Soma? Phage? Amprex? Which Is Easiest To Build For High Level?

[Shaamaan]

Hello.

 

I've got a few potentially good end-game weapons. The problem is they aren't really slotted all the way, and I'm wondering which weapon I should focus on.

 

I've got a Soma, a Phage, a Latron Wraith and I'm currently leveling an Amprex. The soma also has one extra Forma in it already as well. It feels that the Soma used to do a lot more damage. I think I remember days when I could take enemies out with a single pull of the trigger. These days? Not so much.

 

My feeling is that the Phage has the possibility of dealing tons and tons of damage, with the downside being that it needs to "charge up a bit" (focus the beams). It's extremely ammo efficient and, without even putting in any formas yet, seems to clear out rooms. That said, I've only been on one Survival Void mission with it (I think it was T2), and we only made it to 20 minutes (not that the enemies were too strong, rather we wound up without oxygen... that, and it was a random team).

 

The Latron also seems like it can pack a serious punch, but I'm not entirely sold on it's semi-automatic nature. Also, while that potential is there (I've built it like the Soma - crit build) it didn't dazzle me.

 

Finally, the Amprex. I've seen videos of the Amprex in action, and it looks incredible, but at the moment it sucks. Possibly because it's still low rank, and because without any polarities it's difficult to make it work. I suspect it gets easier later on. I am a bit worried about it's ammo consumption however.

 

Finally, the most survivable frame I've got is a Rhino (doh), with a Rifle Amp in the aura slot. This means I'm more inclined to take a rifle than the Phage.

 

I've got a bunch of Formas and I want to make a good weapon. I'm somewhat leaning towards Phage (as I wrote - without using any formas this weapon seems to kick &#!), but the Soma already has a Forma in it. Than again, the other weapons also seem to have great potential. So... I thought I'd ask here. What do you recommend?

[Nervara]

The Amprex is a beast. Especially with Volt's shield ability. Hitting well over 1million redcrits. It does require a large amount of Forma though. 

[Sev7n]

Hello.

 

I've got a few potentially good end-game weapons. The problem is they aren't really slotted all the way, and I'm wondering which weapon I should focus on.

 

I've got a Soma, a Phage, a Latron Wraith and I'm currently leveling an Amprex. The soma also has one extra Forma in it already as well. It feels that the Soma used to do a lot more damage. I think I remember days when I could take enemies out with a single pull of the trigger. These days? Not so much.

 

My feeling is that the Phage has the possibility of dealing tons and tons of damage, with the downside being that it needs to "charge up a bit" (focus the beams). It's extremely ammo efficient and, without even putting in any formas yet, seems to clear out rooms. That said, I've only been on one Survival Void mission with it (I think it was T2), and we only made it to 20 minutes (not that the enemies were too strong, rather we wound up without oxygen... that, and it was a random team).

 

The Latron also seems like it can pack a serious punch, but I'm not entirely sold on it's semi-automatic nature. Also, while that potential is there (I've built it like the Soma - crit build) it didn't dazzle me.

 

Finally, the Amprex. I've seen videos of the Amprex in action, and it looks incredible, but at the moment it sucks. Possibly because it's still low rank, and because without any polarities it's difficult to make it work. I suspect it gets easier later on. I am a bit worried about it's ammo consumption however.

 

Finally, the most survivable frame I've got is a Rhino (doh), with a Rifle Amp in the aura slot. This means I'm more inclined to take a rifle than the Phage.

 

I've got a bunch of Formas and I want to make a good weapon. I'm somewhat leaning towards Phage (as I wrote - without using any formas this weapon seems to kick @$$), but the Soma already has a Forma in it. Than again, the other weapons also seem to have great potential. So... I thought I'd ask here. What do you recommend?

Soma and Latron require headshots to be really good. If you can land them without issue then you can do some good damage.

 

If your looking for the most dps you can get i'd go with an amprex though. The dps on it is extremely high, its an aoe weapon. Starts out with just 1 element for damage. But its downside is it requires a lot of forma's, and runs through ammo quick.

[X3Evanescence]

If I were to recommend a weapon amongst those that you have mentioned, I will say Soma. In terms of combat effectiveness, Soma is an extremely versatile weapon, being hitscan with good accuracy on the first bullet, fully automatic, good clip size and having solid DPS overall. Soma is able to work in quite a lot of combat situations, and having the option to simply pump a barrage of bullets into an enemy whenever you are in a pinch is a nice plus.

If you are talking about end-game effectiveness in general, I would say Amprex for its massive critical potential and incredible DPS. In the typical End-game scenario, due to the existence of Team Ammo Restores, ammo efficiency is not too much of a concern. What you should and will be focusing on is to kill and to kill in the quickest way possible. End-game is full of kill or be killed scenarios, and Phage is a bit of a letdown in such situations.

Soma only needs about 3-4 Forma (2-3 since you have already formaed) to shine, but Amprex needs a hefty 6 Forma to be able to deal its maximum DPS, but trust me, it will be worth it.

Edited September 9, 2014 by X3Evanescence

[smithf]

my ranking will be

Soma > Amprex > Phage.

But I consider all three to be must-haves.

 

Personally, I prefer Amphrex out of the 3, but Soma has the range to be a more general weapon.

Amprex and Phage are more fun though... (I use the former like a flame thrower, and the latter like a lightsaber)

[SuperBadPig]

For versatility, I think the soma is the best since you can pick ennemies at longer range than Phage and Amprex. Using Amprex and Phage, you need a specific playstyle which is close range combat due to the range cap one the weapon (unless you use Volt).

 

I myself have a 6x Forma on the Amprex and I feel that it is an excellent weapon. It has a very high fire rate which will burn through your ammo quickly so make sure you fire small burst. To compensate it is a chain reaction weapon, so you will be damaging all ennemies around it, which in the end makes it quite ammo efficient and very good crowd control weapon. 

 

Since it is a crit base weapon, and not damage, you'll won't see its full potential at lower level. As soon as you get enough forma on it you will see the real potential of the weapon. It is a high capacity magazine weapon, with high fire rate and amazing crit. Definetly worth it. 

[ZxpferTH]

Amprex , phage both are better but phage it kinda risky because the spread but combo viral + corrosive and  corrosive projection x4 make them wreak any lvl 100 enemy in less then 3 sec

 

soma will falloff badly dont use it if u plan to do t4s 50 minute +

[Briareos]

Soma's good for most situations, I think. It's a good all-around weapon with good stats. At high levels I think Amprex pulls out into the lead because you'll be dealing with bigger crowds, which is where Amprex shines thanks to the chain-lightning feature.

[DrewEcho]

Pure elemental weapons would continue to do constant dmg to enemies that are of the higher levels so go right ahead with Amprex for later game content. Phage falls off a bit as do Soma though. Phage's problem is with the charge/ Focus type beam which doesn't close in on enemies fast enough unless modded to do so but at the expense of losing even more firepower. You already know about the woes of using Soma after 40mins or so. Just get used to the range of Amprex and be careful, enemies don't play nice when in close range (grineer) (infested). In closing, all of the said weapons are great so have fun.

[Ryouzanpaku]

If I base this on which rifle I see most then Boltor Prime should be best :)

[Shaamaan]

If I base this on which rifle I see most then Boltor Prime should be best :)

If only I had a Boltor Prime... <weeps>

[ThunderZsolt]

If I base this on which rifle I see most then Boltor Prime should be best :)

 

the rifle you see most = the most overrated, not the best.

 

to the OP: i have all 3 potatoed and forma'd, and i prefer the amprex. to me endgame means tons of enemies everywhere, and you have to kill them fast. (before the CC effects on them wear out, or else they'll kill you) - so the range doesn't matter too much, most of the time you can get close enough if you want, or use a volt shield (and kill them even faster, while they can't damage you)

 

soma:

i noticed, that i don't have time to aim for headhots, when things are starting to get ugly (about 40mins in a T4), so the soma is out of question. It also has low status chance compared to the other 2, and when enemies are tanky, status matters more than raw damage imo

 

amprex:

as others said, amprex kills crowds the fastest because it arcs to nearby enemies. it has base electric damage, so you can build base corrosive, and also has a high firerate, so if you add toxic+status and electric+status mods, it removes armor really fast

 

phage:

IF you run 4x corrosive projection auras, then the phage with base viral is the best. Also has a decent status chance, if you add some event mods. Without CP auras, it lacks DPS, unless you add shotgun spazz, which increases firerate to 1.9, but lowers ammo economy.

 

I don't give a **** about ammo, though in survivals you most likely have a nekros, and you can drop 2 ammo restores at the same time easily, and if you can last 5 minutes longer (and get 5 cores) it is always worth 10-15 restores

[sekushiiandee]

If you're fine with burst firing then the Amprex is a good choice. Very good crowd control and is very effective with all elemental builds. It actually helps you live nearly 90% of the time. 

 

Example: 

 

Grineer - Radiation + Viral. As soon as the radiation proc is hit on a group of enemies along with the viral, chaos is made. The 50% decrease in health really makes the difference when you get all the grineer shooting at each other. 

 

Corpus - Magnetic + Toxin. Not much stunning sadly however, the amprex proves to be a great support weapon for your squad. You'll make the corpus a lot softer which allows you to breeze through the corpus missions. 

 

Infested - Gas + Electric. This is where it really shines. The stunning effect a long with an extremely large AoE  spread allows you to really hurt the infested. Takes off a lot of pressure in situations such as defense. 

^ always thought corrosive + fire was better for grineer....hmm maybe its just preference

[wadlo]

I say you level all four of them to 30 without a single potato. See which one you like the most for the gameplay you are doing (corpus, grineer, infested, towers, pvp, etc). Which ever you like the playstyle of the most, start upgrading it and explore its capability.

 

I saw a youtube video of a guy that added 6 forma to his Amprex. I didn't like it the first time around due to the style of it. Even if mine was as powerful as his, damage doesn't change the style of it.

[(PSN)D-onlinekilla-4D]

I like to use the Amprex coupled with Nekros, and a rifle scavenger Aura when running low level survival, works great when running solo also, example; enter hallway, take out group of enemies, desecrate, resupply expended ammo & life support from desecrated corpses. The amprex will cost you a few forma, but in my opinion is worth it, the ammo consumption is heavy but you could maybe try team ammo restores, I suppose it also depends which game mode you will be tackling. Hope I helped in some way :) and remember to have fun! 

[x3ternalx]

If you're a long distance gunner, probably the Soma. But if you like to get close , then Amprex. I personally never had issues with the limited 20m range since I never shoot from that far. But yes you need to pour in the Forma, if not this weapon is just horrible. Ammo is not really an issue for me. Sure I do need to pop the occasional Medium Ammo Restore, but it's not that bad as long as you don't hold down that LMB.

[Darzk]

Soma is the 'easiest' to build because it a) requires less forma to max and b) doesn't need a max HCal, the most expensive rifle mod.

[CaptainJohnson]

Easiest? Phage, I'd say. The Shotgun mods generally require less investment than regular Rifle mods to make them A+, but a few of the Shotgun mods are harder to acquire (Shotgun Spazz, I'm looking at you). Once you have all of them, though, the Phage is an utter beast, and doesn't require as much Forma as some others to make insane.

[SergeiTheBeast]

Soma. The golden crit machine. 

[ThunderZsolt]

I like to use the Amprex coupled with Nekros, and a rifle scavenger Aura

 

that, Sir, is the definition of overkill. With nekros, i always can desecrate enough ammo to supply the amprex, without further investments, even in solo. Not talking about long T4s, where a heavy gunner alone eats a half clip, of course

 

maybe you hold down the trigger too long, and overkill the targets. With continuous fire weapons the damage number only pops up, when you release the trigger. Also, the arcs go to dead bodies too, instead of switching targets after killing them, unless you stop firing.

 

 

TL,DR: i suggest to click like it was a semi-automatic gun, helps a lot with ammo isuues

[Hamsta]

I say you level all four of them to 30 without a single potato. See which one you like the most for the gameplay you are doing (corpus, grineer, infested, towers, pvp, etc). Which ever you like the playstyle of the most, start upgrading it and explore its capability.

 

I saw a youtube video of a guy that added 6 forma to his Amprex. I didn't like it the first time around due to the style of it. Even if mine was as powerful as his, damage doesn't change the style of it.

 

 

Apologies for the late response but I don't want people being misinformed about the Amprex.

 

Amprex changes completely with a potato + formas.

It goes from a piddly little status weapon to a AoE Death Cannon with the added bonus of being a status weapon. 

 

I'd also say that Soma is an inferior weapon to the Amprex due to the scaling & lower DPS.

As for the range advantage, it's nonexistent in higher level content as enemies will always be in front of you, in your face.

In nonboss situations, Amprex has higher DPS than Boltor Prime due to the arc advantage. 

The range restriction also makes it quite easy to land headshots which will melt heavy grineers even at 40 minutes of T4S. 

 

As for the Phage, I haven't tried the phage yet though I'm still working on the "get 4x CP squad going" part.

Edited October 21, 2014 by Hamsta