%
Lith C11	13.33%	Lith A6	11.06%	Lith C11	6.67%
Lith G10	13.33%	Lith G10	11.06%	Lith G10	6.67%
Lith G9	13.33%	Lith G9	11.06%	Lith G9	6.67%
Lith P8	13.33%	Lith P8	11.06%	Lith P8	6.67%
Lith R5	13.33%	Lith R5	11.06%	Lith R5	6.67%
Lith T10	13.33%	Aya	6.15%	Lith T10	6.67%
Aya	6.67%	Meso A5	4.1%	Meso A5	6.67%
		Meso B9	2.05%	Meso B9	6.67%
		Meso G6	2.05%	Meso G6	6.67%
		Meso H5	2.05%	Meso H5	6.67%
		Meso H6	2.05%	Meso H6	6.67%
		Meso M4	2.05%	Meso M4	6.67%
		Meso W3	2.05%	Meso W3	6.67%
				Aya	6.67%

Locations:

• Taranis, Void

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
Aya	8.29%	Neo A11	18.18%	Aya	12.5%
Meso A5	6.96%	Neo K7	18.18%	Neo A11	9.68%
Meso B9	6.96%	Neo Z10	18.18%	Neo F3	9.68%
Meso H5	6.96%	Neo F3	9.09%	Neo K6	9.68%
Meso H6	6.96%	Neo K6	9.09%	Neo K7	9.68%
Meso M4	6.96%	Neo S18	9.09%	Neo S18	9.68%
Meso W3	6.96%	Neo W1	9.09%	Neo W1	9.68%
Neo A11	6.96%	Aya	9.09%	Neo Z10	9.68%
Neo F3	6.96%			Axi A17	2.82%
Neo K6	6.96%			Axi A18	2.82%
Neo K7	6.96%			Axi B7	2.82%
Neo S18	6.96%			Axi D5	2.82%
Neo W1	6.96%			Axi G11	2.82%
Neo Z10	6.96%			Axi L6	2.82%
Meso G6	1.29%			Axi P6	2.82%

Locations:

• Belenus, Void

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
Endo x250	22.22%	Endo x250	77.44%	Forma Blueprint	22.56%
Lith A6	11.11%	Mutalist Alad V Nav Coordinate	22.56%	Meso A5	11.06%
Lith C11	11.11%			Meso B9	11.06%
Lith G10	11.11%			Meso G6	11.06%
Lith G9	11.11%			Meso H5	11.06%
Lith P8	11.11%			Meso H6	11.06%
Lith R5	11.11%			Meso M4	11.06%
Lith T10	11.11%			Meso W3	11.06%

Locations:

• Hyf, Deimos

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
Ammo Drum	7.37%	Blunderbuss	8.43%	Heated Charge	7.59%
Fast Hands	7.37%	No Return	8.43%	Hellfire	7.59%
Rush	7.37%	Pistol Gambit	8.43%	Meso A5	7.59%
Fast Deflection	6.9%	Point Strike	8.43%	Meso B9	7.59%
Magazine Warp	6.9%	Pressure Point	8.43%	Meso G6	7.59%
Trick Mag	6.9%	Ravage	8.43%	Meso H5	7.59%
Vitality	6.9%	Speed Trigger	8.43%	Meso H6	7.59%
Lith A6	6.9%	Target Cracker	8.43%	Meso M4	7.59%
Lith C11	6.9%	Vital Sense	8.43%	Meso W3	7.59%
Lith G10	6.9%	Fast Hands	1.58%	Endo x80	7.59%
Lith G9	6.9%	Hornet Strike	1.58%	Barrel Diffusion	1.84%
Lith P8	6.9%	Metal Auger	1.58%	Intensify	1.84%
Lith R5	6.9%	Piercing Hit	1.58%	Molten Impact	1.84%
Lith T10	6.9%	Point Blank	1.58%	Streamline	1.84%
Pressure Point	1.01%	Reflex Coil	1.58%	Neo A11	1.84%
True Punishment	1.01%	Serration	1.58%	Neo F3	1.84%
		Meso A5	1.58%	Neo K6	1.84%
		Meso B9	1.58%	Neo K7	1.84%
		Meso G6	1.58%	Neo S18	1.84%
		Meso H5	1.58%	Neo W1	1.84%
		Meso H6	1.58%	Neo Z10	1.84%
		Meso M4	1.58%	Endo x80	1.84%
		Meso W3	1.58%	Enduring Strike	0.4%
		Fury	0.67%	Life Strike	0.4%
		Quickening	0.67%	Quickening	0.4%
		True Punishment	0.67%	Thunderbolt	0.4%
				True Punishment	0.4%

Locations:

• Coba, Earth
• Romula, Venus
• Kadesh, Mars
• Seimeni, Ceres
• Sinai, Jupiter
• Larzac, Europa
• Akkad, Eris
• Sechura, Pluto
• Sangeru, Sedna

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
Endo x100	26.67%	Endo x100	35.29%	Endo x150	42.11%
Lavan Engines Mk I	20%	Lavan Plating Mk I	17.65%	Vidar Plating Mk I	15.79%
Lavan Reactor Mk I	20%	Lavan Shield Array Mk I	17.65%	Vidar Reactor Mk I	15.79%
Ash Systems Blueprint	13.33%	Vidar Engines Mk I	17.65%	Vidar Shield Array Mk I	15.79%
Lith G10	6.67%	Lith R5	5.88%	Lith A6	5.26%
Lith G9	6.67%	Lith T10	5.88%	Lith C11	5.26%
Lith P8	6.67%

Locations:

• Falling Glory, Venus Proxima

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
Endo x200	26.67%	Endo x200	27.91%	Endo x450	29.79%
Lavan Engines Mk II	20%	Lavan Plating Mk II	13.95%	Vidar Reactor Mk II	17.02%
Lavan Reactor Mk II	20%	Lavan Shield Array Mk II	13.95%	Vidar Plating Mk II	12.77%
Ash Neuroptics Blueprint	13.33%	Vidar Engines Mk II	13.95%	Vidar Shield Array Mk II	12.77%
Meso A5	6.67%	Nautilus Blueprint	4.65%	Nautilus Blueprint	4.26%
Meso H6	6.67%	Nautilus Carapace	4.65%	Nautilus Carapace	4.26%
Meso M4	6.67%	Nautilus Cerebrum	4.65%	Nautilus Cerebrum	4.26%
		Nautilus Systems	4.65%	Nautilus Systems	4.26%
		Meso G6	4.65%	Meso B9	4.26%
		Meso H5	4.65%	Meso W3	4.26%
		Riven Sliver	2.33%	Riven Sliver x2	2.13%

Locations:

• Arva Vector, Neptune Proxima

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
Endo x300	26.67%	Endo x300	30.3%	Endo x450	43.9%
Lavan Engines Mk III	20%	Lavan Plating Mk III	18.18%	Vidar Plating Mk III	14.63%
Lavan Reactor Mk III	20%	Lavan Shield Array Mk III	18.18%	Vidar Reactor Mk III	14.63%
Ash Chassis Blueprint	13.33%	Vidar Engines Mk III	18.18%	Vidar Shield Array Mk III	14.63%
Neo F3	4.35%	Neo K6	6.06%	Neo A11	4.88%
Neo W1	4.35%	Neo S18	6.06%	Neo K7	4.88%
Neo Z10	4.35%	Riven Sliver	3.03%	Riven Sliver x2	2.44%

Locations:

• Obol Crossing, Pluto Proxima

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
Endo x400	42.86%	Endo x400	34.29%	Endo x600	34.29%
Vidar Engines Mk III	21.43%	Vidar Plating Mk III	17.14%	Zetki Plating Mk III	17.14%
Vidar Reactor Mk III	21.43%	Vidar Shield Array Mk III	17.14%	Zetki Reactor Mk III	17.14%
Axi D5	5.71%	Zetki Engines Mk III	17.14%	Zetki Shield Array Mk III	17.14%
Axi A18	4.29%	Axi B7	5.71%	Axi A17	5.71%
Axi G11	4.29%	Axi P6	5.71%	Axi L6	5.71%
		Riven Sliver x3	2.86%	Riven Sliver x3	2.86%

Locations:

• Arc Silver, Veil Proxima

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

Dark Sector Defense

Defense missions that take place in Dark Sectors always involve the Infested. These Defense missions have a higher level range (and thus, higher difficulty) than the planet they're found on, but give out larger quantities of experience, including the experience bonuses inherent in Dark Sectors, and have a chance to reward melee mods which cannot be obtained outside of Dark Sectors.

Wave Defense

Wave Defense is a variation of the normal Defense rules, commonly found in Nightmare Mode, Invasions, and previously Alerts. Instead of starting at wave 1 and counting up until the players extract or leave, the waves start at a predetermined number and count down to 1, after which the mission ends automatically. There are no mission rewards until all waves are completed. This mission type was first introduced in the Artifact Defense Event.

The following Defense variants, organized by the number of waves, operate by Wave Defense rules:

• 15 Waves: Icefields of Riddah (Grendel Chassis Locator)
• 10 Waves: Syndicate, Void Raider, Nightmare Mode, Sortie, Alert
• 5 Waves: Invasion, Kuva Lich Controlled Territory

Healing Interactions With Defense Objects

Main article: Defense Objects

Only static defense objects can be healed or receive damage reduction from other sources in accordance with the tables below. Note that the Eidolon Lure is not static and is exempt from the rules in the table below.

Healing over time only takes effect when the defense object's natural health regeneration is active; taking damage from enemies briefly disables both the natural regeneration and external regeneration effects for a few seconds.

Healing and Shield Restoration Sources

Healing source	Normal effect	Effect on all types of static defendable objects (Cryopods, Excavators, etc)
Gara's  Mending Splinters	15 HP/sec for each active splinter	Same as normal
Hildryn's  Haven	500 Max Shields 80% faster Shield recharge	Same as normal
Protea's  Grenade Fan	500 Shield restore on attach 50 Shield restore per second	Same as normal
Trinity's  Blessing	Up to 100% HP and Shield restore	Heal for 500 over 5 seconds, can’t stack
Trinity's  Well of Life	100 HP/sec + 1% life steal	100 HP/sec, no life steal
Equinox's  Mend & Maim (Mend)	25 Shields for each enemy killed Burst heal based on how much damage was dealt	Shields per enemy killed and heal for 500 over 5 seconds, can’t stack
Vazarin's  Protective Sling	5 seconds invulnerability 60% Heal over 5 seconds	No invulnerability Heal for 500 over 5 seconds, can’t stack
Khora's  Venari	Heal for 50 HP/sec	Same as normal
Hydroid's  Curative Undertow	Heals 30% hp every 1.5 secs when ally stands on it	Heal for 100 per 1.5 sec
Harrow's  Penance	Heals allies for a % of damage dealt	Heals are capped up to 50 per second.
Oberon's  Renewal	125 burst heal 50 HP/sec	Same as normal
Garuda's  Blood Altar	Heals by % of missing health/second	No effect
Nidus'  Ravenous	Heal allies standing on it for 20 HP/sec	Same as normal
Wisp's  Reservoirs (Vitality mote)	Increase max hp by 300 and heal for 30 HP/sec	Same as normal
Volt's  Capacitance	Grants shields based on 3% of damage dealt	Capped at 250 shields, no overshields
Titania's passive	4 HP/sec for 20 Seconds	Same as normal
Sancti Magistar	Heals for damage dealt in an AoE	Heal for up to 500 over 5 seconds, can’t stack with other players. Going from a burst to Heal over Time.
Ancient Healer Specter	Heal for 100 HP every 20 seconds	Same as normal
Rejuvenation	Heal 3 HP/sec	Same as normal
Arcane Pulse	60% chance to heal for 150 HP when picking up a health orb with a 15 sec cooldown	Same as normal
Citrine's passive	5 - 25 HP/sec while in Affinity range	Same as normal (based on player testing)

Damage Reduction Sources

Damage Reduction Sources	Normal effect	Effect on all types of static Defendable objects (Cryopods, Excavators, etc)
Trinity's  Blessing	50% Damage reduction	Capped at 50% Damage Reduction
Mirage's  Total Eclipse	Grants 75% Damage reduction to allies	Capped at 50% Damage Reduction
Titania's  Tribute (Thorns buff)	50% damage redirected to enemies	No effect
Gara's  Splinter Storm	70% Damage reduction	Capped at 50% Damage Reduction
Ember's  Immolated Radiance	50% of Immolates Damage reduction applies to allies	Capped at 45% Damage Reduction
Baruuk's  Desolate Hands	80% Damage reduction	Capped at 50% Damage Reduction
Harrow's  Warding Thurible	40% Damage Reduction	Capped at 50% Damage Reduction
Nezha's  Warding Halo	Absorbs 90% of damage	Capped at 50% Damage Reduction
Citrine's  Preserving Shell	25 - 90% Damage Reduction	No effect (based on player testing)

Source: https://forums.warframe.com/topic/1189247-warframe-revised-railjack-revisited-part-1-update-274/

Notes

• Defense missions are considered some of the best missions for mod farming due to the unlimited amount of enemies and the ability to easily leave after each 5 rounds.
• As of Update 9.0 (2013-07-13), enemies will now swarm the pod or reactor much more aggressively, with more enemies running up to the defense objective and attempting to destroy it. Also due to update 9, enemies will increase in level with each wave faster than before.

• The first wave will start when one of the players have reached the activation "ring" around the objective, or when 3 minutes have passed. Players are free to loot all the resources around the map before activating the first wave by stepping into the ring.
• As of Update 9.7 (2013-08-30), enemies can jump onto boxes and ledges, including many "safe zones" (such as the platform on the bottom right of the picture) making it even harder to avoid damage.
• Update 9.7 also made it possible for enemies to walk onto and across the large railbox (top left of the picture) providing another (and quicker) way for enemies to reach the pod, and that pathway is more difficult to defend.
• As of Update 12.0 (2014-02-05), the being inside any cryopods has changed from a human to a humanoid wearing a gold and black suit, similar to the color scheme of primes.

Bugs

• There is a bug where you will click to exit the defense mission, but you will stay in the mission without a HUD, and sometimes not being able to move or chat at all. Dying will not bring back the HUD and you will not be able to revive. The only way to leave the mission is to force close the game using Alt + F4 or through a process manager.
• Having the chat window open and active while in the process of choosing between 'Extract' or 'Battle' will result in the typing player ending the mission as if they chose 'Extract', even if they chose 'Battle' explicitly.
• A test mod card labeled "Ancient Retribution" may show up as a reward, although it cannot actually be rewarded and claiming the card may crash the game or cause instabilities afterwards. The card is used by Digital Extremes for testing and does not actually represent a real mod now or in the future.
  
• Infested Leapers have a tendency to leap into the Warframe Cryopod which the player/s is/are supposed to be defending in the Dark Sector Defense nodes where the defendable object is a Warframe Cryopod. They will leap straight through the Cryopod and end up in the middle of it and will proceed to swipe at the center of the Cryopod, often spinning around the center of the Cryopod and taking no direct damage simply from being there. It has been tested on multiple levels that Leapers which end up in the center of the Cryopod seem to take more damage from Primary and Pistol weapons than they otherwise would.
• Many Defense mission tilesets can spawn enemies that end up getting caught inside walls or other terrain, and need to be killed with an AoE weapon or ability to continue the mission.

Media

Endless Defense as seen in the lobby (U9)

Level: 541
Participants: iizoell1029, wink46, lefthandshoot, 41rd13

Naked Nick inside the cryopod

Cryopod after Update 12

An unknown script upon the top of the cryopod (as seen in Earth Defense)

Patch History

Update 30.7 (2021-09-08)

• Fixed a crash that could occur if a Client player aborted after a Host migration in a Defense mission.

Update 30.5 (2021-07-06)

• Fixed objects floating outside the Defense pod in the Stephano, Uranus Defense mission.
• Fixed an issue where the endless Defense checkpoint wouldn’t clear between missions.
• Fixed a few nooks missing collisions in the Corpus Gas City Defense missions.

Hotfix 29.10.4 (2021-03-23)

• Fixed Defense alarm repeating playback on each Defense wave. Defense alarm sound will now only play when the Defense objective is activated the first time.

Update 29.10 (2021-03-19)

• Fixed using enemy control abilities on enemies that spawn units preventing the next wave in Defense missions from starting.

Update 28.3 (2020-08-12)

• The Defense alarm will now sound at the start of every Wave in Orokin Defense missions.
• Fixed Defense mover objectives (Gulliver on Phobos & Hydron on Sedna) affected by Limbo’s Rift continue to take damage regardless of Rift status.

Hotfix 28.2.1 (2020-08-01)

• Fixed an issue where Defense Targets on moving platforms would not move with the platform if a Host migration occurred while it was not in the default position.

Update 28.1 (2020-07-08)

• Fixed broken Defense objectives in Corpus Ship missions after a Treasurer spawns and the squad migrates.
• Fixed enemies in the Corpus Ship Defense tileset sometimes getting stuck on door frames.

Update 28.0 (2020-06-11)

• Fixes towards Defense missions breaking due to an inability to terminate enemies that have been changed to Ally status (Nyx Mind Control, Revenant Enthrall, etc), thus inability to complete the Defense Wave.
• Fixed Clients not seeing the dynamic Damage effects when the Defense Target's Health gets lower in tiles where the Target moves.

Hotfix 27.3.7 (2020-03-31)

• Fixed areas disappearing when viewed from long distances in the Hydron Defense tileset.

Hotfix 27.1.2 (2020-02-18)

• Fixed cases of the Defense target getting stuck in an infinite falling loop in the Sedna Adaro Sortie Defense mission.

Update 27.1 (2020-02-04)

• Fixed an issue where the Defense target's head would float above the cryopod in Defense missions, exposing it to the many dangers of the environment and also the dangers of not having your head connected to your body.

Hotfix 27.0.12 (2020-01-23)

• Defense Waves will now complete if NPCs are downed (but not dead), except for the final Wave, where all NPCs must be taken care of.

Update 25.7 (2019-08-29)

• Defense used to use the base node for enemy count scaling, now difficulty properly scales alongside current enemy level - meaning that the higher the enemy level, the more simultaneous enemies you’ll have to face!
• New players can now join Defense missions until the second Wave instead of the fourth Wave to guarantee enough time to collect Reactant during Void Fissure missions.
• Fixed a loss of functionality when using a controller and spamming Y as the round timer runs out in endless missions (Defense).
• Fixed issues with Nova escaping certain maps for easy-mode Defense.

Hotfix 25.3.2 (2019-07-12)

• Fixed enemies not spawning after a Host Migration in the Grineer Shipyard Defense tileset.
• Fixed Cryopod alignment in the Gas City Defense tileset.

Hotfix 25.2.3 (2019-06-25)

• Fixed overly aggressive optimizations that could lead to graphical popping of certain meshes in the Void Defense tileset.

Hotfix 25.0.8 (2019-05-31)

• Fixed Ivara’s Cloak arrow functioning on Defense objectives, leaving enemies unable to find it.

Update: Specters of the Rail 0.0 (2016-07-08)

• Added a new 'Wave Cleared' sound for Defense missions.

Update 17.0 (2015-07-31)

• Waves will now start with weaker enemies, progressing to support units and ending with heavy and Eximus units to make the end of the wave more intense.
• The number of enemies attacking the player has been increased for early-waves and decreased for later-waves; this should not only improve performance on systems but brings the duration of a 20-wave Defense Mission closer to 25-30 minutes.
• The progression of enemy types in all defense missions has been tuned.
• For more information these changes, please see our Developer Workshop here: https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/495562-defense-experiments/

Update 16.9 (2015-06-17)

• Players joining an Defense Mission mid-progress will now only be able to join before the start of the 4th enemy wave- after then the mission is considered 'objective complete'.

Update 15.0 (2014-10-24)

• Defense and Interception Mission rewards now stack! This removes the "inventory checkpoints" every 5 waves in Defense -- it's all or nothing now. The Reward Rotation for Defense and Interception has also been changed (to be like Survival) as Stacking Rewards is now in place. The Rewards now rotate through the reward tiers.

Update 14.0 (2014-07-18)

• Added Eximus/Leader spawn scaling to Defense missions.

Update 12.0 (2014-02-05)

• Void Defense missions are now Endless, they no longer have a set number of waves to complete.
• Replaced “Naked Nick” with a tinted Tenno Prisoner for the casket defense mode.

Update 11.6 (2014-01-08)

• Changed enemy scaling for Endless Defense missions at high levels (now wave 100 enemies should be around level 200 instead of 8000).

Update 11.1 (2013-11-27)

• New Corpus Survival and Defense squads using new U11 enemy types.

Update 11.0 (2013-11-20)

• Time between Defense waves has been reduced to 6 seconds

Update 9.5 (2013-08-09)

• All Objectives in Endless Defense now scale to the mission's enemy level - higher end defense should now be slightly more tolerable for solo play or squads without Frost. Does not scale with additional enemy scaling per wave.

Update 9.4 (2013-08-02)

• Defense missions now begin when the pod/core is reached, meaning idlers do not determine when mission begins. One player must reach the defense target for the first Wave to start

Update 9.0 (2013-07-13)

• Enemies will storm the defense targets, which makes them much more aggressive towards it.

Update 8.1 (2013-06-07)

• Defense mission reward tables have been reviewed and changed. Reward tables are now split between factions. Fusion cores have now been added to the drop tables.

Hotfix 7.8.1 (2013-04-24)

• Inventory Checkpoint for Endless Defense added. Reaching every fifth wave (5, 10, 15…) locks in rewards earned to that point.

Update 7.2 (2013-03-22)

• Enemy variety now changes as players progress through waves of Endless Defense
• Ciphers should no longer appear as rewards when completing high level waves of Endless Defense

Update 7.0 (2013-03-18)

• Endless Defense - a new defense mission type. Survive longer for escalating rewards!