What are Argon Crystals?
Hello Tenno! You’re here because you need Argon Crystals, and you need them fast. Well, you’re in luck because I’ve got the scoop on the best methods to farm these elusive resources in Warframe. So, let’s dive in!
First things first, Argon Crystals are a bit of a weird one. Unlike most resources in Warframe, these crystals have a unique property that causes them to “decay” over time. This means you’ll lose about half of your Argon Crystals every 24 hours in-game. So, make sure to use your Argon before that point! Otherwise, any that you farm will simply disappear into thin air, and you’ll need to start all over again.
Where can I find Argon Crystals?
Argon is only found in Warframe (at least as a standard drop) in Void missions. This just means the section of your Star Chart marked as “The Void,” which is functionally pretty much the same as any planet or moon. You can also get there pretty early on in the game. The Void is accessible from Europa, Neptune, Phobos, and/or Sedna. Its lowest-level missions range from Level 10-15, so it’s safe for players at just about any stage of the game.
Argon can drop from enemies, containers, lockers, large resource clusters, or “Corrupted Vor.” That last one is a rare mini-boss, like the Stalker, who can randomly “invade” Void missions. He’s not too tough, but he does have a 50% chance of dropping an Argon Crystal (otherwise he drops an Orokin Cell). Once again, he’s a random occurrence, so just hope you get lucky while finishing missions in The Void.
Here are some Argon Crystal locations in the Void:
- Hepit – Capture
- Taranis – Defense
- Teshub – Exterminate
- Ani – Survival
- Stribog – Sabotage
- Tiwaz – Mobile Defense
- Oxomoco – Exterminate
- Ukko – Capture
- Belenus – Defense
- Mot – Survival
- Mithra – Interception
- Aten – Mobile Defense
- Marduk – Sabotage
Each of these locales has benefits and drawbacks when it comes to Argon farming. Capture missions — like Hepit — are extremely quick and easy to complete. This allows you to finish the objective (capturing your target) before exploring the entire map to check and smash every container you find. After which you can simply leave and try again if you get nothing.
Argon Crystal farming methods
To really speed up the farm, use mods like Thief’s Wit, Loot Detector, Animal Instinct, or Primed Animal Instinct. This will make any resource caches appear as white boxes on your map whenever you get close, and will also help you find dedicated caches of Argon on missions, which come in the form of huge purple gemstones marked as “Argon Permatite.” Destroying one of these will guarantee you at least one Argon Crystal every time. Though finding them is rare.
Alternatively, you can also simply explore the map while completing an “endless” mission, which will include more enemies. Each of which has a chance to drop an Argon Crystal upon death. Combine this with something like Nekros, Hydroid (and his Pilfering Swarm augment), or Khora (and her Pilfering Strangledome), or a Smeeta Kavat (with Charm equipped) to maximise the chances of getting a drop.
Farming Argon Crystals using Sentinels
Another method to farm Argon Crystals is by using a Sentinel with the Spare Parts mod. This mod gives your Sentinel a chance to drop rare resources when it dies. You can let your Sentinel get destroyed in a mission, pick up the loot it drops, then die and revive yourself to respawn your Sentinel and repeat the process. It’s a bit tedious, but it can be effective, especially if you’re specifically hunting for Argon Crystals. If you’re playing Protea or any Warframe that has subsumed her Dispensary ability through Helminth, you can use the “Repair Dispensary” mod to revive your Sentinel every 60 seconds, allowing you to farm Spare Parts continuously. This method can be used to farm any rare resource in Warframe, not just Argon Crystals.
Use resource boosters
Using resource boosters is an effective way to increase your chances of getting Argon crystals. Resource boosters double the amount of resources you receive from missions, making it easier to farm Argon crystals. You can purchase resource boosters from the market or receive them as a reward from login bonuses.
There are also resource drop chance boosters that while they dont double the amount of drops you get, they double the chance for something to drop.
Bring a Descrate Nekros
Nekros is a Warframe that has the ability to desecrate corpses using his 3rd ability. This increases your chances of getting additional resources by 54% for every enemy desecrated. Bringing Nekros on your Argon crystal farming runs can significantly increase the number of crystals you get. If you don’t have Nekros, you can also buddy up with another player, which also has the nice added effect of increasing the amount of enemies that spawn.
Bring a Hydroid or Khora
Yes, both these frames also have a way to increase drop chances. Hydroid has an augment mod called Pilfering swarm which gives extra resource drop chance on kill to any enemies the tentacles hold.
Khora’s augment is called Pilfering Strangledome and causes any enemies killed by strangledome to have have a chance to drop extra loot.
Because both these abilities activate on death, they can double up with Nekros’s Desecrate which activates after death. They can’t however, stack with each other so pick whichever one you like playing most if you have to choose.
Bring best buddy Smeeta Kavat
One of the most popular companions for a reason. Smeeta Kavat has a neat little mod called charm. When fully ranked up, Charm has a 28% chance every 27s to activate a random buff for the player, lasting 30s.
Whats good about this? Well, one of these buffs you can get doubles all pickups for 120s, including affinity, credits and resources. The other good buff for us will have Smeeta generate 1 Argon crystal out of thin air while playing in the void
PVP
If you’re into PvP, you can also farm Argon Crystals by completing weekly challenges in the Conclave. The drop rate for Argon is low, and PvP isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but if you do get lucky, you can get a package of 10 Argon Crystals, which is enough to cover several blueprints.
Isolation Vaults
Lastly, you can farm Argon Crystals by doing Isolation Vault Bounties on Deimos. These are special bounties given out by Mother where you battle Infested and Necramechs. At the end of every Isolation Vault, there’s a small optional escort mission where you protect Loid and Otak as they unlock a vault door. Behind that door are a bunch of storage containers that have a good chance of dropping Argon Crystals when you smash them.
The Takeaway
Farming Argon crystals can be a tedious process, but using these methods can increase your chances of getting this valuable resource. Running Void missions, using resource boosters, and bringing Nekros or another loot frame are all effective ways to farm Argon crystals in Warframe. With a little persistence and some luck, you’ll have all the Argon crystals you need. Good luck, Tenno!
Remember to always check the Void Trader’s offerings before crafting with Argon crystals. The Void Trader often brings exclusive items that require Argon crystals, and you don’t want to waste your hard-earned resources on other items. Additionally, make sure to use your Argon crystals as soon as possible, as they decay over time and will disappear from your inventory after a few days. Argon decay starts 1 day after the first pickup and causes crystals to half every day.