Vor's Prize

For the soundtrack, see Vor's Prize (Soundtrack).

Vor's Prize is the first main storyline quest, designed to guide new players through the game so that they can familiarize themselves with the various systems involved. It was introduced with Update 14.0. Players are given a choice between various starting Warframes: Excalibur, Mag, and Volt, along with a small selection of weapons.

Overview

For countless centuries, the Tenno have been in cryosleep, but with the Grineer Empire on the rise, the Lotus begins tracking down and awakening the Tenno. Unfortunately for the Lotus, Admiral Vor has been one step ahead of her so far and has been killing off the Tenno as they awaken, before they are strong enough to stop him. His latest find takes him to Earth, where he finds a dormant Tenno just as the Lotus reawakens them.

This time, however, he has a different plan — to capture said Tenno. He attaches an Ascaris device to the Warframe, ordering his soldiers to spare it; he intends to use the Ascaris to control the Tenno, and take it to the Queens as his Prize. Presumably the first of many or a proof of concept, Vor would then seek to capture more Tenno; once armed with loyal Tenno soldiers, the Empire would become unstoppable.

The player must evade Vor and his soldiers, arm themselves, restore a ship to functioning order, and ultimately confront Vor to put a stop to his plans.

Walkthrough

“You're not supposed to be in here! You're going to ruin the surprise!” The following section contains spoilers. Please finish the quest before proceeding.

Ground Zero: Earth

The Lotus cannot allow the Warframe to be captured, as losing them is bad enough already. She surges the Warframe's systems remotely, allowing the Tenno to fight back against the soldiers nearby using their innate powers. With the immediate threat dispatched, the Tenno must now find weapons and escape. This first level plays out as a tutorial, with weak enemies and gradual progression through gameplay elements starting with Warframe Powers and moving onto melee weapons (along with stealth and blocking), then secondary weapons, then primary weapons, and finally hacking and timed defense, interspersed with movement tutorials covering sliding, wallrunning, and so on. The weapons of choice provided in this mission are:

• Melee
  • Skana, a Sword class weapon, the standard weapon with moderate damage, range, and speed.
  • MK1-Bo, a Staff class weapon, a strong and long ranged weapon, albeit slow in speed.
• Sidearm
  • Lato, an accurate sidearm, ideal for all-range encounter.
  • MK1-Kunai, a set of throwing knives, ideal for stealth.
• Primary
  • MK1-Braton, a full-auto rifle, standard for all situations.
  • MK1-Paris, a silent bow, ideal for high damage and stealth, but falls short against multiple opponents.

Upon arrival at the checkpoint, Vor uses his Janus Key to destroy the first extraction craft (an 'old' Liset model) before the Tenno can escape, but the Tenno soon finds their old ship, an Orokin-Era Liset, impounded by the Grineer. Ordis, its onboard AI (or "Cephalon"), originally mistakes the Tenno (referred to as 'the Operator') for a Grineer soldier, but quickly comes around when it realizes their true identity, and begins charging the ship's engines. The Tenno must hold out against Grineer soldiers for a couple of minutes whilst the drives charge, and then escapes.

Interlude I: The Orbiter, Earth Orbit

With the Liset ship and a handful of weapons at the ready, the Tenno is introduced to their own personal Orbiter ship, along with the Arsenal system (after restoring its functionality) only to find that it has been looted and that the vast majority of the Orbiter's systems are offline, their module segments having been removed or damaged. The Lotus recommends that the Tenno prioritize repairing the ship's Communication system so that they may further arm themselves and (optionally) coordinate with other Tenno. There are no replacement components available aboard the Orbiter, but she has located a suitable replacement on the surface of Earth.

Outreach: E Prime, Earth

The Tenno deploys back to Earth, with the intent of retrieving the Communications module from a Grineer outpost. This short mission introduces the Spy game mode (this was previously Interception); the Tenno must break into a Grineer Data Vault and hack the console to retrieve the module. Once this has been done, the Tenno returns to the Orbiter.

Upon completion, players are rewarded with flawed versions of the  Point Blank,  Hornet Strike and  Serration mods.

Interlude II: The Orbiter, Earth Orbit

With the Communications module segment in hand, the system can be restored. This allows access to the Market, and enables Matchmaking functionality. Ordis mentions that the Tenno can now contact arms dealers (though in somewhat less flattering terms at first, given his unstable nature) to expand their arsenal. Whilst it seems there are no merchants currently available, the Lotus has located a captive arms dealer on the surface who might be sympathetic to the Tenno cause.

Familiar Faces: Mariana, Earth

Returning again to the surface, the Tenno sets out to rescue a Corpus black marketeer named Darvo who is sympathetic to the Tenno cause — and has been imprisoned by the Grineer as a result. During the course of the mission, the true purpose of the Ascaris becomes clear; it is designed to allow Vor to assume control of the Warframe. Vor (now demoted to Captain for his failure) demonstrates partial control of the Warframe systems by temporarily halving the Tenno's maximum shields, similar to the effect of the Cryogenic Hazard, but cannot yet assume full control.

Vor also comments on the nature of the Warframes; they do not control the 'divine energy', the Tenno are the 'divine energy' — with each Warframe the Tenno owns being a 'glass' through which that 'energy' is focused.

Players are rewarded with a flawed  Continuity,  Intensify,  Stretch and  Vitality mod upon mission success.

Interlude III: The Orbiter, Earth Orbit

Upon escaping, Darvo rewards the player with an Ascaris Negator blueprint — An item to negate the effects of the Ascaris Vor installed.

Manufacturing Requirements
100	1	450	240		Time: 30 sec
					Rush: 0
Market Price: N/A			Blueprints Price: N/A

However, the orbiter's Foundry systems are inoperative and must also be restored. The Lotus has located a neutral mining colony where they should be able to obtain the equipment they need with potentially no bloodshed or violence.

The Tenno also recovers the Mod system segment in the process of rescuing Darvo, and now has the ability to install any mods retrieved during prior and following missions — most of which will be the special 'Cracked' or 'Flawed' variants that are inferior to regular drops, but provide new Tenno with the vital tools they need to survive. Ordis encourages the Tenno to install some modifications so they are better prepared, somewhat eagerly recommending the use of Heat weaponry — another sign of his instability after being abandoned for so long.

A normal  Redirection mod is automatically given to players upon restoration of the Mods segment.

Oppression: Mantle, Earth

Arriving at the mining outpost, the Tenno and the Lotus find that there are no signs of colonist activity any more — only Grineer soldiers. The Lotus deduces that the Grineer have invaded, and directs the Tenno to first retrieve the Foundry module, then Exterminate the remaining Grineer so that the lost miners are avenged.

A flawed  Bane of Corpus,  Bane of Grineer,  Convulsion,  Heated Charge, and a normal  Fury mod is rewarded upon completion.

Interlude IV: The Orbiter, Earth Orbit

Foundry module secured, the Tenno returns to the Orbiter and installs it. With the Foundry systems once again online, they find the ship's supply stores were also looted by the Grineer. Now the Tenno must find materials so that they can manufacture the Negator using the blueprint Darvo supplied. Ordis sends Darvo a somewhat impolite message; Darvo replies quite promptly, apologizing for the misunderstanding, and directs the Tenno to a series of Corpus Supply Caches where they can gather the materials they need to manufacture the Negator.

Loot & Pillage: Gaia, Earth

Following the coordinates sent by Darvo, the Tenno finds a series of Corpus outposts built into the upper levels of the Himalayan Mountains. The Lotus has identified three Supply Caches which should contain the materials necessary to produce the Negator. During the course of the mission, Darvo briefly introduces the Tenno to the Corpus and explains that, whilst the mission is technically stealing, the Corpus aren't exactly beacons of moral fortitude either — given that they'll sell anything to anyone. Darvo sees their willingness to deal with the Grineer as unforgivable, and is all too happy to support the Tenno in their efforts against the Corpus and the Grineer as a result.

Unfortunately, it also appears the Ascaris' work is almost complete. The Tenno loses contact with the Lotus and Darvo during the mission, as Vor shows he can now interrupt transmissions fully, rather than simply force you to receive his own messages. He states that the Tenno will soon return to him instead of the Lotus, over their own free will.

Completing this mission will give flawed  Steel Fiber and  Enemy Sense mods.

Interlude V: The Orbiter, Earth Orbit

With the resources for the Ascaris Negator ready, the Foundry is put to work and the Ascaris can be removed. Vor manages one final transmission.

Moments later, the Tenno is briefly incapacitated. The Ascaris has an anti-tampering failsafe, and has burrowed deeper into the Warframe. It will soon detonate — with predictably lethal results — and the only way to disarm it is to find Vor. The Lotus locates a nearby ship that should have information on Vor's location, and the Tenno departs immediately.

Not surprisingly, Ordis seems pleased that finding Vor may involve violence.

Navigation Recovery: Pacific, Earth

Boarding the Grineer Galleon, the Tenno immediately sets out to retrieve a navigation segment held within a storage cell aboard the ship. Once retrieved, the segment can be made compatible with the Liset's systems, allowing the Tenno to discover the location of Captain Vor in order to confront Captain Vor.

After retrieving the segment, the Tenno is faced with a challenge. The Galleon is on a direct course for a convoy full of innocent colonists. Do they intervene on the behalf of the colonists by destroying the Galleon's reactor (thereby causing the Galleon to self-destruct) or do they extract immediately? No matter the choice, the Ascaris again demonstrates partial control of the Warframe systems, halving the Tenno's maximum shields. 

If the Tenno chooses to save the colonists, the Tenno has 5 minutes to evacuate before the Galleon explodes upon disabling the reactor. The Lotus ultimately thanks the Tenno for their actions, but reminds them that they must survive in order to protect the system.

A broken  Stretch and  Intensify mod are awarded upon completing the mission.

Interlude VI: The Orbiter, Earth Orbit

After installing the navigation segment, the Tenno can head to Cambria, Earth for the final confrontation with Vor.

Faceoff: Cambria, Earth

Captain Vor has been located on a mining asteroid — and best of all, he is without his elite guard. It is the perfect time to eliminate him. The Tenno finds and confronts him. After a short battle, Vor is dead, and the Ascaris and its detonator have disintegrated.

Completing this mission will complete the quest.

Epilogue I: The Orbiter, Earth Orbit

The Tenno is free — but the battle has only just begun. The Lotus immediately sent the Tenno a message, ordering them into a conquest to save the Origin System, one of which the Tenno must decide themselves.

Epilogue II: Vor's Excerpt

After reading the message, an end screen diorama will appear along with Vor's personal excerpt, providing a background story of his very first encounter with the Tenno in Pluto, in a mission to purge them before they are strong enough to fight back.

Notes

• During the intro where the player has to defend the ship, the ship does not actually need to be defended, only requiring that the player survive till the timer is complete.
• Though the two missions prior to the final confrontation with Vor are both set to the 'Hijack' mode, their objectives bear no similarities to the actual Hijack mission type. Instead, one sees the Tenno destroying three storage units that are guaranteed to drop the required materials, and the other sees the Tenno first conducting a Raid-type objective, followed by an optional Sabotage-type objective.
• The mission rewards listed in the above walkthrough only apply to players who are playing through the quest for the first time. Clients who have already completed the quest beforehand will receive randomized rewards, and may sometimes get no after-mission reward at all.
• Despite Lotus sending a mail after assassinating Vor and completing the quest, defeating him again will result Lotus rewarding you 25,000‍25,000 credits and sending you a different mail.
• Players who joined before Update 14.0 were given the choice to play Vor's Prize. Choosing to abstain would not unlock the Codex entry in the Quests tab.
• Despite the fact that in Oppression: Mantle, the Lotus tells the player to "kill all Grineer" after obtaining the segment, enemies will continue to spawn after this kill count is achieved. This is due to the way Exterminate missions were changed where enemies keep spawning, and is not changed for missions that tell the player to destroy all enemies.
• While Ordis recommends modding your weapons for Heat damage, the player will have not access to Heat damage mods until after retrieving the Foundry segment.

Trivia

• A teaser for Vor's Prize was partially introduced in the game at the start of Update 9.0, via a diorama (particularly Vor smiling with a Void Key in his hand) players could access via the "Show Profile" button, though access to it was removed later on. Said diorama was still used by the game as a potential login screen diorama, prior to the login screen overhaul introduced in Update 23.0.
• The first two missions of this quest are unique in that they do not allow the player to outright die during the missions in question. This trait is exclusively used within Development Builds or Warframe Teasers and can only be legitimately used by players within those missions only.

Media

Warframe - Vor's Prize Teaser Trailer

Bugs

• After hacking the console and defending the ship at the start of the quest, the Lotus may spout off a generic "the alarms have not been activated" voice line.

Patch History