How to level up weapons fast in Warframe

Weapons across all categories generally rank up to level 30 in Warframe. The exceptions to this norm are the unique heavy blade Paracesis that you get as a reward after doing the Chimera Prologue quest and Kuva weapons. These initially rank up to 30, but implanting them with a Forma boosts the maximum level by 2, and up to level 40 after 5 Forma.

Necramechs also have the same property where Forma investment boosts the maximum level cap to 40. Due to the steep requirements, it is recommended that you leave the Kuva weapons and especially Necramechs for a later point if you are not at the end game yet.

How to easily level up your weapon in Warframe, both solo and in a squad

Here’s how you can rank up weapons solo

Loki build for farming affinity in Warframe on ranged weapons (Image via Digital Extremes)

Regardless of the max rank, the way you level up any gear is by gaining affinity, which is Warframe’s term for experience points. The only efficient way to do this solo is by abusing the stealth bonus.

Killing enemies without alerting them while undetected grants you 100% bonus affinity for 30 seconds. If you kill another enemy while maintaining stealth, the bonus gets to 200%. This additively stacks up to 500% bonus affinity, acquired by successfully chaining five stealth kills. However, this bonus only persists as long as you remain undetected.

Raking up extra affinity in this manner is suited specifically to solo players. The relatively lax enemy spawn rate both requires utilizing this bonus to rank up faster and makes it easier to single out enemies to chain kills successfully. This can be done in a squad in theory, but the coordination required can be too big of an ask.

The easiest way to do this is with stealth-oriented abilities, such as Loki’s Invisibility. The only other concern you need to address is noise. All weapons in Warframe have a noise modifier ranging from silent to alarming. This can be rectified with:

The ‘Hushed Invisibility’ augment on Loki
Individual silencer mods such as ‘Hush’ and ‘Suppress’
Banshee’s Silence useable as a Helminth ability

Sans gunblades, melee weapons are silent. The requirement to get in the melee range, however, may create some tactical difficulties. A surefire way to get the affinity multiplier going, in this case, is to use Equinox’s Rest and Rage ability, which you can slot into any build thanks to the Helminth system.

How to rank up weapons in a squad

Sanctuary Onslaught is the farming source for the parts of the Khora Warframe (Image via Digital Extremes)

As a co-op game, there are many benefits to playing in a squad over playing solo. Ranking up weapons is much more simplified, even in a public squad. All you have to do is target nodes with steady high-density enemy spawns. One of the all-time classics for this purpose is Hydron on Sedna.

The most efficient way to rank up equipment in 2023 is the Sanctuary Onslaught mode. You cannot gain extra goodies like resources in this mode. To compensate for it, the amount at which Sanctuary Onslaught spawns enemies is matched only by Steel Path survival nodes.

The focus farmer wants to score the kills, and benefits from additional spawns and passive teammates to let them get full Warframe affinity. On the other hand, you want to stay in the affinity range to easily rank up your Master fodder equipment.