Quick Scoop

To upgrade Arcanes in Warframe, you combine multiple copies of the same Arcane in the Foundry’s Arcane section, which ranks it up instead of using a separate XP system.

How it works

  • Open the Foundry.
  • Select the Arcanes tab/section.
  • Pick the Arcane you want to improve.
  • Fuse extra copies of that same Arcane into it.

Copy requirements

For many Arcanes, the rank-up costs follow this pattern:

  • Rank 0 to Rank 1: 2 total copies.
  • Rank 1 to Rank 2: 3 more copies.
  • Rank 2 to Rank 3: 4 more copies.
  • So a max-rank Arcane that goes to Rank 3 needs 10 total copies.

Some newer Arcanes can go up to Rank 5, and those need 21 total copies from scratch.

Important note

You cannot “level” Arcanes by using them in missions; you upgrade them by merging duplicates of the same Arcane. If you only have one copy, it stays at Rank 0 until you get more copies.

Example

If you have 3 copies of an Arcane, you can rank it up once. If you later get more copies, you can keep upgrading it in the Foundry all the way to its cap.

TL;DR: Get duplicate copies of the same Arcane, go to the Foundry, and combine them there to raise its rank.