Review: Tiberon Prime (U27.3.16)

Latest Update: U27.3.16

Released with Zephyr and Kronen Primes in U22.16.4, the Tiberon Prime is the first true select-fire Rifle with three firing modes. With improvements over its base model in every stat except ROF, the MR14 TibP is great all-rounder and is one of my favourite Rifles.

Acquisition

As standard for a Prime rifle, the Tiberon Prime is made from 3 parts + blueprint. As it has not been vaulted yet, these parts and blueprint can be found in various relics that will drop from some missions in-game.

Stats

The Tiberon Prime's base stats are quite solid across the board. Its crit stats in Burst and Semi-Auto modes are insane, and still quite usable in Full-Auto. Likewise, its Status is quite good in all three, but especially good in Full-Auto. As a standard rifle, the TibP does not require 100% status to be effective at proccing status - I find one or two 60/60 mods to be plenty.

Its base damage is quite low for a Burst or Semi-Auto weapon, and even with its fantastic crit stats taken into account, in damage-per-shot it falls behind many other Burst and Semi-Auto weapons.
In Full-Auto mode, the TibP has a Reload Ratio of 2.52, which becomes better in Burst or Semi-Auto due to their lower ROF.

Generally speaking, Burst-Fire has the highest burst DPS of the three firing modes, with Semi-Auto just behind, and Full-Auto achieving about 2/3rds the damage of Burst-Firre.


My biggest complaint with the Tiberon Prime is its ROF in Semi-Auto, and this is not a complaint unique to the TibP. To achieve maximum ROF and thus DPS, Semi-Auto requires rapid clicking, which I find throws off my aim quite a lot. I also find it rather uncomfortable and difficult to sustain for more than a short period of time. The maximum ROF I consider reasonable and comfortable for a Semi-Auto is around 5 rounds per second. Without sustaining maximum ROF, Semi-Auto mode drops quite far behind Burst mode for burst DPS, though it certainly excels for ammo efficiency.

For the most part though, the Tiberon Prime's stats are quite well rounded and offer a lot of versatility.

Augments
None.

Builds
General Purpose 0-Forma:

This is a simple but already quite effective build. It fits in all the standard mods, Serration + Split Chamber + Point Strike + Vital Sense, which should always be on TibP, even for Full-Auto mode. The two - polarities fit two 90% elementals to form Corrosive, which is a great general-purpose element. Radiation (Infected Clip -> Hellfire) is also a solid option. A Rank-4 Vigilante Armaments fills in the last bit of capacity nicely, though a Rank-4 Hunter Munitions would also be a good choice for a bit more damage against armoured enemies.

This build has quite respectable DPS, and even without any 60/60 status mods, procs surprisingly frequently, especially in Full-Auto. Even without Forma, so long as you run the correct element(s), this build will do just fine in high level content.

An alternative setup, which deals lower direct damage but much better Status Chance, is to drop one of the 90% elementals, put a full-rank Vigilante Armaments in the free slot, and add a 60/60 element. This allows the use of Cold, for which its 90% elemental has the annoyingly rare D polarity. With the Warframe Revisited update of U27.2, Viral is the best overall element to have being effective against anything not Status-immune. Corrosive and Radiation still maintain their particular targets, notably many bosses. As always, pure Toxin is always a great option against unarmoured Corpus.

Recommended Setups: Viral vs everything, Corrosive vs Infested, Radiation vs armoured Corpus, Viral or Toxin vs unarmoured Corpus

General Purpose 2-Forma:

2 Forma for two V polarities lets you fill out the eight mod slots pretty comfortably, with the build essentially the same as before.

This is an alternative Corrosive build, dropping raw damage to maximise status potential. This is especially potent in Full-Auto mode, capable of rapidly applying Corrosive procs to whittle down enemy armour.

I've added in Shred as the eighth mod, partly because I really like its RoF boosts for Burst-Fire and Full-Auto, and also because its Punch Through is invaluable against groups of enemies. Besides Shred and Vigilante Armaments, there are several solid options for those last two slots. Heavy Caliber is a straight up damage boost, but the accurracy penalty can be problematic at longer ranges, especially in sustained fire. Bladed Rounds and Argon Scope are alright damage boosts if you can maintain their trigger conditions.

You could consider adding in a third elemental mod. In particular, the Viral + Heat combo is very strong against most targets, both procs now stacking very effectively. There are several other solid three element combos which I've mentioned below.

If you want to focus on armoured and particularly organic enemies, Hunter Munitions is a pwoerful option. Consider replacing Cryo Rounds in the above build with Rime Rounds for the extra Status Chance. Hunter Munitions allows the TibP to inflict powerful Slash procs consistently, which is one of the best ways to get past the extreme damage reduction of armoured units.

Regardless of which setup you choose, 2 Forma allows you to quite comfortably finish most ordinary TibP builds.

There aren't any Exilus mods that I would consider especially useful. The TibP has reasonable ammo efficiency and is hitscan. If you struggle with the Recoil, Stabilizer will pretty much neutralise it all. Vigilante Supplies, as with every other Primary, can be used to slightly increase the Vigilante Set bonus.

Recommended Setups: Viral (+ HM/Heat) vs everything, Toxin or Viral (+ Electric) vs unarmoured Corpus, Radiation (+ Toxin) vs Corpus, Corrosive + Heat vs Infested

Primed Cryo Rounds 5-Forma:

This is a build focused purely on maximising Viral + HM. Two more V polarities have been added, with one - turned into D to fit Primed Cryo Rounds. Malignant Force + PCR offers a substantial Viral damage boost, as well as a great chance to proc Viral. Hunter Munitions of course works really well with Viral to tear through armoured enemies, with most unarmoured enemies quickly dying to direct damage and Viral procs pretty easily. Shred is of course there because I love Punch Through, but again there are several contenders for that slot. Vigilante Armaments in particular would allow you to save a Forma, not having to get rid of one - polarity.

My Builds:

These are my preferred builds. The Viral one is my general use, and tears through just about everything since U27.2. Corrosive and Radiation are used to target particular bosses.

Combat Use and Summary

The Tiberon Prime is a highly versatile weapon, with each firing mode functioning differently depending on how you've modded it. Burst fire is the best all-rounder mode, with great crit and good status, though the innate disadvantage of always having to fire three rounds can be a little annoying. Semi-Auto doubles down on crit at the expense of a little status, making it the best for ammo efficiency, and for taking advantage of Hunter Munitions. Full-Auto trades some crit for great status and the most convenient firing mode, making it fantastic for armour strip with Corrosive and general crowd killing. All three modes sport very respectable DPS, even Full-Auto which loses a lot of crit-based damage.

Especially without Punch Through, Burst and Semi-Auto can struggle a little against groups. Burst in particular tends to massively overkill squisher enemies, since it forces you to fire three rounds every time, and Semi-Auto requires rapid clicking to kill multiple enemies.

Something also of note for Semi-Auto specifically is that with Point Strike, it only reaches a Crit Chance of 75%, leaving some chance of none of the pellets in a shot critting. This can be rather irritating, providing a low chance of doing minimal damage and requiring an additional shot to kill.

The TibP has an above average but not exceptional Reload Ratio. While great against small groups and few targets, it isn't as efficient against large groups as most other Full-Auto rifles. Punch Through feels like a must for me for effective crowd killing.

The TibP has a little vertical recoil, most noticeable in Full-Auto mode. As a former Battlefield 3/4 player, this amount of recoil doesn't bother me at all, but it is enough to turn a headshot into a complete miss at longer range if not compensated for.

All in all, I really like the Tiberon Prime. All three firing modes feel useful (though Semi-Auto a bit less than the others), and each one does substantial damage. The three firing modes can all benefit from similar builds as they all have at least reasonable crit and status. I also love how it feels with Primed Shred, the ROF in Full-Auto mode feels pretty much perfect to me.
With all that said, the Tiberon Prime is a jack-of-all-trades that leans more towards killing fewer heavier enemies, in a game where crowd killing is typically the most important aspect. Furthermore, its best firing mode, Burst fire, is not for everyone. If you like versatile Rifles, the TibP is a very good one.

Scores
Vs Trash Mobs: 3.5/5 - Full-Auto mode is quite convenient and effective against groups, and has more than enough DPS, but its Reload Ratio isn't great by Full-Auto weapon standards.
Vs Unarmoured Heavies: 4.5/5 - Very good Burst DPS by rifle standards in both Burst and Semi-Auto, but doesn't quite compare to say Snipers for single target killing potential.
Vs Armoured Heavies without Hunter Munitions: 4/5 - Both Viral and Corrosive can be reliably stacked up by Full-Auto, significantly weakening enemies.
VS Armoured Heavies with Hunter Munitions: 4.5/5 - with fantastic crit stats in both Burst and Semi-Auto, HM allows the TibP to do massive unreducable damage to armoured enemies.

Vs Tiberon

The Tiberon Prime is superior to the MR10 Tiberon in just about every stat except ROF, which it compensates for anyway with every other stat increase. The main stat boosts that I like are the mag size increase and reload time decrease, as I always felt the base Tiberon spent too much time reloading. Before TibP came out, I really liked the base Tib with a damage/multishot/reload speed Riven, despite its garbage stats pre-U22.12. The reduced Puncture damage is more a benefit, since it results in more natural Slash procs (25% bias to 30% bias), and the total base damage is slightly increased anyway. Furthermore, the TibP has three firing modes where the base Tib has just Burst fire.

Competitors

The Tiberon Prime's main competitor is the Kuva Hind, which unfortunately for the TibP is extremely strong and in my opinion superior. I've actually compared the two in some detail in my KHind post, which sees the KHind largely come out on top.

Rivens

Screenshot from when Tiberon had 5/5 Disposition

The Tiberon Prime's Riven Disposition has dropped significantly since DE began adjusting Riven Dispos regularly. It now sits at 2/5 (0.85), which is quite reasonable. It is a fairly powerful, but not absolute top tier, Rifle, and more recently it has begun facing extremely stiff competition.

The four most desirable stats are of course Damage/Multishot/Crit Chance/Crit Damage, with importance depending on the player. Personally I love Multishot for the extra status, and would have liked Crit Chance for the extra consistency. An element that isn't Heat can also be useful, potentially letting you drop an elemental mod for something else. If you're going for a Corrosive armour strip build, Toxin and/or Electric gives it a decent damage boost and much better bias, while Toxin and/or Cold saves you slots in a Viral + HM build. + Slash can be usable for a Viral/Slash build, but adds a lot less direct damage. Punch Through would be a great bonus stat as well, if you don't already normally slot in PT.

There are several desirable/acceptable negatives, again depending on player preference. - Ammo Max is generally great because TibP's ammo efficiency is generally pretty good. - Zoom is liked by a lot of players since zoom is excessive in Warframe's mostly close-quarters combat. - Impact/Puncture lets you proc a lot more Slash and elements naturally, which easily makes up for the minor damage loss even before you take into account the boosted Riven stats. If you don't have any issue with the TibP's recoil, + Recoil can be a solid negative. - Projectile Flight Speed has no negative effect since the TibP is a hitscan weapon with no damage drop-off, making it a great negative to have. - Infested/Corpus damage can be reasonable, as they are generally speaking far squisher than even a typical high level Grineer enemy. Furthermore, the sheer damage boost from a decent riven can easily outweight the - faction damage negative.