Survival is a mission type where players will have to fight an endless, steady stream of enemies to survive for as long as possible while slowly losing life support, distracting enemies as a Tenno operative secretly gathers supplies behind the scenes.

Mechanics[]

At the start of the mission, there is a single terminal. Hacking this terminal will begin the objective, alerting an endless wave of enemies as life support begins to decay from a maximum value of 100% to a minimum value of 0% at a rate of 1% per 1.5 seconds.

Each kill will have a chance to drop personal life support modules that restore 5% of the life support system, up to the maximum value of 100%. These modules may also be obtained from Storage Containers and lockers after the alarm has been triggered.

Immediately upon triggering the alarm and every 90 seconds afterward (with notice given 30 seconds prior), the Lotus will drop off life support capsules that restore 30% life support on activation (up to the maximum value of 100%), spawn a health orb and grant 20 objective affinity to the Tenno that activated the capsule. The amount of life support capsules that can be on the map is capped at 8; another capsule will not be given until one has been opened and the drop delay passed.

After 5 minutes, a mission reward is given to the squad and the extraction point will be enabled and marked on the minimap. The squad can then choose between heading to extraction to complete the mission, or staying on for a longer period of time to receive additional mission rewards every 5 minutes.

Players may choose to extract individually at any time beyond the initial 5 minutes. Any player entering the extraction zone will trigger a countdown timer, at the end of which all players in the extraction zone will be extracted while remaining players continue playing and can extract later any time they choose.

When the life support system reaches 0%, if extraction is not available yet, the mission ends in failure. Otherwise, all squad members' health will start draining for 5 minutes, in a manner similar to a hull breach but at a much faster rate. The health drain will stop at 5 HP – making any damage lethal – and teammates who are killed can be revived normally. No more life support capsules will be dropped, rewards will no longer be given, enemies will stop dropping the life support modules, and all remaining life support modules on the map will become unusable. After this point, the mission can still be completed if at least one player reaches Extraction before the 5 minutes are up. The mission will fail once the timer ends or all players are killed.^[1]

During Nightmare Mode or Void Fissure Survival missions, players will receive Nightmare Mode or Void Fissure rewards and the normal Survival mode reward when completing the mission. Note that even though Nightmare Mode and Void Fissure enemies are usually higher level, the Survival mode rewards will be based on the mission's original enemy levels.

During Arbitration survival, normal Survival mode rewards are replaced by Arbitration rewards. In addition, life support capsules grant 25% less life support (multiplicative) in Arbitration Survival missions.

Treasure rooms on Deimos and in the Void are inaccessible. However, on the former unique Derelict Vaults exist, and accessing them will spawn Corrupted enemies.

Kuva Survival[]

The Survival mission Taveuni in the Kuva Fortress has the unique distinction "Kuva Survival". Access to this node requires completion of The War Within.

During the mission, the Lotus notifies players that the Grineer are harvesting  Kuva which can be intercepted if players so choose. When a life support capsule is deployed, an Eximus unit will spawn, which will drop a Kuva Catalyst when killed, which resembles a red-colored power cell from Excavation missions. Bringing this Catalyst near any life support capsule will automatically turn it into a Kuva Harvester, and a 1 minute timer will count down. This tower, which has 4,000 health, can be targeted and must be defended while also keeping life support above 1% until the timer is over, after which all players will receive 200 Kuva.

• Kuva Towers will only reward 10% to the Life Support when complete, instead of the usual 30%. This means players must be either tactical and only turn some capsules into harvesters, or have Warframes that can quickly kill or farm enemies for life support drops.
• The Eximus unit carrying the Kuva Catalyst can have its corpse looted again with  Hydroid's  Pilfering Swarm,  Khora's  Pilfering Strangledome (if caught in the first place before dying), or  Nekros'  Desecrate, allowing another Catalyst to drop for converting another tower when it spawns.
• The 200 Kuva per tower is affected by the Resource Booster, which doubles this amount to 400.
• If the Life Support on the level depletes to 0% before the Kuva harvesting is complete, the tower will vanish along with the Kuva players would have received.

Conjunction Survival[]

The Survival missions Yuvarium and Circulus on Lua have the unique distinction "Conjunction Survival". Access to these nodes requires completion of The War Within.

In this Survival type, a Lone Guardian, a colorless Void Dax will appear, wandering between Life Support Capsules while projecting a 20m radius field that increases Ability Strength by 100% and Casting Speed by 50%. The buff lasts for 5 seconds and begins to count down upon leaving the field. The Lone Guardian will not engage in combat and cannot be attacked.

Once every 5 minutes when a reward rotation completes, Thrax Centurion and Thrax Legatus (Hollow variants on Yuvarium, Eclipse Centurion and Lua Legatus on Circulus and The Steel Path nodes) will spawn, whose presence will cause Life Support to drain 50% faster. The Eclipse and Lua variants will enter a spectral form when they die, and can only be finished off using the Operator's Void Beam. 2 Thrax spawn, increasing by 1 per additional squad member.

If the player owns a Necramech, the Necramech Summon can be used in these missions. However, it possesses a duration of 2 minutes and has a 10 minute cooldown (7 minutes and 30 seconds with Tactical Intrinsic Rank 8) from when the gear item was first used.

Locations[]

Enemies[]

This is a list of possible enemies and their respective "wave" they will start to appear. Note that this is based on the lowest level of each faction, at higher level survival missions enemies may come out sooner but usually in the same order.

Grineer Survival[]

Corpus Survival[]

Infested Survival[]

• Charger, Leaper - 0+ minutes
• ?? - 5+ minutes
• ?? - 9+ minutes
• ?? - 10+ minutes
• ?? - 15+ minutes
• ?? - 19+ minutes

Orokin Survival[]

Eximus Spawn[]

As players advance through the survival, the amount of Eximus spawns will steadily increase from 0% at 5 minutes, to 20% at 60 minutes.

Rewards[]

Besides the bonus amounts of resources, affinity, and mods from the increase in enemies compared to normal missions, certain rewards can be awarded at the end of the mission if the mission is a success. Mission rewards will vary depending on the level of the mission's enemies (the starting level; this tier does not scale during a mission as higher level enemies spawn) and also depends on the amount of time spent.

• Enemy level tier (on average):
  • Tier 1: Level 1 - 10
  • Tier 2: Level 10 - 20
  • Tier 3: Level ≥ 20
  • Note: While most missions obey these enemy level tiers, there are a few exceptions, such as Hymeno and Cambria. Refer to the table above for a more accurate list of mission enemy level tiers.
• Time spent Drop Rotation (rewards cycles every 20 minutes: A->A->B->C):
  • Rotation A: 5, 10 minutes; 25, 30 minutes; etc.
  • Rotation B: 15 minutes; 35 minutes; etc.
  • Rotation C: 20 minutes; 40 minutes; etc.
• Conjunction Survival guarantees  Lua Thrax Plasm per rotation, in addition to the normal rewards:

A	B	C
x2000 Credit Cache	14.29%	Hornet Strike	7.69%	Quickening	11.28%
x2000 Credit Cache	14.29%	Incendiary Coat	7.69%	True Punishment	11.28%
x2000 Credit Cache	14.29%	Intensify	7.69%	Lith A6	11.06%
x2000 Credit Cache	14.29%	Parry	7.69%	Lith C12	11.06%
Endo x100	14.29%	Serration	7.69%	Lith G10	11.06%
Endo x100	14.29%	Steel Fiber	7.69%	Lith G12	11.06%
Endo x100	14.29%	Lith A6	7.69%	Lith N15	11.06%
		Lith C12	7.69%	Lith P9	11.06%
		Lith G10	7.69%	Lith W4	11.06%
		Lith G12	7.69%
		Lith N15	7.69%
		Lith P9	7.69%
		Lith W4	7.69%

Locations:

• Malva, Venus
• Gabii, Ceres

A	B	C
x2500 Credit Cache	16.67%	Charged Shell	7.14%	Enduring Strike	11.28%
x2500 Credit Cache	16.67%	Fast Deflection	7.14%	Quickening	11.28%
x2500 Credit Cache	16.67%	Hornet Strike	7.14%	Neo A13	11.06%
Endo x100	16.67%	Provoked	7.14%	Neo B9	11.06%
Endo x100	16.67%	Serration	7.14%	Neo E4	11.06%
Endo x100	16.67%	Steel Fiber	7.14%	Neo G7	11.06%
		Vital Sense	7.14%	Neo M5	11.06%
		Meso A7	7.14%	Neo P7	11.06%
		Meso B9	7.14%	Neo Z11	11.06%
		Meso F5	7.14%
		Meso H7	7.14%
		Meso N17	7.14%
		Meso V9	7.14%
		Meso W4	7.14%

Locations:

• Wahiba, Mars
• Zeugma, Phobos
• Cameria, Jupiter
• Piscinas, Saturn

Locations:

• Assur, Uranus
• Kelashin, Neptune
• Amarna, Sedna

A	B	C
x3000 Credit Cache	25%	Neo A13	14.29%	Life Strike	12.5%
x3000 Credit Cache	25%	Neo B9	14.29%	Axi A17	12.5%
x3000 Credit Cache	25%	Neo E4	14.29%	Axi A18	12.5%
Endo x400	25%	Neo G7	14.29%	Axi G11	12.5%
		Neo M5	14.29%	Axi L6	12.5%
		Neo P7	14.29%	Axi O6	12.5%
		Neo Z11	14.29%	Axi S16	12.5%
				Axi S17	12.5%

Dark Sector Survival[]

Survival missions that take place in Dark Sectors always involve the Infested. These Survival missions have a higher level range (and thus, higher difficulty) than the planet they're found on, but give out larger quantities of experience, including the experience bonuses inherent in Dark Sectors. There are currently 10 Dark Sector Survival Missions, one each for every planet except Mercury, Earth, Europa and Pluto.

Notes[]

• Each Life Support Capsule tends to be placed in each section of a map roughly around every 2 minutes and 30 seconds (150 seconds) before another capsule is dropped off by the Lotus. This is after the 5-minute start of the Survival.
  • This delay will slowly increase over time, and there is a cap on extra support capsules 'in queue'.
  • If there are three separate rooms that can accommodate Life Support Capsules, the first room will no longer be dropped off, instead, the latter two rooms are provided in a cycle.
• If a  Rhino has  Iron Skin active, it will not protect the player from losing shields or health while oxygen is at 0%. It will continue to protect against enemy combat damage as normal. As soon as health reaches 5, Iron Skin will vanish and leave the player vulnerable. Reapplying it will make it vanish instantly.
• The time it takes to activate life support is around 3 seconds, which is long enough for pursuing enemies to kill you if you are not careful.
• The maximum amount of capsules that can be on the map is capped at 8. The Lotus will not deliver another one until one has been opened, at which the drop timer starts.
• Life Support decreases at 1% every 1.5 seconds. That means 100% is enough for 2 minutes and 30 seconds of Life Support.
  • Prior to Update 10.3 (2013-10-09), Lotus would warn you at 20% that you have 60 seconds of life support remaining when you actually had 30 seconds. She also warned that you had 30 seconds remaining at 10%, which was actually 15 seconds.
  • At Update 10.6 (2013-10-30), Lotus will only warn players at 20% of life support, referring to 30 seconds. The warning at 40% was removed. If extraction is ready, Lotus will also suggest extraction.
  • Despite claims that sprinting hastens the rate that Life Support decreases, DE has confirmed that there is no correlation.
• The Excavation mission type is slated to replace Survival missions taking place on planetside tiles, which include the Grineer Forest, Grineer Settlement, Grineer Shipyard, Corpus Outpost, and Corpus Ice Planet tiles.
• The "objective has been reached" flag is set at the 3:30 mark preventing new players from joining the session too close to the 5-minute reward mark.
• If the player sits idle and does not start the mission timer, it will eventually start itself after 5 minutes
• Many non-standard variants of Survival remove standard reward rotations and task the squad with surviving for a set time rather than for as long as they can. Non-endless extraction rules (timer starts with at least half the squad at extraction and all players extract simultaneously) apply to these variants.
• In the Kuva Fortress one Life Support Capsule spawn is located right next to a Shrapnel Mine. If the mine is activated and not destroyed in time while the capsule is converted into a Siphon, it will be destroyed through the damage over time effect left on the ground near the mine.

Tips[]

• In a squad, stick with the group at all times and avoid spreading out too much, preferably hanging around the Life Support Capsules, to ensure enemies are heavily clustered and minimize stragglers.
  • Enemies spawn at points where players can't see, and in rooms next to where players are. Larger tiles will have more spawning points than smaller tiles. Splitting up will disable the nearest spawning points and cause the enemies to spawn in spread out locations.
  • A player that trips the Inactivity Penalty will cause all enemies to swarm that player.
• It is helpful to bring a Companion with  Vacuum/ Fetch to quickly gather Life Support Modules. However, the Companion may also pick up Life Support Modules too early, especially early on in the mission or if players get a lot of kills at close range.
• If a Life Support Capsule is activated when Life Support is at 0% but before oxygen drains, the squad will receive 2% life support to consume the capsule.
• Life Support Capsules that are about to spawn in have a light-blue waypoint and appearance.
• Once a Life Support Capsule has been activated, the second capsule in the same location will have shorter activation time. Further capsules do not continue to shorten the activation time.
• To maximize the use of Life Support Capsules, only activate them when Life Support is at least 40% or below. This will leave room for Life Support Pickups and also for player mistakes such as activating 2 Life Supports at the same time (40+30+30=100%).

Trivia[]

• This game mode was introduced early via the Survival Weekend Event.
• Survival replaced Raid missions in Update 10.0 (2013-09-13).
• Update 10.3 (2013-10-09) changed several mechanics regarding level generation and reward tables;
  • The level was completely unlocked before activating the alarm, allowing players to sprint through the entire map to collect materials without running into enemies. This has since been fixed and the starting area's doors will all be locked until activated by the alarm.
  • Survival rewards were dependent on faction type and the time spent. The update changed it so rewards are now dependent on the enemy level and the time spent. It also changed rewards so they stacked; players now take all rewards earned up to the point they leave, instead of the last reward.
• Before Update 10.3 (2013-10-09), you could fail the alarm cipher and it would still go off. Doing so will count towards failed ciphers in player stats.
• Before Update 10.3 (2013-10-09), repeated life capsules would tend to take longer to activate, and kept increasing if the players wished to stay in that location for longer periods of time.
• On Update 10.6 (2013-10-30) (Halloween), Life Support Capsules and Drops were changed into Jack-o'-Lanterns.
• Survival officially replaced Raid in Update 10.0 (2013-09-13). All Raid Void Keys were converted to Survival Void Keys, and T3 Survival keys were introduced.
• This mission type is essentially Raid viewed from a different perspective. Players must distract enemies while an unseen and unnamed Tenno secures Raid-like objectives elsewhere on the map. The mission rewards similar to the old Raid mission rewards, and will also appear at the beginning of the squad's reward display.
• Players that die can also drop Life Support.
• During TennoCon 2019, [DE]Scott suggested the "lone Tenno operative" was another Tenno player in other missions.

Bugs[]

• If a player has reactivated the alarm after running out of oxygen, the player will still have 5 Health and 0 Shields, but new oxygen pickups can appear and the Lotus will continue to spawn Life Support capsules, even though they cannot be picked up or used.
• If a host migration is made and a player died and self-revived, there is a chance that the player will lose everything from before the migration took place.
• When there is more than 1 capsule in queue, with another ready to be placed in the queue, activating the capsule in a room which can occupy 2 capsules, a capsule will be delivered nearby in the same room 'instantly' without Lotus notifying you.

Media[]

Survival as seen in the lobby (U9)

Life support capsule on Halloween

Life support module on Halloween

2013 Halloween life support

References[]

Patch History[]