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Tuesday, 17 August 2021

Review: Tenet Arca Plasmor (U30.6.1)

The Tenet Arca Plasmor is an MR16 Shotgun, firing a single massive plasma wave. With several stat increases over the already strong Arca Plasmor, the TAPlasmor is a great crowd clearer and overall very solid weapon.

Acquisition


Sister weapon, create a Sister with this weapon and vanquish it.

Stats

The Tenet Arca Plasmor's stats are quite solid, with respectable 22%/2x Crit and a very good 34% Status Chance. With a very high base Damage of pure Radiation (as well as the Sister Bonus), it deals a massive amount of damage-per-shot, with very good chance of a few Status procs.

A Fire Rate of just 1 is very slow, as is a Reload Time of 3 seconds. With a Mag Capacity of 10 rounds, it has a base Reload Ratio of 3.33, which is quite solid.

The TAPlasmor fires large plasma wave projectiles. These projectiles have innate 3 metre Punch-Through on bodies, allowing them to pass through and damage whole groups of enemies. Additionally, they have a guaranteed Impact proc within 29m range.

A key feature not reflected in its stats is that the TAPlasmor's projectiles will bounce off of hard surfaces like walls and floors, instead of just dissipating. This is a distinct advantage over most wave-projectile weapons, whose projectiles typically dissipate upon hitting an object it cannot penetrate.

However, these projectiles are also subject to Damage Fall-Off, starting at 18m to a minimum damage of 50% at 36m. Unlike regular shotguns, these plasma waves will automatically dissipate at this maximum range. As with the base Arca Plasmor, the TAPlasmor lands headshots easily, but does not deal any extra damage from them, even on Crits.

Augments

None.

Builds

NOTE: The below Overframe builds are pictured with a maximum +60% Magnetic bonus. For a minimum 25% bonus, multiply the total damage numbers by 0.78125.

Basic 0-Forma:

With two native V polarities, the Tenet Arca Plasmor can fit a very solid build right out of the gates. This example build largely avoids hard-to-get and hard-to-max mods, though Blaze can be very difficult to acquire nowadays due to its very low 1% drop chance from low-tier Nightmare missions.

Primed 0-Forma:

If you have Primed Point Blank and Primed Ravage, both will comfortably fit in, though you will need to switch around elemental mods. Depending on the mods you have available, you may be able to fit a three-element combo which offers some notable strengths.

As usual, Viral is always a good general-purpose element to have. It has an amazing proc and decent multipliers against some targets. Corrosive is much stronger in a pure anti-armour role, synergising with the innate Radiation to have massive multipliers against both armour types - ideal against the Grineer and Corrupted. It also deals much more direct damage to Infested, especially those on the Cambion Drift. Pure Toxin is a strong option against unarmoured Corpus units, with the innate Radiation dealing good damage to most armoured Corpus (who primarily use Alloy-armour). If you are going up against heavily shielded enemies, Magnetic can instead be used.

Adding Heat to a Viral or Corrosive build is a very strong option. Heat adds an extra armour-reducing proc that also deals stacking damage-over-time, making it quite useful against most targets. Combining Magnetic and Toxin, along with the innate Radiation, forms a slightly self-redundant build that nonetheless is very strong against practically all Corpus targets. It is strong against basically every Corpus health type.

It is also very much worth looking at the two elemental Nightmare mods, Chilling Reload and Blaze. Chilling Reload offers +Cold as well as +Reload Speed, fitting nicely in a Viral build and offering some very nice quality-of-life. Blaze gives +Heat and +Damage, for a very strong overall damage boost. Both are very good substitutes for their element.

Recommended Setups: Viral (+Heat) vs everything, Corrosive (+Heat) vs Infested, armour, Toxin vs unarmoured Corpus, Magnetic vs strong Shields, Magnetic + Toxin vs Corpus

1-Forma:

One added V polarity and the extra ranks gives even more space to play with. In particular, you can also start looking at an eighth mod.

Of immediate note, Critical Deceleration is a very strong replacement for Blunderbuss. It offers more than twice the Crit Chance with only a small Fire Rate penalty. I would strongly recommend it, especially if you also include a +Fire Rate mod.

Speaking of, a +Fire Rate mod like Shotgun Spazz can be quite beneficial. The TAPlasmor is very slow-firing at base, and increasing Fire Rate can make it a lot more comfortable to use, as well as significantly increasing DPS. This of course comes at the cost of faster ammo consumption and worse Reload Ratio. A +Reload Speed mod like (Primed) Tactical Pump is also a very nice quality-of-life mod, as a 3 second reload is relatively long.


In a Viral build, Hunter Munitions can be a very strong addition against Status-vulnerable heavily armoured enemies. Though not especially consistent with such low Fire Rate and only moderate Crit Chance, any Slash procs that are inflicted will deal immense damage. This remains the TAPlasmor's best scaling build against very high level, very heavily armoured enemies, but of course is lacking in direct damage against other targets.

If you have the Credits and Endo to max them, a Primed Cleanse mod is a very strong last mod, especially alongside Slash, Toxin or Heat procs. Vigilante Armaments is weaker, but much cheaper to max and more convenient. Vicious Spread is a little stronger than Vigi Armaments if you are not running Blaze, and the Accuracy penalty has essentially no impact.

Laser Sight and Shrapnel Shot are conditional Crit mods that are both relatively easy to trigger, though the former is much less valuable alongside Critical Deceleration. Motus Setup is a novel conditional option for Crit and Status Chances as well, but again is much less notable when Critical Deceleration is used. 


Fatal Acceleration is a strong option for the Exilus slot. Increasing Projectile Speed also increases the TAPlasmor's maximum range, Damage Fall-Off ranges and the forced Impact proc range, all of which are very useful.

An Ammo Mutation mod like Vigilante Supplies is also worth consideration if you are worried about ammo. The TAPlasmor uses relatively rare Shotgun ammo, and has a spare ammo reserve of just 40 rounds, however it is also quite ammo efficient.

Recommended Setups: see above. Also consider: Viral + HM vs armour

Galvanised Build and Arcane

Galvanised Hell is of course an auto-include.

Galvanised Savvy is much better than it may initially appear on a weapon with a single damage type. The TAPlasmor has a guaranteed Impact proc within 29m range, which is an instant extra multiplier for Galv Savvy. Coupled with mods (say Viral + Heat), this is already four unique proc types for a damage bonus much larger than Primed Point Blank. There is even the option for a Magnetic Sister bonus, as well as Hunter Munitions for up to six unique procs. Note that the Galv Savvy +Damage applies to enemies hit by the centre of the projectile, but not if they are caught only in the edge of the wave. As such, for a pure crowd-clearing role, you may want to stick to Primed Point Blank/Primed Cleanse instead.

Oddly, the Galv Savvy Damage bonus is applied multiplicatively to other +Damage (e.g. Point Blank, Arcanes) rather than additively as usual. As a result, it is capable of dealing far, far higher damage than it normally would. This is especially useful for extremely high level content, such as extended Steel Path runs.


Galvanised Acceleration is a very strong option for the same reasons as I discussed for Fatal Acceleration. +Projectile Speed is useful for pretty much any projectile weapon or weapon with damage fall-off, but it is especially strong on the TAPlasmor as it is subject to both.

Both Merciless and Deadhead have solid benefits. With such good AoE capabilities, Merciless is very easy to stack and maintain at maximum, while the +Reload Speed and +Ammo Max are both quite helpful. With such a huge hitbox, headshots are also effortless to land, and the +Headshot Damage from Deadhead does still apply, even if the TAPlasmor does not get the ordinary headshot multipliers. Note however that Deadhead will not trigger from kills by damage-over-time procs.

My Builds

Default build is a boring Viral + Heat. Primed Point Blank has been switched to Galv Savvy since the fix.
This alternate build drops the Heat (or in my case reduces as mine has a Heat bonus) for Hunter Munitions. Again, PPB has been switched to Galv Savvy since the fix.

Sister of Parvos Bonus

There are some bonuses worth considering, though with innate Radiation already the TAPlasmor has one fewer option to worry about. Magnetic is a neat choice for an extra unique damage type and proc, and can be useful for weakening tough Shields. Toxin and Heat are your main single-element options to consider.

Toxin is a better option if you want to maximise a Viral + HM build, saving one elemental mod in lieu of something that enhances Slash procs (e.g. a [Primed] Cleanse mod). It naturally also works well in a pure Toxin build. Heat is better for more general purpose Viral/Corrosive + Heat builds.

Combat Use and Summary

Firing a single projectile with a huge hitbox, the Tenet Arca Plasmor naturally excels against groups. A single shot can decimate crowds, especially if walls line up conveniently to bounce the projectile into more victims. With quite high damage-per-shot, the TAPlasmor fares respectably against tough, unarmoured or Status-immune enemies, however it does not benefit from any headshot multipliers. Compared to more conventional weapons like msot other Shotguns, this is a distinct disadvantage.

Heavily armoured enemies can also be slightly troublesome. With low Fire Rate, the TAPlasmor does not stack Status procs very quickly, taking several shots to max out Viral or Corrosive procs. Added Heat can help significantly as it also reduces armour and deals damage-over-time.

Most notably however, Hunter Munitions can also be used. It is a little inconsistent with actually working between moderate Crit Chance and very low Fire Rate, but any Slash procs that it does inflict will deal immense damage. This is the best scaling setup against very heavily armoured enemies who are vulnerable to Status, however only really comes into its own at very, very high levels.


The TAPlasmor's bouncing projectile is a very strong advantage for its projectile type. In a tight space such as a corridor, a banked shot can strike each target twice, perhaps even three times depending on geometry. Even outside of corridors, enemies who are close to a wall can be hit twice by the projectile bouncing off of the wall behind them, and the same can be done by shooting downwards at the floor. 

With a hard limited range of 36 metres (affected by Projectile Speed), the TAPlasmor is naturally limited to closer range engagements, though that range limited is quite long compared to other wave-firing weapons. With Warframe's exceptionally fast movement system, this range limitation is largely a non-issue outside of the absolute largest rooms, and the Open Worlds.


Overall, the Tenet Arca Plasmor is quite a strong weapon. It tears through large groups of enemies with ease thanks to its massive wave projectile, while still dealing solid direct damage to tougher targets. Survivors are usually left weakened with several Status procs. It can struggle to muscle through high level heavily armoured enemies, though Hunter Munitions can largely address this.

If you're interested in an AoE weapon and don't want to worry about self-stagger/knockdown, the TAPlasmor is a great Primary option to look at.

Scores

Vs Trash Mobs: 5/5 - The Tenet Arca Plasmor's massive plasma wave effortlessly wipes out squads of enemies in a single shot, especially so if they are in a tight corridor.
Vs Unarmoured Heavies: 4/5 - The TAPlasmor does great good damage-per-shot, however its inability to benefit from headshot multipliers is a major limitation compared to more conventional weapons.
Vs Armoured Heavies without Forced Slash: 3.5/5 - Great Status Chance allow the TAPlasmor to inflict Status procs reliably, however its very low Fire Rate makes it a little inconsistent in which procs it actually does inflict. Heat procs are relatively strong when they are inflicted, but stacking up Viral or Corrosive takes several, fairly slow shots.
Vs Armoured Heavies with Forced Slash: 4.5/5 - Hunter Munitions allows the TAPlasmor to inflict Slash procs somewhat consistently. Any that are inflicted will deal massive damage to its victims. The massive buff to Critical Deceleration helps a lot here.

Vs Variants

The MR16 Tenet Arca Plasmor is a majority upgrade over the MR10 Arca Plasmor. The Tenet sports higher Crit Multiplier, Status Chance, far higher Base Damage, a bouncing projectile and even extended Damage Fall-Off and maximum range. In exchange it has a slightly slower Fire Rate and Reload Time. These reductions are miniscule in the scheme of things, making the Tenet the easily superior model.

Competitors

There aren't many weapons that fire the same type of projectile.

The MR8 Fulmin Rifle in Semi-Auto fires a similar circular wave projectile. It has better Crit and higher Fire Rate, but far lower base Damage and Status Chance and a much smaller projectile. It is also worth noting that the Fulmin uses a recharging magazine.

A Primary Catchmoon fires the same type of small projectile as the Fulmin. It can be built for strong Crit or Status Chance, but not both, and its Crit/Status spread will be much lower than the TAPlasmor's. It also has a much higher Fire Rate for far lower damage-per-shot.

The Quellor's Alternate Fire has a similar size projectile as the TAPlasmor, with even more Crit and a higher base Damage. However, again its Status Chance is not remotely comparable, and it is even slower firing with a base 1.2 second Charge Time. Consuming 75 ammo per shot, it also eats through its base Mag Capacity in just 4 shots for a much worse Reload Ratio.

Of note, the TAPlasmor's projectile is the only one of the lot that also bounces, giving it a unique advantage in tighter spaces.

Rivens

Another start-at-minimum 1/5 (0.5) Disposition weapon, though notably its (weaker) variant already has a low Disposition of just 2/5 (0.7). I would not expect much, if any, movement for the Tenet's dispo.

+Damage/Multishot/Crit Chance/Crit Damage are all decent stats to have. Once Galvanised mods and weapon Arcanes are added to the mix, the latter three become much better than +Damage. +Elemental damage can help to save a mod slot. +Faction Damage to Grineer can be useful for amplifying Heat/Slash procs, but of course is useless against other Factions. +Fire Rate/Reload Speed are both great quality-of-life stats to have, speeding up the otherwise very slow TAPlasmor. +Projectile Speed is very good, extending maximum range as well as Damage Fall-Off. +Punch-Through allows projectiles to pass through solid objects as well as bodies, though this of course may interfere with the bouncing mechanic.

-Faction Damage to Infested is usually negligble, and to Corpus is often manageable as well. -Ammo Max is not an issue alongside Ammo Case/Mutation/etc. -Projectile Speed can be offset by Fatal/Galv Acceleration. +Recoil is a non-issue for such a slow-firing weapon.

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