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Once you’re done with the solar system in Warframe, the game will open up even more and give you a higher difficulty called the Steel Path. Your skills and knowledge will be tested here to the limit. As an incentive, you also get more drops and rewards in Steel Path. But the Steel Path is paved with the toughest obstacles you’ll face as a space ninja. Hence, it’s time to peruse our Steel Path guide for Warframe in 2024 to make Steel Path less of a bumpy road.
How to Unlock Steel Path in Warframe?
You can unlock Steel Path once you have cleared all the Junctions, mission nodes, and planets in the Star Chart (Solar System). That includes the bosses as well as the open-world locations.
Once you’ve completed this rather high requirement, you’ll receive an in-game mail from Teshin, asking you to visit him in the Conclave room of a Relay.
Talk to Teshin and you’ll unlock the Steel Path difficulty in the Star Chart. Afterward, you’ll be able to see a Steel Path toggle (far right of the UI) whenever you’re looking at the Star Chart.
This lets you switch from the regular Star Chart to the Steel Path Star Chart. Steel Path has its own progression path. You need to unlock and clear every single node once more in the Steel Path version of the Star Chart.
Warframe Steel Path Modifiers & Rewards
It pays to be prepared for Steel Path since it has the following modifiers. This is a steep spike in difficulty even if you’ve already tried out Sorties or other missions with high-level enemies.
| +100 to Enemy Level |
| +50 to Archwing Enemy Level |
| +250% Enemy Health |
| +250% Enemy Shield |
| +250% Enemy Armor |
More than anything, it’s a DPS or damage check. That’s why fully upgraded and well-modded weapons are a must in Steel Path.
Steel Path Acolytes
All Steel Path missions also have a chance to spawn Acolytes every five minutes or so. These are tougher Stalker-like enemies that will hunt you down.
Currently, there are six types of Acolytes in Steel Path and they all have different strengths or abilities.
| Steel Path Acolyte | Abilities |
| Angst | Drains health and teleports. |
| Malice | Makes you absorb damage from teammates. |
| Mania | Stuns targets and makes them more vulnerable. |
| Misery | Knocks down targets and summons minions. |
| Torment | AoE attacks. |
| Violence | Negates Warframe abilities and prevents you from casting them. |
Of all the six Steel Path Acolytes, Violence is the most dangerous and can instantly kill players. So if you see him spawn during a Steel Path mission, be sure to put a good distance between him and your Warframe.
Steel Path Rewards
To balance out the difficulty spike, however, you’ll get the following positive modifiers.
- +100% Resource Drop Chance
- +100% Mod Drop Chance
Hence, Steel Path is the perfect place or method if you’re looking to farm materials or new mods.
Moreover, a new form of currency also drops in Steel Path missions. It’s called Steel Essence; the Steel Path Acolytes will drop around 2x Steel Essence and a weapon Arcane upon defeat.
You can then spend the Steel Essence on Teshin in a Relay’s Conclave room to unlock powerful or stylish rewards such as:
| Steel Path Rewards (Teshin) | Steel Essence Cost |
| Veiled Riven Cipher (weekly) | 20 |
| Random Riven Mod (weekly) | 75 |
| Bishamo Pauldrons Set Blueprint | 15 |
| Bishamo Cruirass Set Blueprint | 25 |
| Bishamo Helmet Set Blueprint | 20 |
| Bishamo Greaves Set Blueprint | 25 |
| Primary Arcane Adapter | 15 |
| Secondary Arcane Adapter | 15 |
| Stance Forma Blueprint | 10 |
| Trio Orbit Ephemera | 3 |
| Crania Ephemeria | 85 |
| Crania Ephemera | 35 |
| Teshin Noggle Statue decoration | 35 |
| Warframe Glyphs | 15 per Glyph |
| Orokin Tea Set decoration item | 15 |
| Relic Pack | 15 |
| 10,000x Kuva | 15 |
So as you can imagine, you’ll need hundreds of Steel Essence.
Warframe Steel Path Daily Missions (Steel Path Incursions)
In addition to the added difficulty per node, unlocking Steel Path will also give you access to Steel Path Incursions.
Steel Path Incursions are daily missions that reward 5x Steel Essence upon completion (per mission). Once you have completed them, they’re gone for the rest of the day.
Warframe Steel Path Tips & Tricks
Steel Path is no doubt difficult for players fresh out of Warframe‘s mid-game. But there are plenty of ways to counteract Steel Path’s modifiers and new enemies.
I’ll be listing them down in a concise manner so you can try them out right away, especially if you’re struggling with Steel Path content.
Certain Warframes can trivialize Steel Path; consider using the following low-effort and low-investment Warframes as they can take care of your survival in Steel Path.
| Warframe | Crucial Ability for Enduring Steel Path |
| Revenant | 2nd Ability (Mesmer Skin) |
| Rhino | 2nd Ability (Iron Skin) |
| Nezha | 3rd Ability (Warding Halo) |
| Dante | 2nd Ability (cast 2x) then 4th Ability (cast right away after 2x 2nd Ability casts) |
| Wisp | 1st Ability (Reservoir, Vitality & Shock) |
| Octavia | 1st & 3rd Abilities |
| Nidus | 3rd Ability & Passive |
| Ivara | 3rd Abiity (Prowl) |
Once you have your survivability taken care of, you then have to take care of your damage output. For that matter, I recommend the following weapon types (fully upgraded).
- Kuva weapons
- Tenet weapons
- Incarnon weapons
Any weapons from these three weapon families will decimate most Steel Path enemies without relying on any Warframe ability. Just make sure to build them properly with a focus on either critical chance or status chance and elemental damage.
More than anything, however, practice makes perfect. Don’t be afraid to fail in Steel Path.
Warframe is available on PC (Windows), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and iOS.
