Review: Proboscis Cernos (U29.5.2)

The Proboscis Cernos is a new Infested MR15 Bow, introduced in U29.5: Deimos Arcana. Despite the name, it functions nothing like any of the other Cernos', firing a unique projectile that latches onto and pulls in nearby enemies, before exploding. A Status-focused weapon with high Base Damage, it is a fairly powerful and quite novel weapon.

Acquisition

The Proboscis Cernos blueprint can be obtained directly from Market. Notably, it requires a Mutalist Cernos to build.

Stats

Immediately obvious is that the Proboscis Cernos is a pure Status weapon. Its Crit is abysmal, while a 43% Status Chance is extremely high. The Base Damage of the arrow direct impact is well suited to this, with just over 50% Slash bias. The explosion has a very solid 7 metre range, with Damage Fall-Off of only 50% and pure Viral damage.

A Charge Time of 0.7 seconds is slower than average, while a Reload Time of 0.6 seconds is quite standard. It cannot be fired at partial charge. Notably, the PCernos only has a spare ammo count of 9.

The PCernos has an explosion delay of 1.7 seconds, however it does something very different to most embed delay explosives. Upon impact, its projectiles release tentacles that reach out to grab enemies within line-of-sight in a 9 metre range, and pulls them in akin to Nidus' Larva (2) or Khora's Ensnare (2) before exploding. If the projectile hits an enemy directly, that enemy will be immobilised for the duration of the effect. Naturally, the explosion can inflict self-stagger/knockdown.

Enemies grabbed by tentacles will be dealt two ticks of damage while being pulled in, even if they do not come within the explosion range. I believe these ticks of damage are based on the direct impact damage, as I have seen them inflict Slash procs, but cannot be sure.

Augments

None.

Builds

0-Forma:

With two - polarities, the Proboscis Cernos can fit in a solid Status build. This above build fits in the basics, Damage + Multishot, +Fire Rate to drastically reduce Charge Time, and three 60/60 elementals. Vile Acceleration is particularly useful as it reduces Charge Time to almost nothing, at a minimal cost to damage-per-shot. If you don't have access to all the 60/60 mods, you can of course drop the third to upgrade one of the others to a 90%. If your mods aren't at max rank, you can upgrade both elementals to 90%s.

As the PCernos deals pure Viral damage on its explosions, you are free to use other elements for some otherwise impossible, and very powerful, combos. Notably, Corrosive + Heat offers massive benefit against heavily armoured enemies, with the full combo being exceptionally effective against the Grineer and Infested. Against unarmoured Corpus, added Magnetic + Toxin is particularly brutal.

Recommended Setups: Corrosive + Heat vs everything, Magnetic + Toxin vs unarmoured Corpus

2-Forma:

Two added V polarities gives you enough space to slot in Heavy Caliber, for a fairly large overall damage boost. There is space to switch one of the elementals to a 90% for more raw damage, at the cost of Status Chance.

 

Recommended Setups: see above.

3-Forma:

Another V polarity and you can comfortably fit in an eighth mod, again with space to mix-and-match elements. There are a couple of other mods to consider besides those already pictured.

(Primed) Fast Hands reduces Reload Time, which is effectively more +Fire Rate for Bows since they have to reload after every shot. (Primed) Bane of Faction is a massive damage multiplier of damage-over-time procs like Heat and Slash. You can consider switching some or all of the 60/60 elementals to their 90% version, for more raw damage but less Status Chance.

For the Exilus slot, Arrow Mutation is strongly recommended. With a spare Ammo count of just 9, the PCernos can quickly run out of ammo if your ammo drop luck is poor. Vigilante Supplies offers a weaker effect for more drain, and its Crit boost is much less significant on such a low-Crit weapon.

Recommended Setups: see above.

My Builds

Since the explosion already deals pure Viral damage, my go-to build is Corrosive + Heat instead of the usual Viral + Heat.

Combat Use and Summary

As an explosive weapon, the Proboscis Cernos is naturally excellent against groups. Not only does it have a fairly large explosion with better-than-average Damage Fall-Off, but its pull-in effect pulls in enemies from quite a large range (9m) closer to the epicentre of the blast. Though its damage output is not exceptional, it is more than enough to wipe out large mobs of weaker enemies.

 

The PCernos is also quite effective against heavily armoured enemies. Its very high Status Chance, combined with high Slash bias on direct impact and tentacles, and pure Viral on explosions, is highly effective at eating through such enemies. Additionally, it can be modded very effectively with COrrosive + Heat, a combination that wears down heavy armour extremely well. Perhaps its biggest issue is that it requires multiple shots to stack up procs fully.

The PCernos falls well behind a number of other Primaries for direct damage. Its explosion delay of 1.7 seconds is quite significant, a time in which many other weapons could have killed the targets already. In particular, unarmoured and especially Status-resistant/immune heavy enemies are much more troublesome for the PCernos to deal with. 

Grouping together enemies is a relatively rare ability among weapons (besides the PCernos, I can only recall the Ferrox and Telos Boltace with this ability), but highly valuable for various purposes. For instance, Melee weapons are immensely powerful, mainly limited by their range, and thus greatly appreciate enemies being tightly packed. Additionally, thanks to Damage Fall-Off, pretty much all explosive weapons (including the PCernos itself) appreciate enemies being pulled as close together as possible. A number of Warframe abilities also like enemies packed together, such as Nidus' Virulence (1) and Rhino's Augmented Ironclad Charge (1).

 

Ammo is a significant concern. The PCernos has a spare ammo count of just 9, and draws from the uncommon Bow ammo. A few unlucky ammo drops can result in it quickly becoming impotent. As such, I strongly recommend at least one of Arrow Mutation/Ammo Case/etc. 

 

Overall, the Proboscis Cernos is a novel and fairly powerful bow. It doesn't hold a candle to the Kuva Bramma's raw firepower, but can still hold its own with solid damage, a plethora of Status procs, and its rare and valuable ability to group enemies together. It is not only a solid weapon in its own right, but also offers much for other equipment that benefit from grouped enemies and/or Status procs, such as Melee with Condition Overload. If you're looking for such a utility weapon, an explosive weapon that is different, or even just a decent bow or Primary, I heartily recommend getting your hands on the Proboscis Cernos.

Scores

Vs Trash Mobs: 5/5 - With a fairly powerful explosion and tentacles that pull nearby enemies in, the Proboscis Cernos is quite adept at clearing out large groups of enemies. The pull-in effect not only grabs enemies beyond regular explosion range, but also brings them in closer to the centre, for reduced Damage Fall-Off.

Vs Unarmoured Heavies: 3/5 - Low Crit means that the PCernos does not benefit as much from headshots, and its poor precision makes headshots difficult anyway. It deals solid damage-per-shot, but is well behind many other higher burst damage weapons. It is especially troubled against Status-resistant/immune enemies.

Vs Armoured Heavies without Hunter Munitions: 4/5 - Direct arrow impact and its tentacles are quite adept at inflicting Slash (and other) procs, with the explosion's innate Viral being extremely beneficial. This lets you mod for Corrosive + Heat, for a plethora of procs which are all extremely effective against heavily armoured enemies. The main downside is a slight unreliability with which procs are inflicted, due to its low RoF.

Vs Armoured Heavies with Hunter Munitions: NA/5 - Its Crit is far too low to make good use of HM.

Vs Variants

Although called a Cernos, the Proboscis Cernos has nothing to do with the Cernos family functionally. The Rakta and Prime Cernos' are much more conventional bows. The MCernos is the most similar to the PCernos, but it is still very different, relying on lingering toxic clouds instead of a single large blast.

Competitors

The Proboscis Cernos' main competitors are the MR8 Lenz and the MR15 Kuva Bramma. Both of them being Crit-focused, they are naturally capable of far higher direct damage output. The KBramma in particular puts out an obscene amount of up-front damage, effortlessly wiping out large groups of enemies. Additionally, both can leverage Hunter Munitions extremely well to eat through even heavily armoured enemies. The KBramma even has a respectable Status Chance and additional bomblets to compete with the PCernos' Status output.

The PCernos' main advantage is in its tentacle pull-in mechanic. This gives it an effective explosive range of 9m, slightly larger than the other two. Additionally, it pulls enemies closer to the epicentre of the explosion, for reduced effect of Damage Fall-Off, and also neatly grouping them for subsequent attacks. For instance, a decent Melee with Condition Overload can instantly rip through any survivors, who will likely have a plethora of procs on them. Very few other weapons can pull enemies together like this.

Rivens

As a new weapon, the Proboscis Cernos starts off with a minimum 1/5 (0.5) Riven Disposition. I would not be surprised to see it go up a little as it lacks the up-front damage of something like the Kuva Bramma.

As always, +Damage/Multishot are great stats to have. +Elemental Damage ups your direct damage, as well as shifting around biases of damage types. +Status Chance can help to inflict even more procs. +Faction Damage is an excellent multiplier of damage-over-time procs like Heat. +Fire Rate significantly reduces Charge Time. +Ammo Max is not worthless with a base spare ammo of just 9. +Projectile Speed can be useful for longer ranged shots. +Reload Speed is very useful as Bows have to reload every shot.

-Impact/Puncture do not affect the PCernos' main source of damage, its explosion, and bias direct impact damage even more towards Slash. -Slash also does not affect the explosion, but is quite detrimental to secondary damage output. -Crit Chance/Damage have minimal effect on such low Crit. -Faction Damage to a weaker faction is very manageable. -Mag Capacity has no effect. -Ammo Max can be manageable with Arrow Mutation/Ammo Case/etc. -Projectile Speed is a non-issue in close quarters. +Recoil has no effect. -Zoom is ideal for close quarters.