Over the course of Warframe's 10-year lifespan, the Tenno have fought many enemies to protect the inhabitants of the Origin System. Players started the fight against the mottled and rotting Grineer and the greedy technocratic Corpus, but the threat evolved when the Infested were released again.
Time and again, Warframe has raised the stakes with new villains to terrorize the Tenno. Some are out for blood, some are out to make a profit, and some are trying to find out just what makes the Warframes tick. One thing is certain: players won't soon forget the way these Warframe villains changed the story forever.
10 The Wolf of Saturn Six
As the main antagonist of the first Nightwave, the Wolf featured in a neatly packaged story about freedom and vengeance. He was the most feared inmate of the Saturn Six Grineer penitentiary, and when he broke out, he brought his lackeys along with him.
Nightwave progression saw the Wolf invading missions, and he was a scarily overtuned monster to deal with. For the first time in ages, Warframe players felt hunted — and so the Wolf won't soon be forgotten.
9 Lephantis
A triple threat, the Lephantis is a twisted fusion of Grineer, Corpus, and Infested biomass. Viral corruption has fused these disparate factions together, making for one of the most memorable Infested enemies in the game.
The major twist in the fight — when players initially kill all three heads and are plunged into a new arena with Lephantis' real body — is a great cinematic moment. Many infested enemies become forgettable masses to slice and dice through; Lephantis is not one of them.
8 Natah
More victim than villain, Natah is the Tenno's guardian Lotus, manipulated and confused by her Orokin captor. The loss of the Lotus is a major turning point in the Warframe story, directly leading in to the New War.
With Lotus' good nature suppressed, Natah succeeded in plunging the Origin System into a dark age of Sentient rule. It was only by uniting her identities that players were able to redeem this deeply complex character.
7 Captain Vor
The Grineer are largely subservient to their masters. That's what makes Vor's scheming ambition truly unique and memorable, as he plots to advance his own agendas.
Setting the story in motion by trying to capture the player's chosen Warframe, Vor is the game's first real antagonist. He returns to fight the player multiple times, and even makes an appearance in Warframe's latest update to the Duviri Paradox.
6 Tyl Regor
The soothing baritone voice of this Grineer mad scientist belies the threat he poses to the Origin System. Tyl Regor is concerned only with the Grineer cloning process, looking to create bigger, badder, faster enemies to take the Tenno on. His tubemen are professional wetworkers, and his manics are swift assassins.
Tyl Regor himself is no pushover. Even though he's a scientist, he moves and strikes with unprecedented agility, unafraid to call down the wrath of the ocean if it means killing the Warframes sent to dispatch him. As far as the Grineer go, Tyl Regor is one of the most memorable threats the Tenno have faced.
5 Hunhow
The father of all Sentients, Hunhow is the genesis of Natah, Erra, and the Shadow Stalker. He is the progenitor of some of the Origin System's greatest threats, and he is nigh unstoppable without utilizing the power of the Void.
Without Hunhow, Warframe players would be deprived of some of the most iconic enemies and allies in the game, including the Eidolons, and the Revenant, and Caliban Warframes.
4 Alad V
As Warframe's resident rat, Alad V is a bit of a wild card. Players can never be too sure what role this Corpus mad scientist will be playing next — sometimes he'll hunt the Tenno, and others he will be a begrudging ally, fighting the good fight.
The only thing players can be certain of is that Alad V is serving his own interests. Whenever it seems like he's gone for good, Alad shows up again to be a thorn in players' sides. He may not be the most powerful Warframe villain, but he is certainly the most persistent.
3 Shadow Stalker
A Warframe that hunts his own kind, the Stalker is an unstoppable force. Wielding his signature weapons, Dread, Despair, and Hate, this enemy is a tried and true assassin that will strike fear into even midgame Warframe players.
The Stalker became even more dangerous when he was imbued with Sentient power, becoming the Shadow Stalker — a force only weakened through the power of the Void. It was the Shadow Stalker's strike at the heart of the Tenno's wellspring of power on Lua that set Warframe's biggest narrative arc in motion, making him one of the game's most iconic villains.
2 Grineer Queens
Twisted, decaying, rotting: the Grineer Queens are not normal royalty. Orokin-era consciousnesses that fill corrupt vessels, these Queens control every Grineer clone that the Tenno fight and cleave through.
When Lua was pulled from the Void, the Queens capitalized on the Warframes' weakness to try to seize a new, immortal body. They are the reason the Tenno now fight a war on two fronts: the war without, and the war within.
1 Ballas
Representative of the Orokin empire through and through, Ballas is Warframe's most prolific villain. He cast the vote sentencing his lover to death after she saved the children of the Zariman Ten Zero; then he worked to turn those children into weapons all the same.
Returning to terrorize the Tenno in the present, he succeeds in bending the Origin System to its knees, enslaving the inhabitants with the Narmer Veils and enforcing martial law with patrolling Archon sentinels. A thin veneer of golden decadence belies a truly twisted and pathetic tyrant. Ballas is the perfect reflection of the Orokin empire, looming over Warframe's narrative.
Warframe is available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.