What is the best secondary weapon in Warframe?

By computed burst DPS from base stats, Akarius Prime ranks first of 148 secondary weapons. That is a statistical ranking, not a verdict — it excludes mods, arcanes and Incarnon evolutions.

Secondary weapons Tier List

All 148 secondary weapons ranked by damage computed from Digital Extremes’ published stats.

What is the strongest secondary weapon on paper?

Akarius Prime — highest computed burst DPS of 148 secondary weapons.

“On paper” is doing real work in that sentence. This is base-stat damage only: no mods, arcanes, Incarnon evolutions or faction damage, and no allowance for how the weapon actually handles.

Full ranking

#	Weapon	Band	Score	Burst DPS	Sustained	MR
1	Akarius Prime	A	100 out of 100	2,656	1,224	14
2	Akarius	A	82 out of 100	2,168	887	8
3	Aegrit	A	81 out of 100	2,149	934	11
4	Twin Rogga	A	73 out of 100	1,939	674	9
5	Akbronco Prime	A	61 out of 100	1,608	725	10
6	Akbronco	A	59 out of 100	1,558	445	2
7	Bronco Prime	A	58 out of 100	1,546	501	4
8	Pyrana	A	50 out of 100	1,320	720	12
9	Knell Prime	A	47 out of 100	1,260	115	14
10	Bronco	A	47 out of 100	1,247	402	0
11	Sancti Castanas	A	47 out of 100	1,240	465	10
12	Pyrana Prime	A	47 out of 100	1,236	806	13
13	Kulstar	A	46 out of 100	1,221	523	5
14	Ballistica Prime	A	46 out of 100	1,216	811	14
15	Brakk	A	44 out of 100	1,170	571	6
16	Twin Kohmak	B	42 out of 100	1,110	938	10
17	Prisma Angstrum	B	41 out of 100	1,094	238	8
18	Angstrum	B	39 out of 100	1,044	174	4
19	Rakta Ballistica	B	39 out of 100	1,025	769	6
20	Tenet Detron	B	39 out of 100	1,023	657	16
21	Mara Detron	B	37 out of 100	971	675	9
22	Kuva Brakk	B	36 out of 100	968	645	13
23	Detron	B	36 out of 100	952	560	6
24	Akmagnus Prime	B	31 out of 100	835	419	15
25	Kohmak	B	31 out of 100	833	666	5
26	Coda Catabolyst	B	31 out of 100	812	524	17
27	Catabolyst	B	29 out of 100	769	464	11
28	Magnus Prime	B	28 out of 100	737	368	14
29	Euphona Prime	B	27 out of 100	707	442	14
30	Knell	B	25 out of 100	660	73.3	10
31	Tenet Spirex	B	24 out of 100	637	374	14
32	EFV-8 Mars	B	24 out of 100	632	367	14
33	Riot-848	B	24 out of 100	630	389	14
34	Staticor	B	23 out of 100	613	427	10
35	Akmagnus	B	23 out of 100	598	299	12
36	Kuva Seer	B	22 out of 100	595	363	15
37	Sicarus Prime	B	22 out of 100	586	329	14
38	Twin Grakatas	B	21 out of 100	570	285	9
39	Epitaph Prime	B	21 out of 100	569	278	14
40	Athodai Prime	B	21 out of 100	560	395	14
41	Castanas	B	21 out of 100	555	208	3
42	Twin Vipers Wraith	B	20 out of 100	536	238	7
43	Velox Prime	B	20 out of 100	523	321	13
44	Vesper 77	B	20 out of 100	519	322	14
45	Magnus	B	20 out of 100	518	262	10
46	Scyotid	B	19 out of 100	513	468	12
47	Laetum	B	19 out of 100	506	357	14
48	Dual Cestra	B	19 out of 100	505	326	7
49	Aklex Prime	B	19 out of 100	500	333	15
50	Talons	B	18 out of 100	488	266	8
51	Pandero Prime	B	18 out of 100	480	349	14
52	Akvasto Prime	B	18 out of 100	480	345	12
53	Lex Prime	C	18 out of 100	469	291	8
54	Sepulcrum	C	18 out of 100	469	403	14
55	Quatz	C	17 out of 100	463	296	9
56	Akjagara Prime	C	17 out of 100	462	342	12
57	Athodai	C	17 out of 100	462	326	10
58	Twin Vipers	C	17 out of 100	457	164	5
59	Epitaph	C	17 out of 100	452	238	8
60	Lato Prime	C	17 out of 100	444	355	14
61	Tenet Plinx	C	17 out of 100	439	306	6
62	Cyanex	C	17 out of 100	438	227	8
63	Sagek Prime	C	16 out of 100	436	345	14
64	Hystrix Prime	C	16 out of 100	430	253	12
65	Onos	C	16 out of 100	420	369	14
66	Dual Coda Torxica	C	15 out of 100	405	372	17
67	Velox	C	15 out of 100	400	246	8
68	Telos Akbolto	C	15 out of 100	396	297	11
69	Aksomati Prime	C	15 out of 100	395	320	12
70	Tenet Diplos	C	15 out of 100	388	299	16
71	Secura Dual Cestra	C	14 out of 100	384	281	10
72	Akjagara	C	14 out of 100	382	235	8
73	Coda Tysis	C	14 out of 100	381	327	17
74	Afuris Prime	C	14 out of 100	377	317	12
75	Kuva Kraken	C	14 out of 100	371	250	15
76	Zylok Prime	C	14 out of 100	368	320	13
77	Dex Furis	C	14 out of 100	365	261	10
78	Akbolto Prime	C	14 out of 100	363	312	13
79	Vasto Prime	C	14 out of 100	360	254	10
80	Cantare	C	13 out of 100	354	212	10
81	Akbolto	C	13 out of 100	353	254	8
82	Vaykor Marelok	C	13 out of 100	352	264	10
83	Marelok	C	13 out of 100	344	221	7
84	Akvasto	C	13 out of 100	338	234	8
85	Ballistica	C	13 out of 100	338	238	2
86	Aksomati	C	13 out of 100	333	266	9
87	Pandero	C	13 out of 100	333	242	8
88	Kuva Twin Stubbas	C	12 out of 100	326	263	13
89	Hystrix	C	12 out of 100	325	186	7
90	Stug	C	12 out of 100	324	231	2
91	Akstiletto	C	12 out of 100	320	230	8
92	Spira Prime	C	12 out of 100	320	265	10
93	Spectra Vandal	C	12 out of 100	317	268	10
94	Lato Vandal	C	12 out of 100	314	235	7
95	Arca Scisco	C	12 out of 100	310	241	10
96	Viper Wraith	C	12 out of 100	308	196	4
97	Tenet Cycron	C	12 out of 100	306	211	14
98	Cycron	C	11 out of 100	302	189	8
99	Synoid Gammacor	C	11 out of 100	302	238	7
100	Akstiletto Prime	C	11 out of 100	293	245	10
101	Prisma Twin Gremlins	C	11 out of 100	288	259	11
102	Embolist	C	11 out of 100	284	216	9
103	Akzani	C	10 out of 100	274	195	4
104	Grimoire	C	10 out of 100	270	—	10
105	Kuva Nukor	D	10 out of 100	269	213	13
106	Spira	D	10 out of 100	267	213	8
107	Viper	D	10 out of 100	263	153	4
108	Afuris	D	10 out of 100	263	193	4
109	Bolto	D	10 out of 100	261	203	7
110	Vasto	D	10 out of 100	261	184	4
111	Sicarus	D	10 out of 100	257	130	3
112	Atomos	D	10 out of 100	256	209	5
113	Fusilai	D	10 out of 100	253	184	7
114	Stubba	D	9 out of 100	252	220	7
115	Plinx	D	9 out of 100	251	175	6
116	Aklex	D	9 out of 100	247	177	4
117	Spectra	D	9 out of 100	246	181	4
118	Nukor	D	9 out of 100	240	171	4
119	Azima	D	9 out of 100	232	196	6
120	Kraken	D	9 out of 100	227	128	0
121	Zylok	D	9 out of 100	227	185	6
122	Acrid	D	9 out of 100	226	161	7
123	Cestra	D	8 out of 100	224	176	4
124	Hikou Prime	D	8 out of 100	220	198	4
125	Aklato	D	8 out of 100	216	154	3
126	Despair	D	8 out of 100	212	170	4
127	Furis	D	8 out of 100	210	150	1
128	Coda Pox	D	8 out of 100	210	167	17
129	Seer	D	8 out of 100	207	122	0
130	Gammacor	D	8 out of 100	204	160	2
131	Twin Gremlins	D	7 out of 100	199	168	5
132	Lato	D	7 out of 100	194	150	0
133	Tysis	D	7 out of 100	193	152	9
134	Hikou	D	7 out of 100	177	142	2
135	Lex	D	6 out of 100	169	119	3
136	Kunai	D	6 out of 100	161	129	0
137	Zakti Prime	D	6 out of 100	160	98.2	14
138	Zakti	D	6 out of 100	152	64.9	10
139	Ocucor	D	6 out of 100	149	113	8
140	Pox	D	6 out of 100	147	96.8	9
141	MK1-Kunai	D	5 out of 100	140	112	0
142	Zymos	D	4 out of 100	119	95.3	11
143	MK1-Furis	D	4 out of 100	114	85.3	0
144	Dual Toxocyst	D	3 out of 100	78.8	65.9	11
145	Sonicor	D	3 out of 100	68.8	55.0	2
146	Grimoire	D	1 out of 100	39.3	—	10
147	Kompressa Prime	D	1 out of 100	30.1	20.1	13
148	Kompressa	D	1 out of 100	27.9	18.6	8

Methodology

Rankings are computed from Digital Extremes’ own published weapon stats. Damage per shot = base damage × (1 + crit chance × (crit multiplier − 1)) × multishot. Burst DPS multiplies that by fire rate. Sustained DPS accounts for magazine size and reload time, and is left blank where either is missing. These figures use BASE stats only: no mods, arcanes, Incarnon evolutions, faction damage or status synergy, and no allowance for how a weapon feels to use. This is a statistical ranking, not a verdict on what is best.

Weapons whose stats we cannot compute are left out entirely rather than ranked last — an unstatted weapon is unknown, not bad, and putting it at the bottom would be a claim we cannot support.