Review: Vasto Prime (U27.5.6)

Last updated: U27.5.6

The recently Unvaulted Vasto Prime is an MR10 secondary released with Nova and Soma Primes un U15.7. Having received a few buffs in the past, it is a powerful and rather fun revolver.

Acquisition

The Vasto Prime, as a standard single Prime secondary, is made from 2 parts + blueprint. It is currently Unvaulted, as is available from special relics that drop primarily from the Void, and PoE/OV bounties.

Stats

The Vasto Prime has both very good crit and status, as well as sporting majority Slash damage. This is a fantastic combination, allowing it to reliably inflict multiple large Slash procs on enemies. Its fire rate is oddly high for such a small magazine, with a Reload Ratio of just 1.11.

Previous buffs have seen the Vasto Prime's Crit and Status Chances increased from 15% to 22%, as well as smaller Damage and Crit Damage boosts.

Augments

None.

Builds

0-Forma:

With two native V polarities, the Vasto Prime can fit a reasonable build in without any Forma. Two 60/60s to form Viral have been used as the elemental combo, as one of the Vasto Prime's biggest advantages is its ability to proc Slash. Secondaries with high Crit, Status Chance and Slash bias are fairly rare. Swapping one of the 60/60s for a 90%gives more direct damage, at the cost of fewer procs.

A Viral build is very strong alongside the VastoP's tendency to inflict Slash procs, capable of punching or bleeding through most enemies in the game. Corrosive and Radiation are always worth a mention for their damage multipliers, the former vs Infested and Ferrite armour, the latter vs Alloy armour. Pure Toxin is a strong option against unarmoured Corpus, bypassing their Shields.

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

Primed Crit 3-Forma:

Three additional V polarities lets you comfortably fit in the Primed crit mods, with plenty of space for the remaining mods. If using lower drain mods, only one or two additional V polarities may be necessary. Depending on your last mod, a - polarity may be worth adding instead.

Maximum status Viral has been carried over as I feel it is the best use of the Vasto Prime's abilities, and Primed Quickdraw has been slotted in to reduce reloading downtime. Other options for the third slot include Augur Pact or Hydraulic Crosshairs for more damage-per-shot, Seeker for the Punch Through, or another elemental mod like Primed Heated Charge.

There are a couple of multi-elemental combos worth considering. Viral + Heat is an extremely strong combo, especially against armoured enemies, though clashes with the goal of maximising Slash procs. Viral + Electric has exceptional multipliers against unarmoured Corpus units once their Shields are depleted. Similarly, Corrosive + Heat is fantastic against anything Infested. Throwing in some Toxin alongside Radiation is a very good anti-Corpus build.

Recommended Setups: see above. Also consider: Viral + Heat vs everything, Viral + Electric vs unarmoured Corpus, Radiation + Toxin vs armoured Corpus, Corrosive + Heat vs Infested

My Build:

 Nothing special, standard Crit + Viral build with Punch Through.

Combat Use and Summary

With good power and high ROF, but poor Reload Ratio, the Vasto Prime is an excellent secondary for quickly putting a few powerful shots into a priority target. A couple of critical headshots will usually inflict enough Slash procs to leave most armoured heavy enemies bleeding out.

In contrast however, the VastoP is fairly poor against groups. Though it is powerful, and fires fast, the poor Reload Ratio with no AoE means that it will be reloading constantly. There are many secondaries that deal with groups much more efficiently. Additionally, as much of the VastoP's power comes from Slash procs, it is relatively less efficient against unarmoured, high health enemies, though it can kill most of them without much issue.

The VastoP has some recoil, though I find that it generally isn't an issue unless you're firing at full speed. It is fairly accurate, though the spread does increase quite significantly in rapid fire.

Overall, the Vasto Prime is a solid secondary. It does good damage and can kill most enemies without much trouble. However, its poor Reload Ratio gives it trouble against groups. If you're looking for a secondary that hits hard and procs a lot of Slash, the Vasto Prime is for you. It's not my favourite of the high damage secondaries, but it does the job fairly well, and will handle the majority of Warframe content without too much issue.

Scores

Vs Trash Mobs: 1.5/5 - Powerful and easily kills light enemies, but a very poor Reload Ratio gives the Vasto Prime issues against groups.
Vs Unarmoured Heavies: 4/5 - Solid but not exceptional Burst DPS by secondary standards. It kills most unarmoured heavies in reasonable time, just not as fast as many other secondaries.
Vs Armoured Heavies: 4/5 - Reliably procs critical Slash procs on enemies, which rapidly eat through an armoured enemy's health.

Vs Variants

Comparing the MR10 Vasto Prime to the MR4 Vasto is rather unfair. It has higher base damage, much higher Slash bias, and better crit and status. That said, for an MR4 weapon, the Vasto has rather decent crit.

More interesting would be to compare the VastoP to the newer, MR12 AkVasto Prime. The AkVastoP is only obtainable through the Axi A5 Relic, which is primarily available from Baro Ki'Teer on occasion.
The AkVastoP has a higher ROF and double Mag Capacity, at the cost of a slightly longer reload and heavier recoil. I prefer the Ak primarily because of that Mag Capacity increase.

Competitors

There are two secondaries quite similar to the Vasto Prime, the Pandero and Magnus. The Pandero is much more powerful with higher crit, and powerful secondary fire great against crowds with a slightly larger magazine, but with much lower Status Chance and lower Slash bias, is much less effective against armoured enemies. The Magnus is overall weaker than the Vasto Prime, with a larger magazine but slower reload, and higher Impact than Slash making it worse against armoured enemies.

If you branch further out into Semi-Auto secondaries in general, there is a large amount of variety, including things like Lex Prime, Arca Scisco, Vaykor Marelok, etc. Each has their own merits. There is of course also the aforementioned AkVasto Prime, which is only slightly different.

Rivens

The Vasto Prime is currently sitting at a very high 5/5 (1.35) Riven Disposition. It is one of the many victims of powercreep, as well as being more of a single-target weapon in a horde shooter game.

As usual for a crit weapon, Damage/Multishot/Crit Chance/Crit Damage are great stats to have. +Elemental damage can always be nice for extra damage or saving a mod slot. Personally, I would consider all of +Punch Through/Mag Capacity/Reload Speed to be useful stats as well.

As a fairly ammo efficient weapon, -Max Ammo is a decent negative, as is -Zoom if you're not using it at long range. -Impact/Puncture have little impact on the VastoP's damage output, and boost Slash bias even more. -Projectile Flight Speed has no negative impact. Personally, I consider the Fire Rate to be unnecessarily high, especially with Lethal Torrent, so I'd consider -Fire Rate to be a good negative as well. +Recoil can be alright if you can tolerate it.