Everything You Need to Know About Warframe Clan Ranks

It’s not easy facing the perils of the Origin System alone. Joining a Clan can be a great way not only to meet new squad members to help you crush Warframe’s various baddies, but also to pool your resources to unlock new weapons, Warframes, and other craftable goodies. But as you search for a Clan to take you in—or look to create your own—you might notice some strange terminology getting thrown around. Ghost Clan. Storm Clan. Moon Clan. Besides sounding cool, what’s the purpose of these mysterious prefixes? Actually, they’re there to inform you of that Clan’s rank or “Tier.” And what does that mean? Wonder no longer: our guide will tell you everything you need to know about Warframe Clan Ranks.

What is a Clan Rank/Tier?

At its simplest, a Clan’s rank or tier tells you how many members can be part of that Clan at one time. There are currently five Clan Tiers that a Clan can occupy: Ghost Tier, Shadow Tier, Storm Tier, Mountain Tier, and Moon Tier. Ghost Clans are the smallest, with a maximum of only 10 members at a time. Shadow Clans can hold 30 members, Storm Clans can hold 100, Mountain Clans can hold 300, and finally, Moon Clans can hold a whopping 1000 members at a time. However, size isn’t everything. For each Tier your Clan ascends, research costs for new blueprints will become ever steeper. Makes sense, right? After all, a Clan of 1000 members is probably going to have an easier time gathering resources and credits than a Clan of 10.

How do I upgrade my Clan Rank/Tier?

When you first start your Clan, it’ll be a Ghost Clan, with a capacity of only ten Tenno. To increase your Clan’s size, you’ll need to construct new Barracks. Each tier requires a corresponding Barracks to be built; for example, you need a Shadow Barracks for your Clan to become a Shadow Clan, a Storm Barracks for your Clan to become a Storm Clan, and so on. Be aware that you need to build these Barracks in sequence. In other words, you can’t build a Moon Barracks first thing and expect to jump from a Ghost Clan to a Moon Clan overnight. Instead, you have to build a Shadow Barracks, then a Storm Barracks, then a Mountain Barracks, and then finally a Moon Barracks. On top of that, the cost for each sequential Barracks will increase not only in Credits, but in quantities of Alloy Plate, Ferrite, Rubedo, and Forma. That means rising efficiently through the Warframe Clan Ranks will require a group effort from all your Clan members. “We all lift together,” right?

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Is a bigger Clan Rank/Tier always better?

A bigger Clan Rank/Tier comes with the benefit of more members, which means more people gathering resources and paying trade taxes, which means more Credits and components available to unlock Clan-exclusive weapons, Warframes, and archwings. However, keep in mind that as your Clan’s Rank/Tier increases, so too do research and construction costs. This mechanic is implemented in order to keep Clans balanced, so a small Clan can progress at the same rate as a large Clan. This policy may work perfectly fine for large Clans with many active members who can all contribute their share of resources, but if your Clan doesn’t have many members or if your members aren’t very active, it may be better to keep your Clan small in order to keep costs low. What this means is that managing your Clan doesn’t mean you should be racing straight towards growing into a Moon Clan. Instead, try to stick to a Clan Rank/Tier that’s sustainable given your Clan’s member count and activity level.

What is the Clan Tier Multiplier for each Clan Tier?

As mentioned previously, the cost of research and construction within a Clan is dependent on that Clan’s size. This increase is calculated through the Clan Tier Multiplier, which increases dramatically for every Tier ascended. At Ghost Tier, a Clan has no Tier Multiplier and everything costs its original base cost. Once a Clan becomes a Shadow Clan, the Clan Tier Multiplier jumps by 300%, meaning researching new blueprints, constructing new rooms, and adding new decorations to the Clan dojo now costs three times as much. The Clan Tier Multiplier increases to 1000% for Storm Clans, 3000% for Mountain Clans, and 10,000% for Moon Clans. The only component that Clan Tier multiplier doesn’t affect is the Forma required for an activity, which increases at a different, much slower rate. Good thing, too. None of us wants to ponder the grim prospect of farming for 10,000 of the dang things.

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What Rank/Tier of Clan should I join?

In general, a Clan’s activity levels are much more important than its Rank/Tier. After all, a Moon Clan with only 100 active members is going to be a lot less efficient at unlocking research than a Shadow Clan with 25 active members. You should be able to see the names of a Clan’s members, along with when they were last online, on the Clan’s profile page, which should give you an idea of how active that Clan is.

That said, if you want to skip all the hassle, you can also see about joining a Clan that already has all its research unlocked. Again, the size of the Clan isn’t all that important here, though you’ll probably find it easier to join larger Clans due to their greater space for new members. Posting in the Recruiting section of in-game chat can be a great way to connect with such Clans, many of which are eager to welcome new Tenno into their ranks.

Clan Ranks and You

A Clan’s Rank, big or small, is integral to its efficiency and sustainability. But keep in mind that finding the right Clan means looking not only at a Clan’s size, but also if it has the activity to back it up. We hope our guide on Warframe Clan Ranks has made your search easier—or given you ideas on how to organize your own up-and-coming Clan.

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