Is Heavy Caliber worth it on Vectis Prime?

[Fallowsthorn]

Granted, I don't have it maxed all the way yet, because I keep running out of endo, but at rank 7 it says it adds 2.2 degrees to aim deviation (default is zero when aiming, wiki says max rank is +3). Problem is, I don't know what that actually means, in practice. Is that a lot? Is it so tiny I'll never notice? Will I only notice when firing from 200m away? Will I never notice with my human brain but keep getting annoyed that I miss all the time for no apparent reason? Apparently without aiming down sights there's a base aim deviation of 15 degrees, and I've never noticed that, but maybe that's just cause I aim so much, or because it's hard to catch the numbers without zooming. The damage buff is very nice, but is it worth the reduced accuracy on a gun that I do admittedly use for a lot of precision, long-range shots? Or should I save my endo and credits for something else?

If it makes a difference, the other mods I'm considering in its place are

• Hammer Shot (+60% crit damage / +80% status chance) (considering I have 90% crit chance this is a very likely one)
• Hunter Munitions (+30% chance for Slash proc on crit) (so functionally 27% chance, if I mathed right)
• Charged Chamber (+40% damage on reload) (Primed Chamber pending Baro) (yes I know it's not a real Prime variant but I still only have the one slot)
• Target Acquired (+60% headshot multi) (I am also kind of unclear on exactly what counts as a headshot and how this multiplier is applied, but that's a different question)
• a redundant elemental damage mod (eg Infected Clip + Malignant Force + Hellfire for Radiation, or what have you), or one of the combo elemental mods, just to increase base damage

[Tiltskillet]

57 minutes ago, Fallowsthorn said:

Granted, I don't have it maxed all the way yet, because I keep running out of endo, but at rank 7 it says it adds 2.2 degrees to aim deviation (default is zero when aiming, wiki says max rank is +3). Problem is, I don't know what that actually means, in practice. Is that a lot?

This is the kind of thing that's best to see for yourself in the Simulacrum.  Or maybe a captura if you don't have access to the Sim. 

Personally, I cannot abide a maxed rank Heavy Caliber on any sniper rifle.  Maxed HC is 3 degrees according to the Arsenal, but to my brain, spoiled by perfect accuracy, it feels like 30.

Unscoped accuracy is pretty horrid even without HC.

1 hour ago, Fallowsthorn said:

If it makes a difference, the other mods I'm considering in its place are . . .

What's the rest of your build right now?

[Fallowsthorn]

55 minutes ago, Tiltskillet said:

Personally, I cannot abide a maxed rank Heavy Caliber on any sniper rifle.  Maxed HC is 3 degrees according to the Arsenal, but to my brain, spoiled by perfect accuracy, it feels like 30.

I did try it out and holy warped barrel, Batman, you are totally right, it was horrible. XD So that's the end of that one.

56 minutes ago, Tiltskillet said:

What's the rest of your build right now?

Or if the image is broken, Vital Sense, Critical Delay, Infected Clip, Serration, Split Chamber, Vigilante Armaments, Malignant Force, Hush as an aura mod, and one empty slot. All of those are maxed and I have a bunch of Forma on it, so I have 14 capacity left over. The elemental mods I switch out for whichever element I need, so my Infested config gets Heat and Toxin, Corpus get straight Toxin, etc, etc. My Arcane is Primary Deadhead which doesn't do anything on its own at rank 1 but will eventually give +30% headshot multi and -50% recoil at rank 5, so that's nifty. (Oh god, the griiiiiind....)

I think regardless of anything else I'll probably add the slash proc one to the Grineer config, but that may switch around with Jade Shadows, so I'm trying not to put too much stock in specific damage types (vs general principles).

[Tiltskillet]

27 minutes ago, Fallowsthorn said:

Or if the image is broken, Vital Sense, Critical Delay, Infected Clip, Serration, Split Chamber, Vigilante Armaments, Malignant Force, Hush as an aura mod, and one empty slot. All of those are maxed and I have a bunch of Forma on it, so I have 14 capacity left over. The elemental mods I switch out for whichever element I need, so my Infested config gets Heat and Toxin, Corpus get straight Toxin, etc, etc. My Arcane is Primary Deadhead which doesn't do anything on its own at rank 1 but will eventually give +30% headshot multi and -50% recoil at rank 5, so that's nifty. (Oh god, the griiiiiind....)

Out of the choices you presented, I'd go for HM or Hammer Shot.  Hammer Shot for versatility and when things don't generally live long enough for bleeds to be a factor.    Other things to consider if you have them, using Hammer Shot as a baseline: 

Bladed Rounds, superior to HS if you can keep its buff up.

Primed Bane of Whatever, superior to HS against its faction.  (Regular Banes, not so much.  Unless you go for HM, in which case it's prolly worth replacing VA.)

Radiated Reload, weaker than HS in burst, but better than HS for sustain...i.e., when reloading quickly is a factor.

Depleted Reload + Charged Chamber, best one shot burst.  (And so much better with Primed Chamber once you get it.)

Harkonar Scope: much better than HS if it allows you to stack up lots of combo where you wouldn't otherwise.  Makes keeping combo up very relaxed.

If you're tending to kill things in one hit anyway, I'd seriously consider Stabilizer or maybe a regular reload mod.  They have the potential to just make the weapon feel better. 

 

[Zakkhar]

Only thing Heavy Caliber is worth using on is Ignis/Phantasma, but instead of Serration. Because it actually makes your cone of damage wider. Also may be considered for carpet bombing with ay launcher so the multishot grenades fall a bit further apart and their radials do not overlap as much. Worth on lower content on Kuva Ogris/Bramma since the single grenade of those with proper modding is already an overkill.

We got plenty of %dmg sources since HC got introduced and it is not only not competiive but also %dmg value on modding got quite diminished.

[Fallowsthorn]

44 minutes ago, Tiltskillet said:

Out of the choices you presented, I'd go for HM or Hammer Shot.  Hammer Shot for versatility and when things don't generally live long enough for bleeds to be a factor.    Other things to consider if you have them, using Hammer Shot as a baseline: 

Bladed Rounds, superior to HS if you can keep its buff up.

Primed Bane of Whatever, superior to HS against its faction.  (Regular Banes, not so much.  Unless you go for HM, in which case it's prolly worth replacing VA.)

Radiated Reload, weaker than HS in burst, but better than HS for sustain...i.e., when reloading quickly is a factor.

Depleted Reload + Charged Chamber, best one shot burst.  (And so much better with Primed Chamber once you get it.)

Harkonar Scope: much better than HS if it allows you to stack up lots of combo where you wouldn't otherwise.  Makes keeping combo up very relaxed.

If you're tending to kill things in one hit anyway, I'd seriously consider Stabilizer or maybe a regular reload mod.  They have the potential to just make the weapon feel better. 

 

Honestly the Vectis Prime already has a reload of less than a second; it doesn't feel super urgent to me to get that down any further, and the bonus from Charged Chamber isn't so great that I want to spend another slot on Depleted Reload. There's only 2 shots in the magazine anyway, I'm getting the bonus half the time even if I do nothing. I did pop Radiated Reload on my Rad config, because the damage boost is nice, but I think I'll stick with Hammer Shot on the other, mostly because I don't have Bladed Rounds or any Primed Banes.

Combos... right, those are a thing that exist, aren't they.... Eh, I've been doing fine so far. One too many things to keep track of, I'm not actually super great at this game. XD Thank you for taking a look and answering so quickly! Really helped me figure it out.

[Tiltskillet]

3 minutes ago, Fallowsthorn said:

Honestly the Vectis Prime already has a reload of less than a second; it doesn't feel super urgent to me to get that down any further, and the bonus from Charged Chamber isn't so great that I want to spend another slot on Depleted Reload.

Without Depleted Reload, Charged Chamber tends worse than the other choices though.  Effectively half the bonus if you use both shots in your mag, and a ~33% longer reload if you reload  after every shot.  0.2s longer reload isn't a big deal if you're not shooting rapidly for long periods, but personally I think I'd dislike constant manual reloading. 

Although I suppose if I put the reload on my mouse it might give a bolt action feel, which would be pretty cool.

[(PSN)slightconfuzzled]

Ah nice, another sniper rifle connoisseur. Other people have already provided excellent answers and provided some ideas and insight as well. 

One thing I do want to touch on, and you might know this already, but just in case you don't, is that well... Warframe can be a bit weird and more nuanced with its damage calculations. Like more damage isn't actually more damage, there are different kinds of crits, headshots do have a different multiplier, their is elemental damage, and then there is elemental statuses, and those are two different things, and then some of those statuses and how they interact with the enemy and therefore the damage you do to them... Well thats a thing, depending on the status, and the enemy... Now if you know, you already know, but if you don't know, then that probably sounds like a lot... but slowly trying to learn and understand it, does have quite a lot of benefits.

I won't really go into it too much, just to say that Heavy Calibur is kind of a niche situational mod, that usually doesn't really provide the sort of benefits or damage increase, some people believe and or that it implies. One some weapons, it can be beneficial, but oddly for reasons and builds that have less to do with increasing damage, and more about the benefits of inaccuracy and what that might mean for coverage area of damage, on certain specific types of weapons (explosive types). 

So Heavy Calibur is rarely worth it. That also being said, as suggested, and from the sounds of it, something you have already done, is to try it out in Simulacrum. Not just against enemies per say, even the pillars and walls can have function, in that several surfaces will have small bullet holes when you shoot them. You can use that as a guide to measure deviation. I love snipers but also shotguns, so i like to do this to check out the spread of pellets, to test how accurate they are, and if I might need to mod for accuracy and or range, or what distances I should be when shooting, etc. 

The other thing though, is well, weapons have their strengths and weaknesses, but there are other variables as well. Like what enemies you are fighting, what faction, what mission type, are they high level or low level. Are you killing most enemies in one hit, or does it take two? Also say fighting regular enemies in regular missions, is different from fighting Eidolons. All that sort of matters when it comes to modding. For example, in my experience, snipers like Vectis and Rubico, can offer such high single target damage, they can one shot a lot of enemies, and that can sort of free up space that some other weapons, may usually like. That being said, I also do aim for viral spots, heads, etc, and sometimes many enemies don't die in one shot, so sometimes I have to consider that with my mods as well. Mods like Hunter Munitions for example, become more relevant, because you might not one shot an enemy, outright, but the resulting slash procc when they occur can finish them off. 

So sometimes with snipers its an ongoing process with personal experimenting, and then witnessing your shortcomings first hand, and then modifying your build around them, also taking into account your own personal playstyle and preference. I personally dislike longer reloading on my sniper rifles (well types like Rubico and Vectis), so I might mod for them. I also find certain mods to do with aiming a bit annoying, on other guns, but great on snipers. Especially if they give me extra crit damage. Oh, also i need good punch through. Since the way I use Rubico and Vectis when against regular enemies, is to line up my shots to hit multiple enemies, if and when I can. 

You are also given 3 configs by default as well, so can be a good idea to experiment with different builds, and maybe switch between them depending on the situation. Like Grineer and Corpus heads are easier for me to hit, than Infested, because of their increased numbers, because they are lower to the floor, and well they have weird bodies sometimes. My sniper build for Grineer is different to Infested (I'll actually tend to use weapons like Sporothrix, if i really want to use a sniper against infested). 

Once you max rank a weapon Arcane, whether thats Headshot or Merciless, that will make a big difference as well, and give you some breathing room as far as mod spaces.

Oh, and importantly, since you alluded to Endo and resources, remember that you don't actually have to max out your mods. Especially your Primed, Galvanised, mods. Just the way Warframe damage is calculated, unless its like multishot, a lot of mods, like say Primed Cryo Rounds aren't significantly going to increase your damage dramatically, if you are one or two upgrades prior to max. I have been playing the game for a long time, and I have millions of Credits and Endo but even I haven't maxed out a lot of mods (don't really need to, and I am a bit cheap/frugal lol)

Good luck with your builds and snipers! 

[FiveN9ne]

16 hours ago, Tiltskillet said:

Without Depleted Reload, Charged Chamber tends worse than the other choices though.  Effectively half the bonus if you use both shots in your mag, and a ~33% longer reload if you reload  after every shot.  0.2s longer reload isn't a big deal if you're not shooting rapidly for long periods, but personally I think I'd dislike constant manual reloading. 

Although I suppose if I put the reload on my mouse it might give a bolt action feel, which would be pretty cool.

-magazine size is a meme and handicaps your build, not worth a mod slot in the slightest. Lets take a look.

1st bullet (chamber bonus), 2nd bullet (no bonus) reload, etc.

vs

1st bullet (chamber bonus), reload, 1st bullet (chamber bonus), reload, etc.

Vectis fires super fast and you're just losing the damage of the entire 2nd bullet + a mod slot to save the 0.2-0.3s extra it takes to fire twice instead of once. 

If you don't believe me try out a TTK test, 2 bullets always wins. 

As for the OP, a general rule of thumb is to never stack multiple sources of base damage. In your case you already have Serration and will have Primary Deadhead. This is 165% + 360%. For a weapon with 100 dmg (example), adding Heavy Caliber would amount to:

100 * (1 + 1.65 + 3.6) = 625 --> 100 * (1 +1.65 + 3.6 + 1.65) = 790 - an overall increase of 26.4% in total damage

[Tiltskillet]

27 minutes ago, FiveN9ne said:

If you don't believe me try out a TTK test, 2 bullets always wins. 

 

I'm aware.  That's why I said "one shot burst" rather than just "burst".  But it can have one meaningful advantage to offset the downsides:  if it gets you over a threshold where you're killing most things in one triggerpull, instead of two.  As a sniper rifle, Vectis has a pretty high ceiling for doing just this.

But more importantly AFAIC, single shot Vectis Prime is very fun if one is fond of OG Vectis or single-shot weapons in general.

[Fallowsthorn]

4 hours ago, FiveN9ne said:

a general rule of thumb is to never stack multiple sources of base damage.

May I ask why? @(PSN)slightconfuzzledsaid something similar, too, and it seems kind of counterintuitive. That's what everything is multiplied by, so wouldn't you want as much base damage as possible? Or is it just that doubling up on base damage isn't as valuable as some other mod configuration?

20 hours ago, (PSN)slightconfuzzled said:

Ah nice, another sniper rifle connoisseur.

Oh yes, I've been very much enjoying taking my efficiency-modded Ivara into high-level solo missions and Prowling around nailing headshots on everything. Most of the time I spend about 60 seconds visible, max. Very handy.

[FiveN9ne]

13 minutes ago, Fallowsthorn said:

May I ask why? @(PSN)slightconfuzzledsaid something similar, too, and it seems kind of counterintuitive. That's what everything is multiplied by, so wouldn't you want as much base damage as possible? Or is it just that doubling up on base damage isn't as valuable as some other mod configuration?

Mod slots are valuable. The example calculation in my post should be self-explanatory. The more you stack the less you gain, because of diminishing returns. Heavy Caliber only gives you 26.4% increase. Usual build goes DMG MS CC CD Bane HM Viral. The easiest way to free up slots is to outsource Viral by using a primer or Nourish for example. Other than that, people dislike Bane mods. When it comes to filling up the slots you want multiplicative bonuses or something that increases dps like Fire Rate. The only thing somewhat worth stacking is Crit Damage and Multishot but those come mostly in the form of a Riven.

For example, Charged Chamber is 40% but multiplicative, meaning if we use the same example as before:

100 * (1 + 1.65 + 3.6) * (1 + 0.4) = 875 - which is exactly 40% higher than without it because it's a separate multiplier (like bane mods)

So although it seems like Charged Chamber's 40% is terrible compared to Heavy Caliber's 165% it's actually a stronger mod overall in this case.

Then if you add Bane in the mix 100 * (1 + 1.65 + 3.6) * (1 + 0.4) * (1 + 0.55) = 1356.25 

Lets compare that to adding 2 Heavy Caliber mods worth of damage - 100 * (1 + 1.65 + 3.6 + 1.65 + 1.65) = 955

Then comes multishot. Say you have 3 multishot - 1356.25 * 3 vs 955 * 3 etc. etc. 

Edited May 18 by FiveN9ne

[(PSN)slightconfuzzled]

7 minutes ago, Fallowsthorn said:

Or is it just that doubling up on base damage isn't as valuable as some other mod configuration?

 

Generally yes.

Like I am personally not the best with maths (I'm decent), so if you prefer more mathematical, exact and technical breakdowns, there are people who can explain it in those ways. Much like how FiveN9ne explained about what the damage increase would be. There are even a few different online calculators for Warframe specifically, that can assist, as far as letting you apply mods, and given you breakdowns of what the numbers will be, so you can compare and contrast (though, since Warframe has a lot going on, sometimes these aren't necessarily the most accurate, but they can be okay for reference and helping you understand certain modifiers importance). 

For myself personally, I tend to like explaining it a bit like diminishing returns. Its a bit more complicated than that, but just for the sake of communicating the idea and info. Think about it this way too. Think of multi shot. You could program a game, so you have a gun and it shoots one bullet, and its just that. No statuses, no critical hits, chance, damage. No enemies have armour or any modifiers to reduce damage. Its really plain and simple. Lets just say hypothetically it does 50 damage. Then you introduce the idea of multishot to that game. So you have an item that will let that gun shoot two bullets. Now it can do 100 damage, because 50 times 2. So in simple terms, you are basically doubling your damage. So a different item that just doubles your damage, of just the one bullet, to 100, would effectively be the same, in that game. Something increasing your damage by 120% would also be clearly better too. 

Except... if you did add a bunch of systems, like elemental statuses and physical statuses, and different multipliers, and interactions, like enemies having armour, shields, or defences or damage reduction mechanics, some modifiers may be different and interact with some of those systems, some better than others. 

So unlike the hypothetical I gave, multishot is really good in Warframe, because its not just adding another damage instance, but additional multishot gives you more chances to add status and crit, crit chance and crit damage, and then some of those modifiers may have characteristics/traits like a multiplier better than necessarily just more raw damage. Then additional, how that interacts with enemies needs to be considered as well (and also some enemies may have certain specific and unique damage reduction mechanics, that needs to be considered. Like you know in Steel Path, the Acolytes you fight to Weapon Arcanes? They have status caps, so status heavy weapons, may struggle against them compared to Crit strong weapons.

If multishot didn't interact with crit and status the way it did, and was instead just about raw damage, then depending on the numerical values, some mods that just boost damage might be better (and multishot itself would essentially become one of them as well). 

This is why some elemental statuses can become the meta, like Viral, because it increases the amount of damage those enemies affected will take. Its why Hunter Munitions can become meta, because it can become a convenient way for many Crit weapons to deal powerful slash procs, and slash procs can bypass armour, including that of heavily armoured Grineer... Viral and Slash also synergise very well together... Hence as far as practical damage against enemies, mods that increase multishot, let you make Viral, and Hunter Munitions will be much more effective to your actual damage, than say Heavy Calibur. Ever since Weapon Arcanes and Galvanised Mods were added, even a mod like Serration, on some builds because less mandatory and more optional, but thats a whole different discussion. 

Also some of this is less relevant to snipers in some way, because of the natural strengths/weaknesses some weapon types can have. Some elements and statuses aren't necessarily as useful on weapons that just one shot the enemies (including if they die from damage over time), compared to say a beam weapon or automatic weapon that is faster firing and will hit an enemy with more and smaller damage instances. Where some elements like Heat are very strong. 

If anything about my explanation didn't make sense, or you just have more questions or concerns, feel free to let us know. 

It can take a while to get, because Warframe doesn't really explain these things, you either have to do a lot of your own testing and comparing, or do a wikia dive, and different games can have different approaches to enemy defences, and weapons having elements and critical systems. I personally found it interesting, but if you don't find it interesting, it can feel like a chore, and who wants to do homework just because they want to shoot the enemy better? 

 

38 minutes ago, Fallowsthorn said:

Oh yes, I've been very much enjoying taking my efficiency-modded Ivara into high-level solo missions and Prowling around nailing headshots on everything. Most of the time I spend about 60 seconds visible, max. Very handy.

 

Thats very fun to do, I still do that a lot myself, now and then. Some chill Warframe, just solo, no team mates, just myself and the enemy. 

I do tend to use bows a bit more than Snipers in that scenario. Have you tried the Daikyu? It is a bow, but for myself it feels like a bow sniper hybrid. Slow charge time, but huge damage. Landing headshots with it, feels great, and since you are Ivara in stealth, you can afford the slower charge time, and practice your headshots. Enemies are sent flying as well. Very fun! Love making long range snipes on enemies heads. 

[L3512]

59 minutes ago, Fallowsthorn said:

May I ask why? @(PSN)slightconfuzzledsaid something similar, too, and it seems kind of counterintuitive. That's what everything is multiplied by, so wouldn't you want as much base damage as possible? Or is it just that doubling up on base damage isn't as valuable as some other mod configuration?

Best way to look at it is opportunity cost, you only have eight mods slots. Then it's just math as @FiveN9ne has stated.

[Fallowsthorn]

@(PSN)slightconfuzzled@FiveN9neSo in a nutshell, the same kinds of damage are additive whereas different types of damage are multiplicative with each other? Makes sense.

I do wish the stats box showed the multipliers from criticals, maybe underneath total damage, because it's a bit misleading as is. And I did end up playing around with a couple online build calculators, which were very helpful but did have various things missing or wonky. However, like reload, I don't care all that much about upgrading the fire rate on the Vectis, because it already shoots about as fast as I can re-center the aim, and it's not a held trigger. Multishot and crit, yes, fire rate and reload, meh.

23 hours ago, (PSN)slightconfuzzled said:

Have you tried the Daikyu?

Probably, but it would've been a while ago. I never much liked bows because of the low fire rate and the need to compensate for the arc (especially compared to the Vectis), but now that I have my invisibility build you've got a point, I can afford to take my time. I still have to get around to mastering the Proboscis Cernos, I'll see how that handles and if I want to invest in bows more.

23 hours ago, (PSN)slightconfuzzled said:

[Acolytes] have status caps, so status heavy weapons, may struggle against them compared to Crit strong weapons.

True, except I find the DOTs useful in terms of ammo efficiency and nearly all of the Acolytes simply stand there in confusion while someone invisible is shooting at them, so Ivara is a bit OP in that regard. And pretty much every regard other than "defend the objective" missions, really. If I could just make the objective invisible too I'd be set, lol.

On 2024-05-17 at 6:51 PM, FiveN9ne said:

outsource Viral by using a primer

Using a what?

[(PSN)slightconfuzzled]

@Fallowsthorn You got it!

The general gist and general understanding, and yes, I wish that more of such info was more transparent and included in the UI systems. You want to know something else thats really misleading and weird when you learn it? Certain mods like Galvanised Savvy? Depending on which weapon you put it on, the effect may either be, additive or multiplicative... and for some weapons, it does work, and falls into one of those two, and on some it doesn't. How do you know which ones? Well the fun part, is you don't... Well, I mean, there are some generalisations, like AOE weapons, the AOE effects usually don't get the buff, and more direct damage types will, but its one of those things where some people will use a check list to reference, if they don't just use their memory. 

That also being said, unless you actively want to really get into understanding the systems available, you can sort of ignore such inconsistencies and interactions. but if you are interested, then there may be several points where you just wonder why? Who designed this? Why isn't there a bit more consistency or info explaining or describing such interactions? 

Some online calculators and some formula can help, as can some wikia delving. The various wikia's have a lot of people working together to explain certain interactions, multipliers, and then just knowing they exist, your own understanding can start to just broaden and you start to intuitively just understand and apply the principals. Like i personally talked up Viral quite a bit, but there are some enemies just immune to Viral, I already know which ones (and I personally also actually prefer quite a few other elements anyway), but for every general idea in many Warframe systems, there are exceptions and outliers as well. 

So sometimes just the best way to understand a lot of all this, is just first hand experience and testing. Changing loadouts, and configurations, doing one mission, changing stuff around, doing it again. Keeping little mental notes, make observations, try it out again. Of course many people don't enjoy having to do all of that... Thats totally fair. Its sort of just the way Warframe is set up. Oh, there are some pretty good Warframe Youtube channels that will break stuff down as well, and can save you time, because they will do testing for you. TheKengineer and AznvasionsPlays are good, as far as they value numbers and testing and working through to attempt to give you accurate data to use as the basis for claims. Just like which mods may benefit which weapons best and why, or what the affects may be, as far as KPM or usability issues, so on. Even just watching some of their build videos can help you understand some of Warframes systems better. 

Oh, and you can actually make some Defence Objectives invisible. Not the large objects, but the human objectives you can. If you use your first ability. There is a fun trick where any Warframe, can do that to themselves as well, since that is Ivara's Helminth ability, and if you shoot tour Sentinel, it will turn you invisible. Its not as long lasting as Ivara's Prowl, but can be pretty fun. If you weren't aware, you might want to give that a try sometime too! 

Also, a Primer, is in Warframe, is sort of well it borrows the name from priming with paint. You prime a surface with one substance, but its not the final application or what you actual intent is, its just their to prepare for something else. In Warframe, and some other games, to prime an enemy, (in this context), is to have a secondary way of inflicting enemies with a sort of first step, with the intention of following that up with your actual intended goal, usually death. 

Common primers in Warframe, can be Secondaries (Epitaph, Nukor), Sentinels (Verglas, Hellstrom), abilities (like Nourish). Some weapons like Cedo, come with their own inbuilt primer with the alt fire. Its a preparation step, not necessarily the bulk of your damage, or main source or method of killing. Snipers usually don't really need priming, but also, if you like the DOT's that plague enemies, then you are sort of already familiar with the idea, because they provide an auxiliary effect via crowd control and DOTs. Primers are a bit similar (there can be overlap), just that it involves the idea of multiple tools, some as the prep, some as the final layer so to speak. 

 

[Fallowsthorn]

For anyone curious how it's going:

So I'm pretty pleased with that.

And if I never hear "the spores have almost completely saturated the area" again, it'll be too soon. Calm down, Space Mom, I'm fine. FFS.

[Nira]

On 2024-05-19 at 5:00 AM, Fallowsthorn said:

Probably, but it would've been a while ago. I never much liked bows because of the low fire rate and the need to compensate for the arc (especially compared to the Vectis), but now that I have my invisibility build you've got a point, I can afford to take my time. I still have to get around to mastering the Proboscis Cernos, I'll see how that handles and if I want to invest in bows more.

If I'm remembering right the Daikyu has among the lowest "droop" of all bows and excellent projectile speed. It can also put out some disgusting slash proc figures with Internal Bleeding, and has an amalgam mod all of its own, leading to some fun build options!