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Shields absorb Damage, except DmgToxinSmall64 Toxin.

When Shields break, gain invulnerability for |AMOUNT|s. Increasing max Shields lengthens the invulnerability time.

They automatically regenerate but can also be replenished manually and stacked to gain Overshields, which offer additional protection on top of base Shields.
—In-game Description
For health class, see Shield (Health).

Shields are invisible barriers that absorb incoming damage and protects the player from taking Health damage against enemy attacks. Unlike health, shields regenerate after a few seconds of not taking damage, making them a naturally replenishing defense. In addition, Warframe's shields have an innate -50% damage type modifier to all sources of damage.

All Warframes, except InarosIcon272 Inaros, KullervoIcon272 Kullervo, and NidusIcon272 Nidus, possess shields, whose values can be seen in the upper right of the player's UI as a blue number, with each Warframe possessing different amounts of maximum shields. Corpus units also make extensive use of shielding, along with certain bosses. When a player's shields are depleted, the player's HUD will briefly flash with blue and red lines, and the player will be surrounded by a red aura. A pulsing blue outline will envelop the player once shields begin to recharge.


Effects[]

Shields follow the Damage system – they are simply a special type of hit points that can take increased or reduced damage based on the type of incoming damage. What differentiates them from health, though, is their recharge and shield gating mechanics.

Shields receive no damage mitigation from armor and are significantly less effective at absorbing damage as a result, especially for well-armored Warframes. On the other hand, their regeneration makes them more useful for frames with high potential maximum shields but below-average potential maximum health such as HildrynIcon272 Hildryn.

DmgMagneticSmall64 Magnetic Status Effect increases damage dealt towards shields, as well as preventing shield regeneration for its duration. DmgToxinSmall64 Toxin damage completely ignores normal shields, dealing damage directly to the health points underneath.

Shield Types[]

There are three shield types, which are partitioned into just two Factions, the IconOrokinOn Corrupted and IconNarmer Narmer factions borrows from these.

Faction Shield Types
IconCorpusOn Corpus Shield Proto Shield
SentientFactionIcon Sentient Shield
IconOrokinOn Corrupted Corrupted units are copies from other factions; they have identical health classes to their originals.
IconNarmer Narmer Narmer units are copies from other factions; they have identical health classes to their originals.
TennoIcon Tenno Tenno Shield
Shield
DmgImpactSmall64 Impact +50%
DmgPunctureSmall64 Puncture -20%
DmgSlashSmall64 Slash
DmgColdSmall64 Cold +50%
DmgElectricitySmall64 Electricity
DmgFireSmall64 Heat
DmgToxinSmall64 Toxin N / A
DmgBlastSmall64 Blast
DmgCorrosiveSmall64 Corrosive
DmgGasSmall64 Gas
DmgMagneticSmall64 Magnetic +75%
DmgRadiationSmall64 Radiation -25%
DmgViralSmall64 Viral
DmgTrueSmall64 True
DmgVoidSmall64 Void
DmgTauSmall64 Tau
Proto Shield
DmgImpactSmall64 Impact +15%
DmgPunctureSmall64 Puncture -50%
DmgSlashSmall64 Slash
DmgColdSmall64 Cold
DmgElectricitySmall64 Electricity
DmgFireSmall64 Heat -50%
DmgToxinSmall64 Toxin +25%
DmgBlastSmall64 Blast
DmgCorrosiveSmall64 Corrosive -50%
DmgGasSmall64 Gas
DmgMagneticSmall64 Magnetic +75%
DmgRadiationSmall64 Radiation
DmgViralSmall64 Viral
DmgTrueSmall64 True
DmgVoidSmall64 Void
DmgTauSmall64 Tau
Tenno Shield
DmgImpactSmall64 Impact -50%
DmgPunctureSmall64 Puncture -50%
DmgSlashSmall64 Slash -50%
DmgColdSmall64 Cold -50%
DmgElectricitySmall64 Electricity -50%
DmgFireSmall64 Heat -50%
DmgToxinSmall64 Toxin N / A
DmgBlastSmall64 Blast -50%
DmgCorrosiveSmall64 Corrosive -50%
DmgGasSmall64 Gas -50%
DmgMagneticSmall64 Magnetic -50%
DmgRadiationSmall64 Radiation -50%
DmgViralSmall64 Viral -50%
DmgTrueSmall64 True
DmgVoidSmall64 Void -50%
DmgTauSmall64 Tau -50%

Increasing Maximum Shields[]

A Warframe's maximum shield value increases after every few ranks until rank 30 is reached (see Warframes#Leveling Up for more details). Beyond this, shields can only be enhanced by installing mods like Mod TT 20px Redirection or Mod TT 20px Vigor, or both if larger shield amounts are desired. A similar mod exists for Sentinels to increase their maximum shields: Mod TT 20px Calculated Redirection. Kubrows can instead be equipped with Mod TT 20px Link Redirection, which increases their shields by a value based on the Warframe's maximum shields.

Shields work broadly similar to additive damage mods for weapons (e.g. Mod TT 20px Serration) where effects like ChromaIcon272 Chroma's ElementalWard130xWhite Elemental Ward (electricity) simply add their %-value to the combined multiplier bonus that already exists:

Where the Relative Mod Bonus and Relative Ability Bonus is the sum of all the applicable bonuses from mods and Warframe abilities respectively.

Using HildrynIcon272 Hildryn as an example who's equipped with Mod TT 20px Redirection, Mod TT 20px Primed Vigor, and has an unmodded, max rank DmgElectricitySmall64 Electricity ElementalWard130xWhite Elemental Ward active:

Missions may randomly have the cryogenic leakage hazard present, which reduces the maximum shield capacity of all Warframes by half. Mod TT 20px Warm Coat can be equipped in anticipation of this random possibility in order to reduce the loss of shields, but it is not recommended due to its niche use.

Mods[]

Abilities[]

ElementalWardModx256 ElementalWard130xWhite
2
EnergyOrb50
Elemental Ward

Depending on Chroma's elemental alignment, an offensive area-of-effect is created. Chroma and his nearby allies are imbued with defensive energy.


Introduced in Update 16.0 (2015-03-19)

Strength: 25 / 50 / 75 / 100 (DmgFireSmall64 Heat damage per second)
15 / 20 / 30 / 55 % (health bonus)
Duration: 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 s
Range: 6 / 8 / 10 / 12 m (aura range)
Misc:2 / 5 / 7 / 10 % (DmgFireSmall64 Heat status chance)
5 m (burn radius)

Strength: 2.5 / 3 / 5 / 10 x (damage reflection multiplier)
10 / 15 / 20 / 30 % (shield bonus)
10 / 15 / 20 / 25 % (DmgElectricitySmall64 Electricity status chance)
50 / 60 / 100 / 200 (minimum DmgElectricitySmall64 Electricity damage)
Duration: 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 s
Range: 6 / 8 / 10 / 12 m (aura range)
5 / 6 / 8 / 10 m (discharge range)

Strength: 25 / 35 / 40 / 50 % (DmgToxinSmall64 Toxin damage chance per second)
15 / 25 / 30 / 35 % (holster damage)
Duration: 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 s
? / ? / 3 / 3 s (holster damage duration)
15 / 25 / 30 / 35 % (reload speed bonus)
Range: 6 / 8 / 10 / 12 m (aura range)
Misc:5 m (poison radius)
5 % (enemy health to DmgToxinSmall64 Toxin damage)
100 % (DmgToxinSmall64 Toxin status chance)

Strength: 1.5 / 2 / 2.5 / 3 x (damage reflection multiplier)
25 / 70 / 90 / 145 % (armor bonus)
10 / 15 / 20 / 25 % (DmgColdSmall64 Cold status chance)
Duration: 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 s
Range: 6 / 8 / 10 / 12 m (aura range)

Subsumable to Helminth
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MetamorphosisModx256 Metamorphosis130xWhite
1
EnergyOrb25
Metamorphosis

Switch forms, temporarily gaining bonus shields and armor in Night-Form, or bonus damage and speed in Day-Form.


Introduced in Update 17.0 (2015-07-31)

Strength: 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 (armor bonus)
50 / 75 / 100 / 150 (shield bonus)
Duration: 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 s
Range: N/A

Strength: 10% / 15% / 20% / 25% (damage bonus)
5% / 10% / 12% / 15% (speed bonus)
Duration: 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 s
Range: N/A

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HavenModx256 Haven130xWhite
3
IconShield250
+5/s/ally
+25/s/enemy
Haven

Create a shield aura around allies. Enemies that approach shielded allies will take damage.


Introduced in Update 24.4 (2019-03-08)

AbilityStrengthBuff Strength:150 / 250 / 300 / 500 (ally shield capacity bonus)
100 / 125 / 150 / 200 (DmgRadiationSmall64 Radiation damage per second)
AbilityDurationBuff Duration:50% / 60% / 70% / 80% (shield recharge rate)
AbilityRangeBuff Range:8 / 10 / 12 / 15 m (link radius)

Misc: 100% (extra damage per second with Overshield)
3.5 seconds of shield gating for allies

Expand/Collapse

Regaining Shields[]

Passive Restoration[]

Shields naturally recharge, but there is a recharge delay imposed whenever struck. Partial Tenno shields regenerate after 1 second of not taking damage, while fully depleted Tenno shields require 4 seconds of not taking damage before regenerating, and enemy shields take 3 seconds regardless of depleted amount. Restoring some shields after fully depleting them or during the 4-second shield recharge delay (e.g. with Augur Mods set bonus) will not lower the recharge delay. In addition, damage from Status Effects like DmgSlashSmall64 Slash or DmgFireSmall64 Heat do not reset the delay timer.

The delay timer is only reduced by Mod TT 20px Fast Deflection, Mod TT 20px Vigilante Vigor, GaussIcon272 Gauss's passive, allied Guardian Eximus, the FocusLensVazarin b Vazarin ability FocusGuardianBreak Guardian Break, and the Mod TT 20px Quick Charge mod. Recharge Delay reduction is capped at 80%. The delay is only increased by Mod TT 20px Vital Systems Bypass. Both Mod TT 20px Quick Charge and Mod TT 20px Vital Systems Bypass can only be used in Conclave matches.

Shields recharge at 15 units per second, plus 5% of the Warframe's maximum shields:

To calculate the time needed for depleted shields to regenerate to max shields:

This delayed full-recharge penalty is also less noticeable with higher shielding. Despite taking longer to fully recharge shields at higher values, the relative increase in recharge time begins to taper off after around 900 maximum shield capacity, where it takes 15 seconds to fully recharge. After this point, additional shield capacity will cause a less noticeable increase in the time it takes to fully recharge shields compared to lower values. Even with over 10,000 maximum shields, it will never take more than 20 seconds to fully restore shields.

Mods[]

Abilities[]

HavenModx256 Haven130xWhite
3
IconShield250
+5/s/ally
+25/s/enemy
Haven

Create a shield aura around allies. Enemies that approach shielded allies will take damage.


Introduced in Update 24.4 (2019-03-08)

AbilityStrengthBuff Strength:150 / 250 / 300 / 500 (ally shield capacity bonus)
100 / 125 / 150 / 200 (DmgRadiationSmall64 Radiation damage per second)
AbilityDurationBuff Duration:50% / 60% / 70% / 80% (shield recharge rate)
AbilityRangeBuff Range:8 / 10 / 12 / 15 m (link radius)

Misc: 100% (extra damage per second with Overshield)
3.5 seconds of shield gating for allies

Expand/Collapse

Edit

Gauss's Passive

Passively gains bonus shield recharge rate and shield recharge delay reduction for every point of battery stored in his gauge, up to a maximum of 120% for recharge rate and 80% for recharge delay when the battery is full.

Active Restoration[]

Main article: Category:Shield Restoration

In the event of persistent enemy fire, a Warframe's shields may be hit too frequently for the natural regeneration to activate. In such cases, shields can be restored via several alternative methods as listed below:

Items[]


Abilities[]

LethalProgenyModx256 LethalProgeny130xWhite
3
EnergyOrb50
Lethal Progeny

Call on Caliban's Sentient aspect to produce up three Conculyst comrades to fight by his side, and repair his shields.


Introduced in Update 31.0 (2021-12-15)

AbilityStrengthBuff Strength:Caliban's Rank x Str (Conculyst rank)
+ 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 SP/s (shields per second)
1 / 1.5 / 2 / 2.5 x (damage multiplier)
1 / 1.33 / 1.66 / 2 x (health multiplier)
AbilityDurationBuff Duration:10 / 15 / 20 / 25 s
AbilityRangeBuff Range:N/A

Misc: 5 m (deploy range)
25 m (shield repair range)
10 m (teleport radius)
40 m (teleport range)
3 (max progeny active)

Expand/Collapse

MendMaimModx256 MendMaim130xWhite
4
EnergyOrb50
+3.5/s
Mend & Maim

In Night Form, allies are healed with each nearby enemy killed. In Day Form, nearby enemies are bled and then subjected to a wave of slashing force.


Introduced in Update 17.0 (2015-07-31)

Strength: 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 (shields per kill)
Duration: N/A
Range: 10 / 12 / 15 / 18 m
Misc:50% / 55% / 60% / 75% (hitpoint conversion)

Strength: 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 (aura DmgSlashSmall64 Slash damage)
Duration: N/A
Range: 10 / 12 / 15 / 18 m
Misc:50% / 55% / 60% / 75% (damage conversion)

Expand/Collapse

CondemnModx256 Condemn130xWhite
1
EnergyOrb25
Condemn

Cast a wave of energy that chains them where they stand. Each enemy held reinforces Harrow’s shields.


Introduced in Update 21.0 (2017-06-29)

AbilityStrengthBuff Strength:100 / 110 / 125 / 150 (shields per enemy)
AbilityDurationBuff Duration:3 / 4 / 5 / 6 s
AbilityRangeBuff Range:15 / 16 / 18 / 20 m (range)
2.5 m (range increase)
Subsumable to Helminth
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PillageModx256 Pillage130xWhite
2
IconShield150
Pillage

Pillage a percentage of Shields and Armor of nearby enemies to replenish Hildryn's own Shields and Overshields.


Introduced in Update 24.4 (2019-03-08)

AbilityStrengthBuff Strength:10% / 15% / 20% / 25% (shield/armor drain per enemy)
AbilityDurationBuff Duration:2 s (expansion duration)
AbilityRangeBuff Range:5 m / 6 m / 7 m / 8 m (pulse initial radius)

Misc: ? / ? / 6 / 20 m/s (expansion distance per sec)
100% (status cleanse on cast)

Subsumable to Helminth
Expand/Collapse

PolarizeModx256 Polarize130xWhite
3
EnergyOrb75
Polarize

Emit an energy pulse that depletes enemy shields and armor as it restores ally shields. Debris left over from the pulse becomes Polarize Shards. Nearby Polarize Shards orbit Mag and cut enemies, inflicting bleed status.


Introduced in Vanilla (2012-10-25)

AbilityStrengthBuff Strength:250 / 300 / 350 / 400 (DmgTrueSmall64 True damage and shield restoration)
1x / 1.5x / 2x / 2.5x (explosion damage multiplier as DmgMagneticSmall64 Magnetic damage)
AbilityDurationBuff Duration:5 s (pulse travel time)
AbilityRangeBuff Range:8 m (initial pulse radius)

Misc: 5.9 m/s (pulse travel speed)
3 m (Shard pickup radius)
1 m (Shard damage radius)

Expand/Collapse

CrushModx256 Crush130xWhite
4
EnergyOrb100
Crush

Magnetize the bones of nearby enemies, causing them to collapse upon themselves.


Introduced in Vanilla (2012-10-25)

AbilityStrengthBuff Strength:800 / 1000 / 1250 / 1500 DmgMagneticSmall64 Magnetic (base damage)
800 / 1000 / 1250 / 1500 DmgMagneticSmall64 Magnetic (extra damage to targeted Magnetize130xWhite Magnetize)
10 / 15 / 20 / 25 (shields per hit)
AbilityDurationBuff Duration:N/A
AbilityRangeBuff Range:18 m

Misc: 40 (Shield restore on cast)

Expand/Collapse

GrenadeFanModx256 GrenadeFan130xWhite
1
EnergyOrb25
Grenade Fan

Throw out 3 grenades in an arc.

(TAP) SHRAPNEL VORTEX Creates a slashing, staggering swirl of shrapnel.

(HOLD) SHIELD SATELLITES Protea reconfigures 3 Grenades to work as overcharging shield generators, protecting her, her allies and companions. When Shields break a Satellite is destroyed to extend the period of invulnerability.


Introduced in Update 28.0 (2020-06-11)

AbilityStrengthBuff Strength:200 / 250 / 350 / 500 (DmgSlashSmall64 Slash damage per second)
200 / 300 / 400 / 500 (shield restore on attach)
25 / 30 / 40 / 50 (shield points per second)
AbilityDurationBuff Duration:13 s
AbilityRangeBuff Range:2 / 3 / 4 / 5 m (vortex and pickup radii)

Misc:

1 m (initial jump height)
3 (shrapnel grenades per throw)
-45° / 0° / +45° (shrapnel grenade spread)
33 % (DmgSlashSmall64 Slash status chance)
100 % (stagger chance)
4 (shield grenades per throw)
-45° / -25° / +25° / +45° (shield grenade spread)
1 (limit of allies per satellite)
2x s (minimum shield gate extension)
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DanseMacabreModx256 DanseMacabre130xWhite
4
EnergyOrb25
+20-40/s
Danse Macabre

Erupt with a multitude of Eidolon energy beams and sweep a circle of death around Revenant. The beams will modify their Damage Type to target select defenses, while incoming damage is redirected back into the beams. Hold fire to boost Status Effects and Damage, at the cost of increased energy consumption. Thralls killed by this leave overshield pickups.


Introduced in Update 23.5 (2018-08-24)

AbilityStrengthBuff Strength:500 / 750 / 1,000 / 1,250 (damage / s)
1,000 / 1,500 / 2,000 / 2,500 (boosted damage / s)
AbilityDurationBuff Duration:N/A
AbilityRangeBuff Range:0.03 / 0.05 / 0.08 / 0.1 m (beam radius)
0.05 / 0.1 / 0.15 / 0.2 m (boosted beam radius)

Misc: 9 (number of beams)
100 m (sweep area)
1 rev/sec (rotation speed)
20% (status chance)
40% (boosted status chance)
50 (overshield points per pickup)
23.33% stored damage decay/sec

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RallyPointModx256 RallyPoint130xWhite
3
EnergyOrb75
Rally Point

Draw enemy attention to Styanax. His resolve uplifts nearby allies, regenerating the squad’s energy over time. Styanax and his allies also regenerate shields for every kill assist they contribute.


Introduced in Update 32.0 (2022-09-07)

AbilityStrengthBuff Strength:20 / 30 / 40 / 50 SP (shields per kill)
3 EP/s (energy regen)
AbilityDurationBuff Duration:30 s
AbilityRangeBuff Range:30 m

Misc: Threat level priority

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BlessingModx256 Blessing130xWhite
4
EnergyOrb100
Blessing

Restore the health and shields of allies within Trinity's Affinity aura while giving them some damage immunity.


Introduced in Update 4 (2012-11-02)

AbilityStrengthBuff Strength:40% / 50% / 75% / 80% (shield/health restoration)
25% / 30% / 40% / 50% (damage reduction)
AbilityDurationBuff Duration:3 / 5 / 7 / 10 s (buff duration)
AbilityRangeBuff Range:N/A

Misc: 50 m (affinity range)
75% (damage reduction cap)

Expand/Collapse

RebuildShields130xWhite RebuildShields130xWhite
N/A
EnergyOrb50
Rebuild Shields

Instantly restore your shields.


Introduced in Update 29.0 (2020-08-25)

AbilityStrengthBuff Strength:N/A
AbilityDurationBuff Duration:N/A
AbilityRangeBuff Range:N/A

Misc: 25 / 50 / 75 / 100 % (shields restored)
12 s (cooldown)

Subsumable to Helminth
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Mods[]

Companions[]

Arcanes[]

Other[]

  • RaktaDarkDagger Rakta Dark Dagger's effect.
  • Allied Shield Ospreys will increase players maximum shield capacity by 100, plus 35% of base shields.
    • Additional Ospreys will give an additional +35% bonus, but not the +100 bonus.
  • The Sequence Syndicate Effect from The Perrin Sequence restores 25% of the players max shields upon activation and increases the base shields by 50% for 30 seconds.

Overshield[]

Overshields

A Warframe's shield counter in purple, showing boosted values from its overshield.

Overshields are extra shield points on top of the normal maximum shielding, which are acquired through the use of active shield restoration items or abilities that would restore shields beyond the maximum shield capacity. The shield counter changes from blue to purple while possessing overshields.

Unlike normal shields, overshields do not regenerate and instead stack on top of normal shielding, allowing even those with low maximum shield values to gain substantial shield defenses. Overshields have a maximum value of 1,200 for Warframes (with the exception of HarrowIcon272 Harrow who instead has 2,400 due to his Passive) and 600 for Companions, and this value cannot be increased in any way (with the exception of using Mod TT 20px Blast Shield for MOAs). Allied NPCs, such as Rescue targets or Defense Objects, are incapable of gaining overshields.

Overshields can be obtained from:

Shield Gating[]

Shield Gating is an effect that occurs when shields are fully depleted, which prevents any excess damage leaking into the health pool.

Warframes, Companions, Archwings, Necramechs, and Railjacks gain Invulnerability when their shields are fully depleted. Invulnerability duration can be approximated with the following:

Shield vs shield gating

Graph of maximum shield vs the shield gating invulnerability in seconds

Invulnerability duration will scale based on the maximum shields replenished since the last shield gate occurred.

  • Invulnerability period scales from 0.33 seconds minimum to a maximum of 2.5 seconds at 1,150 shields.
    • Overshields do not affect the invulnerability period.
  • The invulnerability duration of HildrynIcon272 Hildryn and allies protected by her Haven130xWhite Haven instead last for 3.5 seconds.
  • ProteaIcon272 Protea's GrenadeFan130xWhite Grenade Fan doubles minimum shield gating duration, lasting anywhere between 0.66 - 5 seconds.
  • Mod TT 20px Catalyzing Shields sets the maximum invulnerability window to 1.33 seconds upon fully recovering shields, at the cost of reducing maximum shields by 80%.
  • Equipping the Decaying Dragon Key caps the invulnerability window to 0.33 seconds regardless of maximum shield value.

Enemies have a shield gate that lasts 0.1 seconds, during which only 5% of the damage dealt will damage their health. However, targeting weakspots will completely bypass their shield gate.

Shield Reduction[]

DecayingDragonKeySymbol

Equipping a Decaying Dragon Key reduces shields by 75%. During missions, this is indicated by a symbol to the left of the shield/health bar (shown on the right).

In addition, the Cryogenic Leakage environment hazard reduces shields by 50%.

Enemy Shield Scaling[]

For shields, the ranges of level differences at which scaling transitions from exponential growth to a plateau is between 70 & 80. The formula by which enemy shields scale is as follows:

(Original scaling pre-Update 27.2 (2020-03-05))
When Current Level - Base Level < 70
When Current Level - Base Level > 80

For Eximus enemies the same curves are used for scaling with smoothstep interpolation between level difference 70 and 80, but the base shields are also increased between certain breakpoints:

Where the Shield Multiplier is the value that multiplies an enemy's base shields to its current shields.
ShieldScaling

Current shield scaling at Base Level = 1.

Removing Enemy Shields[]

All shield strip effects removes a percentage of the current maximum value, as such it has diminishing returns on subsequent casts against the same enemies. For example, with an ability that removes 50% shields, the first cast will bring shields down from 100% to 50%, and the second cast will bring the 50% down to 25%.

Enemy shields can still regenerate with natural shield regeneration (such as Armis Ulta, Kuva Lich, or Sisters of Parvos) or while affected by regeneration buffs (such as Shield Ospreys).

Magnetic Status Procs[]

Main article: Magnetic Damage

DmgMagneticSmall64 Magnetic status effects amplifies damage dealt to shields by 100% for 6 seconds. This stacks up to 10 times, with each subsequent proc increasing damage by 25% for a total of 325%.

Mods[]

ShieldDisruptionMod
Main article: Shield Disruption
Mod TT 20px Shield Disruption is an Aura mod that decreases shields by 18%, up to 72% when paired with a full squad. Hard caps at 80% with Mod TT 20px Coaction Drift.

Abilities[]

Main article: Fusion Strike (edit)
FusionStrikeModx256 FusionStrike130xWhite
4
EnergyOrb100
Fusion Strike

Converge three streams of raw energy upon a single point, causing a massive reactive blast. The fallout from the blast will strip the armor and shields from all enemies that touch it.


Introduced in Update 31.0 (2021-12-15)

AbilityStrengthBuff Strength:2,500 / 3,000 / 4,000 / 5,000 (DmgBlastSmall64 Blast damage per stream)
2,500 / 3,000 / 4,000 / 5,000 (explosion DmgBlastSmall64 Blast damage)
20 / 25 / 35 / 50 % (armor and shield strip)
AbilityDurationBuff Duration:6 / 9 / 12 / 15 s (fallout duration)
AbilityRangeBuff Range:15 / 20 / 25 / 30 m (stream range)
5 / 6 / 8 / 10 m (explosion and fallout radius)

Misc: 3 (number of streams)
100 % (strip cap)

Expand/Collapse
This ability converges three beams that implodes, leaving a field that strips the target's current shields by 50% permanently. Ability Strength can increase this shield reduction percentage, removing all shields if Ability Strength is increased above 200%.

Main article: Rakhali's Cavalry (edit)
RakhalisCavalry RakhalisCavalry130xWhite
4
EnergyOrb100
Rakhali's Cavalry

Phantom Kaithes charge forth, inflicting Viral Damage upon all in their path. Their attack strips the defenses of Doomed enemies.


Introduced in Update 34.0 (2023-10-18)

AbilityStrengthBuff Strength:15,000 / 20,000 / 25,000 / 30,000 DmgViralSmall64 Viral damage per interval per Kaithe
20 / 25 / 30 / 35 % Doom defense reduction per interval per Kaithe
AbilityDurationBuff Duration:2 / 2 / 3 / 3 s charge duration
AbilityRangeBuff Range:N/A

Misc: 5 number of Kaithes
5 m summon radius
1.5 s invulnerable time
RollingDroneAvatar Stagger on contact
0.15 s damage interval

Expand/Collapse
This ability sends forth five spectral horses that charge forward; enemies affected by Doom130xWhite Doom are permanently stripped of their shields by 35% per hit. Ability Strength increases debuff percentage, removing all shields if Ability Strength is increased above 286%; however because the ability strikes multiple times, far less Strength is needed, with 143% removing all shields from just two hits.

Main article: Pillage (edit)
PillageModx256 Pillage130xWhite
2
IconShield150
Pillage

Pillage a percentage of Shields and Armor of nearby enemies to replenish Hildryn's own Shields and Overshields.


Introduced in Update 24.4 (2019-03-08)

AbilityStrengthBuff Strength:10% / 15% / 20% / 25% (shield/armor drain per enemy)
AbilityDurationBuff Duration:2 s (expansion duration)
AbilityRangeBuff Range:5 m / 6 m / 7 m / 8 m (pulse initial radius)

Misc: ? / ? / 6 / 20 m/s (expansion distance per sec)
100% (status cleanse on cast)

Subsumable to Helminth
Expand/Collapse
This ability releases a pulse that removes shields by 25% to all enemies hit by the pulse. Ability Strength increases debuff percentage.

Main article: Polarize (edit)
PolarizeModx256 Polarize130xWhite
3
EnergyOrb75
Polarize

Emit an energy pulse that depletes enemy shields and armor as it restores ally shields. Debris left over from the pulse becomes Polarize Shards. Nearby Polarize Shards orbit Mag and cut enemies, inflicting bleed status.


Introduced in Vanilla (2012-10-25)

AbilityStrengthBuff Strength:250 / 300 / 350 / 400 (DmgTrueSmall64 True damage and shield restoration)
1x / 1.5x / 2x / 2.5x (explosion damage multiplier as DmgMagneticSmall64 Magnetic damage)
AbilityDurationBuff Duration:5 s (pulse travel time)
AbilityRangeBuff Range:8 m (initial pulse radius)

Misc: 5.9 m/s (pulse travel speed)
3 m (Shard pickup radius)
1 m (Shard damage radius)

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Main article: Psychic Bolts (edit)
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Psychic Bolts

Nyx launches a cluster of force bolts at enemies, using telekinesis to adjust flight paths and seek nearby targets. Hits strip some enemy defenses.


Introduced in Update 6.0 (2013-01-29)

AbilityStrengthBuff Strength:20 / 40 / 60 / 80 % (defense reduction)
5 / 10 / 15 / 20 % (Infested speed penalty)
AbilityDurationBuff Duration:5 / 7 / 9 / 11 s
AbilityRangeBuff Range:N/A

Misc: 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 (number of bolts)
60 m (targeting range)
100 % (aura nullification)
100 % (defense reduction cap)

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This ability releases 6 telekinetic bolts that removes shields by 80% from up to 6 enemies in a single cast. Ability Strength increases debuff percentage; at 125%, Psychic Bolts can remove all shields.

Psychic Bolts will be active for its duration until all affected enemies die. It can be recasted at any time but doing so will cancel debuff on currently affected enemies.

Main article: Tharros Strike (edit)
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Tharros Strike

Summon Tharros, the shield of Styanax. Swing Tharros to repel enemies and reduce their shields and armor. Styanax regenerates health for every enemy struck.


Introduced in Update 32.0 (2022-09-07)

AbilityStrengthBuff Strength:250 / 500 / 750 / 1,000 (DmgImpactSmall64 Impact damage on swing)
50 / 65 / 80 / 100 HP (health restore per enemy hit)
50 % (defense reduction)
AbilityDurationBuff Duration:N/A
AbilityRangeBuff Range:9 m

Misc: 9 (number of shields)
135° (horizontal spread angle)
160° (vertical spread angle)
2.5 m (pushback radius)
5 m (pushback distance)
2 s (stun on hit)
Melee finisher prompt

Subsumable to Helminth
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This ability hurls shields in a cone in front of Styanax that strips the target's shields by 50% permanently. Ability Strength can increase this armor reduction percentage, removing all shields if Ability Strength is increased above 200%.

Main article: The Lost (edit)
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The Lost

Cycle through and cast one of the three abilities originating from the Warframes that make up Xaku: Accuse, Gaze, and Deny.


Introduced in Update 29.0 (2020-08-25)

Strength: 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 (max targets)
Duration: 4 / 8 / 12 / 16 s
Range: 5 / 7 / 9 / 11 m
Misc:∞ (cast range)

Strength: 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 % (defense reduction)
Duration: 5 / 8 / 11 / 14 s
Range: 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 m (cast range)
? / ? / ? / 12 m (aura radius)
Misc:?° (cone angle)
2 (max targets)
100 % (reduction cap)

Strength: 1,000 / 2,000 / 3,000 / 4,000 (DmgVoidSmall64 Void damage)
Duration: 5 / 8 / 11 / 14 s
Range: ? / ? / ? / 40 m
Misc:? m (beam radius)
100 % (Sentient resistance reset on hit)

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Gaze binds one enemy to produce an aura that reduces enemy shields by 50% while they are within its aura. Ability Strength increases shield reduction percentage, removing all shields if Ability Strength is increased above 200%. Enemies will regain their shields if they leave the debuff field or the ability ends.

Media[]

Patch History[]

Update 34.0 (2023-10-18)

Warframe Shield Changes

There are many avenues for Tenno to approach Warframe survivability. Usually, it’s through increasing Health and Armor values, or making use of damage resistance features of certain Mods or Abilities, etc. For Shields, however, there is an incentive to do the opposite: the meta prior to this update encouraged players to reduce Shield values as much as possible to make use of Shield Gating mechanics.

As Developers, we’re stuck in a strange position. On one hand, we see player ingenuity and creative ways of engaging with mechanics, but on the other, we see proof that Shields are not offering the same value to players as other survivability tools - to the point where you are rewarded for having the lowest Shield stat possible.

We have changed this so that Tenno are incentivized to increase their Shield stat instead of reducing it. To do so, we have approached this challenge in two key ways:

Firstly - we’ve buffed Tenno Shields overall!
Previously: Tenno Shields offered a 25% resistance to all damage types.
Now: Tenno Shields will offer a 50% resistance to all damage types.

Secondly - we’ve reworked Shield Gating!
Shield Gating was added to the game back in 2020 with Update 27.2.0 as a way to prevent one-shots, especially at higher-level content. We feel that this mechanic accomplished that goal, but the implementation of it had an unintended side-effect: players were rewarded for having the smallest Shield stat and fastest Shield Recharge stat to make use of the Full Shield Break mechanic.

As mentioned above, our intention is to offer players more benefits for having larger Shield values, so Shield Gating has been reworked. The core mechanic is staying: when you lose all Shields, you gain a period of invulnerability. What has changed is how this period of invulnerability scales with the amount of Shields you have.

The changes outlined below have been made with that vision in mind:

Part 1 - Shield Gate Duration will scale with the amount of Shields you had upon Shield Break.

Previously: Full Shields upon Shield break offered a 1.3-second window of invulnerability.

Now, depending on your Modded values, this window could be anywhere from 0.33 seconds (minimum duration) to 2.5 seconds (capped at 1150 Shields). To receive the original 1.3-second Shield Gate, players will now need around 325 Shields upon Shield Break.

You can see a full overview of the Gate Duration vs. Shields Depleted in the graph below:

Part 2 - Partially Depleted Shields do not have a separate Shield Gate Duration.

Previously, shield breaks on Shields that were not fully regenerated offered 0.33 seconds of Shield Gating.

Now, Partially Depleted Shields are treated with the same scaling values outlined above. For example, if you had a max Shield value of 1200, but your Shields were broken with only 350 available, you would receive ~1.3 seconds of Shield Gating!

With these changes, the more Shields you have and the faster they regenerate, the more you’ll get out of the Shield Gating system!

Part 3 - We’ve added a new Corrupted Mod: Catalyzing Shields
With the changes to Shield Gating, we still wanted to offer players different ways to interact with this system without always having to Mod for the most Shields possible. To accomplish this, we have introduced a new Corrupted Mod: Catalyzing Shields.

This Mod reduces your maximum Shields by 80% but also changes how Shield Gating Scaling works for your Warframe with a guaranteed 1.33 seconds of Shield Gating upon full Shield depletion. With this Mod equipped, Shield Gating duration scales from 0.33 to 1.33 based on your maximum Shield values, regardless of what they are.

For example, if my maximum Shields are 100 with Catalyzing Shields equipped, I would expect the following Shield Gating durations:

  • 100 Shields at Shield Break: 1.33s of Shield Gating
  • 75 Shields at Shield Break: 1.0s of Shield Gating
  • 50 Shields at Shield Break: 0.67s of Shield Gating
  • 25 Shields at Shield Break: 0.34s of Shield Gating
  • 10 Shields at Shield Break: 0.33s of Shield Gating
    • As a reminder, 0.33s is the absolute minimum duration for Shield Gating!

How to acquire Catalyzing Shields:
Since this is a new Corrupted Mod, it is obtainable via Orokin Vaults on Deimos.

An Alert for the Catalyzing Shields Mod is now will be available in the near future to give players faster access to this Mod to test in their builds. We will share start/end dates for that Alert soon!
An Alert for the Catalyzing Shields Mod is now live!

Part 4 - Decaying Dragon Keys have been updated to debuff both Shields and Shield Gating.
With revised Shield Gating, we felt it was important to update Decaying Dragon Keys as well. These Gear items were previously used to lower the threshold needed for Full Shield Breaks with Shield Gating, and while we loved to see players finding unique interactions between various mechanics, Dragon Keys are intended to increase difficulty when equipped.

With that intention in mind, Decaying Dragon Keys now cap player Shield Gates to 0.33s maximum.

Part 5 - A few other details to cover!

  • Hildryn’s Passive has been buffed from 3s Shield Gating Duration to 3.5s Shield Gating Duration!
  • Updated Grenade Fan’s description to better communicate how Shield Satellites work with Shield Gating.
    • “(HOLD) SHIELD SATELLITES - Protea reconfigures Grenades to work as overcharging shield generators, protecting her, her allies and companions. When Shields break, a Satellite is destroyed to double minimum Shield Gate invincibility time.”
  • Shield Regeneration Delay Reduction is now capped at 80%. Many Mods have now been updated to offer this benefit, leading to the possibility of stacking Shield Regen to be faster than Shield Gate expiring. Now, players should have easier access to reducing the regeneration time, without risking issues with permanent invulnerability.
    • Guardian Break Shield Regeneration delay reduction has been decreased from 90% to 80% at max rank as a result. We have buffed this effect’s duration 8s to 12s at max rank to compensate!
  • Updated the Shield stat on-hover description in the Upgrade Screen to describe Shield break functionality and include Shield Gate duration for your current modded max Shields.

There are many variables that will impact the overall outcome of these Shield changes with Abyss of Dagath, and we’ll be keeping a close eye on player feedback now that this is in the community’s hands.

Changes:
  • Gaining Shields now provide more gradual feedback in the health bar instead of instantly changing.

Hotfix 30.5.4 (2021-07-17)

  • Fixed Headshots dealing double damage if it bleeds over from Shields to Health.

Hotfix 28.0.6 (2020-06-24)

  • Shield Gating now applies to Companions the same way it does to Warframes!
    • Blocks 100% of Damage for 1000ms on first break, reduced to 300ms if Shields break again without fully recharging.
  • Fixed Shield-Gating not functioning properly after Reviving when becoming downed.

Update 28.0 (2020-06-11)

  • Fixed Shield Gating mechanic being ignored by weapons that fire multiple projectiles at once for Clients. This resulted in some enemies shot by the Host will survive due to Shield Gating negating most of the damage, while enemies shot by the Client are not protected by the Shield Gate.

Update 27.4 (2020-05-01)

  • Fixed certain boss attacks (Ropalolyst’s laser attack and Profit Taker’s missile for example) not respecting Shield Gating and killing players in one hit.

Update 27.2 (2020-03-05)

Armor and Damage Changes (Enemy)

This section will go over before and after scenarios with our enemy Armor, Health, and Shield changes. Reading this section should give you a conceptual and on-paper understanding of what we’re changing and why, but practical experiences will tell the full story here. You may need to refresh some aspects of your Builds to truly optimize your power against your enemies.

Before: Armor, Shields and Health on an Exponential Curve
After: Armor Shields and Health on an S curve

Damage-Type Changes
  • Slash Status now does not bypass Shields and instead deals damage over time to Shields. Slash Status still bypasses Armor.
Player Changes

Player Shields, Health, and Armor used to be shared with all AI, so they had all the weaknesses and resistances that their AI counterparts did.

Now Players have their own unique Shield, Health, and Armor type classified as TENNO! These have all weaknesses and resistances neutralized (for now). Player Shields now reduce 25% of incoming damage. Player Shields now recharge with custom player-only logic. Shield recharge delays are based on depleted or partial depleted shields. Partially depleted shields (any amount) is a 1 second recharge delay. Full depletion is a 4 second recharge delay.

These changes to Player shields are in addition to coming Shield Gating changes, which you can read about in our Shield Gating section!

Why: Armor Scaling and enemy Damage Reduction was the nucleus for this change. For years Tenno have had the tools to deal with these things, but the tools were uniform: Use Corrosive Projection, or else. While this is a simplification, it removed the feeling of choice. With these changes, we hope players experience a feeling of variety and choice when taking on enemies. By changing the scaling for Armor, we could consistently change the scaling for all!

Shield Gating
Friend and Foe

Friend: First, let’s answer ‘What is Shield Gating?’ when it applies to you as a player. In this implementation, Shield Gating is the mechanic of preventing an instance of lethal (‘1-shot’) damage if you have Shields active. Simply put, the goal is to reduce the number of ‘1-shots’ you take when your shields are up, particularly for Shield-based frames. When any shields are active, an incoming hit that depletes your last bit of Shields will not continue into your Health pool, and also triggers a brief time where your Health is protected. Once that period is over you can take Health damage normally. Additionally, you will no longer take Slash Status Effect damage to your Health while Shields are up.

Foe: Enemies - Corpus in particular - also have received a bit of a Shield Gating, but with skillful gameplay you can overcome this. Any Headshots or shots to Weakspots completely bypass Corpus enemy Shield Gating. In addition, 5% of the damage dealt when hitting the shield gate will target enemy Health - this allows you to take your Forma fueled weapons back to low level enemies and hit them hard instead of hitting the shield gate. The goal here is to make Shields a mechanic you want to play against with Mods (Auras, Elemental) or to bypass with skill (Headshots). Slash Status Effects will now deal damage over time to Shields, Toxin damage remains as-is (bypassing Shields to directly affect enemy Health). Damage from Warframe Abilities will ignore the enemy Shield Gate (i.e if an instance of Damage from an ability is greater than the Shield value, it will go into health as well).

Why: Giving both Friend and Foe shield gating has two purposes: we want to reward skill a bit more in all Corpus missions, and give the ‘squishier’ frames a bit more viable edge and a chance to really explore Shield-focused builds. Toxin Damage and Status Effects are still your friend against Corpus or Shielded enemies!

Update 15.13 (2015-02-05)

Tenno Shields Update

Shields and HP are two critical elements to keep track of in Warframe, but when fighting enemies it can be difficult to keep track of how much damage you’ve taken in the heat of combat. This Update contains new visual and audio cues for when your Warframe takes damage in combat.

When taking damage in combat damage will sound different depending on if your shields are down or intact. Additionally shields ‘breaking’ have a new audio cue to help you better keep track of when your health is exposed to enemy fire.

Update 15.10 (2015-01-15)

Overshields have been added to Warframe! Overshields are an extra layer of protection on your existing shield that must be destroyed before your Warframe’s shields can be damaged.

  • Overshields can be obtained when using Shield Restore items when you are at maximum shield capacity. Overshields cannot be regenerated, and this extra protective shield is noted by a color change (purple) in the UI.
  • Overshields have a cap at 1200.

Vanilla (2012-10-25)

  • Introduced.

Last updated: Update 27.1 (2020-02-04)

References[]

  1. "Shards within 3m of Mag now orbit her, inflicting the Slash or Puncture Status Effect to nearby enemies." - Update 32.0
  2. https://www.reddit.com/r/Warframe/comments/12t842f/we_are_digital_extremes_developers_of_warframe_ama/jh1axi2/
  3. "Shards within 3m of Mag now orbit her, inflicting the Slash or Puncture Status Effect to nearby enemies." - Update 32.0


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