Warframes The Veilbreaker update released a new endgame mechanic for players to get their teeth into. Completing Endgame Archon Hunts grants Archon Shards, a new source of upgrades that can be loaded onto your Warframes for large, additional stat boosts.
Do you have a favorite Warframe that feels too squishy for Steel Path? You can use Archon Shards to fix this. Looking to minimize the Ability Power of your current build? Archon Shards can help with this. This guide will cover what Archon Shards are, how to get them, what each Archon Shard does, and we’ll answer some common questions about this endgame upgrade system.
Updated on 27 November 2022 by Charles Burgar: Archon Shards hasn’t seen much change since we first published this guide, though the community has taken some time to find the best use cases for these pieces. We’ve updated this guide with a dedicated section covering the best Archon Shard buffs, and we’ve updated our FAQ to include tips on killing Archons, talk about how Tauforged Archon Shards work, and more.
What are Archon Parts?
Archon Shards is an upgrade material that can be placed on your Warframes, giving them defense, attack or useful stats. Warframes can load up to five simultaneous Archon Shards, accessible through the Helminth system. After completing the “Veilbreaker” quest and crafting the subsequent Helminth component, you will unlock the ability to earn and slot Archon Shards.
As for their overall usefulness, Archon Shards is an endgame progression system that lets you minimize them by giving your favorite Warframes stats that are otherwise hard to get. For example, you can use Archon Shards to give your structure more parkour speed, a flat bonus to armor values, or increase your structure’s Ability Power. This system gives you more options for experimentation and can free up mod space for some builds.
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How to Obtain Archon Fragments
Archon Shards are obtained from Chipper and the weekly Archon Hunt event and are unlocked after completing the “Veilbreaker” quest. You can access Archon Hunts from the Star Map menu in the upper right corner of the UI. Archon Hunts is functionally identical to Sorties and acts as a three-stage quest in which players must defeat tougher enemies and various modifiers.
Unlike Sorties, Archon Hunts reuse Archon bosses seen in “The New War” quest, always leading to an Archon boss fight for the final mission. These enemies are incredibly durable, deal massive damage, and have two phases. Completing an Archon Hunt grants an Archon Fragment. The drop piece depends on the Archon you kill:
- Azure: boreal
- Red: Amar
- Amber: Nira
Besides the weekly Archon Hunt, you can also purchase an Archon Shard from Chipper. A vendor located at Drifter’s Camp. You can purchase the piece for Stock, a resource tied to Kahl’s weekly quests. Archon Pieces cannot be exchanged.
Tauforged Archon Parts
Completing an Archon Hunt has a 20% chance to grant you a Tauforged Archon Shard. This piece’s associated buffs are 50% stronger than its standard counterparts.Gives a more pronounced stat boost when you equip your Warframe. Tauforged Archon Shards take up the same area as your standard Archon Shards. Tauforged Archon Pieces cannot be traded or crafted.
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Installing Archon Parts
Equipping an Archon Fragment requires a crafted Helminth Archon Fragment Segment. The blueprint for this component is given to you after completing the “Veilbreaker” quest. For its manufacture it costs the following materials:
| Helminth Archon Fragment Segment | |
|---|---|
| 2 Entrati Lanthorn | 10 Inherited Namalon |
| 5 Sports Sheet | 50 Thrax Plasma |
| Production cost: 50,000 credits | Preparation Time: 24 hours |
You can find these components in Deimos or on the Zariman map. After creating the segment, place it on your Helminth seat to unlock the Archon Shard system.
In the Helminth menu, click on the “Archon Shard” tab at the top left of the UI. This will display your Warframe’s current Archon Shard slots. Select one of the slots to install Archon Shard. All owned Archon Shards appear in the upper right corner of the menu.
Socketing an Archon Piece will display one of five options, each based on the color of the Archon Piece you’re wearing. Select one of the statistics to complete the setup. The Archon Shard’s bonus stats will affect all configurations of your Warframe until it is removed.
Uninstall Archon Shards
From the Archon Shard tab, select any Archon Shard installed on your Warframe. You will be able to remove the selected fragment for 50% Bile resources from your Helminth. The returned item can then be used in any Warframe of your choice. You can do this as often as you want as long as enough bile is stored in your helminth.
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Archon Fragment Effects
Azure Archon Fragment Statistics
| Azure Archon Fragment | ||
|---|---|---|
| Effect | Standard Increase | Tauforged Increase |
| Health | +150 | +225 |
| Shield Capacity | +150 | +225 |
| Maximum Energy | +50 | +75 |
| Armor | +150 | +225 |
| Health regeneration | +5/s | +7.5/s |
Crimson Archon Piece Stats
| Crimson Archon Fragment | ||
|---|---|---|
| Effect | Standard Increase | Tauforged Increase |
| * Melee Critical Damage | +25% | +37.5% |
| *Primary Status Chance | +25% | +37.5% |
| *Secondary Critical Chance | +25% | +37.5% |
| Ability Strength | +10% | +15% |
| Ability Duration | +10% | +15% |
* Additive with mod bonuses.
Amber Archon Fragment Stats
| Amber Archon Fragment | ||
|---|---|---|
| Effect | Standard Increase | Tauforged Increase |
| Max Energy Charged at Spawn | +30% | +45% |
| Effectiveness in Health Orbs | +100% | +150% |
| Effectiveness in Energy Spheres | +50% | +75% |
| Casting speed | +25% | +37.5% |
| Track Speed | +15% | +22.5% |
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Best Archon Parts
Despite the wide variety of Archon Shard options, your best upgrade options are pretty straightforward:
- Azure: Specification for Armor or Health.
- Energy Max is also an option for Warframes with small Energy pools.
- Red: Specification for Ability Strength or Duration.
- Amber: Spec for Cast Speed or Parkour Velocity.
The rest of your options are either too niche or not useful for most Warframe builds in the game. Like most things in Warframe, it’s possible to use any buff you want and you’ll do pretty well. Choose what you value most. Just because you’re not using the most min-max options doesn’t mean your Archon Shards are wasted, it’s not. But for those wondering why these are the best, let’s explain why each option is good or mediocre.
Azure Archon Parts
| Effect | When is it used? |
|---|---|
| Health | If Armor > Health 300+, equip |
| Shield Capacity | Hildryn builds to increase her Maximum Energy |
| Armor | Equip if Armor < Health 300+ |
| Maximum Energy | Use on Warframes with small energy pools with limited mod space |
| Health regeneration | Apply to shield-focused Warframes to reduce chip damage |
Crimson Archon Fragments
| Effect | When is it used? |
|---|---|
| Melee Critical Damage | Use with melee stat bar builds (Khora, Atlas, etc.). |
| Primary Status Chance | never use this |
| Secondary Critical Chance | never use this |
| Ability Strength | Always a good option |
| Ability Duration | Always a good option |
Amber Archon Parts
| Effect | When is it used? |
|---|---|
| Max Energy Charged at Spawn | Sanctuary Onslaught farming and Lavos structures |
| Effectiveness in Health Orbs | never use this |
| Effectiveness in Energy Spheres | Energy-hungry Warframes that use directed abilities (Ember, Equinox, etc.) |
| Casting speed | Always a good option |
| Track Speed | Always a good option |
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Archon Piece FAQ
Can You Trade Archon Parts?
NumberYou cannot trade Archon Shards with other players.
Is There a Limit to the Number of Archon Shards I Can Install on My Warframe?
Only five Archon Shards can be installed in a Warframe at a time. All five pieces may be Tauforged. If you reach the Archon Shard limit and wish to make changes, you can remove Archon Shards from your Warframe for 50% Bile from your Helminth.
Do Tauforged Parts Have Drop Protection?
No, they don’t. It is possible to go for months without a single Tauforged Archon Shard falling. Conversely, it’s also possible to get extremely lucky and get multiple Tauforged Fragments within a few weeks; all are RNG. Digital Extremes has not announced any future plans to replace this system.
Can Chipper Sell Tauforged Archon Parts?
No, he can’t. For more on how Chipper’s prize pool works, see our Kahl’s Garrison guide.
Archon Fights Are Incredibly Difficult. How Can I Facilitate These?
You want to set your weapons for radiation damage, multishot and critical damage. Damage reduction, an aggressive form of damage resistance, is tied to every Archon fight in Warframe, and if the game detects that you’ve done too much damage in a short amount of time, it will balance your damage.
The best way to bypass this is to one-shot Archon before the damage reduction kicks in. This system doesn’t seem to take into account multishot, critical damage and base damage bonuses. This is what we recommend you run as archons are all weak to Radiation.
As for weapons that quickly melt Archons:
- Knell Prime: If you can get the occasional headshot, it does massive damage and has infinite ammo.
- Kuva Hek: Use alternate fire to hit the Archon with four shots at once. With a good build, you can shoot Archon with this weapon in one shot.
- Glaive Prime: Similar concept to Kuva Hek, get maximum combo multiplier and explode Glaive on Archon.
- Latin: The Incarnon form’s bonus damage seems to ignore damage reduction, making it an outstanding choice if you can charge alternate fire before the fight begins.
Do Archon Shards Have Level Requirements?
NumberThere is no Helminth requirement to use Archon Shards, but technically there is an MR requirement. The only prerequisites are a crafted Helminth Segment (requires MR8) and completion of the “Veilbreaker” quest. Your Helminth does not need any upgrades to install Archon Shard on your Warframes.
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