Stance Mods - What, Where, and How (Updated 15/05/17)

A guide to all stance mods

Finding Weapons

For those who can't be bothered to read my walls of text and just want to find where to find the mod for their weapon -
Navigate to the section of the weapon type, or use Ctrl+F to search for your weapon name - Many of the weapons that use the mods are listed.

Many newer weapons have not been added, and I have not updated most of the farming locations, however the stances themselves have been updated.

Introduction

As of U13, Melee 2.0 is live. This means that you can switch out your melee weapon, and with it attack, block, parry, channel, and combo. All of this you can do from the get-go, bar one thing - combo. This is where stance mods, and this guide, come in.

In your melee weapons, there is now a seventh mod slot - the stance mod slot. In the slot, you can only put stance mods into it. When you have a stance mod for your weapon equipped, based upon the mod level it increases the mod capacity of you melee weapon and unlocks attack combos for that weapon.

I will not go over anything else about Melee 2.0 from here on, but only what weapons use what stance mods, where to find them, how to find them, and maybe some other bits and pieces about stance mods. If you want a guide on what each stance does, or on what Melee 2.0 includes, then you'll need to go looking somewhere else, like the codex.

Most of this guide will consist of a list of what enemies drop the stances, and recommended farming locations. Down at the bottom, I have put some tips for mod farming.

Also, please rate and share so more people can see this. Favorite it so that you can find it quickly as well if you like. Share the glory and loot! (largely the loot)

Stance Polarities

Stance polarities are pretty damn weird. They use all 4 normal polarities and even add their own strange one.

However, this does seem to have a purpose of sorts. Different weapons are encouraged to use specific stances that share their polarity with it, as that gives far more mod capacity.

(The mod capacity gained is equal to the number that is the mod capacity cost in most mods, and, inverse to normal mods, is doubled if it shares polarity with the slot and reduced to 2/3 if it does not.)

This doesn't effect much yet though, as there is only a very small pool of stances to draw from for each weapon grip, and some grips only have a tiny handful of weapons anyway. This is still a point to note for the future.

Drop Locations by Weapon Grip

This information is in the spreadsheet, but I will post it here and give some additional information.

The list at the top of each grip is the applicable weapons - some of these may be inaccurate, but I did some research as to what people were saying for the confusing ones. If you see any mistakes, please post about them.

Then, each stance mod is listed by name, rarity, and which enemies drop them, and is followed by recommended farming locations and a picture.

Sword

Cronus, Dakra Prime, Dark Sword, Ether Sword, Heat Sword, Jaw Sword, Mire, Pangolin Sword, Plasma Sword, Skana (Prime)

Vengeful Revenant
Rare
Conculyst
Any Orokin Moon mission - just remember to pack different elements on each of your weapons





















Iron Pheonix
Rare
Lancer (All), Hellion (All)
Lua, Earth; Cambria, Earth; Any Survival/Defense





















Crimson Dervish
Rare
Bombard
Anywhere after ~10-15 min/waves of Grineer survival/defense

Dual Swords

Dual Cleavers, Dex Dakra, Dual Ether, Dual Heat Swords, Dual Ichor, Dual Kamas, Dual Raza, Dual Skana, Dual Zoren, Nami Skyla

Crossing Snakes
Rare
Elite Lancer (All)
Grineer defense/survival at a higher level than 21 - thats when they start spawning


















Swirling Tiger
Uncommon
Scorch, Corpus Tech, Anti-Moa, Corpus Warden
Elara, Jupiter

Dagger

Ceramic Dagger, Dark Dagger, Heat Dagger, Karyst, Sheev

Homing Fang
Uncommon
Nauseous Crawler
Dark Sectors (not in conflict); Derelict, particulary survival/defense

These guys are really rare. Luck with this one.




















Pointed Wind
Rare
Shockwave Moa
Anywhere Corpus above lvl 15, particulary survival/defense

Machete

Kama, Machete (Wraith), Prova (Vandal), Nami Solo

Sundering Weave
Uncommon
Trooper (All), Eviscerator (All)
Shklovsky, Phobos; D'Arrest, Phobos; Lua, Earth; Cambria, Earth; Invasions

Dual Dagger

Fang (Prime), Ether Daggers

Gnashing Payara
Rare
Elite Crewman
Minthe, Pluto; Invasions; Other mid-high lvl Corpus missions



















Sinking Talon
Uncommon
Detron Crewman (Jupiter and Earth Only)
Elara, Jupiter

Fist

Ankyros (Prime), Furax (MK1)

Gaea's Tragedy
Rare
Comba, Scrambus
Neso, Neptune, other high level corpus missions, not really sure about much























Seismic Palm
Rare
Leaper
Dark Sectors (not in conflict); Derelict, particularly defense/survival



















Fracturing Wind
Uncommon
Charger
Dark Sectors (not in conflict); Derelict, particularly defense/survival

Sword and Shield

Silva and Aegis

Eleventh Storm
Rare
Lephanthis (Heads)
Derelict Assasination



















Final Harbinger
Uncommon
Drekar Maniac
Uranus Underwater Missions

Sparring (Hands and Feet)

Kogake, Obex

Grim Fury
Uncommon
Powerfist
Mimas, Phoebe, Enceladus and Rhea, Saturn; Triton, Neptune




















Brutal Tide
Rare
Toxic Ancient, Boiler
Dark Sectors; Derelict, particulary survival/defense

Polearm

Orthos (Prime), Serro, Tonbo

Shimmering Blight
Uncommon
Seeker (All)
Shklovsky, Phobos; D'Arrest, Phobos
These guys are not common.

















Bleeding Willow
Rare
Corrupted Moa
Void, particulary survival/defense

Staff

Amphis, Bo (MK1, Prime), Tipedo

Clashing Forest
Uncommon
Corrupted Ancient
Void, particulary survival/defense




















Flailing Branch
Rare
Corrupted Heavy Gunner
Void, particulary survival/defense

Glaive

Glaive (Prime), Halikar, Kestrel

Astral Twilight
Rare
Denial Bursa
















Gleaming Talon
Rare
Leech Osprey, Sapping Osprey
Ose, Europa; Cypress, Pluto; Xini, Eris; Corpus above lvl 15

Whip

Atterax, Lecta, Scoliac

Burning Wasp
Uncommon
Corrupted Lancer, Regulators
Void, particulary survival/defense



















Coiling Viper
Rare
Corrupted Crewman
Void, particulary survival/defense

Heavy Blade (Axe/Heavy Sword)

Galatine, Gram, Scindo (Prime)

Tempo Royale
Rare
Isolator Bursa






















Cleaving Whirlwind
Rare
Ancient Disruptors, Tar-Mutalist MOAs
Dark Sectors; Derelict, particulary survival/defense




















Rending Crane
Uncommon
Napalm
Anywhere after ~10-15 min/waves of Grineer survival/defense

Hammer

Fragor, Jat Kittag, Magistar

Shattering Storm
Uncommon
General Sargus Ruk
Guess. Only Tethys, Saturn



















Crushing Ruin
Rare
Seeker (All)
Shklovsky, Phobos; D'Arrest, Phobos

Katana

Nikana, Dragon Nikana

Tranquil Cleave
Rare
Frontier Butcher, Arid Butcher
Lua, Earth; Cambria, Earth; Kepler, Phobos

As a warning, this mod is not easy to get. If you're looking for a stance to get you going with combos, look somewhere else.
















Decisive Judgment
Rare
Grineer Warden, Heavy Gunner
Any Grineer Capture Mission, or Survival/Defense




















Blind Justice
Uncommon
Stalker
Kill some bosses to get your death mark if you havent already, past that maybe farm shorter missions with as many buddies as you can get. Try to have at least 1 good weapon on you, or you'll be stuffed.

Claws

Ripkas, Venka

Vermillion Storm
Rare
Manic Bombard, Drekar Manic Bombard
Uranus mission - no known effective farming locations.
This mod is known for having a stupidly low drop chance. Good luck with it.




















Four Riders
Rare
Manic
Any Grineer mission with the alarms set off, Trial of Retribution























Malicious Raptor
Rare
Powerfist
Mimas, Phoebe, Enceladus and Rhea, Saturn; Triton, Neptune

Scythe

Ether Reaper, Hate, Reaper Prime

Reaping Spiral
Uncommon
Dera Crewman (Normal Crewman), Grineer Power Carriers, Corpus Power Carriers
Corpus, particularly Excavation




















Stalking Fan
Rare
Sniper Crewman, Nullifier Crewman
Ose, Europa; Over lvl 15 Corpus missions

Tonfa

Kronen

Gemini Cross
Uncommon
Corrupted Moa, Excavation Missions
Void Defense/Survival, Excavation Missions

Gunblade

Redeemer

High Noon
Rare
Brood Mothers
Dark Sector and Derelict Survival and Defense

Nunchaku

Ninkondi

Atlantis Vulcan
Uncommon
Guardsman
Casta, Ceres

Blade and Whip

Mios

Defiled Snapdragon
Rare
Scorpion
Most Grineer missions. Draco, Ceres; Egeria, Ceres

Rapier

Destreza

Vulpine Mask
Rare
Maniac Bombard, Drekar Maniac Bombard, Comba, Scrambus, Datalyst
Valefor, Europa

Stance Farming Guide

From here, the sections are not as much giving raw information as much as giving recommendations and thoughts. It largely consists of farming tips and was written quite a long time ago now.

Farming Warframe

By and large, the Warframe you use for mod farming is just up to personal preference, with one exception - Necros can really help getting mods. Whenever you kill the enemy you're after, spam Desecrate 'til the corpse gets wiped from existance. If done right, a Necros can multiply your chances of finding that mod by a dramatic number.

Mission Type

When farming for mods, mission type is important. In the following sections I will outline at least some of the pros, cons and tips for each type.

What mission type is best also depends on how many people you have in your squad - if you are solo, then you should stay away from survival and defense, and probably mobile defense as well, as they really need more people to keep going for a decent amount. With two people in a squad, mobile defense and survival becomes much more doable, although defense can still be a bit thorny. With three or four people, defense and survival are the best ideas.

Survival/Defense

These are probably the best mission type for farming mods. You get a limitless horde of enemies thrown at you, and you can stay as long as your abilities allow. However, to do these well you really need to be in a squad of people.

Both mission types are more rewarding than most but also more difficult. You are fighting off hordes of enemies, and you have a secondary objective to pursue. Also, if your computer is already slow running Warframe, then defense and survival can easily result in a 5-15 FPS drop. However, the extra risks are definitely worth it, for the reward, but also for the fun of a challenge. Nothing says 'Tenno' more than 4 people destroying hundreds upon hundreds of degenerate clones, destructive robotics, or beings of twisted flesh.

In survival, it is very important to do two things - stay together and stay near life support.
If you don't stay together, then you have no way of getting potentially needed assistance, if you go down you may not be able to be revived, and the drops from enemies (including mods) are scattered throughout the map and you have to spend more time travelling between locations then actually fighting.

Staying near life support is vital. If you get carried away happily slaughtering enemies by the hundred three rooms away from the capsules, and you don't notice your life support level dropping until the Lotus informs you of it, then you've finished the mission prematurely. Stay near the life support capsules, and as soon as your life support drops to ~50-60%, activate it, and move on to the next one. This will save your life, and your mods, repeatedly.

In defense, similar rules apply. Don't go wandering off away from the cyropod and try to keep some backup plan available at all times.

If you go wandering, then the same things happen then if you split up in survival, with the addition of you can no longer defend the cryopod in an emergency.

This also goes into keeping a backup plan. When suddenly a group of 5 Disruptors, 4 Toxics and 6 Healers comes charging around the corner, then you need some way of removing them quickly. More often then not, this just involves someone in 'reserve' who helps whichever area needs help most, and/or people keeping enough energy for an emergency ult.

In both defense and survival, there is one golden rule - do not overextend yourselves. In a survival, don't hang around hoping for enough life support drops to last you through to the next capsule, and you have less than 10% left. Just run for extraction. In defense this is even more pronounced; you can only leave every 5 waves. Overall it can be tempting and worth it to do this kind of thing if you have gotten absolutely nothing of worth, but if you have found even something worthwhile, then don't risk it. If you fail the mission, you lose everything.

Mobile Defense

Mobile defense is a decent mission type for farming mods, but its modular and fixed nature do degrade that somewhat. I won't go into them that much in depth though - as I tend to avoid them I do not have as much experience as I do other missions.

Mobile defense does through a lot of enemies at you in a small area over a duration, but can be quite difficult. The rooms are often more awkward to defend then the normal defense mission ones (with the exception of the Grineer mining ship defense map), while the timer is going the enemies are relentless and do not pause, and you cannot pull out sooner than the overall time, that is usually about equal to ~5-10 waves of a defense mission. If your squad is overloaded by the mission, you have no choice but to complete it or fail. Also, particularly when against Corpus or Grineer (ranged), the console that you are defending can die very quickly as it does not have as nearly as much health as a cryopod.

Overall though, the time between objectives is good to restock your energy and ammo supplies, and the above cons are really just reasons why defense missions are better - and the same rules, pros and cons of a normal defense apply. If you are in a small squad (solo or duo), then mobile defense can be the way to go.

Exterminate/Invasion

Generally, exterminate missions are not very good for mod farming. You have to hunt down a limited number of enemy in sometimes a very large map. However, Invasion exterminate missions have much more people crammed into the same space - and you have 'allies' dying as well.

Standard exterminate missions are rarely the way to go. Sometimes you luck out and get a big one, but you an equal chance to get a tiny one. You really need at least 80 enemies for it to be worth it, preferably over 100. This is where Invasion missions come in.

In Invasion missions, the enemy forces seem to be much much larger, often around 115 units. These guys are also packed into smaller spaces - for example there's always a huge crowd just after you go through the portal/cannon. On top of this, you have 'allies'; and when they die, they have an equal chance of dropping a mod. You may not be farming them in particular, but more loot never hurts, right?

Invasion exterminates are often a good choice, especially if you are in a small party (solo or duo).

Capture, Spy, Sabotage

Capture, Spy and Sabotage are all on one level for mod farming - alright. Do I really need to say much more? With the addition of Melee 2.0, datamasses are much less of a burden, and there is no major penalty to picking them up - you can still shoot them in the face with a pistol or stab them in the chest effectively.

They are good for solo runs, and alright for duo (for trio or more you really want to be doing survival or defense anyway). Just keep in mind you're trying to kill as many people as possible in a short a time as possible - try to speed-kill, not speed-run or explore.

Enemy Rarities/Types/Levels

Knowing what enemies drop stance mods is one thing, knowing where to find those enemies is another. This section should talk you through finding the right enemies.

Enemy types come under 3 kinds of rarity (in my mind) - Common, Heavy and Rare.

Common enemies are the guys who you find in every mission - Lancers, Crewman, Chargers, etc. Not difficult to find at all.

The Heavies are the big people, but they are still in every mission (as long as its hard enough) - Bombards, Ancients, Techs, etc.

Rare enemies are not the kind you can find in every mission. They barely spawn at all, or some missions spawn them like heavies but other missions never see them at all - Flameblades, Scavengers, Crawlers, etc.

All enemy spawning, of every type, are effected by their level. When you are searching for a particular variety, this must be kept in mind. Lower level enemies can be killed in greater quantities, dropping more mods. However, higher level enemies have a better chance to drop rarer mods. To a certain extent it can be a balancing act, but generally it is better, given that all stances are uncommon or rare, to aim for higher levels.

If you are trying to farm rare enemies, explore the place a bit. Choose a planet with the right level range and faction, and try out lots of different mission until you find one where your desired enemy spawns. The other day there was a defense alert up, and there were dozens of Flameblades and Seekers spawning. I had never seen so much of both spawning in a single mission before. Rather than just farming a single location endlessly because it sometimes spawns one or two of the enemies you are after, try to find the right place to find them with ease. It's by far the best way.

Spreadsheet

This is a link to a the warframe forums, where I posted the spreadsheet I made of which enemies the new mods drop from.

https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/210829-stance-drop-table/

And this is the link directly

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AtgLeUrztsI9dFVwSkc2MjhzeVRMM0hqdEtlTmFzTXc#gid=0

I've represented all data here on this guide, and added various other elements. At this point, the links are more here in case something changes and I need to update something.

Happy hunting!

[TENNO]

Final Harbringer drop from Feyarch Specter on Earth (apothics) with dozen other stances (atlantis vulcan)

[NexionSE of the Cm.G.]

@YHenloDer its a weapon type but if you mean fight against anoter player you can do so in the Dojo of you have built the room for it

[YHenloDer]

How does sparring work, don't know if there's a way to unlock it or something.

[Havoc§R]

The spreadsheet seems gone :/

[Taxar Bloodred]

I don't know If i'm lucky but I got tranquil cleave about 4 minutes on lith

[Drejzer]

There is new Sword Stance dropping from Bounties
(forgot the name)

[David_]

Add Cyclone Kraken and it would be up to date :3

[Kyriel]

"Shimmering Blight
Uncommon
Seeker (All)
Shklovsky, Phobos; D'Arrest, Phobos"

Where is D'Arrest?

[Aquila]

i dont understand where you get the Malicious Raptor mod and i want a stance for my venka. plz help

[Kormit the Frag]

defense with oberon and rhino - place specters near pod and hold pos
oberon camp with soma and reckoning
rhino run outside with hammer and 1 shot everyone, 20 waves no prob