Warframe Frame Guide: Gara, Khora and Revenant Rated

Picking a Warframe is never as simple as grabbing whatever looks coolest in the Arsenal. The latest entry in Massively Overpowered's long-running Warframe of Mind frame guide makes that point again, and it also marks a milestone. The columnist is now officially past the halfway mark of the full roster roundup.

This instalment covers three frames that could hardly be more different: Gara, Khora and Revenant. One is a do-everything prism, one is either a generalist or the best farmer in the game depending on how you build her, and one is a wrecking ball that does exactly one thing very well.

A quick housekeeping note first. The series still isn't treating Excalibur Umbra as his own entry. The writer views him as essentially Excalibur Prime for players who can't get Excalibur Prime, and admits the gap between the two is bigger than usual. That could change if more Umbra frames ever arrive, but for now he stays folded into the earlier Excalibur writeup.

Gara: A frame for almost any job

Gara is built a little strangely, but the column argues that works in her favour. She is naturally tanky and comfortable on defense. Her real weakness is energy. If you lean heavily on her abilities, she doesn't have a great way to keep her pool topped up. There are fixes, but none of them are obvious winners. Even the best one, her augment for Spectrophage, is described as only "all right" rather than good.

That matters more than it would for some frames, because Gara isn't a strong weapon platform. She wants to solve problems with her kit, not her guns.

The good news is that her abilities fit together well. Splinter Storm on its own boosts both her survivability and her damage output. Pair it with her passive Blind effect and large groups of enemies become much easier to handle than you might expect. That synergy opens up several builds. You can make her a tank, a support frame, or a top pick for defensive missions.

The column puts Gara in the "does lots of things" category rather than the "does one thing brilliantly" one. There are missions where she excels, but very few where she has nothing to offer. A well-built Gara even has options in most boss fights.

Khora: Farming queen, or something else entirely

Khora is a stranger case. She can be a broad, general-purpose frame or a hyper-specialised tool, and which one you get depends entirely on your build.

The headline claim is bold: Khora is probably the best farming frame in Warframe. Set her up properly, park her at a chokepoint, and she stays effectively invulnerable while hoovering up resources with her whip and her domes. Add a good harvesting companion and her built-in cat, and the column says she can change how you think about gathering materials altogether. She also pairs nicely with Nekros, whose approach to farming complements hers.

But Khora doesn't have to be a farmer. Drop the Strangledome tricks and she becomes far more aggressive, turning chokepoints into walls. No chokepoint available? Ensnare lets you make one. Subsuming an extra ability onto her adds even more flexibility.

The catch is getting her. Her parts drop randomly from Sanctuary Onslaught, and building her requires Kavat Genetic Codes, which the writer calls "insanely irritating." The verdict is still clear: she is worth it, and even players who don't enjoy her as a main should keep her around.

Revenant: One trick, done brilliantly

Revenant is the opposite of Gara. His job is to wreck rooms. He uses his second and first abilities together to build an army of servitors, then blows them up with his third. Repeat until nothing is left standing. It takes a moment to get going, but once he starts, he rarely has to stop.

The downside is a lack of alternatives. That rotation is basically the whole plan, and it struggles in fights without a steady stream of enemies. Since that describes most of the game outside a handful of bosses, it is rarely a real problem. And you can always carry a gun, even if Revenant does nothing to make it better.

The columnist isn't a huge Revenant fan, but is never unhappy to see him in a squad. Two other frames feel like weaker takes on his core trick, and Nekros is one of them.

Our Take

What stands out here is how much the "best" frame depends on what you're actually doing in Warframe. Gara rewards players who want one frame for everything. Khora rewards players who grind. Revenant rewards players who just want to clear rooms fast. For newer players especially, this suggests that building a small stable of frames for different jobs may be smarter than chasing a single perfect main.

The Khora section is the one most worth acting on. A frame described as the best farmer in the game, gated behind random Sanctuary Onslaught drops and Kavat Genetic Codes, is a long-term investment rather than a quick unlock. With one-off content like Operation: Taubound arriving on October 15, it is worth considering which frames are ready now and which ones you'll want to start farming for later.

It will also be interesting to see how the back half of this guide handles Gara's energy problems compared with frames that came later, and whether the Umbra question ever needs revisiting.