Review: Phenmor (U31.5.9)

The Phenmor is an MR14 Rifle, another weapon in the new Incarnon family. A slow-firing Semi-Auto Rifle in its Default form, each headshot charges up its Incarnon form. When transformed into Incarnon form, the Phenmor is a fearsome Full-Auto heavy machine gun that tears through almost every enemy with ease.

NOTE: Like with the Laetum, there are very slight spoilers for the new Angels of the Zariman quest and content.

Acquisition

The Phenmor blueprint can be purchased from the weapon vendor on the Zariman. You must be at least Rank 2 (Watcher) with the local Syndicate.

Stats

The Phenmor's Default form is a decent but not amazing Semi-Auto Rifle. It packs a respectable Crit/Status spread, complemented with a great 70% Slash bias. This allows it to inflict Slash procs quite reliably.

With a low Fire Rate and decent sized Magazine, Default form has a solid Reload Ratio of 3.57.

As mentioned previously, landing headshots in Default form will charge Incarnon. 12 headshots are required for full charge, with Multishot counting as additional headshots. Incarnon form can be activated with any amount of charge by pressing Alt Fire, with proportionally reduced ammo if not at full. The form change takes approximately 2 seconds, reduced by +Reload Speed.

Incarnon form is a heavy machine gun, held in a chainsaw grip much like an Archgun. It retains the same Crit/Status spread, as well as total base Damage, though the damage is redistributed into Slash and Radiation. More importantly, Incarnon form's Fire Rate is more than quadruple that of Default form, and it gains a massive 3m innate Punch Through.

As with the Laetum, the Phenmor's Incarnon form uses a separate ammo pool scaling with Incarnon charge, of up to approximately 400 shots at full charge. Again, this is not affected by any mods or +Ammo Efficiency effects like Energized Munitions. The remaining ammo is shown on the Incarnon charge bar, and quickly consuming it will show used portion with the other energy colour.

Curiously, Incarnon form can "overheat" and temporarily lose effectiveness, in an inverted spool-up effect. If the trigger is held for long enough, its Fire Rate will slowly decrease, to a minimum of around 60% Fire Rate after firing around 50 rounds sustained. Releasing the trigger will allow it to "cool" and slowly reset the Fire Rate penalty.

Both firing modes fire projectiles, which can be a tad troublesome to use at longer ranges. In particular, landing the requisite Default form headshots at longer range will require a lot more skill to do consistently.

Augments

None, Evolutions fill a very similar role.

Evolutions

Like the Laetum, the Phenmor gains 5 Evolutions, each of which is unlocked by completing a specific challenge. Once again, they can be switched around at will at the Zariman's weapon vendor.

The first Evolution unlocks Incarnon form. It is unlocked by killing 100 enemies with the Phenmor.

The second Evolution is unlocked by killing 8 Eximus with Incarnon form.

• Void's Guidance - increases Accuracy and reduces Recoil while Aiming. This is nice quality-of-life for both forms, but is especially useful for Incarnon form, which otherwise has significant pellet spread.
• Rapid Wrath - increases Fire Rate by 20%, additive with +Fire Rate mods. It is the only strict DPS increase of the three Evo 2s, but is quite a small boost if you install any decent +Fire Rate mods.
• Swift Deliverance - increases Projectile Speed by 80%. This is particularly useful at longer ranges, as both forms fire projectiles.

The third Evolution is unlocked by landing 20 headshots in Default form on a Void Angel (new Zariman enemy) without reloading. This can be made much easier with +Multishot and +Mag Capacity mods.

• Retribution's Vessel - increases Mag Capacity by 50%, additive with mods. This does not affect Incarnon form, so is purely for improving the quality-of-life of Default form.
• Ready Retaliation - increases Reload Speed when reloading from empty. Again, a quality-of-life that applies only to Default form.
• Executioner's Fortune - on headshot kill, has a 20% chance to instantly reload. Another quality-of-life that only applies to Default form.

The fourth Evolution is unlocked by closing 12 Ruptures in the new Void Flood mission type.

• Survivor's Edge - +10% Crit Chance, +10% Status Chance, both added as flat values after all mods are applied (e.g. 50% modded Crit Chance is boosted to 60%). A nice strict stat buff, most useful for Crit builds.
• Incarnon Efficiency - increases Incarnon charge gained from headshots by 50%. This reduces the number of headshots required for full charge from 12 to 8. Great quality-of-life to (re)enable Incarnon form much more quickly.
• Elemental Excess - +20% Status Chance, -10% Crit Chance, both added as flat values after all mods are applied (e.g. 40% modded Status Chance increased to 60%, 20% modded Crit Chance reduced to 10%). Ideal for a pure Status build, and notably synergises with one of the Evo 5s below.

The fifth and final Evolution is unlocked by completing a mission with an Incarnon weapon in each weapon slot (Primary, Secondary, Melee). At the moment, there is only one Incarnon weapon for each (Phenmor, Laetum, Praedos respectively).

• Devouring Attrition - on a hit that does not Crit, has a 50% chance to deal 21x damage. This damage multiplier is separate to others like +Damage mods/Arcanes or elemental mods.
• Spiteful Defilement - on enemies who have fewer than 3 different types of Status procs, deals +100% Crit Damage, added as a flat value after all mods are applied (e.g. 4.4x Crit Multiplier is increased to 5.4x). As Incarnon form already deals Slash and Radiation damages and procs, and you'll want Viral or Corrosive procs as well for most targets, Spiteful Defilement will almost never be active when you want it to be. That combined with its low damage increase even when it does work makes it a dud choice.
• Lingering Judgement - on 2 headshots within 2 seconds, gives +50% Headshot Damage for 8 seconds. Multishot can trigger the 2 headshots at once, thus effectively making this Evo permanent +50% headshot damage.

Unlike with the Laetum, comparing the Phenmor's Evo 5s is much easier. On its own without external buffs, a pure-Status Devouring Attrition build comes out well ahead, even taking into account Crit headshots in a Lingering Judgement build. Additionally, a DA build will have an extra free mod slot compared to an equivalent Crit LJ build.

Any buffs that increase Crit Chance (e.g. Arcane Avenger) naturally swing it back in favour of a Crit build, since DA will not activate anywhere near as often.

Builds

Basic Crit 0-Forma:

The Phenmor has one each of innate V and - polarities, which is very helpful for fitting in early builds. These sample builds are made without Evolutions in mind, although the only one that makes a significant impact is E5DA - see further below for a build for that one. Without E5DA, a Crit build is the way to go. It offers the overall most damage, especially if you are adept at landing headshots.

Viral is the go-to as always, effective against most targets. It is particularly potent alongside the Phenmor's propensity to inflict Slash procs, dealing massive armour-bypassing damage-over-time. Corrosive offers much more up-front damage against Ferrite-armoured enemies and most heavy Infested units, most useful against Status-resistant/immune enemies. Similarly, Radiation deals great direct damage to Alloy-armoured enemies, and is the best option against those who are Status-resistant/immune.

Against most unarmoured Corpus though, pure Toxin is very effective. It bypasses Shields entirely, striking directly at their often-weaker Health, though there are a select few enemies whose Shields block this effect (e.g. Treasurer, Kyta Raknoids). For those few targets, Magnetic is extremely effective. 

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

Hunter Munitions 1-Forma:

One added V polarity offers a lot more space to fit a seventh mod. There are a lot of options worth consideration; in this section I will discuss two: Hunter Munitions and three-element setups.

Hunter Munitions allows the Phenmor to inflict more Slash procs than usual without reducing other natural procs (most importantly Viral). Slash procs being by far the most effectively scaling option against heavily armoured enemies (besides total armour removal) makes HM a premier option in a Crit build against high level Grineer and Corrupted.

There are several strong triple-element combos also worth considering. Adding Heat to a Viral or Corrosive build enhances their capabilities quite a bit. Its proc reduces armour, while also dealing stacking damage-over-time. Viral in particular appreciates Heat's armour reduction as it does not reduce armour itself, and Heat's damage-over-time component is amplified greatly by Viral. Corrosive offers similar benefits against armoured targets, but as it already greatly reduces armour, Heat's armour reduction is of somewhat less benefit. Also of note is that Corrosive + Heat is a near-perfect combination against the Cambion Drift Infested, who are mostly immune to Viral but weak to either Corrosive or Heat.

Radiation + Toxin is a decent catch-all against the Corpus. Their primary armour type is Alloy, which Radiation is super-effective against. Meanwhile, against anything unarmoured Toxin is highly effective. For the few enemies whose Shields cannot be bypassed by Toxin, adding Toxin or Heat to a Magnetic build can be quite effective. Magnetic drastically increases all damage dealt to Shields, including damage and procs from those two element types.

Recommended Setups: Viral + HM vs armour, Viral + Heat vs everything, Corrosive + Heat vs Ferrite-armour, Infested, Radiation + Toxin vs Corpus, Magnetic + Toxin/Heat vs Shields

Hunter Munitions 2-Forma:

Another added V polarity allows you to start considering eighth mods as well, and there are a lot worth consideration depending on your build direction.

Heavy Caliber and Vigilante Armaments are the classic slot-filler candidates, both offering all-round damage increases. However, both are rendered obsolete with Galvanised mods and Arcanes in the mix. If you can be bothered maxing and switching them, a (Primed) Bane is a very strong option. It is an external multiplier and also applies twice to damage-over-time procs like Heat and Slash. This makes them most useful against the Grineer and Corrupted, who have the most armoured enemies.

A +Fire Rate mod is a strong DPS increase in exchange for ammo consumption, and can make Default form nicer to handle. I favour (Primed) Shred as the added Punch Through also allows Default form to potentially hit multiple enemies per-shot. Incarnon form however already has 3m innate Punch Through, so does not really need more. Vile Acceleration offers the highest +Fire Rate.

For Crit builds, Argon Scope, Bladed Rounds and Proton Jet are conditional Crit-boosting mods (Proton Jet also conditionally increases Status Chance). Hammer Shot is much weaker, but is unconditional and boosts both Crit Damage and Status Chance. It is also worth considering switching Point Strike to Critical Delay, especially if you have a +Fire Rate mod to counteract the penalty.

For non-Crit builds, Fanged Fusillade is a strong alternative to Hunter Munitions. It shifts the damage bias heavily towards Slash to inflict Slash procs a lot more frequently. The downside of this is fewer other procs, though Incarnon form fires so fast that it stacks pretty much every proc with ease.

(Primed) Fast Hands can be used to significantly shorten the form change time, and can be nice quality-of-life for Default form, but otherwise offers little.

For the Exilus slot, I am a fan of Terminal Velocity. Both firing modes use projectiles which are not the fastest. Increasing Projectile Speed is great quality-of-life, especially at longer ranges. While ammo is not really a concern, Vigilante Supplies marginally increases damage output, more so in a Crit build. Guided Ordnance can be used to tighten up Incarnon form's pellet spread, though I generally find E2 Void's Guidance to be superior and sufficient.

Recommended Setups: see above.

Galvanised Build and Arcane

Galv Chamber of course. Among its many other benefits, being able to charge Incarnon with fewer shots thanks to the extra pellets is very nice.

Galv Aptitude is a very good option. The Phenmor deals two damage types natively in each form (Puncture + Slash in Default, Slash + Radiation in Incarnon), which with added elemental mods can easily become three or four damage types. This many proc types will comfortably beat out Serration. Combined with solid Status Chance and high Fire Rate in Incarnon, the Phenmor can make very good use of Galv Apt.

Galv Scope is a strong option in a Crit-focused, E5LJ build. Default form already wants to be landing headshots to charge Incarnon, as does Incarnon form if using E5LJ for maximum damage. In return, a Crit E5LJ build also highly values more +Crit Chance since Crit headshots have a doubled multiplier over non-Crit headshots.

Given the Phenmor does not reload often provided you can land the requisite headshots for Incarnon form, Fractalised Reset is not really worth using. It can be used to drastically reduce form change times, but at the cost of much lower damage as you will not get the benefits of a normal Damage Arcane.

The decision between Primary Merciless and Deadhead is largely down to preference. Merciless is simpler, stacks on any kills including kills from damage-over-time procs like Slash, and its +Reload Speed shortens Incarnon transformation time. On the other hand, Deadhead can stack much faster, decays slower, offers higher peak damage thanks to its increased Headshot Damage, and its reduced Recoil can be helpful for both firing modes.

Evolution 5 Builds

NOTE: overframe.gg does not currently emulate any of the Evolutions, so I have used warframe.builder's custom Rifle setting and Rivens to do so. Unfortunately, warframe.builder does not properly calculate Galvanised mods or Arcanes at the moment.

Given that it triggers only on non-Crits, naturally a build using E5DA wants minimum Crit Chance. With even a simple, incomplete build like the above, a good E5DA build can put out some obscene damage numbers. The Riven emulates full Primary Merciless, 4 procs for Galv Aptitude, and the DA average bonus damage (+Damage vs Grineer). Galv Chamber is not even at full strength, with just one stack rather than five.

These damage numbers are presented even with three mod slots free (the Riven emulating other effects, not a mod of its own), so can be increased further.

My Builds

This is the basis for the build I use alongside Evo 5 Devouring Attrition. Vigilante Armaments and Serration are the flex slots, I haven't really settled on what to keep there. A (Primed) Bane would be ideal but I don't like them. I've been experimenting with Fanged Fusillade over Serration and it seems quite good.

Primed Shred is mainly for the benefit of Default form, making it much better to use especially against multiple enemies. Incarnon form already has a lot of Punch Through, and from a pure DPS perspective would prefer Vile Acceleration.

This alternate build is what I use for a Crit-build with E5LJ. Depending on the target, Hunter Munitions can be switched for Thermite Rounds, but the Phenmor does so much damage against anything unarmoured that it is rarely an issue.

I generally prefer the following Evolutions:

• Evolution 2: Void's Guidance - Incarnon form's base pellet spread is quite wide, so tightening it up is an indirect DPS increase against single targets. I also like +Projectile Speed, but that can be added in the Exilus slot.
• Evolution 3: Executioner's Fortune - so I can have a chance of not having to reload Default form at all.
• Evolution 4: Incarnon Efficiency - same train of thought as with the Laetum. Phenmor Incarnon already does such immense damage that the other two Evo 4s are not really necessary. I prefer the improved quality-of-life from IE than those minor stat increases.
• Evolution 5: Devouring Attrition ends up a lot stronger in typical build comparisons, so I usually use the Status + DA build. I would only run the Crit + LJ build when using other equipment that increases Crit Chance.

Combat Use and Summary

The Phenmor's Default form is a very vanilla Semi-Auto Rifle. With high Slash bias and decent Status Chance, it can inflict Slash procs on heavily armoured enemies with reasonable regularity. In a proper build, these Slash procs can do very heavy damage, which when augmented with Viral procs, can eat through most armoured enemies fairly quickly.

Its Direct DPS is rather mediocre, falling very middle-of-the-pack among Rifles. As such, it is somewhat unimpressive against unarmoured or Status-resistant/immune enemies.

Naturally, Default form really struggles against crowds. It is slow-firing and has no AoE to speak of. Added Punch Through can be helpful, but it is still very efficient when confronted with many weak enemies.

Incarnon form packs the same damage-per-shot as Default form, at over four times the Fire Rate and a significant amount of added Punch Through. In this form, the Phenmor can sweep through large crowds of enemies much more easily, with any given round potentially hitting three or more enemies if they are lined up correctly. It is still not quite on the level of a traditional AoE weapon, but it is the closest that a non-AoE weapon can get.

The massive increase in Fire Rate naturally corresponds with a huge boost to Direct DPS, allowing Incarnon form to deal massive damage to unarmoured/Status-immune heavy enemies.

Retaining a solid Slash bias and Status Chance, Incarnon form is still effective at inflicting Slash procs on heavily armoured enemies. Its high Fire Rate allows it to max out Viral procs effortlessly, which drastically enhance the many extremely strong Slash procs it inflicts. A short burst, provided it inflicts the right procs, will bleed out all but the absolute toughest armoured enemies.

With both firing modes using projectiles, the Phenmor is not particularly effective at long range. It can be particularly difficult landing the requisite headshots in Default form to charge Incarnon. Ammo is a non-issue. It only takes a couple of good shots in Default form to charge Incarnon, and of course Incarnon form does not consume normal ammo.

With the necessity to land headshots to charge Incarnon, the Phenmor greatly appreciates other equipment that makes headshots easier. Frames with good CC abilities such as Harrow or Nova who can slow down or hold enemies in place are ideal options.

Incarnon form's "overheat" feature is a curious annoyance. While there are plenty of weapons that spool-up and increase in Fire Rate in sustained fire, Phenmor Incarnon instead spools-down and decreases in Fire Rate. This can be mitigated by using controlled, disciplined bursts rather than excessive sustained fire.

Overall the Phenmor is a decent Semi-Auto Rifle with a very strong machine gun alternate mode when used correctly. Incarnon form is relatively easy to activate and possesses massive firepower across the board, allowing it to tear through just about any enemy. While I personally consider the Laetum overall better, the Phenmor is still a very strong weapon, and is absolutely deserving of a spot in your arsenal if you can land the requisite headshots to charge it.

Scores

NOTE: Scores are based on reliably having access to Incarnon form, though Default form is still discussed.

Vs Trash Mobs: 4.5/5 - Default form naturally struggles here, with low Fire Rate and no AoE to speak of. Incarnon form's much higher Fire Rate and massive innate Punch Through allow it to sweep through large groups of enemies very easily. It is still slightly less efficient and convenient than a traditional AoE weapon.

Vs Unarmoured Heavies: 5/5 - While Default form is unexceptional for DPS, Incarnon form has among the highest DPS of any Primary.

Vs Armoured Heavies without Forced Slash: 5/5 - Both Default and Incarnon forms have high Slash bias and solid Status Chance, allowing them to reliably inflict strong Slash procs on any enemies that survive the initial volley. Incarnon form especially with its Fire Rate can rapidly max out Viral procs, and stack many massive Slash procs on any enemy that survives the direct damage.

Vs Armoured Heavies with Forced Slash: 5/5 - In a Crit build, Hunter Munitions can be used to absolutely maximise the quantity of Slash procs inflicted. Due to the DPS disparity however, unless you are running extra +Crit Chance equipment, a pure Status build with E5DA will likely still be better.

Vs Variants

None.

Competitors

In its Default form as a Semi-Auto Rifle, the Phenmor faces tough competition. While there aren't too many Semi-Auto Rifles in Warframe, there are a select few that are quite strong. Like with the Laetum though, Default form is not the form you want to be using often.

The MR8 Veldt is quite similar stat-wise, superior in most stats but losing out in Mag Capacity and base Damage. The Phenmor's Default form comes out slightly ahead for direct DPS as well as Slash procs due to its much higher Slash bias, but the difference is not as big as you might expect given their respective MRs. Even so, the Veldt begins a common trend among competitor weapons - it has a better Crit/Status spread than the Phenmor.

The MR11 Prisma Grinlok offers stronger competition. It trades a much slower Fire Rate and lower Slash bias for much stronger other per-shot stats. It also has access to the very strong Deadly Sequence Augment. The net result is that the PGrinlok wins out slightly for DPS, with comparable proc quantity thanks to its far higher Status Chance.

The MR12 Sybaris Prime is a bit of an odd comparison to make, given it is a Burst-Fire Rifle, however its stats also line up surprisingly close to Phenmor Default. It trades smaller Mag Capacity, lower base Damage and particularly lower Slash bias for higher Crit/Status and Fire Rate. Once more, the SybarisP trades fewer natural Slash procs for higher DPS.

The MR15 Kuva Chakkhurr is the final Semi-Auto Rifle to look at, and it is a worthy one. While it is much slower firing than the Phenmor Default, it deals colossally more damage-per-shot, including a small AoE (106 damage split among Puncture/Slash/Blast, not pictured due to formatting) and even a Kuva Lich Damage Bonus (also not pictured). Additionally, while it struggles to inflict Slash procs naturally, it is a premier use case for Internal Bleeding to reliably inflict enormous Slash procs. While the Phenmor Default is superior in quality-of-life, the KChakkhurr is a much stronger weapon overall.

The MR12 Rubico Prime is a Sniper rather than a normal Semi-Auto RIfle, but I felt was worth including for comparison's sake. The Phenmor Default clearly retains the advantage in inflicting Slash procs, though Hunter Munitions mitigates this. On the other hand, the RubicoP deals several times more Burst DPS, allowing it to brute-force straight through enemies that the Phenmor Default may struggle with.

As with the Laetum, unlocking Evo 5 and particular Devouring Attrition will allow default Phenmor to beat most of these weapons for damage output, with the exception of Snipers like the Rubico Prime. However, there is very little reason to use Default Form if Incarnon is available.

Incarnon form has essentially no decent competitors. Especially once Evo 5 is unlocked, its raw firepower far outclasses just about every other Full-Auto Primary in the game.

Rivens

Another new weapon, the Phenmor starts at minimum 1/5 (0.5) Riven Disposition. It is extremely strong, so I would expect the disposition to remain very low, if not stay at rock bottom.

+Damage/Multishot are your usual good stats, though the former is less strong with Arcanes in the mix. +Crit Chance/Damage is of course fantastic if going for a Crit build. +Elemental Damage can be useful to save a mod slot, shift biases, or add more damage. +Faction Damage can be a strong multiplier particularly of damage-over-time procs like Slash, most useful against the Grineer. +Fire Rate can be a solid DPS increase, but also increases ammo consumption and Incarnon drain rates. +Mag Capacity/Reload Speed can be nice quality-of-life for Default Form, but offer nothing in the way of damage. +Projectile Speed is very nice to have beyond close range. -Recoil can also be good if you struggle with recoil management. +Punch Through is a great help against crowds, though Incarnon form already has 3m innately.

-Impact/Puncture are both great. The former has no negative effect, while the latter is only a small component of Default form's damage, and is a poor damage type and proc anyway. -Crit Chance is ideal for an E5DA build. -Faction Damage to the weaker factions (Corpus and especially Infested) are typically very manageable. -Fire Rate can make Incarnon form a little more controllable, and is easily compensated with any +Fire Rate mod, but of course represents a DPS loss. -Mag Capacity/Reload Speed are minor details if you are skilled at landing the first few necessary headshots, though the latter will slow down form changes. -Ammo Max is a non-issue. +Recoil can be good if you handle recoil well. -Zoom is ideal for close quarters.