Review: Quatz (U25.5.2)

The Quatz is an MR9 dual-mode pistol, released in U25.4. Uniquely, its firing mode is set by whether you are aiming or firing from the hip. Firing from hip uses Full-Auto, while aiming switches to Burst-Fire. With distinct stats in its two firing modes, it is a versatile and fairly powerful secondary.

Acquisition

The Quatz's blueprint is available directly from Market.

Stats

The Quatz's two firing modes are quite distinct stat-wise. The Full-Auto is heavy on Status, with poor Crit, but high RoF and Status Chance, as well as decent base Damage spread. Besides having a reasonable amount of Slash damage which is always a good Status proc, the Quatz also has some base Electric, which is quite useful for a Corrosive build.

The Quatz has quite a large Mag Capacity for a Secondary, though this is offset by its rather high RoF in Full Auto, as well as fairly long Reload Time. Its overall Reload Ratio ends up as a below-average 1.78.

On the other hand, the Burst-Fire has fantastic Crit, while still maintaining decent Status Chance and the same base Damages. It fires bursts of 4 rounds, though rather than firing them in quickk succession like a conventional Burst-Fire weapon, it fires them all at once like the Quartakk. It even fires them in a tight square formation like the Quartakk, rather than all from the same spot. As such, its effective RoF is 2.5.

The Burst Fire's lowered RoF gives it a better Reload Ratio, a much more respectable 2.67.

The Quatz has a unique reload when reloaded from empty. Instead of simply replacing the magazine as normal, your Warframe instead forcibly slams the new magazine in, inflicting all enemies within 8 metres with an Electricity proc.

Augments

None.

Builds

Hybrid 0-Forma:

Yet another weapon with no polarities...the Quatz's two firing modes tend to like fairly different builds. The default Full-Auto mode wants a pure Status build, while the Burst-Fire likes a pure Crit or Hybrid build. This example build is a basic Crit build, with the Burst-Fire stats displayed. The lack of native polarities makes it difficult to fit many mods in, to the point where it is not possible to have any 90% elementals in this build if all mods are fully ranked. This pictured build is decent in Full-Auto, though less efficient as the Crit mods are much less effective.

Thanks to its decent Status Chance and innate Electric, the Quatz's Burst-Fire can make very good use of a Corrosive build against armoured enemies. It deals quite good damage while also stripping armour at a decent rate. Similarly, Corrosive is quite effective against Infested.

Against unarmoured Corpus, Viral is the best overall option. It hits organic targets especially effectively once shields are down, with the Quatz's innate Electric being helpful against robotics. Unforunately, pure Toxin is not possible due to the innate Electric automatically combining with it to make Corrosive. I general find Gas to not proc frequently enough to be properly effective in Burst-Fire.

Status 0-Forma:

Alternatively, building purely for the Full-Auto mode is a little simpler, since it just wants pure Status. This example build has decent damage output and great Status capabilities.

Again, Corrosive is the best option for Full-Auto against armour. Its high RoF, Status Chance and base Electric damage allow it to strip armour very quickly with Corrosive procs. As usual, Infested are hit hardest with Corrosive, though Viral is solid as well, and Blast is a decent backup. Unarmoured Corpus are hit hardest directly by Viral, or indirectly with Gas procs. Sadly, as mentioned previously, pure Toxin is not possible.

Recommended Setups:
Burst Fire: Corrosive vs Corrupted, Grineer, armoured Corpus, Infested, Viral vs unarmoured Corpus
Full-Auto: Corrosive vs Corrupted, Grineer, armoured Corpus, Infested, Viral or Gas vs unarmoured Corpus

Status 2-Forma:

Two added V polarities allows for a more powerful Status build, slotting in an additional 90% elemental for more damage and more bias.

Recommended Setups: see above.

Hybrid 3-Forma:

Another V polarity and you can comfortably fit in both Primed Crit mods. Because of how much more powerful the Burst-Fire is, I feel that building for Crit is very much worth it, even though the Full-Auto does not benefit from it significantly. Even so, Full-Auto performs fairly well with this sort of build, enough so that I feel comfortable using it even with a sub-optimal build. This pictured build is the base build I'd recommend aiming for.

There are a number of decent options for the last mod slot. Augur Pact, as always, is a no-nonsense damage boost. Seeker is quite high drain, but offers highly valuable Punch Through. Magnum Force offers more damage than Augur Pact, though reduces accuracy which may be troublesome. An additional elemental mod can be useful for diversity of damage types and overall higher damage output. Hydraulic Crosshairs can be quite good for the Burst-Fire, given it already requires aiming, but offers nothing for Full-Auto. As the Full-Auto mode can be quite ammo-hungry, Ammo Mutation can be useful for long missions as well. (Primed) Quickdraw reduces the Quatz's fairly long reload, which can be quite useful.

Recommended Setups: see above.

My (pre-Riven) Builds:

My go-to build is a Corrosive build, with very high Status Chance and added Punch Through. To fit these in, I've dropped Lethal Torrent. The added Multishot from my Riven reduces Lethal Torrent's value, and I find its added RoF to be wasteful in Full-Auto. I mainly use secondaries for armour stripping, as my preferred primaries are hard hitting, slow firing Rifles.

Against most Corpus, I favour a Viral build. Since Status Chance is not as important, I've favoured Lethal Torrent instead for faster Nullifier bubble popping (though it is already quite fast even without it), as well as making the Burst-Fire mode fire faster.

Combat Use and Summary

The Quatz's two firing modes give it a good amount of versatility. Full-Auto's high RoF and Mag Capacity make it decent against large groups, though its underwhelming Reload Ratio and relative lack of direct damage do limit its potential. Similarly, its mediocre direct damage limits its effectiveness against enemies with a lot of health. Full-Auto is best against heavily armoured enemies, against whom it can rapidly inflict Corrosive procs, quickly depleting their armour.

On the other hand, the Burst-Fire is much more effective against single targets, though worse against groups. Though it has a better Reload Ratio, firing all four rounds in a burst at once greatly reduces its ability to rapidly engage multiple targets. Its greatly enhanced Crit allows it to be far more effective against unarmoured enemies, and it retains enough Status Chance to still be quite effective against armoured enemies.

Though quite distinct, I've reviewed the two firing modes together as one, as they can both operate quite effectively off the same build.


The Quatz uses Full-Auto when firing from the hip. Aiming will switch it to Burst-Fire. If the trigger is held while you aim in, it will remain in Full-Auto, though will switch to Burst-Fire as soon as the trigger is released. This mode switching is unique, as no other weapon switches modes on aim, and after a little practice I have found it to be quite intuitive. As a player of many other FPS games, I instinctively aim down sights when making precise shots, which suits Burst-Fire quite well. On the other hand, for wider crowd killing, I tend to just fire from the hip, which suits Full-Auto just fine.

Though the Burst-Fire is consistent with its precision, its square spread makes it frustrating to use at longer ranges, where fewer shots will actually connect with the target. Unlike most weapons which will fire rounds from the same spot, the Quatz's Burst-Fire, much like the Quartakk, cannot strike exactly the same point with all of its shots. As such, this can result in a fair bit of wasted ammo. Additionally, I find Full-Auto, especially with Lethal Torrent, to be quite ammo inefficient. Not only does it have quite a fast RoF, but it also has a fair amount of Recoil, both of which can result in a lot of wasted shots. As such, for longer missions, I'd definitely recommend bringing Ammo Case/Mutation/etc.

The Quatz's unique Electric proc when reloading from empty is a neat feature. It gives you a short reprieve if you're being overwhelmed by enemies, or failed to keep track of your ammo. However, it only triggers about half way through the reload animation, which leaves you around a second of vulnerability.


Overall, the Quatz is a powerful and versatile secondary. Its two firing modes give it a wide variety of strengths, and both can make good use of a single Hybrid build. The mode-switching on aim can take some getting used to if you don't aim much. If you're looking for a decent Secondary, I'd definitely recommend trying out the Quatz. It has quickly become one of my favourite Secondaries.

Scores

Vs Trash Mobs: 3/5 - Full-Auto's high RoF and Mag Capacity give it decent anti-crowd abilities, however it is a little lacking in direct damage, and its Reload Ratio is a little poor.
Vs Unarmoured Heavies: 4/5 - Burst-Fire has very good Crit, allowing it to deal major damage to single enemies.
Vs Armoured Heavies: 4.5/5 - Both Full-Auto and Burst-Fire are quite effective against armoured enemies. Both can use a Corrosive status build to great effect to strip enemy armour. Full-Auto strips armour faster, while Burst-Fire does much more direct damage.

Vs Variants

None.

Competitors

There are very few other Secondaries with multiple firing modes - only the Ballistica family, Cyanex and Pandero. In the Ballistica family's case, their alternate fire is a high damage charged shot, contrasting to their default Burst-Fire/simultaneous fire. Both the Cyanex and Pandero have a very fast firing alternate fire that empties the remaining magazine in one burst. None of these weapons are really comparable to the Quatz, so it is more useful to look at each firing mode individually. There's nothing in the game really like the Quatz besides some of the Select-Fire Rifles. Few Secondaries match the Quatz's versatility.

The Quatz's Full-Auto is fast-firing and Status-focused. There are several other Full-Auto Secondaries that can compete with or beat it, including the Dex Furis, Akstiletto Prime and Secura Dual Cestra. These weapons all have good Status abilities, as well as better Crit.

The Quatz's Burst-Fire can be compared both to other Burst-Fire Secondaries, as well as Semi-Auto ones, since it behaves quite similarly to a Semi-Auto. There are many powerful such options, including but not limited to Sicarus Prime, Akjagara Prime, (Ak)Lex Prime and (Ak)Vasto Prime. However, none of them outright surpass the Quatz, as the Quatz retains some advantage over each one - whether it be superior Status abilities or versatility.

Rivens

As a new weapon, the Quatz has a neutral 3/5 (1) Riven Disposition. Given its versatility and firepower, I would think it reasonable to drop its Disposition a little.

Damage and Multishot are naturally top stats to have. For the Burst-Fire, Crit Chance/Damage are both great as well. +Elemental Damage can be quite good, either for saving a mod slot or increasing the bias of a desirable damage type (or both). +Reload Speed can be a nice quality-of-life stat to have. -Recoil can be useful if you struggle with it. +Punch Through can be very helpful against crowds.

-Puncture/Impact are both quite good negatives to have. The Quatz has very little Puncture to begin with, and Impact is a poor damage type with an underwhelming Status proc. Reducing or removing either increases the bias of more desirable damage types (ie Slash and elements), while not significantly reducing overall damage output. -Faction Damage to a faction you're not concerned about (e.g. Infested) can be a nice negative as well. -Fire Rate can make Full-Auto easier to use and less wasteful, though makes Burst-Fire a fair bit slower. -Projectile Speed has no effect. +Recoil can be a good negative if you manage recoil well. -Zoom can be quite useful for aiming from Full-Auto, or for using Burst-Fire in close quarters.