Galvanized Mods And Weapon Arcane Guide

Warframe’s Sisters of Parvos update has added Corpus Liches, tons of new weapons, a new Warframe, and new additions to Primary and Secondary weapons. To help players bridge the gap between Normal and Steel Path difficulty, Digital Extremes have created new mods and arcanes to help players compete in Warframe’s hardest content.

Galvanized mods are powerful variants of pre-existing mods that are twice as powerful as their default counterpart, albeit you’ll need to land a few kills to unleash the mod’s full power. Weapons also have Arcanes that grant significant boons to damage or utility effects, allowing you to drop the likes of Serration or Point Blank for a bane mod or an additional element. Let’s go over how you can obtain these devastating mods and Arcanes.

Updated January 19, 2024, by Charles Burgar: Galvanized mods saw a few additions recently. Digital Extremes added three new mods for players to earn, all of which are usable on melee weapons. We’ve updated this guide to include these new Galvanized mods and updated the guide’s formatting to be easier to read.

What Are Galvanized Mods?

Galvanized mods are a new category of mod introduced in the Sisters of Parvos update. These are significantly stronger variants of staple, pre-existing mods that drastically increase your damage or offer build-enabling quality-of-life improvements. Galvanized mods are available for primary, secondary, and melee weapons.

All Galvanized mods come in two parts: an initial bonus and an on-kill effect. You’ll need to land kills with that weapon equipped to iterate your Galvanized mod stacks. But once you’re at max stacks, these mods are roughly 2-3x more powerful than their standard counterparts.

Unlike most kill-related mods in Warframe, Galvanized mods only lose one stack at a time instead of the full stack. For example, if you have four stacks of Galvanized Diffusion and 20 seconds pass, you only lose one stack instead of all four.

In terms of value, they’re the same as Rare Mods. All Galvanized Mods have ten ranks. Maxing one of these Mods will require the following materials:

• 30,690 Endo
• 1,482,327 Credits

Mods that end with a similar name do not stack with Galvanized variants. For example, you cannot use Barrel Diffusion and Galvanized Diffusion on the same weapon.

How To Obtain Galvanized Mods

All Galvanized Mods are obtained from the Arbitration Honors vendor. You can find the vendor in the Arbiters of Hexis syndicate room inside any Relay. All Galvanized Mods cost 20 Vitus Essence each.

Unlocking Arbitrations

To obtain Vitus Essence, you must survive in Arbitration missions and defeat Arbitration Drones. Arbitration missions are unlocked once you’ve completed every node in the standard Star Chart. Railjack and Steel Path nodes aren’t required.

You’ll need 240 Vitus Essence to purchase all 12 Galvanized mods.

Vitus Essence Farm

For most players, you’ll want to play the first four rotations in a mission (rotation A, A, B, then C) before leaving. Each rotation has a 7% chance of granting three Vitus Essence. There’s a good chance you’ll get one of these bundles every couple of runs, making this a solid low-risk strategy.

If you really want to farm for this resource, wait until the Arbitration is an Excavation. Excavation is by far the fastest mode, granting a reward after two successful excavations. Bring Warframes like Nekros, Khora, Nova, and Frost to speed through the mission with ease while gaining increased drops. You don’t have to bring those specific Warframes, but each of them offers some form of utility or damage that makes the mission much easier. Keep an eye out for Arbitration Drones, as they are impervious to ability damage.

Of course, no farm is complete without a Resource Booster. Be sure you have one equipped, as it doubles the amount of Vitus Essence you receive from slain drones. Smeeta Kavats are also recommended, as they have the chance of doubling all of your resources for two minutes—even longer if the Tek Enhance Mod is installed.

All Galvanized Mods

There are 12 Galvanized mods in total, most of which are for primary and secondary weapons. Every mod can be found below.

Primary And Secondary Weapon Arcanes

The Sisters of Parvos update also introduced Primary and Secondary Arcanes that grant a massive amount of base damage after a specific kill condition is met. Your first set of weapon Arcanes will likely come from Acolytes, boss enemies that spawn in Steel Path content.

Additional Arcanes have been added in later content updates, such as Duviri and 1999. Melee Arcanes were also added with the introduction of the Sanctum Automica and secondary Deimos tileset, giving all weapons the ability to socket Arcanes.

How To Obtain Primary And Secondary Arcanes

Most damage-focused weapon Arcanes are found in the Steel Path from slain Acolytes. Acolytes have a 100% Arcane drop chance, although you’ll need 21 of the same Arcane to create a Rank 5 version—similar to how Warframe Arcanes work.

You can also find weapon Arcanes as rewards from Duviri Circuit, certain Deimos content, and Warframe 1999 activities.

Weapon Arcane Adapters

Weapons must have a Weapon Arcane Adapter installed before you can use these Arcanes. Weapon Arcanes come in two forms: Primary and Secondary. Weapon Arcane Adapters can be purchased from Teshin for 15 Steel Essence each, a unique resource tied to the Steel Path. These adapters are always part of Teshin’s “Steel Path Honors” stock, so you can purchase these whenever you have the currency.

Similar to Exilus Adapters, Weapon Arcane Adapters are one-time use. You’ll need an adapter for every weapon that you frequently use. Keep this in mind before applying one to a weapon.

Unlocking Steel Path

If you haven’t played Warframe in a hot minute, Steel Path is a pseudo NG+ mode for Warframe’s Star Chart. Upon completing every node in the Star Chart, speak to Teshin to unlock a new difficulty mode called Steel Path. You can activate the game mode from the right-hand menu while in the Star Chart menu.

While Steel Path is active, enemies in the Star Chart will become significantly tougher and higher level. Acolytes have a chance to spawn in your missions, and both resources and Mods are twice as likely to drop from slain enemies.

Steel Essence Farm

Your best influx of Steel Essence will be from Steel Path Incursions. These are daily missions that grant five Steel Essence when completed. You only need the mode unlocked to gain access to these missions. Completing all five daily incursions will grant 25 Steel Essence, just shy of two Adapters worth of essence.

Besides the daily missions, your only other means of farming Steel Essence is to kill Acolytes that periodically spawn in Steel Path endurance missions. As with any endurance mission farm, bring Khora, a loot Warframe like Nekros, and a Smeeta Kavat to potentially double your drops. Bring a Resource Booster too if you have the Platinum. Kill the Acolyte whenever it spawns, and try your best to survive as long as you can. That’s the best repeatable strategy you can use currently.

Weapon Arcane Examples

There are a plethora of weapon Arcanes to find in today’s sandbox, but to keep things simple for mid-game players, we’ll be covering the six Arcanes available from Acolyte bosses in Steel Path content. Get your hands on any of these Arcanes to drastically increase your weapon damage, making it easier to conquer all Steel Path content and Duviri Circuit.

Arcanes only lose one stack of their effect when their duration expires. For example, if you have six stacks of Primary Dexterity and 20 seconds pass, your stacks are reduced to five.