After every major update to Warframe, plenty of new players hop in to see what the sci-fi space ninja game is all about. With its fast yet fluent gameplay, deep customization, and overall alien art style, it has made plenty of hardcore players hooked.
It can also ward plenty of new players away with its plethora of confusing systems and lacking tutorials. Along with that, the game gets progressively harder if players do not use good weapons or Mods. While good Mods are important, a good weapon is just as important. Here are ten of the best primary weapons you can use in Warframe.
Updated July 30, 2023, by Charles Burgar: Now that Duviri has been out for a few months, the impact of Incarnon Adapters has settled into the meta. Kuva and Tenet weapons now have some serious competition, and some more recent Prime weapons are more than worth using. We've updated this list to include some of Duviri's best Incarnon weapons, and we've adjusted a few entries to reflect balance changes or Prime upgrades that have been released since our last republish.
10 Fulmin Prime
As far as beginner-friendly weapons go, it's tough to top the Fulmin and its Prime counterpart. Craftable as early as Mastery Rank 8—increased to MR12 for the Prime variant—the Fulmin is a rifle that can swap between an Arca Plasmor shotgun and a full-auto lightning rifle with the push of a button. It has infinite ammo, great critical and status chances, and it only deals elemental damage—great for benefiting from armor and health damage multipliers.
The Fulmin's base stats make it excellent for clearing the Star Chart, and a few Forma can turn this weapon into a Steel Path killing machine. And when you get to the endgame of Warframe, the Prime version is more than capable of crushing Steel Path content with a moderate degree of investment.
9 Ignis Wraith
The Ignis Wraith did receive some nerfs in the Veilbreaker update, yet this weapon is still one of the best primaries you can use currently. It can no longer land headshots, and the weapon is no longer tradable; every clan can now research the Ignis Wraith and replicate its blueprint.
Besides those changes, the Ignis Wraith is still an accessible, hard-hitting flamethrower that all players will want in their arsenal. Excellent base status chance, fire rate, and a focus on Heat damage make for a great status primer and hard-hitting weapon against unarmored targets. It doesn't require many mods to finish the Star Chart, and it can clear Steel Path content comfortably with an endgame build. Flamethrower fans will want to get their hands on the Ignis Wraith.
8 Phenmor
The Holdfasts Syndicate sells three unique Incarnon weapons that evolve under certain conditions, the Phenmor being one of them. This weapon acts as a high-damage rifle that can morph into a minigun after you land a few headshots. It's a rather grindy weapon to earn, yet it's more than worth it.
Each shot from the Phenmor deals 140 damage, mostly Slash. Good critical and status chances make the Phenmor solid for hybrid setups, although one of the weapon's Evolutions makes this gun absurd when used with a status-only build. Focus on building this weapon for status, and you can take down tough Steel Path enemies in just a few shots. Alternatively, focus on a crit-only build to gain some absurd critical damage bonuses.
The bonus damage provided by an Incarnon's alt-fire bypasses damage attenuation against Liches, Sisters, and Archons. If you're looking for a good endgame boss killer, the Phenmor should be on your radar.
Land a few headshots, and now your quasi-sniper turns into an Arch-Gun for the next 408 shots, gaining three meters of punch through while retaining this gun's great base stats. Most enemies don't stand a chance when you start unloading hundreds of rounds down a narrow hallway. Anyone that survives will be inflicted with so many Slash procs that they'll die shortly thereafter. It might not bombard the screen with massive explosions, yet the punch through and fire rate make this weapon excellent for clearing out hallways and other cramped tiles.
7 Acceltra
Statistically speaking, the Acceltra is a good critical weapon that has little status chance. On paper, this means the weapon will fall off significantly in endurance missions and Steel Path content against Grineer.
In practice, the Acceltra simply doesn't care. Every round from this fully automatic rocket launcher detonates in a small radius for massive critical damage. Its critical stats are so great—32% critical chance with a 2.8x multiplier—that Hunter Munitions becomes a top-tier choice for this gun. Once players get used to the speed and explosive nature of this gun, it is incredibly hard going back to other weapons. It might not be the strongest gun in the game, but it does a hell of a job blowing up every enemy in sight.
6 Phantasma Prime
The Phantasma Prime is a status-focused beam/shotgun hybrid that's widely regarded as a good status primer, inflicting status procs constantly with its high base status chance and fire rate stats.
But this gun is significantly stronger than its stats imply. Thanks to Galvanized Mods and Weapon Arcanes, the Phantasma Prime is a DPS monster with the right build. It can't proc Slash through Hunter Munitions, but it doesn't need to. This gun does so much raw damage with the right build that Steel Path enemies become a complete joke.
Its innate Radiation damage type also helps counteract its lack of critical damage, as most of Warframe's hardest foes are weak to this element. Innate punch through also ensures that this weapon can clear hallways just as well as an Ignis Wraith. Throw on Viral or Corrosive, get some Galvanized Mods, and prepare to melt through Warframe's hardest content with ease.
5 Kuva Bramma
AoE weapons received some major nerfs in the Veilbreaker update, the Kuva Bramma being no exception. With Arcane Merciless no longer granting reserve ammo and the nerf to Primed Firestorm, is the Kuva Bramma still worth using?
Absolutely. This weapon is still a hard-hitting, orange-critting machine. You'll need to run an ammo mutation mod in your Exilus slot, but beyond that little's changed. A single arrow will bombard the area with a massive explosion, followed by a series of cluster bomblets that will kill any survivors. The Kuva Zarr is still a better weapon overall, but those who love bombarding an area with explosions can't go wrong with the Kuva Bramma.
4 Cedo
The Cedo is Lavos' signature shotgun that has Condition Overload as a passive. As the enemy is afflicted with more status types, this gun becomes stronger. Not only does this stack with Galvanized Savvy, but this gun's alt-fire can inflict every basic elemental status effect.
Fire your elemental glaive at a group of enemies, clean them up with your main fire, then repeat. You could also use the gun's alt-fire mode exclusively for AoE add-clear, using your primary fire mode only for tougher targets that aren't immediately killed by the glaive. It deals absurd damage, scales extremely well, and has AoE coverage. What's not to like?
3 Torid
The Torid is a relic of a bygone era, a once powerful weapon that has suffered from major powercreep over Warframe's many mainline updates. That was until Incarnon Genesis Adapters were added in the Duviri update. The Torid has an Incarnon Adapter you can install, and doing so transforms this weapon into a devastating beam weapon.
With the Incarnon Adapter installed, landing hits with the Torid will charge an Incarnon alt-fire. When activated, the Torid morphs into a toxic variant of the Amprex, releasing a concentrated beam of Toxin damage that can between six targets. The extremely high critical stats in this form allow the Torid to melt virtually any foe, Grineer or otherwise. Get the adapter, spec the weapon for critical damage, and enjoy clearing entire rooms of enemies with the tap of the trigger. It's the Kuva Nukor's bigger, more destructive brother.
2 Latron Prime
Similar to the Torid, the Latron Prime is a fairly old weapon that hasn't aged particularly well. But thanks to the introduction of Incarnon Adapters, the Latron can transform itself into a much stronger weapon after landing a few headshots. DMRs don't have an issue landing headshots, so activating this form is incredibly easy to do.
Once transformed, the Latron Prime morphs into a grenade launcher that fires ricocheting projectiles, detonating with every bounce. Even that description undersells the Latron's Incarnon Form. With a good build, a single ricochet explosion can wipe out a squad of Steel Path Grineer. Throw in a Mag Bubble or lock your targets into an enclosed space, and your enemy's survival rates plummet to zero. The Echoes of Duviri update also made the powerful Double Tap mod work with this gun's Incarnon Form, allowing it to dish out millions of damage with every explosion. It hits hard, is incredibly easy to use, and has Incarnon Evolutions that let the gun strip armor. It has everything you'd want from a Primary weapon, provided you don't mind landing a few headshots from time to time.
1 Kuva Zarr
Introduced in the Sisters of Parvos update, the Kuva Zarr is a significantly stronger variant of the default Zarr. This weapon is effectively a grenade launcher and shotgun strapped together, both featuring great critical and status chances. It did receive some nerfs in the Veilbreaker update, yet its ammo reserves are still more than large enough to allow for liberal use of this gun's explosive primary fire.
Firing a cannonball at a target deals massive damage over a wide radius, further amplified by the weapon's cluster bomblets that spawn once the main cannonball detonates. This effectively makes the Kuva Zarr a better Kuva Bramma since it has a magazine and more ammo reserves. But it gets even better. Its alt-fire shoots a shotgun-like round that has innate punch through. Clear a hallway with your alt-fire, clear rooms with your cannonball mode, and use both to annihilate an enemy's health pool. If you love AoE weapons and shotguns, the Kuva Zarr was made for you.