At the heart of Warframe are the Frames themselves. These artifacts of alien power each have access to a range of abilities, their own lore, a wardrobe filled with an assortment of cosmetics, and their own playstyle.
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Developer Digital Extremes is constantly adding new Warframes to the game, so there is always something new to chase. For those who are curious about Warframe’s history, we have a list of all the Warframes in release order. Each one has some additional details added, and the list is split between the standard version of the Frames and their posher, gilded Prime versions.
All Warframe release dates, in order
Remember, Warframe launched in beta and is quite a different game now from the one Digital Extremes originally designed. The design philosophy has changed a lot over the years, and you can actually track this quite a bit through the release dates. If you are looking for more of a Tier List, then we have all of the Warframes ranked, as well.
| Warframe | Release Date | Update |
|---|---|---|
| Ash | October 25, 2012 | Closed Beta – a limited group of people were allowed in to play. |
| Excalibur | October 25, 2012 | Closed Beta |
| Ember | October 25, 2012 | Closed Beta |
| Loki | October 25, 2012 | Closed Beta |
| Trinity | October 25, 2012 | Closed Beta |
| Rhino | October 25, 2012 | Closed Beta |
| Volt | October 25, 2012 | Closed Beta |
| Mag | October 25, 2012 | Closed Beta |
| Frost | January 29, 2013 | Update 6.0 – we get Frost, who dominates the defensive mission meta for years to come. |
| Nyx | January 29, 2013 | Update 6.0 – Frost might have overshadowed Nyx, but a nearly a decade later she would give me my favorite way to nuke a Necramech. |
| Banshee | March 18, 2013 | Update 7.0 – another update with two Warframes; Banshee would offer an interesting option for high-damage builds or support-focused builds while the open beta goes into full swing. |
| Saryn | March 18, 2013 | Update 7.0: The real star of this update. Saryn has been the center of overpowered builds ever since. |
| Vauban | May 17, 2013 | Update 7.11 – this update saw Vauban added to the game, and he would soon become very dominant in the raid meta. |
| Nova | July 13, 20213 | Update 9.0 – this saw Nova arrive, the first Warframe designed by the community via the design council. |
| Nekros | September 13, 2013 | Update 10.0- Nekros instantly became a hot commodity for resource farmers. |
| Valkyr | November 20, 2013 | Update 11.0 – Valkyr would arrive with the Tigris, a weapon that would become pretty infamous for one-phasing multi-phase boss fights. |
| Oberon | December 19, 2013 | Update 11.5 – there was a really short wait between Valkyr and Oberon, with the deer god dropping just a month later. |
| Zephyr | February 5, 2014 | Update 12.0 – Zephyr arrived, along with a new HUD for the main game. |
| Hydroid | April 9, 2014 | Update 13.0 – Hydroid arrived with a bit of a splash, and a later augment would make him a great farm frame. Eventually, he’d be reworked into a monster. |
| Mirage | July 18, 2014 | Update 14.0 – Mirage arrived in the same update as the quest system and the player’s own ship. A very interesting time for Warframe. |
| Limbo | October 24, 2014 | Update 15.0 – Limbo arrived as the ultimate Troll Frame, being able to banish other players and trap them in the Void. |
| Mesa | November 27, 2014 | Update 15.5 – this update introduced the pistol-packing Queen of damage dealers. |
| Chroma | March 19, 2015 | Update 16.0 – a fun story mission allowed us all to unleash the dragon. |
| Equinox | July 19, 2015 | Update 17.0 – Veteran players should remember the max-range Equinox farming of Io, Jupiter. |
| Atlas | October 1, 2015 | Update 17.5 – tucked away behind the Jordas Golem, to this day I think this boy just wasn’t worth it. |
| Wukong | November 25, 2015 | Update 17.12 – the monkey king brought aggressive tanking to a new level. |
| Ivara | December 3, 2015 | Update 18 – Ivara introduced a more graceful style of stealth to the game. |
| Nezha | December 16, 2015 | Update 18.1 – somewhat fitting that Nezha, a speedster Frame, arrived so quickly after Ivara. |
| Inaros | March 4, 2016 | Update 18.5 – this update gave everyone who was struggling to live an easy way to survive the toughest content. |
| Titania | August 19, 2016 | The Silver Grove Update – Titania brought the Railjack system to a Warframe and is still a super unique gameplay experience for that reason. |
| Nidus | December 22, 2016 | Update 19.5 – my best boy Nidus would appear, offering incredible crowd control and tankiness. |
| Octavia | March 24, 2017 | Update 20.0 – Octavia hummed her way into our hearts, becoming an absolute monster over the years. |
| Harrow | June 29, 2017 | Update 21.0 – Harrow was introduced with a spooky and fun mission that was very tonally different for the game. |
| Gara | October 12, 2017 | Update 22.0 – Gara shook up the defense meta and just happened to usher in the Plains of Eidolon, which changed Warframe forever. |
| Khora | April 20, 2018 | Update 22.18 – This update expanded on the Plains and brought us Khora, allowing us to double up on pets. |
| Excalibur Umbra | June 15, 2018 | Update 23.0 – The game’s most unique Warframe arrived after spending time on the Chinese servers. No spoilers, but no Warframe is quite like this one. |
| Revenant | August 24, 2018 | Update 23.5 – Revenant felt a little at odds with his own lore but would go on to redefine the tank meta. |
| Garuda | November 8, 2018 | Update 24.0 – Warframe‘s second open-world area arrives with Fortuna! This somewhat overshadowed Garduda’s arrival, frankly. |
| Baruuk | December 18, 2018 | Update 23.0 – The game’s most unique Warframe arrived after spending time on the Chinese servers. |
| Hildryn | March 8, 2019 | Update 24.4 – Hildryn gave us a superb shield tank, moving away from the health-focused tanks of the past. |
| Wisp | May 22, 2019 | Update 25.0 – Everyone’s favorite blend of support and weapons platform landed with a huge impact on the meta. |
| Gauss | August 29, 2019 | Update 25.7 – Another speed Frame, the fleet-footed Guass arrived just before his best buddy… |
| Grendel | October 31, 2019 | Update 26.0 – …who was a little slower to get there. Grendel might be a hungry guy, but his kit never seemed to satisfy players, sadly. |
| Protea | June 11, 2020 | Update 28.0 – One of the absolutely powerhouse Frames for all current late game activity, Protea needs no notes and takes no prisoners. |
| Xaku | August 25, 2020 | Update 29.0 – Warframe‘s second community design! |
| Lavos | December 18, 2020 | Update 29.6 – Lavos introduced a complex but rewarding playstyle that is quite unique. |
| Sevagoth | April 13, 2021 | Update 30.0 – Update 30 reworked Railjack extensively, and gave us this beastly ghost to fight with. |
| Yareli | July 6, 2021 | Update 30.5 – The Vent Kids very most bestest friend, Yareli arrived with a splash. |
| Caliban | December 15, 2021 | Update 31.0 – A huge update for the community, this introduced The New War. |
| Gyre | April 27, 2022 | Update 31.5 – The Angels of Zariman update was huge for lore, and was one of my favorite updates, ever. |
| Styanax | September 7, 2022 | Update 32.0 – The solid updates just kept coming, as Veilbreaker introduced us to new modes and brought back fan-favorite Grineer, Kahl-175. |
| Voruna | November 30, 2022 | Update 32.2 – A guest design from comic artists and game designer Joe Madureira. |
| Citrine | February 15, 2023 | Update 32.2 – Perfect Frame, perfect kit! |
| Kullervo | June 21, 2023 | Update 33.5 – Kullervo arrived with an expansion to the incredible Duviri Paradox. |
| Dagath | October 18, 2023 | Update 34.0 – Dagath arrived with a big bundle of changes but definitely made an impact on her own. |
| Qorvex | December 13, 2023 | Update 35.0 – Qorvex was at the center of the Whispers in the Walls update, which massively expanded the game. |
| Dante | March 27, 2024 | Update 35.5 – After 11 years, Dante became the game’s 56th unique Warframe. |
| Jade | ??? |
All Prime Warframes in release order
Primes are the shinier, slightly better versions of the standard Warframes. Within the lore, many of the Primes were the original designs and creations of the Orokin Era. Many Warframes were created Primes, while others worked there way up to that status via incredible feats against the enemies of the Orokin.
| Warframe | Release Date | Update |
|---|---|---|
| Excalibur Prime | December 18, 2012 | The very first Prime, this is exclusive to Founders. Has seen a new lease on life thanks to Archon Shards, for me at least. |
| Frost Prime | May 3, 2013 | Update 7.10 – the then king of defense missions got his Prime version in the patch that introduced Operations. |
| Mag Prime | September 13, 2013 | Update 10.0 – Mag Prime arrived with Nekros, a fun pairing. At this point, Mag was also incredibly OP thanks to max Pull builds. |
| Ember Prime | November 20, 2013 | Update 11.0 – At the time, the old “World on Fire” skill made Ember the original EZ-mode Exterminate mission god. |
| Rhino Prime | March 5, 2014 | Update 12.4 – The King of the Tanks got even better. Rhino Prime with the old stat-boosting Arcane helmet would birth Spyno. Why care when you can just run fast? |
| Loki Prime | June 11, 2014 | Update 13.7 – at one point, Loki Prime was the most expensive trade you could make. |
| Nyx Prime | September 24, 2014 | Update 14.8 – Best helmet in the game? Probably. |
| Nova Prime | December 17, 2014 | Update 15.7 – The first community-designed Frame gets the Prime treatment. |
| Volt Prime | March 25, 2015 | Update 16.1 – Believe it or not, there were still PvP changes being rolled out at this point in time. |
| Ash Prime | July 7, 2015 | Update 16.11 – Ash Prime arrives, but more importantly, Carrier Prime! |
| Trinity Prime | October 6, 2015 | Update 17.6 – You might find this hard to believe, but there was a time when Trinity Prime was meta. Nobody else could keep a team’s energy up like she could. |
| Saryn Prime | February 16, 2016 | Update 18.4.12 – A really important update, this gave us both Saryn Prime and Nikana Prime, and nothing would stop them from dominating various metas. |
| Vauban Prime | May 17, 2016 | Update 18.12 – Vauban Prime saw a small rework to the overall kit, replacing a bounce pad ability with Minelayer. |
| Nekros Prime | August 23, 2016 | Hotfix: The Silver Grove 3 |
| Valkyr Prime | November 22, 2016 | Hotfix 19.0.7 – a noticeable update as it gave us the Liset Prime skin for fancy ships. |
| Banshee Prime | February 28, 2017 | Hotfix 19.11.5 – this was a funny Hotfix as DE had to stop us being able to nuke a Raid boss during the opening scene. |
| Oberon Prime | May 30, 2017 | Hotfix 20.6.2 – was actually quite noticeable for what went INTO the Prime vault, as the Vectis was no longer available. |
| Hydroid Prime | August 29, 2017 | Update 21.6 – This brought the Nami Skyla Prime that a lot of folks slept on. I was not one of them. |
| Mirage Prime | December 13, 2017 | Update 22.7 – Nothing too exciting happened with this unless you were an Akbolto fan. |
| Zephyr Prime | March 20, 2018 | Hotfix 22.16.4 – the patch gave us Zephyr Prime who would become surprisingly meta, Kroenen Prime AND full power Exodia Force. |
| Limbo Prime | June 19, 2018 | Hotfix 23.0.3 – Pyranna Prime, baby! |
| Chroma Prime | September 25, 2018 | Update 23.9 – Rubico Prime AND Gram Prime in one hit? Game changing. |
| Mesa Prime | December 18, 2018 | Update 23.9 – Redeemer Prime dropped in and would slide in and out of the one-shot meta for years. |
| Equinox Prime | April 2, 2019 | Hotfix 24.5.8 – a quiet enough patch, frankly. |
| Wukong Prime | July 6, 2019 | Update 25.3 – Wukong Prime was a hot commodity as he landed on the heels of a rework. |
| Atlas Prime | October 1, 2019 | Update 25.8 – an easy-access Atlas for those who hated the normal farm. |
| Ivara Prime | December 17, 2019 | Hotfix 27.0.4 – Warframe was in an odd time as Railjack had dropped, but many folks were not feeling it. Thankfully, everyone loves Froggirl Prime. |
| Titania Prime | March 31, 2020 | Hotfix 27.3.6 – A rare moment when all three Primes (Titania, Corinth, and Pangolin) would be meta at some point. |
| Inaros Prime | July 14, 2020 | Update 28.2 |
| Nezha Prime | October 27, 2020 | Update 29.3 – Guandao Prime arrived in this update, and if you haven’t tried it yet, you really should. |
| Octavia Prime | February 23, 2021 | Update 29.9 – One of the strongest Frames in the game got gilded. |
| Gara Prime | May 25, 2021 | Update 30.3 – This release landed between two important moments: a full Railjack rework and the arrival of the Sisters of Parvos. |
| Nidus Prime | September 8, 2021 | Update 30.7 – Nidus Prime fittingly arrived with the return of Plague Star, a superb event. |
| Harrow Prime | December 15, 2021 | Update 31.0 – The New War arrives, setting Warframe on an incredible path. |
| Garuda Prime | March 28, 2022 | Update 31.3 |
| Khora Prime | July 16, 2022 | Update 31.7 – a pretty nutty run of updates around the Zariman and Khora, making her an absolute nuke machine. |
| Revenant Prime | October 5, 2022 | Hotfix 32.0.9 – Warframe was churning at this point with a constant flow of changes coming from Veilbreaker. |
| Baruuk Prime | December 14, 2022 | Hotfix 32.2.5 |
| Hildryn Prime | March 15, 2023 | Update 32.3.6 – Everyone’s favorite muscle-mommy Frame got the golden treatment. Infinite shields are still OP. |
| Wisp Prime | July 27, 2023 | Update 33.6 – Top-tier support gun platform gets Primed. Oh, and Duviri expanded. |
| Grendel Prime | October 18, 2023 | Update 34.0 – Outisde of Nourish, still one of the worst Frames in the game. (Sorry) |
| Gauss Prime | January 17, 2024 | Update 35.0.9 – Still one of the best Frames in the game. |
| Protea Prime | May 1, 2024 | Hotfix 35.5.9 |
