The Balefire Charger is 
Hildryn's and 
Hildryn Prime's signature Exalted Weapon, summoned by activating 
the ability with the same name. This pistol launches bolts of 
Electricity that deal area-of-effect damage in a large area, and can be charged to deal more damage. Its massive damage is offset by its low critical chance, critical multiplier, and status chance.
Characteristics[]
- This weapon deals primarily
Electricity damage. - Innate two polarities.
- Can benefit from Fulmination ( Primed).
Advantages
- Highest base damage of all Exalted Weapon secondaries.
- Releases shots that explode in a 1/2/3 meter radius.
- Does not inflict self-stagger.
- No damage falloff.
- Pinpoint accuracy.
- Magnum Force's accuracy penalty is minimal on this weapon.
- Balefire Surge augment allows fully charged shots to replenish shields and overshields, as well as destroy nullifier shields.
- Does not use ammunition and does not need to reload.
Disadvantages
- Very low critical chance.
- Low critical multiplier and status chance.
- Slowest fire rate of all secondaries in the game.
- Projectile has travel time.
- Requires shields to activate and consumes shields per shot.
- As an Exalted Weapon it cannot contribute towards the Set Bonus of any Set Mods.
- Cannot equip Acolyte Mods (e.g., Sharpened Bullets) or Amalgam Mods (e.g., Amalgam Barrel Diffusion).
- This includes mods based on Acolyte mods, such as Galvanized Crosshairs.
- This includes mods based on Acolyte mods, such as
- Does not have an Exilus slot.
- Cannot equip Secondary Arcane Enhancements.
Notes[]
- The Balefire Charger uses Pistol Mods.
- The Balefire Charger is the only weapon that can be used while using the Aegis Storm ability.
- The Balefire Charger cannot zoom in when used with Aegis Storm.
- While Hildryn holds two Balefire Chargers instead of one while Aegis Storm is active, this is a purely cosmetic feature and has no effect on the weapon's effectiveness.
- The Balefire Charger's explosion radius scales with Balefire ability rank and is affected by Ability Range mods and ( Primed) Fulmination.
- Range mods and Fulmination bonuses multiply. A fully ranked Balefire with Fulmination and Stretch will have: 3m × (1 + 24%) × (1 + 45%) = 5.4m, but Fulmination's effect will not be reflected on the ability card.
- Shield cost to activate and cost per shot is affected by Ability Efficiency mods.
- When Hildryn has Overshields, Balefire Charger shots will Ragdoll enemies.
- While charging, the increased damage and shield consumption scales with the amount charged. At full charge, the Balefire Chargers deal 100% more damage and consumes 450 shields.
- As an Exalted Weapon, this weapon comes with an Orokin Catalyst pre-installed.
Tips[]
- While Balefire Charger's low base Status Chance make Corrosive and Magnetic procs less effective at removing shields and armor, it synergizes well with Hildryn's Pillage, as this ability can drain shields and permanently remove armor.
Trivia[]
- The Balefire Charger is the first Exalted Weapon to not be channeled via Warframe's fourth ability, and is the first Exalted Weapon to be a first ability.
- The Balefire Charger is the third secondary Exalted Weapon, after Regulators and Dex Pixia.
- On Hildryn Prime, the pistol is named Balefire Charger Prime. Their stats are, however, identical to Balefire Charger.
Balefire Charger Skins
Patch History[]
Hotfix 36.0.4 (2024-06-26)
- Fixed Hildryn’s Balefire quickfire Attack Speed being increased when the “Fire Manual Trigger Weapons Continuously” setting is toggled on.
Hotfix 33.6.4 (2023-08-15)
- Fixed being unable to equip the Balefire Einheri skin on Hildryn’s Balefire Prime.
Update 29.5 (2020-11-19)
- Fixed de-equipping a Scanner not returning you to your active Exalted weapon if one was equipped prior.
Hotfix 29.1.1 (2020-09-18)
- Fixes towards Exalted weapons not being equipped when viewed via Look Link or Mod Link.
Update 27.4 (2020-05-01)
- Fixed both Charged Damage and Quick Shot Damage of Hildryn’s Balefire Charger Damage displaying the same value in the Arsenal.
Update 24.6 (2019-04-04)
- Hildryn is no longer restricted to move at walking speed when charging Balefire.
Update 24.4 (2019-03-08)
- Introduced.
Last updated: Hotfix 23.1.3 (2018-07-26)
