There’s a lot to do in Warframe. Whether it be taking part inArbitrations, collecting and opening Void Relics, or farming for resources,there’s plenty of content to keep even the most devoted Tenno busy. Though manyof these activities are combat-oriented in nature, Warframe also offers anumber of more peaceful ways to spend your in-game hours, such as fishing,mining, and animal tracking. Today, we’ll be focusing on the second of thesepastimes in our Warframe Mining Guide. Our mission: to turn your Tennointo an expert space-miner.
Table of Contents
How do I start mining in Warframe?
There are currently only two locations where you can mine forgems and ore in Warframe: The Plains of Eidolon and the Orb Vallis.However, before you can start cracking open rocks, you’ll need some specialequipment: a Cutter, to be precise. A Cutter is basically a small mininglaser that comes with a built-in radar for locating nearby veins of preciousore and gems. You can buy one of these gizmos from Old Man Suumbaat inCetus on Earth or from Smokefinger in Fortuna on Venus. Be aware though, thatyou don’t buy Cutters with Credits or Platinum. Instead, you’ll purchase themwith either Ostron or Solaris United Standing, depending on the vendor.
So, you’ve got your fancy laser Cutter. Now what? Well, first, you’ll need to equip that bad boy in your Gear wheel, which you can do from your Arsenal. Then, simply head out to either the Plains of Eidolon or the Orb Vallis and equip your Cutter from your gear. After running around for a bit, you might just hear beeping coming from your Cutter’s radar. The beeping will increase in pitch and frequency the closer you get to a rock containing ore or a gem, so listen carefully! Your minimap will also show a small white icon that indicates the general location of the rock in question. You’ll know you’ve found the right stone if you see a streak of glowing red (for ore) or blue (for gems) carved into the rock, along with a few blinking blue points surrounding it.
Now that you’ve found the rock, just aim your Cutter at one ofthe blinking blue dots and hold down the fire button. This should cause a ringto appear, with a colorful glowing indicator swirling around it. You shouldalso see a few areas of the ring marked with white brackets. Your job is totry and release the fire button just as the glowing indicator reaches themiddle of one of these bracketed areas. The closer to the center you get,the better your reward. Once you’ve repeated this process for each glowing bluedot, you’ll be rewarded with a handful of ore or gems based on yourperformance. And hey presto—you’ve just mined in Warframe.
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What is the best equipment for mining?
Like most pieces of equipment in Warframe, not all Cutters aremade equal. Unlike most equipment in Warframe, however, the best option forCutters is pretty clear: the Sunpoint Plasma Drill. With a completelystable mining beam, a minimap radar with a 50-meter range, and the ability tomine the rarest of gems, this optimized Cutter is undoubtedly your best optionfor mining. It’s also pretty easy to get, costing just 2,500 Solaris UnitedStanding at Smokefinger’s without any Standing ranking limitation. The SunpointPlasma Drill also has the unique capacity to be upgraded with two Widgets, bothavailable from Smokefinger. These Widgets silence the drill, preventing it fromdrawing attention from enemies, and increase the range of its laser beam,allowing you to reach the trickiest veins of ore and gems. You do haveto unlock access to Venus to get the Sunpoint Plasma Drill, but if you’relooking to be a serious miner, it’s well worth the effort.
How do I mine rare ores and gems?
Auron. Hesperon. Zodian. Thyst. These rare ores and gems can bea pain to find, but there are ways to make your hunt a little easier. Firstof all, try to mine in caves. Caves often have many ore and gem depositsstuffed into a relatively small space, making it much more efficient to minethere than above ground. Secondly, aim for the exact center of the bracketsduring the spinning ring segment. This should be self-evident, but thebetter you perform during this section, the more likely you are to unearthrarer gems and ores. Finally, pay attention to those “mini-brackets” you mayoccasionally see on the ring. These bracketed areas are extremely small andbisected by a white line. Though their small size makes it much harder to landthe indicator in range, doing so will grant additional gems upon completion,providing an extra opportunity to obtain rare gems like Nyth or Sentirum.
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What can gems and ore be used for?
After you’ve collected a good amount of gems and ore (with helpfrom our Warframe Mining Guide, of course), it’s time to turn them intosomething useful. Raw gems can be traded to either Smokefinger or Suumbaatfor Standing with Solaris United or Cetus respectively, but that’s only thetip of the iceberg when it comes to uses for your shiny new resources. Gems andores alike can be refined into more potent forms using blueprints purchasedfrom either of the two mining vendors. For example, Nyth can be refined intoHeart Nyth and Venerol can be refined into Venerdo Alloy from your Foundry. Oncerefined, these gems and ores can be used to construct a variety of weapons,Operator cosmetics, Kitgun and Zaw components, Amps, and even components forcertain Warframes, such as Garuda and Baruuk. For this reason, mining inWarframe can be well worth the effort, even if you’re just stopping to carveout a gem here or there while exploring the Plains of Eidolon or Fortuna.
Mine, All Mine
Mining is another unique aspect of Warframe’s open-worldofferings that provides a welcome break from the shoot-and-loot grind. Whetheryou’re just looking for some relaxed rock-collecting or you’re hunting for raregems to complete a sought-after blueprint, we hope our Warframe Mining Guidemakes your mining journey a little less of a rocky road.
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