[Top 10] Warframe Best AoE Weapons (And How to Get Them)

Updated:

28 Aug 2021

Warframe’s combat isn’t known for its intense and challenging boss fights. Gunplay usually revolves around how well you can obliterate scores of enemies before they can flood the screed and overwhelm you.

Investing in a trusty Area-of-Effect (AOE) weapon can let you experience the power fantasy of wiping out rooms with one click of a button. But with a massive potential armory, Warframe doesn’t make it easy to choose. This list of the top 10 best AOE weapons in Warframe hopes to point you in the right direction.

10) Ignis Wraith (Best for Speedrunning)

The Ignis Wraith is an upgraded version of the Ignis flamethrower. Using it is as easy as spraying flames in the general direction of your enemies and watching their health bar whittle away.

Very high-status chance and critical chance, which means it can be built either way.
Largest beam thickness of all continuous weapons with an impressive range of 27 meters.
Damage ticks for a while after first exposure, allowing players to spray and forget on lower-level enemies.

Stats:

Damage: 35
Accuracy: 100
Fire Rate: 8
Critical Chance: 17%
Critical Multiplier: 2.5x
Status Chance: 29%
Magazine: 200
Reload: 1.7s

The easiest way to get Ignis Wraith is to ask for it nicely on trade chat. The weapon’s research blueprint was awarded to the top 10% scoring clans during Operation: The Pacifism Defect event. Some clans decided that the blueprint should be free for everyone and take it upon themselves to distribute it for free within the community. Thankfully, there are so many kind players that are willing to do so that selling one for platinum is considered a scam by the player base.

9) Trumna (Best for Clearing Hallways)

The Trumna is an Orokin-era weapon made by the Entrati. In game, it is a fully automatic primary rifle with innate heat and splash. Once you kill five enemies with it, you can release a chaotic explosive bouncing grenade with its alternate fire, sending enemies flying across the map.

Multishot increases the number of balls. More balls equal to more chaos.
Alternate fire sports the highest critical chance of all the primary launchers. Ties with Cedo and Corinth Prime for the highest status chance.
Alternate fire doesn’t consume ammo.

Stats:

Damage: 82; 1000 (Explosion)

Accuracy: 200

Fire Rate: 4.67

Critical Chance: 24%

Critical Multiplier: 2.2x

Status Chance: 30%

Magazine: 200

Reload: 5s

The Trumna can be purchased from Father after reaching rank 3 - Associate with the Entrati. A total of 12,500 standing is required to purchase the blueprint and components. Additionally, the weapon uses Marquise Veridos and Auroxium, minerals that can only be crafted after reaching rank 3 with the Ostrons in Cetus.

8) Xoris (Chain Explosives)

Not long ago, glaives were considered weak melee weapons with niche applications. Fortunately, developer Digital Extremes reworked how glaives function, increasing values as well as smoothing out inconsistencies. They also added much-needed quality of life improvements like the ability to buffer throws back to back and allowing melee stance combos during gun + glaive mode. Additionally, new mods like Volatile Rebound and Volatile Return threw glaives to the top of the tier lists. Using glaives with the right set-up is like throwing a handheld bouncing nuke.

Although Glaive Prime is the cream of the crop for this weapon class, Xoris is preferable for two reasons: 1) Xoris is a better AOE weapon because it has the highest explosion radius, and 2) using the Xoris is a comfortable way to solo the Granum Void, which means it is also easier to farm for the new Tenet weapons in the latest Sisters of Parvos update.

Infinite combos. You read that correctly. The Xoris’ combo counter doesn’t erode over time like other melee weapons. It will only deplete when using its heavy attack or using an ability from a Warframe’s that draw power from a melee stat stick, e.g., Atlas and Khora.
Highest critical multiplier of all glaives.

Stats:

Damage: 240; 1000 (Charged Throw Explosion)

Critical Chance: 20%

Critical Multiplier: 2.4x

Status Chance: 18%

Explosion Radius: 9m

Charged Thrown Range: 22m

All the components and blueprint are acquired during The Deadlock Protocol quest. Cephalon Simaris also offers the parts if you need more than one.

7) Stahlta

Stahlta’s primary fire is your standard science fiction assault rifle. It packs a punch with massive slash damage, especially if charged. But the real crowd-clearing damage comes from its alternate fire, a powerful charged radiation explosive.

Tied with Quellor and Tenora Prime for the highest critical chance of all charge-up rifles.
Also tied for the highest critical multiplier for the same category.
If anyone does survive the initial blast, innate radiation will send them fighting each other.

Stats:

Damage: 52; 1200 (Charged Explosion)

Accuracy: 50

Fire Rate: 6

Critical Chance: 24%

Critical Multiplier: 1.8x

Status Chance: 22%

Magazine: 40

Reload: 1.4s

The Stahlta’s main blueprint is gained through defeating Jackal. Components for the weapons can be acquired through the rotation c reward pool for each tier of Granum Void. More reasons to build that Xoris from earlier.

6) Tenet Arca Plasmor (Best AOE shotgun)

If you thought the base Arca Plasmor was a beast, wait till you get a hold of the new Tenet variant. Compared to the base weapon, it has massive improvements in its damage, critical chance multiplier, status chance, as well as having a longer falloff range and a ricochet effect to its shots. This corpus shotgun is so strong that it literally vaporizes enemies on contact.

With an innate 3 meter punch through, it is an ideal weapon to destroy Arbitration Shield Drones hiding behind dozens of invulnerable bodies.
Innate radiation element on top of your chosen element depending on your progenitor Warframe.

Stats:

Damage: 950

Accuracy: 9.1

Fire Rate: 1

Critical Chance: 22%

Critical Multiplier: 2x

Status: 34%

Magazine: 10

Reload: 3s

Getting your hands on this monster means you have to spawn a Sister with the weapon equipped and killing it, similar to the Kuva Lich process.

5) Secondary Sporelacer (Best AOE Kitgun)

The Secondary Catchmoon is still a solid and gratifying weapon to use however it struggles to scale into higher levels due to numerous nerfs, a far gap from its status as the most overpowered gun. The Secondary Sporelacer is another mushroom-looking weapon here to claim the throne as the strongest secondary modular weapon, albeit less boisterous than the first. It fires Toxin explosive shots, which is strong enough on its own, but it also breaks down into smaller bomblets that each proc their effects individually.

On its own, the Sporelacer splits into three bomblets. You can increase the number using mods that affect multishot.
Slap a (Primed) Fulmination mod into it to significantly increase the radius of its toxic explosions.

Since it’s a modular weapon, stats will depend on what parts you choose to attach to it. The Sporelacer chamber can be purchased as early as rank 0 from Father using 500 Entrati Standing. Your preferred Grip and Loader components can either be bought from Father or Rude Zuud in Fortuna.

4) Acceltra (Pocket Rocket Launcher)

Gauss’ signature weapon is a rapid-fire micro-missile launcher that tears through enemies faster than you can delete your magazine. Unlike the other weapons in this list, the Acceltra isn’t charged, nor is it semi-automatic. All it takes is one tap for immediate and explosive results.

With a high fire rate and fast reload time (plus 25% percent reload if sprinting, 50% if held by Gauss), it encourages a fast and offensive playstyle akin to a Blitzkrieg.
Uses the more common rifle ammo compared to the rarer sniper ammo found in other launchers. Despite this gun chewing through ammo, there’s no need for ammo converting mods like Vigilante Supplies.
Boasts the highest critical chance of all fully automatic rifles; therefore the Hunter Munitions mod shines brightly in this gun.

Stats:

Damage: 35; 44 (Explosion)

Accuracy: 23.5

Fire Rate: 12

Critical Chance: 32%

Critical Multiplier: 2.8x

Status Chance: 6%

Magazine: 48

Reload: 2s

Acceltra’s blueprint can be obtained from defeating Demolisher Infested on the Dark Sector mission Ur located in Uranus. DE’s official drop table states that it has a 1.25% chance of dropping. It is a frustrating and tedious grind, but the reward is more than worth it.

3) Kuva Bramma (Nerf Survivor)

Nothing encapsulates Grineer engineering more than sticking explosives on the pointy end of a primitive weapon. The Kuva Bramma is a comically large bow that fires explosive blast arrows that splits into cluster bombs. The weapon’s name derives from the mythological Hindu weapon Brahmastra, commonly depicted as a weapon totally annihilating everything they touch. In game, the weapon pays accurate tribute to its namesake by also utterly destroying everything on screen. This weapon was notoriously overpowered when it was first released and was subject to plenty of nerfs, most notably its ammo count. Yet despite all that, it still remains as one of the most potent weapons in the game.

Arrow Mutation or Vigilante Supplies completely negates its greatest weakness: the ammo count.
Multishot affects how many explosive arrows are shot and also how many bomblets each arrow deploys.
Innate blast damage on top of the element spawned depending on your progenitor Warframe.

Stats:

Damage: 1,048.75 (Explosion); 213.75 (Cluster Bomb Explosion)

Accuracy: 16.7

Fire Rate: 1

Critical Chance: 35%

Critical Multiplier: 2.1x

Status Chance: 21%

Max Ammo: 5

Reload: 0.6s

The Kuva Bramma is secured the same way all Kuva weapons are obtained by killing a Lich that spawned the weapon. After that, it will appear on your foundry.

2) Tenet Tetra (Best Grenade Launcher)

It can’t be an AOE weapons list without a grenade launcher, and the new Tenet Tetra rightfully outshines the old king Kuva Ogris as the best in its class. The Tenet Tetra is the improved version of the original Tetra. If all it gained were an increase in its base stats, it wouldn’t be on this list, nor any top weapons list for that matter. However, its new alternate fire swaps to a single round shot that launches a grenade decimating everything in a wide area. It is unbelievably broken and might be nerfed in the near future, which is a testament to the weapon’s strength.

Can use the (Primed) Firestorm mod which improves the blast radius of its explosion.
Since it’s a Tenet weapon, polarizing it using Forma increases its max rank by 2, capping at 40.
Fairly fast reload time with a generous clip which means there’s barely any downtime using this weapon.

Stats:

Damage: 1,250 (Damage)

Accuracy: 18.2

Fire Rate: 5

Critical Chance: 28%

Critical Multiplier: 2.2x

Status Chance: 30%

Magazine: 80 (Alternate fire uses 20 per shot)

Reload: 2.2s

Since this is another Tenet weapon you would need to spawn a Sister with this weapon before relieving her of it.

1) Kuva Zarr (Flavor of the Patch)

Kuva Zarr is Warframe’s darling from the new batch of weapons introduced in the latest update. It is a handheld cannon that shoots explosive cannonballs that also spreads cluster bombs on impact. Not only is it the strongest AOE weapon in the game, but it is also the strongest weapon in the game.

Without any multishot mods, one cannonball already splits into 6 bomblets that rain fire on the battlefield, each explosion applying status separately.
Alternate firing mode is a shotgun that fires 10 pellets with a base damage of 625.

Stats:

Damage: 841.25 (Cannon Mode Explosion); 187.5 (Cluster Bomb Explosion)

Accuracy: 100

Fire Rate: 2.17

Critical Chance: 25%

Critical Multiplier: 2.5x

Status Chance: 31%

Magazine: 5

Reload: 4.8 (Reloads per cannonball and can be interrupted by firing one anytime)

As per usual with Kuva weapons, you have to spawn a Lich with the weapon and kill it.

With the excessive number of weapons in Warframe, there’s guaranteed to be a favorite weapon of yours that wasn’t present in this list. Most weapons, when modded correctly, can do a fine job of slaughtering the massive amounts of fodder in the game. The weapons picked in this article stand out as best in clearing rooms of enemies quickly and effortlessly. Give them a try and see if you like them!