Warframe | The Critical Legacy Of Soma Prime

#warframelore #jadeshadows #warframeupdate #tennocreate
The Soma & Soma Prime are classic staples of Old Warframe. Having influenced the early metagames to such an insane degree and being one of the first contenders of power creep. The Soma has been in the game for now 10 years and despite the changes to the sandbox, it holds a special place in the hearts of many old veterans. So today lets dive into the backstory of Soma & Soma Prime in Warframe.
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[@NovaUmbral]

I may have missed/left out some small details but working on weapon videos are quite different compared to Frame essays, will continue to structure them as I go forward. EDIT: I meant to say HIGH critical damage, not decent. Sorry for slight oversight in script.

[@Ariamaki]

Could you please go back and manually subtitle the Tactical Potato section of the video (covering Boltor Prime)? Ancient mic quality + thick accent = indecipherable noises.

[@proximityclockworkx1572]

Ah yes, I remember the old joke: Tigris Prime, the best sniper in the game

[@XcrazymanIII]

dont forget the old hek

[@0mniknightz]

if u got a problem, tigris it

[@dankmemes8254]

Look how they massacred my boy

[@proximityclockworkx1572]

@@dankmemes8254 Yeah sadly the Exergis, a non prime weapon can do what the Tigris does but better and with 1 shot instead of 2. :// Sadly nowadays, if it can't prime or nuke an 11 meter area to ashes, it's quickly forgotten.

[@madsvigan2898]

Tigris still is My most used primary even after 4 years or so I havent been using it.

[@sennsa510]

Soma Prime my beloved

[@Koronus_]

Soma Prime my beloved.

[@nofilterneito]

Soma Prime my beloved

[@depreza68]

Soma Prime my beloved

[@sergeantdornan7000]

Soma Prime my beloved

[@addmen96]

Small fun fact: soma's mastery requiment was raised from 1 to 3 just week after its release. And I just happened to join the game during these days and grab the gun for myself at mastery rank 2. Sigh, there were the times...

[@mueezyusuf7181]

When I started Warframe, I bought the blueprint for the soma as soon as I could obtain it after watching a video from MHBlacky. I still use it to this day

[@snakeman830]

The thing that disappointed me most about Soma Incarnon was that it reduced the crit chance by such a large amount. Soma Prime normally has a 30% base crit chance, but when incarnon mode drops to 10%, even with Hata-Satya fully stacked and Critical Delay, it doesn't even reach 90% crit chance, which is a tragedy considering under those same conditions, normal Soma Prime hits 240% crit chance. Soma Incarnon wants totally different builds for incarnon mode versus normal.

[@kielmun566]

It's crazy how the UI/graphics looks back then to now. DE did a great job of making the game feel close to current AAA game graphics. That's why after coming back from a 4+ year hiatus, the game feels so different now but in a good way.

[@h4ven01de4]

every time i see a history vid form this guy i instantly age another 12 years realizing this is how long i've been playing warframe for

[@nobody4y]

To this day Fang Primes are my most used melee Rip coptering

[@youraveragechroma2139]

I feel as though the release of Hunter Munitions (even though it affected almost all weapons) was a massive change for the Soma. That pre-HM world where we relied on status for armor bypass or removal was ultra reliant on weapons status leaning. Soma really was a rare case of high fire rate crit boosted slash.

[@cdgonepotatoes4219]

"Decent critical damage" Wasn't the Soma the one weapon with the highest critical damage in the game back then? I still remember the conversations. Maybe one of the bows beat it but mind's drawing a blank on other ideas.

[@NovaUmbral]

I meant to say high Crit damage, oversight when I was recording, apologies

[@KNGDDDE]

Back in the early days, yea the soma was goated.

[@trd7639]

Dread is the bow that beat soma for ability to achieve red crit and high crit damage multipliers. I got over 6x crit damage multiplier on my dread.

[@cdgonepotatoes4219]

@@trd7639 there it was. Yeah, I remember building it for AoE

[@klondikelegitski675]

One of my oldest WF memories was asking for help fighting Lephantis back in the day(started right before Cetus came out). The Dude that helped me came in with a Volt Prime and shredded each Lephantis head with Soma Prime in seconds. Needless to say it became my dream weapon afterwards

[@Master_Of_The_Universe]

I'm having a Warframe based crisis, "back in the day" for me has a different meaning. I still remember grinding Rhino Prime back when we had keys and I think I still have Gamma in my inventory.

[@JustPixelNoIDontWantAnyNumbers]

So I started playing Warframe when Plains of Eidolon had just released, and we had the Twitch Prime loot of a Frost Prime, Soma Prime and Scindo Prime. I used those 3 for so long that they are still in my top 5 most used respectively. The Soma carried my ass, and I structured my entire loadout around it, getting Carrier for the explicit purpose of making sure I never run out of ammo, as well as dropping a wopping 4 forma on it, which took me ages back then to grind out. I still sometimes use it, especially with its unique mod because if there is one thing I love more than a bullet hose its a bullet hose that gets better with each shot fired.

[@venerablebrothergoriate5844]

Tiberon Prime and Soma Prime got me through so much shit back when I still played Warframe.

[@mikedunlock]

I've only been playing for a year and a half, so I appreciate these history videos. Thanks!

[@haze8346]

Great video, brings back a lot of memories ! The first ratchet song too :')

[@peddypeoples941]

I loved the supra vandal, 300 ammo bullethose, with ash it did respectable work:) today i very much enjoy the braton p incarnon, not the most powerful, but very comfy.

[@Mastrmyrtr9]

Ah, yes. The old days of soma, Tigris, and vectis being the GOATs. What a beautiful trio of guns, still to this day they just feel so good.

[@emilianom.3264]

A lot of these videos have helped to remember just how much animosity there was between DE and the player base regarding many things, nowadays we have it good but back then oh boy were some behaviors questionable at best

[@IplayTeemoasaWard]

If someone pointed a gun at your head and asked you, what weapons formed "The Big 3" over warframes history, what would you say?

[@alt4f1]

Soma, phenmore, kuva zarr

[@starstreakalex7372]

for primaries, Bramma, Tigris Prime, Soma Prime

[@abso9639]

phenmor, felarx and xata whisper

[@nobody4y]

Acrid, Flux Rifle, Soma

[@KNGDDDE]

Eh... i honestly couldn't tell you. Too many weapons, too many events. No weapon reigned long except back when warframe was kinda bad and just didn't get updates like that.

[@AstrumPrimus]

I remember having Soma Prime and Rubico Prime as my ranger class main weapons in Terraria Calamity Mod. One of many reason why i love this rifle a lot

[@mugoloo]

Soma Prime still remains my #3 most used weapon, just because I used it so much back then. Great docu.

[@0uttaS1TE]

One of my earliest Warframe memories was getting this gun, along with the Vasto Prime and Nova Prime. I grinded for days for them all, and when I got them, it was all I used for months. To this day, the Soma Prime is still my most used weapon, and for good reason

[@eventhorizon9598]

Thanks to you, I remember that Tonkor exists

[@VioletSteel13]

All these looks into the past makes me think about 'coptering. Would probably still have my dual zoren if mastery fodder didnt include on in a crafting recipe

[@TheInfidel23]

I was one of those 2015 players and this gun carried my star chart progress. Years and many breaks from the game later, and I finally got around to getting the prime and the incarnon together. Still a daily driver for me, especially with harrow and citrine, just a really fun gun to use even if it's not meta

[@owl448]

A video all aboot armor/enemy armor would be awesome

[@melanclock]

I used soma so much back in the day that it is still one of my most used weapons

[@josephsoh908]

I do remember those boltor and soma prime days!

[@Male_Parent]

15:40 Vectis prime!! The GOAT. That sniper rifle carried me through the star chart. Also 100% status chance tigris was nuts back then.

[@SenaFoxGirl]

I miss these days. Specifically Tonkor rocket jumping days, I pretty much quit using Soma P when that came out, made me obsessed with getting places I normally couldn't.

[@cinderpsycho1985]

I remember boltor having armor pen in damage 1.0 and it often felt easier to go through armor with then other guns vs grinner

[@eglewether5523]

I am not watching this video, it just randomly poped up on my feed. I didnt play warframe in few years, but soma prime was one of my most favourite weapons, just awesome firepower, looks, feel everything. And red crits were awesome, I remember people trashtalking me for my crit build xD. Fantastic lovely weapon, space AK.

[@TheFlyingslug]

I still think it's a crime that the Soma's Incarnon form is basically just an automatic shotgun. The thing struggles to kill single armored units on Steel Path starchart while weapons like the Dual Toxocyst incarnon are capable of evapoating entire hallways of Grineer in under a second when built right. Funny infected status pistol gets crazy crit buffs and ricocheting shots while the Soma gets to be a worse version of the Boltor.

[@MageSkeleton]

even as recently as the introduction of the Zaramon update, Soma Prime would be my "control" for comparing DPS capabilities among other weapons. The Tenora Prime ended up being a "better" version because of it's gimmick, though i wish it's alt fire did more damage. i ended up falling in love with the Bubonico as my "go to" weapon. And i couldn't believe the number of times i had used other weapons like the Phantasma [Prime] and run out of ammo versus the times i was able to just "shoot" what i needed to with the Bubonico.

[@filanfyretracker]

I still use it as my goto incarnon, with Primed Shred its a bullet firehose. other things might be meta, but brrrrrt brings me a smile.

[@eventhorizon9598]

When I got asked whether Soma or Boltor, I answered SYNAPSE!

[@_tot.]

Thank u

[@WillLittle123]

You don't go to the zoo to see the tiggers, you see the tigers

[@Embryage]

The most used gun in my old account. I miss you, Soma Prime.

[@elainyaa]

my baby soma prime ❤ will love it forever

[@flamingo4450]

As soon as i got the Soma i made sure to mod it for maximum firerate, it was fun having basically a laserbeam of bullets

[@Zefar77]

I remember Acrid being a contender to most OP weapon in the game. If you used it at peak, you could buff it's damage over time it did and you could stack these as fast as you could fire. But it this also bypassed shields and even bosses shields. Before it was nerfed to oblivion. Now it's real useless. Also Boltor Prime main here. I used it far more than Soma Prime. So much in fact that it's still my most used weapon after 4000 hours and I haven't touched it in a few years.

[@kasumi2173]

2015 soma prime was the comfiest rifle you could have had . Still my most used rifle to this day due to how long it's been meta relevant .

[@Temmoie]

You know, seeing Soma Prime, my stats page shows I used the OG Soma by about 19% to this day and its Prime is at 25% usage , and it's still my top used weapon even if I had been using other guns and left both Soma in locker for years. From time to time, I still take it out for a spin, and sometimes using its stronger cousin called Tenora Prime. And different from Soma Prime, is that Tenora can shoot a sniper-round at cost of 10 bullets. It makes me wonder if DE could've made Soma P better by also giving it a sub-fire function similar to Tenora.

[@Wooskii1]

I have all the adapters (circuit is really fun) but the Soma has been on my "I'll get to it later list" since its second week (Duviri is really painful)... Maybe I'll give it a shot next time I find someone willing to farm Duviri with me.

[@RIPJimmyA7X]

Soma was and is still my main, with the correct build it can still shred Steel Path. The Gotva Prime is pretty dang close now though, still the Soma remains the king of my arsenal

[@luhcsgrimm8857]

Forget to mention Hunter Munitions coming out and being a small resurgance

[@moarfunxd]

I still use the Soma Prime

[@lordrefrigeratorintercoole288]

same

[@noahedenborg4221]

now i want a vid all about aoe weapons and their history at least boltor incarnon doesnt lose 20 base crit

[@E4ys]

I love this weapon so much I used it in half of my total playtime which is over 500 hours. I ADORE everything about this weapon, the looks, the function, the sound effect, the recoil, the criticals, and I'm just kinda dissapointed that the incarnon turned the Soma into less of a Soma and more an auto shotgun.

[@LuminousOriens]

My atterax still has the maiming strike build that does like 2 damage now

[@ZuckFukerberg]

You explained the old metas pretty well, made me remember all the crap we have done over the years pretty vividly. Well done Mr. Umbral, see you on the next T4D, I'll bring my terribly expensive Ember Prime.

[@Wolfnrun]

It's a good weapon if your new and it's good for long term end game as well

[@Justice_XI]

Soma my beloved

[@lordrefrigeratorintercoole288]

i still mostly use my soma prime. its just the best.

[@Spambot27374]

Its really good with sevagoth

[@joshuathomasverghese1341]

Legendary Weapon.

[@themoabrigade]

Soma was my first prime.... then I got the Tiberon Prime and went with that lol I sorta wanna get back into Warframe now.... havnt played since 2021 -.-"

[@Darthmufin]

What's funny is once the grakata came out, that essentially replaced the soma, and the prisma replaced the soma prime easily. I did videos comparing the two and the grakata even beat the soma prime at one point. Grakata wasn't as popular though.

[@Metruzanca]

The Warframe History strikes again.

[@ezkhel]

Despite being sold years ago, the soma is still my most used primary lol. I guess partly because we have so many good weapons to play with now and I don't just stick to one weapon that my use time on them still hasn't matched the soma.

[@bu3areesh674]

I just got the most amazing soma riven 134.4% Toxin, 171.6% Critical Damage, and -34.5% Zoom. Toxin can be multishot or crit chance, but holy red crit damage territory with sevagoth's augment or anyone that gives flat crit chance. The gun hits 1-2mil a shot shredding anything that is infront of it. With wisp buffs or anyone else and it just becomes even more of an unholy monster. I use it everywhere now depending on the frame and the mission and i love it. I dont use hata satya because i dont have it and im not sure what it would change but when i get my hands on it ill be testing it out. I think my most amount of damage was once with a 10mil bullet though im not sure how to recreate that im still testing it out more and trying things to see if i can push it further.

[@Negruzzu]

Started playing in 2014, i cant even describe the level of power i felt using this weapon. It became the top weapon on my account for a long time before getting the soma prime. Btw i just reached MR30 a week ago (i never cared too much about it, until i made it to 25 and thought it might be the time to do it after so long) and it might be silly but i love giving the affinity/cred blessing into Relays, i was felt that is such a nice thing to give…and it’s free so… my pleasure brothers

[@MrFirsito]

i actually revisited my soma prime incarnon... it is a good weapons ,destroyed by so many other incarnons, being IMO torid and angstrum prime miles better :( and am not even gonna talk about phenmor and laetum, the absolute mandatory have at finishing zariman

[@SkyEcho751]

There is a way to make Soma Prime Incarnon 'good' and that's by using Harrow. Harrow grants a 200% final CC on headshots, taking advantage of the 4x critical multiplier, giving easily 8x if not critical 12x damage multiplier, add in headshot bonus damage and it SHREDS. I actually like the Soma Incarnon a bit more then the Boltor Incarnon.

[@coleshovel8432]

I started playing in 2015 I don’t think I got soma prime until MR 14ish though, sometime in early 2016.

[@evanpjpeg]

i think it’d be completely fine if they buff the slash damage of tigris prime back up unless there’s a future incarnation coming for it

[@Inkster8]

Do a ivara vid

[@ReallyNotAGoose]

I started playing for rhe first time around the end of update 10 (the first update I remember being present for was 11). Getting MR6 for the soma seemed like a massive obstacle at first, but it felt incredible when I got it. I remember soloing t3 keys with it to get my first primes.

[@FelpHiro]

It feels like D.E. tried to be funny and swapped burston incarnon and soma incarnon. Just like them giving us a tenet glaxion, which is just amprex but cold damage.

[@ItsSerranoHD]

I was the Soma Prime's strongest soldier back in the day, heck it still appears as my most used Primary on my account. While I knew power creep was inevitable, before the Incarnons I was still happy with it. Once the Incarnon did come out though, it was honestly pretty sad, considering the hype surrounding it, and it got outshined in its role by the freaking **Burston** of all weapons. It's still plenty usable, don't get me wrong, but its Incarnon was definitely a disappointment, and fixing Hata-Satya honestly wasn't enough since you lost the crit upon switching forms anyway.

[@1Thyrus1]

As someone who played during that time, using argon scope unironically made you do less damage because it was a wasted mod slot.

[@1Thyrus1]

It was just "funny red number" meme

[@SamuSeen]

Oh god, do I miss self-damage.

[@Vi74LiTy]

If you want "soma incarnon", just use the burston. Its incarnon form is much closer to an upgrade of the soma than what the soma got. Burston incarnon is insane.

[@Ace4573]

It might see a rise with the new status rework.

[@r3ktfox146]

Ah yes Tigris prime the god sniper and room clearer, gotta thank tactical potatoe for intruding me to that , god beautyi miss that meta

[@giraoshaw]

I really wish Soma's incarnon was what the Furis got😔

[@slof69]

gaming

[@Xeo_1999]

The incarnon is of course above most weapons, but it just doesnt feel satisfying to use, I kinda wish they just went the burston incarnon route and leaned into the whole bullet hose theme, and it doesnt even have to be as strong tbh. Seeing that its some weird shotgun with meh crit chance without the weapon augment was...disappointing to say the least. The stat buffs were nice ofc but thats kinda expected. Still in my top 3 most used weapons tho (before incarnon!), design of the wep is so peak, and using it in earlier stages of the game was so damn nice. I think it was the first prime wep i bought.

[@snakeman830]

Since without rivens or warframe buffs, Incarnon mode caps out at 80% crit chance...

[@Liam-jn6zu]

YEAH! I was right!

[@olivierdols5556]

what is that middle gun at 1:46 i see it on devstreams as a placeholder icon but i dont know where it came from

[@NovaUmbral]

Its the OG Ogris model

[@olivierdols5556]

@@NovaUmbral omg that goes waaaay back

[@Shrooby-te4vf]

Zephyr still remains my most used frame % wise because of rocket boosting.

[@SkyReaperOne]

1:50 To be perfectly clear here... Nobody... And I mean NOBODY cared about status chance back when Soma was added. There was no support for status back then. People only used elements as extra raw damage that could deal with enemies that were weak to those elements better. The only outlier being the Acrid. Though I can't remember if they had fixed the Acrid's damage by the time Soma came out. (Acrid being the very first weapon to deal "toxic" damage in the game. So early on in-fact, that nothing had any resistance to its damage type. It was effectively a true damage weapon for a good while.)

[@grug7793]

Soma prime is my raifu flight me

[@majdyalsaeed2798]

It is really ironic I like the soma it was the first weapon I got recommended to from MHBlacky and he was right I actually felt like I am really strong like I am real player after getting it how sad

[@judgement7279]

As someone wise said "if you killing single targets fast enough it can be called AoE"

[@janablom823]

The fire rate nerf in incarnon form was completely unnecessary. I exclusively use it on 600 strength Wisp to stop if from feeling sluggish

[@BaeBunni]

"bad incarnon" while yea all incarnons are generally buffs and lets them outclass most other weapons we can only equip 1 primary secondary and melee at a time so there is a reason to suggest some are bad especially if means giving up a potentially good incarnon and waiting 8 weeks to get it later though really the only week that has a tough decision is week 5 with torid dual toxyst dual ichor and atomos all in 1.

[@vladd415]

The problem with the Soma incarnon is that the incarnon form has lower critical chance than the non-incarnon form. Everyone knew that the Soma was a crit based weapon. DE then went "LOL NO" and tanked the critical chance on the incarnon form. Why? For what reason? Did they want to "do something different"? To make the incarnon form be "something else"?

[@nedalalmofleh5860]

My fav weapon ever, maxed tf out of it that ppl called me a lunatic

[@the1990boy]

Ngl, what lil bit I've used it I always thought it sucked ass.

[@Jchats123]

It might just be my skill issue but when i mod soma for steel path i cant get it to do good dmg so can anyone tell me some tips

[@Lemon_Sage9999]

Aim for headshots, viral hunter munitions

[@Jchats123]

@@Lemon_Sage9999 i use viral and hunter munitions and i headshot

[@v3igazord]

telos boltor does aoe gas dmg. so it's a fart then

[@rhetorikunleashed5114]

Hello

[@theleoshowm3010]

ASTRONOMICAL 75%.... lol

[@darkmugetsu6572]

Who her started warframe and got soma prime with frost prime for free via twitch

[@Ak4set]

Sadly the Tenora outclasses this weapon when i looked closer at the stats

[@robertharris6092]

It makes me sad that the soma prime is so shit now. I tried using it with the incarnon forms buffs in netracellls and it still does hardly anything.

[@atomgoat5722]

Soma non incarnon form, does better damage and more fun.