Review: Burston Prime (U29.8.1)

The Burston Prime is an MR12 Burst-Fire Rifle. Released all the way back in U11.5, it is one of the "unvaultable" Prime weapons, and is always available. A Status-focused Rifle, it is largely outclassed by many other weapons, though serves as a decent, easy-to-get Prime.

Acquisition

Standard Prime weapon fare, the Burston Prime's blueprint and components drop from a variety of Void Relics. As mentioned previously, it is one of the "unvaultable" weapons, and barring any mistakes from DE, can always be found in the current rotation of available Relics.

Stats

The Burston Prime is clearly Status-focused, with a great Status Chance, high Fire Rate, and decent Slash bias. Its Crit is not great, but is just high enough to be worth considering building for.

A Mag Capacity of just 45 rounds is depleted quite quickly with such a high Fire Rate, with a 2 second Reload Time giving an overall Reload Ratio of just 1.65. Firing bursts of three rounds, the BurstonP only has enough Mag Capacity for 15 trigger pulls before needing a reload.

Augments

The Burston Prime has access to one Syndicate Augment, Gilded Truth. This gives +80% Fire Rate, while also adding the "Truth" Syndicate Effect. It is available from the Arbiters of Hexis. Oddly, it cannot be equipped on the regular Burston.

When triggered, the Truth effect deals 1000 Gas damage with guaranteed proc in a 25 metre radius. It also restores a small amount of health, and temporarily increases Parkour ability.

Gilded Truth is worth considering. +Fire Rate offers a significant boost to Burst DPS and Status output, but also greatly increases ammo consumption rate which is already quite fast on the Burston Prime. Gas damage is quite bad currently, limiting the damaging effect of the Syndicate proc. The healing is nice, but not large or convenient given the Syndicate proc cooldown. Increased Parkour ability is also nice but not amazing.

Builds

Basic 0-Forma: 

A single native V polarity allows you to fit in a solid basic build - the core Damage and Multishot mods, two elemental mods, and the Burston Prime's Crit is just good enough to justify the two core Crit mods. There is space for one 90% elemental and one 60/60 elemental, which is especially helpful for newer players as the 90%s are much easier to acquire.

As usual, Viral is my general purpose go-to combo. It has some use against almost every Status-vulnerable enemy, and synergises very well with the BurstonP's innate Slash bias. The many Slash procs that the BurstonP inflicts are greatly enhanced by stacked Viral procs. Corrosive deals better damage particularly to Ferrite-armoured enemies, as well as Deimos Infested who are largely immune to Viral procs. Radiation is strong against Alloy-armoured enemies, though its proc is much less useful. Pure Toxin is very effective against unarmoured Corpus enemies, bypassing their Shields entirely.

Recommended Setups: Viral vs everything, Corrosive vs Ferrite-armour, Infested, Radiation vs Alloy-armour, Toxin vs unarmoured Corpus

Basic 1-Forma:

One added V polarity allows you to add in a solid seventh mod, such as the pictured Vigilante Armaments. There are many good options for this slot, though I'll mention those in a moment.

Recommended Setups: see above.

General Purpose 3-Forma:

Two more V polarities allow you to comfortably slot in eight mods, depending on your mod choices. A Crit build will comfortably fit most choices of the eighth mod provided you have all the 60/60 elemental mods for your desired combination. On the other hand, you may opt for a pure Damage and Elemental build, which packs similar direct damage (though significantly less on headshots).

Besides Vigilante Armaments, there are a large number of solid contenders for the remaining mod slots. Heavy Caliber is an obvious damage boosting option, though the accuracy penalty can be troublesome beyond close range. I'm a big fan of Shred, partly for the +Fire Rate, but mainly for the +Punch-Through that is extremely useful against crowds. Gilded Truth is an option for greatly increasing Fire Rate as well as adding a Syndicate effect, though this pushes your ammo consumption rate through the roof.

Hammer Shot is not normally a mod I'd recommend, but does have some value on the BurstonP as both of its stats are very relevant. The conditional Crit mods Argon Scope and Bladed Rounds are both useful, but as the BurstonP's Crit is only barely worth using, are not great options.

A third elemental mod is always a solid option, especially on a Status weapon like the BurstonP. Besides strong proc interactions, it also adds extra damage types for additional target coverage. Heat added alongside Viral or Corrosive is very strong against their respective targets, with Heat procs being greatly enhanced by Viral/Corrosive procs. Radiation and Toxin can be put together as a solid Corpus catch-all, though of the two only Toxin procs are all that helpful.

For the Exilus slot, an Ammo Mutation mod is a good option. The BurstonP goes through ammo quite quickly, which can be an issue in longer missions. Vigilante Supplies also slightly improves Crit through the Vigilante set bonus.

Recommended Setups: see above. Also consider: Viral + Heat vs everything, Corrosive + Heat vs Ferrite-armour, Infested, Radiation + Toxin vs Corpus

My Builds

The main build here is a Viral + Heat one, though focusing on Viral + Slash may be better. I do have Corrosive and Corrosive + Heat builds, mainly for use against Infested.

Combat Use and Summary

With high Status Chance, Fire Rate and usable Slash bias, the Burston Prime fares best against heavily armoured enemies. It effortlessly maxes out Viral or Corrosive procs on targets, rapidly stacking up Slash or Heat procs for massive damage-over-time.

 

Though the BurstonP has a high Fire Rate, its Reload Ratio is quite low, requiring frequent reloading. Additionally, its Burst-Fire nature can result in many more wasted rounds than a more conventional Full-Auto. As such, it is not particularly efficient against large crowds of enemies. Similarly, with mediocre Crit and Burst DPS, the BurstonP is not great against high-health enemies, especially if Status-resistant/immune.

With fairly high Fire Rate and Burst-Fire, the Burston Prime chews through ammo quite quickly. For longer missions, I strongly recommend at least one of Ammo Case/Mutation/etc.

Overall, the Burston Prime is a usable but not exceptional weapon. It is fairly effective against armoured enemies thanks to its great Status capabilities and decent Slash bias, stacking up great numbers of procs on them. However, it is somewhat lacking for direct damage, and its ammo efficiency and Reload Ratio are fairly poor, resulting in fast ammo consumption and frequent reloads. Worst of all is that anything the Burston Prime does, another Rifle does significantly better. The biggest thing going for it is that it is relatively easy to acquire, as one of the "unvaultable" Primes.

Scores

Vs Trash Mobs: 2.5/5 - The Burston Prime has high Fire Rate, but also quite poor Reload Ratio. As a Burst-Fire weapon, taking on large crowds of enemies is also a lot more annoying than if it were just Full-Auto.

Vs Unarmoured Heavies: 3/5 - Its Crit is not amazing, so its Burst DPS falls behind quite a lot of other Primaries.

Vs Armoured Heavies without Hunter Munitions: 3.5/5 - High Status Chance, Fire Rate and good Slash bias allows the BurstonP to stack up a lot of procs very quickly. Viral or Corrosive is very quickly maxed out, with Slash or Heat stacked up to very high quantities. This potent combination can rapidly eat through extremely heavily armoured enemies.

Vs Armoured Heavies with Hunter Munitions: NA/5 - In my testing, the extra Slash procs from HM are not quite worth the mod slot. The BurstonP can be modded for just as many Slash procs naturally, while also increasing direct damage.

Vs Variants

The regular Burston is an MR0 weapon, the Prime is MR12. Nothing more to say here.

Competitors

This is really where the Burston Prime struggles. There are a wide variety of weapons that easily match or exceed it in overall capabilities, especially considering that Crit Primaries can use Hunter Munitions to inflict Slash procs.

Of note among other Burst-Fire weapons, the MR15 Kuva Hind has higher Status Chance, Crit, and Slash bias, as well as a much larger Mag Capacity, easily making up for its lower Fire Rate and slower Reload Time. The Kuva Lich bonus also gives it much higher base Damage and more elemental options. This is not even mentioning the versatility offered by its other two firing modes. Overall, I consider the KHind far superior to the BurstonP.

 

Then there's also weapons like the MR14 Tiberon Prime, which though it has lower Status Chance and worse Slash bias, has excellent Crit so can utilise Hunter Munitions very well alongside its far higher direct damage.

Looking more generally at other Primaries, it doesn't get any better. The MR13 Kuva Karak for instance is slightly lacking in Fire Rate, and requires a very high Kuva Lich bonus  (~56%) to match base Damage, but otherwise is just strictly superior.

Even something like the MR9 Ignis Wraith compares fairly well. It is again lacking in Fire Rate, but has a much better Crit Multiplier, an enormous Mag Capacity, and of course packs base Heat damage which is excellent. It is also far, far more effective against groups of enemies.

Rivens

The Burston Prime currently has a very high 5/5 (1.35) Riven Disposition. I am not surprised at all, as it is not a great weapon and heavily outclassed by a number of other weapons.
 

Obviously, +Damage/Multishot are amazing. +Slash is great for increasing the number of Slash procs inflicted, but this will reduce the number of other procs inflicted.  +Crit Chance/Damage are great if you are going for a Crit build. +Elemental damage can be good for saving mod slots, more direct damage, and/or shifting around damage biases. Now that >100% Status Chance is useful, +Status Chance can help to really stack up procs. +Faction Damage is a huge damage multiplier of damage-over-time procs like Slash. It is most useful against the Grineer, since they have by far the most armoured units. +Mag Capacity/Reload Speed can be nice quality-of-life improvements. +Punch-Through is very helpful against crowds.

 

-Impact/Puncture are both great negatives. Neither is a good damage type or proc, and reducing/removing them increases the bias towards Slash and elementals. -Faction Damage to a weaker faction can be manageable, with -Infested being ideal. -Fire Rate can make the ammo economy more manageable, but also majorly cuts your damage output. -Ammo Max is manageable alongside at least one of Ammo Case/Mutation/etc. -Projectile Speed has no effect. +Recoil can be good if you handle recoil well. -Zoom is ideal for close quarters.