With the Whispers in the Walls update, Warframe has introduced its first set of Arcanes for melee weapons. Here are all Melee Arcanes and how to get them in Warframe.
Every Melee Arcane in Warframe
In total, there are eight Melee Arcanes currently available in Warframe. Those Arcanes and their effects (at max rank) are as follows:
| Arcane Name | Arcane Effect |
|---|---|
| Melee Animosity | On Melee Hit: Gain 42% Critical Chance on your next Heavy Attack, up to 420%. |
| Melee Retaliation | Gain 30% Melee Damage for every 200 current Shields, up to 420%. Bonus halved for Overshields. |
| Melee Exposure | On Ability Cast: Gain 60% Corrosive Damage on Melee strikes for 25s. Stacks up to 240%. |
| Melee Influence | On Melee Electricity Status: 20% Chance for elemental Melee Status Effects to apply to enemies within 20m for 18s. Cannot refresh while active. |
| Melee Fortification | On Melee kill: +210 Armor for 10s. |
| Melee Vortex | Kill an enemy affected by Magnetic Status for a 45% chance to pull in enemies within 18m radius. |
| Melee Duplicate | On Base Critical Hits: 100% chance for your attack to strike a second time. |
| Melee Crescendo | On Finisher Kill: Gain 6 Initial Combo for the rest of your mission. |
All of the above Melee Arcanes work similarly to other weapon Arcanes, in that you can only equip one onto your melee weapon. While this is unfortunate, it’s important as to not send the weapon’s power into the stratosphere.
How to Get Melee Arcanes in Warframe
There are three different ways you can get the above Melee Arcanes in Warframe. The first is to purchase them from Bird 3 in the Sanctum Anatomica hub world on Deimos. They can be bought at 5,000 Standing a piece, provided you’re at least the rank of Scholar with the Cavia Syndicate. Another method is through farming the new The Fragmented Assassination boss on the Effervo node. This boss has a small chance to drop one of the Melee Arcanes.
The final method, which is the only way to secure Melee Duplicate or Melee Crescendo, is to farm Netracells weekly. These can be found at Tagfer in the Sanctum Anatomica and should only be farmed when you have a party of players to work with. These are very challenging missions, but offer great rewards like these two Arcanes in turn.
How to Put a Melee Arcane on Your Melee Weapon
To get one of these Melee Arcanes on your weapon, you’ll want to get a Melee Arcane Adapter. This can either be earned through those Netracell missions or purchased from Bird 3 for 50,000 Standing a piece, provided you’re the rank of Colleague with the Cavia Syndicate. Each Melee Arcane Adapter will let you open an Arcane slot on one of your melee weapons, letting you slot in that sweet Melee Arcane of your choice. I know I’ll be getting at least one so I can get that crispy Melee Duplicate on one of my weapons. That is, if RNG permits.
If you’re looking for more help with melee weapons, check out our guide on how to get the Ekhein melee weapon in Warframe.
