Review: Komorex (U25.2.4)

The Komorex is a very different MR8 Sniper Rifle, with completely unique mechanics for a Sniper as well as an unusual stat distribution. Released in U25, it is quite an unorthodox weapon, but nevertheless packs an impressive amount of firepower.

Acquisition

The Komorex must be researched at your Clan Dojo's Energy Lab to acquire its blueprint.

Stats

At first, the Komorex's base stats don't look too exceptional, especially for a Sniper. However, these base stats only describe its hipfire stats. In hipfire, the Komorex has exceptional Status Chance, which complements its high Slash bias quite well. Its crit is very poor for a Sniper, though still absolutely usable. Notably, the Komorex is currently the only Sniper that does not have innate Punch Through.

The Komorex has by far the highest RoF of any Sniper, at 6 rounds-per-second. This is complemented by the largest Mag Capacity of any Sniper, at 20 rounds. With a Reload Time of 3 seconds however, it has a pretty poor Reload Ratio of 1.11.

Oddly, the Komorex is also a projectile weapon. It has quite high Flight Speed, but can still pose a problem against fast moving enemies, or at longer range.

Like with other Snipers, the Komorex has a combo counter as well as zoom-in bonuses. Its base combo counter requires 5 hits to begin. However, its zoom-in bonuses are very different to those of the regular Snipers.

Its base zoom level, 2x, reduces Recoil by 50%, and also adds 2 metres of Punch Through. This mode is useful for putting multiple rounds into a lined up group of targets, but pales in comparison to the other zoom mode.

The Komorex's second zoom level, 3.5x, doubles damage, while reducing RoF by 75%. Most importantly, it adds a 3 metre explosion, dealing 66 base Viral damage. This explosion has the same Crit and Status Chance as the Komorex's standard shot, and also deals self-damage. The explosion does not increase the Komorex's combo counter, only direct hits.

Augments

None, it's brand new.

Builds

General Purpose 0-Forma:

Yet another weapon with no polarities, despite using Forma as a building material...The Komorex performs best with some crit mods installed, even with its relatively mediocre crit. The other mods are all completely ordinary and unexceptional. In lieu of not having enough space for Split Chamber, Vigilante Armaments has been equipped instead.

The two main firing modes (hipfire/2x zoom and 3.5x zoom) behave quite differently. The hipfire/2x zoom behaves like a conventional fast-firing Semi-Auto rifle. With quite good Slash bias and very high Status Chance, I tend to favour Viral for it for most targets, particularly armoured enemies. Viral is a great general purpose element, and pairs especially well with the frequent and quite deadly Slash procs that the Komorex can put out. Against Infested, Corrosive is my go-to as usual.

Unarmoured Corpus are hit quite effectively by several combos. Viral as mentioned just before is a great all-rounder and hits organics very hard, while pure Toxin comfortably bypasses shields. With such high Status Chance, Gas is also a reasonable option, inflicting powerful Toxin procs to any enemy in range, though direct Gas damage is quite poor. Against armoured Corpus, depending on the enemy, any one of Corrosive, Viral or Radiation may be effective. Corrosive can directly strip enemy armour, while Radiation is highly effective against the Corpus' Alloy Armour. Viral on the other hand halves enemy health, for Slash procs to be at their most effective.

The 3.5x zoom on the other hand is an unusual mix of solid direct damage, and a high Status explosion. Because the explosion deals pure Viral damage, I've found a Corrosive status build to actually be quite effective against armoured enemies. The Corrosive + Viral combo is quite rare and extremely powerful against armoured enemies, both stripping armour and reducing maximum health. Infested as usual are hit hardest with Corrosive. Because of the explosion's innate Viral damage, as well as its exceptional Status Chance, I find a Gas build to be the most effective against unarmoured Corpus. The combination of halved health from Viral procs, coupled with shield bypassing Gas procs, is ridiculously effective against anything without thick armour. Any Alloy-armoured enemy whose armour cannot be stripped by Corrosive is best hit with Radiation.

Recommended Setups: Hipfire/2x zoom: Viral vs Grineer, Corrupted, Corrosive vs Infested, Viral or Toxin or Gas vs unarmoured Corpus, Corrosive or Viral or Radiation vs armoured Corpus
3.5x zoom: Corrosive vs Grineer, Corrupted, armoured Corpus, Infested, Gas vs unarmoured Corpus

General Purpose 1-Forma:

One added V polarity lets you slot in Split Chamber, which greatly improves Multishot consistency over Vigilante Armaments.

Recommended Setups: see above.

General Purpose 2-Forma:

Another added V polarity and you have space for a seventh mod, for instance Vigilante Armaments. I'll discuss what additional mods I like to have just below.

I will note here however that I personally feel Hunter Munitions is not good on the Komorex. The Komorex's Crit is relatively mediocre, at only 40% Crit Chance with Point Strike. This, coupled with its innately high Slash bias and exceptional Status Chance, means that the Komorex is much more likely to proc a Slash naturally, than it is via HM. HM does allow the Viral explosion to proc Slash, but again with only 40% Crit Chance this is quite inconsistent. Additionally, in 3.5x zoom, adding Corrosive with high Status Chance can strip enemy armour surprisingly reliably, making Slash procs less necessary.

Recommended Setups: see above.

General Purpose 4-Forma:

Another two V polariies and you can comfortably fit both a seventh and eighth mod. There are a couple of good options that I'd recommend trying out.

As always, Vigilante Armaments is a no-nonsense damage and Status boost. Heavy Caliber, if you can manage the accuracy drop, is a powerful option as well. Argon Scope and bladed Rounds are usual suspects for a crit weapon, though they are relatively less effective here given the Komorex's Crit isn't great. Personally, I really like (Primed) Fast Hands. The Komorex's Reload Time is 3 seconds, which I find painfully long for something that doesn't have that big a Magazine. Harkonar Scope is a Sniper-only mod that slows down combo counter delay, much like Body Count/Drifting Contact for melee. Target Acquired is another Sniper-only mod that provides a pretty hefty damage bonus on headshots.

Notably, I feel it is not worth slotting in Punch Through on the Komorex. The 2x zoom adds it to its regular, non-exploding shots, while the 3.5x zoom exploding shot does not want Punch Through as it will only explode on an object it cannot penetrate.

Recommended Setups: see above.

My Builds:

Another bunch of my builds that are nothing special, my go-to is a Corrosive build that deals major damage to armoured enemies and Infested. As for why I don't have more Forma in the Komorex, well that's mainly because I don't really enjoy Snipers in general.

My second setup is a Gas build that absolutely destroys any unarmoured Corpus.

Combat Use and Summary

The Komorex's 3.5x zoom is by far the most notable of its firing modes. Its default and 2x zoom firing modes are pretty much just a generic Semi-Auto rifle with a combo counter when zoomed - not exactly terrible, but nothing special either.

Against crowds, naturally 3.5x zoom and its powerful explosions are the most effective. It can deal major damage to all enemies caught in its substantial blast radius, and with a built up combo counter, comfortably one-shots just about any weaker enemy. Modding specfically for Gas further increases the Komorex's AoE, and is vicious against Corpus, but loses a lot of direct damage. The Komorex is held back here partly by its slow RoF, but also the requirement to be zoomed in for the AoE. Warframe primarily has its combat in close quarters, and it can be very difficult to handle a high-zoom weapon in close quarters.

Somewhat surprisingly, I find the 3.5x zoom to be the most effective against heavily armoured enemies as well. Its pure Viral explosion, with very high Status Chance, is quite adept at regularly inflicting Corrosive procs with a Corrosive status build. This combination strips enemy armour, halves enemy health, and deals super-effective damage to Ferrite Armour and most Flesh types. In my experience, just a couple of shots to even a heavily armoured enemy's head is enough to strip their armour and build up combo counter to kill them easily. Hipfire/2x zoom is more adept at inflicting Slash procs, mainly due to much higher RoF, however I've generally found it to be slower and less consistent.

As a Status-focused weapon, the Komorex is weakest against single, high health enemies, though it still fares decently well. 2x zoom has the higher Burst DPS thanks to the drastic RoF difference, though I've personally felt that the extra effects of 3.5x zoom make it much nicer to use. As a Sniper, the Komorex benefits from having a combo counter, increasing its damage dealt as it lands consecutive shots. This gives it a distinct advantage in long missions over regular Semi-Auto Rifles.


I've personally found hipfire/2x zoom to feel quite underwhelming to use. Though it has a higher theoretical Burst DPS than 3.5x zoom, it has an annoyingly high RoF for a Semi-Auto that is very difficult to sustain, while also maintaining accuracy. Additionally, this corresponds with relatively low damage-per-shot, which can be very frustrating for ammo conservation and target switching. 3.5x zoom, though slightly lower in theoretical Burst DPS, feels much more satisfying to use, hitting much harder, with more well-rounded Status capabilities, and also a very useful AoE.

The Komorex's 3.5x zoom has a few notable weaknesses however. Firstly, as mentioned previously, is the necessity to use maximum zoom to access the Komorex's best firing mode, which is especially frustrating in close quarters. Additionally, the 3.5x zoom explosion deals self-damage, though at low combo counter, I've generally found it to actually be survivable once or twice when using a tougher Warframe.


Overall, the Komorex is a very unconventional, yet still quite effective, Sniper. It is Status-focused where other Snipers are Crit-focused, and has two distinct firing modes. Though its default firing mode is relatively mediocre, the Komorex's firepower in 3.5x zoom is quite impressive, and it offers many attributes that other Snipers, and indeed most other weapons, do not. If you're looking for a Sniper that handles crowds well, or just a Sniper that's different to the rest, I'd definitely recommend looking at the Komorex.

Scores

Vs Trash Mobs: 3.5/5 - The Komorex is by far the best Sniper against groups. The explosion it produces on 3.5x zoom can deal major damage to anything caught in its radius, especially after building up the combo counter a little. It can be quite frustrating to use this firing mode in close quarters given the zoom, low RoF and self-damage, but it's far better than any other Sniper.
Vs Unarmoured Heavies: 3/5 - With by far the worst Crit of any Sniper, the Komorex is the worst of the lot against single unarmoured enemies. By general primary standards however, it still handles them quite well if you can land headshots consistently, especially with a little combo counter buildup.
Vs Armoured Heavies without Hunter Munitions: 4.5/5 - The Komorex is quite effective against armoured enemies with any of its firing modes. Its hipfire and 2x zoom shots can inflict Slash procs with frightening regularity, though its mediocre crit limits its Slash proc effectiveness. Interestingly, the Komorex's 3.5x zoom is also exceptionally effective, as both direct hit and explosion can inflict procs, and the Corrosive + Viral proc combination from the explosion is quite deadly to most armoured enemies. In fact, I've found the Komorex to be one of the most consistent and effective armoured heavy killers in the game on 3.5x zoom.
Vs Armoured Heavies with Hunter Munitions: NA/5 - The Komorex's Crit Chance is not particularly high, and my experience with HM is that it is inconsistent, infrequent and generally just inferior to a dedicated Corrosive status build.

Vs Variants

None.

Competitors

When fired from the hip or at 2x zoom, the Komorex behaves more like a regular Semi-Auto rifle than a true Sniper. All other Snipers deal far more damage-per-shot, as do several of the Semi-Auto rifles as they often have quite good crit, where the Komerex is a little lacking. It does have very good Status Chance and decent Slash bias, but many of the other competing rifles (e.g. Prisma Grinlok) can make much better use of Hunter Munitions. If you're looking for a conventional Sniper, or even just a nice Semi-Auto Rifle, I'd direct you elsewhere to other primaries.

Where the Komorex excels is in its 3.5x zoom mode, as a precision AoE weapon. Unlike most AoE weapons, it deals heavy damage to its direct target, and can deliver shots very precisely from long range. Additionally, its combo counter gives the Komorex a scalability advantage over most weapons. No other weapon has the same combination of AoE, precision, firepower, and effectiveness at long range.

Rivens

As a new weapon, the Komorex has a neutral 3/5 (1) Riven Disposition. This feels reasonably fair, it is already quite a powerful weapon when modded and used well, but has several notable weaknesses.

Naturally, +Damage/Multishot are fantastic stats to have, as are +Crit Chance/Damage. +Slash could be useful for Slash status builds. +Elemental Damage can be useful for elemental bias, and/or saving a mod slot. +Projectile Flight Speed can be helpful against faster targets and at long range, but is by no means a necessity. +Reload Speed makes the Komorex's rather long reload a lot more tolerable.

Naturally for a Slash-dominant weapon, -Impact/Puncture are quite good negatives, with minimal reduction in damage output. -Faction Damage is perfectly fine against any other faction. -Fire Rate is not an issue for hipfire/2x zoom, which already fires in my opinion too fast for a Semi-Auto. It can be a little troublesome for 3.5x zoom, which is quite slow and likes making follow-up shots. -Mag Capacity isn't terrible as the Komorex's Magazine is quite large. -Ammo Max is quite tolerable alongside Ammo Case/Mutation/etc. -Flight Speed is not bad in close quarters, but can be troublesome at longer ranges. +Recoil is not much of an issue in either zoom mode. -Zoom can be very helpful for making the Komorex more usable in close quarters, especially as its best firing mode requires maximum zoom.