With the limited amount of mod slots available on every item in Warframe, it can be hard to get utility-based effects for certain builds. Luckily, this is where companions shine.

These sidekicks can provide bonuses ranging from grabbing every item near the player to granting status immunity. Companions are crucial to getting the most out of any build, granting nice bonuses that would otherwise not be possible. Some robotic companions, named Sentinels, can also bring unique weapons with them that can deal with reasonable damage or be built around stunning targets consistently. Here are some of the best companions players can use in Warframe.

Updated October 26, 2023, by Charles Burgar: Companions have received a major rework in the Abyss of Dagath update. All companions can no longer die, new Bond mods have greatly shifted the modding meta, and certain balance changes have made more niche companions far more viable. We've overhauled this list to consider Bond mods, loadout synergies, and Simaris augment mods for certain Sentinels. Vulpaphyla entries were also replaced with new companions, seeing as how their invulnerability mechanic has now been made baseline.

10 Hounds

Excellent Crowd Control

Every Sister of Parvos is accompanied by a Hound, a robotic Kubrow that's armed to the teeth with unique abilities and exclusive weapons. Hounds have nine preset mods at their disposal, although they may only use three at a time. Most of these abilities are mediocre when compared to what Sentinels and Kavats can do, but there are two niche cases where Hounds are a fantastic option.

The first is Repo Audit, a discount Irradiating Disarm from Loki that disarms targets within a 30m radius. You can pair this with the Manifold Bond mod to inflict multiple status ailments with this blast, making your Hound the perfect primer for Condition Overload weapons.

But if you're not interested in status priming, consider using Null Audit to steal enemy Eximus auras every 60 seconds. Hounds are by no means the strongest companions in Warframe, and they're undeniably hard to get, yet the utility they offer can prove useful to buildcrafters and melee enthusiasts alike.

9 Wyrm

A Great Utility Sentinel

Wyrm is often overlooked when most players craft Sentinels, typically due to Wyrm's rather awful Crowd Dispersion ability. If you're surrounded by multiple enemies, Wyrm will fling them away from you with a violent ragdoll, making it somewhat inconvenient to use Wyrm with a melee weapon. The good news is that Wyrm Prime's base stats are ideal for stacking bond mods.

Wyrm Prime has a whopping 600 base shields, making it easy to hit 1,200+ shields with Calculated Redirection. This lets you have 100% uptime on Reinforced Bond with Wyrm, offering a constant 60% fire rate buff. You can also use a Cephalon Simaris augment named Negate to purge status ailments on your Warframe every five seconds.

While this can't be reduced through Manifold Bond, the constant status purging makes Wyrm a great utility Sentinel. Slap on a status primer like the Helstrum, and you have a Sentinel that can do a little bit of everything. Just don't equip Crowd Dispersion if you plan on fighting up close.

8 Taxon

A Starter Companion With High Potential

Taxon is the first companion many players will earn through their playthrough. Clearing the Venus Junction will grant the crafting blueprint for Taxon, and its crafting requirements are fairly cheap. Its main use is for recharging your shield through Molecular Conversion, restoring 200 shields after it blasts a nearby target.

While this alone might not seem strong, this can be paired with the Catalyzing Shields mod to constantly trigger invulnerability frames for your Warframe. You can even use Manifold Bond and the Guardian mod to further enhance this defensive layer, although this is technically possible with every Sentinel.

Overall, Taxon is incredibly easy to acquire, has a solid preset ability, and synergizes nicely with builds that use Catalyzing Shields to become virtually unkillable through shield-gate spam.

7 Diriga

A Melee Warframe's Best Friend

It might be surprising to see Diriga on this list, but the introduction of Bond mods in the Abyss of Dagath update has given this Grineer Sentinel a major buff. Diriga's notable preset ability is Arc Coil, releasing chain lightning that strikes up to seven targets within ten meters. While this doesn't sound strong on its own, you can mod this into a monstrous CC tool thanks to Manifold Bond. This mod has two notable synergies with Arc Coil:

1. Enemies hit by Arc Coil also receive status ailments modded on Diriga's weapon.
2. Killing enemies with multiple unique status ailments will lower Arc Coil's cooldown.

Arc Coil has a short cooldown already, but Manifold Bond gives you 100% uptime on this ability. Diriga effectively becomes a floating tesla coil that never leaves your side, stunning and priming enemy targets for you to decimate. It's a powerful synergy for Condition Overload melee weapons and similar status-scaling mods. Melee players will struggle to find a stronger Sentinel than Diriga.

6 Dethcube

Infinite Health And Energy Orbs

Dethcube is advertised as a floating weapons platform, unleashing a flurry of bullets to down nearby targets. While you can certainly use Dethcube that way, it'll require a different Sentinel weapon and half a dozen Forma to make this feasible. In practice, Dethcube's niche is creating a constant stream of Health and Energy Orbs.

This is done by using Dethcube's unique Energy Converter augment mod from Cephalon Simaris. This mod will cause Dethcube to spawn an Energy Orb after damaging ten unique foes.

You can easily trigger this mod by using the Helstrum modded for Gas, blanketing an area with micro rockets that leave a lingering DoT effect. You can then pair this with Synth Deconstruct to spawn Health Orbs on assists. Use both mods together, and Dethcube will become a reliable source of HP and Energy.

5 Adarza Kavat

Harrow In Kavat Form

As far as pets go, you can't go wrong with an Adarza Kavat. This companion grants a passive, additive 60% critical chance to all nearby allies every 20 seconds. The buff itself lasts for ten seconds, although you can extend this with the Tek Enhance mod.

Adarza Kavats excel when you pair them with single-target DPS loadouts. Bringing an Adarza to an Eidolon hunt or Profit-Taker can give you a sizable DPS increase, allowing you to farm these missions a little bit faster if your squad isn't optimized. Just be sure to upgrade their HP and shields so they aren't constantly in the downed state; they can't buff your critical chance if they're recovering.

4 Helios

The Sentinel With The Best Weapon

Helios is the only Sentinel in the game that comes with a melee weapon. Instead of firing bullets or lasers at targets, Helios will detach a part of itself and throw it at enemies. Deconstructor, especially its Prime variant, is arguably the strongest Sentinel weapon in Warframe.

That's mostly due to the existence of Vicious Bond, allowing melee attacks to strip enemy armor. Since Deconstructor counts as a Glaive, you can pair Vicious Bond with mods like Quick Return to quickly shred a target's armor. Throw on some damage mods, and Helios can single-handedly clear Steel Path enemies.

Using Deconstructor On Other Companions

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If you use the loadout randomizer option in the arsenal menu, it's possible for Deconstructor to appear on other Sentinels and MOAs. Keep rerolling until Deconstructor appears on the Sentinel/MOA you wish to use.

As for utility Helios can scan targets to fill out a player's Codex, granting additional enemies to test against in the Simulacrum. If an enemy is fully scanned, players can also use the Detect Vulnerability augment to have weak points be revealed on enemies, making them take extra damage. Helios loses value once you've scanned everything in Warframe, but they're undeniably a useful utility Sentinel.

3 Sahasa Kubrow

A Mobile Protea Dispensary That Bites

If there is one type of Kubrow we recommend, it is the Sahasa variant. Sahasa Kubrows have a unique ability called Dig, allowing them to dig into the ground about every 15 seconds to spawn items for you. These items include Health Orbs, Energy Orbs, and ammunition. In other words, the Sahasa Kubrow is effectively a walking Protea Dispensary.

But unlike Dispensary, the Sahasa Kubrow digs for items you currently need. If you have minimal Energy, your Kubrow will always spawn Energy. This is especially useful if you're playing a Warframe that uses a channeled ability and can't passively regenerate Energy; your Kubrow will just keep giving you free Energy. If you want an easy way to proc Zenurik's Energy Pulse passive or trigger Arcane Energize, consider getting a Sahasa Kubrow.

2 Nautilus

24/7 Crowd Control

If your build could benefit from some added crowd control, look no further than the Nautilus Sentinel. This Railjack companion has arguably the strongest Sentinel ability in the form of Cordon. This works similarly to Khora's Ensnare, pulling all targets within 30m into a tight cluster for swift elimination. It has an AoE size that's comparable to most top-tier CC abilities, yet it suffers from a somewhat lengthy 15s cooldown.

That's no longer a problem thanks to Manifold Bond. Defeat anyone with three or more unique ailments, and Cordon's cooldown will be decreased by three seconds. So long as you can inflict three or more unique status ailments, you can effectively remove Cordon's cooldown. This is absurdly powerful on Warframes with large AoE abilities or melee exalted weapons.

Best of all, Nautilus can easily prime targets itself through its Verglas weapon. This beam weapon features high status chance, great fire rate, and is surprisingly hard-hitting a Sentinel weapon. If you want to prime targets or kill fodder units outright, the Verglas will serve you well. And if you need some added crowd control to your build, the Nautilus won't disappoint.

1 Smeeta Kavat

Double Loot Drops And Powerful Combat Buffs

If players are going to farm resources, the Smeeta Kavat is the uncontested best companion in the game. This is one of two companions that can increase your loot gains, the other being the Chesa Kubrow. Unlike the Chesa, Smeeta Kavats don't interfere with loot-generating abilities and stack with just about every loot-enhancing source in the game.

Smeeta Kavats have a preset called Charm that grants you one of six random buffs every so often. These buffs can give you an instant reload, cause the next source of damage to not hurt you, or set your weapon's critical chance to 200%. More importantly, the Smeeta Kavat can double all Affinity and resource earnings for the next two minutes—something you can extend further through the use of Tek Enhance.

This buff stacks with Resource Boosters and even the Charm buff itself. If you're lucky enough to receive the resource boon multiple times, you'll gain 4-8 times as many resources. It's the best companion for those who just want to increase their loot gains without any hassle.