Tonkor How-To

[Lucernam]

Have a Tonkor, managed to max it out, but in reality, there is little mastery going on here. I don't get it, many players seem to swear by this little tube, but I cannot seem to be able to get it to reliably work. Perhaps I am using it incorrectly, or I am not using the correct mods. How the flip do you aim with this thing? I can usually score a hit, but many times I miss, and the stray grenades seem to take eons to explode on their own. I'd like to see what all the buzz is about before I scrap this darn thing. I'd like to avoid that, I used 2 Argon on it, but if I won't use it, then why waste the weapon slot? In the end, maybe this weapon just isn't for me. I very much enjoy my shotguns, perhaps that's just my style-of-play.

Current build ↓↓↓

Spoiler

Probably not the greatest, especially sans Catalyst, but I'm not using one until I know I'll understand and find this weapon useful/fun to play.

 

[Exploderizer]

You haven't "maxed it out". You got the mastery for it, but you don't even have a potato or any formas on it. This is nowhere near mastered. Every single weapon worth using needs a Catalyst on it. That doubles your capacity to 60. That's already a lot more. Also, Split Chamber isn't that high-level a mod. Max that out immediately. You can take your time with Serration, but Split Chamber should be done ASAP. You get little benefit from an un-maxed one.

You can't just slap three (not even maxed mods) on a gun and then wonder why it ain't workin' like it's supposed to. There's eight mod slots for a reason. This is my build http://warframe-builder.com/Primary_Weapons/Builder/Tonkor/t_30_22222030_131-5-5-132-1-5-133-6-5-137-0-10-140-3-5-150-2-10-159-4-5-164-7-3_137-7-132-8-150-8-140-5-159-5-131-11-133-6-164-9/en/2-0-70

This has six Forma, obviously potatoed. It crits every shot, and does insane amounts of damage on criticals. You gotta put the time and resources in to push a weapon to its greatest potential. A vanilla 30 weapon will get you past, like, Phobos, but that's it.

As for aiming, there's little I can do to help you out there. Change the energy color to something visible, and when you aim it, there's a little line showing you the arc of the grenade. This arc is a rough estimate, so you're gonna have to compensate a bit, for enemy movement and height and whatnot. Other than that, you're just gonna have to learn to aim the gun. No trick to it, just get a feel for it yourself.

Edited June 10, 2016 by Exploderizer

[PrVonTuckIII]

Uh how long have you played? Because if you don't even know that no weapon is useful without a Catalyst, you probably haven't been playing long. 

Anyways, put a Catalyst on. Problem solved. Max out all of your mods. Take out Fast Hands. Put in actual damage mods, and then start complaining if you still can't kill.

[JohnViande]

Tonkor works best against huge crowds, that's when it shines. When you aim, you can see the trajectory your grenade is going to take, which can be helpful at first, but in the middle of a fight you're not going to rely on it too much. Aiming your grenades properly takes some time to master. And yes, the big downside of the weapon is that, if you miss, the explosion won't occur until a few seconds or if someone steps on the grenade.

You won't see any results with with 3 mods on it anyways, and Fast hands is useless. You need all the basic damage mods > Serration, Split Chamber, Heavy Caliber, then both crit mods Vital sense and Point strike, and the rest is usually elemental mods. Some use argon scope but I don't like it, that's up to you.

The most important thing to note though is that, if you don't like it now, even with a catalyst and multiple formas you're not gonna like it either.

[SaturnKnight]

You won't need a potato just to figure out how to aim though. Practice in low level missions and see if you get the hang of it, it really shouldn't take too long. If you hold down the aim button you will see a blue arcing line that will show you the path the grenade will take. That might help you until you get a feel for it. If you put Heavy Caliber on than good luck hitting what you aimed at. But it really excels when shot into a crowd.

[Homer87]

Generally speaking, every weapon that you intend to use for anything other than mastery fodder will need a catalyst. If you wish to take it further, it will also need forma. The Tonkor is no exception - with maxed out mods, it should take 4-6 forma to get the most out of this weapon.

I agree with @Exploderizer on Split Chamber - max that one out. Your Serration looks good from where it's at for now, but max it out later. After you at least get a catalyst on it, try out dual stat mods at least for the elemental damage. Don't worry about the status chance. I recommend dual stats so you can see if you like the weapon before investing forma into it, and going with 90% elemental mods, and they cost less mod capacity than the 90% elemental mods.

[AnonNyx]

The Tonkor does take a while to get used to and seems to shine in endless modes or when you can get a good big group of enemies.  The trajectory guide on the aim I found helped me land those single shots.  Eventually you will also want to build it for crit and the blast damage can (almost always) proc headshots.

At it's base level I can see how you are a bit disenchanted with it, but the potato and the formas really help make this weapon shine late game content and be the go to weapon for most in mass enemy annihilation.

In the end it's all about predicting your arc/bounce path and aiming up or down to compensate.  So keep at it and if you still really don't like then no harm.  It's not the weapon you must have but it does make a lot of the enemy scaling easier to deal with.

This is one of a couple build I play around with with while I work on forming it.

Build

[BiancaRoughfin]

40 minutes ago, Lucernam said:

I don't get it, many players seem to swear by this little tube, but I cannot seem to be able to get it to reliably work.

Its because the weapon is too powerful and easily accessible for its Mastery Rank and crafting cost.

- Mastery Rank 5
- Blueprint Purchased at the Market (30000  )
- Crafting Cost: 60000  , 1500 Salvage, 200 Oxium, 800 Cryotic and 2 Argon Crystals.

[gluih]

CC helps a lot with the aiming.

You don't really get more damage than with the tonkor. You should notice the difference when you compare it to other weapons.
You don't have to max it out completely. Once you have your basic split chamber + serration, 2 elemental mods and 2 crit mods you can basically take it anywhere.

[Lucernam]

54 minutes ago, Exploderizer said:

 http://warframe-builder.com/Primary_Weapons/Builder/Tonkor/t_30_22222030_131-5-5-132-1-5-133-6-5-137-0-10-140-3-5-150-2-10-159-4-5-164-7-3_137-7-132-8-150-8-140-5-159-5-131-11-133-6-164-9/en/2-0-70

Yeah... I don't have that many rare mods...

[Btabc]

I absoluetly LOVE my tonkor!  I've only forma'd it once,but I intend to do more to make the best of it!  I'm not looking forward to the nerf I've heard about however!  It helps me solo a lot!  I don't like depending on a lot of people so I just go and solo missions so I don't bother others.  This weapon is one of my favorites especially for the Mastery Rank requirements.  

This is mine.  Is it the "BEST" thing out there, no, but it's handy for tough situations.  And like I said I'm going to keep working at it.  It's a weapon that I'm going to be keeping in my arsenal for a LONG while :).  Like others said, it shines with bigger crowds!

[AnonNyx]

9 minutes ago, Lucernam said:

Yeah... I don't have that many rare mods...

It is definitely better with the rare/corrupted mods, but you can also start off with the mods that @Btabc had linked.  You can also start working off the build I had linked and add the other mods as you acquire them.

[-CdG-Zilchy]

Can't wait till the noob tube is nerfed and players can self damage with this thing. Then it will actually take skill to use. Putting 3 mods in it and claiming it's no good is pretty hilarious though, you'll pretty much chuck every weapon in the game straight in the bin with that approach.

Edited June 10, 2016 by Zilchy