Review: AkLex Prime (U24.2.6)

The AkLex Prime is a dual secondary with the highest MR lock of all weapons currently, at MR15. It is available only from Baro-exclusive Relics, the first of which was originally introduced in U19.8.1. With several notable flaws, and recent powercreep like the Tombfinger Kitgun, the AkLex Prime is not a weapon for everyone, nor is it as overwhelmingly powerful as its unique MR15 lock might suggest.

Acquisition

The AkLex Prime blueprint is available only from the Axi A2 and Neo O1 relics, both of which are Baro-exclusive. The AkLex Prime Link is available only in the Axi A2, which also includes all parts for the single Lex Prime.

Stats

Like with the Lex Prime on which it is based, the AkLex Prime has very good crit, as well as good status and a very high, majority Puncture base Damage. It has a reasonably large magazine of 16, but also a very long Reload Time of 3 seconds. With a relatively low RoF of 2.67, this gives it a Reload Ratio of 2.00, decent but not exceptional.

Augments

None.

Builds

0-Forma:

For whatever reason, the AkLex Prime has no innate polarities, despite the Lex Prime having a V. This limits Forma-less builds a little. The two builds I've pictured here are simple builds which will depend on what mods you have available. The top build uses two 60/60 mods, while the bottom build uses one 60/60 and one 90% elemental, with Barrel Diffusion at Rank 4 instead of 5 (any of the mods can be used at one Rank lower to fit the bottom build). Both are similarly effective, with little to separate them. The second build is notably easier to do if you're missing some of the 60/60 mods, which are generally rarer than their 90% elemental counterparts.

With great crit, naturally the crit mods are auto-includes. For a 0-Forma build, I feel that Lethal Torrent can be left out, as the +Fire Rate is not especially helpful on the high recoil AkLex prime, and the extra Multishot isn't as large. Personally, I prefer the two 60/60s build, partly because all of the mods can be used at max rank, but also for consistency of status application.

For the AkLex Prime, my go-to elemental combo is Viral. It fires much too slowly for Corrosive armour stripping to be properly effective except at absurdly high levels, and even without reliable Slash procs, I find Viral to be much more consistent and overall effective. Against Infested, both Corrosive and Viral are effective in their own ways, Corrosive with raw damage against Infested heavies, and Viral from its proc. Against unarmoured Corpus, I find Viral to be the most consistent, especially when there are heavier organics involved, like Corpus Techs. For armoured Corpus, especially robots, Radiation is the best bet.

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

General Purpose 2-Forma:

Two added V polarities lets you fit in Lethal Torrent, with a little extra space left over. There is space to slot in a 90% instead of a 60/60, particularly useful if you're missing some of the 60/60s.

Recommended Setups: see above.

Reduced Recoil 3-Forma:

A third V polarity lets you either fit in the Primed Crit mods, or slot in an eighth mod. The AkLex Prime has pretty heavy recoil, so I consider Steady Hands to be a decent choice. Augur Pact and Hydraulic Crosshairs are options that will boost your damage noticeably. Quickdraw is an option that reduces the AkLexP's long reload.

Recommended Setups: see above.

Primed Crit 5-Forma:

Two more V polarities and you can fit in almost any mods, though you may need an added - polarity or two depending on what you want to slot in. Seeker and Primed Heated Charge are two notable options, the former offering valuable Punch Through, and the latter offering a major damage boost. Primed Quickdraw is also a nice option. There is also space to switch the 60/60s for 90% elementals if you so choose.

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

My Builds

My builds are pretty standard Viral/Corrosive/Radiation builds. The Corrosive and Radiation builds are optimised for maximum damage, while the Viral build has more Status Chance, for more reliable Viral procs.

Combat Use and Summary 

The AkLex Prime functions how you'd expect dual wielding Lex Primes to be - very powerful but also harder to control. While it kills lighter enemies with ease, its low RoF and very long Reload Time make it quite inefficient against crowds, especially without Punch Through. Where the AkLex Prime shines is against tougher enemies, against whom it can really leverage its high damage-per-shot. This is definitely the case against enemies with little or no armour like Corpus Techs and Ancients.

However, the AkLexP starts to struggle against high level armoured heavies. With low RoF and majority Puncture damage, it cannot reliably execute a Corrosive armour stripping, or a Viral + Slash armour bypassing build. Forced to simply brute-force through armoured enemies' heavily protected health, the AkLexP does not scale particularly well at high levels.

As mentioned previously, the AkLex Prime has rather heavy recoil, much more so than the single Lex Prime. It is also less accurate especially with repeated shots, particularly noticeable in longer ranged combat like on the Plains or Vallis. The 3 second Reload Time is particularly annoying as well, given the unimpressive Mag Capacity. The AkLex Prime really feels like a weapon that wants way more mods than it has slots. Besides the standard set of seven mods (Damage + Multishot + Crit + Elementals), it also really appreciates -Recoil and +Reload Speed, as well as potentially more +Fire Rate, not to mention +Punch Through.

Overall, the AkLex Prime is a decent close quarters handcannon secondary. It is powerful and kills unarmoured or lightly armoured enemies with ease. However, it is rather inefficient against crowds, with no AoE or Punch Through and a painfully long reload, and does not perform particularly well against armoured heavies. Coupled with recent powercreep and its very high MR lock, and the AkLex Prime is probably not an especially good weapon by the time you can actually build it. There are a number of secondaries that can kill the same things that it can, and kill crowds and armoured enemies much faster.

Scores

Vs Trash Mobs: 2/5 - Powerful, but relatively slow firing with a painfully long reload and no AoE or innate Punch Through. Reload Ratio is decent but not great.
Vs Unarmoured Heavies: 4/5 - Quite high Burst DPS if you can manage the recoil, allowing the AkLex Prime to deal major damage to single unarmoured enemies.
Vs Armoured Heavies: 2.5/5 - Low slash bias and slow RoF prevent any Viral + Slash or Corrosive armour strip builds from being particularly effective. This forces the AkLexP to rely on brute-force, which it does better than a lot of other weapons thanks to high Burst DPS and majority Puncture, but still does not scale very well at high levels.

Vs Variants

The MR15 AkLex Prime is a superior version of the MR4 AkLex, notably with much better status, higher base Damage and a larger magazine. That said, for an MR4 weapon, the AkLex is pretty solid.

Compared to the MR8 single Lex Prime, the AkLex Prime has a slightly higher RoF and double size magazine. However, it loses a lot of accuracy, having larger spread and faster spread growth, as well as a slightly longer reload. It also has a lot more recoil. For most of Warframe's close-quarters, horde shooter content, the higher RoF and larger magazine give the AkLexP the edge. In longer ranged engagements however, the LexP is far superior with its better accuracy and lower spread.

Competitors

There are several other high power Semi-Auto secondaries around that compete with the AkLex Prime - Euphona Prime, Lex Prime, (Vaykor) Marelok and Tombfinger Kitguns. Looking a little more generally at Semi-Auto secondaries, you also have things like Arca Scisco, Lato Vandal, (Ak)Magnus and (Ak)Vasto (Prime). Many of them have various advantages over the AkLex Prime, whether it be lower recoil, faster RoF, better Slash bias, or something else. Notably however, a Tombfinger Kitgun can be easily configured to match or exceed the AkLex Prime in the majority of stats.

Rivens

The AkLex (Prime) has a slightly below average 3/5 (0.92) Riven disposition. Given the weapon's raw power, I think it probably deserves a bit more of a drop, but it also isn't especially popular or notably powerful any more.

Damage/Multishot/Crit Chance/Crit Damage are all top stats to have. An element can help to save a slot. +Punch Through can be very helpful against crowds. I would also consider -Recoil and +Reload Speed to be very helpful for the AkLex Prime.

-Max Ammo is a pretty reasonable negative for AkLexP given it is fairly ammo efficient. -Zoom is good if you only intend to use it in close quarters. -Impact/Slash minimally reduce your damage and significantly boost your Riven. -Puncture costs a lot of damage, but opens up more elemental status options. -Faction Damage to a faction you're not worried about (ie Corpus or Infested) can be a nice negative. -Fire Rate can be alright as well, since the AkLexP's heavy recoil limits effective RoF. -Projectile Flight Speed has no negative effect.