Warframe materials - farming materials and credits
Hoarding cash
It's easy to forget to that you need stuff to splash out on all the good gear in Warframe. Suddenly you may find yourself glassy eyed, wondering just how this could ever have happened. You'll likely want to know right now where to get more stuff to make the weapons, frames, and gear of your dreams.
But perhaps you do have enough credits and materials, just that you don't know what to spend it on? If so, you can go to our Warframe guide hub for guides on what to spend it on, before coming back here to know how to get more materials for your frame construction.
Warframe material farming guide
Sadly in real life, we can't help with cash flow problems, but in this guide we can show you the importance of farming credits via the Index mission, as well where to farm materials so you can get back to splashing out on that coveted piece of gear faster.
Farming materials in Warframe
Okay, so. You need the materials to craft something. You need some Neurodes. You need like 400 Plastids (and it’s always those damn Plastids). You might even be low on Ferrite, god forbid. That means it’s time to farm. The best way to go about that is to go to whatever planet happens to have the resources you need. All resources except for Nitain Extract can be found while running missions. For Extracts, you’ll have to do Alerts that reward you with them.
One thing to note: If you need Argon Crystals, make sure you’re ready to use them quickly after you pick them up. They will start to decay 24 hours after you pick them up. You’ll lose half of however many Crystals you’ve held onto for more than 24 hours at midnight GMT. If you run out, it’s back to the Void for you. Below is a list of all the places to farm materials for crafting.
| Resource | Farming location |
|---|---|
| Alloy Plate | Gabii (Ceres) Draco (Ceres) Malva (Venus) |
| Argon Crystal | Any void exterminate or void sabotage. |
| Circuits | Draco (Ceres) Malva (Venus) |
| Control Module | Any Void Survival or void defence. Hyena Pack (Psamathe, Neptune) Boss - Raptors (Naamah, Europa) |
| Cryotic | Any Excacation mission. |
| Ferrite | Any Void Survival or Void Defence. Tikal (Earth) Apollodorus (Mercury) |
| Gallium | Assur (Uranus) Boss - Lieutenant Lech Kril (War, Mars) |
| Morphics | Wahiba (Mars) Boss - Captain Vor (Tolstoj, Mercury) Apollodorus (Mercury) |
| Nano Spores | Orokin Derelict Defence/Survival Akkad (Eris) Piscinas (Saturn) |
| Neural Sensors | Cameria (Jupiter) Boss - Alad V (Themisto, Jupiter) Boss - Raptors (Naamah, Europa) |
| Neurodes | Orokin Derelict Assassination/Defence/Survival Tikal (Earth) Zabala (Eris) |
| Orokin Cell | Orokin Derelict Survival Draco (Ceres) Piscinas (Saturn) |
| Oxium | Galatea (Neptune) Despina (Neptune) |
| Plastids | Zeugma (Phobos) Ophelia (Uranus) Zabala (Eris) |
| Polymer Bundle | Assur (Uranus) Ophelia (Uranus) Apollodorus (Mercury) |
| Rubedo | Any Void Survival or Void Defence. Zeugma (Phobos) |
| Salvage | Cameria (Jupiter) Wahiba (Mars) |
| Tellurium | Ophelia (Uranus) Caelus (Uranus) Sallacia (Neptune) |
How to get credits quickly in Warframe
Almost everything in Warframe requires credits. You’ll need to spend credits on crafting, buying Blueprints and materials, and well, just about everything. A lot of the tips you'll see around require you to make it as far as The Index. This is a fair bit of the way into the game, so earlier points where you can gain funds include Romula on Venus, which rewards 12,000 credits without any boosters enabled. This is also a good place to grind for levels for your early game gear. There is also Sechura on Pluto, that can reward players a slightly higher amount of funds.
Farming in The Index
Situated on Neptune, The Index is a place where you can bet the credits you have on a match versus an AI opponent. The more credits you put in, the more you stand to win. It's also recommended to go with higher risks since the payout is significantly improved compared to the lower risk options.
In each match, you kill enemies that drop green glowing objects. If you return it to your base without dying, you get a point. But you can risk it by having more green objects (Indexes) on you at one time. So if you have more than five of them, you'll get seven points. For every increment of 5, you get more and more bonus points for turning them in, though there is a cap on these bonus points. Your eventual goal of the game is to finish with more points than your opponent.
However, there is a risk involved in carrying more glowing objects. For every point you have, your Warframe's shields and health will be drained. I'd personally recommend creating a Rhino frame as soon as possible, loading it out with defensive mods, and using that for your runs. Find out more on that in our Warframe frames and mods guide.
Of course, the cash reward isn’t that simple. It's based on how many points you've scored in a match. So in order to get a hefty payout from this, you'll need to score a certain amount of points. Simply beating the AI will get you the money you put into the bet back, but betting on how many points you score will give you bigger rewards. If you put in 30,000 Credits, you need to score 50 points. For 40,000, 75 points. For 50,000, 100 points. Then, you’ll get your payout of 75,000, 135,000, or 200,000, respectively.
Oh, and keep an eye on the clock. It’s slowly ticking down, but every time you score, time gets added. Don’t carry around too many points and forget to add time to the clock, as you'll want to make sure you succeed and get paid. When you do get paid, you'll naturally want to spend your hard-earned credits, so do be sure to check out our guide on Warframe frames and mods for more on upgrading your frame's capabilities, as well as our Warframe Prime Relics guide for some of the more high-class gear worth sinking credits into.