Best Warframe melee weapons: Every Nikana, Polearm, and Rapier ranked

Aakrit Sharma
Official artwork for Warframe

Warframe, the exhilarating free-to-play third-person shooter, serves up thrilling multiplayer matches that call for the best weapons to ensure your survival. Here’s a guide highlighting the most powerful melee weapons in Warframe, perfect for those intense close-quarter combat situations.

Whether you choose to specialize in melee or simply require a robust backup for when foes invade your personal space, it is a must to master melee combat in Warframe. Having a top-tier melee weapon can be the difference between standing your ground and facing defeat.

In this guide, we’re laying out the very best melee weapons you can equip to dominate in Warframe.

Strongest melee weapons in Warframe

10. Venka Prime

The Venka Prime in Warframe is quick, deadly, and thoroughly impressive. Despite its close-range nature, it compensates with formidable speed, damage, and critical chance.

Official artwork for Warframe
There are a ton of weapons you can choose from in Warframe.

9. Pangolin Prime

While it might lack the visual flamboyance desired by many, the Pangolin Prime in Warframe is still a fantastic melee choice, offering high damage and straightforward handling. The Pangolin Prime carves through rivals with minimal fuss, making it an excellent option for those focusing on damage output over unique features.

8. Lesion

Another robust polearm, the Lesion, couples a remarkable range with stupendous damage in Warframe. On top of this, the weapon has a 100% toxin damage buff implying that you’ll do more than just physical damage with each strike.

7. Stropha

With a minimalist design and irresistible power, the Stropha is an excellent choice for any Warframe player. Its high damage output, significant critical chance, and powerful critical multiplier make it a nightmare to face in close-range combat.

6. Guandao Prime

The Guandao Prime combines power and design to make you feel like a royal warrior in Warframe. Despite its slower speed, its base damage output makes it one of the most potent melee weapons in the game.

5. Orthos Prime

The Orthos Prime is proof that not all mighty melee weapons need to be short-range blades. This polearm excels when engaging multiple opponents, maintaining a safe distance while delivering substantial damage.

It is one of the only weapons on the list that also take care of defense alongside offense.

Gram Prime in Warframe
Gram Prime makes up for its bulkiness through the high damage output.

4. Gram Prime

The Gram Prim is massive and intimidating, vying for the top spot among Warframe weapons. Its versatility, along with its lethal nature, makes it an irreplaceable asset in your armory.

3. Redeemer Prime

As a favorite among Warframe players, the Redeemer Prime is an excellent selection for anyone lucky enough to acquire it. With its striking design, substantial base damage, and remarkable critical multiplier, you’re set for an enduring and vigorous battle.

2. Kronen Prime

Aesthetically pleasing and battle-efficient, the Kronen Prime in Warframe is a force to be reckoned with. With impressive attack damage, superior speed, broad range, beneficial mods, and an impressive critical chance, you’ll certainly feel invincible with this in your arsenal.

NIkana Prime melee weapon in Warframe
Nikana Prime is even better than the Dragon Nikana in Warframe.

1. Nikana Prime

Looking deadly, noble, and strong, the Nikana Prime embodies its appearance through its performance. Sporting superior slash damage and plenty of critical hits, it can quickly and efficiently dispatch your foes. Plus, with the right mods, you can engage multiple enemies simultaneously.

There you have it, the top-tier melee weapons in Warframe. For more Warframe guides and insights, you can check out our Warframe crossplay guide and Warframe promo codes for freebies.

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About The Author

Aakrit is a games writer with over 2000 published articles for EssentiallySports, Sportskeeda, FortniteINTEL, and CharlieINTEL. Currently, he writes guides on Minecraft, Roblox, Pokemon games, Genshin Impact, and Brawlhalla. Aakrit loves playing shooter games and in his free time, you can find him queued up in Valorant, Fortnite, Apex Legends, or Halo Infinite. You can contact Aakrit at [email protected].