Warframe 1999 Guide Complete Guide & Walkthrough

Before You Even Start

So you want to play Warframe 1999. Here is what nobody tells you upfront. The prerequisite chain is roughly 100 to 300 hours of content depending on how efficiently you push through the star chart. You need Vor's Prize, The Second Dream, The War Within, Rising Tide, Heart of Deimos, The New War, Whispers in the Walls, and The Lotus Eaters. All of them. In that order.

But honestly if you are reading this you probably already did all that. You just want to know what actually matters in 1999 itself. Let's get to it.

And one more thing before we jump in. If you are planning to tackle the secret boss, farm a Latron Prime and its Incarnon adapter first. You will need Flensing Spike for the armor strip. Nothing else in the game does it quite as efficiently for this encounter. Not even close.

The Hex Quest: First Clear Tips

The Hex quest is linear so there is not much to optimize. A couple things will save you frustration though.

Bring a frame with good survivability. Not a glass cannon.

The Scaldra units hit disproportionately hard compared to regular star chart enemies. Their Efervon-based attacks apply Magnetic procs that strip your energy and it gets annoying fast. I have found Arcane Nullifier at rank 5 makes this section dramatically less painful. Tbh I would not run it without.

The quest introduces each Hex member through sequential missions. Pay attention to their personalities here because the KIM messenger system later will test whether you actually understood them. Arthur is the stoic leader type. Eleanor has deep-seated fears about her Infestation. Lettie is blunt and practical. Quincy is cocky but insecure underneath. Aoi is upbeat and tech-obsessed. Amir is pure enthusiasm.

These are not shallow characterizations. The romance system genuinly punishes you for ignoring them. I messed up with Eleanor my first playthrough and it locked me out of her route for the entire calendar year. Which brings us to...

H-09 Apex Tank: The Secret Boss

This is the real endgame of 1999. The H-09 Apex Tank is a Steel Path exclusive found in the Victory Plaza Assassination node in Hollvania. It is not the normal tank. Level 225 solo. Scales to 300 in a full squad. Self-revive disabled. Ability-nullifying attacks that apply Magnetic procs every few seconds.

To even access it you need to hack special green-glowing terminals with Emergency Transponders dropped by Scaldra enemies. Not the normal blue ones. The green ones. You must do this at both gates before destroying them and you cannot cipher the hack. Learn the worm minigame. Arthur will confirm verbally when the threat level increases and two red Scaldra symbols will appear under your minimap.

Phase 1 Strategy

The tank starts invulnerable. Shoot the eight green-glowing vents on its body to make it vulnerable. Then the loop goes like this. Strip armor first. Latron Incarnon with Flensing Spike is king here, I have tried other setups and nothing comes close. Destroy exposed weak points. Kill Stormfall units carrying Thermian RPGs. Pick up the RPG. Apply Viral procs. Fire the RPG at the tank. Repeat.

Do not ignore the RPG carriers. A properly primed RPG shot with armor strip and Viral stacks can one-shot an entire health phase. Without the RPG you are chipping away with regular weapons and the fight drags long enough for Cascading Fragmentation to kill you. Trust me on this one.

Phase 2 Strategy

The floor collapses. The tank grows Techrot tendrils. Things get messy.

The tank is immune to status effects in this phase but armor strip still works for some reason. Focus on destroying the Prosboscis nodes, those Techrot growths on its body. These chunk its HP significantly.

When the tank starts Benefit Gig you have to kill every Techrot enemy immediately. Techrot Ancients heal it the most so prioritize them. Destroy Mucuspires the moment they appear. They fire homing missiles that disable your abilities and it snowballs fast if you let them stack up. For melee players a Magistar Incarnon heavy slam build trivializes Phase 2. Sampotes and Arca Titron also work but honestly the Magistar is just better.

What I Actually Use

For frame I run Revenant. Mesmer Skin ignores the nullification which feels like it should not work but it does. Nyx is a solid backup with armor strip and invulnerability. Not sure about this but I have heard Cyte-09 is best for solo if you are farming Glyph rewards. Have not tested it myself.

Primary is always Latron Incarnon with Flensing Spike. Phenmor or Laetum if you do not have it yet.

Secondary I go Lex Prime Incarnon. Dual Toxocyst Incarnon works too if that is what you have forma'd.

Melee is Magistar Incarnon heavy slam build. Sampotes, Arca Titron, Tenet Exec are fine alternatives.

For companion bring a Sentinel with Sacrifice and Momentous Bond. Panzer Vulpaphyla if you prefer the viral spread.

Arcanes: Arcane Nullifier R5 plus Arcane Aegis. Molt Augmented if you want more strength.

Focus school: Vazarin for Protective Sling. Unairu for the armor strip if your frame does not have one built in.

Essential mods: Primed Sure Footed, Adaptation, Rolling Guard. If you have Dante, pre-summon him as a specter before entering the arena for Overguard support. Specters are blocked inside but pre-summoned ones follow you in. Nice little trick I picked up from a clanmate.

KIM Messenger and Hex Romance

The Kinemantik Instant Messenger opens up after you finish The Hex quest. Each member has six tiers. Neutral, Friendly at 40 chemistry, Liked at 90, Trusted at 160, Close at 250, and Best Friends slash Loved at 360. Getting all six to Liked is mandatory if you want Syndicate Rank 4 and the Hex Finale.

How Chemistry Actually Works

Three sources daily. One KIM chat per member. One gift per member. And bounties which give 20 chemistry per completion with random member assignment. Gold-highlighted dialogue options in KIM give bonus chemistry. Pick those when you see them. Pretty straightforward.

For gifts I have found these work best. Arthur likes KineKitchen Toaster, Toaster Oven, Microwave. Eleanor wants KineBasik Hanging Planter, Notepad, Pens. Lettie takes KineKitchen Coffee Machine, Medical Kit. Amir goes for Wireless Headphones, Hockey Table, GPU. Aoi likes On-lyne: The Boys R Back, Speaker System. Quincy wants Digital Video Camera, A/V Receiver.

Dating Requirements

Arthur, Eleanor, Lettie need Close before you can ask them out. Quincy, Aoi, Amir only need Trusted.

Tbh the system is more punishing than you would expect for a looter-shooter. If you mess up key dialogue choices you can permanently lock yourself out of romance for that calendar year. Especially with Eleanor. She has something like four or five dialogue traps where one wrong answer kills the route and you do not even know it happened until hours later. Never agree to kill her when she asks. Never call her tongue gross. Never dismiss her friend Christopher's death. And when she says she loves you at Best Friends do not say you are not ready for commitment. Just... do not.

Quincy can act as a wingman and help fix some romance flags if you built a good relationship with him. Useful insurance if you are going for completion.

Calendar Seasons and Hex Overrides

The 1999 Calendar runs on a four-week real-time cycle. Each real week is one in-game season. Winter is week one, Spring week two, Summer week three, Fall week four. Each season has a set of To-Do challenges that take about an hour. Finishing challenges advances the calendar and gives you prizes.

What to Actually Pick

Archon Shards, Rivens, and Arcane Adapters are the high-value picks. Aura Forma is also good if you are still building out frames. Skip the food items and basic resources. You can farm those in regular missions.

Hex Overrides Priority

Hex Overrides are buffs that only work in Hollvania missions and last the full calendar year. You get three choices per season. Boosts stack so you can pick the same one multiple times. Factors do not.

I have found melee attack speed and ability strength Boosts are the most impactful since they speed up everything you do in 1999 content. Parkour velocity is nice quality of life. Electricity damage on bullet jump sounds cooler than it actually is. Skip it unless you have nothing better.

Overrides all reset at year-end. There is no way to keep them across cycles so do not get attached. Kinda sucks but that is how it works.

AX-52 and Reconifex Builds

The AX-52 is Arthur's signature assault rifle with a weird mechanic. Hip-firing gives plus 60 percent ammo efficiency while aimed headshots get plus 400 percent additive critical chance. So you skip Point Strike entirely and stack crit damage instead. Build goes Galvanized Chamber, Vigilant Armaments, Galvanized Scope, Vital Sense, Hunter Munitions, Primed Cryo Rounds, Rime Rounds, Rifle Aptitude. Arcane: Primary Deadhead. The headshot build is genuinely strong for single-target. You can delete Eximus units with two bursts once Galvanized Scope is stacked. Feels great when it pops off.

The Reconifex is Quincy's LMG with an active reload mechanic. Time the reload perfectly and you get bonus Heat damage added to the entire magazine. Build for Viral plus Heat. Point Strike, Vital Sense, Malignant Force, Primed Cryo Rounds, Hellfire, Galvanized Chamber, Galvanized Scope, Rifle Elementalist. The active reload timing takes about ten minutes of practice to get consistent. Once you have it down the free Heat proc adds noticeable damage on every single bullet.

Ways to Speed Things Up

Run bounties in solo mode if you are farming chemistry for specific Hex members. Public squads waste time on objectives unrelated to your target and the extra spawns are not worth the slowdown.

Build the KineKitchen appliances early in your foundry so you have gifts ready. Running out of gifts mid-week stalls chemistry progression and there is no way to catch up until the next day.

The calendar To-Do challenges can be stacked. Complete multiple objectives in one mission. Kill 150 enemies with abilities plus complete 3 missions means bringing a nuke frame to quick Exterminate runs.

Do not sleep on the Pizza Party consumable from Hollvania resources. The 60-minute affinity booster stacks with regular boosters for focus farming. I did not realize this for like two weeks.

So the overall flow once you finish the quest is this. Daily KIM chat plus gifts plus bounties for chemistry. Weekly calendar challenges for rewards. And when you have the gear ready, attempt the Apex Tank for the Turret Sumdali and solo Glyph rewards. The Hex Finale true ending unlocks once all six members hit Liked and you complete their associated narrative beats. It is not just a chemistry check though. You also need to have made certain story choices during the quest. The game does not tell you which ones and honestly I am still not entirely sure about all of them...