Warframe's Angels of the Zariman update introduced Incarnon weapons, void-touched weaponry that morphs into something far deadlier when a certain condition is met. Beyond their notable alt-fire properties, Incarnon weapons can also be tweaked through a passive system called Evolutions.

Related: Warframe: A Complete Guide To Incarnon Weapons

While there are only five Incarnon weapons available from The Holdfasts, they each offer an interesting alternate fire mode and a suite of Evolutions to choose from. From the Praedos tonfas to the Laetum pistol, we'll be ranking all Incarnon weapons from worst to best, weighing their Evolutions and stats against some of the most popular weapons in Warframe currently.

Updated June 11th, 2022, by Charles Burgar: Two new Incarnon weapons were added with the Echoes of the Zariman update. Players can now craft the Felarx shotgun and the Innodem dagger, featuring unique Incarnon Forms and Evolution passives. We've updated this list to include these new weapons, and we've also updated the Laetum entry to mention that Cascadia Empowered no longer triggers Overwhelming Attrition.

5 Felarx

Shotguns don't see much use in the current boom and zoom meta. Unfortunately, the Felarx continues that trend. This weapon acts as a buckshot shotgun in its default state, featuring stats comparable to the Tenet Arca Plasmor. This weapon has absurdly high base damage, good critical stats, and its Evolution passives allow it to achieve some rather absurd punch through values.

Yet as strong as that looks on paper, this weapon's Evolutions and Incarnon Form actively fight against what this weapon wants you to build for. The Incarnon Form morphs this gun into a pair of semi-auto pistols, featuring absurdly high critical stats at the cost of fire rate and some base damage. On paper, these pistols deal so much damage that they should be able to one-shot just about any tough enemy you come across.

Related: Warframe: Top Primary Weapons, Ranked

In practice, the pistols are mediocre and not comparable to the Phenmor's minigun or Laetum's grenade launcher morphs. They lack AoE, shoot slowly, and can't inflict Slash at all—although they can inflict Impact with each shot. It seems that DE designed the pistols to be used with a Mod like Hemorrhage, but they forgot that the Felarx is a Shotgun first. There aren't any Mods like Hemorrhage on Shotguns, so you're left with a hard-hitting set of sniper pistols that struggle to bypass armor.

The Evolutions don't help with this either. Despite the weapon's great base critical stats, this weapon's notable T5 Evolution requires that you don't land critical hits. And since you can't rely on Slash procs on your pistols to kill Acolytes or Liches, this gun can't take full advantage of Devastating Attrition. Your only other build option is to spec heavily into ammo efficiency, a stat this gun doesn't need. This gun is so close to being a powerhouse, but the lack of certain shotgun Mods and questionable Evolutions hold it back. Just use the Phenmor instead.

Recommended Evolutions

4 Praedos

The Praedos is the last weapon you unlock from The Holdfasts, yet it's easily one of the worst Incarnon weapons you can use. Its base stats are worse than the Kronen Prime, yet the Evolutions and Incarnon form aren't enough to make up for that stat disparity.

Achieving a x5 combo with these tonfas will let you trigger the Praedos' Incarnon form, granting the weapon more range and attack speed for the next 90 seconds. That's not bad on its own, although it feels uninspired when compared to the Phenmor's minigun or Laetum's full-auto grenade launcher morphs. A simple stat bump just isn't interesting.

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As for the weapon itself, it's an objectively worse Kronen Prime. It might have comparable base damage and critical stats, yet the Praedos have a terrible 17% base status chance. The Kronen Prime decimate targets with rapid Viral and Slash procs, further amplified with the Sovereign Outcast Stance's absurd damage multipliers. With so little status on the Praedos, that same level of punishment is simply impossible to achieve.

Fortunately, there is one use for this weapon: building it as a stat stick. Many of the Praedos' Evolutions enhance your Warframe's mobility and grant a higher starting combo counter. For most Warframe builds, you can afford to sacrifice your melee weapon's lethality for some quality-of-life buffs. But if you're playing a Warframe that needs their stat stick to boost their damage output (Atlas, Khora, etc.), you're better off using another melee weapon.

Recommended Evolutions

3 Phenmor

The Phenmor is a semi-auto rifle that morphs into an Arch-Gun upon landing a few headshots. Using this weapon's primary fire mode can seem underwhelming if you're used to AoE weapons, but it's a rather powerful single-target weapon on its own. Each shot from the Phenmor deals 140 base damage and has solid critical and status percentages. If you want to apply some potent Slash procs on your foes, this weapon is a good pick.

However, the real power of the Phenmor comes from its alt-fire. Landing a few headshots will morph the Phenmor into a minigun, housing a 408-round magazine that doesn't require reloading. You'll deal the same damage with each shot, except now you gain three meters of punch through and substantially more fire rate to work with.

Mowing down hordes of enemies with this minigun/sniper hybrid never gets old, yet it's tough to fully recommend this weapon with just how powerful AoE weapons are in Warframe currently. A Kuva Bramma and Ogris are easier to use and can kill enemies with far less effort. If all you care about is raw killing efficiency, the Phenmor might disappoint.

But sometimes you just want to fill a hallway with a copious amount of lead, and the Phenmor does that better than any other rifle in Warframe. Enemies simply disintegrate under the sheer power of this weapon's Incarnon form, provided you feather the trigger; holding down the fire button slows the Phenmor's rate of fire with no benefit. Spec this weapon for status, and you'll have yourself a fantastic weapon for long-range sniping and hallway clearing for Star Chart and Steel Path alike. Sometimes, fun triumphs over efficiency.

Recommended Evolutions

2 Innodem

It might seem strange seeing the Innodem this high on the list, but it truly deserves the spot. This melee weapon has excellent base stats, featuring great critical stats and base damage for a dagger. More importantly, this weapon's Incarnon Form turns the Innodem into one of the best add-clearing melee weapons in the game.

Reaching a 5x Combo multi and using your Heavy Attack will enhance this weapon with 40% extra attack speed, 3 meters of bonus range, and it effectively gets Exodia Contagion. Finishers also give you 10% damage resistance while the weapon is in its Incarnon Form, stacking up to four times. This form fixes the two largest issues with daggers: their slow attack speed and short range.

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When evolved, this weapon is effectively a fast-swinging greatsword with 90% follow-through, making it easy to cleave through hordes of enemies. And for when you need to kill a tougher foe, simply Heavy Attack. All Stances for daggers have their Heavy Attack open enemies to Finishers.

That's convenient considering this weapon's Evolutions focus heavily on Finishers. Blood Anointed is fantastic on this weapon, allowing you to achieve 90% Heavy Attack Efficiency with that Evolution and Reflex Coil. Finishers themselves will deal more damage with Blade Twister, perfect with Warframes like Ash and Banshee. It's a great weapon for killing fodder enemies and a must for most Finisher builds.

Recommended Evolutions

1 Laetum

Few weapons in Warframe can match the raw power of the Laetum, the first Incarnon weapon players will craft from The Holdfasts. This pistol packs a serious punch in its primary fire mode, featuring solid base damage and great critical stats. Landing a few headshots with this gun will kill most Steel Path targets with little issue.

And when you land those few headshots, you'll be able to morph this weapon into an Acceltra that has a 220-round magazine and far more damage. Each shot deals additional Radiation damage, has a small AoE effect, and fires in full auto. The projectile and AoE effects are separate for the purposes of applying status, allowing this weapon to rack up dozens of status procs in just a few shots.

The real strength of this weapon lies in its Evolutions. Devouring and Overwhelming Attrition are both excellent picks that make this weapon hit like a truck. Since Devouring Attrition is a multiplicative bonus, we recommend using that over Overwhelming Attrition. Gaining a 2,000% damage multiplier on half of your shots is nothing to scoff at.

As for builds, status is the way to go, allowing this weapon to delete Steel Path Acolytes and Kuva Liches with no effort required. And if you're someone who can't land headshots to save your life, the Scourge makes proccing the Laetum's Incarnon form much easier. Even if you're stuck with the main fire mode, the Laetum is still an excellent weapon for shutting down Liches, Nox units, and other tanky units. Get three Incarnon weapons to unlock the Laetum's last evolution, then focus on upgrading this weapon. Nothing will stand a chance.

Recommended Evolutions

Next: Warframe: Angels Of The Zariman Quest Walkthrough