Acquisition
Stats
The HystrixP has a fairly small Mag Capacity of 16, which with a Fire Rate of 7 and Reload Time of 1.6 results in a poor Reload Ratio of 1.43. It will spend a lot of time reloading which can be frustrating.
The Hystrix family has a unique feature, where it can select one of the four base Elements (Cold, Electric, Heat, Toxin). Every shot is guaranteed to inflict a proc of that time, alongside whatever natural procs it inflicts. They do not combine with any modded-on elements either, allowing a wide range of usually-impossible and very strong combos. Note that this is only procs, the quills do not deal any direct elemental damage by default, which unfortunately means this feature is useless for Profit Taker. The Hystrix family switches element by pressing Alternate Fire.
Note that the HystrixP fires quills, which have travel time and projectile drop.
Just one added V allows you to fit both Primed Crit mods alongside the other usual suspects.
Another added V polarity allows you to look at some eighth mod options.
The Hystrix (Prime) has an 8% chance upon landing a headshot to instantly reload when used by Khora (Prime)., as it is one of her signature weapons.
Augments
None.
Builds
NOTE: As of writing, overframe.gg does not currently have the Hystrix Prime so I have created one in warframe.builder's custom Secondary option.
Basic 0-Forma:
Two native V polarities give the Hystrix Prime a good amount of mod space to play with. This above basic Crit build fits comfortably, and already deals quite a lot of damage.
Primed Crit 0-Forma:
If you have the Primed Crit mods, you can look to fit them in, although you cannot do both alongside Lethal Torrent if all your mods are at max Rank. However, losing Lethal Torrent may not be the biggest deal - its +Fire Rate further worsens the already bad Reload Ratio and empties the default mag very quickly. Especially once you get Galvanised Chamber in the mix later on, Lethal Torrent's damage-per-shot impact is not actually that big.
Creeping Bullseye is worth using over regular Pistol Gambit, and even could be considered over Primed Pistol Gambit. It offers a major Crit Chance increase over the normal version, and the Fire Rate penalty is not a big deal alongside Lethal Torrent, especially for the HystrixP.
In any build using Cold, I'd recommend considering Chilling Reload. While the loss of Damage and Status Chance is lamentable, the increased Mag Capacity notably improves the HystrixP's poor Reload Ratio.
For elemental setup, Viral is the obvious go-to. It is useful against most targets, and combines very well with all the elemental quills. Heat quills are decent against just about everything, particularly heavily armoured enemies. Toxin quills completely obliterate any unarmoured Corpus. Electric quills add a degree of AoE that is enhanced by Viral, and Cold procs can be useful to slow down key targets. Adding Heat via mods provides notable extra damage and stacks even more Heat procs, though of course its value is relatively less here than it would be on most weapons.
Corrosive is a little stronger against pure armour, especially Ferrite-armoured enemies. It also deals the best direct damage to most heavy Infested, especially the Viral-proc-immune ones on the Cambion Drift. Once again, adding in Heat procs either via Heat quills or mods is fantastic, however the other quills are not as useful given what Corrosive primarily targets.
For direct damage against Alloy-armour, you could use Radiation with Heat quills, though unless the target is Status-resistant/immune, you are better off with Viral or Corrosive. If really tough Shields that can't be bypassed by Toxin are giving you trouble, Magnetic is strong against them. Any of the quills besides Cold can do some strong damage-over-time as well.
Recommended Setups: Viral (+ Heat or Electric) vs everything, Corrosive (+ Heat) vs Ferrite-armour, Infested, Radiation (+ Cold or Toxin) vs Alloy-armour, Magnetic (+ Heat or Toxin) vs strong Shields
Primed Crit 1-Forma:
Recommended Setups: see above.
General Purpose 2-Forma:
As usual, I favour Seeker for the Punch Through, giving the HystrixP some sorely lacking anti-crowd capability. (Primed) Quickdraw is a great option to improve Reload Ratio, which is one of its notable weaknesses. (Primed) Slip Magazine has a similar, if relatively weaker, impact.
Magnum Force and Augur Pact offer decent damage boosts, though both quickly become obsolete with Galv Shot in the mix. A (Primed) Expel, though more fiddly and rather expensive to max, is a far stronger and better scaling option. In particular, the HystrixP's plethora of damage-over-time procs are drastically strengthened by +Faction Damage, most useful against the Grineer since they are generally the toughest. Hydraulic Crosshairs/Sharpened Bullets are worth considering if you want conditional Crit boosts.
For the Exilus slot, there are two main options I'd look at. The HystrixP can go through ammo relatively fast, so (Primed) Ammo Mutation is worth a look. Otherwise, Lethal Momentum is also great for its +Projectile Speed, significantly improving longer ranged combat.
Recommended Setups: see above.
Since warframe.builder does not currently do Galv mods or Arcanes properly, I've used a Riven to simulate Galv Shot with 5 procs, Merciless fully stacked, and all the stacks from Galv Diffusion.
The Hystrix Prime's forced elemental procs give it very strong capabilities against heavy, Status-vulnerable enemies. Specifically, it can use Heat quills to rapidly stack up enormous Heat procs, dealing great damage to heavily armoured enemies. This can of course be augmented greatly by modding on Viral or Corrosive. Other heavy, Status-vulnerable targets are also well suited for the HystrixP to take on, as they can survive long enough for its forced procs to build up and take full effect.
Galvanised Build and Arcane
Galv Diffusion of course.
Galv Shot is naturally a fantastic option. The HystrixP's solid Status Chance essentially guarantees at least two or three procs - Puncture plus whatever elements are modded on, with a low chance of Impact and Slash. With the forced single element procs from its special feature and a little micromanagement, the HystrixP alone can inflict 6 or more unique procs, for an enormous damage multiplier that vastly outclasses Hornet Strike.
Galv Crosshairs can offer a significant damage boost, though also can be troublesome to stack. It requires headshot kills, which do not trigger if enemy dies to damage-over-time procs - even if the inflicting hit was a headshot. Given the HystrixP inflicts procs with every single shot, this can make headshot kills irritatingly inconsistent.
For Arcane choice, once you have Galv Shot installed, the +Crit Casc Accuracy/Overcharge are clearly superior options if they suit your playstyle. Otherwise, Casc Flare offers more damage than the other +Damage Arcanes, and can be stacked effortlessly with Heat quills.
Between Merciless and Deadhead, I'd strongly favour the former. As mentioned for Galv Crosshairs, kills cannot count as headshot kills if the final hit is from a damage-over-time proc. Additionally, the +Reload Speed is highly beneficial and the +Ammo Max is appreciated.
Fairly standard Viral build with Punch Through.
My Builds
Combat Use and Summary
The HystrixP naturally doesn't like going up against Status-resistant/immune enemies, since its special feature is entirely around inflicting Status procs. Its Crit gives reasonable direct damage, but it is a far cry from many of its competitors without the strength of its damage-over-time procs.
The HystrixP also does not like large groups of enemies. It can kill individual weak enemies with ease, but its poor Reload Ratio means it spends as much time actually shooting as it does reloading. With no AoE to speak of, it does not tackle groups particularly well.
The ability to switch the forced single element procs on-the-fly can be very strong. Each proc has its own niche use, though naturally some are stronger than others. Heat is the best all-rounder, inflicting partial armour reduction and the best infinite-stacking damage-over-time proc. Toxin is exceptionally effective against Corpus, bypassing most of their Shields and tearing through any unit that isn't armoured, especially when the HystrixP is modded for Viral. Cold can be very useful for slowing down high-priority targets, such as the Demolishers in Disruption. Electric's damage type may be quite poor, but its proc can still offer some highly valuable AoE that the HystrixP otherwise lacks. On neutral health types like Overguard and Shields, it actually offers more short-term damage than Heat, which is a neat niche.
Of course, this is all reliant on enemies being fully vulnerable to stacking Status procs. Some enemies, usually bosses, have a proc cap (typically 4 procs per type, instead of for example 10 for Viral or infinite for Heat) that greatly reduces the value of these forced procs, which are generally quite weak individually. Enemies who are entirely Status-immune naturally don't care at all.
Being a projectile weapon, the HystrixP is not particularly good at range. Though it does not suffer from Damage Fall-Off, it can still be difficult landing shots on enemies at longer range. Additionally, its pellet spread seems to be fairly wide outside of close range, greatly reducing concentrated firepower.
Overall, the Hystrix Prime is a solid, unique hybrid weapon. It deals reasonable direct damage backed up by solid natural Status output, as well as its forced single elemental procs. The ability to switch these procs on-the-fly gives it great versatility, and allows a number of combos that are impossible for most weapons. However, its Reload Ratio is notably poor and it has no AoE to speak of. If you're looking for a simple, general-purpose do-everything Secondary though, I'd recommend looking elsewhere.
Scores
Vs Trash Mobs: 2/5 - Poor Reload Ratio and no innate AoE makes the Hystrix Prime quite ineffective against large groups of weak enemies. It can kill individual enemies with ease, but has to engage each one individually and spends a lot of time reloading. Electric quills can help a little, but do very poor damage against most enemy types.
Vs Unarmoured Heavies: 4/5 - Great Crit gives the HystrixP reasonable direct damage, however it pales in comparison to many of its Secondary brethren. It also loses a lot of power if the enemy is Status-resistant/immune.
Vs Armoured Heavies without Forced Slash: 4.5/5 - Heat quills inflicting forced Heat procs with every single hit is incredibly strong against heavy armour, only being outclassed by reliable Slash procs (and even higher quantities of stronger Heat procs). The HystrixP also effortlessly stacks Viral or Corrosive procs for maximum effect.
The MR12 Hystrix Prime is a strict upgrade over the MR7 Hystrix. By far the most impactful is its doubled Status Chance, allowing it to reliably inflict physical procs as well as whatever is modded on.
Vs Armoured Heavies with Forced Slash: NA/5 - the Hystrix Prime does not inflict anywhere near enough Impact procs to even consider Hemorrhage.
Vs Variants
The base Hystrix actually has slightly differing base Damage depending on element type, while the Prime has the same base Damage across the board.
This is just a selection of weapons which I thought offered useful comparison points. The Tenet Diplos, Athodai Primary Fire and Akbolto Prime trade Status capabilities for higher Crit and overall DPS. The Kuva Twin Stubbas and Akjagara Prime go the other way with really good Status, notably Slash, in exchange for worse Crit. Finally, the Pandero Prime is a lot slower firing, but compensates with even stronger per-shot stats, notably decent Slash bias.
The MR12 Akvasto Prime is actually relatively comparable, with most of its stats bar base Damage being quite close to the HystrixP. Most notable, the AkvastoP has majority Slash damage, where the HystrixP is mostly Puncture. It performs much better against heavily armoured enemies due to its far more frequent Slash procs, however the HystrixP offers more versatility with its switchable elemental procs.
The MR14 Magnus Prime is also quite strong, again trading a bit of Fire Rate for much stronger per-shot stats. While its Slash bias isn't great by any means, it is significantly better than the HystrixP. Additionally, its low chance on hit/damage tick to have temporary infinite ammo gives it an unreliable way of having a significantly better Reload Ratio. Once again, the HystrixP offers much better single element Status ability.
Competitors
The Hystrix Prime is quite an unusual weapon, with its stats sitting in between typical fast-firing, high capacity Full-Autos and slower firing, harder hitting Semi-Autos. There are a lot of weapons that are somewhat similar, but few that serve a similar role, particularly with its unique Status capabilities.
Overall, while the HystrixP faces immense competition for direct damage and cannot reliably inflict Slash procs, its exceptional elemental proc capability is only challenged by dedicated Status weapons. Additionally, no other weapon has its elemental versatility, which is a solid advantage.
Rivens
As standard for a new weapon, the Hystrix Prime starts with a minimum 1/5 (0.5) Riven Disposition. The base Hystrix has a fairly high 4/5 (1.20) Disposition. I would expect the Prime's to increase a decent amount, perhaps up to an average 3/5 (1) Disposition. While the HystrixP is decently strong against single targets and a lot better than base, it has no AoE to speak of which is the current meta.
+Damage is nice before you get Galv mods and Arcanes, but significantly less useful particularly with Galv Shot installed. The same can be said for +Multishot and Galv Chamber, though to a lesser degree. +Crit Chance is great if not running Galv Crosshairs or Casc Accuracy/Overcharge. +Crit Damage is the best of the four, as it has the fewest and weakest mod/Arcane sources. +Elemental Damage can be useful to save a mod slot. +Faction Damage is notable for drastically increasing the damage of damage-over-time procs like Heat and Slash against the appropriate target. It is most notable against the Grineer, who are by far the toughest of the three core factions. +Mag Capacity/Reload Speed are very nice quality-of-life improvements to reduce time spent reloading. +Projectile Speed can be beneficial at longer ranges. +Punch Through is helpful against crowds.
All of -Impact/Puncture/Slash are worth considering. Impact is a poor damage type and proc, and is only a small component of base Damage. Slash procs are far more useful, but the Slash damage is still only a small component of base Damage so losing it is not significant. Finally, while -Puncture will reduce Damage more noticeably, reducing it opens the way for more frequent other procs, and neither Puncture damage nor procs are much good anyway. -Faction Damage to the weaker factions (somewhat Corpus, especially Infested) can be manageable and of course has no effect on other factions. -Fire Rate can save ammo and reduce reload frequency, but of course is also a DPS loss. -Ammo Max is a non-issue with one of Ammo Case/Mutation/etc. +Recoil is fine if you handle recoil well. -Zoom is ideal for close quarters.
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