Warframe is no stranger to unique weapons, ranging from plasma shotguns to fully automatic explosive assault rifles. However, one category of weapons most forget to mention is secondary weapons.
Most secondary weapons come with stronger Mods than their primary counterparts, potentially making them stronger than primaries when modded correctly. Just like melee weapons or primaries, secondaries can come with interesting mechanics to set them apart from the rest. Some even let players add custom effects, such as gaining strength on a kill or gaining infinite ammo. Here are some of the strongest secondary weapons players can use in Warframe.
Updated July 30, 2023, by Charles Burgar:Duviri's Incarnon Adapters and newer weapons have shaken up the Warframe meta in recent updates, mostly due to the incredible Incarnon Adapters added to some of Warframe's most iconic weapons. We've updated this list to include some of these amazing weapon updates and new additions seen over the past few mainline updates.
10 Tenet Detron
If you're a die-hard Detron user, don't let the Tenet Detron's stats fool you. The weapon seems to be a minor upgrade to the Mara Detron at first glance, but this doesn't consider a few things:
- The Tenet Detron has an additional elemental damage type.
- It fires 10 projectiles instead of 7.
- It can empty its entire magazine in a second through its alt-fire.
- The Tenet variant's critical stats are good enough to warrant making a hybrid build.
These improvements make the Tenet Detron one of the best secondaries in Warframe, especially for priming Condition Overload weapons. A Galvanized Shot Mod, when paired with a status build, results in a massive boost to your damage output. Very few enemies will survive just a few shots of this weapon, let alone the gun's alt-fire.
9 Knell Prime
Harrow Prime's signature weapon is nothing short of a powerhouse. Featuring double the crit chance and higher base damage than its default counterpart, the Knell Prime shreds through hordes of enemies with an infinite supply of high-damage rounds.
The Knell Prime has a unique feature where landing a headshot will grant the weapon infinite ammo, 0.5x more critical multiplier, and +20% status chance for two seconds. This stacks up to three times, granting a monstrous amount of status and critical stats. Land a single headshot, then go on a killing spree with a fully-automatic pistol. It's a pocket Rubico Prime with infinite ammo and is fully automatic. Alas, its lack of AoE qualities makes it fall behind the meta secondaries of Warframe.
8 Pyrana Prime
The Pyrana Prime is arguably one of the strongest guns in the game. It might have a lackluster status chance of 3.6%, yet the gun's raw damage output is so high that it can brute-force through most forms of damage resistance. Excellent base damage and critical stats make the Pyrana Prime a great workhorse weapon, further amplified if you get a triple kill. After you land three quick kills, you get an ethereal Pyrana in your other hand for a few seconds, doubling your magazine while increasing your fire rate. Clearing hordes of enemies becomes trivial when the Pyrana Prime is in its dual-wield state.
With that said, this gun's lack of status effects does hurt its viability in Steel Path. It also needs to frequently reload while a fire rate Mod is installed, something you can counteract with Arcane Pistoleer or a reload Mod. So long as you bring an armor-stripping Warframe and have a means of reloading this weapon quickly (or not at all), this gun is nothing short of S-tier.
7 Dual Toxocyst
The Dual Toxocyst are infested dual pistols that yearn for brain matter. Whenever you land a headshot with this weapon, it'll enter a feeding frenzy for a few seconds, adding Toxin damage to each shot while greatly buffing the gun's fire rate and ammo efficiency. Those buffs alone don't make the Dual Toxocyst meta, but this gun becomes truly incredible when you install an Incarnon Adapter.
Activating this weapon's Incarnon Form turns it into an automatic set of destructive pistols, featuring much higher critical stats, fire rate, and the ability to ricochet bullets to a nearby target. You'll be hard-pressed to find a better set of automatic dual pistols than these, provided you can handle Steel Path Circuit to acquire this weapon's Incarnon Adapter. Even its normal form is satisfactory for Star Chart content, but it's the adapter that makes the Dual Toxocyst a true monster.
6 Sporelacer Kitguns
Sporelacer Kitguns are created by combining a Sporelacer barrel with a secondary grip and magazine. These Kitguns unleash a volley of spore sacs that explode, dealing a massive amount of Toxin damage to anyone caught inside the blast radius.
Since these weapons can be fired rather quickly, the Sporelacer excels as an add-clearing weapon in tight corridors. A few shots from this gun are enough to kill enemies in high-level content and even Steel Path. Those tired of the Kuva Nukor or more precise secondaries should craft a Sporelacer secondary as soon as possible.
5 Tenet Cycron
Many Kuva Nukor fans were looking forward to the Tenet Cycron, the Corpus' take on the renowned Kuva Nukor secondary. Both function similarly: they fire a beam that applies status effects and chains between targets. What makes the Cycron different is its higher status chance, battery-charged magazine, and innate Heat damage.
Is that enough to make the Tenet Cycron better than the Kuva Nukor? No. The Kuva Nukor's absurd 5x critical multiplier and innate Radiation damage make it far better suited for slaying targets in Steel Path. The Tenet Cycron is a slightly worse version of the Nukor, sacrificing potential damage output for more frequent status procs.
Don't let the comparison dishearten you. The Tenet Cycron is still a beast of a sidearm, applying hundreds of status procs in the blink of an eye. Crowds will struggle to survive against hundreds of Heat procs and the gun's good base damage. It might not top the Nukor, yet the Tenet Cycron manages to carve its own place in Warframe's secondary meta.
4 Epitaph
Do you love weapons that deal millions of damage per shot? Do you love weapons that have large AoE explosions? If you said "yes" to either of those questions, you need to build the Epitaph immediately. It's a devastating that is arguably a sidegrade to the Kuva Nukor.
Sevagoth's signature arm-mounted crossbow releases massive AoE blasts that always inflict Cold when uncharged. You can use this mode to apply quite a few status procs to crowds, weakening them for your charged shot. The Epitaph's charged bolts deal cataclysmic damage, featuring amazing base damage and great critical stats. Direct shots always proc Impact, giving each shot a 70% chance at applying Slash if you're using the Hemorrhage Mod. Simply put, there aren't many enemies in Warframe that will survive a single charged shot from this weapon.
3 Lex Prime
The Lex Prime is the grandfather of hand cannons, being one of Warframe's first notable secondary weapons back when it first released. Metas have changed drastically since then, leaving this devastating hand cannon behind in wake of more explosive alternatives. The good news is that the Lex Prime is back and deadlier than ever thanks to Duviri's Incarnon Genesis Adapters.
Once you activate the weapon's Incarnon Form, the Lex Prime turns into a much stronger version of a Catchmoon Kitgun. Bullets are replaced with wide energy projectiles that deal an absurd amount of damage, featuring substantially more base damage and critical stats. A good build will make the Lex Prime obliterate anything you're aiming at, even Steel Path Acolytes and other tough foes. It's not quite the Lex veteran Warframe players will remember, but the Incarnon version of this weapon is nothing short of S-tier.
2 Laetum
It might be a shock to see the Laetum this high, yet its Incarnon state and Evolutions more than warrant a high spot on this list. The Laetum is a semi-auto pistol that can deal over a million damage per shot. If that wasn't enough, the gun morphs into an Acceltra with a 220-round magazine if you land a few headshots with the semi-auto mode.
Calling the Laetum a secondary Acceltra is an understatement. Thanks to this weapon's Evolution passives, you can gain a permanent 1,200% damage increase or a chance of non-crits dealing 2,000% more damage. Both modes benefit from the Evolution passives, and the weapon's core stats are good enough to build it for just about anything. Hybrid builds will annihilate enemies with a torrent of status procs and crits, while pure status builds can get a frequent 2,000% damage increase. If you go for a hybrid build, use Cascadia Empowered to have each status effect increase your gun's base damage. Want even more damage? Run Synth Charge and fully empty your magazine; all 220 shots will deal triple damage.
Overall, the Laetum is a fantastic weapon in every situation. You can use the primary fire to land devastating headshots from a distance, then morph the gun into an add-clearing machine in an instant. Steel Path Acolytes and Liches simply melt to this gun's Incarnon form. If you're willing to put in a little work landing headshots—which you can circumvent with the Scourge—this is the best secondary weapon in Warframe.
1 Kuva Nukor
After players started obtaining the Kuva Nukor from Kuva Liches, it became clear which weapon was going to dominate the meta until further notice.
The Kuva Nukor is a potent mix of the Atomos and the Synapse. This weapon chains its damage between targets whenever it makes contact with an enemy, a mechanic that automatically makes it one of the strongest guns in the game. What makes the gun truly powerful is its 50% base status chance. Modding for status chance allows this weapon to inflict hundreds of Heat or Gas procs on a target in a few seconds. It also has the highest critical damage multiplier in the game at 5x damage. Obtain sources of additive critical chance such as Harrow or Arcane Avenger to turn this already great weapon into the strongest secondary in Warframe history.