Warframe AX-52 build guide: The Kalashnikov Delivers

Modified Jul 21, 2024 05:10 IST

Warframe AX-52 build guide — AX-52 is a pretty good weapon for a freebie in Warframe (Image via Digital Extremes)

AX-52 is the latest addition to Warfrmae's long line of assault rifles. Due to how competitive the assault rifle niche is, the AX-52 will not come close to being a top meta option. It cannot beat Incarnon contenders like Burston, or even the underwhelming Soma Incarnon Genesis. However, such an iconic old-world weapon is still a joy to use in a futuristic sci-fi game.

The AX-52 still does fine at base-level Steel Path with the regular crit-centric build. In this guide, we will go over what kind of build that could be.

How to get AX-52 in Warframe

The AX-52 was given to all players as a Twitch drop for watching TennoCon 2024 on July 20. If you missed the chance, there are currently no reliable ways of getting the weapon, as it is not tradable. However, it might pop up later as an event reward or on Baro's inventory.

Warframe AX-52 build for endgame: 4-Forma

Warframe AX-52 build with Hunter Munitions and Viral (Image via Overframe)

Before delving into theory-crafting AX-52 builds, we should take a look at the Unique trait of Warframe's latest bullet hose. There are two passive mechanics to give this Kalashnikov mock-up a much-needed edge:

While Hip-firing, you gain ammo efficiency - making the 40-round magazine last much longer in practice.
While aiming, headshots have a 100% additive critical chance on headshots.

In practice, this makes AX-52 a straight upgrade over Soma Prime, one of Warframe's old critical darlings (sans the Incarnon Genesis). There are multiple ways to mod this, but we chose to go with the time-honored Slash-Viral build for old times' sake, and it showed great results.

Mods used:

Galvanized Aptitude
Galvanized Chamber
Critical Delay
Vital Sense
Vile Acceleration
Malignant Force
Hunter Munitions
Primed Cryo Rounds

If you do not have a priming-capable Sentinel or secondary primer weapon, ditch Galvanized Aptitude for Hammer Shot. In the AX-52 build shown above, we use Primary Merciless or Primary Deadhead as the Arcane of choice.

However, if you prefer a raw damage build, you can build for Cold element instead. For this, switch out Malignant Force with Serration, and use Primary Frotstbite as your Arcane.

If you also swap out the Primed Cryo Rounds form here, you can turn this into a Heat-based AX-52 build with a Heat-inherit Primer. However, that will also require a different Forma allocation.

Check out other guides on this game from Sportskeeda:

Edited by Sijo Samuel Paul