Best Melee Weapons in Warframe (2023)

Warframe is a game all about min-maxing every bit of the experience. Whether it be finding the absolute fastest way to farm a resource, the easiest way to complete your daily Sortie missions, or getting those last few blueprints you need for a mastery rank up, the fastest and strongest way are your end goals. The same goes for your build, which will require a good set of weapons with the best builds you can make. Here are the best melee weapons in Warframe, as of 2023.

The Best Melee Weapons You Can Make in Warframe

Before we begin, we want to make clear that this guide is focused on weapons that either are unvaulted, or won’t break the bank for platinum. We could sit here naming the Kronen Prime and Glaive Prime as great examples of melee weapons you should use, but seeing as they’d require you to give anywhere from 100-300 platinum on warframe.market, that isn’t too realistic for most people. With that out of the way, here are the best melee weapons you can get in Warframe.

• Redeemer Prime
  • Why? The Redeemer Prime is one of the only gunblades in the entirety of Warframe, and naturally is very strong. Using a mix of both melee and ranged attacks, this weapon is great for cleaning up crowds and doing a healthy amount of burst damage. It’s our personal go-to for any mission, and would be well worth picking up.
  • How to Get: Redeemer Prime’s blueprint, Blade, and Handle can be opened from relics such as the ones in Varzia’s shop in Maroo’s Bazaar. The relics they can be opened from (as of writing) are the Lith D5, Neo R5, and Axi M4. If that isn’t your style, the weapon can be bought for around 45 plat from other players.
• Praedos
  • Why? The Praedos is a very recent addition alongside the Angels of the Zariman quest, but it’s already proving quite strong as a tonfa melee weapon. It can either be built around its attack speed to ensure fast, lower damage attacks, or for heavy attacks to one-shot enemies in missions like the Steel Path.
  • How to Get: The blueprint can only be acquired after completing Angels of the Zariman. You’ll need to speak with Cavalero aboard the Zariman Ten Zero, who offers the blueprint for standing at Rank 4.
• Sepfahn
  • Why? Seeing as this is a Zaw, you’ll need to put in a bit more elbow grease to pick up this weapon for yourself. Once you have it though, it’s a crit-generating machine that should quickly prove useful in high-tier content. Several builds center around it getting red crits, a stat beloved by many in the community.
  • How to Get: Speak to Hok in Cetus. He sells the blueprint for the Zaw as long as you’re ranked Neutral with the Ostrons.
• Dual Keres Prime
  • Why? As of writing, this dual weapon is one of the easiest and strongest melee weapons to acquire in the game. These dual swords are an absolute powerhouse, being ideal for those who love a flurry of attacks over heavy swings. Under the right build, you’ll be hitting permanent red crits in no time.
  • How to Get: The Handles can be opened from Meso P11 relics, the blueprint from Meso D7, and the blades from Neo N22.
• Orthos Prime
  • Why? The Orthos Prime is the easiest weapon to acquire in the game, being extremely cheap in platinum and requiring a few easy relics to get. It’s a very simple staff weapon, but when built around status effects, you’ll quickly prove to be an effective killing machine.
  • How to Get: The entire set of Orthos Prime can be picked up for a measly 10 platinum, but if you’re strictly wanting to farm it, its parts are available in the Axi G10, Axi T10, and Neo C2 relics.
• Plague Kripath
  • Why? While it’s the rarest weapon to acquire of the bunch here, the Plague Kripath should not be slept on in any circumstance. This rather common-looking rapier may not seem like much on the surface, but when built correctly, can do as much as 126K DPS.
  • How to Get: This is where the challenge of this weapon lies. To get it, you’ll need to wait for the Operation: Plague Star event to eventually return. If the Nights of Naberus ever returns, you may be able to get it there as well.

Related: When Does the Duviri Paradox Release in Warframe? Answered

While this isn’t all of the best melee weapons you can get in Warframe, we felt this was a great place to start. If money isn’t an issue for you, feel free to go buy the vaulted Venka Prime, Reaper Prime, or even the Nikana Prime from other players. Happy hunting, Tenno. While you’re at it, be sure to check out our guide on how to get the new Hildryn Prime’s parts.