What weapon to pick for Railjack?

[Redwyrm]

Besides the first 3 available type of gun that is.

Logically those ships still vulnerable to cold/frost damage. So Cryophon looks promising. Problem is - i have no idea how it operates, since there are not cheap tier-0 version of it to try.

Is it a hitscan weapon, is missiles-based, is it projectile-based? If it fire projectiles, how fast are those?

Same goes for Carcinnox guns.

Edited December 17, 2019 by Redwyrm

[Redwyrm]

(double post ignore that one)

Edited December 17, 2019 by Redwyrm

[Mikhael222]

Free Flight Mode lets you test guns.

[Vevvev]

The Cryophon is a short range shotgun. It doesn't go far but a rank 0 Cryophon can really hurt the lower end enemies on Saturn. Be interesting to see how effective a more powerful one would be.

[FoxyKabam]

Apoc is the default, hits pretty hard, but the projectile speed is on the slower side for me, a lot more leading is needed, but it does have decent range.

Cryophon shoots like arca plasmor/catchmoon, it hits very hard, but has very short range

Carcinnox shoots like any assault rifle, its projectiles are faster than the apoc so its easier to hit things, the heat build up is lower, but the downside being its damage is lower with a worse damage type.

Photor is a beam weapon with short range, it is the only hitscan weapon, but has damage drop off and could probably use a buff, I'd avoid it for now.

Plusar I dont remember well, I think it was another bullet type, but didn't impress me enough to keep using it or even remember it all that well.

 

I see most people using the cryophon, carcinnox and apocs

[Aekhon]

Cryophon is a low range, low fire rate, high damage projectile weapon.

Carcinnox is a high range, high fire rate, low damage projectile weapon.

That's all I can really say for sure since I spend most of my time crewing other ships (and we can't tell what Mk level a host's ship is armed with).  I will say that I've never seen the Carcinnox perform well ever, but that could just be because all the Carcinnoxes I've used are Mk 0s.  As for the Cryophons, a Mk II will one-shot stuff on Earth (except for crew ships of course).  I haven't tried a Mk II on Saturn, but I can say that if the Cryophon doesn't one or two shot its targets, it's pretty meh due to its high heat buildup rate and low range.

My preferred weapon is the Photor.  It's a beam weapon (i.e. hitscan) that seems to work well on Grineer armor.

[844448]

Apoc or carcinox works pretty well if you invest at gunner tree where you can see an indicator for target leading (if your main weapon in warframe is projectile based like battacor you would have the hang of it)

Pulsar is burst hitscan with some nice damage

Photor is a hitscan laser beam

Depends on your play style, you can decide your pick

[EmberStar]

24 minutes ago, FoxyKabam said:

Apoc is the default, hits pretty hard, but the projectile speed is on the slower side for me, a lot more leading is needed, but it does have decent range.

Cryophon shoots like arca plasmor/catchmoon, it hits very hard, but has very short range

Carcinnox shoots like any assault rifle, its projectiles are faster than the apoc so its easier to hit things, the heat build up is lower, but the downside being its damage is lower with a worse damage type.

Photor is a beam weapon with short range, it is the only hitscan weapon, but has damage drop off and could probably use a buff, I'd avoid it for now.

Plusar I dont remember well, I think it was another bullet type, but didn't impress me enough to keep using it or even remember it all that well.

 

I see most people using the cryophon, carcinnox and apocs

From what I've seen on streams, a lot of people seem to like the Cryophon for the pilot.  It's short range, but since the fighters fly straight at you at first it's apparently possibly to blast a few at point blank range and kill them outright when they make their first attack run.  It has really high heat buildup though, it looked like about four shots in a row before it overheats without upgrades.

Photor seemed to have a *really* narrow beam.  You need to keep it exactly on target.  It wrecks the "fat" fighters, but seemed to struggle to hit the little 'V' shaped ones.  It looked like it might be hitscan though, so if you can't deal with leading a target that might be the one to go for.

At least on the handful of streams I watched, no one seems to like the Pulsar.  It seems to fire a pulsed version of the same beam FX as Photor, but there's kind of a long pause between each shot.  And at least the one person I saw trying to use it on a turret was struggling to hit anything.  Although they did have a glitch where the beams weren't visible half the time.  Other than commenting that they didn't like it, neither of the other streamers explained what they thought was wrong with it.  Just "junk weapon, don't use it."

[Lost_Cartographer]

First, every weapon is available through clan research at tier 0, you need only fabricate them.  They're each worth trying out.  Also, get that research started ASAP if it isn't already underway - they will stand in for drops if RNG screws you.

Second...

Cryophon is basically the arca plasmor for Railjack.  Short range, big projectile.  Best for the pilot whom has control over distances from bogeys.  Status effect is jamming up enemy controls and causing them to slow considerably.  As an aside, having cold status on your archgun makes dealing with fighters MUCH MUCH easier as an archwing when it procs.

Apoc is a standard pew pew cannon.  Hits hard enough, good fire rate, slow projectiles, though they seem to be long?  I swear a fighter that catches the tail eats the shot.  I'd try and avoid this one overall if you have other options. It might be the default for us, but it's definitely more an acquired taste.

Carcinnox.  The machinegun.  Rapid fire, faster projectiles, slight spread hurts at longer distances, but simultaneously covers for user inaccuracies.   The status is supposed to be akin to radiation, but it's more for crew within crewships.  You're basically not picking these up for the status, but for the ease of use and reliability.  A very solid weapon.

Photor.  Laser beam.  Heats ships, aka, heat status proc, minus the armor halving.  It's pin point accurate, actually has really good range, and it's hitscan.  Overall DPS feels lower as a result.

Pulsar.  The burst fire turret.  Status proc is like the cryophon's, seizes up enemy controls for a time, only they don't lose speed and whatever they ram into tends to deal damage to them.  Also a hitscan weapon.  It's eh... pretty decent, but people in general don't like burst fire weapons.  If you're taking this, focus on status chance variants, the proc can make dealing with fighters really easy when they're flying in a straight line.

 

Honestly, you really can't go wrong with a Carcinnox.  Everything else is more a preference.  As for house, I recommend avoiding Zetki unless equipped on the helm and you plan on piloting your railjack a majority of the time.  The extra heat build up can really throw off a lot of visitors.

Edited December 17, 2019 by Lost_Cartographer

[taiiat]

if you're just starting out, Cryophon and Carcinnox are the Weapons to choose. they have the best performance of any of the Tier 0 Weapons. they are the best starter Weapons.
once you start seeing MKII and MKIII Weapons you'll see that each Weapon Class breaks out into three 'Houses', which target different types of Stats

don't worry about Damage Types much, Railjack Weapons can be good or not good irregardless of what Damage Types they offer. think of them more as offering different Status Effects.

 

the Weapons were already all described but i'll describe them just for the hell of it.
note that i'm going to describe them based on Tier 0, stat specialization at higher Tiers can potentially change up what they are capable of doing but i won't get into that here.

• Apoc is your standard Assault Rifle. medium Range, Damage, Accuracy, Fire Rate, Et Cetera.
  • the Projectiles can be something on the slow side and their Tracers may not line up with the actual Projectiles, so aiming this Weapon can be a bit difficult.
• Cryophon is a Shotgun. low Range, high Damage, surprisingly high Accuracy (kind've a negative as it means you have to hit more precisely than you may expect), high Heat, very low Fire Rate.
• Photor is a Continuous Weapon (Beam). low Range, low-ish Damage, high Fire Rate, perfect Accuracy.
• Pulsar is a Burst electrical Weapon. low Range, medium Damage, medium Fire Rate, perfect Accuracy.
• Carcinnox is a different type of Assault Rifle. high Range, medium or slightly lowish Damage, so-so Accuracy, high Fire Rate.
  • the slightly low Accuracy actually helps with hit probability in most cases. a little bit of spread to make hits a lot more likely.

 

the Status Effects at higher Tiers will be worth considering, though.

• Ice/Frost to slow things down makes them easier to hit
• Toxin/Chem turns that Enemy into an Enemy of the Enemy (so like Radiation, some of the Enemies will shoot over there instead of at you)
• Ionic/Electric sorta stuns and sorta prevents attacking temporarily
• and then Plasma/Particle make Enemies weaker or take more Damage.

Ballistic isn't all that useful, and it's hard to tell if Incendiary does much Damage with the supposed DoT.

[Redwyrm]

46 minutes ago, taiiat said:

if you're just starting out, Cryophon and Carcinnox are the Weapons to choose. they have the best performance of any of the Tier 0 Weapons. they are the best starter Weapons.

I don't see those on my research list at all. Neither tier-0, nor even tier-1 and 2. Can see only looted tier-1 and tier-2 guns.

[zuraja]

I think you're bugged then.  I've got versions of every weapon at every tier I have or am researching visible on mine.

[Redwyrm]

oh, nvm, seems like i manage to miss those two for several days now 😛 though hopefully soon i will be able to repair tier-2 variants of those.

[Otaiken]

It's good to keep in mind that you can shoot down enemy projectiles and doing so along with some decent piloting skills can prevent a truckload of damage you'd otherwise take. For that reason I think stuff like Cryophon or Pulsar is a subpar choice for a pilot. Between dodging and shooting you can negate a surprising amount of damage.

Also, lead markers turn pretty useless the moment the host is even slightly laggy. If this is your case make sure to use Cryophon or Photor for your side turrets because gunners won't be able to hit pretty much anything with APOC if the host lags.

Other than that I think most guns are pretty viable. Well, maybe except Pulsar. Just don't slap Zetki on everything, it's often extremely inefficient. Take zetki APOC which does about 30% more damage while having 4x the heat build up. That thing will actually cripple your DPS. Zetki Cryophon might be worth it if you have at least 1200 heat capacity and/or Gunenr lvl 7 though.

[Slayer-.]

oops wrong thread. ignore

delete

 

Edited December 17, 2019 by Slayer-.

[EmberStar]

8 hours ago, Mikhael222 said:

Free Flight Mode lets you test guns.

I don't think it gives you a free version of the guns though, you still have to equip them before you go there.  So if someone wanted to see how a weapon feels to use, they'd still have to invest in crafting / repairing it first.  Which is kind of a massive amount of resources for a weapon you might not even want to use afterwards.  (Pulsar, apparently.  No one seems to like it, because reasons.)

[Berserkerkitten]

As a pilot, I love my cryophon. Zetka Cryophon MK III destroys most fighters in 2 or so hits in the veil.

[CephalonDizzy]

Double mk. 3 Zekti Cryophon + an Amesha casting 3 will pretty much wreck every fighter swarm.

With the combination of the bulkhead, hull weave, and the damage resistance avionics, the railjack becomes ridiculously tanky and you can charge headfirst into anything without much risk. Throw on hyperstrike and have someone in the slingshot to destroy crew ships and the veil becomes a cakewalk.

Edited December 17, 2019 by CephalonDizzy

[Mikhael222]

6 hours ago, EmberStar said:

I don't think it gives you a free version of the guns though, you still have to equip them before you go there.  So if someone wanted to see how a weapon feels to use, they'd still have to invest in crafting / repairing it first.  Which is kind of a massive amount of resources for a weapon you might not even want to use afterwards.  (Pulsar, apparently.  No one seems to like it, because reasons.)

True.

[SneakyErvin]

So far I've prefered Photor and Carcinnox. Both have very good heat management, deal good damage and are easy to hit with. Cryo is nice, but I just dont get the feel for it. 

Photor also makes possible lag for the crew a non-issue since it is hitscan.

 

[SenorClipClop]

15 hours ago, EmberStar said:

From what I've seen on streams, a lot of people seem to like the Cryophon for the pilot.  It's short range, but since the fighters fly straight at you at first it's apparently possibly to blast a few at point blank range and kill them outright when they make their first attack run.  It has really high heat buildup though, it looked like about four shots in a row before it overheats without upgrades.

Can confirm, Cryos in the Pilot seat all the way. I tried Cryophon on the broadside guns, but its short range made it feel pretty useless there. However, if you're piloting you get to reduce the distance to targets by moving the ship, making the wide projectile and significant damage pretty solid. You can also use the Frost status to make fighters sitting ducks and keep Crewships from poking holes in your ship if they get too close. You just gotta watch spamming the thing because at base it overheats with 4 quick shots.

[crimsoNIOX]

I would say all weapons are in the usable tier,but carcinnox and cryophon performs significantly better under most situations.

Cryophon is extremely promising in veil proxima.A MK3 Zetki cryophon can two tap any fighters at optimal range if you have zetki hyperstrike on your RJ,and sometimes even insta kill a flak if crit with section density.The range explains why it's so good in close quarters tho.

Besides,it's large hitbox makes hitting mines on outriders much easier.Status on cryophon is also decent so you can expect target fighter to be slowed after 2-3 shots.Heat accretion may be difficult to manage,even with a rank 7+3 polar coil you can only fire 4 times in a row if you dont want the gun to overheat and dont have gunnery rank 6.

The Lavan and Vidar variant has 30-40% less damage and slightly less cc and sc,but it also has 40% less heat accretion.Pick accordingly.If you have tether,you may consider deploying one before closing in.

Carcinnox on the other hand is that all-rounder.High fire rate is accompanied by low heat accretion and short projectile travel time,which makes it really easy to hit all sorts of targets.To compensate it has a sub optimal damage per shot value,but imo it has the best handling out of all guns simply by allowing you to continuously fire for 3 seconds straight without overheating.(Apoc on the otherhand...)Lavan Carcinnox would be optimal,but Zetki is also good.

Chem proc=radiation.And yes,it is inconsistent.It may save your ass sometimes,who knows?

As for those who are in Saturn,just spam seeker volley.It's so much better in low level content.

 

Edited December 18, 2019 by crimsoNIOX

[Redwyrm]

Already picked cryophon(mk2) as a main gun.

Low range, but nothing that good boost can't fix. And since there no actual radiation damage with space guns, crio still at least second-best for dealing with alloy armor.

Put carcinox on sides, to have at least some alternative with range.

Edited December 18, 2019 by Redwyrm

[xBloodySin]

Vidar Cryophon has more damage and less heat accretion than Zekti. Even for gunners they are great if your pilot has the guts to be in the middle of the mess, you'll have more than enough in-range shots.

[White_Matter]

Most well rounded is carcinnox I think. But the MK2 variant heats up real fast. Like in 3 seconds it stops firing. So you have to take that into account when you are firing.

The frost one can oneshot(or come close) smaller figthers via crit on close range and 100% oneshots ramsleds. It has it's uses.

I haven't used pulsar yet. 

I only used the starter variant of the beam weapon and it was 100% garbage even in the easiest missions. 

Apoc on paper looks very strong but the slow projectile speed makes it a bit questionable on practice. If you have godlike aim and tracking you can melt anything tho.

Right now I'm using carcinox mk2 on pilot guns and apoc mk2 on side guns, but as soon as I have the materails to repair the mk3 carcinox I may replace that with Apoc.