You might want a Warframe Incarnon weapons guide in 2022 if you’re trying to wrap your head around these evolving armaments. Not only can these weapons transform in the middle of battle, they also need more than just mods to reach their full potential. Incarnon weapons evolve over a series of challenges, unlocking alternate forms and stat bonuses that give you another level of control over their performance.
Getting your hands on each requires you to get familiar with the content introduced in the Warframe “Angels of the Zariman” update. Incarnon weapon blueprints are purchased from the short-tempered NPC named Cavalero in the Chrysalith social hub after you complete the update’s questline. Like much of Warframe’s newer, faction-driven content you will first need to accrue the relevant Standing to unlock and purchase the blueprints. Holdfast Standing, in this case.
The rarer resources needed to craft Incarnon weapons come from the Zariman tileset — i.e. missions you complete on the Zariman Ten Zero — and the Holdfast Bounties based there. Though it may appear that you need to grind hard for these resources, most of your time will actually be spent farming a total of 46 Voidplume Pinions. Simply hunting for the Pinions from Dormant Void Angels while completing bounties will net you enough Standing and materials to comfortably craft any Incarnon weapon.
How To Evolve Incarnon Weapons
Once you have your shiny new weapon in hand, the next step is to start improving it by progressing through five Evolution tiers. Anyone who’s completed a Nightwave act or unlocked a Riven should find this next step familiar.
At the start of each mission, a prompt will appear at the bottom of the screen with a particular objective. Such as killing Eximus enemies while the weapon is fully charged. Each task completed then lets you take the weapon back to Cavalero to unlock a new Evolution and choose from a new set of perks.
As hinted above, the challenges needed to unlock Evolution tiers aren’t anything too complicated. If you’ve made it all the way to the Zariman, it should just be another day in the proverbial flesh golem office. Just be aware that Evolution V needs you to equip an Incarnon weapon in every slot to complete.
Incarnon Forms, unlocked at Evolution I, let you transform your Incarnon weapon in the middle of combat. Not only do you get to hold a shiny new instrument of death, but the new form also boosts the Incarnon’s stats (in the case of melee weapons) or temporarily changes it into a whole new gun (in the case of firearms).
All you need to do to transform firearms is press the alternate fire button after landing headshots. A small, white gauge will fill up under the aiming reticle to show the gun is charged and ready to morph. Melee weapons, meanwhile, get their stat boost after performing a Heavy Attack with a 5x Combo Counter.
For these next few sections, we’re only going to highlight the most important and interesting evolutions for each weapon. Though you can always mix, match, and change your Evolution choices free of charge by speaking to Cavalero again in the Chrysalith.
Warframe Incarnon Weapons – Firearms
Laetum
The Laetum initially seems like a precision weapon. Its relatively slow rate of fire and near pinpoint accuracy are reminiscent of a Lex but, once you fill its transformation gauge, it becomes exactly the opposite. The Laetum goes fully automatic in its Incarnon Form, spraying radioactive bolts with an unhealthy side of splash damage.
Its Evolution perks revolve around improved handling, making it easier to land the headshots needed to trigger Incarnon form while remedying its small magazine and glacial reload speed. If you’re confident that you can consistently get headshots, perks like Lethal Rearmament and Reaper’s Plenty reward deadeye aim — speeding up reloads on headshots and lowering your ammo consumption, respectively.
Phenmor
Like a grown-up Laetum, this primary weapon starts as a marksman’s rifle that rewards accuracy thanks to a slow fire rate and high damage, before assuming a faster-firing, radiation-infused, minigun-esque Incarnon Form. With a hefty punch-through and a genuinely staggering fire rate, it can rip through packs of enemies with ease. You just can’t hold the trigger down forever. The Phenmor will start to shoot more slowly if fired for too long.
The Phenmor is held back by its reload time and fire rate. Though both traits are improved through Perks, two of Evolution III’s choices offset the slow reload if you use the Phenmor in specific ways. Executioner’s Fortune gives a 20% chance to instantly reload the weapon on a headshot, rewarding accuracy, while Ready Retaliation halves reload speed when the weapon is empty, encouraging aggressive shooting.
Felarx
If you’re a fan of shotguns that reload individual shells, like the Corinth and Strun, you’ll be pleased to know the Felarx follows suit. As a shotgun, it’s held back by a small magazine size and the fact that it uses projectiles with travel time instead of automatically effective “hitscan” attacks. Once transformed, though, it splits into a pair of slow-firing pistols with plenty of kick and innate punch-through.
Felarx’s Evolution Perks are largely stat increases that improve its performance. Evolution III, on the other hand, builds on shotgun’s distinctive reload with new features. Notably, Dual-Mode Chamber toggles the weapon between firing faster projectiles or adding punch-through. Whereas Mounting Momentum increases its fire rate with each shell loaded, encouraging larger magazines.
Warframe Incarnon Weapons – Melee
Innodem
Daggers in Warframe are typically held back by their short reach — something the Innodem overcomes by literally rising to the occasion. In its Incarnon Form, it grows longer to reach farther than most melee weapons. Ordinarily, it hits hard at the cost of its speed. Once transformed, however, it swings wider, throws projectiles on aim glide melee attacks, and grants damage resilience on finisher attacks. Oh, and it lets you run faster when you hold it.
The Innodem’s most interesting Evolution Perks focus on the traits that make its Incarnon Form special. Perks like Blade Twister and Stunning Brutality improve finishers by adding a radial stun with the latter and extra finisher damage with the former. Skyborne Lunge and Swooping Lunge improve the dagger’s aerial attacks instead.
Praedos
These tonfas seem fairly unremarkable before Evolving. Though they do improve Bullet Jumps when held. The weapon’s Incarnon Form further enjoys attack speed and range buffs (which is not nearly as exciting as the Innodem Perks).
That said, some of Praedos’ Evolution Perks make it far easier to reach the melee combo needed to transform the weapon by improving attacks that hit multiple targets. Seismic Slam and Shockwave Synergy synergize by increasing slam attack radius and provide more combo per enemy hit in a slam attack, respectively. Reaching Lunge increases Slide Attack range, on the other hand, giving that far-reaching attack a similar effect.
And that just about covers everything in our Warframe Incarnon weapon guide for 2022! Good luck with hunting down those Voidplume Pinions. You’ll be needing a sizable pile of them.
