Warframe’s XP grind can feel endless at first, but once you understand how the Affinity system works and where to go, it actually becomes one of the smoothest parts of the game to optimise. The thing is, not all XP is created equal. There’s a massive difference between running random missions and going into the right places with the right gear and squad.
This is especially true in Warframe 1999, which keeps all the core systems from regular Warframe but with a different narrative tone and mission structure. If you want to level your weapons frame,s companions or even farm Focus at the same time, you’ve got to be smart about how you’re doing it. Let’s walk through everything from solo stealth to Steel Path to squad nuking and how it all fits together. Stack up platinum to make this journey smoother.
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Affinity is what XP is actually called in Warframe and it flows in specific ways depending on how the kill happens. When your Warframe kills something with an ability or a direct melee hit 100 percent of the Affinity goes to the frame. If you kill with a weapon 50 percent goes to the weapon and 50 percent to the frame. When squadmates get kills near you, you get shared Affinity - 25% to your Warframe, and the rest split evenly between your equipped weapons.
That’s why it’s smart to only bring what you’re levelling. This makes positioning incredibly important and it also means you shouldn’t bring stuff you’re not trying to level. Equipping a bunch of gear at Rank 0 just to carry it splits your XP into too many pieces and slows everything down. If you want maximum gains strip everything you’re not levelling right off your loadout and only bring what matters.
If you’ve played Warframe for a while you’ve probably heard of Adaro on Sedna and Hydron on Sedna. These have been top XP spots for years and they’re still strong in Warframe 1999 depending on mission types. Adaro is a stealth Exterminate mission and it’s amazing for solo players who bring a silent melee weapon and take advantage of the stealth kill bonus. You get double Affinity from stealth kills and that stacks with boosters.
If you chain stealth kills properly you can level an entire weapon in one run. Hydron on the other hand is a Defence mission where you let enemies swarm in waves while your squad nukes them down. It’s a social method great for levelling Warframes and it’s ideal if your team has one nuker ,one support, one armour stripper and one leech just soaking XP. If you want something chill where you can just rotate nukes and hang back this is the one.
For stealth farming like in Adaro you’ll want a weapon that doesn’t break alert status and can kill in one shot. Melee like Nikana Prime or even a dagger with Covert Lethality is perfect. Throw on a silencer mod like Hush or Suppress if you’re using primaries or secondaries. Bows are also a great option since they’re silent by default.
What matters is that you can walk through undetected and keep the stealth multiplier alive across the run. Use a Warframe like Loki or Ivara or even Baruuk with a silence mod from Helminth to keep things quiet. Make sure your companions don’t ruin the stealth either. Unequip their weapons completely and only bring them for utility.
Elite Sanctuary Onslaught is another major XP hotspot and this one works differently from standard missions. It’s a timed arena mode where you kill as many enemies as possible to advance zones and the faster you kill the more spawns you get. This makes it perfect for AoE frames like Saryn or Volt who can chain-kill entire rooms.
Onslaught has caps though. Most people stop at Zone 8 because rewards start to taper off after that. Bring one hard nuker one support like Wisp or Trinity and maybe a Nekros or Khora to keep energy and health flowing. This mode also lets you earn Focus and it doesn’t take keys like it used to so it’s free and fast. Just remember if you overkill spawns by nuking too fast the spawn rate breaks and you lose efficiency. It’s better to rotate nukes and space your kills.
Now if you’re ready for the real stuff Steel Path is where the big XP happens. These are harder versions of regular missions with enemies starting at level 100 and scaled up health and armour but they also give way more Affinity. If you can handle the heat missions like Steel Path Hydron or Adaro give you absurd XP especially if you stack a booster or run during double Affinity weekends.
The trade off is you need serious gear and coordination. You can’t just face tank things here. Bring frames like Inaros Grendel or Rhino with damage mitigation. Use Helminth abilities like Roar or Gloom to boost damage or control crowds. DPS frames need to be properly modded and your squad has to be balanced to avoid wipes. If you’re soloing it stealth Adaro is still viable but you’ll want top-tier gear and maybe invisibility or crowd control.
XP farming overlaps heavily with Focus farming since Focus is generated from the Affinity you gain on gear that has Lenses installed. This means you want to put a Lens on your Warframe and weapons before you go farming. Ideally you should be using an Eidolon Lens or better and you should spread your Focus gain across multiple schools by using different gear with different Lenses.
Elite Sanctuary Onslaught and Lua Disruption are top-tier Focus farming zones because they throw enemies at you in tight waves. If you want to double-dip you can run a Saryn with an Eidolon Lens and just melt enemies while earning both XP and Focus at top speed. Make sure to check your daily Focus cap and always hit it during booster events since the gains are massive.
One of the most overlooked parts of XP farming is how your squad is built. People just load into missions with whatever but if you’re aiming for maximum returns there’s a formula. You want one nuker doing the heavy lifting with a wide AoE frame like Equinox Volt or Saryn. You want one support like Wisp Trinity or Protea to keep energy rolling and offer buffs. A third frame should focus on armour stripping like a Corrosive Projection Nekros or even an Ash with Seeking Shuriken. And the fourth slot can be an XP leech - someone levelling gear but contributing by staying close and maybe casting some utility.
The real secret though is spawn flow. If everyone kills too fast in different places the spawn system gets overloaded or confused and you end up with dead time. Stick together rotate nukes and don’t scatter.
If you’re serious about levelling fast get Affinity Boosters. These double all your XP gains and they stack with event bonuses. So during a double Affinity weekend you can be earning 4x XP if you have a personal booster active. You can buy them with Platinum or get them as login rewards. Nightwave also offers them sometimes. Always check before you start farming because you don’t want to waste a session running inefficiently when you could be getting quadruple returns.
This one’s sneaky but important. While companions don’t steal your XP, their weapons level separately - so unless you're trying to rank them up too, it's best to unequip them and keep the focus on your gear. So unequip their weapons if you don’t want them stealing gains.
Mods like Vacuum are still useful, and pets like Djinn are popular because they revive themselves automatically and can be modded for pure utility. Throw on Synth Fiber and Synth Deconstruct if you’re using health orb generation since that can feed healing into party builds like Equilibrium. The point is keep your companion lean and focused on helping not hindering your XP flow.
The Helminth system lets you put any ability on any frame and this is a game changer for XP farming. You can slap Roar on someone like Grendel or even put Gloom on a frame that needs survivability while killing. These Helminth abilities still count as Warframe ability kills so all the Affinity goes to your frame.
This is especially useful for solo players trying to level tanky or support frames that aren’t great at killing on their own. Set up a high-strength Gloom or a duration Roar and then sweep enemies with melee or gunfire and you’ll get passive XP just from the ability interactions.
If you’re grinding XP in Warframe 1999 you’ve got more tools than ever. Whether you’re a solo stealth enjoyer running Adaro with a silent dagger or you’re diving into Steel Path Hydron with a full nuker squad the key is understanding where XP comes from how it splits and how to keep your loadout tight.
Stack boosters during events use Onslaught for fast gains and don’t forget to install your Lenses. Keep your companion on a leash and your squad on the same page. Once it clicks you’ll be ranking up gear nonstop and farming Focus without even thinking about it. That’s when Warframe stops feeling like a grind and starts feeling like control.