Need help with deciding on semi-auto rifles

[Creative__Name]

So I decided to get a semi-auto rifle today. However, I need to know what the best semi-auto rifle is and how it holds up to other guns from other categories. Such as, Automatic, Charge, Burst etc etc

Thanks for reading this post and thanks heaps if you provide an answer :)

 

[Sormatte]

There aren't many semi-auto rifles in this game. There is the Latron Series (Prime, Wraith, Normal) and the Grinlok. Latron can be found in the market, but prime and wraith versions are unobtainable at this time. The Grinlok can be found in the chemical lab of a dojo. To be honest, they aren't really all that great compared to full auto weapons, charge based weapons and some burst fire weapons. 

EDIT: In all honesty, they are really mid tier weapons at most, besides the Latron Wraith and Prime which can stand their own in high level missions to a lesser degree than other weapons.

Edited March 7, 2016 by Sormatte

[NinjaZeku]

If you want strong-single-shot, long-range weapons that aren't Bows / Snipers / Launchers, e.g. Vaykor Marelok and Lex Prime are quite beastly.

[Sormatte]

11 minutes ago, NinjaZeku said:

If you want strong-single-shot, long-range weapons that aren't Bows / Snipers / Launchers, e.g. Vaykor Marelok and Lex Prime are quite beastly.

Rifle, not secondary :p

[Girochi]

My personal favorite is Grinlok, because of its sounds :)

Though honestly semi-auto rifles currently aren't very good due to nullifiers, and if you just want a viable semi-auto guns go get Marelok/Lex series.

Edited March 7, 2016 by Girochi

[RX-3DR]

The Latron series of weapons comes with a good magazine size and the reload speed is still manageable compared to Sniper Rifles. The only real disadvantage they have before comparing the damage potential is that they have a fairly strong vertical recoil which makes it difficult to fully use their surprisingly strong fire rate.

The base Latron should be avoided besides Mastery or as material for the Tiberon because it's damage capability offers almost nothing.

The Latron Prime offers significantly better stats. Almost double the damage and comes with a good Status and Crit chance, providing a good base for different builds.

The Latron Wraith is no where near as strong as the Prime, but it does offer even more Crit chance which makes it a very viable Crit weapon. It also comes with a hidden bonus that is the weapon is actually silent.

The current real problem with the Latron Prime and Wraith is that they're not exactly obtainable right now. Latron Prime was taken off the Void Tower drop tables a few months back and Wraith was only obtainable from an old event. Which basically leaves you stuck with the base Latron since it's the only thing that is readily accessible.

 

The Grinlok is your only other option. It offers much better damage, crit and status chance as well as an exclusive Syndicate mod from Perrin Sequence. All around good damage potential with its only limitation being that it has a small magazine size. It's a little difficult to use at close range but it doesn't have a high zoom magnification and ammo is a lot more common compared to Sniper Rifles. No scope bonuses though, which means that Sniper Rifles will always have the benefit of hitting much harder.

If you're going to decide between the Grinlok and the Latron, I would have to say the Grinlok is your best option for now.

 

In comparison to other Primary weapon types however, Semi-Auto rifles right now don't really offer any advantages over the other weapon types. Burst-fire weapons like the Tiberon, Burston and Sybaris provide better damage compared to the Latron with the only drawback of ammo-efficiency while some Full-Auto weapons have manageable recoil and accuracy for long distance or striking weak points. It's probably better to go for Burst-Fire or go all out with Sniper Rifles at this point because the choices you have aren't exactly great. Secondary weapons also have better Semi-Auto compared to Rifles. Vasto, Lex, Mirelok and even the Magnus are better investment than the basic Latron.