How to unlock the Isolation Vault secret room in Warframe

Isolation Vaults present one of the easiest rare resource farms in Warframe. These underground Entrati facilities host the most difficult content in Cambion Drift and offer Deimos-exclusive rare materials to match it. The catch, however, is that said resources are virtually impossible to find if you do not know where to look for them. The primary objective of Isolation Vaults themselves is straightforward - kill the Guardian Necramechs within the facility.

There can be up to 3 Necramechs per run, depending on the tier of the bounty selected. Once all Necramechs are dead, the actual bounty can be completed without further ado by simply booting out of the depths via an Esophage. Ironically, looting the titular 'Isolation Vault' is generally cast aside as a missable side-activity in Warframe.

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How to do the Isolation Vault bonus objective in Warframe

You can work towards this bonus objective right after the second phase, i.e., once you are out hunting the Necramechs in the facility. However, it would be ill-advised to try and juggle both simultaneously due to the fail-state risks. You can find a detailed build guide on beating the Necramechs efficiently here.

Note that to access the true vault, you must have Operator mode fully unlocked. This requires you to complete the War Within, a core story mission in Warframe.

Once you have dealt with the Necramechs, do not extract to the surface. The first task for the bonus objective is to find the Vault. This is always located in a cavern extending off the edge of the tileset. This can be found relatively quickly with a mobile Warframe like Titania.

Finding the isolation vault in Warframe (image via Digital Extremes)

Make use of your minimap and look for narrow protrusions. This will either lead to a dead end or open into another cave. Note that the actual Vault tends to be at the end of a long corridor.

A strategy you can follow on any Warframe is to simply bullet jump across the edge of the central Entrati ruin and check the openings into longer corridors that appear on the minimap.

Once you find the vault, you must activate the crystal to initiate the process. Simple pop out of your Warframe, go into Operator mode, and hit the central crystalline podium with an Amp to activate it.

Once you do this, Loid/Otak will appear. They will go around the ruins of the Vault to activate four Vault Generators. Your task during this phase is to simply protect them from the Infested horde.

Once they have charged up all four Generators, follow them back to the Vault room. A combination will temporarily appear over the four tablets notched into the Vault gate. These are similar to ciphers that appear on the Requiem mods.

Vault room ciphers in Warframe (image via Digital Extremes)

You have to memorize the pattern, mnemonically or otherwise. The four reactive crystals at the room's corners will also bear the same ciphers. You must hit the crystals with your Amp in the order shown on the gate (top to bottom) to solve the puzzle.

Once you successfully do so, the Vault will be open for looting. Break the containers at the end of the room to get the rare materials.