Written By boltzmannbrain

Overall Rank: A-

Warframe’s sleek new weapon, the Astilla, is the latest addition to the slowly expanding list of shotguns that look as stellar as they perform (not you, Vaykor Hek). Its elegant glass textures and metallic channels make this weapon a fantastic stylistic choice, if fashionframe is your true endgame, but its complementary stats hint at a powerhouse that can clear the starchart with ease. Much like the Arca Plasmor, the Astilla also fires slugs instead of the traditional shotgun pellets sported by Warframe’s other shotguns. Its base status chance is nothing to scoff at, allowing for consistent status procs when modded correctly. Throw in some critical chance mods and you’ll have a solid hybrid build that lets you strip armor with relative ease, while also providing the necessary critical dps to take down even the heaviest armored units in a matter of seconds.

Mechanics and Build Discussion:

Status Chance:

The Astilla fires slug projectiles with average travel time and a slight drop, that explode on impact, causing damage in a small 2-3 meter radius around the initial impact location. Its IPS distribution of 70 impact, 42 puncture and 78 slash allows for consistent slash procs (if you want to mod for them), which will satisfy even the most demanding slash+viral enthusiasts. Sporting a 33% status chance at base value, this weapon clearly supports a status build. The weapon’s mechanics become significantly more confusing when it comes to its critical chance. A large part of the debate online revolving how to mod this weapon boils down to whether or not the weapon’s mechanics can support a critical build or not.

Critical Chance:

The Astilla’s base critical chance lies at a measly 17%, which under normal circumstances means that it would be completely futile to mod for critical chance and critical damage. However, the Astilla has two instances of damage (the impact of the slug and the small AOE that follows it), both of which can crit, meaning a hybrid build allows for consistent crits, since the probability for critical chance isn’t reflected in the arsenal’s listed value. When paired with an armor stripping build, the Astilla melts through enemies.

To Blaze or Not To Blaze?

Blaze is one of the more popular shotgun mods since it adds significant overall damage. Blaze, however, has the negative side-effect of biasing the weapon towards heat procs (or blast, radiation, gas), none of which are desirable. While heat, blast and radiation have great crowd control capabilities, the Astilla features a forced impact proc every time the slug hits an enemy, meaning you get a lot more mileage for biasing status in favor of corrosive or viral. Blaze can, however, be used in a no-forma budget build which can clear low-level enemies without hassle.

 

Pros:

• Forced impact procs with every shattered slug.
• Great base status chance, allows for a near 100% status chance build.
• High magazine capacity with a decent fire rate.
• Great IPS distribution, offers consistent slash procs.
• Looks real damn good, just build it already.

Cons:

• Slight projectile drop at high range.
• Damage falloff at 40 meters.
• Enemies need to be hit by both the slug and the AOE to receive the full damage of the weapon, meaning accuracy affects performance.
• The AOE happens on the semi-circle in front of the target, meaning no enemies behind the target will receive AOE damage.

 

Astilla Builds:

• Budget (0 Forma, Catalyst only):An easy to put together build, with only farmable mods. We use Contagious Spread to bias the status chance in favor of corrosive and counterweigh the effect of Blaze + Chilling Reload, thus ensuring we’ll always be getting more Corrosive procs than Blast ones. Very good for most Warframe content.
• Hybrid Build (3 Forma)The ideal endgame build for the Astilla, allowing it to be brought comfortably into Sortie 3 level Grineer missions. We focus solely on Corrosive damage, thus making this weapon a true armor shredder. Once the Corrosive procs kick in (which happens in a matter of seconds), the critical build does short work of even the heaviest of units
• [Gif link of example – lvl 100 Corrupted Heavy Bombard against the Hybrid Build.]https://imgur.com/HtMdLth

Stats at a Glance

Statistics
Mastery Level	7
Magazine Size	16 rounds per mag
Max Ammo	None
Reload Time	2.0s
Disposition Rank	4/5
Normal Attacks
Crit Chance	17.00%
Crit Multiplier	1.9x
Status Chance	33.00%
Impact	70
Puncture	42
Slash	78