Review: Dex Furis (U24.2.15)

With Warframe's Sixth Anniversary approaching, I thought it a good idea to cover the Dex weapons that are exclusively available during the event. The Dex Furis is an MR10 dual secondary, originally released for Warframe's first anniversary in U12.6. Having received several buffs in the past, and with a very high RoF and large magazine, it is a rather effective, if very ammo hungry, dual secondary.

Acquisition

The Dex Furis is uniquely available from Warframe's Anniversary events, typically occurring mid-to-late March. In early years, it was given to any players who logged in within the appropriate timeframe, though since 2017, they have been awarded for completing special (very easy) Alerts. As a free weapon, the Dex Furis comes with a free Weapon Slot, and has an Orokin Catalyst pre-installed. Note also that due to its special method of obtainment, it can be used regardless of your MR.

Stats

The Dex Furis has a great Status Chance of 28%, which combines with its extremely high RoF, for great status capabilities. With a massive Mag Capacity of 100 rounds, and a reasonable 2 second Reload Time, it has a decent Reload Ratio of 2.5. Additionally, the Dex Furis has usable crit (14%/2x), though status is obviously its primary strength.

Augments

None.

Builds

0-Forma:

With only a native - polarity, the Dex Furis can only fit in a rather basic build without Forma. This build immediately offers excellent Corrosive proccing ability, with greatly boosted Status Chance and Corrosive bias. There is space for both 90% elementals if one of the 60/60s is not available. Alternatively, something like Seeker or Pistol Ammo Mutation can be slotted in to the polarised slot for better utility.

Against armoured enemies, naturally a Corrosive status build is the most effective. It can quickly eat through the armour of even the most heavily armoured enemies, exposing their vulnerable health with no DR. Against unarmoured Corpus, both Viral and Gas can be quite effective. Viral is far more directly effective once shields are down, especially against organics. Gas is much more effective against groups, with frequent Gas procs eating away at Corpus health, completely ignoring their shields. It does suffer significantly in direct damage however. Against Infested, Corrosive, potentially with Heat, is a simple and effective setup.

Recommended Setups: Corrosive vs Grineer, Corrupted, armoured Corpus, Viral or Gas vs unarmoured Corpus, Corrosive or Corrosive + Heat vs Infested

Crit 1-Forma:

As mentioned previously, the Dex Furis has usable, if unexceptional, crit stats. With one added V polarity, a basic crit build can be installed. Such a build does offer a damage boost, especially with headshots, but is slightly lacking without the Primed crit mods. In this setup, you are also forced to use one 60/60 and one 90% elementals.

Recommended Setups: see above.

Status 1-Forma:

Alternatively, this example build goes all-out on status, with greatly increased Status Chance and elemental bias. It has very slightly higher DPS than the basic Crit build above, though of course falls behind once Primed Crit mods are introduced. Notably, this build is exceptionally effective at stripping armour with a Corrosive build, or inflicting AoE procs with a Gas build.

Recommended Setups: see above.

General Purpose 3-Forma:

Two more added V polarities allow the use of both Primed crit mods, as well as space for any combination of elementals (except Primed Heated Charge + 90%). As shown, it achieves a higher DPS than a pure elemental build, though of course will not inflict status as effectively.

Recommended Setups: see above.

General Purpose 4-Forma:

One more V polarity allows the comfortable use of just about any eighth mod, though one or two more Forma may be necessary to have total elemental mod compatability (a pair of 90% elementals will not currently fit alongside Seeker, for instance). As always, I love Seeker for Punch Through, offering great efficiency against groups, as well as a lot of convenience. Augur Pact is a low-cost filler that boosts damage a little, while Magnum Force is a higher cost mod that boosts damage more, but also reduces accuracy and requires a different polarity (V). Given the Dex Furis' extremely high RoF especially with Lethal Torrent equipped, Pistol Ammo Mutation can be very useful. Steady Hands is also a decent option for countering the fairly high recoil if you can't handle it yourself. One option is to drop Lethal Torrent for something like another elemental, for less recoil and better ammo efficiency, though of course sacrifices a lot of DPS.

Recommended Setups: see above.

My Builds

My primary build is a Corrosive armour strip build, switching Lethal Torrent with Pathogen Rounds for less terrible ammo efficiency and more Corrosive proc frequency. The Riven (see below) easily fills in Primed Target Cracker's role, offering more Crit Damage as well as a massive amount of extra base Damage.

This Corrosive Heat build is brutally effective against anything Infested.

This Viral Heat build is best against unarmoured Corpus, though Viral Electric is probably a better choice. A full Gas build is also an option here.

Combat Use and Summary

The Dex Furis is a very fast firing secondary with a status focus. As such, it excels against armoured enemies, rapidly reducing their armour with repeated Corrosive procs. With high RoF and capacity, it handles fairly well against groups, switching targets quite easily. However, with such a high RoF, it also tends to waste a lot of ammo, even with Punch Through, so spends a lot of time reloading. The Dex Furis is weakest against unarmoured heavy enemies, due to its unexceptional DPS. It falls fair behind a number of other high-crit secondaries, though is certainly not weak.

As mentioned several times already, the Dex Furis' main weaknesses are its terrible ammo economy, and rather high recoil. At a base 20 rounds-per-second, it eats through ammo at a ridiculous rate, especially with Lethal Torrent installed. A reserve of 400 rounds supports only four full reloads, and the very high capacity is drained very quickly, emptying in 5 seconds at base, and in just over 3 seconds with Lethal Torrent. For the sake of ammo efficiency, it can be worth dropping Lethal Torrent for something else, though this of course significantly reduces your overall DPS. At least one of Ammo Case/Mutation/etc is mandatory if you intend to use the Dex Furis in a longer mission.

The high recoil is also connected to its high RoF, though I find can be somewhat tolerable in close quarters. Again, dropping Lethal Torrent limits recoil, and Steady Hands is an option to significantly reduce it as well. As a result of the fairly high recoil and rapid spread increase due to its high RoF, the Dex Furis is not very effective beyond close range.

Overall, the Dex Furis is a solid all-round secondary with exceptional status capabilities. Even better, it can be acquired very easily come Warframe's Anniversary period, though cannot be obtained outside of these specific events. Its main weakness is terrible ammo efficiency, which can be mitigated with Ammo Case/Mutation/etc, and high recoil, which can be mitigated by dropping Lethal Torrent and/or adding Steady Hands. I personally rather like it as an armour strip weapon, but I prefer many other secondaries for general purpose use.

Scores

Vs Trash Mobs: 4/5 - High RoF and capacity allow the Dex Furis to switch between targets with ease, allowing it to take on groups quite effectively. However, its very high RoF often results in a lot of wasted rounds, even with Punch Through, requiring a lot more reloading than ideal.
Vs Unarmoured Heavies: 3/5 - Mediocre crit results in overall mediocre DPS, the Dex Furis is unexceptional against high health enemies.
Vs Armoured Heavies: 4.5/5 - Very high RoF and Status Chance allows the Dex Furis to strip armour at a fantastic rate with a Corrosive status build. It does solid but not exceptional DPS, enough to kill de-armoured enemies relatively quickly.

Vs Variants 

Despite its name, the Dex Furis is a variant of the dual Afuris, rather than the single Furis. The Dex is a vastly superior version of the Afuris, sacrificing a little base Damage for usable crit, higher RoF and capacity, and much higher Status Chance.

Competitors

There are several other status capable, fast-firing secondaries, notably the Full-Auto Akstiletto Prime, Secura Dual Cestra, Prisma Twin Gremlins, as well as several of the beam secondaries, and both the Gaze and Rattleguts Kitguns. In particular, the Dex Furis is the fastest firing of all of them, behind only the crit-focused Twin Vipers (Wraith). As such, it has by far the worst ammo efficiency, especially compared several of the beam weapons. In compensation however, it inflicts status at an absurdly high rate, among the fastest of all secondaries (up there with weapons like Mara Detron and Pox). It also deals fairly high DPS among other status-focused secondaries, though naturally falls far behind crit-focused weapons.

Ultimately, the choice between the Dex Furis and other status secondaries comes down to ammo efficiency, recoil, availability, and personal preference. The Dex Furis is a powerful secondary with great status capbility, but eats through ammo at an absurd rate, has rather high recoil, and is only available for a few weeks of the year.

Rivens

The (Dex) Afuris has a very high 5/5 (1.39) Riven Disposition, which is absurdly high for a rather solid weapon. I would consider a low 3/5 Disposition to be the highest appropriate, given it is quite powerful but relatively unpopular.

+Damage/Multishot as always are top stats to have. +Crit Chance/Damage are also solid on the Dex Furis. An element can help to save a slot, or increase elemental bias. +Punch Through is rather helpful against crowds. -Recoil can be quite helpful if you struggle with its recoil.

-Impact/Slash barely affect damage output, and improve a Riven significantly. -Puncture turns the (Dex) Afuris into an almost entirely elemental weapon, great for status, though reduces damage output a lot more. -Status Duration is usable on a Corrosive status build, but hurts most other elements. -Faction Damage can be tolerable depending which factions you intend on using it against (-Infested is generally considered alright). -Fire Rate reduces recoil and improves ammo efficiency, though of course also reduces DPS significantly. -Ammo Max is usable alongside Ammo Case/Mutation/etc, though I wouldn't recommend it for longer missions. -Flight Speed has no effect. +Recoil can be tolerable if you handle recoil very well, though I wouldn't recommend it in this case. -Zoom is great as the (Dex) Afuris is only really effective at closer range.