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On the topic of weapons that shoot weird, unconventional stuff in Warframe, the Epitaph is right up there and is a certified community favorite. The arm-slingshot weapon is easy to obtain with a Mastery Rank requirement of 8, and even newbies can have it. Even so, that doesn’t mean the Epitaph is a beginner weapon. You can take it to Steel Path without much worry; you just have to follow our Warframe Epitaph build guide if you want it to over-perform that way.
Warframe Epitaph Build Mods, Arcanes, & Forma
While we did say that the Epitaph is something you can take to the endgame despite being an MR8 weapon, you’ll still need some semi-expensive mods if you are going to take it to Steel Path.
Moreover, a moderate amount of effort for Forma is to be expected, around three to four. That’s relatively still relatively low. Our Epitaph build relies on the Bleed status effect, and without that, you won’t get much mileage out of it in Steel Path. Without further ado, here are the mods:
The Exilus is up to you, though you can leave it empty if you want to save up on Forma or Exilus Adapters.
Since we’re going to be relying on Hemorrhage’s Slash procs for most of the damage, you want to enhance it using the Viral status effect. That means Viral needs to come first. Heat should be last in case you replaced Hornet Strike with Primed Heated Charge.
We do recommend that you work toward the Galvanized and Primed mods we mentioned in this build. They complete the build. Otherwise, you might have trouble killing weaker Steel Path enemies in one shot.
Arcanes for the Epitaph Build
For Arcanes, you have a couple of options, and you’re probably familiar with them already. Usually, there are only three notable Arcanes for Secondary weapons in Warframe. All of them are viable for our Warframe Epitaph build.
Check them out and weigh in your options.
- Secondary Merciless
- It’s easier to trigger, though it might be harder to maintain if you find yourself constantly running out of enemies to kill.
- Secondary Deadhead
- You need to score headshots to activate this but that should be easy since Epitaph is an AoE weapon.
There’s a third option, but you should only use it if you picked Primed Heated Charge instead of Hornet Strike.
- Cascadia Flare
- This relies on the Heat status effect for the damage buff, but that shouldn’t be much of an issue with Epitaph’s area damage.
All three are good. Secondary Merciless is the simplest to use, but if you’re more skilled or specialized, you can try out Secondary Deadhead or even Cascadia Flare (with Primed Heated Charge).
Epitaph Build Playstyle
Being a Slash or Bleed build, our playstyle for the Warframe Epitaph build is a bit more controlled compared to the straightforward running and gunning. At times, you will need to wait for the Slash proc to take effect.
This way, you can also save some shots and be more mobile. Typically, you only need to shoot enemies a few times and leave them alone to see if they’ll bleed to death. If not, then shoot them again with the main fire mode.
Problems arise when tougher enemies appear. Sometimes, you need to take them out fast. In that case, the Epitaph has an answer for the occasion in the form of its charged alt-fire mode. The charged mode is a high-damage, single-target projectile that can make quick work of high-threat targets.
You can see how it’s a popular weapon, as it has a lot of bases covered. The only drawback is that it’s not an automatic weapon, but that’s asking too much for an MR8 Secondary. The weapon is powerful as it is, especially if you use our Warframe Epitaph build.
