How to invert tap/hold abilities in Warframe

There are currently well over 50 Warframes in the game, each with unique abilities. In the earliest days of the game, Warframes were simple in design. Their abilities focused on reflecting the unique identity of the game. For example, all four abilities of Volt are thematically consistent with the element of electricity. However, there are only so many unique playstyles that can be designed with these four abilities.

Naturally, the newer Warframes have much more complex kits. Their abilities are multi-layered and have variable interactions with one another. To make up for the four-ability limit, many newer powers have two different functionalities depending on whether you tap or hold the ability button.

Where and why you should use invert tap/hold abilities in Warframe

The tap/hold abilities of Warframe are hard-locked to one specific key bind. By design, they cannot be bound to two separate keys, as they are parts of one singular ability. As this dual-cast split mechanic became more common with later abilities, the option to swap dominated community requests.

As requested, this feature was implemented in Update 29.6. Hotfix 29.6.4 further streamlined this option, making each ability toggleable in terms of its tap-and-hold functionalities.

Where is the option to invert tap/hold abilities located?

Warframe option to Invert tap/hold abilities (Image via Digital Extremes)
Warframe option to Invert tap/hold abilities (Image via Digital Extremes)

You can get to the invert tap/hold abilities menu with the following steps:

  • From the Pause menu, Go to ‘Options’
  • ‘Invert Tap/Hold abilities’ is located in the first Options tab, ‘Keyboard/Mouse.’ It is the first option under ‘Gameplay’ under ‘Use Mouse Thumb Button as Back.’
  • For Controller users, the same setting can be found under the second Options tab, ‘Controller,’ under the ‘Gameplay’ section.

Clicking this will open a menu containing all the Warframes with the tap/hold functionality on any of their abilities. You can choose three options: Default, Standard, and Inverted.

The Standard option keeps the legacy setting. ‘Reverted’ switches the Tap and Hold functionality. The top-most option is a global Default setting where you can change the ‘Default’ setting to be either ‘Standard’ or ‘Reverted.’

All the options are initially set to ‘Default,’ so you can globally modify all settings by changing the topmost option in the menu. This is useful when you want all abilities to switch their tap-and-hold functionality and then cherry-pick a few abilities to fall back to the original scheme.

Inverting tap/hold abilities can help those who prefer a Hold ability over their Tap functionality. The ability settings persist through the Helminth system to serve this purpose. For example, if you slot Thermal Sunder on a Harrow and only want to use the Fire damage variant, you can invert the ‘Gauss’ setting to have fire on Tap instead of Hold.

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