Half the work in Archon Hunts in Warframe is surviving. That shouldn't be too hard with popular survival warframes like Revenant, Nidus, and Inaros. But the real challenge in Archon Hunts is dealing enough damage to the bosses or the Archons. The developers of Warframe have notably introduced a new armor mechanic for these bosses, and it's proven to be quite effective.
This mechanic is the so-called "damage attenuation" and it functions like an Adaptation mod for the Archons where they build up resistance to damage types based on the player's attack. Consequently, this forced the community to find ways to circumvent such a mechanic, and the following weapons are some of the best solutions.
8 Glaive Prime
- Weapon Type: Melee - Glaive
- MR Requirement: 10
- Main Purpose: Clearing Archon summons & minions
Glaive Prime has always been a strong melee weapon whose heavy attack is one of the best for clearing up Steel Path rooms and corridors. Players who have this weapon will be pleased to know that it has seen some extensive use in Archon Hunts, particularly when players need to quickly deal with summons or minions.
Archons are notorious for summoning some Sentient enemies to distract players while they heal. The Glaive Prime built around its heavy attack will erase these pesky summons and the other minions, making the fight fairer and less annoying.
7 Stropha
- Weapon Type: Melee - Gunblade
- MR Requirement: 10
- Main Purpose: Clearing Archon summons & minions
The Stropha is another weapon that's famous for one-shotting blobs of enemies, especially if they're too tight together. This Gunblade is thus also ideal for clearing up Archon summons or additional enemies in Warframe due to its wide and hard-hitting heavy attacks.
Players also don't need to mind their positioning and angle too much since the Stropha is easy to aim and doesn't run out of ammunition. Moreover, since gunblades are considered silent weapons, they won't draw the enemy's hostility, which is important for frames like Ivara or Octavia.
6 Epitaph
- Weapon Type: Secondary - Pistol
- MR Requirement: 8
- Main Purpose: Priming the Archons with Status effects
It says in the description that it's a pistol but it's more of a slingshot with explosive projectiles. Regardless, the Epitaph is a good Steel Path weapon, but for Archon Hunts, players will do better in using it to soften up the Archons so that they're more susceptible against Status-based damage buffs.
It's a good way to trigger a full 10 stacks of Viral before finally shooting the Archons in the head with a modified Kuva Hek. The Epitaph fires fast and players also don't need to aim well since the primary fire mode deals area damage. To that end, it can also double as a tool for clearing minions and summons.
5 Kuva Nukor
- Weapon Type: Secondary - Pistol
- MR Requirement: 13
- Main Purpose: Priming the Archons with Status effects
Apart from the Epitaph, a better primer would be the ever-popular Kuva Nukor which comes with five to six status effects, practically turning any target figuratively bare naked for mods like Galvanized Aptitude to rip them apart. On top of the usual elements, Kuva Nukor also has a hidden microwave status effect for additional triggers.
This makes the Kuva Nukor an ideal weapon option for setting up the Archons for a one-tap headshot using the Kuva Hek or Felarx shotgun. On its own as a weapon, it will likely struggle with minions and summons since it has no Slash or bleed proc so make sure to bring a bigger gun.
4 Phenmor
- Weapon Type: Primary - Rifle
- MR Requirement: 14
- Main Purpose: DPS
The high price of admission via the MR requirement is justified here since the Phenmor is quite possibly the most powerful primary in the game, at least when taking into account the damage per bullet. The Incarnon mode turns this semi-auto rifle into a machine gun that will make quick work of any boss.
It's thus the perfect boss-killing weapon since players can just hold the fire button and then shortly wait as the target's health bar depletes fast. Right now the best build involves pure status with as low Crit as possible in order to take advantage of its final Evolution.
3 Laetum
- Weapon Type: Secondary - Pistol
- MR Requirement: 14
- Main Purpose: DPS
Like the Phenmor, the Laetum starts off in semi-auto firing mode but the Incarnon mode turns it into a fully-fledged automatic hose of death. This weapon slightly edges out the Phenmore when it comes to overall damage and it has a slight disadvantage when it comes to recoil.
Still, players will find no better secondary when dealing with Archons. It's one of the most legitimate ways to fight an Archon without resorting to cheese or one-shot mechanics. When paired with a subsumed Eclipse ability from Mirage, there's no stopping this weapon.
2 Felarx
- Weapon Type: Primary - Shotgun
- MR Requirement: 14
- Main Purpose: Bursting down the Archon
Only a few weapons can successfully kill Archons with one well-placed shot, and one of them is the Felarx shotgun. It's a powerful tool whose primary firing mode is considered by many as the more powerful phase. It does take a while for this weapon to reach its full potential, but the effort is worth it.
Like the other two Incarnon weapons, the Felarx's best build is the non-crit with Devastating Attrition as its final evolution. This build also allows players to kill Archons with just one hit or maybe a couple more without Ivara. In any case, it's a good weapon for speedrunning Archon Hunts.
1 Kuva Hek
- Weapon Type: Primary - Shotgun
- MR Requirement: 15
- Main Purpose: Bursting down the Archon
The MR requirement states 15 but that's for Kuva Lich trading. Any player or any MR rank can acquire this weapon as long as they defeated the Kuva Lich. That makes it better and more accessible than the Felarx; it's more low-effort. As for its power, it's about the same as the Felarx.
Thanks to the Kuva Hek's alt-fire mode which dumps the whole magazine at the target's skull, this thing can one-shot Archons (using Ivara). With the right build and the right buffs, players can and have made Archon Hunts a joke using this weapon.
Warframe is available on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.