Highlights

• Shotguns remain top-tier weapons in Warframe, with options like Kuva Kohm and Corinth Prime offering high damage and unique features.
• The game continues to introduce powerful weapons like Exergis and Tenet Arca Plasmor for players seeking high damage and versatility.
• Combining shotguns with secondary weapons like Epitaph or Catchmoon can maximize damage output and complement playstyles for effective combat.

Warframe is a space opera video game set in the farthest future imaginable for the solar system. Thus, it's not surprising anymore to see laser weapons or exoskeletons that are too impossible for contemporary engineering comprehension. Yet, a lot of players keep coming back to the good old-fashioned boomsticks in the game: shotguns.

Some of the most powerful weapons in Warframe consist of a healthy selection of these futuristic blunderbusses. Turns out shotguns are still superweapons in their own right as they occupy the top tiers of weapon rosters in the game. Make sure to sate Ordis' closeted bloodlust by using these shotguns to vaporize the usual Tenno enemies.

Updated on April 6, 2024, by Rhenn Taguiam: While July 2024’s TennoCon is poised to bring more surprises to fans and newcomers to the Warframe experience, players eager to get a taste of Warframe’s future can enjoy the Dante Unbound update to try the game’s newest Players who want to devastate clusters of opponents up close may want to consider using some support-leaning Frame, Dante. Players who want to maximize Dante’s buffing and debuff kit might want to do so close to both his allies and enemies, which means using the game’s deadliest shotguns. Among recommended shotguns for players to use include firearms that mesh well with a Warframe’s loot-gathering capabilities and another Warframe’s support capabilities, a pair of burst-damage specialists, and a shotgun that packs a deadlier punch with an Incarnon Form which fully converts the shotgun into another weapon.

25 Kuva Kohm

Primary Fire Damage: 20

Don't be fooled by the apparent low damage output per pellet. The Kuva Kohm, like its regular Kohm cousin, is one of the best automatic shotguns in the game. Not only does it fire in automatic mode but each succeeding shell fired also adds an additional bolt.

This ramps up Kuva Kohm's damage exponentially. Coupled with the incredibly high and effortless Status Chance, most enemies standing in front of the Kuva Kohm are subject to disappear within a couple of seconds of introduction to millions of shotgun pellets.

Kuva Kohm Secondary: Use The Pox

While the Kuva Kohm boasts its Kohm counterpart of dealing primarily Slash damage, its extra component of applying a Status based on the Warframe equipped can make it an extremely adaptable weapon. Using Nezha Prime alongside Pox could give the Kuva Kohm the ability to deal massive Heat Damage, on top of the Pox synergizing with Heat as its bullets explode more efficiently when making contact with surfaces. In turn, the Kuva Kohm-Pox combo could proc Corrosive to get through enemy armor quickly, making them extremely vulnerable.

24 Convectrix

Primary Fire Damage: 24

Unlike traditional shotguns, the Convectrix as a weapon touts two barrels that shoot converging beams, hence the name. When hit, enemies are seemingly sliced into pieces. Translated into Warframe gameplay, the Convectrix is a Slash-damage shotgun that is always multi-hitting with two beams at a time. It also possesses an alternate fire where the beams are spread outwards instead, sweeping back and forth to hit enemies.

The Convectrix’s speed is tied with Phantasma and Phage with the shotguns that possess the fastest fire rates. Despite its middling damage, players looking for a speedy companion in close-range shootouts can’t go wrong with the Convectrix.

Convectrix Secondary: Use The Twin Kohmak

The Convectrix being a Slash-heavy Shotgun with a high-status chance means it functions best with Mods that increase both Slash proc and Slash Damage for maximum DPS. In turn, the Convectrix works well with the Twin Kohmak (Dual Shotguns), boasting the largest mag size among all Shotgun Secondaries with a decent firing rate and Slash Damage. When equipped with the Twin Kohmak Hexadra Mod, this weapon enjoys a much higher firing rate and status chance, allowing a Convectrix-Kohmak combo to tear through enemy armor much faster.

23 Kohm

Primary Fire Damage: 30

The circular and tubular motif of the Kohm matches its Grineer origin, matching the faction’s penchant for aggression with its unique design. Unlike other shotgun weapons that can be used by some of the game’s best Warframes, the Kohm has a hold-trigger function. At its core, this means a shot can contain up to 12 pellets depending on how long players hold the trigger. However, the more pellets the Kohm releases, the faster its firing rate goes and the more ammo is consumed.

Unlike other shotguns, the Kohm has an innate multi-shot feature that increases in number depending on the pellets released. When used as a primary weapon, it has quite a decent magazine and maximum ammo on top of above-average stats.

Kohm Secondary: Use The Kohmak

The Kohm’s held-trigger functionality allows players to capitalize on maximizing pellets on charges, potentially devastating enemies at the risk of a rather ammo-hungry weapon. Should players be able to circumvent this with a Shotgun Ammo Mutation, a recommended Secondary Weapon could be the Kohmak. Essentially a mini-Kohm, the Kohmak doesn’t pack as much visual punch but packs the same damage (30), all the while consuming less Shotgun Ammo in the long term. While its Status Chance is much lower, being able to alternate Shotguns should give newcomers leeway to push enemies away and consistently proc effects.

22 Fulmin

Primary Fire Damage: 33

Can't decide between a rifle and a shotgun? Then the Fulmin is the best option. It's Wisp's canon shotgun of choice whose secondary fire mode transforms it into a rifle with hit-scan projectiles. Granted, the rifle mode actually feels a bit weaker.

Players mostly use the Fulmin for its powerful and CRIT-oriented shotgun mode. It also helps a lot that players who use the Fulmin don't have to worry about ammo since the gun replenishes and recharges its own ammo pool.

Fulmin Secondary: Use The Epitaph

The Fulmin’s Electricity pulses and guaranteed Slash procs make both its semi-auto and full-auto setups much deadlier with effects that grant more Critical Chance/Multipliers, more frequent Slash procs (Internal Bleeding, Hunter Munitions), and pure damage boosts (Heavy Caliber). The proc-based nature of the Fulmin makes the Epitaph (Pistol) a decent Secondary Weapon, especially since its heavy Slash, Impact, Blast, and even Cold procs can capitalize on Status-heavy Mods to aid the Fulmin’s overall damage.

21 Phage

Primary Fire Damage: 35

The shimmering pink that lined the silver body of the Phage does little to hide the signs of its nature as an Infested weapon. Unlike other shotguns in a player’s Warframe gameplay, the Phage is characterized by a swirling body that leads into a sizeable mouth-like opening. When fired, the Phage unleashes seven Viral beams that hit a spread, making it a decent weapon against groups of enemies clustered together.

Stats-wise, the Phage constantly multi-shots seven beams as a burst weapon from hip-fire or focusing on the crosshair when aiming. Its high-status chance means inflicting Viral on opponents will open them up for greater damage. The Phage is tied with Phantasma and Convectrix as a shotgun with the highest firing rate.

Phage Secondary: Use The Kuva Nukor

The Phage being capable of adapting to single-target and multi-target setups by simply adjusting the length of aim makes it an extremely efficient weapon, especially with Mods that allow it to go through objects (Seeking Force, Seeking Fury) or reach further opponents (Sinister Reach). However, with the Kuva Nukor (Pistol), Phage gets a Radiation Damage beam Secondary that has the highest critical multiplier (5x) among all weapons in the game. With Kuva Nukor adding a Status based on its equipped Warframe, players can tinker with the Phage’s innate Viral Damage and combine it with extra Corrosive and Heat Statuses that could easily melt through tough Grineer armor.

20 Phantasma

Primary Fire Damage: 90

Here's a weird one. It feels as though the Phantasma should have been included in the beam rifle category due to how it operates. It fires a steady stream of deadly plasma, which is just a fancier name for Radiation damage, meaning it is a beam weapon.

For that matter, it also possesses decent accuracy, has a fast fire rate, and has an obligatory setback in the form of lower damage. It does use shotgun ammo so technically, it's a shotgun. The secondary fire mode reinforces this categorization as it releases a projectile blob.

Phantasma Secondary: Use The Epitaph

Even without the Phantasma’s bomb burst Alternate Fire, the Shotgun’s Radiation beams can melt foes easily as it boasts the highest Shotgun firing rate (tied with Convectrix and Phage) as well as high status chance. This synergizes well with the Epitaph (Pistol), as its Slash, Impact, and Blast Damage procs play with the Pistol’s accolade as the Secondary Weapon with the highest status chance (tied with Kuva Nukor, Tysis). In line with the Phantasma’s beam attacks is the Epitaph’s hit-then-explode gameplay, ensuring foes are always on the business end of multi-hits even if players have to reload.

19 Phantasma Prime (High, Below Felarx)

Primary Fire Damage: 90

When the spiked Phantasma Shotgun gets primed, it transforms into the golden and more regal Phantasma Prime. Compared to its original counterpart, the Phantasma Prime gets a higher critical chance and multiplier on top of higher maximum ammo and better range. Both the Phantasma Prime and its ordinary counterpart have the best reload speeds across Shotguns in the game.

Considering how its Radiation-based primary fire scatters across six continuous beams, this multi-shotting Shotgun can boast remarkable accuracy compared to its ordinary counterpart. Another highlight of the Phantasma Prime is its alt-fire mode, where it can discharge a plasma bomb that explodes in a 4.8m radius before releasing five (5) seekers.

Phantasma Prime: Use The Brakk

Despite being yet another Shotgun, the Brakk as a secondary weapon can help players plow through opponents more efficiently without jarring gameplay changes. The weapon in itself is reliant on Impact Damage and compensates for its poor recoil and low ammo for decent reload and high DPS. Using a maxed-out Lethal Torrent (Mod) allows the Brakk to fire much faster, while its decent critical and status-granting numbers can mesh well with the Phantasma Prime’s proc-based kit to secure Radiation procs on enemies.

18 Astilla Prime

Primary Fire Damage: 100

The Astilla Prime is one of the most gangsta shotguns in Warframe since it fires shells loaded with broken glass. That means the weapon unleashes two-phase damage. The first is the slug impact (which deals Impact damage). The second is the glass shrapnel explosion, which deals Slash damage.

This kind of flexibility is advantageous in Warframe. But the Astilla Prime goodness doesn't stop there as it can also be both a crit and status weapon (or a hybrid). Plus the accuracy is impressive and the fire rate rivals that of automatic rifles. Overall, it's a solid weapon and players can't go wrong with it.

Astilla Prime Secondary: Use The Sepulcrum

Players enjoying the Astilla Prime will appreciate its AOE capabilities, especially when it fires an entire slug that then splits into individual pellets. This move paves the way for two separate attacks, the initial impact and a burst explosion that can penetrate through walls. Combining this punchy Shotgun with the Sepulcrum (Pistol) gives players access to more explosive gameplay, especially when its burst-fire shooting builds up charges per kill before letting players release a lock-on missile barrage. With the right tempo, Astilla Prime causing multiple explosions with Sepulcrum missiles for backup will leave enemies with little time to recover.

17 Cedo

Primary Fire Damage: 180

The Cedo's stats don't look all too impressive compared to the more straightforward shotguns. However, it's a sleeping giant whose mechanics one has to understand well in order to make it perform like the top-tier weapon it is in all scenarios.

Players will need to utilize Cedo's glaive fire mode which deals elemental damage to enemies and inflicts several status effects. Afterward, the accurate buckshot mode will shred enemies depending on how many status effects they have. That synergy alone is deadly against most targets.

Cedo Secondary: Use The Staticor

Gunslinger Warframe Mesa’s damage build-up and release abilities mesh well with the Cedo’s explosive ricochet Alt Fire, especially with how the Primary Weapon’s already high Critical Chance is made even more efficient with Mesa’s kit. As a backup, Staticor (Thrown) can add more damage for Mesa’s build-up, especially with the Thrown weapon’s hit-and-then-explode kit giving players room to cycle through Cedo and Mesa’s damage kits.

16 Kuva Drakgoon

Primary Fire Damage: 230

What makes the Kuva Drakgoon a lot more appealing than its Grineer cousin, Sobek, is that it primarily deals Slash damage. This ensures that it can trigger continuous Bleed, which is especially useful at high levels. Oddly enough, the Kuva Drakgoon is not a status chance weapon.

Its status chance is too low, compelling players to build it for critical damage. Its innate Multishot value of 10 ensures that both critical damage and status triggers still happen reliably enough. Plus, there are always the added style points for having a Kuva weapon.

Kuva Drakgoon Secondary: Use The Kuva Nukor

The Kuva Drakgoon’s focus on Elemental Damage makes it a perfect outlet for Status-specific builds, with its Fomorian Accelerant Mod letting pellets ricochet repeatedly to attack clusters of enemies more often. This enhanced burst, combined with the weapon’s faster reloads and faster charges, can give players more control over the environment. The Kuva Nukor (Pistol) attempts to provide a similar experience, offering the game’s highest crit multiplier (5x) and boosted critical chance with a chaining beam weapon to ensure the Kuva Drakgoon’s multi-hit is abused whenever possible.

15 Bubonico

Primary Fire Damage: 287

Bubonico is the perfect weapon for bio-chemical warfare in Warframe and it's just fun to define the game's version of the Geneva Convention by raining several layers of plagues on the targets. That would be the alternate fire mode of the Bubonico where it lobs a disgusting bladder of diseases that explodes on impact.

After that, the multi-shot poison barbs in the main fire mode make quick work of the sickened enemies. Launching the Bubonico to the top spot is the fact that it also has innate Toxin damage which is the most desirable and flexible primary element in the game. On the plus side, players get to force their targets a taste of 2020 with all the toxicity in the Bubonico.

Bubonico Secondary: Use The Vaykor Marelok

The Bubonico’s high Critical Damage for its Alternate Fire can be maximized through Mods that increase Critical Chance, encouraging Viral-heavy setups to work in tandem with the Shotgun’s Toxin-focused Primary Fire. In this regard, the Vaykor Marelok (Pistol) functions as an efficient backup, especially with the Steel Meridian Marelok variant boasting excess Burst Damage via Justice on top of the weapon’s larger magazine and higher Critical Chance and Status Chance. The high firing rate and heavy-hitting nature of the Secondary make it as powerful as a sub-primary, making it the ideal emergency weapon for Bubonico users.

14 Steflos

Primary Fire Damage: 320

The crystalline Warframe Citrine uses her fractal beauty to imbue allies with various support capabilities, and the Steflos Shotgun is her signature weapon that can enhance her performance in combat. This dark-colored Shotgun has quite the oversized barrel with what appears to be a large crystal at the end. When fired, the Heat damage of the Steflos begins as a short-ranged projectile that grows in size as it passes through foes. If used by Citrine, the Steflos gains faster projectile speed, making it quite a powerhouse against clusters of foes.

This projectile that grows in size is the main appeal of the Steflos, as these pellets have infinite body punch through and can therefore pass any enemy body they encounter. Whenever Steflos attacks hit an enemy, its pellet gains another 50% projectile time from its 0.6s base, up to a total of 10 seconds. The weapon does suffer from some drawbacks, such as below-average fire rate and magazine size, as well as low critical chance.

Steflos: Use The Sepulcrum

The Heat-focused damage of the Steflos can make the Sepculrum a decent secondary weapon pairing in terms of theme. The Sepulcrum deals both Heat and Puncture Damage, wherein kills build charges that allow players to use its alternate fire that releases various missiles toward opponents. The alt-fire attack specifically has a high critical chance and multiplier, allowing it to sync well with the infinite body punch-through of the Steflos to maximize their damage potential.

13 Boar Prime

Primary Fire Damage: 320

Now here's an actual shotgun that can be a good replacement for automatic rifles, the Boar Prime. It has fallen off its pedestal thanks to shinier and mightier recent shotguns but it still packs a punch and a lot of players tend to favor it as their main weapon since the Riven Disposition is also high.

The biggest problem with the Boar Prime is the painfully slow reload speed but there's always a trick to speed that up or maximize it. Players simply need to get used to it in order to utilize this versatile and imposing weapon.

Boar Prime Secondary: Use The Ocucor

The Boar Prime’s high firing rate allows it to dish out AOE burst attacks at high succession, with the Shotgun Scavenger, Shotgun Ammo Mutation, Squad Ammo Restore, and Ammo Case Mods allowing players to maximize their ammo reserves. Doing this allows them to maximize the Ocucor (Pistol), a Secondary Weapon notable for releasing tendrils of energy from corpses that attack the nearest enemies. This continuous barrage of attacks can maximize the havoc the Boar Prime can offer, with Warframes such as the Garuda possibly boosting the damage potential of the Ocucor.

12 Sobek

Primary Fire Damage: 350

Who would have thought that the Grineer weapons manufacturer had an affinity for Egyptian Gods? Otherwise, they wouldn't name one of their shotguns after the Egyptian Crocodile God. Sobek is a fitting name too since this shotgun crushes its enemies well.

It has one of the largest magazines out of all the shotguns in the game, though not exactly fast, so don't count on it being a replacement for rifles. It's a solid status weapon and can deal with shields with ease due to the high Impact damage. If that's not enough, then the Sobek comes with an innate Multishot.

Sobek Secondary: Use The Catabolyst

A Saryn with Sobek equipped with Mods like the Venom Dose, Contagion Cloud, Acid Shell, and the Sobek Vexidex could make quick work of a room with a few shots, especially with the Primary Weapon’s explosive AOE potential. In turn, complementing this heavy-hitting burst powerhouse is the Catabolyst (Pistol), an Infested sidearm that also fires Corrosive Damage ammunition, this time in the form of bile that travels a short distance. Not only can the Pistol further exacerbate existing Elemental Damage from the Sobek, but its high reload speed can make the Secondary a decent alternative to the main weapon.

11 Vaykor Hek

Primary Fire Damage: 525

The Hek gets a stylish upgrade with the Vaykor Hek, the Steel Meridian-exclusive variant boasts a white coating with leather-like holsters and the usual double-barrel appearance. Unlike the original Hek, the Vaykor Hek boasts double the magazine size with an increased rate of fire, on top of a critical chance buff. Its Justice buff courtesy of the Steel Meridian reputation, may also constantly damage enemies around the player when they fire the shotgun.

However, the Vaykor Hek possesses a slower reload, demanding more tactical play on the player's part. Interestingly enough, using the Vaykor Hek as a primary weapon can position itself as having the second-narrowest pellet spread among all shotguns, which puts the weapon behind Exergis and on the same rank as the original Hek and the Corinth.

Vaykor Hek Secondary: Use The Vaykor Marelok

A high-enough relationship with Steel Meridian maximizes the potential of the Vaykor Hek for crits, especially with its innate Justice effect. While this does penalize the Shotgun with a longer reload, players can compensate by switching to the Vaykor Marelok (Pistol) in case of emergencies. This Steel Meridian pistol boasts a similar Justice effect, which meshes well with the Shrapnel Rounds Mod for additional multishot. The weapon’s high status chance can give room for the Deep Freeze Mod to slow enemies down, giving players more room to reload the Vaykor Hek, change positions, or punish them further with the Vaykor Marelok.

10 Strun Prime

Primary Fire Damage: 528

The Strun has always been one of the staples of Warframe's shotgun family. Even in its base non-prime version, the Strun was already quite a beast and was able to dispatch light enemies in one shot. The Strun Prime merely provides a bit of overkill.

It's a CRIT weapon through and through thanks to the high multiplier and chance. One downside is that the Strun has a worryingly high and disruptive reload time. However, players can just melee their enemies while that animation happens.

Strun Prime Secondary: Use The Epitaph

The Strun Prime becomes a multi-hit powerhouse with the Strun Incarnon Genesis, especially with Evolutions that not only adds AOE explosive stagger per projectile, but its Evolution 3’s Galvanic Reload can restore Ammo when an Electricity-affected target is hit. When built to capitalize on its high Crit Chance and potential to deal Viral Damage, the weapon is best paired with the Epitaph (Pistol) for Priming. Its additional punch-through and burst damage capabilities can be retooled to proc other statuses relevant to the Strun Prime, such as the aforementioned Electricity for reload and other effects.

9 Corinth

Primary Fire Damage: 540

Taking the guise of a standard shotgun, the Corinth fits any humanoid Warframe based on its Tenno origin. At its core, Corinth’s gameplay plays off traditional shotgun mechanics where its primary fire is crit-emphasized buckshot with a grenade projectile as an alternative option. This makes the Corinth deal base Puncture damage on primary and Blast on its alt-fire. When played straightforwardly, the Corinth has a constant 6-pellet multishot with cancellable reloading.

Unlike other shotguns with higher firepower, the Corinth is surprisingly average in core stats. Players who want a reliable shotgun with not much hassle wouldn’t go wrong with the Corinth, especially if they want a general-use weapon for most situations.

Corinth Secondary: Use The Gammacor

While noticeably inferior compared to its Prime counterpart, the Corinth makes for a decent beginner weapon for players who want to relish in the glory of up-close combat. Being able to fire a shot as soon as it’s reloaded can add more tactical versatility in combat, and using the Gammacor (Pistol) gives players a heavy-hitting accurate Secondary Weapon that also works in close quarters. Its innate Magnetic Damage can synergize well with Radiation Mods to deal more damage against Corpuus Proxies, and combining it with Corrosive Mods will allow it to handle tougher Grineer armor.

8 Corinth Prime

Primary Fire Damage: 540

But alas, there's an even better weapon than the Strun Prime if players are used to well-placed buckshots. The Corinth Prime boasts better CRIT stats compared to semi-auto shotguns. The only downside is that it often functions and feels like a pump-action shotgun.

That's probably not much of an issue since shotgun-wielders don't exactly pick their guns for the fire rate. In any case, the Corinth Prime is more stylish and has better practicality since the reload speed is still tolerable and pretty average as far as shotguns go.

Corinth Prime Secondary: Use The Kuva Nukor

Despite Corinth Prime’s Alternate Fire now requiring manual detonation, firing it overhead enemies from afar can capitalize on its guaranteed Impact for short-term stuns to make fierce follow-ups against priority targets. When built properly, Corinth Prime’s high Status Chance and explosion radius should be able to take care of multiple foes at once, but the Kuva Nukor (Pistol) makes for a decent backup with its beams being able to jump from enemy to enemy. The Pistol’s innate Radiation Damage combined with the Warframe’s set bonus can make the Kuva Nukor suitable to specific Elemental builds.

7 Arca Plasmor

Primary Fire Damage: 600

The bulky build of the Arca Plasmor is indicative of its nature as a Corpus weapon, and the Warframe armament is notable for Impact-guaranteeing bursts of Radiation energy. Due to the nature of its projectiles, the Arca Plasmor has infinite punch through when hitting bodies and can therefore plow through clusters of foes at a time.

Stats-wise, the Arca Plasmor vaporizes the corpses of its foes. When combined with Silent Battery (Mod), the Arca Plasmor can make for decent stealth plays as enemies won’t find their comrades’ bodies. Unfortunately for players, Arca Plasmor does suffer from a lack of a headshot bonus and a lackluster critical multiplier (1.60%). Its Radiation Damage can be paired with Heat and Electricity Damage to optimize the weapon against specific foes, such as Magnetic Damage against Corpus and Corrosive Damage versus the Grineer.

Arca Plasmor: Use The Laetum

The rather regal Laetum can make for an interesting sidearm for the Arca Plasmor, especially with the secondary weapon’s nature as an Incarnon weapon. Initially starting as a semi-auto pistol, headshot procs can transform it into a rifle that deals AOE Radiation Damage, fitting the Arca Plasmor’s Radiation-heavy attacks. This should allow players to consistently deal burst damage to foes regardless of their configuration, especially when players don’t need to go for stealth builds and need something to pack a punch aside from the Arca Plasmor.

6 Kuva Hek

Primary Fire Damage: 609

The Hek shotgun has always been one of the most accommodating out of all the selections thanks to its numerous upgraded versions. The Vaykor Hek, for one, is always a popular weapon among players due to its balanced damage and stats.

There is a better version of that Hek though and that would be the Kuva variant. It does everything Vaykor and regular Hek do except with more punch. It is a Kuva weapon though and has a fairly high Mastery Rank requirement. That's one thing to keep in mind.

Kuva Hek Secondary: Use The Spectra Vandal

The Kuva Hek’s Alternate Fire capable of shooting from all its barrels simultaneously causes a massive explosion that capitalizes the gun’s Status Chance and Critical stats, emphasizing heavy-hitting close-range plays that may benefit from the fast-paced Spectra Vandal (Pistol). Sharing similar Crit Chance and Status Chance-oriented advantages, the Spectra Vandal’s beam damage with innate punch through pairs well with the Kuva Hek’s heavy barrages. When combined with Warframe Mags Magnetize bubble, players can make quick work of enemy clusters.