Review: Sicarus Prime (U24.2.10)

The Sicarus Prime is an MR14 Burst-Fire pistol originally released back in U11, alongside Ember and Glaive Primes. It has since released several buffs, having previously been quite weak and underwhelming on release. It is currently a rather powerful secondary, though is not without its flaws.

Acquisition

As standard for a Prime weapon, the Sicarus Prime's blueprint and parts drop for various Void Relics. It is about to be Unvaulted, so will be in Relics temporarily available from certain missions, but otherwise is not regularly available.

Stats

The Sicarus Prime has pretty good crit and solid Status Chance, perfect for a hybrid build. The Status Chance is backed up by solidly high RoF, though its balanced physical base Damage, slightly leaning towards Impact, is not optimal.

With a high RoF, but relatively small magazine and long reload, the Sicarus Prime has a rather poor Reload Ratio of just 1.28. Especially with a burst of 3 rounds, it goes through its magazine very quickly.

Augments

None.

Builds

0-Forma:

With a single native V polarity, you can fit a basic build on to the Sicarus Prime pretty easily. For lack of mod space, I've left out Lethal Torrent in this build, though a partially ranked one can fit if you use two 60/60 mods. Alternatively, if you don't have either 60/60 of the desired elemental combo, leaving out Lethal Torrent leaves enough space for two 90% elementals.

Against armoured targets, the Sicarus Prime has enough Status Chance and RoF to strip armour with Corrosive procs at a decent rate. As such, I would recommend a Corrosive build with maximum Status Chance (ie both Toxin and Electric 60/60s if you have them). Against unarmoured Corpus, my personal preference is Viral, for dealing with the heaviest organics fastest (e.g. Corpus Techs, Combas). Pure Toxin is also an option, mainly for Augmented Shield sorties. Against Infested, Corrosive is of course the go-to.
 
Recommended Setups: Corrosive status vs Grineer, Corrupted, armoured Corpus, Viral damage vs unarmoured Corpus, Corrosive damage vs Infested

General Purpose 2-Forma:

Two added V polarities lets you comfortably fit both Primed crit mods, as well as Lethal Torrent. This build has space for one 90% elemental, with the other having to be a 60/60 to fit.

As with all other hybrid-capable secondaries, there are a number of options to consider for the eighth slot, each of which will require additional Forma, at least two and potentially three or four. Augur Pact is a low-cost, no-downside mod that works nicely in that slot, and Hydraulic Crosshairs serves a similar purpose too. (Primed) Quickdraw/Slip Magazine patches up the Sicarus Prime's poor Reload Ratio. Seeker for Punch Through is as always one of my favourites, for Punch Through. Another 90% elemental for more bias (e.g. Pathogen Rounds/Stormbringer for Corrosive) can be a good option as well. Primed Heated Charge and the newly-buffed Magnum Force are high drain, but high damage options, though do note that PHC will screw up a Corrosive status build. Ammo Mutation can be a useful option too if you find you struggle for ammo in longer missions.

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

My Builds:

This is my primary, go-to build. It focuses on rapid armour stripping while still packing a decent punch. Primed Target Cracker has been dropped in favour of Pathogen Rounds as my Riven has Crit Damage, and PR greatly increases my Corrosive bias.

These two builds are pretty standard, Viral for unarmoured Corpus, raw Corrosive damage for Infested.

Combat Use and Summary

With very high Burst DPS, the Sicarus Prime excels against unarmoured heavies, easily punching through their raw health. Decent RoF and Status Chance also allow it to apply Corrosive procs with reasonable speed and frequency, combining with its direct damage to kill armoured heavies rather quickly as well.

Where the Sicarus Prime is weakest is against large groups. As a Burst-Fire weapon with a frustratingly small magazine, it often ends up putting multiple unnecessary rounds into a single target, overkilling them and not hitting other enemies in the group. Even with better burst control, the SicarusP has a rather small magazine for its RoF, and requires frequent, long reloads. This poses a significant issue against larger groups and consistent streams of enemies. Added Punch Through does help significantly, greatly improving the efficiency of each shot, but still does not completely mitigate its flaws.

The Sicarus Prime has a moderate amount of recoil, which combines with its high RoF and 3-round burst to give it a decent amount of kick. This is enough to potentially lift the reticle off an enemy's head/weakspot at mid range, though I wouldn't consider it a problem personally. In partial compensation of this fact, it is fairly accurate so has little issue landing rounds on enemies at longer range. The SicarusP's high RoF, Burst-Fire nature also often results in relatively poor ammo efficiency, often putting multiple extra rounds into an enemy who is already dead, and using up ammo quite quickly. With only 210 spare rounds, the SicarusP can go through its ammo reserve at an uncomfortable rate. I'd recommend at least one of Ammo Mutation/Case/etc if you intend to hang around for a while in a mission.

The poor Reload Ratio greatly hurts the Sicarus Prime's firing rhythm and general usability. Though very powerful, it requires frequent reloading, which severely slows down the rate at which it can actually kill multiple enemies. As such, though it has a very high Burst DPS, its Sustained DPS is actually not that exceptional. In my experience, I've often found that many other secondaries with lower Burst DPS but similar Sustained DPS achieve much the same results on average, but are a lot nicer to use.

If you're looking for a secondary that excels in large bursts of damage with decent status, or particularly enjoy Burst-Fire weapons, the Sicarus Prime is worth a look. However, it is definitely one of the less user-friendly options out there, with Burst-Fire and constant reloading. If you're looking just for a reliable, general-purpose secondary, there are many other options I'd direct you towards, mainly the Full-Auto secondaries.

Scores

Vs Trash Mobs: 2/5 - High RoF, and more than enough damage to kill weaker enemies with ease, but very poor Reload Ratio. Its fast-firing Burst-Fire nature doesn't help either, often resulting in wasted shots against already-dead enemies. Punch Through helps a lot.
Vs Unarmoured Heavies: 4.5/5 - Quite high Burst DPS, even for a secondary, allows the Sicarus Prime to deal major damage to single unarmoured targets.
Vs Armoured Heavies: 3.5/5 - High Burst DPS, combined with solid Status Chance and reasonable RoF, allows the Sicarus Prime to strip enemy armour with a Corrosive build at a reasonable speed, dealing heavy direct damage. It is held back by the need for frequent reloading.

Vs Variants

The MR14 Sicarus Prime is hilarious superior to the MR3 Sicarus, which is available directly from the Market for credits.

Competitors

There are barely any Burst-Fire secondaries in the game currently - Sicarus (Prime), the awful Kraken, and the dual AkJagara (Prime), which behaves more like a Semi-Auto. The AkJagara Prime deals significantly less Burst DPS, but is roughly comparable for Sustained DPS, and inflicts far more status, notably being a Slash-biased wepon. It has a much better Reload Ratio as well, but is similarly ammo inefficient. Personally, I consider the AkJagaraP to be overall a little better and nicer to use.

Looking more broadly at other secondaries, the main competitors for a similar role would be the many Full-Auto secondaries, which is bad news for the Sicarus Prime. It has to go up against powerful weapons like AkBolto Prime, Akstiletto Prime, Prisma Twin Gremlins, and Rattleguts Kitguns, each with their own merit. Notably, the Sicarus Prime is a single pistol and can be wielded alongside a throwing melee (e.g. Glaive Prime). Personally, I typically find the convenience and superior usability of Full-Auto and better Reload Ratios to outweigh the Sicarus Prime's superior Burst DPS.

Rivens

The Sicarus (Prime) has retained a rather high 4/5 (1.3) Riven Disposition, which I definitely feel is in line for further drops. I think more like 2/5, perhaps a little towards 3/5 for its unpopularity would be much more appropriate.

Damage/Multishot/Crit Chance/Crit Damage are all great stats to have. +Punch Through is a great help against crowds. An element (e.g. Toxin) can help to save a slot or increase elemental bias. I would consider +Mag Capacity/Reload Speed to be nice QoL stats as well, as can -Recoil if you have a problem with the recoil.

-Faction Damage to a faction you're less concerned about (e.g. Infested) is quite an acceptable negative. A small amount of -Fire Rate can be tolerable, being conteracted by Lethal Torrent. -Max Ammo can be alright alongside Ammo Mutation/Case/etc. -Flight Speed has no effect, so is perfect. +Recoil can be tolerable depending on how well you handle recoil, and what range you typically engage at; the same goes for -Zoom.