The Archwing is an all-environment flight system of Orokin design used by a Tenno to fly and engage in combat in space, offering a potent mix of firepower and mobility to engage spaceborne enemies. Unlike Warframe's traditional land-bound gameplay, Archwing missions take place on a three-dimensional plane, offering nearly complete freedom of movement in all directions. Though intended for space use, the Archwing also has the ability to engage in both atmospheric (Plains of Eidolon, Orb Vallis, and Cambion Drift) and underwater (Grineer Sealab) combat.
An Archwing comprises three components, each of them are acquired through different means depending on the Archwing.
Players can acquire their first Archwing, the Odonata, during The Archwing quest. Completion of the quest is also required to obtain the rest of the Archwings.
The Archwing section of the Arsenal can be accessed via the vehicle button upon bringing up Select Mode at the bottom right of the main Arsenal overview and has the following three sections available:
Once a player has built and acquired an Archwing, they can participate in dedicated Archwing missions, with two possible tilesets: Free Space, a Grineer-controlled territory which puts players in open space with lots of room to explore and maneuver and Corpus Ship, where players speed down through tight corridors inside a severely damaged Corpus ship. An Infested variation of this tileset is used in the Jordas Golem Assassination mission. Archwings are also mandatory on Uranus, and are used to move in the underwater sections of the Grineer Sealab.
Archwings can also be used in Empyrean mission, representing a faster, albeit much more vulnerable, method of moving around the map, as well as being used to board Crewships, points of interest, and the Murex ships.
Combat is mostly identical to traditional controls. Stances are unavailable, though blocking and Heavy Attacks can be performed. Jump Attacks and Wall Attacks are also unavailable, with only Slide Attacks being available in the form of a swirling slash that deals higher damage.
Archwings have their own set of exclusive weapons – a Primary (Archgun) and a Melee (Archmelee) – and abilities, which replace the player's selected Warframe weapons and abilities; Submersible and Free Roam missions, however, still use the Warframe's primary and secondary weapons. Instead of having a magazine and total ammo pool, Archguns have a single pool of ammo that acts as the magazine. This ammo will replenish itself over a short period of time after the weapon hasn't been fired for a second or two.
Most Warframe mods do not carry over to Archwing missions, with the exception of Auras,
Coaction Drift and radar mods (only for their radar component). Arcane effects also apply. Some Passives, such as
Hildryn's increased shield gating duration or
Mesa's increased health without a melee weapon, apply as well. Some Passives affect Archwings differently in atmospheric versus space usage.
All Archwing mission types have unique reward tables not shared by non-Archwing missions:
The
Imperator and
Veritux are the starter weapons, first used during the final events of The Archwing quest. Additional blueprints of these weapons can be bought from Cephalon Simaris for
100,000 each.
Most Archwing weapons consist of parts which are obtainable as offerings from the six core Syndicates, each requiring Rank 2-3 and costing
20,000 Standing. Blueprints that use these parts are obtainable from the Market. All weapon parts except for the blueprint are tradeable.
Hotfix 37.0.9 (2024-11-13)
- Fixed Duplex Bond working in Archwing missions, creating a copy of your Companion in “no pets allowed” areas.
Hotfix 35.5.2 (2024-03-28)
- Fixes towards being unable to leave Submersible Archwing areas (throwing you back into the water instead of putting you on land) and often experiencing a loss of function after attempting.
- Note: It may take a couple of attempts before you are able to successfully exit water volumes after this fix.
- Also, if you are playing on a controller, approaching the exit with the analogue stick will allow you to exit the water after a couple attempts. However, using the context action to exit still causes the same issue to occur.
- We will continue to look into ways to fix these issues, but they may be code fixes which require a Cert update to deploy.
Hotfix 35.5.1 (2024-03-27)
- Removed the ability to use Noctua in Archwing/Submersible Archwing.
- This matches the standard for other similar Exalted weapons.
- This change also fixes cases of Dante losing access to his Secondary weapon and Abilities when in Submersible Archwing with Noctua active.
- Fixed clipping halfway into the ground when deploying Archwing as Chroma while Effigy is active.
Hotfix 34.0.4 (2023-10-24)
- Fixed Duplex Bond triggering when launching/deactivating Archwing in Open Landscapes.
Update 34.0 (2023-10-18)
- Base vs Final Stats in Modding - Health / Energy / Shield / Armor Stat Overhaul
If you’ve spent any time invested in the deeper nuances of Modding, you may be familiar with “Warframe Math” - math that upon first glance doesn’t really make sense, but once you learn the inner workings of the game, it all comes together. While we can appreciate the value that complex systems offer to a certain subsect of players, there are other aspects of the game that should have clear and understandable outcomes. Namely: Shield, Health, Energy, and Armor Modding.
Pop quiz: what is 300 + 440%? If you answered 740, you may just be an Excalibur player.
Vitality (+440% Heath), Redirection (+440% Shields), Flow (+150% Energy), and Steel Fiber (+110% Armor) come with large modifier values that don’t seem to match their outcome in-game. This is because these Mods apply their multiplier to the base stats of the Warframe - i.e., the stats you have at Rank 0. In the Excalibur example, a Rank 30 Excalibur’s Health stat of 300 earns an additional 440 Health from max rank Vitality (+440% Heath) since it applies to his base rank Health stat of 100, resulting in 740 total health.
In this update, we have removed this obfuscation by having Health, Shield, Energy, and Armor Mods apply to the stats of Warframes at their current rank. Continuing our Excalibur example, instead of Vitality always applying to Excalibur’s base rank 100 Health, it would apply to his Health stat based on his rank - namely, the stat you can actually see in your Arsenal. If your Excalibur were Rank 30, his Health stat would be 300, which means Vitality’s multiplier would be calculated off of 300.
With previous Health and Mod values, additional adjustments are needed to make this revision work while maintaining game balance. By only changing where the multiplier applies, a Rank 30 Excalibur would receive an extra 1,320 Health from max rank Vitality, resulting in a total health stat of 1,600. This outcome is a significant buff, which is not the intention of this system change.
To remedy this, we approached this problem in two ways:
1 - We reduced the overall multiplier for Health, Shield, Energy, and Armor Mods.
Since these now affect Max Rank Warframe stats, these Mods need to scale differently to maintain the status quo. Additionally, we wanted these new values to be as clear and understandable to all players as possible! Here are a few examples of these value changes:
- Vitality: Reduced from +440% to +100% Health
- Redirection: Reduced from +440% to +100% Shield Capacity
- Steel Fiber: Reduced from +110% to +100% Armor
- Flow: Reduced from +150% to +100% Energy Max
Doing some quick math, this means that a Rank 30 Excalibur (300 Health) with a reworked Vitality Mod (+100% Health, applied to the final Health stat) would receive 300 extra Health, for a total of 600. That, in contrast, is a nerf, which we also don’t want to do.
So, our next step:
2 - We adjusted Warframe Health, Shield, Energy, and Armor values to keep the end result of the revised Mods as close to the original values as possible.
With this change, Excalibur’s Rank 30 Health stat is 370. With +100% Health from a max Vitality Mod, his resulting Health stat would be 740, which matches what it was originally.
While this path to the same result may seem a little complicated, the outcome matches our intention: we want players to be able to look at their Health, Shield, and Armor Mods, and be able to understand how they affect the stats they see in their Arsenal.
In addition to everything above, we also increased the base stat values for Warframes so that these revised Mods offer similar value for lower-ranked Frames. To do so, we reduced the amount of Health/Shield/Energy that Warframes earn per rank in half, and transferred the sum of that value to their base stats.
For Armor, this is the one stat that does not increase with your Warframe’s level (with some exceptions). Armor values across the board have been slightly increased to compensate for the Mod changes.
Not to beat a dead Kaithe, but Mods will now be applying to the Max Rank stat instead of the Base Rank. You may look at these numbers and think “nerf” or “buff” depending, but the outcome is that total Modded values are the same, if not a little higher in some cases. Here are a few outliers before we get into the nitty-gritty of it:
- Lavos, Nidus, Nidus Prime, and Kullervo all have buffs to their Armor values as a result of this change.
- Ex: Nidus Prime’s Armor stat increased from 910 (previous) to 1,050 (new with this update) with max Steel Fiber Equipped. With all 3 Umbral Warframe Mods equipped, this buff results in a difference of 1198 Armor (previous) to 1470 Armor (new with this update).
- Garuda and Garuda Prime’s received buffs to their Modded Energy pool.
- ie. Garuda Prime’s Energy stat has been increased from 800 (previous) to 912 (new with this update) with max Primed Flow equipped.
Archwing Changes
Archwings have also been updated to apply Health / Shield / Energy / Armor values to Max Rank stats.
Mod Changes:
(values shown at max rank)
Health:
Enhanced Durability: +100% Health (was +150%)
Shields:
Energy Inversion: +100% Shield Capacity (was +120%)
Armor:
Argon Plating: +100% Armor (was +90%)
Energy:
Auxiliary Power: +100% Energy Max (was +90%)
Archwing Stat Changes:
AMESHA
Health: Base Rank - 650 (from 400) / Max Rank - 900 (from 1200)
Shields: Base Rank - 220 (from 200) / Max Rank - 420 (from 600)
Armor: Base Rank - 195 (from 200)
Energy: Base Rank - 220 (from 200) / Max Rank - 270 (from 360)
ELYTRON
Health: Base Rank - 765 (from 450) / Max Rank - 1015 (from 1350)
Shields: Base Rank - 745 (from 450) / Max Rank - 945 (from 1350)
Armor: Base Rank - 145 (from 150)
Energy: Base Rank - 120 (from 125) / Max Rank - 170 (from 225)
ITZAL
Health: Base Rank - 200 (from 400) / Max Rank - 450 (from 600)
Shields: Base Rank - 220 (from 200) / Max Rank - 420 (from 600)
Armor: Base Rank - 50 (from 50)
Energy: Base Rank - 220 (from 200) / Max Rank - 270 (from 360)
ODONATA
Health: Base Rank - 425 (from 300) / Max Rank - 675 (from 900)
Shields: Base Rank - 430 (from 300) / Max Rank - 630 (from 900)
Armor: Base Rank - 100 (from 100)
Energy: Base Rank - 85 (from 100) / Max Rank - 135 (from 180)
ODONATA PRIME
Health: Base Rank - 650 (from 400) / Max Rank - 900 (from 1200)
Shields: Base Rank - 640 (from 400) / Max Rank - 840 (from 1200)
Armor: Base Rank - 100 (from 100)
Energy: Base Rank - 85 (from 100) / Max Rank - 135 (from 180)
While there may be significant changes to Warframe Stats and Mod values as a part of this overhaul, the end result is that your Builds should mostly stay the same. The key difference is the added clarity of what your Health / Shield / Energy / Armor Mods do in your Upgrade screens!
- Changes:
- Updated some Archwing HUD assets with higher resolution ones.
- Optimizations:
- Fixed a rare issue where Clients could experience long hitches in Archwing Rush missions if remaining players stayed at spawn.
- General Fixes:
- Fixed Archwing reticle not being affected by increasing HUD scale in settings.
Update 33.5 (2023-06-21)
- Fixed Archwing movement being erratic when piloted by Gauss.
Update 32.3 (2023-02-15)
- Improved the responsiveness dismounting from Archwing.
- Meleeing to dismount now occurs right when hitting the button, instead of on release.
- Dismounting a vehicle no longer requires holding the Context Action button if the “Reload with Context Action Input” option under binding settings is toggled off.
- Fixed FPS dropping considerably when flying in Archwing toward the Catabolic Gutter in the Cambion Drift during an Isolation Vault Bounty.
- Fixed completing multiple Conservation captures immediately one after another (ex: from a group of Pobbers) causing the animation for Archwing Blink to not play.
- Fixed the Growing Power Aura Mod not applying in Archwing Missions.
Update 32.0 (2022-09-07)
- Added Archwing in the Arsenal.
- Added explosion FX to the Corvas Prime while in Archwing.
- Fixed being unable to use Garuda’s Claws on Railjack after dying in Archwing.
- Fixed the default Arching Reticle overlapping the custom Incarnon Weapon Reticle when in Archwing.
- Fixed custom Reticle color getting reset to white after using Archwing Blink twice in succession. As reported here: https://forums.warframe.com/topic/1308800-reticle-color-reset-bug-xbox-series-x/
Update 31.6 (2022-06-09)
- Fixed Weapon and Mod buffs having unlimited duration when exiting Archwing as Client.
- Fixed white explosion particles in the Grineer ship’s FX in Archwing missions.
Hotfix 30.9.1 (2021-11-11)
- Fixed Archwing Ascend and Aim being bound to the same button for controllers.
- Players who did not get the paired bindings should not get them in future. If you were affected by this bug in the time between our 10:00 am deploy and this Hotfix, you will need to go to Options>Controls, click on Customize Controller menu. Reset to Defaults then save.
Update 30.9 (2021-11-11)
- Fixed being unable to use Archwing Blink in Open Zones if Mirage’s Hall of Mirrors is active before deploying Archwing.
- Fixed player not reviving properly as Sevagoth’s Shadow if they die in Archwing in Railjack missions.
- Fixed Dargyns in the Plains of Eidolon sometimes not attacking players in Archwing.
Update 30.7 (2021-09-08)
- Fixed an issue with Archwing where if you bullet jump and equip Archwing mid-air then you will constantly float up.
Update 30.5 (2021-07-06)
- Fixed several Corpus Archwing enemy types not attacking or repositioning at certain ranges in Archwing missions.
Update 30.2 (2021-05-12)
- Fixed not moving down in Archwing when pressing LB on the controller while holding the Tranq Rifle.
Hotfix 30.1.1 (2021-05-05)
- Fixed cases where you were unable to strafe while in Archwing when using a controller.
Hotfix 30.0.6 (2021-04-20)
- Fixed cases of waypoint markers breaking when in Archwing, notably on Deimos.
Hotfix 29.5.7 (2020-12-10)
- Fixed broken Archwing strafing animations.
Update 29.5 (2020-11-19)
- Fixed a crash that could be caused by the missile lock-on warning you can see when in Archwing.
- Fixed inability to launch Archwing after exiting out of a Necramech.
- Fixed Arcane buffs deactivating when you switch to/from Archwing in Orb Vallis or Plains of Eidolon.
- Fixed an issue where using /unstuck while in Archwing could put you below the ground.
- Fixed Clients seeing both their Primary and Archwing weapons equipped when in Archwing. This was especially noticeable when using Itzal’s Penumbra.
Hotfix 29.3.2 (2020-11-05)
- Improved the look of sprinting in Archwing missions with your Arch-melee weapon equipped to showcase more body movement instead of being rather static.
Hotfix 28.2.0.1 (2020-07-14)
- Fixed a crash that could occur for the new Host of an Archwing mission due to prior Host migration if they had the Dark Split-Sword equipped.
Hotfix 28.1.1 (2020-07-09)
- Fixed Host migration script error that could occur in Archwing missions.
Update 28.0 (2020-06-11)
Hotfix 27.5.3 (2020-05-15)
- Fixed not changing directions when using afterburners in open zone Archwing while facing backwards.
- Fixes towards a crash caused by a Host migration while in Archwing.
Update 27.4 (2020-05-01)
- Archwing Changes / Fixes:
- Longstanding issues with the usability of Archwing Melee has been fixed.
- Made numerous changes here based on Public Test results, including further Melee weapon rebalancing.
- Increased base Melee magnetism range from 100 to 140m
- Decreased chance of Enemy Fighters performing a maneuver to break away from Melee attacks from 100% to 10%.
- Increased camera offset from Enemy Fighters from 25 to 30m to help show action.
- Archwing Melee Range Mods now affect aim assist lock-on range.
- Archwing Gun stats normalized - space combat now uses ground “Heavy Weapon” stats.
- UI Lead indicator has been added to relevant Archwing Guns.
- Fixes:
- Fixed inability to fly up/down in Archwing if the Tranq Rifle or Lure is equipped.
- Fixed issues where enemies would not spawn in some Archwing Mobile Defense missions.
Hotfix 27.2.1 (2020-03-05)
- Fixed a crash when dying in Archwing if you have a Damage over Time Status Effect and your Sentinel attempts to Revive you.
Update 27.1 (2020-02-04)
- Fixed a script error and loss of functionality when viewing Archwing weapons without having the Archwing Quest complete.
- Fixed possible script error that could occur if you aborted a mission right as a missile locked onto your archwing.
Update 26.1 (2019-11-22)
- Blink has become a universal ability for all Archwings! Your ‘Roll’ binding in Archwing triggers its new Blink mechanic that Blink mechanic that propels over 2x the distance of original Blink (but can't be increased by Mods), with a cooldown of 3 seconds to prevent spamming - but at no Energy cost to you!
- Adding to the mix, we’ve changed how Afterburner is triggered to allow for simultaneous upward movement during its burn. Previously, the default Afterburner was to hold Shift to Sprint and Space Bar to initiate Afterburner. Now, holding Shift to Sprint and W will trigger the Afterburner once you get some momentum going. This new method may feel weird at first, and we’ll be watching for feedback as we continue to polish for a fluid flight experience.
- (Undocumented) Archwings don't inherit inertia (no more drifting after movement buttons are released).
Hotfix 25.7.4 (2019-09-05)
- Fixed ability to install an Umbra/Aura Forma on Archwings and Sentinels. As reported here: https://forums.warframe.com/topic/1122503-aura-forma-installed-on-archwing/
- Fixed some Archwing enemies having behavioural problems when at a certain, exact distance away from the player.
- Fixed Archwing enemies that move while facing the target having problems if directly underneath or over their target.
Update 25.6 (2019-08-08)
- Fixed being unable to sprint in Archwing if the player is mid Slide and then launches the Archwing while still holding Slide.
Update: Specters of the Rail 0.0 (2016-07-08)
- Archwing Overhaul!
Archwing has been upgraded to a full six degrees of freedom! Now, you’ll be able to pilot your Archwing like a true flight simulator with full 360-degree yaws and pitches. (Note: submersible missions will still use the old controls)
- New Archwing UI and control bindings to further enhance your flying experience!
- New Eximus Archwing units have been deployed throughout the Origin System!
- Syndicates now offer Archwing components!
- Reduced the total number of Archwing nodes to 8 - one of each type for Grineer and Corpus.
- New Archwing Mission Types!
- Archwing Pursuit (Saturn - Pandora)
- Hunt down a heavily defended Grineer Ship and destroy it by fighting through the ship’s defenses, such as: energy shields, turrets, and mines.
- Archwing Rush (Phobos - Kepler)
- Reach hostile supply ships and destroy them before they escape. The more ships you destroy within the given time, the greater the reward.
- Other Changes
- The Archwing ability stat screen will now show the correct range for abilities depending on context. (E.g. Blink used to show 100m, but in space you are 0.25x scale so distances are effectively 4x as far. So in space Blink will now show 400m. In water ranges are reduced, so Blink will show 39.69m.)
- Archwing Inventory system now utilizes our Inventory Slot mechanic. People are grandfathered in who had a large inventory, but future slots will need to be purchased with Platinum. The way this slot Inventory works is as follows:
- Archwings: 4 free, each Slot Purchase gives 1 Slot.
- Weapons: 4 free, each Slot Purchase gives 2 Slots.
Update 17.9 (2015-10-28)
- Adjustments have been made to reduce the amount of ‘pinballing’ that occurs when being knocked back in Archwing after hitting terrain.
Update 17.5 (2015-10-01)
- Archwing Polish & Additions
New Game Modes:
- Archwing Mobile Defense: Defend crashed satellites against waves of enemies in order to secure vital information.
- Archwing Defense: Defend two objectives from enemies as they attack from all sides within the heart of a damaged Corpus ship.
- Archwing Missions have been adjusted on planetary nodes to better reflect the level range and difficulty of each Planet.
- Archwing Mobile Defense has been added to the following planetary nodes:
- Grineer on Earth, Erpo
- Corpus on Mars, Syrtis
Changes:
- Archwing Interception Missions have been given a slight redesign, grouping points closer together with increased debris to fight around.
- Enemies will now be marked as targets on the main HUD, and targets out of LOS will display the direction of their approach along the edge of the screen.
- Afterburner: Pressing the ‘jump’ button while boosting will cause the Archwing afterburners to kick in, giving players a significant speed increase.
- Players can now rebind up / down movement keys for Archwing gameplay.
- Made various improvements to audio FX while in Archwing Missions.
- Asteroids can now drop resources and loot upon being destroyed.
- Players can now find loot crates in Archwing Missions.
- Archwings now passively regenerate Energy.
- Affinity sharing with Squad members while in Archwing has been increased.
Update 15.0 (2014-10-24)