Panthera Review

[Brachion]

 

OVERVIEW

The Panthera is a Tenno-designed sawblade launcher that deals primarily Slash damage. Its secondary fire holds a sawblade out in front of it that deals rapid damage to anything it comes in contact with. This review will briefly go over each aspect of the weapon and my thoughts on it. Remember that this is just the opinion of one player, so you may or may not agree with my analysis!

 

UTILITY: 6/10

The Panthera is an interesting weapon. At first glance, you'd think that it would be pretty good. A sawblade launcher with a buzzsaw secondary fire? Sounds awesome! Unfortunately, it's hampered by comparatively low damage, an incredibly slow fire rate, and zero critical chance. However, there are ways around this. My Panthera is modded for full-on fire speed and damage, and it can make mincemeat out of even high-level Grineer. The secondary fire can stunlock enemies, making it easy to take down even extremely tanky targets. It's definitely not a top-tier weapon by any means, but it's definitely usable, despite what many people think. It just takes a little love, and maybe a potato and some Forma.

 

OBTAINABILITY: 1/10

Obtaining the Panthera is, quite frankly, excruciating. First of all, you need a Miter, the parts of which are dropped by the Cpt. Vor/Lech Kril boss fight on Phobos. Once that's built, you then need to combine it with a Hikou and an Orokin Cell (along with some Polymer Bundles) to get a Panthera. It's a long, unpleasant process, especially given the fact that the Miter is arguably a better weapon.

 

AESTHETICS: 7/10

The Panthera, like most Tenno weapons, has a sleek, elegant design, although it's a bit less ornate than many others. It's easy to color as well, and even has some shiny metallic elements for those who favor the Prime look. Due to its simplicity, it works well visually with almost any Warframe or weapon, so those of you who (like me) obsess about such things can rest easy.

 

FUN: 8/10

The Panthera's secondary fire is hilariously fun to use, especially against low level enemies. Combine it with Mirage's Hall of Mirrors, and you become a walking meat grinder. The normal attack can be fun as well; the sawblades bounce off of walls, and you can do some pretty impressive tricks once you figure out how to predict them.

[alexmach1]

I feel like it should fire 5 blades in a cone for each shot, since it consumes 5 ammo per shot and has vertical blades compared to the wider horizontal blades of the miter. The "upgrade" to a vertical blade makes no sense at all since the horizontal one is able to hit multiple enemies in a wide area.

 

The alt-fire is basically a weaker continuous melee attack.

Edited November 24, 2015 by alexmach1

[Paradoxbomb]

That about covers it. Its a fun "gun" that I personally enjoy despite its shortcomings, but I would still love to see it improved, especially considering it requires a Miter to build it even though it's not much better than one. The Primary fire in particular could use some work:

 

-Bump up the fire rate to 3.0-4.0

-Change the trigger to full auto

-Possibly add a few more ricochets to the blades

-Tone down the ammo consumption to 1-3 ammo per shot

 

Since it can't crit and the projectiles are slow, a slow fire rate doesn't really suit it much, IMO it should function more like a saw-launching machine gun that's more about firing as many blades as possible and having them bounce around tight crowds and tight corridors. Can't complain too much about the secondary fire though, it's surprisingly effect with a status/slash damage build, although:

 

-Given how close you have to be to use it, It could benefit from a bit more DPS, even if came as the cost of slightly reduced ammo efficiency

-An extra meter of range wouldn't hurt, so you aren't constantly getting hit with knockdowns, lasers, and explosions while attempting to use it

 

The "upgrade" to a vertical blade makes no sense at all since the horizontal one is able to hit multiple enemies in a wide area.

 

That would be true if the hitbox for the Miter's blades wasn't the size of a normal bullet.

Edited November 24, 2015 by Paradoxbomb