Warframe: how to unlock Steel Path

To unlock Steel Path in Warframe, finish the required normal Star Chart missions, then visit Teshin in any Relay and choose Steel Path?. Start with that conversation even if you are still clearing planets: Teshin can show the missions, quests and Mastery Rank requirements holding you back.

This covers the reduced access requirements introduced in Hotfix 38.5.3 on 25 March 2025 and Teshin's checklist added in Update 39.1 on 26 August 2025, checked through 25 October 2026. Follow the same unlock route on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch and Switch 2. The same Star Chart checks apply on mobile.

Ask Teshin what you are missing

Visit a Relay, speak to Teshin and select Steel Path?. While the mode is locked, his answer lists up to three planets with outstanding missions, alongside missing quests and Mastery Rank requirements. Treat this as your account's checklist. A short planet list is a manageable set of targets, rather than confirmation that those are the only planets left.

Work through the requirements he names, then return for the next check. Follow a quest requirement before looking again for the mission it opens. Tyana Pass on Mars, for example, needs Mastery Rank 3 and Heart of Deimos. A planet can therefore still have a required mission waiting behind progress you have yet to make, even when its visible map looks finished.

Read the Mastery Rank requirement as your account rank. Levelling one Warframe to rank 30 advances a different track. If Teshin names a rank you have not reached, earn the necessary Mastery and pass its rank-up test. On PC, our Mastery Rank test and retry instructions explain that step.

Clear the required normal missions

Complete the required connected Star Chart missions available before The New War. Use Teshin's remaining requirements to decide where to go next, particularly when a quest hides a node. Finish those normal missions before returning to accept his Steel Path challenge; simply opening a planet leaves its uncleared missions to do.

You can leave Zariman Ten Zero, Albrecht's Laboratories and Hollvania out of this initial unlock checklist. Hotfix 38.5.3 removed those later areas from the requirement. Deepmines Bounties are also excluded: later updates removed their accidental access requirement and corrected the misleading Venus completion display. Keep your attention on the outstanding tasks Teshin actually gives you.

Turn on Steel Path in Navigation

Once you meet the requirements, return to Teshin in a Relay and accept the challenge through Steel Path?. Open Navigation afterwards and use the difficulty selector on the right of the Star Chart. Choose The Steel Path to enter the harder chart, or Origin System (Normal) to return to ordinary missions.

Expect a fresh mission progression on the Steel Path chart. Complete each available mission to open the following nodes, just as you did on the normal chart. Locked Steel Path nodes after acceptance are part of that progression. To check the unlock worked, look for the difficulty choice in Navigation and select the harder chart; you can change back there whenever you want normal difficulty.

Check Duviri and Railjack separately

For Duviri, unlock the ordinary Star Chart's Steel Path first and finish The Duviri Paradox. The quest registers The Duviri Experience node as complete. You also need normal-mode completions for The Circuit and The Lone Story. These remaining requirements can block Duviri's harder version after your main Star Chart unlock is already complete.

Use the missing-node message to identify which mode still needs completion. For The Circuit, complete at least one stage on normal difficulty; for The Lone Story, finish the whole run, including the Orowyrm. Then try the Steel Path selection again. These are separate Duviri checks, so keep them apart from Teshin's initial Origin System requirements.

For Railjack, unlock Steel Path on the main Star Chart and complete the particular Railjack mission on normal difficulty. Its Steel Path option then becomes available. This mission-by-mission route arrived with Update 43 on 17 June 2026. Check the normal completion of the mission you want to replay when the harder option is still missing.