Quest order: which quest when?

Quests are short stories made of several missions. The main quests tell the story of your Tenno and unlock almost every important system along the way: mods, your Operator, the Railjack, Kuva Liches and much more. Many quests depend on specific Junctions. That is why you best play quests and the Star Chart side by side.

The key terms in short:

Main quest

Part of the big story. They build on each other and unlock new systems.

Side quest

Optional quests with their own story. They often reward a Warframe blueprint or a new feature.

Codex

The console on your Orbiter. In the Quests tab you start, switch and replay quests.

Junction

The gate between two planets. Many quests only unlock once you clear a specific Junction.

Operator

The person who controls your Warframe. You meet them in “The Second Dream”.

Drifter

A second playable character who plays a big role in “The New War”.

Spoiler

Major story twists. Especially for the big quests it pays not to read about them first.

• You start new quests in the Codex on your Orbiter. Only one quest can be active at a time, but you can switch whenever you like.
• Since Update 35.0, main quests no longer need a Mastery Rank. They only need the previous quest and often a specific Junction.
• You can replay many quests in the Codex later to see the story again. The main reward is only given the first time.
• Some quests cannot be replayed, for example “Vor’s Prize”, “The Teacher” and “Angels of the Zariman”.

These quests walk you through the basics. They are short and unlock important parts of your Orbiter.

Quest	Requirement	Unlocks
Awakening	None (tutorial)	Your first Warframe
Vor’s Prize	Awakening	Basic Orbiter areas, Burston blueprint
The Teacher	Vor’s Prize	Mods segment, Thornbak, basic mods, Cetus and Nightwave
Vox Solaris	Talk to Eudico in Fortuna (Venus)	Garuda blueprint, K-Drive, Fortuna bounties
Once Awake	Mercury Junction	First contact with the Infested, Heat Sword blueprint
Heart of Deimos	Earth to Mars Junction	Xaku blueprint, the Voidrig Necramech, the Necralisk and the Entrati
The Archwing	Mars Junction	The Odonata Archwing, Imperator, Veritux, space missions

This is where the story gets serious. From “The Second Dream” on, the way you play Warframe changes.

Quest	Requirement	Unlocks
Natah	Uranus Junction (event in Grineer missions on Uranus)	Exilus Warframe Adapter
The Second Dream	Natah and Neptune Junction	Operator, Focus, Broken War, access to Lua
The War Within	The Second Dream and Pluto Junction	Sorties, Kuva Fortress, Kuva Liches, the Quills in Cetus, Orvius
Rising Tide	The War Within	Your own Railjack
Chains of Harrow	The War Within, then visit Onkko in Cetus	Harrow blueprint
Apostasy Prologue	Chains of Harrow	Story chapter in your personal quarters
The Sacrifice	Apostasy Prologue	Excalibur Umbra, Skiajati, Umbra mods

“The Second Dream” unlocks your Operator and the Focus system. Focus, Operator and Drifter explained explains how to use both. After “The War Within” and “Rising Tide” you can create your first Kuva Lich from Mastery Rank 5, more in Kuva Liches: create, decode and defeat them.

Three short prelude quests set up the big finale. Then comes one of the longest quests in the game.

Quest	Requirement	Unlocks
Chimera Prologue	The Sacrifice	Paracesis, “The Ropalolyst” boss node on Jupiter
Erra	Chimera Prologue	Shedu blueprint
The Maker	Erra	Short cutscene before the finale
The New War	The Maker, your own Railjack and an Amp	The Drifter, Sirocco, Nataruk
The Duviri Paradox	Uranus Junction	Duviri with The Duviri Experience, The Lone Story and The Circuit, Sun & Moon

After “The New War” several quest lines open at once. You can play them at your own pace. This order works well:

Quest	Requirement	Unlocks
Angels of the Zariman	The New War	The Zariman with the Chrysalith hub
Veilbreaker	The New War	Archon Hunts, the Helminth Archon Shard Segment blueprint
Whispers in the Walls	Heart of Deimos and The New War	Qorvex blueprint, Albrecht’s Laboratories, Grimoire
The Lotus Eaters	Whispers in the Walls	Short story chapter, opens the next two quests
The Hex	The Duviri Paradox and The Lotus Eaters	Cyte-09 blueprint, Höllvania, The Hex syndicate
The Old Peace	The Lotus Eaters	Uriel blueprint, the Dark Refractory
Lua and Vessel	The Hex and The Old Peace	Short prologue quests for the journey to Tau (since October 2026)
Jade Shadows	The New War	Jade blueprint
Jade Shadows: Constellations	Jade Shadows	New Railjack missions in Uranus Proxima and new crew members

“Veilbreaker” officially counts as a side quest, but it matters a lot: only after it can you play Archon Hunts and slot Archon Shards into your Warframes. Everything about that in Archon Shards: unlock, farm and socket them.

Looking for a specific system? Here you see which quest you need for it:

For the How to unlock and master the Steel Path you need to clear every node on the Star Chart, including the ones tied to quests. That includes, for example, all nodes on Lua and in the Kuva Fortress. Teshin shows you what is still missing in any Relay.

These side quests are short and give you useful rewards early on:

Quest	Requirement	Reward
Howl of the Kubrow	Venus to Mercury Junction	Incubator Segment for Kubrows and Kavats
Saya’s Vigil	Vor’s Prize and one bounty in Cetus	Gara blueprint
Stolen Dreams	Phobos Junction	Orokin Catalyst blueprint, Ether Daggers, weekly Ayatan treasure hunt
The New Strange	Stolen Dreams and Europa Junction	Chroma blueprint, access to Cephalon Simaris
The Limbo Theorem	An Archwing and Europa Junction	All Limbo blueprints
A Man of Few Words	Talk to Darvo in a Relay	An Exilus Adapter and Clem as a helper
Patient Zero	Once Awake and access to Eris	Mutalist Alad V key blueprint

• Play quests and the Star Chart together. If a quest does not show up, you are almost always missing a Junction.
• Warframe blueprints from quests still need to be built in the Foundry. You usually farm the parts yourself.
• Do not sell quest rewards too quickly. Some weapons and Warframes cannot be obtained a second time.
• Some quests will not start while the Backroom is set as your base. Switch back to the Orbiter in that case.
• Many quests are solo. For tough missions it helps to upgrade your gear first.