Warframe: The Duviri Paradox Quest Walkthrough (2024)

Warframe's Duviri Paradox update is finally here. After years of waiting, fans can finally explore the twisted land of Duviri as the mysterious Drifter. While you can jump straight into Duviri's roguelike game types, there's an accompanying quest that most players will want to complete, teaching the basics of how Duviri's systems work.

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Both veterans and new Warframe players can dive straight into the Duviri Paradox quest with virtually no prep required. This guide will cover how to start this quest, how to complete all quest steps, and showcase the effects of any decisions made during certain portions of The Duviri Paradox.

How To Start The Duviri Paradox

The Duviri Paradox is unlocked when players gain access to their Codex, occurring partway through the 'Vor's Prize' quest. New players will also have the option to start their journey in Duviri rather than Vor's Prize, bypassing the Codex requirement entirely. Completing this quest will also unlock Vor's Prize if you started playing Warframe through the Duviri experience.

The quest itself will guide players through Duviri's various systems, showcase the Drifter's abilities, and allow players to try out a powerful Warframe loadout. Expect this quest to take roughly two to four hours.

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Let The Hand Guide Your Escape

You'll begin the quest as the mysterious Drifter, an unknown soul that is sentenced to a public execution by the land's lord, Dominus Thrax. A meteor will interrupt the execution and reveal a severed hand in the crater it leaves behind. This hand is critical to getting out of this place alive.

Right as you grab the hand, you'll want to walk to the nearby corpse to get your hands on the Sirocco, an energy pistol. Use it to take down the Dax soldier rushing you from the nearby stairs. Once dealt with, use your second ability (the '2' key on PC) to create a guiding light. This orb will lead you in the right direction for the quest. If you ever get lost, use the hand to guide you.

The mysterious orb will lead you to a horse just outside of town. Hop on the horse and book it for the nearby bridge. A worm will destroy this bridge, but you can cross the newly-formed gap by double jumping. Now that you're across the bridge, use the guide ability to find your way to a safe location. The orb will eventually take you to an NPC named Bombastine. Speak to them, get back on your horse, use the hand again, and follow the light.

Reflection Puzzle

The hand will take you to an isolated Komi table. Interact with it to reach an isolated part of the Zariman ship. You'll find an image of your younger self near the center of the room, acting as a sort of reflection. For this puzzle, you must guide your reflection to the purple light by moving in the opposite direction. For example, if the purple light is directly in front of you, you'll want to run backwards so your reflection runs toward it. Repeat this process a few times until you make physical contact with your reflection, at which point the strange sequence will end.

Finding Teshin's Cave

With the reflection dealt with, you must find safety before Thrax's Orowyrm finds you. Use your second ability to find the path forward. It will eventually lead you to a portal place atop a large statue's hand. Enter this portal to reach a cave protected by Teshin, an ancient Dax soldier that seems willing to help you. They'll lend you their dual katanas, Sun and Moon. When you're ready, exit the cave to test out your new blades.

Naming Teshin's Pet

During your first dialogue with Teshin, he'll ask you to recall what name you gave his pet. This choice has no consequences. The alignment wheel on the bottom-left of the screen is mostly for roleplay purposes and has no impact on gameplay features or progression as of Update 33.

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Defeat The Dax

Now that you're equipped with Sun and Moon, it's time for some target practice. This part of the quest covers how to use your melee weapons and counter basic attacks from Dax soldiers that patrol Duviri. Your melee weapon is capable of the following:

• Lock-On: Press the reload key to lock onto the target. Use your mouse wheel or controller's right thumbstick to switch targets. While locked on, you can quickfire your weapon.
• Light Attack: Swing your dual katanas with moderate speed, chaining multiple times.
• Heavy Attack: Wind up your blades before striking, breaking an enemy's block. This attack also deals increased damage.
• Block: Deflect all frontal melee attacks to avoid taking damage.
  • Blocking right before an attack will initiate a Parry, stunning the target. Retaliate with a light attack to instantly kill the enemy.
• Block Heavy Attack: Perform a special attack. For the Sun & Moon, this launches a wave of energy that damages targets.
  • You must land multiple melee hits to charge this ability.
• Slide Attack: Light attack while sliding to perform a circular slash, great for repositioning.

Unlike Warframe's typical units, Dax enemies come equipped with Special and Unstoppable attacks. Enemies performing a unique Special attack will have a crosshair symbol appear above their head. Shooting an enemy during a Special attack animation will immediately stagger them. Some attacks will also have an Unstoppable property, making them impossible to interrupt. Unstoppable attacks are denoted by a red circle around the target's weapon. When an enemy performs an Unstoppable attack, roll away from the enemy to avoid taking damage.

In general, you'll be using light attacks and slide attacks to dish out most of your damage. When an enemy blocks, you'll use your heavy attack or wait for an opportunity to parry. When an enemy uses a Special move, you'll lock onto the target and fire your gun. If their attack is Unstoppable, you'll roll away from them. Bear in mind that dodging doesn't have any invincibility frames (i-frames) in Warframe, so you'll want to roll away from targets when possible.

With this newfound knowledge, destroy the small squad of Dax soldiers that Dominus Thrax sends your way. Once you're done, head through the portal once again to learn how Warframes work.

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Learn The Ways Of The Tenno

A pair of katanas won't be enough to fight Dominus Thrax's soldiers, but Teshin has an idea on how you can turn the tide in your favor. Within Teshin's cave is a small roster of Warframes, powerful suits that grant a set of powers and enhanced parkour maneuvers. You'll be given the choice of Excalibur, Mag, and Volt. The Warframe you choose will remain your class for the remainder of this quest. Future Duviri runs will pull three random Warframes for you to play as, and the 'Vor's Prize' quest will let you pick a permanent starter for the core game.

For newcomers, we recommend Excalibur. He has great damage through Exalted Blade, a solid CC tool with Radial Blind, and can instantly kill groups of enemies with Radial Javelin. You'll be given a pre-modded loadout when choosing your Warframe, so new players and veterans alike will have the same experience throughout the quest.

Teshin will take you to the Undercroft, a detached section of Duviri that has no restrictions on Warframe usage. You'll get to test drive the Warframe you picked and grab some weapons. Every option is great here, but we recommend giving the Boltor, Pyrana, and Kronen a try. The Boltor is a hard-hitting assault rifle, the Pyrana is a full-auto pocket shotgun, and the Kronen are tonfas that attack quickly and deal excellent damage. Use your new arsenal of weapons to destroy the Corrupted enemies that spawn. Complete the following parkour tutorial, then speak to Teshin one more time to continue the quest.

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The Prince Of Fire

With a proper loadout and Teshin's blades, you're now ready to start experiencing Duviri's core content. The next part of the quest is an open world bounty called "The Prince of Death." Bounties are effectively quests that have multiple stages, with each stage granting a bundle of rewards when completed. The steps for this bounty are as follows:

1. Defeat the Dax guarding the treasure.
2. Undercroft: Survival
3. Defeat the Dax guarding the treasure.
4. Undercroft: Void Flood
5. Defeat the chest's guardian.
6. Purge the darkened areas of Liminus.

Defeat The Dax Soldiers Guarding The Treasure

The first and third steps in this bounty require you to fight a small band of Dax soldiers. One of these units will be larger than the rest, attacking you with Unstoppable mace slams. The other soldiers will periodically use Special and Unstoppable attacks against you, so stay alert.

You'll want to duel the weaker Dax soldiers first, blocking when the enemies start an attack to get an easy parry. Parries are your safest way of killing Dax when starting any Duviri run. If the enemy starts a Special attack, toggle lock-on and shoot your gun.Unstoppable attacks need to be avoided entirely through dodging.

Undercroft Stages

Typically, every other bounty stage will take you to the Undercroft, giving you unlimited access to your Warframe while completing the listed objective. Follow the waypoint on your HUD to reach an Undercroft portal. Once you enter the portal, you'll be tasked with completing a mission type with your Warframe loadout. The following mission types can appear:

• Survival: Stay alive for five minutes, refilling life support by killing enemies and activating support towers. Towers grant 30% life support.
• Defense: Protect a cryopod against five waves of enemies. This is not timed.
• Void Flood: Pick up blue orbs around the arena and deposit them at five unique stations. This is not timed.
• Excavation: Spawn excavators and defend them from enemy forces. Certain enemies drop power cells which are required to fully excavate a location. Three full excavations are required for a successful clear.

Once you've finished an Undercroft mission, you'll be sent back into Duviri as the Drifter to complete additional bounty stages. You won't be able to access your Warframe in Duviri without certain Drifter Intrinsics, so make the most out of your Warframe's abilities while in the Undercroft.

Defeat The Chest's Guardian

A circular area will be noted on your minimap, revealing a nearby chest location. Reach the chest and interact with it to spawn a Thrax Guardian. This is a miniboss with fast, hard-hitting attacks. Try to parry and use heavy attacks to kill this enemy. Once slain, open the chest to finish this bounty stage.

Purge The Darkened Areas Of Liminus

You'll find an underground cave network on the island of Liminus. Your goal is to stand in the darkened areas and slay the enemies that spawn. These enemies are fairly weak but continuously drain your HP while in melee range. Get into the fog, strike them down, then use a healing stim to recover any lost HP. Repeat this process until the dark zones are no more.

Completing this final step will reveal the location of a figurine doll piece. The waypoint for this mission is bugged and should not be trusted. You'll want to hop on your horse and fly to Lonesome Outlook. Head to the nearby Orokin house bathed in purple light to find the figurine piece. A portal will spawn beside you that takes you back to Teshin's cave. Rebuild part of the doll before you return to Duviri.

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The Harbinger Of Joy

Dominus Thrax's attitude directly impacts the state of Duviri. You'll be entering the zone while Thrax is feeling joy, causing the world to be filled with color and safer bounty objectives. Hop on your horse and fly to the waypoint to start the bounty. Once again, there are six steps:

1. Win the Kaithe Race.
2. Undercroft: Excavation.
3. Return Tamms to stables.
4. Undercroft: Exterminate.
5. Find the hidden chest.
6. Conquer the maze.

Win The Kaithe Race

As the stage name implies, you'll need to win a race with your Kaithe horse. Running through goals and shooting floating orbs will extend your timer. Shoot every orb you see and run through each gate to ensure you reach first place.

Return Tamms

Tamms are Void variants of cows, sheep, and other livestock. You'll need to find roaming livestock and lure them back to their pen. Walk behind the animal and guide it toward its pen. Do this three times to finish the objective.

Find The Hidden Chest

The hidden chest should spawn north of Northwind Village, but bear in mind that your chest might spawn in a different location. When you reach the chest, you must complete a new hacking minigame where you must activate nodes that pass through your center cursor before the time expires. You can speed up each segment of the lock by pressing your strafe input ('A' and 'D' on PC and the left thumbstick for controllers).

If you fail to lockpick the chest, a small group of Dax will spawn near your location. Killing the Dax soldiers will force the chest to open, no lockpicking required.

Conquer The Maze

An underground cave will have an energy shrine you'll need to activate. Once activated, you'll need to shoot at floating nodes inside the cave to create a circuit back to the shrine. The last node you shot will emit a faint energy line that will lead to the next node, so follow the trail. Once you've finished the maze, hop on your horse to collect the next figurine piece that's marked on your HUD. Return to Teshin and start another Duviri run.

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The Covetous Courtier

This is the final set of bounty steps you'll need to complete before the quest ends. You'll be experiencing Duviri during the Envy stage, complete with new stage objectives. The objectives are as follows:

1. Reconnect the power lines.
2. Undercroft: Void Flood
3. Guide your reflection into the light.
4. Undercroft: Defense.
5. Defeat the high ground Dax.
6. Assemble the shrine.

Reconnect The Power Lines

Similar to the maze step in the previous mission, you'll need to activate nodes in a sequence to unlock a chest. The waypoints will mark the starting locations for two nodes. Follow the energy trails they create to finish the sequence.

Guide Your Reflection Into The Light

As with the start of the quest, you'll need to guide your reflection to beams of purple light. Clear the waves of enemies to start the reflection puzzle. The puzzle itself requires you to face the purple light and walk in the opposite direction. Completing the puzzle will spawn a chest.

Defeat The High Ground Dax

This objective requires you to defeat a small group of Dax, nothing more. Try to parry enemy attacks when possible for an easy counterattack, and only use lock-on when you need to counter an enemy's Special attack.

Assemble The Shrine

Similar to the previous Duviri objective, you'll need to defeat three waves of enemies and grab the shrine pieces they leave behind. Kill every enemy in each wave to receive the shrine pieces. Return to the shrine when you have all three components to spawn a Thrax miniboss. Kill the Thrax to finish the objective. You'll be guided to the final doll piece once this is finished. Grab it and return to Teshin's cave.

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Survive

While you've been away, Dominus Thrax has captured Teshin and plans to have him executed. You'll be thrown into an Undercroft portal with your current Warframe loadout. Defeat the enemies that spawn and enter each portal to finish this section. The enemies don't pose much of a threat to your Warframe. If you get surrounded, simply bullet jump to the sky to create some distance.

Outside of the Undercroft, you'll need to save Teshin as the Drifter. Use your melee weapon and abilities to carve a path toward Teshin. You're too late, but at least you have a clear shot at Dominus Thrax now. With your newfound power, take control of an Orokin Wyrm and breathe fire onto Thrax's Wyrm sentries. The flame attack has roughly 200 meters of range, so you'll need to get close to damage the Wyrms. When done, fly towards Dominus Thrax's tower to finish the quest. If you're a new player, there's one more decision that must be made.

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Leave Or Stay

At the very end of the Duviri Paradox, you'll be given a choice to either stay or leave Duviri. Here's what each decision entails:

• Leave: This starts the 'Vor's Prize' quest, the default new player experience for Warframe. You'll gain access to Duviri once again upon completing the quest.
• Stay: Continue playing Duviri. You'll be able to play any Duviri game variant and earn rewards as normal. Interacting with the alternate exit to the Dormizone will start 'Vor's Prize.'

In essence, this decision is asking if you'd like to play the 'Vor's Prize' quest now or later. Nearly all the rewards you receive in Duviri will require Star Chart resources to build, so you'll need to play this quest regardless. The choice you make does not lock any core quests, progression, or other systems. For most players, we recommend you leave Duviri.

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