Warframe’s Mushroom Frame Nokko Brings Orb Vallis Back to Life — But Is It Enough?

Nokko brings cheeky chaos back to Venus

This update caught my eye because it aims to do two things Warframe hasn’t nailed in a while: breathe life into an older open world and introduce a frame that isn’t just another edge-lord murder machine. The Vallis Undermind sends us back to Orb Vallis on Venus-snowdrifts, neon billboards, and all-while spotlighting Nokko, a playful, mushroom-themed frame built around damage-over-time and keeping the squad healthy. After a year where we swung from 1999’s grime to Temple’s glam and Oraxia’s skittering menace, this feels like Digital Extremes saying, “Let’s have some fun again.”

Key takeaways

• Nokko is a DoT-and-heal hybrid with a deliberately “cheeky” vibe-think playful support that still spreads rot.
• The Vallis Undermind revives Orb Vallis with new Deepmines bounties and fresh Corpus threats.
• You need to have completed The New War to access it—a high but fair story gate for 2025 Warframe.
• Nokko can be earned via Deepmines bounties, bought piecemeal from Nightcap (rank 4), or purchased in a $24.99 / £19.99 bundle.

Breaking down The Vallis Undermind

The core loop here is familiar: head to Fortuna, pick up new Deepmines bounties, and push back Corpus incursions under the Vallis. If you blitzed Fortuna back in the day and never looked back, this update is a nudge to return. The gating matters: you must complete The New War quest, which makes sense given how much late-game Warframe assumes post-New War progress. If you’re brand new, treat that as your roadmap before dipping into the Deepmines.

Acquiring Nokko hits the standard DE trifecta. You can:

• Farm his parts through Deepmines bounties.
• Buy individual blueprints from Nightcap in Fortuna once you’re rank four.
• Skip the grind with the $24.99 / £19.99 bundle (includes Nokko, cosmetics, and 300 Platinum).

That’s DE’s usual “time or money” model. No surprises, no pressure, but the bundle price is squarely in “I want to try him tonight” territory. If you enjoy Fortuna’s loop and don’t mind bounties, earning him is very doable; veterans farming Steel Path for fun will tear through this.

Nokko’s kit: playful support with rot in the mix

On paper, a DoT-and-heal frame is a smart gap-filler. Warframe has DoT monsters (Saryn mains, don’t @ me) and stellar sustain frames (Wisp, Trinity), but fewer options that blend both with an approachable personality. Nokko leans into spreading status while keeping teammates topped up—perfect for squads that want to stay mobile and aggressive without pausing for health orbs.

The design intent comes through in the studio’s own words. “We knew [that it] wanted to keep things fun, cute, and cheeky before we went for something more heavy with The Old Peace later this year,” community director Megan Everett told me. “Our initial inspirations were to ensure his movements and abilities felt playful and youthful, with a sleepy-ish goofy vibe sprinkled in. Initially we said ‘he should be like Yareli’s younger brother’… and our team ran with that idea.”

Translation for players: expect a kit that rewards constant movement and status spreading, with enough sustain to keep pubs alive in higher-level bounties. If he scales the way recent frames do, Nokko could slot into Steel Path squads as a flexible enabler—stacking status for Condition Overload melee or priming targets for gun builds—without feeling like a strict healer tax.

Why return to Orb Vallis now?

Fortuna is one of DE’s best spaces—icy vistas, Solaris soul, a vibe that’s uniquely Warframe. But most players I know, myself included, sprinted through it after maxing standing and never came back. Everett was frank about the goal: “We wanted to bring more life to the Fortuna/Vallis area. We really wanted to give players a reason to return, and Vallis is already filled with different types of fungi, so we honed in on that aspect and branched the idea out from there.” Making a mushroom Warframe for a landscape dotted with fungi makes thematic sense—and honestly, it’s a clever way to tie gameplay, art, and location back together.

The bigger question is longevity. New bounties and a charismatic frame drive a weekend surge; sustained play needs interesting reward tables and mechanical twists. If the Deepmines rotate objectives smartly and drop something veterans actually want (unique mods, arcanes, or evergreen resources), Vallis could earn a proper second life instead of a brief nostalgia lap.

The cadence: from cheeky now to heavy later

2025’s frame lineup has been wild—Temple’s glam rock energy, Oraxia’s arachnid edge, with the devilish Uriel lurking in the wings—and DE shows no sign of running out of ideas. “Every person at the studio has at least one idea for a new Warframe,” Everett said, citing community-driven hits like Xaku. That tracks. Warframe works best when it swings between tones: silly one month, existential horror the next. Nokko’s cheerful rot sets the table for The Old Peace to bring the weight back later this year.

Should you dive in?

If you’ve cleared The New War and have a soft spot for Fortuna, yes—this is an easy recommendation. Nokko looks like the kind of frame that makes squads better without demanding a spreadsheet to play, and the Deepmines give Vallis a much-needed hook. If you’re early-game, focus on story first, then come back; if you’re endgame, this is a breezy way to farm a fresh kit and revisit one of Warframe’s best locales.

TL;DR

The Vallis Undermind brings new Deepmines bounties to Orb Vallis and introduces Nokko, a cheeky DoT-and-heal frame you can earn or buy. It’s a smart, playful pit stop before The Old Peace, and if the rewards land, it might finally make Fortuna a regular part of your rotation again.