Review: Tenet Ferrox (U32.3.3)

The Tenet Ferrox is an MR16 Speargun Primary, added in U32.2. It is a majority, though surprisingly minor, upgrade over the base Ferrox. It sits in an awkward middle-of-the-road spot, being faster firing but weaker than slow, heavy hitting weapons, but also significantly slower than more conventional fast-firing weapons. Besides its unique and rather useful Alt Fire, I find the TFerrox to be primarily a decent single-target weapon, as its AoE is very weak.

Acquisition

Unlike the other ranged Tenet weapons, the Tenet Ferrox must be purchased from Ergo Glast in any Relay for 40 Corrupted Holokeys. I've heard suggestions that this is because DE could not get Sister of Parvos animations working correctly with it, but do not know the source.

Stats

The Tenet Ferrox's base stats are moderately strong on-paper. Its Crit is naturally exceptional at 34%/3x, which combines with its decent base Damage for high damage-per-shot. 26% Status Chance is fairly high as well, though not the most consistent on a relatively slow firing weapon. Majority Puncture damage is not great, with it being a mediocre damage type and poor proc.

Notably, the TFerrox is both Charge-Fire and Full-Auto. It cannot be fired at partial charge. Pulling the trigger will charge and fire a single shot, while holding the trigger will consecutively charge and fire shots until released. This is a great quality-of-life improvement compared to having to pull the trigger for every shot like a Semi-Auto.

With both Charge Time and delay between shots due to Fire Rate factored in, the TFerrox has an effective Fire Rate of around 1.3. Thus results in a great Reload Ratio of 8.55.

Ammo Max of 100 is not huge, but as the TFerrox is relatively ammo efficient, this is not a major issue. Ammo Pickup of 20 is generally good enough if you are not wastefully firing into the void.

Despite appearances, the TFerrox is a hitscan weapon with no projectile speed. It has a small AoE on impact, dealing a little extra damage in a useful 4m radius. It is not very strong even with its lenient 30% Damage Falloff, but is most useful for spreading additional Status procs thanks to its decently high Status Chance.

Unfortunately, the AoE appears to not be affected by Multishot, dealing only a single explosion worth of damage. This isn't the biggest deal since the AoE is much weaker than direct hits, but it is nonetheless unfortunate.

Additionally, the AoE can inflict self-stagger/knockdown if you are too close to it.

Like all the other Spearguns, the TFerrox has a unique Alternate Fire throw attack. This consumes one ammo and forces a reload, dealing a miniscule amount of damage.

What Alt Fire lacks in damage output, it makes up for in utility. It will pull in enemies within 10 metres, dealing tiny amount of damage with procs, lasting for 30 seconds. With the change that you can continue to use Spearguns even while deployed, this can allow you to benefit most from Primary Fire's AoE for maximum overlapping damage.

Note that Alt Fire does not scale at all with Multishot, like all the other Speargun Alt Fires. There can also only be one deployed at any one time.

Augments

None.

Builds

NOTE: These builds are pictured with a maximum 60% Radiation bonus. For a minimum 25% bonus, multiply total damage numbers by 0.78125.

Basic 0-Forma:

With two native V polarities, the Tenet Ferrox can fit a solid build right from the start. Depending on the ranks of your mods and your available elementals, you can fit in all the basics (Damage, Multishot, Crit, Elements) with space for a seventh mod. This pictured build uses Vigilante Armaments, which offers a nice no-fuss increase to Multishot.

Fire Rate 0-Forma:

Alternatively, you can use the seventh mod slot on a +Fire Rate mod, which cuts down both Charge Time as well as delay between shots due to Fire Rate. I've slotted in here Vile Acceleration as the largest +Fire Rate increase available, and its -Damage penalty is negligible alongside any +Damage mods/Arcanes.

Critical Delay is always worth consideration over Point Strike, with even higher Crit Chance at the cost of lower Fire Rate. Alongside a +Fire Rate mod, this penalty is negligible as well.

For elemental setup, the usual suspects are all here. Viral is the best all-rounder as its proc that increases damage to Health is the most universally useful. Corrosive is much stronger against Ferrite-armoured enemies, and deals the most direct damage against most heavy Infested units, particularly the Viral-immune ones on the Cambion Drift. It is also moderately useful against all armour types with its armour-reducing proc, though the TFerrox is not the best weapon for that.

Radiation is very strong against Alloy-armoured enemies, notably used by most armoured Corpus. Magnetic is especially strong against Shields, however there are very few enemies whose Shields are actually tough. Against most shielded, unarmoured targets, a pure Toxin build is often better as Toxin damage and procs bypass most Shields entirely. There are a select few enemies whose Shields cannot be bypassed with Toxin damage, though they are few and far between.

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

Hunter Munitions 2-Forma:

Using two Forma for extra polarities, alongside the extra ranks, gives you plenty of space to fill the eighth mod slot as well, with more options for the seventh.

Hunter Munitions is a prime choice for the eighth mod slot. It offers the TFerrox a very reliable method for inflicting massive Slash procs, offering by far the strongest anti-armour capability available to weapons. Slash procs are massively strengthened by Viral procs.

As a hitscan explosive weapon, the TFerrox has an unusual interaction with Punch Through. No matter how much Punch Through is added, it will always detonate on the first object it hits. The rest of the shot may pass through and damage targets behind it, but will not detonate on any subsequent targets. This makes Punch Through much more useful on the TFerrox than the typical explosive weapon. If looking to add Punch Through, I'd recommend (Primed) Shred for the extra +Fire Rate.

Primed Firestorm can be used to increase Pri Fire's AoE radius, however it is not very large so does not scale very well.

For a straightforward damage increase, Heavy Caliber is stronger than Vigi Armaments, however its Accuracy penalty can be troublesome. Both become obsolete with Galv mods and Arcanes in the mix. The strongest overall damage boost is a (Primed) Bane mod, especially due to their interaction with damage-over-time procs like Slash and Heat. It is most notable against the Grineer (and by extension Corrupted), due to their tough armoured units. However Primed Bane mods are very expensive to max out, and very tedious to switch around. Additionally, they are total overkill for the content that regular players will experience.

Argon Scope, Bladed Rounds, and Proton Jet are all conditional Crit boosting mods (Proton Jet also boosts Status Chance) that can all be worth consideration if you can tolerate their trigger conditions. Hammer Shot is a much weaker boost to Crit Damage and Status Chance, however it is unconditional.

A third elemental mod is also worth consideration, as triple-element combos can offer unique damage coverage and synergies that two-element combos cannot hope to match.

Most notable and general purpose is adding Heat to a Viral or Corrosive build. Heat offers both a degree of armour-reduction as well as a unique stacking damage-over-time proc. Viral + Heat is a strong all-rounder combo, however Viral + HM is still far stronger against most armoured targets. Corrosive + Heat is by far the best anti-Infested combo, hitting almost all of their Health types super-effectively, including on the Cambion Drift. Finally, Radiation + Toxin is a great anti-Corpus all-rounder. Toxin quickly strikes down any unarmoured enemies by ignoring their Shields, while Radiation is super-effective against the most common Corpus armour type, Alloy.

There aren't many good options for the Exilus slot. Pri Fire being hitscan rather than projectile limits the value of Terminal Velocity to just Alt Fire throws. An Ammo Mutation mod like Vigi Supplies or Sniper Ammo Mut completely eliminate any ammo concerns, with the former also marginally increasing damage output. Stabiliser can be used to eliminate any Recoil issues.

Recommended Setups: Viral + HM vs armoured enemies, Corrosive + Heat vs Infested, Radiation + Toxin vs Corpus

Galvanised Build and Arcane

Galv Chamber.

Galv Aptitude can be worth using if focusing on direct-hit damage. The majority of the TFerrox's damage output is in its direct hits, especially as Multishot does not boost its AoE. With decently high Status Chance, Sister bonus and all three physical Damage types, the TFerrox is easily capable of inflicting at least three unique procs on a given target for a strong Galv Aptitude damage bonus.

If you land headshots reliably, Galv Scope can be a strong option alongside or even instead of Point Strike/Crit Delay. With stacks it offers significantly more Crit Chance, and of course the TFerrox has great Crit. The key limitation is actually landing headshot kills to stack it, since it will not count from Slash proc kills. Nonetheless, it is a strong option to consider if that playstyle suits you.

If you have something to reliably spread Cold procs (e.g. Sentinel weapon, Warframe Abilities) and are running Galv Apt, Primary Frostbite is the strongest Arcane choice for pure DPS. However the TFerrox is largely reliant on other equipment for Cold procs to stack up Pri Frostbite, as it does not want to be running Cold itself and is not very good at inflicting large numbers of procs quickly.

Fractalised Reset is not worth running as the TFerrox reloads relatively quickly.

Between Pri Deadhead and Merciless, I actually favour Deadhead for its much quicker stacking and increased headshot damage. While it has the same flaw as Galv Scope, the TFerrox is not very adept at killing large numbers of enemies, so Pri Merciless stacks comparatively slowly and decays very quickly.

My Builds

Pretty standard Viral + HM build. As mentioned previously, Serration is used for maximum AoE damage, and also reduce the necessity for damage ramp-up. Vile Acceleration cuts the Charge Time down significantly and allows easy use of Crit Delay.

Sister of Parvos Bonus

Though the Tenet Ferrox is not actually acquired through Sisters, it still gains the same special base Damage bonus. Both its bonus Damage type and its percent are randomly generated, making it significantly harder to get the bonus you want. This above pictured TFerrox has a Magnetic bonus.

As always, I favour Radiation and Magnetic as they are options that do not interfere with added elemental mods. This allows otherwise impossible elemental combinations and offers an extra multiplier for Galv Aptitude.

For the more traditional min-max Viral + Hunter Munitions build, a Toxin or Cold bonus will reduce the required elemental mods to just one, allowing for another mod to boost Slash proc damage. Between the two, Toxin is usually considered the best option as it can alternatively combine into Corrosive for Infested and Ferrite-armoured bosses.

Combat Use and Summary

The Tenet Ferrox fares best against single targets due to its hit damage-per-shot, low Fire Rate, and limited AoE. It deals very high single target Burst DPS, and is well suited to punching through unarmoured or Status-resistant/immune targets.

Without Hunter Munitions, armoured units can pose a surprisingly tough roadblock. The TFerrox is not adept at naturally inflicting Slash procs due to its low Slash bias, neither is it notable for stacking strong Heat procs. It can reliably inflict a couple of Viral or Corrosive procs if modded for it, but besides that it is primarily relying on brute-force direct damage.

HM gives the TFerrox an avenue to reliably inflict Slash procs, scaling from its very high Crit Chance. Any Slash procs inflicted will be very strong thanks to the TFerrox's high damage-per-shot, and will eat through most armoured enemies with ease. It is also easily capable of inflicting a couple of Viral procs to amplify those Slash procs.

The TFerrox is weakest against large crowds. Its AoE is not very large and does not scale with Multishot, so deals a lot less damage than it otherwise should. Additionally, it is not very fast firing, so struggles to quickly deal with large numbers of enemies, especially if they are not clumped up.

Alternate Fire offers rare and useful utility. Grouping up enemies is highly beneficial for maximising damage from AoE and Melee weapons, as well as many Warframe Abilities. The only other weapon in the game that comes to mind with a grouping ability is the Proboscis Cernos (and of course base Ferrox). While there are several Helminth-able grouping Abilities, using a weapon for it allows you to take a different Ability (e.g. something that offers armour strip) instead. Of course, the trade-off is that you are using a weapon slot for this instead, and the TFerrox's range does not compare to Range-boosted Abilities.

Due to its hitscan nature, the TFerrox can be used effectively at longer ranges, although the short Charge Time can be slightly problematic. Ammo economy should not be an issue with a good build, as the TFerrox does not consume ammo quickly.

Overall, the Tenet Ferrox is a decent weapon. It deals very good on-paper single-target damage, and its innate AoE provides a degree of anti-crowd capability. Its Alt Fire is unique and can be very useful for spreading Status procs and grouping up enemies.

For some reason however, I can never get the TFerrox to work as well as seems like it should on-paper. Taking it even to just a basic Steel Path mission, it feels like it doesn't deal enough damage, both to single targets and with its AoE. I find its Fire Rate too slow and AoE too small and weak to be properly effective against groups, while still being too weak to reliably kill heavier enemies with one or two shots.

Scores

Vs Trash Mobs: 3/5 - With fairly low Fire Rate, the TFerrox is not particularly good against crowds of enemies. A small AoE helps significantly, but it does not scale with Multishot so its damage output is slightly lacking.

Vs Unarmoured Heavies: 5/5 - Very high Burst DPS makes the TFerrox very effective against single unarmoured or Status-resistant/immune enemies.

Vs Armoured Heavies without Forced Slash: 3.5/5 - Limited Status stacking ability and minimal natural Slash proc ability limit the TFerrox's ability to utilise proc stacking against heavily armoured enemies. A couple of Viral/Corrosive + Heat procs weaken such enemies significantly, but it ultimately still needs to brute-force through them with direct damage.

Vs Armoured Heavies with Forced Slash: 4.5/5 - Hunter Munitions triggers regularly from the TFerrox's great Crit Chance, inflicting brutally strong, armour-bypassing Slash procs. These will eat through heavily armoured enemies with ease.

Vs Variants

The MR16 Tenet Ferrox is generally an upgrade over the MR14 base Ferrox. Most notably, its Status Chance is significantly increased, its Fire Rate and Charge Time sped up, and Mag Capacity also increased. Interestingly, the Tenet actually has a lower base Damage, however this is mostly compensated by the Sister Damage bonus, increased Crit, and the Fire Rate increase.

The Tenet also does not have the innate Punch Through that the base Ferrox has, which is a slight detriment given its unusual interaction with Punch Through.

Competitors

There are a few other Primaries that are relatively slow firing with a small AoE. The Opticor Vandal is probably the best direct comparison.

Note that the Opticor Vandal's stats on Charged Shots have twice the base Damage of Uncharged Shots (i.e. 400 for direct hit and 200 for AoE).

Although the OpticorV has the advantage in base Damage, even with the TFerrox having a max 60% Sister bonus, the TFerrox comes out pretty much strictly better. The two deal comparable damage-per-shot with Crit factored in, at which point the TFerrox pulls significantly ahead in DPS due to its faster Charge Time and higher Fire Rate.

The Nataruk is perhaps also worth a mention, with its charge time and AoE-like blast. The stats for it do not line up nicely against the TFerrox in the stat screen unfortunately. In short, while the Nataruk's Fire Rate and base Charge Time (1sec, ~0.7sec for perfect shots) are much slower than the TFerrox, its Charged/Perfect damage-per-shot is around 4x that of the TFerrox. Additionally, Charged/Perfect shots fire a Plasmor-like projectile with innate body Punch Through, offering stronger and more consistent anti-crowd capabilities than the TFerrox's small explosions. On the other hand, I find the TFerrox much more convenient to use, with its higher Fire Rate, short Charge Time, and Full-Auto nature.

Overall, while the TFerrox is easier to use, the Nataruk deals far, far more damage.

Finally, the Kuva Chakkhurr also fires strong single shots with small AoE.

Even with Charge Time factored in, the KChakkhurr is slower firing than the TFerrox (1.1 vs ~1.3). It also has worse Reload Ratio, largely due to its painfully long Reload Time. However, as a result of its higher base Damages and Crit Chance, it deals roughly 50% more damage-per-shot, for overall roughly 20% greater Burst DPS. Additionally, the KChakkhurr has an additional Headshot Damage multiplier to push its damage up even further.

I think the comparison between the KChakkhurr and TFerrox is again a trade-off of usability vs firepower. The KChakkhurr is noticeably stronger, but the TFerrox is a lot more comfortable to use generally due to its slightly higher Fire Rate and much better Reload Ratio.

Rivens

As standard for a new weapon, the Tenet Ferrox starts with a minimum 1/5 (0.5) Riven Disposition. The regular Ferrox is currently sitting at a fairly high 4/5 (1.15). I expect the Tenet's to also increase, probably sitting slightly lower than the base version. Unless it finds a unique niche in some specific meta activity (which seems unlikely thus far), I don't see it being very popular.

+Damage/Multishot/Crit Chance/Crit Damage are the usual nice positives. With Galv mods and Arcanes in the mix, and considering that Multishot doesn't affect explosions, the two Crit stats are the strongest to have. +Elemental Damage can be useful for more raw damage, to save a mod slot, or shift around biases. +Faction Damage can be strong if you intend to go into very, very, very high level content (500+ Steel Path), particularly against the Grineer as they are by far the toughest of the core factions. It is total overkill for the content that most players will experience. +Fire Rate cuts down Charge Time and overall increases Burst DPS quite a bit, of course at the cost of faster ammo consumption. As mentioned previously +Punch Through interacts strangely with the TFerrox, causing shots to detonate on the first object but still passing through. It can be helpful for amplifying group damage.

-Impact is a great negative, with minimal effect on total damage, and its proc is not very strong. -Puncture reduces total damage by much more, however it is still only a mediocre damage type and poor proc. Most notably, reducing Puncture significantly increases the bias and thus chance of proccing other damage types. Finally, while -Slash also has fairly low effect on total damage, it is by far the most desirable of the three physical damage procs. Granted, its bias is already low so it is unlikely to proc naturally, and it is more reliably procced with Hunter Munitions anyway.

-Faction Damage to the weaker Factions (mainly Infested, arguably Corpus) is a non-issue below high levels, manageable with good positive stats, and of course has no effect on other Factions. -Mag Capacity/Reload Speed are not big issues in small amounts because the TFerrox has a fairly good Reload Ratio. Similarly, the TFerrox is relatively ammo-efficient and picks up a lot of rounds-per-drop, so -Ammo Max is not a major detriment either. -Despite appearances, -Projectile Speed has no effect on Primary Fire, only slowing down Alt Fire. +Recoil is a non-issue if you handle recoil well. -Zoom is ideal for close quarters.