The Orb Vallis is an open-world region on Venus. This land of duality, where cold tundras made by Orokin terraformation devices mix with the original harsh Venusian atmosphere, is home to multiple Corpus outposts and colonies, among them the debt-internment colony of Fortuna. It was introduced in Update 24.0 (2018-11-08) on November 8, 2018 on PC.
General
The Orb Vallis is a massive expansive area featuring various fields, hills, caves, and flowing coolant, acting like bodies of water, in a snowy climate. Unlike other mission nodes, Orb Vallis is not procedurally generated using Tiles, but is instead a massive static map with unique features.
Orb Vallis is accessible through two different mission nodes on the Star Chart on Venus. The first is the central hub of the Vallis – Fortuna – where the player will spawn in a plaza located within the underground city. The second mission node will spawn the player directly in front of the elevator that connects Fortuna to the Vallis.
Each server instance of Fortuna can hold up to 50 players within the town, however players can only exit onto the Vallis in the standard 2-4 man squads or Solo. Each map is considered its own separate mission instance, and will not be shared between squads.
Entering into the Vallis from either Fortuna or directly from the Star Chart will create a new mission instance of the Vallis, with procedural generation applying to objects like resource spawn locations and mineral veins.
Progress on the Vallis is saved under the following conditions:
- Upon returning to Fortuna through the elevator at any point, with the mission concluding and all progress saved.
- On returning to the player's Orbiter via the escape menu.
- All progress is automatically saved on completing Bounties.
- Fishing, Mining, or using consumables results in a specific save of that content (fish caught, minerals extracted, consumables used).
Fortuna
- Main article: Fortuna
Fortuna is an underground settlement that is home to the Solaris, a population of mechanically-augmented people who work as debt-slaves for the Corpus under Nef Anyo to bring the ancient Orokin terraformation devices on Venus back online. This town serves as the central hub for Orb Vallis, where players can interact with various NPC's to purchase items from shops, or accept quests to be accomplished out in the Vallis.
Upon arriving on Fortuna, players are deposited on a plaza by the center of the settlement near a large artificial river of coolant. From there, players can exit Fortuna onto the greater Vallis via a large door on the town's edge, leading to an elevator that will bring players up to the Vallis outside. The elevator acts as a loading screen, and players will be unable to exit out the other end until the loading is complete.
Main Features
Weather
Orb Vallis Weather Cycle
Orb Vallis features a real-time cycle which sees the map seamlessly transition between cold and warm temperatures in Orb Vallis, caused by the orbital terraforming reflector above Venus. The weather cycle consists of Warm - Cold, with 6 minutes and 40 seconds of warm weather and 20 minutes of cold weather (freezing weather was removed with Hotfix 24.5.3 (2019-03-19)), before the cycle repeats itself. Hence the total length of one cycle is 26 minutes and 40 seconds. The periods are visually represented by the white circle with gaps (please note that only half of the right image is shown in-game, which rotates as time passes by; the planet itself does not rotate, so the hidden half with the question mark is unknown). The gaps in the middle of the two cold periods do not seem to have an effect so far. There is no difference between the first and second half of a cold period.
The weather period determines the type of fish and wildlife that players can encounter on the fields.
All players will experience the same weather at any particular time in Orb Vallis.
Spear Fishing
- Main article: Fishing
Orb Vallis features flowing coolant, acting like bodies of water, which house a wide variety of robotic lifeforms. Players can engage in spearfishing to catch various servofish, which can then be used as resources to craft various Solaris United items, or gifted to The Business to increase standing with the Solaris United faction.
Conservation
- Main article: Conservation
Wildlife on Orb Vallis are endangered and The Business wishes to preserve them. Players can track creatures, use Echo-Lures to draw them out, and Tranq Rifles to subdue them, rewarding Solaris United standing and Orbiter decorations.
Mining
- Main article: Mining
Another means of getting resources in the Vallis is through mining; players can find mineral veins, visible as bright glowing marks, scattered throughout the landscape, which can then be mined with a dedicated cutting tool. Ores and Gems are used in a variety of crafting recipes, and uncut gems can also be traded in to Smokefinger to increase standing with the Solaris United faction.
Bounties
- Main article: Bounties
Bounties are randomly generated quests in which the player completes a series of short objectives from Eudico. Upon completion of a set of missions, the player will be randomly receive a reward from the reward pool.
Solaris United Agents appear outside of Fortuna and provide bounties, allowing players to embark without needing to return to Fortuna. In addition, players can capture Corpus bases to spawn an agent there.
Heists
Heists are special Bounties provided by the Vox Solaris in the Backroom of Fortuna, which are aimed at taking down the Orb Mothers defending the various Corpus installations out in the Orb Vallis.
Points of Interest
Bases
The Corpus have many bases scattered around Orb Vallis. Many of the smaller bases can be captured by the Tenno and subsequently serve as a launching point for future missions.
The following bases have an orange beam above them as well as the Corpus Systems required for the capturing process:
- Transit Depot
- The Pearl
- Grow Site
- Temple Fabrication
- Reflector Control
- Central Maintenance
- Orokin Dig Site
In order to capture a base, kill enemies in the area of one such capturable base. These enemies have a chance to drop a datamass which can be inserted into the Corpus Systems to begin the capture process. The Corpus Systems must then be defended for two and a half minutes. After that, several Corpus enemies must be killed. At this point, the base is surrounded by a blue objective marker, the beam will become blue in color and a Solaris United Agent will appear.
If the player is unsuccessful in defending the Corpus Systems, they will be destroyed and a message reading Abandoned Objective will appear. Any subsequent attempts to capture that base will result in the Abandoned Objective message appearing immediately after inserting the datamass. If the players leave the area while the base capture is in progress, they will receive an Abandoning Mission warning and accompanying countdown. Once the countdown is finished the Solaris United will no longer be able to claim the base. However, the Corpus Systems can still be damaged. If the Corpus Systems are destroyed, inserting a fresh datamass will once again cause an immediate failure.
The Solaris United Agent has three bounties to choose from; these are unique and static for each base in the Orb Vallis. These bounties match the level of the bounty selected from Eudico when initially entering Orb Vallis. If no bounty was selected, then the bounties found in bases are all of tier 1. Each bounty at the base has its own set of bounty sub-missions which are randomly selected when the bounties refresh. Capturing the same base again before the bounty reset will give the same set of bounties as previously. The rewards and refresh timers from these bounties are identical to those given by Eudico. When the players complete one of these bounties the host will be unable to select that bounty again, however other players can select bounties freely. If, however, the players fail a bounty, it will still be available.
If the players wish to capture a new base, they can collect a new datamass and insert it into the Corpus Systems of the desired base. A successful capture will leave the new base in the hands of Solaris United, but the previous base will be returned to Corpus control. If the capture attempt is unsuccessful, the old base will remain with Solaris United.
When Eudico's bounties refresh, if Solaris United owns a base in Orb Vallis, a datamass will appear and the Tenno will be prompted to either capture the current base or capture a new base. Doing so will refresh the bounty rewards to match Eudico's current rewards.
Caves
Orb Vallis has several caves which players can enter, which can contain items of interest such as minerals or bodies of water for fishing. Many of these caves are small spaces that can have multiple openings that players can go through to access the cave.
Aside from enemies spawned in certain bases, various Toroids can also be found hidden as pick-ups, similar to Ayatan Sculptures, in many caves throughout Orb Vallis.
Like Plains of Eidolon bounties, objective caches for Cache Recovery missions in Orb Vallis bounties can also appear in the caves.
Caves that have been discovered by players will be permanently marked on the minimap by a white mountain-cave symbol.
Terraforming Towers
There are several Orokin-made towers scattered throughout Orb Vallis. Some of them, e.g. the one near center of the map close to Fortuna's entrance, have coolant flowing down from the top, hence the name Weeping Tower.
The towers serve no other purpose than aesthetic and lore, though Orb Vallis's logo is fashioned after these towers. However, players need to use them as starting platforms to do the challenge, Stay Frosty, which requires players to ride on the K-Drive and fall into the coolant from 275 meters of height.
Each tower has two golden arches attached to the back, one side of the tower. The arch diagonally goes around the tower, one side each, and having what looks like two-part robotic arm with joint and three claws pointing downward attached at the end. This makes the towers look like some form of robots. The actual purpose of this particular part/design is unknown.
There is, at least, one tower in a completely broken state, showing a hollow cavity with some kind of organic growth inside. This organic growth looks similar to what can be seen inside the bridge near Orokin Tower of the Unum in Cetus. This somewhat grotesque organic matter hiding inside perfectly elegant Orokin architecture seems to signify the concept of deception many characters percieve when they first personally encounter the Orokin.
Craters
There are three craters around the edge of Orb Vallis, namely Harindi Crater, Asta Crater and Ustara Crater.
Asta Crater is located at the near southwest, adjacent to the Enrichment Labs. Harindi Crater is at the most middle east, between Reflector Control and Orokin Dig Site. Lastly, Ustara Crater is at the center north slightly to the east.
These craters share similar characteristics, asides from being large holes in the ground, having some form of golden twisted metallic tendrils with big globes, bearing Orokin design, as cores within the craters. Harindi Crater has only one globe in the crater, while Asta Crater and Ustara Crater has several globes.
- Speculatively, these globes might had fallen from space and created the craters.
- They are probably also parts of Terraforming Towers, as similar tendrils can be seen emerging from around the base of one of the Towers, specifically the one in the middle of Coolant Reservior close to Fortuna entrance.
All of the craters are located quite close to the Terraforming Tower. It is unknown if this is intentional or having any purpose.
Harindi Crater is distinct, from the other two, for having a large bottomless pit at the center of the crater, right under the tendril globe. Coolant from the nearby Terraforming Tower endlessly flows down to the crater and into this pit. Tenno can go into the pit as deep as the coolant surface, otherwise Tenno will get drowned.
Orokin Defense Node Ruins
At the far southeast corner of Orb Vallis, immediate south of Orokin Dig Site, is a ruin of an orbital Defense Node. It is the largest landmark in Orb Vallis.
This Ruin look exactly like one of the planetary defense grid satellites, in Venus orbit, seen during Railjack mission trailer. How this satellite lies in ruins in Orb Vallis is unknown. However, it is unlikely to have fallen from orbit, since that would cause unfathomably large crater upon impact.
The Orokin Dig Site is probably located quite close to this Ruins for the purposes of expedition and research. But, despite how big it is, there is no way to get inside the Ruins.
Enemies
Corpus
The Corpus, comprised of Terra units, are the primary enemy faction in Orb Vallis. They can be found in either small patrol groups roaming the snowy peaks or stationed at one of several outposts and firebases they have set up in the area. They are armed with powerful weaponry such as the 
Arca Plasmor and the 
Opticor. In addition, the Jackal, Raptor, and Hyena Corpus proxies that served as bosses on various planets are all present in their numbers.
The Corpus units can spawn at Orb Vallis in different ways, either via Condor Dropships, Coildrives, or descending onto the surface from a beam of light. Both the air and land vehicles used by the Corpus on Orb Vallis are vulnerable to attack and can be destroyed before they deploy the units they transport. If a sufficiently large patrol is engaged in combat, the Corpus units will deploy Reinforcement Beacons that will signal for reinforcements, which then will proceed to spawn via the aforementioned options. Up to four beacons can be planted at a time, with each beacon raising the player's Alert Level which raises the intensity of spawned enemies. The beacon will maintain Alert Level and continue to call in additional enemies until they are destroyed or the player disengages from combat.
The bases owned by the Corpus can be captured. An enemy in a base may drop a datamass, which can be inserted into a terminal. This begins a process where the player must defend the terminal from waves of Corpus. When the defense is complete, the base will be liberated and a Solaris United Agent will appear to offer Bounties without the need to return to Fortuna.
Raknoid/Orbs
These spider-like proxies roam Orb Vallis. They come in various sizes, with those of monstrous size referred to as Orbs. With the exception of the small Mite Raknoids, all of them are very highly durable and are very aggressive in their attacks.
The Mite Raknoid is the smallest of these proxies and only attack using their razor-sharp claws, but they always lie in ambush in groups of three.
The Scyto Raknoid is a medium-sized proxy that attacks swiftly in close-range and sprays a web of glue-like substance on the ground to slow down enemies. The Kyta Raknoid is another medium-sized proxy that uses an array of lasers and has the ability to generate overshields. Both only appear during high alert levels.
The Profit-Taker Orb is a gargantuan-sized proxy armed with a wide array of missile launchers, lasers, and energy barriers, along with an incredibly durable armor plating. Thanks to breakthroughs in Sentient research, the Profit-Taker's shields were designed to adapt and resist enemy weaponry. Furthermore, its body is protected by another layer of shielding that is controlled by a satellite, making it seemingly invulnerable. The Profit-Taker can only be fought during Heists with Vox Solaris, otherwise, it sits in a dormant state on top of the Enrichment Labs.
The Exploiter Orb is another gargantuan-sized proxy, capable of summoning ice storms to protect itself and aggressively shooting icicle projectiles and homing missiles if a Tenno gets too close. It patrols the Temple of Profit, accompanied by a squad of Coolant Raknoids to prevent it from overheating. It is fought in a cave northeast of Harindi Crater, requiring one Diluted Thermia from the recurring Operation: Buried Debts event.
A third gargantuan-sized proxy can be found submerged in a body of coolant near the Orokin Dig Site. It appears to be dormant, nameless, and cannot be scanned. Interestingly, unlike the other Raknoids which have a sleek Corpus design, this proxy appears to have a crude design akin to the Grineer. It also emits a similar "roar" like the other Orbs when approached.
Sentients
The Corpus are researching Sentient technology in the Enrichment Labs. Rarely, Conculyst may appear there.
Minor Features
Fragments
Fortuna Fragments resembling Debt-Bonds can be found scattered all over the Orb Vallis, revealing backstory on the members of Solaris United in the Codex.
Somachords can also be found, however only one can appear at a time.
Data-Hashes
Data-Hashes are scannable, similar to fragments, scattered throughout Orb Vallis as a part of Operation: Buried Debts.
Notes
- The Arsenal can be accessed from anywhere in Fortuna via the Main Menu, then selecting Equipment → Arsenal. This allows switching of loadouts in Fortuna without needing to return to the Orbiter.
Trivia
- Vallis is the Latin word for "valley".
- The word "Orb" in Orb Vallis probably refers to the gigantic Raknoids, the Orbs.
- According to Steve Sinclair, the creative director of WARFRAME, the visible change between the day-night cycle of Orb Vallis is caused by an orbiting terraforming reflector.[1]
- While out in the Orb Vallis during cold and freezing weather, Warframes will gradually gather frost on their bodies over time. Most of it will be slowly thawed off during warm weather.
- With Hotfix 24.0.9 (2018-11-21), companions now gather snow on their bodies and regularly shake it off.
Bugs
- Numbers of PC players have a problem with Vallis Spelunker challenge. The number of caves explored would be stuck at below 30, even if the players have unlocked all 30 of them in the map. This makes the challenge and its Steam achievement unobtainable.
- A pond located to the west of Reflector Control and south of Ustara Crater has an area that doesn't act properly. This spot is at the east shoreside of the pond, between two big stones. When a player throws a lure or dye into this area, it will go pass the coolant surface and sink to the bottom, instead of floating. Sunken lure or dye will not take effect, wasting the item.
- When players complete Bounty Hunter challenge, in-game notification will appear to inform that the challenge is unlocked and associated Steam achievement will pop-up as well. But upon looking in Challenge of in-game profile, Bounty Hunter challenge would still be locked, while its Steam achievement is properly unlocked.
- Occasionally, ore and gem veins will only spawn around Fortuna and nowhere else. Leaving Fortuna and coming back can fix this to allow them to properly spawn in the map.
Media
See Also
- Fortuna, the primary hub city of Orb Vallis.
References
Patch History
Hotfix 25.0.5 (2019-05-28)
- Fixed missing collision on the Terra Auto Turrets in Orb Vallis.
Hotfix 25.0.4 (2019-05-28)
- Fixed a crash when transitioning from Vallis/Plains to Fortuna/Cetus.
Hotfix 24.5.3 (2019-03-19)
- The World Cycles displayed in the Navigation Window now display time until next Cycle/Temperature. We’ve also removed Freezing state in Orb Vallis, now it's just one long period of Cold.
Update 24.2 (2018-12-18)
- NEW ORB VALLIS MUSIC!
A new combat track titled ‘Coldwave’ and an ambient track titled ‘Fluid Mechanics’ can be heard out in Orb Vallis.
- New Fortuna Somachord Fragments can also be discovered out in Orb Vallis to bring that chilly vibe into your Orbiter:
- Klokkit
- Null Unit
- We All Lift Together
- Cold Tundra
- Vapor Trails
- Coldwave
Hotfix 24.0.10 (2018-11-21)
- New Elite Terra Corpus Enemies!
In Hotfix 24.0.4 we reduced the difficulty of certain Terra Corpus enemies to improve the balance between Orb Vallis enemies. This change came mainly from low level/newer players finding it difficult to proceed within Orb Vallis. We still want to bring a level of challenge to those that want to take on higher level Terra enemies, thus the Elite Terra Corpus enemies have been added! These level 30+ Elite variants have higher Health/Shields and hit with harder damage.
Hotfix 24.0.1 (2018-11-08)
- Added Fortuna Resources to common containers found throughout Vallis.
Update 24.0 (2018-11-08)
- Introduced.
Last updated: Hotfix 24.0.10 (2018-11-21)
