Melee weapons give you a huge advantage to many aspects of Warframe, given there are so many missions that require a certain degree of stealth. There are so many melee weapons that deliver a huge amount of damage, on top of stacking combo multipliers and having entirely massive heavy attack damage outputs.  Not to mention, running around slicing through enemies like butter is somehow extremely rewarding!

Here are my favorite and the best top 5 melee weapons in Warframe, all calculated by damage output, critical chance, attack speed, and more. 

1. Gram Prime

Born anew, the father of swords returns.

Gram prime is my favorite melee weapon, and one of the highest rated for damage that there is. Released along with Rubico Prime and Chroma Prime, it’s a very strong heavy hitter, and delivers some bone-shattering blows. With a mastery rank of 14 or higher, you can wield this beast of a sword.

Why is Gram Prime Great

• Gram Prime has the second highest base damage of all Warframe melee weapons, sitting at 300 damage per hit and a whopping 1,800 for heavy attacks.

• Gram Prime has the highest critical multiplier of all Warframe melee weapons, and the second highest critical chance. Mixed with it’s insane attack damage, critical hits with this weapon are absolutely lethal.

• Rather than your typical slam hits that just do base radial damage, Gram Primes slam attacks do radial damage, and can be affected by critical chance and critical multiplier mods.

• Gram Prime has two madurai polarities, along with a vazarin stance polarity, which matches up with both cleaving whirlwind and temple royale. Both are amazing stance mods. 

How to Get Gram Prime

Gram Prime Details

2. Guandao Prime

That a god might reap a harvest of lives.

Guandao Prime was released with Nezha Prime and Zakti Prime, and is the upgraded version of the Guandao, featuring higher base stats. This polearm is one of the best in Warframe, requiring a mastery rank of at least 12 to use.

Why is Guandao Prime Great

• Guandao Prime holds the Zenurik Polarity in its stance spot, making it a match for Shimmering Blight, giving it fast spinning attacks and staggering strikes.

• Guandao Prime comes with three basic polarities, two Madurai and one Vazarin, making the modding process much cheaper

• The combo duration of Guandao Prime is higher than most other melee weapons, sitting at 6 seconds, giving you an increased chance of keeping your combo stacks for longer and dealing far greater damage, up to 12x, which is 2,880 per attack.

• Guandao Prime holds the highest critical chance for all Warframe melee weapons and the second highest critical multiplier making common 576 damage attacks rather than your base 240 damage attacks.

How to Get Guandao Prime

Guandao Prime Details

3. Stropha

A short-blade melee weapon with an ace up its sleeve. Send nearby enemies flying with a short-range shockwave.

The stropha is one of my favorite melee weapons, and an extremely strong one. Since Stropha is a Corpus Gunblade, it gives it a bit more range than your typical melee weapons, and delivers amazing results. You need a mastery rank of 10 or higher for this electrifying bad boy.

Why is Stropha Great

• Stropha, unlike most other melee weapons, delivers both slash damage and impact damage! It’s high slash damage makes it great against health, and its impact damage from it’s gunblade attack make for good all around damage for most enemies. 

• Of all the gunblades, Stropha has the highest damage, highest critical chance and highest critical multiplier.

• Stropha’s shockwave attack delivers a single shockwave with a high radius and guaranteed impact damage, does not use ammo and has punchthrough. It also has a staggering effect on enemies it doesn’t instantly kill, making it easier to get up close and deliver more damage with the blade. 

How to Get Stropha

Stropha Details

4. Redeemer Prime

Deal double-bladed, double-barreled death with this primed gunblade.

The Redeemer Prime is the prime variant of the Redeemer, released with Akjagara Prime and Mesa Prime. Like the Stropha, it falls under the gunblade subcategory of melee weapons, meaning it has your typical sword attack, and then it fires shotgun blasts as well.  Once you have a mastery rank of 10 or higher, you can craft and wield this deadly gunblade.

Why is Redeemer Prime Great

• Redeemer Prime has the second highest damage output, critical chance, critical multiplier and status chance among all gunblades in Warframe.

• Redeemer not only uses slash damage, but blase damage as well, which is extremely effective against machinery and fossilized foes.

• Redeemer’s blast attack sires 9 pellets simultaneously, with a 1 meter punchthrough and the possibility to stun or stagger enemies. 

• Redeemer’s shots do not use ammo, and can throw enemies like a ragdoll if you’re within 4 meters of them.

How to Get Redeemer Prime

Redeemer Prime Details

5. Reaper Prime

Reaper Prime is an ornamental scythe, with a blade forged from tempered rubidium.

The Reaper Prime is most definitely my favorite scythe-weapon in Warframe, introduced in update 8.0 along with Frost prime and Latron Prime. Reaper Prime was the first primed scythe weapon to be available to be obtained from the void as well, requiring a mastery of 10 to wield and craft.

Why is Reaper Prime Great

• Reaper Prime deals very high slash damage, making it great for lowering enemies’ health after their shields have been taken down.

• Reaper Prime’s critical chance and critical multiplier are both the highest of all Warframe scythes, and has a very high attack speed and status chance.

• The stance polarity on Reaper Prime is Naramon, making it perfect for the Reaping Spiral Scythe Stance mod. Reaping Spiral allows for far flung attacks and multi-hit combos, which helps to increase your combo counter dramatically in a fight. 

How to Get Reaper Prime

Reaper Prime Details

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