Review: Magnus Prime (U30.7.5)

The Magnus Prime is an MR14 Secondary, released with Nidus Prime in U30.7. A Semi-Auto revolver, it sports solid though unexceptional stats and a powerful, if somewhat unreliable, buff. This buff gives it a unique niche among comparable weapons, but its inconsistency can be quite frustrating.

Acquisition

Standard Prime weapon fare, its Blueprint and Components are available from various Void Relics.

Stats

As mentioned previously, the Magnus Prime's stats are solid but not amazing. 28%/2.8x Crit is excellent and 28% Status Chance is quite good, though Impact-leaning base Damage is not ideal.

A Mag Capacity of 8 is quite small, and with a Fire Rate of 5.83 can be depleted very quickly. With a Reload Time of 1.2 seconds, this gives a Reload Ratio of just 1.14.

The MagnusP can trigger a special "Chamber Cascade" buff. On a hit, it has a roughly 5% chance to activate Chamber Cascade for 4 seconds, during which it will not consume ammo. It is refreshable, and can also be triggered by damage ticks from damage-over-time procs like Slash.

Augments

The Magnus Prime can use the Magnus-family-exclusive Deadly Maneuvers mod. This mod is available only from Nightwave as a Rank reward.

After performing a Dodge/Roll, the weapon will gain +400% Critical Chance on Headshots for the next two shots. This bonus is multiplicative of the modded Crit Chance, so is effectively an extra 5x multiplier.

Deadly Maneuvers is clearly extremely strong for a very specific playstyle. It rewards agile play that incorporates a lot of Dodges and precision headshots. Its multiplicative nature allows the Magnus Prime to easily break 300% Crit Chance for guaranteed Red Crits with just regular Pistol Gambit.

Builds

Basic 0-Forma: 

A single native V polarity is helpful in fitting a basic build. This sample build above fits all the essentials, with space to adjust elemental mods depending on what you have available.

Primed Crit 0-Forma:

Alternatively, you can also look to fit in both of the Primed Crit mods, though this limits your elemental mod options and leaves no space for a seventh mod.

Creeping Bullseye is worth consideration over (Primed) Pistol Gambit. It is much stronger than regular Pistol Gambit, and a lot cheaper to max than Primed. Its Fire Rate penalty is not major on a Semi-Auto weapon with such high Fire Rate, and negligible alongside Lethal Torrent.

Note that in both of these 0-Forma builds I've left out Lethal Torrent. Though it is on-paper a massive damage boost, in practice the increased Fire Rate is very difficult to actually achieve. It is still a strong mod option of course, but I feel is less important on already-fast-firing Semi-Autos like the MagnusP.

 

Obviously Viral is my recommended go-to elemental combo. Against the vast majority of targets, it at least has a useful proc, and has a decent multiplier against many enemies. Corrosive is much more effective against enemies who are Ferrite-armoured, as well as having a strong multiplier against most heavier Infested, particularly those on the Cambion Drift. Radiation is strong against anything Alloy-armoured. Pure Toxin is a solid option against unarmoured Corpus, bypassing their Shields to hit at their usually much weaker Health. Additionally, its damage-over-time proc gives Chamber Cascade more opportunities to activate. Magnetic is worth considering against the few targets whose Shields are very strong and non-bypassable.

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

Primed Crit 1-Forma:

One added V polarity allows you fit both Primed Crit mods, as well as start looking at a seventh mod depending on your available elemental mods. Augur Pact as pictured above is a no-fuss, cheap addition. A third elemental mod is also a strong option if you have the mods for it.

Adding Heat to either Viral or Corrosive is a very strong option. Its damage-over-time proc benefits from both of said elements, while also further reducing armour and giving more chances for Chamber Cascade to proc. Adding in Toxin alongside Radiation gives a decent catch-all against the Corpus, effectively hitting the majority of their Health types.

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

General Purpose 3-Forma:

Two more added V polarities and you can start looking at eighth mods as well. There are a lot of good options to consider, besides the already mentioned triple-element and Augur Pact.

Magnum Force is stronger than Augur Pact, but the Accuracy penalty can be very troublesome. A (Primed) Expel mod also offers a lot of damage to the right Faction, but they are very expensive to max out and tedious to switch around. Hydraulic Crosshairs and Sharpened Bullets are solid conditional Crit-boosting options that are a little stronger than Augur Pact.

The Magnus-family-exclusive Deadly Maneuvers is extremely strong if you Dodge frequently and regularly land Headshots.

With such poor Reload Ratio, +Mag Capacity and +Reload Speed can be very nice quality-of-life options. The relative values of (Primed) Quickdraw and (Primed) Slip Magazine mean that the former offers significantly more benefit. Ice Storm is a novel option for +Mag Capacity in any build that uses Cold.

Building to increase Slash proc frequency is always worth consideration if you intend to take on typical heavily armoured enemies. It has the additional benefit of giving Chamber Cascade more opportunities to trigger. For this, your main options are Carnis Stinger and Hemorrhage. Of the two, I believe Carnis Stinger is much more effective, and also adds a very small amount of direct damage.

As always, I'm a big fan of Punch-Through so Seeker is a great option. It is not only excellent against tightly packed groups, but also gives additional opportunities for Chamber Cascade to trigger.

For the Exilus slot, Steady Hands is the main option I'd recommend. It greatly reduces recoil, which is very helpful when you are trying to make the most of Chamber Cascade.

Galvanised Build and Arcane

Galvanised Diffusion naturally.

Galvanised Crosshairs is a decent option. The MagnusP is reasonably precise, can land headshots quite reliably, and of course has very good Crit for maximum benefit. It synergises especially well with Deadly Maneuvers if that is your style.

Galvanised Shot is also decent for maximum damage output. With relatively balanced Physical damages and fairly high Status Chance, it can inflict several different procs reasonably reliably. This of course has the downside of having a short ramp-up to build up unique procs, before which it will be significantly weaker than regular Hornet Strike.

The decision between Deadhead and Merciless is much the same as for many other weapons. Merciless is easier to trigger and +Reload Speed is very beneficial, however the MagnusP is largely a single-target weapon, so will take some time to stack to maximum damage. Deadhead stacks to maximum much faster, and both +Headshot Multiplier and -Recoil are helpful, but Deadhead stacks will not build on kills from damage-over-time procs, and only works if regularly landing headshots.

My Builds

Viral + Heat + Punch-Through to take advantage of damage-over-time procs activating Chamber Cascade. I've dropped Lethal Torrent as I find that level of Fire Rate on a Semi-Auto to be excessive.

Combat Use and Summary

With relatively low Mag Capacity, the Magnus Prime is clearly better suited to fewer, tougher targets. It has relatively high Burst DPS, even by Secondary standards, so is quite effective against unarmoured and Status-resistant/immune heavy enemies. Status-vulnerable heavy enemies also give it the best chance of triggering Chamber Cascade. In particular, they are great targets to inflict with damage-over-time procs, which themselves can proc Chamber Cascade with each damage tick.

Though it has quite high Status Chance, I've found the MagnusP to be a little underwhelming against heavily armoured enemies. Low Slash bias means that it does not reliably inflict Slash procs unless specifically modded for it, which in turn is less effective against unarmoured targets. Even with such a build, I've generally found it necessary to dump an entire magazine into a single target to reliably inflict the desired procs (several Viral and at least a few Heat/Slash), which often will not quickly kill said target, and of course necessitates a reload. The damage-per-shot of the MagnusP is sufficiently low that a single Heat or even Slash proc may not deal the necessary damage, even through its full duration.

The MagnusP is not very good against groups if Chamber Cascade does not trigger. It has a poor Reload Ratio with no AoE capabilities, and weaker enemies do not live long enough to give damage-over-time procs time to potentially proc Chamber Cascade. All that said, if Chamber Cascade is active, it is much more usable against large numbers of enemies, and has a better chance of triggering again.

Chamber Cascade is an interesting mechanic that when it works, can make the MagnusP quite powerful. (Temporary) infinite ammo on a weapon that normally has a terrible Reload Ratio is a massive buff to Sustained DPS, anti-crowd capabilities and generally makes it much easier to handle. As it is refreshable, it can also serve as a self-fueling cycle - Chamber Cascade allows you to fire much more, which in turn gives much greater chance of triggering Chamber Cascade again.

As it can be triggered by damage-over-time procs, Chamber Cascade synergises very well with Abilities that increase the chance of/guarantee damage-over-time Status procs. Examples of this include Saryn's Toxic Lash (3) for guaranteed Toxin procs, and Garuda's Seeking Talons (4) for guaranteed Slash procs.

I find that Chamber Cascade is most reliably triggered against heavier targets because of this interaction, as heavier targets are much more likely to live long enough to inflict damage-over-time procs on them. A novel, somewhat risky option for maximising your chance of triggering Chamber Cascade is to inflict procs on a heavy target but deliberately leave them alive, to get the maximum number of damage ticks out of their procs.

Recoil can be troublesome for rapid-fire, which is necessary if you want to achieve maximum DPS. Steady Hands in the Exilus slot is a very good option to mitigate this. 

High Fire Rate Semi-Autos are a weapon type I strongly dislike in Warframe. Their on-paper DPS is often comparable, and potentially even superior to, Full-Autos and slower-firing Semi-Autos, however achieving and maintaining this DPS is much harder than the latter two categories. I can personally properly aim and fire a Semi-Auto up to around 3 rounds-per-second, and any Fire Rate beyond that results in a drastic decrease in accuracy. Slower Semi-Autos give you more time to aim precisely while still attaining maxmimum DPS, while with Full-Autos you can simply hold down the trigger and focus on aiming.

The MagnusP falls easily into the category of "High Fire Rate Semi-Autos", and as such though its on-paper Burst DPS is impressive, in practice it will often be much less so. Maintaining maximum Fire Rate will often come at the cost of accuracy, and imprecise/missed shots represent a reduction in DPS. Firing below maximum Fire Rate naturally also limits the weapon's potential.

Overall, the Magnus Prime is a decent Secondary with a neat, if unreliable, special feature. It deals solid Burst DPS, and with Chamber Cascade active can put a lot of shots out without issue. However, the low trigger chance of Chamber Cascade makes it quite inconsistent, and it may not trigger it when you need it most. I also don't like how high the Magnus Prime's Fire Rate is as a Semi-Auto. Getting peak DPS out of it, especially with Lethal Torrent, is quite difficult without a macro.

If you like weapons with neat gimmicks, the Magnus Prime is one of many decent weapons to consider. Outside of this feature however, as detailed below, I personally prefer several other weapons in a comparable role. In particular, its Reload Ratio is very poor, and its Fire Rate is much too high for a Semi-Auto. While cool and certainly effective, I personally find Chamber Cascade much too inconsistent to be anything more than a fun gimmick.

Scores

Vs Trash Mobs: 2/5 - Low Mag Capacity and poor Reload Ratio make the Magnus Prime rather poor against groups. The Chamber Cascade buff can help when it triggers, but against weak enemies it is not consistent.

Vs Unarmoured Heavies: 4.5/5 - The MagnusP has very good Burst DPS for a Secondary, making it quite effective against singular heavy enemies. Its poor Reload Ratio can be troublesome though if said targets do not die within a single mag's worth and Chamber Cascade does not trigger.

Vs Armoured Heavies without Forced Slash: 3.5/5 - High Status Chance allows the MagnusP to inflict procs fairly reliably, though its mediocre base Damage composition means that Slash procs are not frequent without being specifically modded for. Both Viral + Heat and Viral + Slash builds are workable, but not impressive when compared to its contemporaries. Good Burst DPS means that it can muscle through enemies who have been significantly weakened by procs.

Vs Armoured Heavies with Forced Slash: NA/5 - The MagnusP does not inflict enough Impact procs to make good use of Hemorrhage.

Vs Variants

The MR14 Magnus Prime is a clear upgrade over the MR10 Magnus. The greatly increased Crit Multiplier is the biggest benefit.

The MR12 Akmagnus is as you'd expect for a dual weapon - higher Mag Capacity and Fire Rate but slower Reload Time compared to a single. The MagnusP of course retains superior per-shot stats and Reload Time, while the Akmagnus has slightly higher Fire Rate but more importantly double Mag Capacity.

Of course, the MagnusP also has Chamber Cascade which the others do not.

Competitors

There are a number of strong Semi-Auto Secondaries. The most directly comparable is the Pandero Prime, which is also an 8-round Revolver.

The Magnus Prime has nearly double Fire Rate, as well as slightly higher Status Chance. The PanderoP has slightly higher Crit Chance, shorter Reload Time, but most importantly higher base Damage with heavy bias towards Slash. This allows it to inflict Slash procs much more reliably than the MagnusP, which gives it a massive advantage against heavily armoured enemies.

One other example of a strong Semi-Auto Secondary is the new Tenet Spirex. It has worse Crit, lower Fire Rate and a much slower Reload Time, in exchange for higher Status Chance, far more base Damage and a small explosive radius. Forced Impact procs on direct hit also allow the TSpirex to make great use of Hemorrhage for consistent Slash procs.

A Secondary Tombfinger also looms over the MagnusP. The Tombfinger also has a small explosive radius, and any Tombfinger build will have a far superior Reload Ratio, even the fastest-firing Grip (Gibber). It even has forced Impact procs on direct hits for good use of Hemorrhage. The pictured comparison is close to what is generally considered the "best" Tombfinger build, with the only change being a Killstream Loader instead of Splat (only stat difference is Mag Capacity vs Reload Time). The MagnusP retains very slightly higher Burst DPS over even the "best" Tombfinger build, as well as superior Status output with higher Fire Rate and Status Chance.

Again, the MagnusP is unique with its Chamber Cascade mechanic, which none of these other weapons can match. However, all of the above mentioned weapons are quite strong and have notable advantages over the MagnusP. Even with Chamber Cascade, I would comfortably recommend any of these instead of the MagnusP.

Rivens

Standard new weapon fare, starts at minimum 1/5 (0.5). I'm expecting this one to skyrocket as barring specific niche uses, single targets weapons are not popular or well suited to Warframe combat.

+Damage/Multishot/Crit Chance/Crit Damage are the usual suspects for good positive stats. The former two are a lot less valuable with Galvanised Mods and weapon Arcanes in the mix. +Elemental Damage can help to save a mod slot. +Faction Damage, mainly to Grineer, can be a strong multiplier especially of damage-over-time procs. +Mag Capacity/Reload Speed can be nice quality-of-life stats. -Recoil is useful if you struggle with it. +Punch-Through is very helpful against crowds.

-Impact/Puncture are decent negatives. -Slash isn't horrific but is by far the worst of the three to have, as it contributes a very useful proc. Impact and Puncture are not very good damage types, and do not offer particularly useful procs either. -Faction Damage to the weaker factions (Infested in particular) is usually quite manageable, and of course has no effect on the other factions. -Fire Rate can be reasonable, especially alongside Lethal Torrent to compensate. -Ammo Max is not a big deal. -Projectile Speed has no effect. +Recoil can be good if you manage recoil well, or slot in Steady Hands to compensate. -Zoom is ideal for close quarters.