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It can’t be helped. Some of the most powerful weapons in Warframeconsist of a healthy selection of these futuristic blunderbusses. Turns out shotguns are still superweapons in their own right as they occupy the top tiers of weapon rosters in the game. Make sure to sate Ordis’ closeted bloodlust by using these shotguns to vaporize the usual Tenno enemies.
Updated February 16, 2022 by Sid Natividad: Frequent updates have come and gone, shaking up the current meta in Warframe yet shotguns still remain as popular as ever. They always have a spot in the meta since getting up close and personal to an enemy and blasting their faces off is just fun. Of course, for players to achieve that effect, it’s always recommended to go for the Warframe best shotgun.
After all, Waframe shotguns are not created equally. So we’ve added more to the list of the best of the best so players can pick the best shotgun in Warframe with relative ease. While these added five options are less robust than the first ones, they still kick like a mule.
15 Sobek
Total Damage: 350 Accuracy: 9. 1 Critical Chance: 11% Critical Multiplier: 2x Status Chance: 16. 2% Fire Rate: 2. 5 Reload: 2. 7 seconds
Who would have thought that the Grineer weapons manufacturer have an affinity for Egyptian Gods? Otherwise, they wouldn’t name one of their shotguns after the Egyptian Crocodile God. Sobek is a fitting name too since this shotgun crushes its enemies well.
It has one of the largest magazines out of all the shotguns in the game, though not exactly fast, so don’t count on it being a replacement for rifles. It’s a solid status weapon and can deal with shields with ease due to the high Impact damage. If that’s not enough, then the Sobek comes with an innate Multishot.
14 Kuva Drakgoon
Total Damage: 287. 5 Accuracy: 1. 4 Critical Chance: 19% Critical Multiplier: 2. 1x Status Chance: 9% Fire Rate: 3. 33 Reload: 2 seconds
What makes the Kuva Drakgoon a lot more appealing than its Grineer cousin, Sobek, is that it primarily deals Slash damage. This ensures that it can trigger continuous Bleed, which is especially useful in high levels. Oddly enough, the Kuva Drakgoon is not a status chance weapon.
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Its status chance is too low, compelling players to build it for critical damage. Its innate Multishot value of 10 does ensure that both critical damage and status triggers still happen reliably enough. Plus, there are always the added style points for having a Kuva weapon.
13 Boar Prime
Total Damage: 320 Accuracy: 5 Critical Chance: 15% Critical Multiplier: 2x Status Chance: 11. 25% Fire Rate: 4. 67 Reload: 2. 75 seconds
Now here’s an actual shotgun that can be a good replacement for automatic rifles, the Boar Prime. It has fallen off its pedestal thanks to shinier and mightier recent shotguns but it still packs a punch and a lot of players tend to favor it as their main weapon since the Riven Disposition is also high.
The biggest problem with the Boar Prime is the painfully slow reload speed but there’s always a trick to speed that up or maximize it. Players simply need to get used to it in order to utilize this versatile and imposing weapon.
12 Tigris Prime
Total Damage: 1,560 Accuracy: 9. 1 Critical Chance: 10% Critical Multiplier: 2x Status Chance: 11. 25% Fire Rate: 2 Reload: 1. 8 seconds
Look at that damage! Just look at it! One simply cannot ignore it. On paper, it’s monstrous. In practice, it’s unbelievable just how much of an annihilator this double-barreled goodness can be in the right hands. The Tigris Prime has always been a popular shotgun despite falling hard off the meta.
Several years ago, it was the most powerful. Today, it still is quite the obliterator but other shotguns have proven to be more efficient. Still, those who prefer the Tigris Prime for its violent no-nonsense mode will be rewarded handsomely with enemy giblets and corpses.
11 Astilla Prime
Total Damage: 240 Accuracy: 25 Critical Chance: 21% Critical Multiplier: 1. 9x Status Chance: 37% Fire Rate: 4. 33 Reload: 2 seconds
The Astilla Prime is one of the most gangsta shotguns in Warframe since it fires shells loaded with broken glass. That means the weapon unleashes two-phase damage. The first is the slug impact (which deals Impact damage). The second is the glass shrapnel explosion, which deals Slash damage.
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This kind of flexibility is advantageous in Warframe. But the Astilla Prime goodness doesn’t stop there as it can also be both a crit and status weapon (or a hybrid). Plus the accuracy is impressive and the fire rate rivals that of automatic rifles. Overall, it’s a solid weapon and players can’t go wrong with it.
10 Exergis
Total Damage: 1,620 Accuracy: 15. 4 Critical Chance: 8% Critical Multiplier: 1. 4x Status Chance: 36% Fire Rate: 3. 33 Reload: 3 seconds
The regular Arca Plasmor would have made the cut in this roster were it not for the Exergis. In all respects, it’s a better version of that aging Corpus weapon. It’s as if the Corpus warranted an upgrade for the Arca Plasmor, hence they introduced this successor.
The Exergis does what the regular Arca Plasmor can, including the Radiation damage. It also adds its own physical damage types, making it a more versatile option. Sadly, it’s not exactly a great CRIT weapon because of the rather low chance.
9 Kuva Hek
Total Damage: 609 Accuracy: 9. 1 Critical Chance: 23% Critical Multiplier: 2. 1x Status Chance: 13. 3% Fire Rate: 2. 17 Reload: 1. 9 seconds
The Hek shotgun has always been one of the most accommodating out of all the selections thanks to its numerous upgraded versions. The Vaykor Hek, for one, is always a popular weapon among players due to its balanced damage and stats.
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There is a better version of that Hek though and that would be the Kuva variant. It does everything Vaykor and regular Hek does except with more punch. It is a Kuva weapon though and has a fairly high Mastery Rank requirement. That’s one thing to keep in mind.
8 Phantasma
Total Damage: 90 Accuracy: 100 Critical Chance: 3% Critical Multiplier: 1. 5x Status Chance: 18. 5% Fire Rate: 12 Reload: 0. 5 seconds
Here’s a weird one. It feels as though the Phantasma should have been included in the beam rifle category due to how it operates. It fires a steady stream of deadly plasma which is just a fancier name for Radiation damage, meaning it is a beam weapon.
For that matter, it’s also accurate, has a fast fire rate, and to balance this off, the Phantasma has lower damage. It does use shotgun ammo so technically, it’s a shotgun. The secondary fire mode reinforces this categorization as it releases a projectile blob.
7 Strun Prime
Total Damage: 528 Accuracy: 9. 1 Critical Chance: 24% Critical Multiplier: 2. 2x Status Chance: 6. 7% Fire Rate: 3. 33 Reload: 4. 6 seconds
The Strun has always been one of the staples of Warframe’s shotgun family. Even in its base non-prime version, the Strun was already quite a beast and is able to dispatch light enemies in one shot. The Strun Prime merely provides a bit of overkill.
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It’s a CRIT weapon through and through thanks to the high multiplier and chance. One downside is that the Strun has a worryingly high and disruptive reload time but players can just melee their enemies while that animation happens.
6 Corinth Prime
Total Damage: 540 Accuracy: 9. 1 Critical Chance: 30% Critical Multiplier: 2. 8x Status Chance: 9% Fire Rate: 1. 42 Reload: 3 seconds
But alas, there’s an even better weapon than the Strun Prime if players are used to well-placed buckshots. The Corinth Prime boasts better CRIT stats compared to semi-auto shotguns. The only downside is that it often functions and feels like a pump-action shotgun.
That’s probably not much of an issue since shotgun-wielders don’t exactly pick their guns for the fire rate. In any case, the Corinth Prime is more stylish and has better practicality since the reload speed is still tolerable and pretty average as far as shotguns go.
5 Kuva Kohm
Total Damage: 20 Accuracy: 8 Critical Chance: 19% Critical Multiplier: 2. 3x Status Chance: 90% Fire Rate: 4. 17 Reload: 2 seconds
Don’t be fooled by the apparent low damage output per pellet. The Kuva Kohm, like its regular Kohm cousin, is the best automatic shotgun in the game. Not only does it fire in automatic mode but each succeeding shell fired also adds an additional bolt.
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This ramps up Kuva Kohm’s damage exponentially. Coupled with the incredibly high and effortless Status Chance, then most enemies standing in front of the Kuva Kohm are subject to disappear within a couple of seconds of introduction to millions of shotgun pellets.
4 Fulmin
Total Damage: 500 Accuracy: 9. 1 Critical Chance: 30% Critical Multiplier: 2. 2x Status Chance: 16% Fire Rate: 2. 17 Reload: 3 seconds
Can’t decide between a rifle and a shotgun? Then the Fulmin is the best option. It’s Wisp’s canon shotgun of choice whose secondary fire mode transforms it into a rifle with hit-scan projectiles. Granted, the rifle mode actually feels a bit weaker.
Players mostly use the Fulmin for its powerful and CRIT-oriented shotgun mode. It also helps a lot that players who use the Fulmin don’t have to worry about ammo since the gun replenishes and recharges its own ammo pool.
3 Tenet Arca Plasmor
Total Damage: 760 Accuracy: 9. 1 Critical Chance: 22% Critical Multiplier: 2. 0x Status Chance: 34% Fire Rate: 1 Reload: 3 seconds
The regular Arca Plasmor was a notorious weapon whose crowd control potential is unmatched in the shotgun category. So imagine a more powerful version of that weapon via the Tenet Arca Plasmor. It’s one of the latest additions to the Warframe primary arsenal and it’s already among the top guns.
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Since it’s a unique weapon that’s quite difficult to obtain, the Tenet Arca Plasmor boasts better shotgun stats. It’s capable both as a CRIT and Status weapon. Of course, it still excels well in crowd control thanks to the wide area damage coupled with the Radiation rounds.
2 Cedo
Total Damage: 180 Accuracy: 20 Critical Chance: 20% Critical Multiplier: 2. 4x Status Chance: 0. 3% Fire Rate: 3. 83 Reload: 2. 2 seconds
The Cedo’s stats don’t look all too impressive compared to the more straightforward shotguns. However, it’s a sleeping giant whose mechanics one has to understand well in order to make it perform like the top-tier weapon it is in all scenarios.
Players will need to utilize Cedo’s glaive fire mode which deals elemental damage to enemies and inflicts several status effects. Afterward, the accurate buckshot mode will shred enemies depending on how many status effects they have. That synergy alone is deadly against most targets.
1 Bubonico
Total Damage: 287 Accuracy: 25 Critical Chance: 25% Critical Multiplier: 2. 3x Status Chance: 9. 3% Fire Rate: 3. 83 Reload: 2. 1 seconds
Bubonico is the perfect weapon for bio-chemical warfare in Warframe and it’s just fun to define the game’s version of the Geneva Convention by raining several layers of plagues on the targets. That would be the alternate fire mode of the Bubonico where it lobs a disgusting bladder of diseases that explodes on impact.
After that, the multi-shot poison barbs in the main fire mode make quick work of the sickened enemies. Launching the Bubonico to the top spot is the fact that it also has innate Toxin damage which is the most desirable and flexible primary element in the game. On the plus side, players get to force their targets a taste of 2020 with all the toxicity in the Bubonico.
Warframeis available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Microsoft Windows.
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