![[Top 15] Warframe Best Primary Weapons That Are Powerful (Latest Patch Echoes Of The Zariman)-01](/sites/default/files/styles/responsive_image_2x_1240xauto/public/2022-08/top_15_warframe_best_primary_weapons_that_are_powerful_latest_patch_echoes_of_the_zariman-01.webp?itok=bpHNradR "Warframe Primary Weapons Main Pic")
Warframes are known to be masters of both the gun and blade; and in this list, we’ll be covering the former. Guns, specifically primary weapons.
Primary weapons are one of the three main weapon types in Warframe, the other two being secondary weapons and melee. Similar to other shooting games you may have played before, primary weapons involve assault rifles, shotguns, grenade launchers, and a bunch of other two-handed (generally), long-range weaponry.
Picking the best ones was a real toughie since a lot of the weapons served different roles and functions. But here are the top 15 that I believe are generally considered to be viable in the toughest parts of the game.
Of course, due to there being hundreds of primary weapons in the game, opinions on which are “best” are bound to clash, if you disagree with this list, comment down below and let me know what weapons you’d rather pick. I’d love to hear opinions from other players!
15. Ignis
The fiery Ignis is favored among players for its simplicity and efficiency. The core function of guns in games is to point them at what you want to disappear and hold the left mouse button. And that’s exactly what you get with this trusty old flamethrower.
What the Ignis excels at:
- Burning through everything
With its great status chance (27%), you can rely on the Ignis to dish out whatever status effects you equip onto it.
- Controlling crowds
The Ignis specializes in turning small to middle size groups of enemies to ash. You can even burn through more if you choose to place yourself near a choke point and wait for the hordes to come to you.
How to get the Ignis:
You can research and obtain the Ignis Blueprint in the Chem Lab of your clan dojo.
Ignis Details
14. Nataruk
The Nataruk gives enemies a taste of their own medicine. Once belonging to Hunhow, one of your biggest and deadliest foes, this bow will grant you some of the great Sentient’s power.
It’s the best bow in terms of killing off enemies one at a time (some bows are AOE). Making it best used in taking down tanky, high-priority enemies.
The Nataruk has infinite ammo, and its high reload speed actually makes the weapon really effective in endurance battles against multiple weaker enemies too.
This bow also has a special ability called “perfect shot”. When you release your arrow when the charge gauge is between the two white brackets, you’ll get an increased critical chance and critical multiplier for that shot, maximizing each shot’s potential for death.
What the Nataruk excels at:
- One hitting
The perfect shot ability makes this weapon incredibly effective in taking down high-priority targets quickly.
- Piercing through bodies
Both the charged and perfect shots have innate infinite punch through on bodies, allowing you to damage multiple enemies in a line even if the frontmost enemy somehow survives.
- Rapid-fire
Make use of the high reload speed in taking down many weaker enemies quickly too. If you notice your Nataruk’s uncharged shots taking down enemies in a single shot, it’s better to go with that.
- Criticals
With the perfect shot, the Nataruk surpasses even the Dread and the Lenz in critical chance with a jaw-dropping 60% critical chance (the highest among all primary weapons).
How to get the Nataruk:
You get a Nataruk after completing “The New War” quest. You can buy additional copies, should you want to, from Cephalon Simari for 100,000 standing.
Nataruk details:
13. Phantasma
This Sentient “shotgun” actually behaves more like a flamethrower, grenade launcher, and heat-seeking missiles. Ridiculous and over the top? Absolutely. Amazing? Absolutelier!
Its primary fire is 6 tightly packed beams of radiation that melts anything in its path. The secondary fire launches a ball of radiation that acts like a cluster bomb upon impact, releasing 5 smaller balls of radiation… except those ones chase down enemies. Imagine being chased by a ball of radioactive sludge, oof.
Also, as a little bonus, the Phantasma gets an increase in magazine size when wielded by Revenant (its owner in lore), giving its magazine size a +4.
What the Phantasma excels at:
- Wiping out hordes
Both of its firing modes make it an excellent weapon for melting down huge numbers of enemies with little effort.
- Procing status effects
Another thing you’d want to know about the Phantasma is that the status effects of all its beams are additive, meaning that the Phantasma has an amazing base status chance of 133.2%. In Warframe, once your status chance goes above 100% your weapon guarantees a status proc for every shot with a chance for it to proc twice depending on how much higher than 100% the status chance is. For example, with a 133.2% status chance, there’s a 33.2% chance that the Phantasma inflicts its status effect twice per damage tick.
- Constant damage
The Phantasma counts as a shotgun (like some other beam weapons, some count as rifles though), and its reload speed is the fastest among all of them. With a reload speed of 0.5s you’ll honestly almost never even notice the interruptions in firing. I know I don’t.
How to get the Phantasma:
You can simply buy the Phantasma’s blueprint from the in-game market. You can access the market from the console across the console where you access your quests.
Phantasma Details
12. Bubonico
The Bubonico places the power of the dreaded Infestation into the palm of your hands. And as well as the rest of your arm. Well, your Warframe’s arm… you get the point.
This infested arm cannon has two firing modes. Its primary fire shoots 7 toxic projectiles at once while its secondary firing mode fires a burst of three viral projectiles.
Another good thing about the Bubonico is that it doesn’t use traditional ammo and instead automatically replenishes its ammo pool.
What the Bubonico excels at:
- Giving you the freedom to do other things
Because it’s an arm cannon, your other hand is free to do other things. You can carry objects and fire the Bubonico while downed, which you can usually only do with secondary weapons.
- Critical hits
The Bubonico has a high critical chance for primary fire (25%) and a high critical multiplier for both firing modes (2.3X for primary and 3.5X for alternate).
- Status procs
The alternate fire has the highest status chance out of all primary launcher weapons (57%).
How to get the Bubonico:
You can research and obtain the Bubonico Blueprint in the Bio Lab of your clan dojo.
Bubonico Details
11. Tenet Arca Plasmor
The Tenet version of the Arca Plasmor features better base damage, critical multiplier, and status chance than its base counterpart.
This Corpus shotgun fires off waves of radiation that Thanos snaps any baddies that stand in your way, literally. Enemies killed by the Tenet Arca Plasmor and its base form will disintegrate into nothingness.
Another bonus that the Tenet Arca Plasmor has over the normal Arca Plasmor is that its blasts now ricochet off of bodies and surfaces. Allowing you to deal even further damage to enemies that survive your initial blast. Though, due to its innate punch through, bouncing the shots off of bodies can be tricky so you’re better off intentionally making them bounce off of surfaces.
Also, like Kuva Weapons, all Tenet weapons raise their max rank every time you apply a forma, capping at rank 40. It will also have bonus damage, the type of damage would depend on the Warframe used to spawn your Sister of Parvos.
What the Tenet Arca Plasmor excels at:
- Modding versatility
Has the bonuses of being a Tenet Weapon: Max level of 40 and additional bonus damage. This means that you’ll be able to mod the Tenet Arca Plasmor more freely since it’ll have a bigger mod capacity than your average weapon.
- Bouncing back
Unlike the base Arca Plasmor, the Tenet version features ricochet! The pulses bounce off of walls to potentially deal even more damage.
- Punching through
This weapon has a default punch through of 3 meters against bodies.
- Sneaking
Enemies killed by this weapon disintegrate, so you can mod it for stealth if you want to. You can do this by adding silencer mods.
- Quickscoping
The Tenet Arca Plasmor has a low aim zoom which is useful since its shots are pretty wide. This makes it easier to aim properly.
How to get the Tenet Arca Plasmor:
You can get this shotgun by vanquishing a Sister of Parvos that was generated with one. Sisters spawn with a random Tenet weapon though so it may take a while to get one to spawn with the Tenet Arca Plasmor
Tennet Arca Plasmor Details
10. Fulmin
Another infinite-ammo weapon. To be completely honest, that wasn’t one of the major factors in deciding what goes on this list since picking up ammo isn’t that big of a hassle in the game. It’s purely coincidental that a lot of them made it on the list, I didn’t even notice until I started writing the descriptions. :P
The Fulmin has two firing modes, its primary fire is a semi-auto mode that fires bolts of electricity. This mode is silent so enemies won’t hear you as long as you make sure to kill your target quickly and away from prying eyes.
Switching to its alternate firing mode turns the Fulmin into an automatic rifle, spitting out weaker electric projectiles at a rapid pace. The automatic fire, however, comes at the cost of its stealthiness as it is no longer silent in this mode.
The Fulmin is the Warframe Wisp’s signature primary weapon, and as a bonus, switching between its two firing modes is faster when wielded by Wisp (it is shortened from 1 sec to 0.5 sec).
What the Fulmin excels at:
- Both sneaking and going guns blazing
The two firing modes allow you the freedom to choose whether you want to go for a stealth approach or go in with your blinding bolts of electricity in a blaze of glory.
- Dealing with different enemy types
The Fulmin’s two firing modes aren’t just useful for deciding on whether or not to use stealth, it’s also useful in dealing with different enemies.
The semi-auto mode deals massive damage and so is best used against single, tanky enemies.
The automatic mode is better used for mowing down multiple, weaker enemies.
- Ammo efficiency
As mentioned above, the Fulmin doesn’t make use of conventional ammo. It replenishes its ammo on its own after a second of not being in use. It only takes an additional 2 seconds to fully charge its battery from zero.
How to get the Fulmin:
You can simply buy the Fulmin’s blueprint from the in-game market. You can access the market from the console across the console where you access your quests.
Fulmin Details
9. Proboscis Cernos
This heavily infested bow must be the brainchild of an… interesting weapon designer/concept creator over there at Digital Extremes (DE) and I’d love to meet them. I can just imagine the brainstorming:
Guy 1: Hey, here’s an idea, a blackhole arrow!
Guy 2: It shows some promise, but naaah. Instead of a black hole, let’s have tentacles branch out from the arrow, wrap around enemies and pull them toward the arrow!
Guy 1: Wh-
Guy 2: And then it explodes into this goey, slimy, viral mess!
Guy 1: No.
Guy 2: Too late, the violating tentacle bow’s in the game now.
What the Proboscis Cernos excels at:
- Being viral
The Proboscis Cernos comes with innate viral damage on its appendages/tentacles and the ensuing explosion. This bow also has an impressive status chance, making sure that everyone gets their fair share of the viral status effect.
The viral status effect acts as a damage multiplier for any damage the affected enemy takes. It increases damage by 100% for the first proc for 6 seconds, any further procs will add 25%, capping out at 325%.
- Crowd control
Sucking in all surrounding enemies makes handling messy and chaotic crowds much easier.
- Setting enemies up for further damage
Since the appendages gather enemies together in one spot, you can use other weapons or Warframe abilities to follow up on this and deal even more damage to any survivors.
How to get the Proboscis Cernos:
You can simply buy the Proboscis Cernos’ blueprint from the in-game market. You can access the market from the console across the console where you access your quests.
Proboscis Cernos Prime Details
8. Cedo
One of the, if not the best shotgun in the game, the Cedo is sort of the game’s answer to the Condition Overload mod for melee weapons.
In case you’re unfamiliar, a maxed condition overload increases a melee weapon’s damage by 80% for every status effect an enemy has on them. For example, if an enemy has 3 status effects on them, your melee weapon will deal +240% damage against that specific enemy.
Similarly, the Cedo’s primary fire has an effect that increases its damage by 60% for every status effect on an enemy. Making this weapon easily viable in even the highest-level missions Warframe has to offer.
Its Secondary firing mode launches a glaive that ricochets off of enemies and surfaces, causing an explosion for every bounce.
As a little bonus, the Cedo is the Warframe Lavos’s signature weapon and gains an Ammo Mutation effect when used by him. This converts unused ammo pickups into ammo for the Cedo.
What the Cedo excels at:
- Spreading status
Ricocheting and exploding glaives have a high status chance (50% for the glaive impact and 50% for every explosion).
- Using the status
Primary fire takes advantage of the alternate fire’s high status chance with the effect of adding 60% damage per status effect.
- Dealing crits
Primary fire also has a great critical chance, further boosting damage potential.
How to get the Cedo:
The blueprint and parts for this weapon can be bought from Father using Entrati standing. You can find Father in the Necralisk in Deimos. Note that you have to be Rank 5 with the Entrati to get all the components and as well as a total of 20,000 standing.
Cedo Details
7. Kuva Ogris
This improved Grineer rocket launcher has higher base damage, critical chance, status chance, damage falloff distance, and faster reload time than the base Ogris. Also, unlike the base Ogris, the Kuva version no longer needs to be charged up to fire. Simply tap and watch your foes go up in smoke.
Just remember not to fire it too close to your person so you don’t get caught up in the explosion.
Also, being a Kuva Weapon, the Kuva Ogris’ max rank increases every time you apply a forma, capping at rank 40. It will also have bonus damage, the type of damage would depend on the Warframe used to spawn your Kuva Lich.
What the Kuva Ogris excels at:
- Modding versatility
Has the bonuses of being a Kuva Weapon: Max level of 40 and additional bonus damage. This means that you’ll be able to mod the Kuva Ogris more freely since it’ll have a bigger mod capacity than your average weapon.
- Room clearing
It turns out that the cleansing fires from the massive explosions of rockets are excellent for clearing entire rooms filled with enemies.
- Dishing out status effects
On the off-chance that they survive your fiery blasts of doom, your enemies risk taking whatever status effects your Kuva Ogris has with its impressive status chance of 47% (47% for the rocket impact and 47% for the explosion).
How to get the Kuva Ogris:
You can get the Kuva Ogris by vanquishing a Kuva Lich that was generated with one. Liches spawn with a random Kuva weapon though so it may take a while to get one to spawn with a Kuva Ogris.
Kuva Ogris Details
6. Shedu
The second and last arm cannon to make it on the list (mostly due to there being only 2 arm cannons currently in the game), the Shedu fires projectiles that deal Heat damage and then explode upon impact, with the explosion dealing Electricity damage.
Once the Shedu’s ammo is depleted, it releases a 20-meter pulse that guarantees an Impact proc to enemies within range. This pulse also removes any resistances that the Shadow Stalker and Sentient enemies have built up.
Like the Bubonico arm cannon, the Shedu also automatically recharges its ammo instead of picking it up normally.
What the Shedu excels at:
- Fire and Lightning
Since both damage types are almost equal in amount, the Shedu can maximize the benefits of both Heat and Electricity (and more if you choose to alter the elements with mods).
- Facing crowds
The Shedu’s electric explosion is useful for evaporating large groups of enemies.
- Clearing Sentient resistances
The pulse that comes after emptying the Shedu’s ammo strips away resistances from the Stalker and Sentient enemies. A really useful feature that is usually only available to your Operator’s amps.
- Ammo efficiency
As mentioned above, the Shedu doesn’t make use of conventional ammo. It replenishes its ammo on its own after a second of not being in use (1.4 seconds if the ammo isn’t fully depleted). It only takes an additional 0.25 seconds to fully charge its battery from zero.
How to get the Shedu:
The Shedu’s main blueprint is given to the player after completing the Erra quest.
The Shedu’s parts, on the other hand, drop from a Sentient enemy called the Sybilyst. They spawn in Anomalies in the Veil Proxima on Empyrean (Railjack) missions. The node where the Anomalies can be found changes every 30 minutes. To determine which node it’s currently on, look for the node with the red Sentient symbol.
Each Sybilyst has a 1% chance to drop a Shedu part.
Shedu Details
5. Rubico Prime
The Rubico Prime features higher total damage, critical chance, status chance, fire rate and faster reload time, and lower zoom (which makes aiming at the Eidolon’s joints easier) compared to the base Rubico.
And while the Rubico Prime is an amazing sniper rifle that deals massive damage, no matter the mission, the de-facto main purpose that the gun is used for is for taking down the massive monsters that roam the Plains of Eidolon at night.
What the Rubico Prime excels at:
- Slaying Eidolons
Among players, the Rubico Prime is generally considered to be the best weapon for destroying an Eidolon’s weak spots once their shields are down. With a good enough mod build, and the right Warframe, or the right squadmates, you’ll be able to blast those limbs off with ease.
Having a good Riven mod for the Rubico Prime would make this even easier but it’s not strictly necessary (I don’t have a RIven for the Rubico myself).
- Blowing up heads from a distance
Though the Rubico Prime has a reduced zoom compared to the base Rubico, it is, by all means, still a great long-range weapon that you can use to pick off unsuspecting enemies from a distance in Warframe’s open-world sections.
As a sniper rifle, the Rubico Prime also gets the Shot Combo Counter bonus, which increases the gun’s damage after every shot that connects with an enemy. Keep an eye on your combo timer though so you don’t drop the combo and lose the bonus damage.
- Crits galore
The reason why the Rubico Prime is considered to be the best for Eidolon hunting is its ridiculous crit stats. It has a 38% critical chance and a 3x critical multiplier.
Then you add the bonuses to the critical multiplier that you get from zooming the scope, at max zoom you get a +50% critical damage multiplier.
And don’t forget all the critical chance/damage mods you can add. All of this makes the Rubico Prime a crit beast to match the Eidolons themselves.
How to get the Rubico Prime:
Like most Primed weapons, the Rubico Prime’s blueprints and parts are obtainable by cracking Void Relics or trading them with other players. A list of the Void Relics containing this weapon’s blueprints and parts can be found on the “Rubico Prime Details” link below.
Rubico Prime Details
4. Acceltra
Gauss’ signature rifle, the Acceltra. This launcher fires micro-missiles that will blow up your opponents faster than Gauss can run… maybe… probably not.
True to the running Warframe’s nature, the Acceltra has an effect where it reloads faster when you’re sprinting (25% faster). The sprint reload time is even faster when used by Gauss (from 25% to 50% faster).
What the Acceltra excels at:
- Crowd clearing
Each missile will explode and damage any enemy that is within 4 meters of the explosion’s center.
- “Safe” explosions
The Acceltra’s missiles have a minimum arming distance. This means that they will not explode when they hit something that is too close to you, preventing you from staggering yourself with its explosions.
This isn’t full-proof though, the explosion can still reach you if you move fast enough and get to the point where the missile hits at the same time that it does.
- Critical explosions
The missile impacts and explosion both have a critical chance of 32% and a critical multiplier of 2.8x. These are really impressive numbers that make this weapon well suited for a crit build.
How to get the Acceltra:
The Acceltra Blueprint drops from an Infested enemy type called Demolishers that spawns on Ur on Uranus. Each Demolisher has a 1.25% chance of dropping the blueprint.
Acceltra Details
3. Kuva Zarr
Arm cannons are cool and all but what we have here is more of a classic. The Kuva Zarr looks and functions like a cannon that you’d see on an old pirate ship, except miniaturized to be held by hand.
Compared to the regular Zarr, the Kuva version supports higher base damage, critical chance, status chance, farther max damage falloff, and fire rate. It does have a slower reload time, but the pros outweigh the cons wouldn’t you say?
Like the Zarr, the Kuva Zarr has two firing modes. The first being the Cannon mode which fires cannonballs that explode upon impact and split into 3 smaller bomblets that will bring further damage to that area.
The second firing mode is a blunderbuss or “Barrage Mode” that fires 10 pellets that shred any enemy close by.
Also, being a Kuva Weapon, the Kuva Zarr’s max rank increases every time you apply a forma, capping at rank 40. It will also have bonus damage, the type of damage would depend on the Warframe used to spawn your Kuva Lich.
What the Kuva Zarr excels at:
- Modding versatility
Has the bonuses of being a Kuva Weapon: Max level of 40 and additional bonus damage. This means that you’ll be able to mod the Kuva Ogris more freely since it’ll have a bigger mod capacity than your average weapon.
- Wiping out crowds
Both of the Kuvva Zarr’s firing modes are excellent at taking down numerous enemies at once. Though the Barrage Mode is best used at very close ranges and the Cannon is best suited for mid to long-range combat.
- Crits and Stats
The Cannon Mode has a critical chance of 25% and a status chance of 31%, making it viable for either build (those stats are the same for the cannonball’s impact, explosion, and the mini bombs’ explosions).
The Barrage Mode, on the other hand, has a critical chance of 37% critical chance but only a 9.7% status chance. Making it way more useful if you concentrate on a critical build.
It’ll depend on you on how much you like barrage mode or on how often you use it to decide which stat you want to concentrate on. Maybe you’d even want to give it a little of both critical hits and status effects.
How to get the Kuva Zarr:
You can get the Kuva Zarr by vanquishing a Kuva Lich that was generated with one. Liches spawn with a random Kuva weapon though so it may take a while to get one to spawn with a Kuva Zarr.
Kuva Zarr Details
2. Kuva Bramma
Currently the best, and most-used bow in the game, the Kuva Bramma is essentially a bow that fires a nuke into your enemies’ faces.
And if that isn’t enough, the nuke splits into 3 smaller nukes upon impact, further nuking the area, just in case your enemy’s soul hasn’t been incinerated yet.
The only reason that the weapon isn’t used even more is probably due to you needing to get lucky and have a Lich that spawns with it.
Also, being a Kuva Weapon, the Kuva Bramma’s max rank increases every time you apply a forma, capping at rank 40. It will also have bonus damage, the type of damage would depend on the Warframe used to spawn your Kuva Lich.
What the Kuva Bramma excels at:
- Modding versatility
Has the bonuses of being a Kuva Weapon: Max level of 40 and additional bonus damage. This means that you’ll be able to mod the Kuva Ogris more freely since it’ll have a bigger mod capacity than your average weapon.
- Nuking everything in sight
The nonstop explosions, combined with its high critical chance (35%), critical multiplier (2.1x), and status chance (21%), make the Kuva Bramma just an all-around damage-dealing monster. I’d tell you to watch your enemies melt before you, but all the smoke and explosions make it hard to see.
How to get the Kuva Bramma:
You can get this bow by vanquishing a Kuva Lich that was generated with one. Liches spawn with a random Kuva weapon though so it may take a while to get one to spawn with a Kuva Kohm.
Kuva Bramma Details
1. Ignis Wraith
Warframe’s current primary meta (and has been for a couple of years). People can’t seem to get enough of this flamethrower. And the recent Eximus update just further increased the usefulness of a massive AOE weapon like this (whether or not you agree if that update was a good decision or not).
And I’m not just saying stuff here, you can check it for yourself in the official 2021 Warframe Statistics and you’ll see that the Ignis Wraith is the most-used Primary weapon for the past 2 years (the statistics only started in 2020 but I’ve definitely seen the Ignis Wraith dominate the scene far longer than that).
This upgraded version of the Ignis has better damage, critical chance, critical multiplier, status chance, magazine, ammo capacity, reload capacity, and reach. Making it just an amazing upgrade all across the board.
What the Ignis Wraith excels at:
- Being a divine version of the Ignis
Like I said, earlier with the Ignis, it’s a flamethrower. No super wild special effects. It melts enemies in an instant and that’s all it needs to be great.
Also, the Ignis Wraith is slightly more crit-viable since its critical chance of 17% is marginally better than the base Ignis’ 11%. It also has a better crit multiplier than the base Ignis (2.5x).
How to get the Ignis Wraith:
The Ignis Wraith can be bought from Baro Ki’Teer whenever he shows up in a Tenno Relay. However Baro Ki’Teer’s inventory changes on every appearance so this weapon might not be for sale the next time you go check on him.
You also have an 8.70% chance of getting an Ignis Wraith blueprint from Abandoned Derelict Caches in Veil Proxima Grineer-controlled territories (Railjack missions).
Another way, and probably the easiest way to get an Ignis Wraith blueprint is to get it from other players. Believe it or not, a lot of players actually give this weapon away for free because previous events have made it extremely easy to get for some (like some clans can simply create blueprints for it). The community is pretty kind to new players too so try giving the chat a shot.
Ignis Wraith Details
You May Also Be Interested In:
- Warframe: Best Warframes, Ranked Weakest To Strongest (Warframe Tier List)
- Top 10 Warframe Best Primary Weapons (And How to Get Them)
- [Top 5] Warframe Best Arch-guns And How To Get Them
- [Top 5] Warframe Best Melee Weapons And How To Get Them
- [Top 5] Warframe Best Kuva Weapons And How To Get Them
- [Top 11] Warframe Best Weapons And How To Get Them
