Arbitrations: rules, Vitus Essence and rewards

Arbitrations are a special kind of alert. The Arbiters of Hexis want to see who truly survives: you play an endless mission against tougher enemies, and whoever dies cannot revive themselves. The reward is Vitus Essence, which buys strong mods and Arcanes.

The key terms in short:

Arbiters of Hexis

A Syndicate that preaches virtue and discipline. Their Arbitration vendor stands in every Relay.

Endless mission

A mission without a fixed end, such as Survival or Defense. You decide when to leave.

Rotation

A reward step in endless missions, for example every 5 minutes in Survival or every 5 waves in Defense.

Vitus Essence

The Arbitration currency, spent at the Arbiters of Hexis vendor.

Arbitration Shield Drone

A drone that makes nearby enemies invulnerable. It only appears in Arbitrations.

Resurgence Tokens

Tokens that drones drop after someone dies. Five of them bring a dead teammate back.

1. 01

   Reach Pluto

   Progress through the star chart up to Pluto.

2. 02

   Clear the Eris Junction

   The Junction between Pluto and Eris asks you to equip a Focus Lens. Once it is done, Arbitrations are unlocked.

3. 03

   Find the mission

   The current Arbitration is listed in the alerts window. There is always exactly one, and the node changes every hour.

4. 04

   Prepare your Warframe

   Your Warframe must be rank 30. From Mastery Rank 30, at least one Forma in it is enough instead.

• There is no bleedout: when your health hits zero, you die instantly. Self-revives are not allowed.
• Effects that save you from bleedout do not work. Effects that prevent death entirely still do.
• When someone dies, a revive tower appears where they fell, and drones start dropping Resurgence Tokens. Bring 5 of them to the tower together to revive the player. The tokens weaken whoever carries them, though.
• The Arbitration Shield Drone tethers to nearby enemies and makes them invulnerable. Abilities and status effects barely affect it, so shoot it with your weapons.
• A random Warframe and three random weapons get +300% ability strength or +300% damage, and the Warframe also gets +500 health. The bonus differs for every player.

Each mission type also has its own twist:

• Every completed rotation gives a guaranteed 1 Vitus Essence on top of the normal reward.
• The reward table itself also has a chance for 3 Vitus Essence.
• Each drone has a 6% chance to drop 1 Vitus Essence. Resource Boosters double these drops, and your companion’s Retriever mods can multiply them too.
• You get 50,000 credits at the end.

Rotations follow the pattern A, A, B, B, C, C, C …: after four rotations you only get rewards from the best table, C. The tables hold Endo, Ayatan Sculptures, Arcanes such as Arcane Pistoleer and Arcane Tanker, mods such as Adaptation and a small chance for an Omni Forma blueprint.

The vendor is in the Arbiters of Hexis room in every Relay. Your standing with the Syndicate does not matter for it.

Offer	Price	Worth it?
Galvanized mods, e.g. Galvanized Chamber, Galvanized Aptitude, Galvanized Steel	20 each	Yes, very strong in the endgame
Adaptation	20	Yes, one of the best survival mods
Arcanes such as Arcane Tanker or Arcane Primary Charger	10 each	Depends on your build
10,000 Kuva	25	Good if you reroll Rivens
Archgun Riven Mod	35	Only for Archwing fans
The three parts for Grendel	25 each	Yes, hard to get otherwise
Aura mods such as Aerodynamic or Combat Discipline	20–30	Only if you need them

Arbitrations only pick endless missions, for example Defense, Survival, Excavation, Disruption, Alchemy, Mirror Defense, Void Flood and Void Armageddon. Defense, Survival, Excavation and Disruption come up most often.

• Defense and Survival are easy to plan: rotations come at fixed intervals, and lots of enemies mean lots of drones.
• Excavation is slower, since every rotation needs two excavators.
• In Disruption, the reward depends on how many conduits you hold each round.

• Survival is everything. Bring a tanky Warframe such as Rhino, Gara or Chroma, or a healer such as Trinity, Oberon or Wisp.
• Use survival mods, above all Adaptation, Rolling Guard and Quick Thinking.
• Watch out for grenades. They beep, have a red marker and are the most common sudden death.
• Kill drones right away. Weapons with punch through, area damage or high single-target damage like sniper rifles work well.
• In Defense, a healer keeps the Arbiters of Hexis operative alive. Hold out in a tight room with a single entrance.
• The bonus Warframe is rarely the best pick. A Warframe that keeps you alive usually helps more.