Summary
One of the best things aboutWarframeis the range of characters that players have to choose from. These characters, called Warframes (hence the name), can vary from great damage dealers, tanks, and sneaky spies that can get past enemies with ease.
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This list’s focus is on some of thebest defensive Frames in the game. These Warframes can take on defensive missions with ease or can help other allies survive these missions. Some of these Warframes can cause mass destruction as well. While the best is still up to the player, this can be a general idea for players looking to start out. What are the Warframes for defense missions?
Updated July 03, 2025, By C.M Edwards:Warframehas remained a successful MMORPG with a dedicated player base with some of the most unique and innovative systems among most MMOs on the market. Warframe sets itself apart from most MMOs thanks to its unique class system, a system that games like The First Descendent have started to imitate. Digital Extremes has gone above and beyond to consistently deliver fresh content into the game, along with frequent expansions on the game’s story,while being free-to-play. Warframes is filled with individual character classes that are each uniquely crafted with special abilities and stats. Warframe constantly releases new characters into the game that excel at various mission types in the game. Here are more Warframes that are great for defense games.
15Vauban
When it comes to protecting a point, keeping enemies at bay, or completely wiping them out, Vauban is a greatWarframein all of these situations. Vauban is a methodical warframe that has a solution for any type of engagement with multiple types of abilities stacked on top of each other.
Capable of summoning special contraptions that can manipulate the battlefield with ease, Vauban’s reach is nearly limitless when built correctly. When all else fails, and Vauban’s countless contingencies are overcome, he can call down a powerful laser from the sky to reset the battlefield.
14Neckros
Nekros is the resident necromancer of Warframe, capable of ungodly summoning and enemy manipulation. One of the most used Warframes, Nekros can survive in defense games with a full squad or by himself, constantly raising the enemies he kills and using them to turn against their own kind.
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Nekros can decay approaching enemies and slowly wither them away and use their remains as weapons. Even when the odds are against him, Nekros can fill his targets with fear and send them running for the hill, giving him time to recover.
13Nidus
Of all the warframes available in the game, Nidus is one of the hardest to take down. Nearly completely overtaken by infection, Nidus uses the vile and putridpower of the derelictto his own needs to steal life from enemies and increase its own. Nidus can summon mass gatherings of infected tentacles and pull in unsuspecting foes, feeding him power and stacking his stats higher and higher. Even after taking massive damage, Nidus can remain in the fight by sacrificing the enemies it’s devoured to keep on fighting.
12Hildryn
As far as support warframes go, Hildryn’s is one of the most unique and excels in the tank class role of warframe among Rhino and Atlas. Hildryn draws upon the power of her shields and uses that power to boost her abilities and the abilities of her allies.
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Hildryn can also drain the shields and armor of enemies to replenish her own power and overcharge her and her ally’s shields. Forging this energy into damage, Hildryn can take to the air and rain down havoc over the entire battlefield, making her agreat pick for grindingwide-area defense missions with sporadic enemy spawns.
11Wisp
Wisp sits at the epitome of support frames but can also hold her own in a defense mission of reasonable level and withappropriate weaponry and build. The crown jewel of Wisp’s kit is her ability to buff her allies and herself. By summoning up to three monoliths, Wisp can boost movement speed, rate of fire, Health regeneration, and create a damaging field that electrifies targets. On top of this, Wisp has excellent mobility, able to teleport reasonable distances, in addition to having great crowd control with her Breach Surge.
10Khora
In terms of defense, Khora has a dome that can be cast around the area to protect it from enemies trying to break in. The ability Strangledome casts a large dome of living metal that can catch enemies and keep them trapped. This ability can allow damage dealers in the group to easily pick off enemies one by one.
Khora also gets the added benefit of having two pets. One of these pets is the Warframe’s faithful companion Venari. Venari can cycle through three postures: attack, protect, and heal. This gives an added benefit when playing any mission type.
9Gara
Gara has a few abilities that can help when it comes to defense missions. The best, however, is Mass Vitrify. This ability creates a ring of molten glass that the player can control the size of. Enemies caught in the expanse of it are turned to crystal. Once it is placed, theglass hardensand protects allies from gunfire.
Gara can then use the Splinter Storm ability to shatter its armor and have it coat enemies with shards of glass. The Shattered Lash ability can also be used to break pieces of the glass ring and send shards flying at enemies.
8Grendel
Grendel was an interesting Warframe when he was added to the game. This Warframe is based on the idea of consuming the enemy for power. Recently, many players have discovered how powerful Grendel really is in defensive missions.
The key to this is Grendel’s first ability, Feast. This ability allows Grendel to consume enemies. Stand atop the objective and use Feast to feed on any enemy who gets close. Once enough enemies are eaten, either spit them out and let them suffer the effect of stacked damage or use Nourish to buff all nearby allies.
7Equinox
While a weird Frame, Equinox is effective in defense missions. The key to using this Warframe is the Mend and Maim ability. Equinox can become two different Frames with different abilities. While in Night Form, Equinox can use the Mend ability to heal all allies in the area based on the number of enemies killed.
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While in Day Form, Equinox can use the Maim ability. This ability can have a massive area of effect that causes bleed damage to affect all of the enemies caught in the area. This damage stacks over time, and if a player uses the Maim ability a second time, it causes a wave of damage to wash over all the enemies. This can have the effect of instantly killing them all.
6Banshee
Banshee uses sound to silence her opponents and cause destruction on the battlefield. This Frame is one of the best when it comes to damage during defense missions. The ability Sound Quake causes Banshee to shake the environment, knock enemies over, and deal massive damage.
This ability helps slow enemies down and can even kill them as they spawn. It’s not perfect, and enemies can get through it, but it does come in handy when dealing withlarge numbers. The main downside to it is that it uses a ton of energy to keep it going.
