Ever since its introduction in Warframe Veilbreaker, the extraordinary Incarnon Lex Prime has rapidly become mythologized as the undisputed champion of secondary weapons. While past sidearms like the Kuva Nukor, Sporelacer and Pandero Prime occupied top contender spots through incredible utility or damage, none come close to matching the raw annihilation which the Lex Prime achieves in skilled hands.
This incredible pistol‘s combination of slash-weighted base damage, copious critical stats outclassing shotguns, and unique Incarnon transformation mechanics synergize to enable destruction beyond what any typical secondary should achieve. Add the ability to mod for 100% Status chance, extreme ammunition reserves through Carrier utility and the Lex Prime begins competing even with the most potent primaries across endless Steel Path missions.
Let‘s analyze the key stats elevating the Incarnon Lex Prime to "Most Overpowered Secondary" status, detail highly optimized builds and tactics for unleashing its full lethal potential in battle, and gaze in awe upon what is undoubtedly the current strongest secondary firearm in all of Warframe.
Statistical Dominance Analysis
While most weapons live and die by their Rivens, the Incarnon Lex Prime‘s sheer statistical prowess even completely unmodded showcases a secondary leagues ahead of contemporaries in 2023.
Base Damage Breakdown:
| Impact | Puncture | Slash | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 162.5 | 22.5 | 247.5 | 432 |
Boasting 432 base damage gives the Lex Prime over 4 times the damage of similar semi-auto pistols like the Pandero Prime or Euphona Prime before any Elemental or external damage mods. With Slash as the dominant component at nearly 58%, this enables tremendous scaling through hemorrhaging even mid-ranked enemies quickly.
Critical & Status Chance
| Crit Chance | Crit Multiplier | Status Chance |
|---|---|---|
| 34% | 2.2x | 28% |
Many players overlook the Lex Prime‘s high critical chance, which actually outclasses most dedicated crit secondaries, being beaten only by the Kuva Nukor‘s 39%. Combined with an above average 2.2x multiplier and the immense base damage to multiply, the Lex Prime reaches assault rifle levels of DPS.
With solid 28% Status as well, meeting 100% builds come easily for armor stripping and slash procs without needing a primary Riven. Both stats also receive further boosts in the weapon‘s Incarnon mode.
Fire Rate & Reload
| Fire Rate | Reload Time |
|---|---|
| 3.67/s | 2.0s |
A moderately paced fire rate balances out the high damage as both a playstyle tuning mechanic and to prevent instantly emptying the 11 round magazine. Skilled shooters chain headshots for maximizing Incarnon uptime while slower hands appreciate less overwhelming input pace.
Fast 2 second reload suits the weapon as a hand cannon style armament — quick dump immense devastation downrange, quickly refill for the next wave of destruction repeat. Combined with reload buffing Primary/Secondary Charge and Swift Justice, uptime stays smooth.
Recommended Builds
Now to best harness the full power potential of the Incarnon Lex Prime for peak performance across all content tiers, two specialized setup paths exist as optimal configurations:
Crit-Focused Shotgun Imposter
This build pushes the Incarnon Lex‘s crit stats to extremes exceeding even traditional crit-based shotguns and bows by multiplying both chances for orange and red crits through Arcane Avenger.
Serration (base damage)
Hornet Strike (secondary damage)
Barrel Diffusion (accuracy)
Target Cracker (crit chance)
Pistol Gambit (crit chance)
Secondary Merciless (damage on kill)
Critical Delay (crit multiplier)
Critical Deceleration (recoil)
Arcane Avenger (crit chance on damage)Achieving over 50% critical chance combines with a boosted 3.2x multiplier to enable the Incarnon Lex Prime regularly inflicting orange and red crits even before Incarnon mode‘s added spike. Compared to shotguns and bows typically needing 200%+ critical chance builds to accomplish the same effect, this better showcases the Lex‘s standalone precision lethality.
While other options like Pax Charge do offer reload benefits, this setup focuses purely on maximizing per-shot damage potential to the highest extremes.
Status-Focused Viral Applicator
Trading raw crit potential for favoring Status effects provides an alternate path to similar destruction by shredding both health and armor in tandem.
Hornet Strike
Barrel Diffusion
Jolt (electricity)
Rime Rounds (cold)
Convulsion (electricity)
Frostbite (cold)
Critical Delay
Lethal Torrent
Pathogen RoundsAssembling the essential Viral duo of Cold + Electricity hits the perfect balance for the Lex Prime‘s existing Impact/Slash bias:
- Viral cuts health pools to miniscule amounts after just a shot or two
- Impact ragdolls relentlessly
- Slash dots downed enemies to execute with bleeds
- 100% status ensures all these apply per-shot
Lethal Torrent‘s fire rate and multishot bonuses both help stack even more status effects for added armor stripping and damage amplification against targets. This alternate lens produces similar mission clearing capacity to a crit build through sheer multiplying debuffs.
Riven Disposition & Forma Polarity
Installing either specialized build requires investing multiple Forma to fit Serration, Hornet Strike and their 60/60 elemental combos comfortably. Luckily as a Prime weapon, the Incarnon Lex Prime enjoys a polarized Madurai slot on unveil, saving 1 initial Forma.
Its riven disposition of 1 out of 5 skews toward low stats for rolls. However, as detailed above this remains offset by simply not needing much external scaling help thanks to tremendous base damage and crit/status chances already. Consider any Lex riven as a nice bonus rather than mandatory for functionality.
Advanced Tactics & Playstyle Breakdown
Now with such game-crushing setups assembled, putting shots on target accurately becomes vital to unleash the full chaos-entropic wrath defined as the Incarnon Lex Prime endgame experience:
Recoil Control
The Lex bucks aggressively especially when building for crit. Use Critical Deceleration to soften kickback, while actively pulling down and right on the mouse/controller counters the upward diagonal muzzle rise. Time shots between recoils instead of spamming to stay on target.
Target Prioritization
Look to delete heavy units first. Nox, bombard and heavy gunners require precise initial headshots to execute with authority before wiping out their entourage. For Infested and Corpus, take down Ancient healers/shield drones early.
Active Reload Habits
Swift Justice, Primary/Secondary Charge mods and a fast trigger finger enable smoothly chaining kills. Follow every elimination with a quick snap reload to increase fire rate while providing uptime for reload speed buffs.
Chain Headshots
Landing consecutive Incarnon transformation headshots makes controlling crowds effortless. The increased multishot and guaranteed Impact proc ragdolls clusters helplessly. Once locked into this rhythm, few enemies ever touch the ground before disintegrating.
Mastering these advanced playstyle components truly completes the full mastery journey for dominating with the Incarnon Lex Prime across all gameplay modes.
Competitor Comparisons
Despite such resplendent glory exuding from the Incarnon Lex Prime across criterion, several weapons still stand as situational challengers depending on preferred combat scenarios:
Kuva Nukor – Superior crowd control from slowing chains makes the Nukor preferable against Infested swarms or shield drone suppression – though the Incarnon Lex outdamages heavily armored foes.
Sporelacer Kitgun – As a similar Incarnon pistol with explosive rounds, the Sporelacer competes mainly in endless steel path missions for its ammo mutation – while the Lex Prime exceeds its per-shot damage by nearly double.
Pandero Prime – Nicely rounds out the trifecta of top contending secondaries for its immense concealed explosive rounds greatly complimenting melee or caster frames – though it sacrifices raw stopping power compared to the Lex.
Ultimately though, the Incarnon Lex Prime Claim‘s an undisputed lead ahead of all rivals old and new in nearly every relevant combat metric. Even without a riven for external scaling, mostly every player eventually hits an experience wall where the Lex outclasses even well invested primary weapons across sortie and steel path missions. Simply no current sidearm compares in lethality or versatility after our in-depth analysis.
Review Notes & Verdict
In closing, I hope this extensive evaluation and guide has presented ample evidence and methodology supporting the Incarnon Lex Prime as the supreme secondary option of 2023 following its Veilbreaker debut. Mastery of this incredible weapon unlocks unheralded damage potential from the secondary slot to handle any opposition.
To recap keysessment points:
✅️ Over 4x damage of its closest secondary competitors
✅️ 58% slash bias for devastating bleed scaling
✅️ High crit stats exceeding even most rifles & shotguns
✅️ 100% status builds available to shred armor & multiply damage
✅️ Incarnon enhanced crowd control & area damage
✅️ Steel path viable even without a riven
Very few weapons throughout the history of Warframe have ever commanded such player hype. Yet the Incarnon Lex Prime inarguably exceeds expectations to stand as an absolute generals content crusher. Veteran and newbie Tenno alike will appreciate the sheer strength on display that elevates the Lex beyond just secondary status to compete toe-to-toe against top tier primaries.
The verdict rings loud and clear – this undisputed King of secondary weapons in 2023 stands as a must-have centerpiece addition to any formidable arsenal. Hail to the new king indeed!
So rally your Void Trace farming squad, and begin the hunt today to unlock the Incarnon Lex Prime‘s magnificent power potential for yourself!