Review: Baza Prime (U27.1.1)

The Baza Prime is an MR10 Full-Auto Rifle, released alongside Ivara and Aksomati Primes. With a number of solid stat improvements over the base Baza, it is a very capable primary.

Acquisition

As standard for a Prime weapon, the Baza Prime's Blueprint and Components can be obtained by opening certain Void Relics. Since it has only been recently released, it will not be Vaulted for a while.

Stats

The Baza Prime has a very solid collection of stats. Its Crit is exceptional, and a Status Chance of 14% is usable with such a high RoF. An exceptionally fast Reload Time of just 1.1 seconds gives an above average Reload Ratio of 3.27.
Like with the base Baza, the Baza Prime features damage fall-off at range, losing half of its damage at 60m.

Augments

None.

Builds

General Purpose 0-Forma: 

A single V polarity allows you to fit in a relatively solid basic build before any Forma. Besides the four staples, there is space for one 90% elemental, though not two.

Against armoured enemies, with this little mod space, I'd recommend a Corrosive build. The Baza Prime does not have a high enough Slash bias to repeatedly inflict Slash procs naturally, so a Viral + Slash build is not quite viable. Though the BazaP's Status Chance isn't great, it has a high enough RoF to somewhat make up for it. Unarmoured Corpus are best taken down with Viral or Toxin, while armoured Corpus can also be targeted with Radiation, since just about all of them use Alloy armour. As always, Corrosive is the best overall against Infested.

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

Hunter Munitions 1-Forma:

One added V polarity allows the addition of a seventh mod, provided your elemental mods are both 60/60s. One notable mod you can include is Hunter Munitions, which leverages the Baza Prime's very high Crit stats to inflict powerful Slash procs frequently. Combined with Viral, this is by far the most effective anti-armour build for the Baza Prime, provided the enemy is status-vulnerable.

Punch-Through 1-Forma:

Another notable mod you can slot in is Shred, for Puinch Through and increased RoF. The Punch Through in particular is extremely helpful against crowds, allowing each round to potentially damage multiple enemies.

Recommended Setups: Viral + HM vs Grineer, Corrupted, see above otherwise.

General Purpose 2-Forma:

Another added V polarity and you can make use of all eight mod slots, though again both elementals may need to be 60/60s. Besides the aforementioned Hunter Munitions and Shred, there are several other solid mods you can consider.

Vigilante Armaments as always is a no-fuss damage and Status boost. Heavy Caliber is a bigger boost, but may detract significantly from accuracy. Bladed Rounds and Argon Scope are both decent options if you can maintain them reliably, particularly Argon Scope alongside Hunter Munitions. Another elemental mod (or two) can add significant damage as well as potentially some nice Status procs. Of note are Viral + Electric covering every Corpus health type, Corrosive + Heat hitting every Infested enemy super-effectively, and Radiation + Toxin being quite effective against most Corpus.

For the Exilus slot, there are two mods of note in my opinion. (Primed) Rifle Ammo Mutation can be useful for longer missions, as the Baza Prime does eat through it quite quickly. Terminal Velocity increases Projectile Speed, which for the Baza, means increasing its Damage Fall-Off ranges.

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

My Builds

Nothing super special about my builds. My go-to build is a Viral one with Hunter Munitions for anti-armour purposes. At the enemy levels I generally play at, Viral + HM kills faster than a Corrosive Status build.

The Corrosive build is primarily intended for use against Infested.

Combat Use and Summary

The Baza Prime is reasonably effective against most targets. Great Crit and a solid Reload Ratio allow it to take down groups of enemies quite efficiently. Adding Punch Through is quite helpful as well. It is a tad lacking compared to weapons with superior Reload Ratio and/or AoE. With good Burst DPS, the BazaP is also able to take down high health unarmoured enemies quite quickly.

Though its Status Chance was increased, the BazaP is still not especially good at stripping armour or inflicting Slash procs naturally. It relies on Hunter Munitions, which in fairness, is extremely effective off of 28% base Crit Chance.


With a base RoF of 16.67 rounds-per-second, I strongly recommend at least one of Ammo Case/Mutation/etc for longer missions. Though the Baza Prime has a rather large spare Ammo Max of 840, it also eats through ammo quite quickly. One notable factor in its favour here is its exceptional accuracy, and almost total lack of Recoil.

The BazaP being innately Silenced is a useful, if relatively niche, boon. It significantly reduces the number of enemies who are initially alerted to your presence, though nowadays it is incredibly easy to obliterate groups of enemies in the blink of an eye. Notably, it does not interrupt Ivara's Prowl, which is quite appropriate given it came with Ivara Prime.


Overall, the Baza Prime is a very solid, if not particularly unique, Full-Auto Rifle. It can kill most enemies reasonably efficiently, and handles quite nicely with its good accuracy, lack of Recoil, and fast reloads. I personally really like how the Baza Prime feels to use, and it is one of my favourite Full-Auto Primaries. If you're after a solid Crit-focused Full-Auto Rifle, a nice complement for Ivara, or generally just a decent Primary, I'd definitely recommend giving the Baza Prime a look.

Scores

Vs Trash Mobs: 4/5 - Good damage output and an above-average give the Baza Prime solid crowd-killing capabilities. It greatly appreciates added Punch Through.
Vs Unarmoured Heavies: 4/5 - The BazaP has exceptional Crit stats, dealing quite high Burst DPS (at close range at least).
Vs Armoured Heavies without Hunter Munitions: 3/5 - An improved, though still unexceptional 14% Status Chance means that the BazaP, even with a Status build, is not especially effective against armoured enemies.
Vs Armoured Heavies with Hunter Munitions: 4.5/5 - Hunter Munitions leverages off the BazaP's very high Crit Chance to inflict Slash procs almost constantly. Rapidly bleeding just about any enemy dry, this makes it very effective against armoured enemies.

Vs Variants

The MR11 Baza Prime is a strict upgrade over the MR7 Baza. It deals only slightly more Burst DPS with its 2% higher Crit Chance, however its much larger Mag Capacity and faster Reload Time give it far better Sustained DPS. The additional Status Chance and significantly increased damage Fall-Off ranges are also very useful bonuses.

All this said, the Baza is still a very solid weapon for MR7.

Competitors

The Baza Prime faces stiff competition from other Crit-focused, Full-Auto Rifles in the game. There are several such weapons, including (but not limited to) the Telos Boltor, Prisma Grakata, Prisma Gorgon, Soma Prime, Stradavar Prime and Tenora.. Each one largely carves out its own niche (except perhaps the Soma Prime, which has been rather powercrept). Notably, the BazaP is the only one with damage fall-off, so disregarding accuracy, is the weakest at long range.

The Telos Boltor is quite powerful, and has the Truth Syndicate Effect, however uses projectiles which can be troublesome at longer ranges. The Prisma Grakata does not deal as much direct damage, but has significantly better Status capabilities. The Prisma Gorgon sports impressive direct damage, but has heavy Recoil, poor accuracy, and spool-up. The Stradavar Prime and Tenora are not as capable in close quarters, but both have potent alternate firing modes (Stradavar Prime with a solid Semi-Auto, Tenora with its extremely powerful Charge-Fire).

Compared to these, the Baza Prime has its own niche. It deals above-average direct damage relative to other comparable weapons, and its lightning fast Reload Time is a significant advantage. Excellent accuracy and no Recoil are both solid advantages as well, however its damage Fall-Off makes it one of the weakest at long range. To be honest, just about any of these weapons could reasonably handle the majority of Warframe's content, and which one you prefer comes more down to personal preference.

Rivens

The Baza family currently shares a neutral Riven Disposition of 3/5 (1). With variants now having individual dispositions, I would not be surprised to see the base Baza's dispo increase and/or the Baza Prime's dispo decrease slightly.

Damage/Multishot/Crit Chance/Crit Damage are a given for great Riven Stats. +Elemental Damage can be useful for saving a mod slot, adding an extra element, or just for increased damage output. +Punch Through is a huge help against groups. +Flight Speed increases the range of damage Fall-Off, so is not totally useless.

Any of -Impact/Puncture/Slash can be decent negatives. The former two are mediocre damage types and have poor procs, while the latter is a relatively small amount. -Faction Damage to a weaker faction can be quite manageable. +Recoil is perfect as the Baza (Prime) has none to begin with. -Zoom is ideal as well as the Baza (Prime) is most effective in close-quarters.