For better or worse, Warframe’s weapon meta is constantly changing. The game has seen periods where certain guns — and certain types of guns — have reigned over others. That trend continues now in a time that shotguns are widely regarded as top dogs for endgame content.
Despite these trends, every weapon type features at least one of the Warframe best weapons. Assuming each weapon is used in its optimal build, these are the game’s strongest weapons of each type.
What do you think are the best weapons? Leave a comment below and share your ideas.
Shotguns
The best shotgun right now is the Tigris Prime. It does an extreme amount of damage with every bullet, and it’s very easy to take advantage of its status chance. At this point in time, the Tigris Prime is the premier weapon in Warframe.
Other strong shotguns include the Vaykor Hek and Sancti Tigris. You can’t go wrong with any of these weapons, but the overall quality of the Tigris Prime is a step above these shotguns in the current meta.
Rifles
Though rifles have fallen out of favor in the past few months, the Soma Prime is still the premier option for the weapon type. As with other rifles, it’s difficult to manage ammo efficiently with the Soma Prime. The power of the weapon shines through in the sheer amount of damage it puts out with every bullet.
The Tenora and Prisma Grakata are comparable rifles that also put out high levels of damage. The Tenora features an alt-fire that, when used properly, has a massively effective piercing ability that can take down multiple enemies at once.
Launchers
Launchers have always been in a weird place in Warframe, and the same two have always been tied for best-in-class: the Zarr and the Opticor. In essence, these weapons are ideal for clearing missions quickly and with the least possible amount of effort. Thanks to its shotgun explosion, the Zarr is the hallmark weapon for this play style. On the other hand, the Opticor shines when paired with a great secondary. You can use the secondary to deal with mobs and the Opticor for easily taking out bigger threats.
Sniper Rifles
As a weapon type, sniper rifles have never had a chance to truly shine in the fast-paced world of Warframe. Right now, however, the Lanka is a force to be reckoned with. Its charge-shot nature differentiates it from all other sniper rifles in the game. It is still a sniper rifle, and thus suffers from many of the same drawbacks, but the Lanka features innate elemental damage and increased crit chance when zoomed. These features elevate it to best-in-class position—but don’t expect it to easily clear endgame content: all snipers have ridiculously high skill caps compared to other weapon types.
Bows
Are bows a tier 1 choice for endgame content? No. Are bows a fun choice for endgame content? Absolutely.
Bow enthusiasts want to look towards the Rakta Cernos. Unarmored targets fall easily to the Rakta Cernos, and its speed and versatility make it viable in a lot of different builds. Don’t use it against armored targets, however. The main problem with bows is that they all have deep weaknesses and are good in only a handful of situations.
Melee
There are technically several subcategories of melee weapons, but we’ll keep them together as one for simplicity.
The Galatine Prime is a heavy blade and is the strongest melee weapon in the game. Its general versatility makes it capable of clearing most rooms, regardless of enemy type, with ease. Only in very specific situations is the Galatine Prime out-shined by similar weapons.
The Lesion and Jat Kusar are also respectable options in this category. In the right environment, the Lesion polearm can reach higher damage outputs than the Galatine Prime. Unfortunately, those situations are somewhat uncommon. The Jat Kusar, on the other hand, is a blade and whip and is an all-around weapon that pumps out damage without discretion.
Secondaries
Perhaps because of their extreme importance, there is much disagreement about the rankings of Warframe’s sidearms. Despite the fun of the argument, there is really only one option.
Sticking with the theme of Warframe’s over-powered shotguns, the Euphona Prime is the games strongest secondary weapon. Its two firing modes shoot a shotgun blast at varying distances: the primary fire is designed for longer ranges, and the alt fire is designed for a close-range spread. The ace up its sleeve is the surprising accuracy with which it fires its primary. The gun has very few weaknesses.
The Akstiletto Prime is a very close runner-up and only falls short due to the immense power of the Euphona Prime. These dual pistols are a perfect mix of fire rate, reload speed and damage.
Going into 2018, these are the Warframe best weapons. Shotguns rule the day—but remember: with the right build, almost any weapon can be viable.