Moving to Warframe from Destiny 2? Here is What You Can Expect From its Endgame!

On Thursday, some very bleak news came out about Bungie’s marquee title, Destiny 2. The game will stop receiving content updates following a final update on June 9th, and Sony is planning to downsize the studio soon. They will also be focusing entirely on their recently launched extraction shooter, Marathon, for the foreseeable future. This is, of course, upsetting a large portion of the remaining playerbase of the game and causing yet another “migration” of players to other live service games to find a new home.

While there are various go-tos in the space, such as MMORPGs like Final Fantasy 14, and other looter shooters like Borderlands and The First Descendant, a common pick online is Digital Extremes’ long-running, and constantly supported for now and into the foreseeable future, marquee title, Warframe. Warframe may be a go-to pick and recommendation as it is free-to-play with no content paywalls, but it is not exactly Destiny 2. If you are looking for the next raid and dungeon-centered online game with PvP to dive into, you will not find it here.

Warframe is purely focused on its PvE and coop-focused content. So much so that it has, in recent years, worked on its endgame offerings heavily. While “fashion” will always be a common endgame joke for online players. Warframe offers its own variety of activities that can still sate your thirst.

What You Can Expect from Warframe’s Endgame in Comparison to Destiny 2

As stated before, Warframe does not focus on raids, dungeons, or even PvP like Destiny 2 does (or at least I think Destiny 2 still worries about PvP and Gambit). It instead boasts different “harder” versions of currently existing bosses, activities, and more, with a lot of different rewards tied to them. For example, “Sorties” are an assortment of 3 different activities at high levels that give you a specific daily reward that can either be disappointing or something amazing. RNGesus has sadly never blessed me with the best reward on offer in the time I’ve played.

There is also a unique reward for players who finish every activity in the game at least once, called “The Steel Path”. The Steel Path is where endgame players live, essentially. The Steel Path increases every bit of reward you get, but also amps the difficulty up a lot. Enemy levels get raised exponentially, and they also nearly quadruple their health, resistances, and deal a lot more damage. Not only that, but random deadly bosses spawn in that act as assassins to take you out, called “Acolytes”.

The Steel Path has a daily playlist with a special currency to buy cosmetic rewards and other items to help you build your endgame gear. This is also where Warframe differs from Destiny 2, and that is the approach to gear acquisition and how building them works (both literally and figuratively).

Warframe is About, Building, Builds, Not Gear Drops

Warframe functions very differently when it comes to the acquisition of its different warframes, weapons, and even pets. Yes, there are pets in this game, and they are not just cosmetic. But all of these items come in fragments and require actually building them through blueprints and resources found in the game. Everything you acquire will need to be built, and building requires waiting in real time. Most find this system antiquated, and the community, for the most part, just sees it as a way to take a necessary break between grinds. But from here, you can then pick up your new shiny toy, level it up, and add “mods” to it. This is where the fun begins.

Mods are randomly dropped in the game and add enhancements to your weapons, warframes, and yes, pets. Mods come in different rarities, with a variety of different bonuses. From damage stats, damage types, ability modifications, and much more. This system has a staggering level of depth that you can find a lengthy and helpful guide for from us back in 2022 to help you understand it better.

But this is where customization and buildcrafting differ from Destiny 2. Instead of hoping weapons or exotics have the type of stats or rolls that you’re looking for (and don’t even get me started on the disheartening RNG from raids and dungeons, I’ve been there!). You will actually have control over what your weapons, warframes, and pets do, and still require a pretty hefty grind to get the best builds! In fact, when it comes to grinding for warframes, newer players like yourself actually have an easier avenue to earn one from a long-running endgame activity, “The Circuit”.

There is a Weekly Activity for Newer and Older Players

The Circuit is an arrangement of different normal activities from Warframe that can give you a myriad of different rewards. This activity is unlocked from The Duviri Paradox, which is the game’s roguelike souls-inspired open world game mode (yes, you read that right). The Circuit offers two different tracks of rewards. For The Steel Path, Incarnon Adapters for older weapons (which are like Catalysts from Destiny 2 but fundamentally different). For the normal track, you can pick one warframe to get the full set to build while also leveling your current gear and learning the game’s different game modes.

Not only that, but you get useful mods and other equipment for your builds while playing. Think of this like Dares of Eternity from Destiny 2. Where both endgame and new players get to enjoy something together and get cool stuff. Yes, it will be a grind, but also be something that gives you guaranteed rewards. No real RNG involved.

The Closest Activities to the Endgame Content in Destiny 2

Finally, there are actually endgame bosses and activities that put players to the test. They are not like raids or dungeons. But more like Grandmaster Nightfalls and raid-lite bosses. The first real thing to point out is “Archon Hunts”. Archon Hunts are a set of 3 missions that lead to a boss encounter against a very challenging boss (depending on who you matchmake with). Rewarding you with a guaranteed item and a random item, like an aforementioned sortie. Each mission also features no respawns, no consumables, but also random enhanced warframes and weapons if you need the boost.

Next up on this list are the hidden Steel Path bosses that started in Whispers in the Walls in 2023. Each boss has a unique unlock in their selected mission that functions like a puzzle and unlocks a very hard version of the boss encounter. These bosses are no joke, and you need to bring your best gear into the encounter. They have a lot of health, they sap abilities, and once you die, you’re out. These bosses do not have special weapons, but instead cosmetic rewards that players can see and know you have finished that encounter. There are also special rewards for solo runs with certain warframes.

In fact, in the recent Shadowgrapher update, they shook things up with a special boss rush approach for bosses in The Old Peace called “The Guilty” that felt like a true daunting gauntlet. This is all on top of two different endgame activities in Whispers in the Walls, and Warframe: 1999 called “Archimedea”.

The Grandmaster Nightfall-esque Activities

Both versions of Archimedea in Warframe have their own unique spins on the idea, but with a static challenge approach. This is what I meant by Grandmaster Nightfalls in Destiny 2, but actually harder in a way. While they do have a similar approach to Sorties and Archon Hunts, where you have 3 activities to do. There are no breaks, just a straight shot through them. Not only that, but if you fail the run, you start from the beginning. This is also in addition to arbitrary modifiers and random warframe and weapon choices that are required to get all the rewards in that activity during the week.

The modifiers can either make abilities from your warframe weaker or reduce ammo drops. While certain missions can just dogpile you with mountains of enemies, or make them impossible to hurt from a distance. Archimedea is not for the faint of heart and is even challenging for longtime players. The rewards for doing so are also very useful for endgame builds. Some weeks can make you feel lucky, and others can give you that raid-like grief we’ve all experienced at least once.

Closing Remarks

As stated previously, if you are coming to Warframe expecting Destiny 2 level endgame content. You will not find that here. Warframe has its own vision for repeatable, weekly, endgame activities. They are not bad in comparison, per se. But raids in Destiny 2 are one-of-a-kind, and so are dungeons. Heck, there aren’t even activities on the level of strikes in Warframe.

But Warframe has a more approachable philosophy. They do not reset your power every season; they do not instill FOMO with raid races or anything that felt like it had an arbitrary timer. If you are not having any luck finding a group in public matchmaking for certain endgame missions, you can just ask for help in the game’s social chats in-game. Every mod, every warframe, every weapon, and every step you take is permanent progress. With every step to an endgame with raid-lite bosses, and challenging activities that you can probably one day crush with ease on your own, with the craziest builds you can find. If that sounds appetizing to anyone coming from Destiny 2? Then Warframe will be a welcome change of pace for you!