Acquisition
Stats
Speaking of, the slow Fire Rate results in a decent Reload Ratio of 2.67, however a Mag Capacity of 4 requires constant reloading, which can be inconvenient. Regardless, the Afentis is not well suited to rapid-fire.
Like the other Spearguns, the Afentis has an innate reload-while-holstered effect, reloading 33% of its Magazine per-second.
When wielded by Styanax, the Afentis gains an additional +4 Ammo Max. This is a significant increase over its measly 12 base Ammo Pool. It replenishes just 4 ammo per pickup, and so can be rendered useless extremely quickly if you are not careful.
The Afentis Primary Fire launches projectiles that embed into the first enemy or object they hit. They detonate after 0.8 seconds, dealing huge damage in a small radius. 0.8 seconds in Warframe is quite a long time. At high levels, that is more than enough time for enemies to kill more vulnerable Warframes, and typical meta weapons have already killed most enemies long before that time is up. I have expressed my distaste for delayed-explosion projectiles many times in the past, and that sentiment remains here as well.
Naturally, this explosion can inflict self-stagger/knockdown if you are too close.
Enemies directly hit by Primary Fire also get ragdolled, disabling them for a short time but also making it much harder to land precise follow-up shots.
As with all other Spearguns, the Afentis itself can be thrown as a projectile by pressing Alternate Fire. This consumes 1 ammo and does not benefit from Multishot. As such, even with its exceptional Crit, its damage output and usability as an attack do not really compare to Primary Fire. It also immediately forces a reload even if the magazine still has rounds in it.
If the thrown Afentis strikes an enemy, it will drag them along and pin them to the first solid surface that it impacts. This immobilises and disables the victim for up to 20 seconds.
These buffs affect all ranged weapons, including Secondaries and deployed Archguns, as well as the Afentis itself. (As part of the Speargun changes, Spearguns can now be used as a weapon even while deployed)
Additionally, if you achieve any kills while inside the Afentis' buff field, the Ballistarii Might buff will remain for 40 seconds upon leaving the Afentis field.
Augments
None.
Builds
Basic 0-Forma:
The Afentis has several native polarities, two V and one -. This easily allows a basic build to fit in, and minimises necessary Forma investment even if you do want to max it out. The standard core mods of Damage/Multishot/Crit/Elementals all comfortably fit, and there is space to adjust for preferences and available mods.
Depending on your available mods and their ranks, you can also look at installing a seventh mod. In the pictured example, I've slotted in Vigilante Armaments for some no-fuss extra Multishot. It becomes largely obsolete once Galv mods are acquired, and has no effect on Alt Fire.
For a typical two-elemental setup, Viral is the usual all-rounder. Its damage multipliers are nice against some targets, however its proc is nearly universally useful, only being resisted by a select few enemies and not affecting Shields. Corrosive offers much higher direct damage against Ferrite-armoured enemies and most heavier Infested enemies, as well as its proc greatly reducing armour. It is also by far the best damage type on the Cambion Drift, where many of the heavier Infested are immune to Viral procs.
Radiation deals strong direct damage against Alloy-armoured enemies, which is notably used by most armoured Corpus units. Alternatively, against unarmoured Corpus units, Toxin is extremely effective as it bypasses their Shields entirely. For the most part, enemy Shields are not as tough as armoured enemies, so are rarely worth building for specifically. However, there are a select few enemies whose Shields can be legitimately tough and can't be bypassed using Toxin (e.g. Treasurers, Kyta Raknoids); for those such enemies, Magnetic is the obvious setup as it is essentially Viral for Shields.
With the extra mod space, you could also consider a third elemental mod. Heat is a great single element to have, as it offers an armour reducing proc as well as strong stacking damage-over-time. It combines extremely well with both Viral and Corrosive as it benefits greatly from those procs. In the same vein, an anti-Shield Magnetic build can be augmented with Heat or Toxin, which will deal greatly increased damage against Shields with Magnetic procs stacked up. Radiation and Toxin can be fit into the same build to cover the vast majority of Corpus health and armour types super effectively.
It is worth noting that the Afentis is very poor at actually stacking up procs. Though its Status Chance is respectable, its Fire Rate is extremely low and its small AoE is not well suited to spreading procs in crowds. Nonetheless, all of the usual elemental candidates remain relevant as they are either impactful even with a low number of procs, or have strong multipliers worth taking advantage of (or both).
If you want a pure anti-crowd build, you could consider modding on Gas and/or Electric. They offer AoE-damaging procs, which scaling from the Afentis' very high damage-per-shot can be surprisingly effective against weak enemies. However, their multipliers are quite poor and often even ineffective against many of the tougher enemies in the game. Additionally, the Afentis' aforementioned issue with reliably inflicting procs can make a Gas + Electric build rather inconsistent at actually working. I personally wouldn't bother, there are much better ways to deal good AoE damage.
Recommended Setups: Viral (+ Heat) vs everything, Corrosive (+ Heat) vs Ferrite-armour, Infested, Radiation + Toxin vs Corpus, Magnetic (+ Toxin/Heat) vs strong Shields
Hunter Munitions 1-Forma:
One added V polarity allows potential installation of an eighth mod, depending on which mods you want to use. The previously mentioned Vigilante Armaments remains a decent early option for the slot, as are extra elemental mods.
Hunter Munitions is a notable mention. It gives all of the Afentis' damage instances a solid chance of inflicting Slash procs, since all of them have quite high Crit Chance. With quite high base Damage on both firing modes, any Slash procs it inflicts will be quite powerful. This setup is by far the best scaling build against heavily armoured enemies. However, its very low Fire Rate can make it frustratingly inconsistent.
There are a number of other decent mods consider as well, if the above options are not suitable.
Before Galv mods and Arcanes, Heavy Caliber can be used instead of Vigilante Armaments for a larger increase to damage output. A (Primed) Bane is a very strong effect, and remains a relevant mod even with Galv mods and Arcanes installed. Bladed Round/Argon Scope/Proton Jet are conditional Crit mods that offer reasonable extra damage.
Especially if running Critical Delay, you could consider running a +Fire Rate mod like Vile Acceleration. Such a mod offers a significant boost to Burst DPS, though with such small Mag Capacity, offers less benefit than on most weapons.
(Primed) Fast Hands and (Primed) Magazine Warp can offer some nice quality-of-life improvements, increasing Reload Speed and Mag Capacity respectively. The +Reload Speed in particular is very beneficial if you regularly use Alt Fire.
(Primed) Firestorm can be used to increase the Afentis' explosive AoE, however even with the Primed version installed I was not impressed by its coverage.
For the Exilus slot, there are several options to consider. An Ammo Mutation mod would be a very good option for mitigating ammo concerns. As of writing, the only Ammo Mutation mod Afentis can equip is Vigilante Supplies, and oddly enough it doesn't even work properly. I am assuming this is merely a bug that will hopefully be patched in the future. Ammo Drum can also be used to mitigate ammo issues, though stacks additively with Ballistarii Might so is notably less valuable.
If ammo is not a concern, Terminal Velocity is a good option to significantly increase Projectile Speed. This can make combat especially outside of close range much more comfortable. Cautious Shot can be used to mitigate self-stagger from the delayed explosions.
Galvanised Build and Arcane:
Galv Chamber is a no-brainer for Primary Fire, but does nothing for Alt Fire.
Galv Apt is not a good choice as the vast majority of the Primary Fire damage is in its delayed explosion, to which Galv Apt does not apply its +Damage bonus.
Galv Scope can be used to drastically increase Crit Chance, but requires very good aiming to decently benefit from. It requires reliably landing headshots, which isn't the easiest as the Afentis is a projectile weapon. Additionally, headshots are less beneficial to the Afentis than most weapons because most of its damage is in AoE, which does not gain the regular headshot multiplier. Despite this, it seems that explosions can trigger "on headshot" and "on headshot kill" conditions when aimed correctly.
Another consideration to take into account is that Galv Scope will not stack from kills by damage-over-time procs, mainly Slash from HM. This can be problematic as HM is by far the best way for the Afentis to deal with heavy armour. Nonetheless, if your goal is maximum Crit and your skills and playstyle suit it, Galv Scope is a decent mod option.
Fractalised Reset probably isn't worth taking as it offers no damage boost, and the Afentis can significantly improve its own Reload Time with Ballistarii Might.
The choice between Primary Merciless and Deadhead is primarily down to personal preference. Merciless stacks from any kill, and its +Reload Speed can be useful. Deadhead offers higher peak damage with its headshot multiplier increase (which seems to work on explosions), and stacks faster if you can land the requisite headshot kills.
My Builds
Combat Use and Summary
The Afentis is peculiarly poor as a weapon, and is surprisingly unimpressive against most enemy types. Though it has a strong explosive AoE, that AoE is quite small, only detonates after a significant delay, and the Afentis is very slow-firing. Individual shots upon detonation will easily kill most weak enemies nearby, but their reach is quite poor and follow-up shots are quite slow.
The Afentis particularly suffers from the recent change to the headshot multiplier, which was increased from 2x to 3x, but explosive attacks do not benefit. The vast majority of the Afentis' damage is loaded into its explosion, thus putting it well behind many comparable weapons for dealing single-target damage. This is particularly a problem against unarmoured and Status-resistant/immune enemies. High Crit helps a little, but many of its competitors also have that.
Additionally, the Afentis' Primary Fire ragdolls its target, making it significantly harder to land price follow-up shots. This is yet another issue that limits the Afentis' DPS potential.
The Afentis also fares very poorly natively against armoured enemies. It has very low Slash bias, and its low Fire Rate means it also does not stack of Viral/Corrosive + Heat procs quickly or reliably. Any attempts to simply brute-force through armoured enemies with pure direct damage drop off drastically at higher levels.
Hunter Munitions is the Afentis' saving grace, at least against armour. With high Crit Chance, it can use HM to inflict Slash procs with both its direct hit and its much stronger explosion. Though somewhat inconsistent due to very low Fire Rate, any Slash procs the explosion in particular inflicts will be quite strong. The armour-bypassing Slash procs from HM are by far the Afentis' best method of dealing with heavily armoured, Status-vulnerable enemies.
Ammo can be a significant concern, especially if you are unable to take advantage of Ballistarii Might. The Afentis has a base Ammo Max pool of just 12 rounds, which given its relative lack of AoE and overall killing power, can be wasted very quickly. At least one of Ammo Case/Mutation/etc is strongly recommended.
Ballistarii Might is an unusual buff effect that can offer a lot to specific weapons in the current state of the game. The recent Ammo rework significantly reduced Ammo Max as well as ammo recovery notably for many strong AoE weapons. There are many weapons which would appreciate Fire Rate and Reload Speed increases, but struggle to justify fitting those respective mods as they often need the mods for damage output. A number of weapons also have significant Recoil, which can be quite detrimental to their performance, especially if you are not skilled at handling recoil. The Afentis' buff field can mitigate all of these issues with its various effects.
Unfortunately, being a Primary weapon, the Afentis cannot be used to buff your own other Primaries that suffer from these issues - however other players' Primaries can of course benefit. As such, if you personally prefer using non-Primary weapons but regularly play with others who use weapons that would benefit from Ballistarii Might, the Afentis may be a good Primary for you to use.
Overall, the Afentis is a strange weapon. It is not especially strong as a weapon in its own right, however its unique buff field when thrown can offer some great bonuses to certain weapons. I'd view it primarily as a utility tool that also happens to shoot. If wacky and synergistic weapons are your style, I'd definitely recommend looking at the Afentis and what weapons you can pair with it. If you're after just a normal weapon for killing enemies though, I'd recommend looking elsewhere.
Scores
Vs Trash Mobs: 2/5 - Though the Afentis has a strong explosion, it has a small radius, detonates after a significant delay, and is quite slow firing. Ballistarii Might helps a little, but not enough.
Vs Unarmoured Heavies: 3.5/5 - The Afentis deals some very good on-paper Burst DPS. However, this is limited by the majority of its damage being in its explosion, which does not benefit from the default (and newly buffed) headshot multiplier. As such, its single-target damage can be exceeded by many weapons which on-paper may not seem as strong.
The MR7 Javlok is closer to the Scourge (Prime) than the Afentis. It is a lot faster firing, giving it somewhat comparable Burst DPS once headshots are taken into account. It also has superior Status capabilities and notably deals innate Heat. Once again, the Javlok also has a much more comfortable ammo situation, though its high Fire Rate results in very frequent reloading.
Vs Armoured Heavies without Forced Slash: 1/5 - Incredibly slow firing with limited Status capability, the Afentis is quite poor against heavily armoured targets. It can only naturally proc Slash on direct hits, which are much weaker and very unlikely anyway. Viral/Corrosive take a long time to stack up with such slow Fire Rate.
Vs Armoured Heavies with Forced Slash: 3.5/5 - Hunter Munitions and the Afentis' great Crit Chance allows both direct hits and explosions to inflict strong Slash procs. It can be a little inconsistent with doing so due to low Fire Rate, and also struggles to stack Viral procs to back them up.
Vs Variants
None.
Competitors
There are only three other Speargun families in the game currently - the MR14 Ferrox, MR7 Javlok, and MR14 Scourge Prime (and its base version). The ScourgeP is a Status-focused weapon so serves an entirely different purpose to the MR 8Afentis, and will not be covered here.
The MR14 Ferrox is quite a strong single-target weapon, with exceptional Crit and high direct-hit base Damage. Though its total base Damage is a lot lower than the Afentis, if you manage to land headshots reliably the 3x headshot multiplier comes in to play for direct hits, bringing their base Damages to about even. From there, the Ferrox's far superior Crit and Fire Rate give it much, much better single-target DPS, even with the Charge Time. Additionally, the Ferrox's supplementary stats are far superior - much higher Ammo Max, larger Mag Capacity, and higher Fire Rate (even taking into account the Charge Time).
On the other hand, the Afentis' explosive attack, though delayed, is much stronger than the Ferrox's. This can give it better capabilities against groups, though even then the Ferrox has a small AoE, higher Fire Rate, and innate Punch-Through.
The throw attack of the two weapons is entirely different. The Afentis is primarily a weapon buffing tool, while the Ferrox is an enemy grouping tool. Both are useful in their own way.
As weapons, I'd consider the Ferrox generally superior. It is much stronger against single targets provided you land headshots reasonably well, is not notably worse against groups, and has much better quality-of-life stats.
This time around, the Javlok throw attack is intended to be an actual attack. It deals reasonable damage in a notably large 6m radius explosion, far superior AoE to what the Afentis offers.
Once again, I actually prefer the Javlok as a weapon. Its much higher Fire Rate and immediate detonations rather than delayed make it a lot more comfortable to use, even if each individual shot is a lot less impactful.
Taking a look more generally at other Primaries with small AoE, it's not a fun time. There are other weapons like the Kuva Chakkhurr, which is also slow-firing but deals immensely more damage on headshots; the Nataruk, which is faster firing and also far more powerful; and the Opticor Vandal and Trumna which are faster firing and deal much higher DPS on headshots. The Afentis really struggles to distinguish itself as an effective weapon.
Rivens
As usual for a new weapon, the Afentis starts with a minimum 1/5 (0.5) Riven Disposition. I expect it to shoot up quickly, and probably settle around the above-average 4/5 (1.2-1.3) range. It is not notably strong as a weapon, and though it offers a useful and unique buff field, that requires specific playstyles and supplementary weapons to make the most of, as well as filling your Primary slot.
+Damage/Multishot/Crit Chance/Crit Damage are the usual positive suspects. The former two are a lot less valuable with Arcanes and Galv mods in the mix. +Elemental Damage can be useful to save a mod slot or add more damage. +Faction Damage is a strong extra multiplier, especially of damage-over-time procs. It is typically most useful against the Grineer, as they are the overall toughest thanks to their immense armour. +Fire Rate can be useful to counteract the penalty of Critical Delay, but otherwise I don't think the Afentis scales very well with +Fire Rate. +Mag Capacity/Reload Speed can be nice quality-of-life, the latter especially so if you intend to be deploying the Afentis for Ballistarii Might. +Ammo Max is quite helpful as the Afentis has a tiny Ammo Max pool. +Projectile Speed is useful beyond close range.
-Impact/Puncture/Slash all have their place. Impact is a small component of Primary Fire's base Damage and is a pretty underwhelming damage type and proc, though it is a much larger component of Alt Fire's base Damage. Puncture is the majority of Primary Fire's direct hit damage, however this pales in comparison to its explosion anyway, is a smaller component of Alt Fire's base Damage, and again is a mediocre damage type and poor proc. Oddly enough, -Slash is probably the best option of the three. Slash is the most useful proc, however it is a near-negligible component of both firing modes, so it is highly unlikely to proc naturally anyway. The best way to get Slash procs is simply installing Hunter Munitions, which does not care about base Slash damage.
-Faction Damage to the weaker factions (somewhat Corpus and especially Infested) can be manageable with strong positives, and has no effect on other factions. +Recoil can be good if you handle recoil well. -Zoom is ideal for close quarters.
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