The Index

The Index

"Who rules The Index? Find out when the bell rings!

—Cephalon Sark

The Index is a Corpus Arena-style Endless Mission organized by Nef Anyo and hosted by Cephalon Sark on Neptune, in which player-controlled Tenno and computer-controlled elite Corpus units fight to earn credits and other prizes.

Investment

Before entering the Index, the player initiating the mission must select an Investment amount in Credits that each squad member must pay in order to enter. There are three different investments:

Risk	Wager	Return	Profit (at one round)	Point Target
Low	30,000 Credits 30,000	105,000 Credits 105,000	75,000 Credits 75,000	50 Points
Medium	40,000 Credits 40,000	175,000 Credits 175,000	135,000 Credits 135,000	75 Points
High	50,000 Credits 50,000	250,000 Credits 250,000	200,000 Credits 200,000	100 Points

Each player in the squad will be asked to invest the same amount of credits, and in public matches, players will be matched with others participating in the same investment tier.

This Investment will determine the Point Target the Tenno team has, which is a designated amount of Index points that the team must cumulatively deposit and score in the match. If the Tenno team achieves the Point Target during the match, their invested Credits will be returned and they will additionally receive the listed profit. The credit rewards are not split between players - instead each player receives the full amount. However, if the Tenno team wins the match by having more points than the opponent team of Anyo Corp but does not achieve the Point Target, their investment is reimbursed without interest for the last round. Previous rounds that had successfully completed the Point Target will still reward the team with the listed profit. If the team loses the match each player will lose their investment completely.

The listed return reward for winning is affected by a Credit Booster, although it does not appear on the mission complete reward screen (e.g High Risk will reward 500,000 Credits 500,000 every round). However, doubled credits from the Daily First Win Bonus, via the first mission completed after receiving a Daily Tribute, does not apply to the winnings from the Index.

Mechanics

The match consists of an endless number of rounds, with players voting to continue or extract after each successful round. The goal of each round is to earn Index score for the team through the collection of Index Points, which are dropped by participants killed in battle. Represented as green, glowing diamonds, Index Points can be collected by walking over them, and then deposited to a designated bank location in order to earn the actual Index score. Every point deposited will add 10 more seconds to the timer, prolonging the match duration. When an enemy scores, the timer will go down by 10 seconds per point.

A player can hold multiple Index Points at once, and will gain bonus points for depositing large amounts at once, as seen in the table below. Bonus points will not affect the duration of the timer. However, holding large numbers of Index Points on Medium and High risk will apply the Financial Stress debuff which reduces the player's max health and shields, and constantly drain energy. All these effects are proportional to the number of Index Points held and are delivered through the Financial Stress debuff displayed by the player's HUD to the upper right.

Points Held	Bonus	Total	Efficiency
1	+0	1	+0%
4	+0	4	+0%
5	+2	7	+40%
9	+2	11	+22.2222%
10	+4	14	+40%
14	+4	18	+28.5714%
15	+8	23	+53.3333%
19	+8	27	+42.1053%
20	+10	30	+50%
24	+10	34	+41.6667%
25	+10	35	+40%

Bonus points cap at +10 when reaching 20 points, therefore it is not recommended to carry more than 20 points, as there is no benefit in holding more.  It is most efficient to cash in at 15 points, since only 2 additional bonus points are gained by holding 20 points.

The players' team will win if they score more Index Points than the opposing team before time runs out. If by the end of the match the players happen to tie, the tie goes to Nef Anyo.

If players meet the Point Target and are ahead of the opposing team, the game pauses and an extraction menu appears. Should players choose to continue onto the next round, the Point Target resets and can be reached again to yield a bigger credit payout, otherwise they can leave with all their accumulated rewards. The wager is only subtracted once at the start of the match, and will not be subtracted again for choosing to continue onto the next round. However, enemy levels will slowly increase for the duration of the whole match, and if players continue and lose a round - they will forfeit all rewards, including those for the previous rounds.

Specter Fill-Ins

The Index must be played with 4 players, however randomized Warframe Specters will assist the player and fill in unused spots on the team, such as a Mag or Frost, with a small assortment of weapons and even different color customizations. Their AI is similar to the advanced AI of the Investors, such as using abilities strategically and using parkour maneuvers. They will also try to protect the Specter or Player with the most points, following them loosely to try to give them some cover.

Warframe Specters will scale, however they can be more easily defeated than the player can in most cases, potentially giving Investors an easy way to obtain points.

Limitations

Energy, Health orbs and Ammo are only available at preset dispenser locations throughout the arena, spawning periodically. Players are unable to use Companions and Sentinels during the match, and they are also unable to use Gear items. Nevertheless, all Warframe Weapons and Abilities can be used normally, and each player has an infinite number of lives. When killed, a player cannot be revived and enters an auto-revival cooldown period of a few seconds, at the end of which they will be automatically revived. Falling off the platform will also result in a temporary death with the auto-revival cooldown activating.

The Brokers

Brokers are the elite Alloy Armor-clad Corpus units that participate in the Index to oppose the Tenno. Unlike most bosses they are susceptible to most Tenno abilities, including Nyx's Mind Control. Some of them however have certain tricks up their sleeve that make them considerably more formidable than regular Corpus units. These Brokers are divided into 4 different groups, with each group being selected at random as the opponents for each game.

• Trading Group
• Reclamation Unit
• Claims Investigation
• Investor Relations

Auditor

Azoth

Jad Teran

Raptor RX

Lockjaw & Sol

Nako Xol

Pelna Cade

Ved Xol

Derim Zahn

Jen Dro

M-W.A.M.

Tia Mayn

Armis Ulta

Dru Pesfor

Rana Del

002-ER

John Prodman

John Prodman is a legendary Corpus Prod Crewman that can be encountered in The Index after one hour has passed at any risk level. Known as Anyo Corp's "Employee of the Month", he drops an autographed poster when defeated, which can be placed in the Orbiter as a decoration once the mission is successfully completed.

Rewards

Aside from the bonus Credits earned from completing an Index match, all Brokers have a chance to drop Index Mods. Like the Executioner Mods introduced with Rathuum, these mods are special augments for certain Corpus-originating weapons:

Flux Overdrive	File:KineticRicochetRareReup.png Kinetic Ricochet	File:Medi-Pet KitMod.png Medi-Pet Kit	Pain Threshold
Shield Charger	Static Discharge	Thermagnetic Shells	Tether Grenades

Operation rewards

5 completed matches	10 completed matches	100 total score in high risk
	File:UtilityModule.png
The Index Badge	Exilus Adapter	The Index Sigil

Profit Considerations

Gameplay considerations aside, one way Index rounds can yield optimal profit is by scoring like so:

Risk	Points scored	Scores (without bonuses)	Profit per scored point	Scores (With bonuses)	Profit per scored point (With bonuses)
Low	50	15 + 15 + 15 + 5	1500 Credits 1500	23 + 23 + 4	2206 Credits 2206
Medium	75	15 + 15 + 15 + 15 + 15	1800 Credits 1800	23 + 23 + 23 + 6	2700 Credits 2700
High	100	15 + 15 + 15 + 15 + 15 + 15 + 10	2000 Credits 2000	23 + 23 + 23 + 23 + 8	3030 Credits 3030

It is worth noting that in random teams (with few or no  Corrosive Projections or other armor-bypassing mechanics) killing speed is often much better in Low or Medium risk matches than in High risk ones. This is due to enemies being encased in heavy Alloy Armor on top of having shields.

Also, it is more profitable to stay in a match for a few rounds rather than leave and enter constantly, since wager is only paid once per match and profit is earned for each round. Staying longer reduces both the wager's effect on earnings and time wasted in transitions between matches. This has to be balanced against the enemy team's levels slowly rising for the duration of the entire match,thus making it more and more difficult to kill them with each subsequent round. E.g. by the end of 1st round enemies would be around (depending on how quickly the round ended) level 70-80, by the end of 2nd around 100-110 and so on.

All things considered, random and less-optimized teams can potentially gain significantly higher overall earnings-per-hour in Low or Medium risk matches rather than in High risk.

Maps

 

 Corpus

Gas Works 

 

 Corpus

Outpost 

Tips

• As stated earlier, it is advised to bank in at 15 index points and no more, leading to the most efficient gains per point. If no carrier or other well-equipped player is present it can be safer to score at 5 points instead.
•  Rhino's  Iron Skin and  Revenant's  Mesmer Skin allows them to ignore financial stress penalties as long as they can keep these abilities up, making them effective index point carriers. Particularly Rhino is very popular, however, so having three Rhinos is not uncommon - a suboptimal squad lineup.
•  Banshee is the perfect supportive choice due to her  Sonar ability, arguably adding more to the squad's overall clear speed than other frames: Firstly it adds a massive damage boost if players know to aim for the highlighted body parts (bright Energy Color recommended), which can reach a 9x multiplier easily. Secondly, any affected enemy is displayed on the map for the entire squad, allowing them to farm points much faster. As a bonus the  Resonance augment makes it easier to keep all enemies under the ability's effect as soon as they spawn.
•  Khora is also extremely effective, with  Strangledome being able to capture every enemy except Auditor, who can be binded by  Ensnare instead. In addition, she is able to use  Venari as she is considered a Warframe Ability and not a Companion, who can be modded with  Animal Instinct ( Primed) to spot enemies. Her crowd control abilities when setup as chokepoints not only lets herself and her allies take down their enemies unhindered, but also denies the brokers from scoring, which is useful for completing Nightwave challenges.
• Because Companions and Sentinels are not allowed, modding for  Enemy Sense,  Enemy Radar,  Stealth Drift, and/or  Vigilante Pursuit can be used to spot enemies, though this is not useful if a  Banshee is present.
• Note that player positions determine enemy spawn locations. Thus, when playing on the large map it's optimal to roam near the enemy base as this both prevents enemies from stealing points and allows players to focus their firepower, scoring as soon as the 15-point threshold is reached.
• Most players will farm Credits often throughout their game progression, for which the Index is currently the best game mode. It's worth dedicating (and perhaps favoriting) an Index-specific loadout slot to.

Bugs

• Doubled credits from the Daily First Win Bonus, via the first mission completed after receiving a Daily Tribute, does not apply to the winnings from the Index, although "Mission Results" will claim that the bonus has been applied.

Media

• A player carrying a large number of index points at once.

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Warframe Guide - INDEX

Warframe The Index (Message And Narration)

THE INDEX PREVIEW - Hooray for Capitalism Warframe

The Index Preview & All You Need To Know (Warframe)

Patch History

Hotfix 27.4.1 (2020-05-01)

• Fixed a script error when dying in The Index.

Hotfix 27.3.11 (2020-04-09)

• Fixed non-Sentient/Amalgam enemies being affected by diminishing returns when affected by Limbo’s Stasis. This specifically applies to enemies in the Index.

Hotfix 27.3.10 (2020-04-08)

• Fixed a script error that could occur if Index points were deposited right as you left the Index mission.

Update 27.2 (2020-03-05)

• Fixed being unable to collect points in a specific spot in The Index Gas Works map. As reported here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Warframe/comments/eawwqg/index_points/
• Fixed several issues occuring in The Index if the final player in a squad opens the Wager Credits window but presses ESC instead of confirming.
• Fixed Clients in The Index losing all functionality asides from the pause menu if they die and Host migration occurs before they are able to respawn. As reported here: https://forums.warframe.com/topic/1130768-index-perma-death/

Update 27.1 (2020-02-04)

• Optimized real time lighting in the Jupiter Gas City Index tileset.
• Fixed Index enemies not attacking Gara’s Mass Vitrify wall.
• Fixed damage done by Oberon’s Hallowed Ground during The Index will dramatically increase if the player is in Operator mode.

Hotfix 25.7.2 (2019-08-30)

• Potential fix for UI lockup when leaving squads setting up for the Index.

Hotfix 25.4.1 (2019-07-24)

• Fixed scoring 30+ Index points at once resulting in a huge damage boost. Dying / Reviving would remove the damage boost.
• Fixed Index not tracking kills done by Umbra or spawned allies (Equinox Duality, etc) when the player is in Operator mode.
• Fixed being stuck in Spectator Mode after dying at the end of the Round as a Client and then becoming the Host.
• Fixed Revenant's Enthralled enemies not counting towards kills in Index.
• Fixed a second vote triggering if there are multiple players left after a Host migration.
• Fixed being in a broken state as a Client if the Host crashes after completing an Index wager.

Update 25.0 (2019-05-22)

• (Undocumented) Updated Gas Works map.

Update 23.10 (2018-10-12)

• Fixed issue where the Index would get stuck if there was a Host migration during the rewards screen between rounds.

Update 23.8 (2018-09-12)

• Fixed a crash that could occur if two people managed to tether themselves together (two M-W.A.M. Brokers in the Index).
• Fixed John Prodman spawning but is nowhere to be found in The Index.
• Fixed voice sounds for Rana Del (Index).

Hotfix 22.20.8 (2018-06-05)

• Fixed M-W.A.M Index enemies freezing and flickering when killed.

Update 22.20 (2018-05-17)

• Fixed Energy pickups in The Index getting duplicate spawns every time a Client picked one up.

Update 22.15 (2018-03-07)

• Fixed a script error when a Host migration occurred in The Index that resulted in the Timer not progressing.

Hotfix 22.13.4 (2018-02-22)

• Fixed not respawning in The Index if you die just as the Wager is met.
• Fixed losing your Credit investment in The Index if you win the match but don’t meet the Wager target. It now matches the UI description.

Hotfix 22.12.4 (2018-02-13)

• Fixed Index missions in the Glast Gambit quest rewarding the wrong amount of Credits, resulting in players losing Credits even when winning.

Hotfix 22.12.3 (2018-02-12)

• Fixed not being able to pick up Index points as a Client if the pick-up was too far away from you from the Host's point of view.

Update 22.12 (2018-02-09)

The Index Changes

Co-op games and the Index, not always a recipe for success. Often times your time spent in the Index is at the liberty of your squad mates. We have added individual extraction to The Index! When players reach their wager target, if they're winning, the game will pause and bring up the defense reward screen. Players will have the option of extracting or continuing.

If players continue, they earn the credits reward, and the wager target is reset so that they have the opportunity to reach it again for more rewards. If players extract, the game ends and they collect all the rewards they managed to earn. The initial investment fee is only taken away once, regardless of the number of times the reward was earned. If time runs out and players are losing, they forfeit all rewards.

• Required points per tier are now 50/75/100.
• Increased the required Index points from 25/50/100 to 50/100/200.
• Enemy levels scale half as fast.
• Changed the investment costs from 45k/60k/75k to 30k/40k/50k, and changed the credit returns from 120k/195k/275k to 105k/175k/250k. The amount of profit for each tier remains the same at 75k/135k/200k.
• Changed the rewards to give the total credit return and take away invested credits, instead of combining them into the net profit.

Update 20.0 (2017-03-24)

• All of the Index mission options available on The Index node on Neptune have been removed, except for the Endurance mode. This node is optional, and is not required to complete Neptune. Since Endurance modes play out with no explicit end, we've made all Index enemies drop all Index exclusive mods so that you can remain in the same Endurance mission without missing out on drops that the enemies don't spawn.

Update 19.6 (2017-01-11)

• Fixed performance issues.

Hotfix 19.5.6.1 (2017-01-05)

• Fixed a rare progression stopping bug in The Index if players are losing but then score enough to win just before the round ends.

Hotfix 19.5.6 (2017-01-04)

• Fixed absent transmissions causing a progression stopping bug.

Hotfix 19.5.5 (2017-01-03)

• The Index missions are no longer required as part of Neptune's completion.
• Fixed not being able to fully unlock Neptune due to The Index.

Hotfix 19.5.3 (2016-12-23)

• Fixed points scored in the last round not counting towards your Wager score.

Update 19.5 (2016-12-22)

• The Index was partially revamped, 2 new mods and a new team added.

Update: The Index Preview (2016-10-20)

• Introduced.

Last updated: Update 23.10 (2018-10-12)