Cryotic is a Warframe resource that you mainly get by Excavating. It also comes from Resource Caches.
Cryotic was first introduced in the Operation: Cryotic Front event.
This resource freezes anything it comes into contact with and it’s found in sub-zero environments.
Only Excavation missions reward you with good amounts of Cryotic. You can expect 100 Cryotic for finishing an Excavation cycle.
Resource boosters double Cryotic amounts at the end of the mission. Try the Smeeta Kavat double pickup to double your loot.
The amount of Cryotic you get doesn’t depend on how hard the Excavation mission is. Cryotic is a resource that’s used for crafting.
There are some parts that require a lot of Cryotic to make. Unlike many other Warframe resources, Cryotic doesn’t drop from any enemies.
You have to extract it. You won’t see Cryotic listed on the planetary chart since Cryotic isn’t a ‘farming resource’.
It’s guaranteed from every Excavation you successfully do. Try to find the lowest level Excavation mission you can and then stay there with good weapons.
You can expect to get between 2000 and 2500 of this resource for each run.
It’s best to have a pair of Excavators running at the same time. If you have decent Warframes this ought to be manageable.
Tikal on Earth is a popular Cryotic farming location because you can also get Rubedo and Neurode drops there.
Because enemy spawn rates increase and so do their levels, you might prefer to stick to one Excavator at a time after you have 2000 Cryotic already.
Where to Farm Cryotic (Best Farming Places)
The best place to head if you need Cryotic is Hieracon which is on Pluto.
This Excavation mission pits you against Infected so don’t worry about defense-based Warframes.
Choose Khora, Gara or Frost to defend Excavators. Khora equipped with Pilfering Strangledome is especially effective since enemies will drop more Power Cells.
Hieracon is another great source of Neo relics and Axi relics so you can get these while you’re farming Cryotic.
If you have a doubling booster you will still see ‘100 Cryotic’ on the screen even if you actually have 200 in your resource count.
The amount you can get depends how many excavators complete the mining process. It doesn’t really matter where you do the Excavation missions, apart from the planet and enemies will vary.
How to Farm Cryotic (Farming Tips)
At the beginning of the mission, go towards an excavation spot to get the excavator. Excavation will begin and enemies will approach.
Ensure the excavator survives enemy attacks else you won’t get much Cryotic as a reward.
A destroyed excavator will be rewarded according to the percentage of how much excavating was done before it was destroyed.
Eventually excavators will run out of power. That’s when the stop mining. You (or the squad) can then collect power cells enemies have dropped.
A power cell can be brought to the excavator to increase power so it can complete the mining.
Once it’s finished, the amount of Cryotic is yours as a resource in your inventory.
When the first excavator is done, you can extract from the mission or choose to go to the next excavation area.
It’s your choice where you try to farm this resource and will also depend if you’re looking for Cryotic or that plus another resource.
Where to Excavate
Most planets have different excavation missions to choose from. Whichever you pick, you can always mine for Cryotic.
Earth is a good place to start since the enemies aren’t very strong and you can stay for a while. You can stay for many rotations (1 excavator is 1 rotation).
If you want more than simply Cryotic, head to Hieracon for other resources and relics. Bear in mind the enemies are stronger than on Earth and they become more dangerous as the mission progresses.
If you can do Excavation every now and then, you will be able to get Cryotic as well as other resources and rewards depending on planet and mission.
Cryotic is used for blueprints and remember sometimes you need a lot for a single blueprint.
Excavation Missions Compared
There are a total of 8 Excavation missions on Warframe to choose from. This is how they compare:
- Earth – Everest – Grineer (Tier 1) 1 to 6 Cryotic
- Venus – Kiliken – Corpus (Tier 1) 3 to 8 Cryotic
- Mars – Augustus – Grineer (Tier 1) 9 to 14 Cryotic
- Earth (Dark Sector) – Tikal – Corpus (Tier 1) 3 to 8 Cryotic
- Europa – Valefor – Corpus (Tier 2) 18 to 23 Cryotic
- Neptune – Despina – Corpus (Tier 3) 18 to 23 Cryotic
- Europa (Dark Sector) – Cholistan – Corpus (Tier 3) 3 to 8 Cryotic
- Pluto (Dark Sector) – Hieracon – Corpus (Tier 3) 3 to 8 Cryotic
Either farm the Tier 1 missions solo or take a squad into the Dark Sectors for a greater amount of resources.
You do need a group for Dark Sector missions so make sure you have a good team.
It’s a good idea to bring a Hydroid to speed up the farming process equipped with Pilfering Swarm.
Nekros with Desecrate is another option and there are other similar builds to choose from besides that can speed up drop rates.
This in turn speeds up enemies dropping Power Cells which can then speed up the Excavators.
Every Excavator takes 5 minutes for each cycle time, making these missions you can go in and out of if you want more Cryotic.
It’s also possible to keep farming on the same mission for a while since you keep getting Excavators until you leave the area.
Try the Smeeta Kavat’s double pickup/affinity Charm buff to double up on the loot.
There is no correlation between how hard the Excavation is and how much Cryotic you get, which means there is no issue attempting low-level missions by yourself.
You can also choose from the basic or Dark Sector types of missions.
Conclusion
As long as you are Excavating, you will get guaranteed Cryotic.
Even if your Excavator is destroyed, you can still claim the percentage of Cryotic it managed to Excavate first, so it’s always a win-win!
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