[Guide] Ranking-Up Outside of Draco

Draco, since it's existence, has been the go-to place for ranking up things from weapons to Warframe. It's fast and gives a ton of EXP even without a booster. The downsides? It's difficult to find a willing damage dealer (Mesa/Saryn/Excalibur) and it's boring.

Here are a few alternatives to Draco for those who want to get the ranks without getting bored out of their wits.

SPY 2.0

Spy 2.0 gives a lot of affinity (EXP). On Pluto, Oceanum, you get 12k per terminal, that's 24k with a booster.

The catch is, you need to do it without tripping any of the alarms in the spy rooms. Tripping any of the alarms and still retrieving the data will net you 1/3 of the exp (4k without a booster/8k with a booster). Like many things, there's a learning curve. if you do your homework and learn from your mistakes you'll be doing perfect runs in record time.

Upon completion, you can also get great things like mods, and Void keys. This is where i farm my T3 Mobile Defense keys. :)

Weapons are the easiest and safest things to level using this method. You don't need to kill anything, even the cameras. Make sure you only have the weapons that you want to work on equipped to maximize the EXP, set up your Loki (Prime or Vanilla) and do it.

Frames may be possible... but it takes too much work. The next suggestion might be more plausible for frame ranking.

Here's my tricked out Loki Prime if you want an idea of what you should focus on.

Focus on Duration and Eff

Know how long your Invisibility lasts so you can find a safe spot to recast before it expires

Learning to Spy might take time, but it's worth it. You can start off with low level spy missions. These have less obstacles, but also give lower affinity. Once you are confident, you can work your way up. You also have to choose if you want to Spy against the Grineer or the Corpus. Each faction has it's own spy rooms and enemy sets, which may be problematic unless you are prepared. One of the biggest factors that you want to consider are the Corpus Nullifiers. If you can deal with these quickly, you're set. If not, you might have to Spy against the Grineer instead... just be careful of the arc traps!

Lucky look from one of the new enemies I killed during the spy mission.

One last thing though, do it solo. More people make Spy difficult, plus, other people bring complications that may become tiresome and at times, frustrating.

Stealth

Stealth has always been a part of Warframe. Each stealth kill gives bonus affinity. The first kill gives 100%. If you perform another stealth kill within 30 seconds, the bonus increases by 100% and becomes 200%. You can continue getting the bonus 100% until you're getting affinity at a rate of 500%. That is a lot of affinity.

You just need silent weapons to do this. A bow, a thrown weapon and your favorite melee weapon will do the job. If you want to use your usual loadout, make sure that you equip mods that reduce the noise of your weapon (also in the link above).

The key here is to do 1-hit kills. So pick a planet that is relatively low and start there. if you find it too easy, move up. If you find it difficult, move down. You need to also be able to deal with mistakes. Don't expect to be able to do perfect stealth kills all the time. You will need to clean up every now and then.

I suggest that you do you stealth killing sprees in Sabotage or Spy missions. Enemies are unaltered at the beginning and will not be alerted as you complete your objective (unlike capture).

Keys

These are an Alternative to Draco, but, are still very similar. You might still get bored. ODDs and T3 Mob Def Key shares are the best place to do this. People won't enerally complain since you are using your key and as long as you are not too greedy (don't being low rank frames AND weapons).

Survival

With maxed weapons and a Rank 0 frame (with much Vitality and or Redirection) I go for long survival runs at Elara in Jupiter. Going solo beyond 20 minutes gives great exp and you can also get NS, which is perfect for those who build forma every day. Thanks to the person who helped me remember here.


These are my suggestions for Draco alternatives for people who are sick and tired of it.
I also want to clarify that I am okay with people doing Draco. I also did Draco. It's just that I got bored fast. if you feel the same way, try this out. You can decide which you prefer after. :)

Hope it helps!

Thanks for reading.