The dark priest of Warframe, Harrow uses his abilities to protect his friends while simultaneously eradicating the unbelievers. “Salvation through sacrifice, redemption through vengeance, and ascension through defiance."
Harrow is Warframe’s 32nd Frame, added June of 2017 along with his own personal quest, the Chains of Harrow. Affectionately referred to as the Pope Frame due to his equally impressive “hat”, Harrow is a capable support Warframe that can buff his teammates' ability to do damage as he can prevent them from taking it.
A devout Frame steeped in mysticism, Harrow is not for the faint of heart.
Who Is Harrow?
Harrow’s origins are explained during the Chains of Harrow quest. While we’ll try to keep spoilers to a minimum, be aware that the next bit will definitely reveal some backstory that newcomers might want to skip to prevent spoiling the surprise.
In order to start the Chains of Harrow, you must have access to Sedna and have completed The War Within quest. Although the quest features the Red Veil syndicate heavily, you don’t need to be affiliated with the syndicate in order to access the Chains of Harrow.
The quest begins with a distress call from a Steel Meridian ship. After arriving, it seems that the ship is abandoned, but strange noises can be heard. During your search, a Red Veil mystic appears to explain the tail of Rell, a Tenno cast out by Margulis and later found by the foremothers of the Red Veil. Rell bestowed the Veil with his teachings, which later became the violent syndicate.
Despite the thousands of years since the Tenno were founded in the Orokin era, Rell survived by transferring his consciousness into his Warframe: Harrow. The player will need to defeat several manifestations of Rell’s “spirit” and eventually destroy Harrow in order to complete the quest and obtain Harrow’s blueprint.
How To Grind Out Harrow’s Parts
Although the Chains of Harrow will provide Harrow’s blueprint upon completion, getting the usable Harrow Frame isn’t so simple. The player will need to acquire and build Harrow’s components before they can add him to their roster.
Harrow’s Chassis, Neuroptics, and Systems are located at various places throughout the system. The Chassis will drop from any Void Fissure enemies found during Void Relic missions and is by far the easiest component to acquire. Doing any defense or interception Void Relic mission will often yield one or two Harrow Chassis.
The Neuroptics and Systems aren’t quite as simple. Harrow’s Neuroptics are obtained from Pago in the Kuva Fortress and only drop on Rotation C of the spy mission. This means that all three vaults of the mission must be opened without a single failure to have a chance at acquiring Harrow’s Neuroptics.
Harrow’s Systems are found on any defection mission during Rotation B or C. Defection missions are notoriously lengthy, and with an 11% chance to drop on high-tier missions, it can take dozens of hours to grind out the Systems alone.
Even assuming perfect Kuva spy missions, the Warframe Wiki estimates it can take over 100 missions to acquire all the parts. That’s a big time investment for a single Frame.
Is Harrow Worth Grinding For, Or Should You Just Buy It?
Luckily, Harrow is one of the cheaper Warframes to outright buy on the open market for platinum. He only costs 225 platinum, which equates to a few dollars if a player waits for one of Warframe’s frequent login coupons.
We highly recommend simply purchasing Harrow as acquiring him the old-fashioned way can be somewhat obnoxious.
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What Makes Harrow Good?
Harrow is great for protecting his team and amplifying their weapons’ damage into the stratosphere. A skilled Harrow can lock down entire maps while simultaneously providing himself and his team with massive buffs to reload speed, fire rate, critical chance, shields, and best of all, energy.
Harrow’s bread and butter skill, Condemn, launches a blue stream that causes enemies to freeze in place while also regenerating Harrow’s shields. If Harrow’s shields are already full, he’ll generate overshields instead. Harrow’s passive allows him to have twice as much overshields as other Warframe, which greatly enhances his toughness.
His second ability, Penance, sacrifices his shields for a massive buff to reload speed and fire rate and also provides himself and his teammates with lifesteal for damage dealt. The more shields sacrificed, the longer the buff lasts.
Harrow’s third ability, Thurible, is a rare find in Warframe. By channeling energy into the Thurible, Harrow is then able to recoup that energy for both himself and his friends for every enemy killed. This greatly enhances the squad’s ability to maintain combat effectiveness in extended missions.
Finally, Harrow’s fourth ability unleashes the Covenant. This protects Harrow and his squad from all damage for a short time, while also buffing everyone’s critical chance at the same time. The more damage dealt to the team during the invulnerability period equates to more critical chance. For this reason, it’s highly recommended to bring critical-based weaponry when paired with Harrow.
Harrow’s kit provides him with versatility and power to be useful in almost any situation. While he may be tough to acquire for Warframe players strapped for cash, he’s more than recommended to be your next Frame to pick up.
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