Every Tenno sails through the Origin System in their own ship, the Liset. However, that can get a little lonely. When you want to ride through the blackness of space with a crew at your back, the Railjack is here for you.
The Railjack is a distinctive combat experience that places you at the helm of your own customizable ship. You can mix and match parts to change your Railjack’s combat capability, change the visual design of the ship, and hire a Crew to help you keep your personal privateer in top shape. While the Railjack can be manned by a solo player, it’s also meant to be a combat experience with a full Squad of players working together.
How To Unlock The Railjack
To kick off your Railjack experience, you first need to build one. There are two ways to do this. The first is to complete the quest “The Rising Tide”, which is only available once you’ve completed “The Second Dream”. The Rising Tide will be started once you build a Dry Dock in your Clan Dojo, or at the Relays on Saturn, Europa, Eris and Pluto.
Then you need to construct the Railjack Cephalon. You’ll find the Railjack Cephalon Blueprint in the in-game Market for 35,000 Credits. Build it in your Foundry and then install the Cephalon in your Dry Dock’s main terminal. This will begin the process of rebuilding the Railjack, which means acquiring parts from different missions. There are a total of six parts needed to complete your Railjack.
Once the ship is done, there’s still one more task! The ship’s Cephalon will direct you to a mission on Lua, where you’ll acquire the Void Key needed to power the Railjack. With your Reliquary Drive active, it’s time to explore the Empyrean!
What Is The Empyrean?
The Empyrean is the second space combat mode in Warframe, following the Archwing. In this mode, up to four Tenno come together to become the crew of a Railjack and complete unique missions. Completing missions in the Empyrean will reward you with Wreckage and Affinity, both of which are necessary to upgrade your Railjack.
You can take part in Empyrean missions without having your Railjack completed. In the top right of the Navigation menu, you’ll find the Empyrean icon in the top right corner, underneath the first row of mission icons. Click that and this will take you to the Empyrean version of the Star Chart. Here you can undertake missions on other players’ Railjacks.
Piloting The Railjack
Despite your ability to change the visual exterior of your Railjack, the interiors of every ship remain the same.
1: Pilot Seat - Allows you to control the Railjack, activate Railjack Abilities, and use certain Railjack weapons.
2: Forward Artillery - Holds the Tunguska cannon, a weapon powerful enough to take care of enemy Crewships from afar, necessary for Reactor Sabotage missions.
3: Turrets - Two turrets can be accessed from the middle of the ship: the Ventral and Dorsal Turrets.
4: Entry / Exit Hatches - Allows you to embark and disembark from the Railjack.
5: Foundry - This where the player can resupply various resources necessary for the Railjack.
6: Archwing Slingshot - Allows you to quickly board enemy Crewships or attack smaller fighters.
Upgrading Your Railjack
Your Railjack has several systems for upgrading its capabilities, many of which mirror those found on your Warframe. While the names and specific Items might be different, some of the concepts are remarkably similar. These are the major upgrade paths for your Railjack:
The Plexus
Intrinsics
Armaments
Components
You will gain Affinity, the experience system for the Railjack, and Items that will upgrade your ship through Empyrean missions. Let’s go through each of the upgrade systems.
The Plexus
The Plexus is akin to the Mod system on your Warframe. You can access the Plexus window through a console on your Orbiter, or through the Railjack section of your Main Menu. The Plexus menu has three different categories: Integrated, Battle, and Tactical.
There are a total of nine slots in the Integrated Plexus window: eight standard Plexus slots and one Aura slot. You also have a Capacity, just like your Warframes and Weapons. Much like the standard Mod system, there are polarities and matching the Mods to these polarities will lower their overall Capacity cost. Forma and Aura Forma can also be used to change polarities.
The Battle and Tactical categories do not relate to Capacity. Battle mods allow you to use abilities similar to your Warframe’s Abilities while in the Railjack. These mods come in three types: Defensive, Offensive, and Super. Using these abilities draws from your Warframe’s Energy meter.
Tactical mods provide unique abilities that can be activated from the Railjack’s Tactical Menu. You can open this while on the Railjack by pressing the L key on PC, if you have reached Rank 1 in the Tactical Intrinsics category. (More on that later!) On console, the Tactical Menu is accessed by hit Left on the directional pad in tandem with a specific button depending on your console: the RB button on Xbox One and Xbox Series S|X controllers, the R1 button on the PS4 DualShock 4 and PS5 DualSense controller, and the R button on Nintendo Switch. When activated, these abilities will have a cooldown timer before you can activate them again.
Intrinsics
This is a series of passive skills that improves your Railjack and unlocks new functions. The five Intrinsics categories are Tactical, Piloting, Gunnery, Engineering, and Command.
Tactical: Increase player's focus on the big picture of the battle. Improved Tactical Mods and powerful Tactical deployment abilities.
Piloting: Forge a bond with the vessel. Unlock advanced speed and agile maneuvering capabilities.
Gunnery: Unlock the deadly power of Railjack's arsenal. Improved turrets, advanced targeting modes, and devastating artillery.
Engineering: Mend the scars of battle and feed the war machine. Repair ship damage, bolster resource yields and forge armaments in real-time.
Command: Put a crew together to man the Railjack when other Tenno are not around.
Each Intrinsics category has ten ranks. You progress through the ranks by spending Intrinsic points, and you gain Intrinsic Points by gaining Affinity in Empyrean missions.
Armaments
Armaments are your Railjack’s version of Weapons. The Armaments menu can be accessed through your Dry Dock. You can equip three Armaments at a time, and each one affects a different Railjack system. The first slot changes the Pilot’s weapon, the second changes your Railjack’s Turrets, and the final slot is for the Pilot’s alternate fire.
Components
Components are one of the few systems that aren’t directly analogous to your Warframe. Think of them as an extension of the Armaments, but focused on your Railjack’s standard combat capability. There are four types of Components: Shield Array, Engines, Plating, and Reactors.
Equipment for these slots will come in three different Tiers and three different categories. The Tiers range from Tier I to Tier III, with the latter being the strongest and coming with a unique trait. The categories are the series the equipment belongs to, each tied to one of three Orokin Houses. Sigma is the standard set and they can be researched in your Dry Dock, while House Lavan, House Vidar, House Zetki each lean towards specific stats.
Wreckage
Armaments and Components can be found in Empyrean missions, but they’re not immediately useful. Instead, you’ll obtain Wreckage by completing missions. Wreckage needs to be identified and repaired, which will cost you certain resources and take multiple hours to complete. You can only have up to 30 inspected Wreckage in your Inventory and once you’ve reached this limit, you need to Scrap some in order to identify any more.
Crew Members
While the Railjack is meant to be controlled by a full Squad of players, you can hire a Crew to help you in Empyrean missions. Once you’ve reached Rank 1 in the Command Intrinsic, you can hire your first crew member from Ticker on Fortuna. Further Crew member slots are unlocked at Command ranks 2, 4, and 6, while later ranks allow access for stronger Crew members.
Each Crew member will have a cost that varies depending on your standing with certain Syndicates. They also have their own specialties that make them suited for center spots on the Railjack. Once they are hired, Crew members can be customized on your Dry Dock, equipped with Weapons, and Trained to improve their skills.
