Warframe: The Best Melee Warframes in 2024

Valkyr

Valkyr may not be as top-tier as she used to be, but it’s hard to deny she’s one of the most iconic melee Warframes in Warframe. She even comes with her own exalted melee weapon she can pull out when activating her fourth ability, Hysteria.

Benefits in Melee

Ignoring Rip Line and Paralysis, Valkyr’s kit is built around melee combat. Not only does she have one of the highest armor values in the game, but her fourth ability Hysteria can render her invulnerable to damage whenever she’s in a jam. Her second ability Warcy also increases her melee attack and armor, freeing up melee mod slots dedicated to attack speed.

Mod in Warcy’s augment mod Eternal War and you can keep the Warcry buffs activated indefinitely as long as you get melee kills.

How to Get Valkyr

Valkyr can be farmed by defeating Alad V on Themisto, Jupiter with her blueprint obtained from the Market for credits.

Excalibur

Another iconic melee Warframe, Excalibur is in many cases the better Valkyr. Excalibur is the resident swordsman with abilities that help him close the distance and open enemies up for melee finishers.

Benefits in Melee

As the resident swordsman of Warframe, Excalibur has a lot of abilities that, to no one’s surprise, help him in melee. His first ability Slash Dash lets him dash between enemies, getting him in close to devastate enemies in close range. His second ability Radial Blind blinds surrounding enemies and opens them up to melee finishers.

Like Valkyr, he also comes with an exalted melee weapon that summons a spectral sword that can cut through multiple enemies per swing. His passive, Swordsmanship, gives him bonus Attack Speed and damage when wielding swords, dual swords, nikanas, rapiers, and his own exalted blade.

How to Get Excalibur

As one of the starter Warframes, Excalibur can be obtained immediately upon starting the game. Simply choose him as your first Warframe. 

If you chose a different starter then you can farm him by defeating Lech Kril on War, Mars. You can also get the unique Umbra variant of Excalibur by completing the Sacrifice quest line.

Kullervo

In the current state of Warframe, Kullervo has one of, if not the best abilities for melee combat. Unsurprising for a Warframe with blades sticking out of him.

Benefits in Melee

Wrathful Advance is the reason to grab Kullervo. If not to use, then to subsume. Wrathful Advance causes you to charge a heavy attack and teleport to an enemy striking them down. Your Melee Critical Chance is then dramatically increased for a short duration. This is great for increasing the damage of your melee weapons since it ensures critical hits.

Other than that excellent move, Kullervo has Recompense that surrounds him with several daggers. Whenever the daggers attack an enemy, they heal a portion of missing health or provide overguard when at max health. 

This is great because Kullervo lacks shields, but has an incredibly high health pool with decently high armor. This makes him incredibly tanky which is perfect when engaging in melee combat. 

How to Get Kullervo

Being tied to Duviri, Kullervo and his pieces can only be acquired while going through the Duviri Experience. You can buy his pieces off of the merchant Acrithis using Kullervo’s Bane. Banes are acquired from defeating Kullervo on his island that only spawns during the Anger, Sorrow, and Fear Spirals and then completing the Spiral.

Baruuk

Despite being a pacifist, Baruuk can dish out damage like the best of them. Unlike the other ‘Frames in this guide whose abilities power them up, Baruuk’s abilities have excellent utility that keeps him safe while in melee. 

Benefits in Melee

Baruuk’s kit is excellent for keeping him safe from damage. His first ability, Elude, causes him to dodge all projectiles while not attacking. This helps keep him alive while advancing on enemies.

His second ability Lull lets out a calming wave that puts enemies to sleep. While asleep, these enemies are open to melee finishers.

His third ability Desolate Hands summons daggers that seek out enemies’ weapons and cause them to explode, making you even safer from ranged enemies.

Finally, Serene Storm activates Baruuk’s exalted weapons that allow him to use his hands and feet as melee weapons that send out shockwaves, allowing them to hit multiple enemies.

How to Get Baruuk

Baruuk’s blueprint and components can be obtained from Little Duck and the Vox Solaris Syndicate. You’ll need to reach Rank 3 – Hand to get all of his pieces.

Voruna

While not the werewolf-themed Warframe players were hoping for, Voruna still fights like one. With abilities that make using melee weapons a breeze, she is easily one of the best melee Warframes in the game.

Benefits in Melee

All of her abilities give her some benefit in melee. Shroud of Dynar allows her to go invisible and increase her movement speed. Perfect for sneaking up on enemies, but the main draw is the increased Melee Critical Damage and Status Chance buff received when breaking stealth. Not only that, melee kills extend the buff even further. This move really pairs well with a subsumed Wrathful Advance from Kullervo.

Her second ability Fangs of Raksh applies 5 random status effects on an enemy. When killed, those effects are spread to nearby enemies. This synergizes excellently with Condition Overload, a melee mod that increases damage based on Status Effects affecting the target.

Her third ability Lycath’s Hunt increases the drop chance of health orbs from enemies killed by melee attacks. Pair this with Equilibrium and you’ll have a steady supply of both health and energy for Voruna.

How to Get Voruna

Voruna’s blueprint and component blueprints can be obtained from Rotation C of Conjunction Survival Yuvarium and Circulus on Lua. This tileset is unlocked after completing The War Within.

Alternatively, you can purchase her pieces from Yonta on the Zarimen Ten Zero for Lua Thrax Plasm which is awarded from Conjunction Survival. This will significantly shorten the grind needed to get Voruna.