Review: AkJagara Prime (U24.2.6)

The AkJagara Prime is an MR12 dual secondary, released alongside Mesa and Redeemer Primes in U24.2.2. It is a 2-shot Burst-Fire weapon with a high RoF, and is one of the few dual secondaries that uses different models for the two pistols. With almost universal improvements over the base model, the AkJagara Prime is a fairly powerful and versatile weapon.

Acquisition

As standard for a Prime weapon, the AkJagara's parts are currently available from various Relics.

Stats

The AkJagara Prime has a combination of solid crit (18%/2.2x), as well as fantastic base Status Chance at 32%. Combined with its fairly high RoF and heavy Slash bias, it is capable of executing a variety of hybrid builds quite effectively.

With a reasonable Mag Capacity and fast Reload Time, the Akjagara Prime has a respectable Reload Ratio of 2.86. Innate Punch Through is always appreciated, though 0.2 metres of it does not penetrate many objects.

Augments

None.

Builds

0-Forma:

With two innate V polarities, it is quite easy to fit a basic build. Damage and Multishot as standard, crit mods to take advantage of the AkJagara Prime's decent crit, and two 60/60 mods to make Viral. With majority Slash bias and very high base Status Chance, the AkJagaraP pulls off a Viral + Slash build very effectively. With a high RoF, a Corrosive status build is also quite effective, and though I personally favour Viral + Slash for most content, both are quite effective against armoured organics.

Against unarmoured Corpus, I tend to just stick with Viral, as it hits their organics hardest and still kills most of their units easily. For armoured Corpus, both Corrosive and Radiation are effective. Radiation deals more direct damage initially, but scales poorly at very high levels. Corrosive does less direct damage, but scales much better with its armour stripping procs. Against Infested, both Viral and Corrosive are solid options. The Viral proc combined with base Slash damage deal significant damage to most Infested units, while Corrosive forgoes a useful proc for more direct damage.

The last couple of points can be used to switch a 60/60 for a 90%, for more damage but less status, or put something small in the last slot like a partially ranked Quickdraw.

Recommended Setups: Viral or Corrosive vs Grineer, Corrupted, Infested, Viral vs unarmoured Corpus, Corrosive or Radiation vs armoured Corpus

1-Forma:

One added V polarity allows the comfortable use of both Primed crit mods, again with a little space to play around with the elemental mods.

Recommended Setups: see above.

3-Forma:

Another V, and an added - polarities opens up a lot of options for the last slot. My personal go-to is Seeker, as the added Punch Through combined with the AkJagara Prime's high RoF allows for excellent crowd clearing abilities. There are of course a lot of other options, including Primed Heated Charge for a lot more damage, Augur Pact which doesn't require the third Forma, and Maim for an even higher Slash bias. Pistol Ammo Mutation is also something to consider if you find yourself running out of ammo too quickly. I find that (Primed) Slip Magazine also makes the AkJagaraP a lot more comfortable to use, significantly reducing the frequency of reloads.

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

My Build

Nothing special about my build.

Combat Use and Summary

With high Slash bias, Status Chance and fairly high RoF, the AkJagara Prime excels against armoured enemies. Whether through repeated Slash procs amplified by a Viral proc bypassing armour, or a stack of Corrosive procs eating away at it, the AkJagara Prime can take down armoured enemies quite efficiently.

It falls behind a little against unarmoured heavy enemies, with reasonable but not exceptional DPS. Though not slow by any means, the AkJagaraP is not as efficient against such enemies as other, more crit-focused secondaries. It also has a few issues against crowds. It packs more than enough power to kill lighter enemies, however its extremely fast 2-shot burst nature often results in wasted shots. With effectively only 20 shots in its base magazine, the AkJagaraP requires frequent reloading when fighting against crowds. A fast reload helps, as does a small amount of innate Punch Through, but again there are many secondaries that are much more efficient against groups.

The AkJagara Prime behaves and handles like a Semi-Auto weapon, but fires two shots in quick succession per trigger pull, resulting in much higher ammo consumption. With almost no delay between the two shots, it is practically impossible to fire the two shots at different targets. Additionally, the AkJagaraP has a high base RoF, thus requiring rapid-fire to achieve maximum DPS. High RoF is very difficult to sustain with Semi-Auto or fast firing Burst-Fire weapons, as the rapid clicking can often inhibit aiming, and be quite uncomfortable to execute.

With only 320 spare ammo at base (effectively only 160 spare shots), the AkJagaraP can have ammo issues, especially in longer missions. At least one of Ammo Mutation/Ammo Case/etc is strongly recommended for more than a short Exterminate or similar mission.

Overall, the AkJagara Prime is a pretty good secondary. It performs well against the majority of enemies in the game, and is not especially weak against any particular target. The main problems faced by the AkJagaraP are its ammo inefficiency, and the difficulty of actually achieving its maximum RoF. If you're looking for a versatile hybrid secondary, and ammo efficiency and rapid clicking aren't a concern for you, I'd definitely recommend acquiring an AkJagara Prime.

Scores

Vs Trash Mobs: 3/5 - Packs more than enough damage to deal with light enemies easily, with a high RoF that allows rapid target switching, but also depletes the magazine rapidly. A very fast 2-shot Burst Fire doesn't help in this case, often just overkilling an already dead enemy. Frequent reloads are necessary. A small amount of innate Punch Through can help, depending on the enemy, but more is definitely helpful.
Vs Unarmoured Heavies: 2.5/5 - Reasonable but not exceptional DPS, the AkJagara Prime is fairly effective against unarmoured heavies.
Vs Armoured Heavies: 4.5/5 - Very high Status Chance and Slash bias, with pretty high RoF, the AkJagara Prime is extremely effective against armoured enemies. It can pull off both Viral + Slash and Corrosive builds quite effectively.

Vs Variants

The AkJagara Prime is an almost universal improvement over the MR8 AkJagara. Notably, it has much better crit stats, much faster reload, a little innate Punch Through, and higher base Damage.

Competitors

There are many other fast-firing secondaries that compete for a similar role as the AkJagara Prime, for instance AkBolto Prime, Akstilleto Prime and Prisma Twin Gremlins. However, none are as capable of both Viral + Slash and Corrosive status builds, as there is no secondary equivalent of Hunter Munitions, and few such secondaries have a high Slash bias. However, a number of them are significantly more powerful, for instance the AkBolto Prime with its crazy 36%/2.8x crit, and several of them are Full-Auto, which is much easier to use than fast firing Semi-Auto or Burst-Fire. The AkJagara Prime is just one of many good weapons in a rather competitive and packed category.

Rivens

The AkJagara (Prime) has a rather high 5/5 (1.43) Riven Disposition, which I can only assume will be dropping significantly in the next disposition update. It is quite a powerful weapon, and definitely does not deserve such a high disposition. I would think around 2/5 would be much more appropriate.

As always for a crit-viable weapon, Damage/Multishot/Crit Chance/Crit Damage are all great stats to have. If you're going for a Viral + Slash build, +Slash can be a good stat to have. An appropriate element can help to save a mod slot. +Punch Through is a great help against crowds. Personally, I also find +Mag Capacity to make the AkJagaraP a lot nicer to use.

-Max Ammo is a usable negative if you run Ammo Mutation/Ammo Case/etc, but can be a problem as the AkJagara Prime eats through ammo pretty quickly. -Zoom is perfectly usable if you only intend to use it in close quarters. -Impact/Puncture are both great, as they barely reduce damage, and increase the bias of other, more desirable damage types. -Faction Damage to a faction you aren't worried about can be alright. I would personally consider -Fire Rate decent, as the AkJagara's RoF is already quite high even before Lethal Torrent. -Projectile Flight Speed has no effect. +Recoil can be a tolerable negative depending on how well you handle recoil.