Infested

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INFESTATION describes both a disease and its victims – a metamorphic affliction without cure. Living organisms are consumed and merged into rabid amalgamations.
Individuals are violent and animalistic yet the larger whole exhibits signs of coordination, with multiple swarms converging on ships and colonies.

Its origins are uncertain but there is historical evidence of a similar outbreak before The Collapse.

—In-game Lore Description

For the health class, see Infested (Health).

The Infested are Corpus and Grineer units who have been taken over by the techno-organic parasites(or Technocytes for short) that is the Infestation, a strain of biomechanical pathogen created by the Orokin. The majority of Infested seem to be former Corpus Crewmen or Grineer Lancers, or "Mutalist" versions of Corpus robotic proxies. The oldest individuals, the infested Ancients, are creatures overtaken by the plague so long ago that their original form is unrecognizable, perhaps dating back to the Great War itself.

Origins

Mentioned and referenced through in-game text or by the Lotus, the Infestation seems to turn organisms such as the Grineer and Corpus as well as machines and robotics into what is known to the Tenno as the "Infested".

In Warframe, the Infestation was created and utilized by the Orokin to combat the Sentients. Much of the game's lore is presented in an ambiguous fashion; however it can be inferred that the virus seems to have no prejudices as to whom it affects, be it Grineer, Corpus, Orokin, robotic or unarmed civilian; only the Tenno and their Warframes appear to be truly immune to the plague. The presence of both organic and robotic Infested implies that the virus might not have an RNA/DNA base: although the affliction may have organic origins, the virus itself may be bound with nano-machines that invade living cells or machinery in equal measure.

The Mire references something called the "Great Plague" in its description. The Great Plague may be a reference to the Infestation itself or a period after its creation. The Mire's resemblance to the Infested suggests a connection between the Great Plague and the Infested themselves.

Mutalist

Mutalist describes the Infestation of robotics or even some weapons by a unique strain of the Infested. While normal Infested mass can utilize spores, they had great difficulty directly corrupting mechanical and robotic tissue. That all changed when Alad V attempted to use the Infested as a bio weapon, and used the limited knowledge gained from his Zanuka Project to advance the evolution of the Infestation. His result was a new strain that gained the ability to more easily infest robotics and subsequently allowed the creation of more dangerous abominations.

So far in the game's lore, only Corpus robotics can become Infested, perhaps due to a lack of complexity in Grineer machinery that would not serve the Infested any real purpose. Although the Mutalist Osprey came about before Alad V's experiments, it can be assumed this timing is not to be considered lore friendly, and instead was part of Alad's work. It can also be said that the early release of this Mutalist enemy was caused by one of Alad's experiments escaping.

Weapons that have become Infested with this modern strain of the Infestation are also Corpus-based, possibly due to the initial exposure of the Infested being almost entirely based around the Corpus thanks to the intentional infection of entire Corpus ships.

Weaponry

File:U10InfPrimary.png

Main article: Category:Infested

More so than any other weapon category, weapons involving the Infestation are a varied lot. They range dramatically in both design and function, from Corpus mining equipment that feature infestation altering their functions, to Grineer attempts to weaponize infested bio-toxins. Most, however, are weapons that are, in and of themselves, created from either living or inactive-but-preserved infested tissue; these range from swords created from infested bio-growth to pistols which smother opponents in broiling clouds of toxic infested liquids. The most unusual Infested weapons seem to be multi-part organisms, ranging from slugthrowers that hurl toxin shards with muscular impulse to launchers that hurl a living infested bio-growth at the target like a grenade. The most extreme cases are weapons which can project streams of corrosive bio-energy or crackling electrical energy via neural impulse.

Infested weapons are often hideous to behold, visibly pulsing and squirming in their use. Even ones crafted from inactive infested growth are often visually grotesque, with edges made from chitin and bone and flecked with veins that thrum with organic fluids. Ranged weapons using infested material often very literally devour their ammunition. In many ways, Infested weaponry indicate how desperate many factions have become involving the Infested, with the Grineer attempting to fight poison with poison, the Corpus finding the infested altering their existing equipment as Alad V's enhanced Mutalist strains consume mechanical constructs, and the Tenno just trying to find new ways to do their job with the new tools as the Infestation spreads – meaning that the Infested are a great threat, but also promise opportunities to any who can find a way to exploit them against their enemies. Certainly according to Cephalon Cordylon, Infested tissue can be easily grown, thrives in any environment and is as easy to manipulate for the creation tools and weapons as any non-organic material.

Enemies

Walkers

The standard Infested unit. Volatile runners and leapers appear to be bodies of Corpus humanoids and appear to have a fleshy "hand", perhaps made of Infested tissue, latched to their heads. Walker units rush the players and overwhelm them with sheer numbers and brute force.

• Charger
• Leaper
• Runner
• Volatile Runner

Main article: Charger

Chargers are quadrupedal abominations resembling canines made from Grineer (possibly Lancers) that almost always hunt in packs. They will quickly and repeatedly claw at players once in range, and their attacks have a chance to stun their foes (but not players) on hit. If their target is out of range they will hold position and lob balls of mass at their target which do not ignore shields.

Main article: Leaper

Leapers are Infested Corpus Crewmen with glowing blue nodes that try to tackle players from a distance; they will signal this action by stopping a small distance from a player and performing a battle cry. While not difficult to avoid, failing to do so will knock a player down for a few seconds. Leapers will take significantly more damage (ten times the normal amount) while pouncing. After pouncing, or if players go outside their leaping range, they will run towards nearby players and swipe at them; these swipes are incapable of stunning players, but are extremely fast. They can also choose to throw globs of Infested mass at the player, provided they cannot reach the player by normal means.

Main article: Runner

Runners are Infested Corpus Crewmen that make up the second most common enemy type of the Infested. Like Leapers, Chargers and Volatile Runners, they can lob Infested mass at players who they cannot reach, but otherwise have swipe attacks, similar to that of other Infested Crewmen. The Runner was introduced in Update 12.4 (2014-03-05).

Main article: Volatile Runner

Volatile Runners are orange-colored Infested Crewmen with explosive properties. Volatile Runners will charge the nearest player or objective and detonate themselves after a short delay, dealing damage that scales with level that will stagger the target. They can also throw balls of Infested mass at their enemies that they cannot reach normally.

Crawlers

Infested crawlers are those former walkers whose legs seem to have been removed or Crewmen infested after surviving the removal of their lower bodies. They will 'run' on their hands at a speed similar to the other light Infested and their unusual body structure causes most melee attacks to pass over them unless a Tenno deliberately looks down while attacking.

• Crawler
• Nauseous Crawler
• Toxic Crawler
• Electric Crawler
• Lobber Crawler

Main article: Crawler

Crawlers resemble Infested Crewmen with no lower limbs, which forces them to move with their hands. They are fairly agile and are difficult to attack due to their habit of staying low, but besides that, they do not pose a large threat.

Main article: Nauseous Crawler

Nauseous Crawlers are yellow variants of regular Crawlers. Any players that linger too long in front of one will be sprayed with a yellow fluid that will hold them in place for a few seconds, thus stunning them. This is hinted by the crawler stopping in one spot, and it will begin to puff up slightly and shake, before releasing the fluid. This attack is not blocked by effects such as  Iron Skin which would otherwise negate the stun effect.

Main article: Toxic Crawler

Toxic Crawlers are black and green Infested Crewmen which now contain toxic chemicals within. Killing them will release a small toxic cloud that does constant damage to anyone within, and ignores shields.

Main article: Electric Crawler

Electric Crawlers resemble a grey Infested Crewman with no lower limbs, forcing them to move with their hands. This crawler will remain at a short distance and use a continuous electrical attack that can proc  Electricity. They can target players up to around 10 meters and are not affected by stun.

Main article: Lobber Crawler

Lobber Crawlers resemble a light blue Infested Crewman with no lower limbs, forcing them to move with their hands. It will stop at decent distances away from players, arch up a bit, then spit an explosive toxic tissue that can seem to home in on players slightly, and creates a buff that appears only two meters wide although affecting players up to six meters away. The grenade does damage directly to health, although the effect is fairly weak.

Machines

Mechanical units infested by a mutated strain of the Infestation.

• Mutalist Osprey
• Swarm-Mutalist MOA
• Tar-Mutalist MOA

Main article: Mutalist Osprey

Mutalist Osprey is an infested Corpus Osprey that transports Crawlers and charges into players to unleash a toxic cloud.

Main article: Swarm-Mutalist MOA

Swarm Mutalist MOAs are Infested Corpus MOA that launch swarms of infested spores which hinder targets by diminishing visibility and dealing minor damage over time, while granting armor to light infested units.

Main article: Tar-Mutalist MOA

Tar Mutalist MOAs are Infested Corpus MOAs that launch globs of mucus to create puddles of thick tar, which damage and slow enemies to a crawl.

Ancients

These heavy units consist of large Infested that are much sturdier than standard Walkers, and do not appear to be an infected host, but rather a separate entity, or perhaps an infested host so old as to be unrecognizable. They have a large amount of health and will charge at players when close enough. Heavies also come with special abilities, making them a nuisance on their lonesome, and a nightmare in groups.

• Ancient Healer
• Ancient Disruptor
• Toxic Ancient
• Boiler
• Brood Mother
• Juggernaut

Main article: Ancient Healer

An Infested heavy melee unit, the Ancient Healer stands out for the ability to cast a damage mitigation aura around surrounding allies.

Main article: Ancient Disruptor

An Infested heavy melee unit, the Ancient Disruptor stands out for the ability to drain away a Warframe's energy. Not only does the Ancient Disruptor possess an aura that allows its nearby allies to drain Warframe energy with each attack, their own melee attacks have a 10% chance of dealing  Magnetic proc on players, draining the player's Warframe energy over the duration of the proc and temporarily reducing shields.

Main article: Toxic Ancient

An Infested heavy melee unit, the Toxic Ancient stands out for the ability to grant nearby allies a toxic aura, granting them  Toxin damage as well as a large resistance to  Toxin damage. Along with their toxic aura, these Ancients possess the ability to excrete a deadly toxic cloud when they do their "roar" animation, dealing heavy  Toxin damage that can easily kill players caught in the radius.

Main article: Boiler

Boilers are large, corpulent Infested riddled with pulsating boils, which launch an Infested seed occasionally. When killed, it will burst and launch several Infested seeds that grow into spawn pods. Left unchecked, these spawn pods unleash a variety of smaller Infested to overwhelm their enemies.

Main article: Brood Mother

Brood Mothers are large, heavy Infested that spawn Maggots within their chest cavity, which the Brood Mother can then release to attack enemies. Brood Mothers will also charge at nearby opponents, and release an additional swarm of maggots upon death. They were introduced in the Operation: Mutalist Incursions event in Update 15.5 (2014-11-27).

Main article: Juggernaut

Bosses

Main article: Bosses

Bosses are over-mutated enemies within the Infested faction.

• Juggernaut Behemoth
• Jordas Golem
• Lephantis
• Mutalist Alad V
• Phorid

Main article: Juggernaut Behemoth

The Juggernaut Behemoth is the larger, boss variant of the Infested Juggernaut enemy.

It is a massive quadruped Infested creature, armed with formidable ranged attacks and deadly close-quarters combat abilities, which combined with its heavy armor makes it an intimidating opponent. Initially introduced in the Black Seed Scourge Tactical Alert, it can now be found in the last mission of The Jordas Precept, as well as the first portion of the Jordas Golem assassination mission.

Main article: Jordas Golem

The Jordas Golem is a massive combat platform created out of an amalgamation of Infested flesh merged with Corpus ship technology and a corrupted Cephalon. It is one of the two bosses of Eris, the other being Mutalist Alad V.

It is found in its own Assassination node on Eris after a player has completed the Jordas Precept Quest. After defeating the Golem and finishing the mission, the player receives an  Atlas component blueprint.

Main article: Lephantis

Lephantis is a massive, multi-headed Infested boss created to fight in the Old War, introduced in Update 10.0 (2013-09-13). This large amalgamated creature consists of three heads called Infested Corpus, Infested Grineer, and Ancient Infested, which can seemingly extend and are attached to a tripod-like body hidden beneath the ground.

It is found on Magnacidium, Deimos. After defeating it and finishing the mission, the player will receive a  Nekros component blueprint. Each of its heads are also capable of dropping Neurodes and Orokin Cells in addition to its main body, potentially totaling up to four resource drops.

Main article: Mutalist Alad V

Mutalist Alad V is a version of Alad V mutated and twisted by the Infestation. From his base on Eris, Alad V invented the Mutalist Strain, allowing the Infested to infect inorganic robotics and weaponry, before succumbing to the Infestation himself.

Upon completion of his assassination mission, player will receive the  Mesa Chassis, Neuroptics, or Systems blueprint.

Main article: Phorid

Phorid is an  Infested Boss only found when an Invasion takes over the Assassination mission of a Planet. After players defeat it and reach the extraction point, they will receive either a  Nyx Neuroptics, Chassis, or Systems blueprint upon mission completion. Upon death, Phorid has a chance of dropping rare resources of the planet it appears on.

Patch History

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See also

• Factions
• Invasion
• Enemy Behavior, including tips and tricks on how to know your enemy.