Knell

Ring the death knell. Headshots briefly turn this scoped pistol into a rapid-fire, Critical Damage fiend that uses no ammo.

The Knell is Harrow's signature pistol that ultilizes its scope to more accurately land shots at long range. Although its magazine can only hold 1 round (2 rounds when equipped with Harrow), headshots grant it infinite ammunition and increased critical multiplier and status chance for a short duration, making it a "high risk, high reward" weapon.

Characteristics[edit | edit source]

This weapon primarily deals Puncture and Impact damage.

Advantages

High Puncture and Impact damage – effective against armor and shields.
High critical chance.
Headshots trigger the Death Knell buff, additively increasing the modded critical multiplier by 0.5x and modded status chance by 20% and granting unlimited ammo for 2 seconds, stacks up to three times and can be refreshed on consecutive headshots.
Good fire rate.
Precise at long range due to the scope feature.
- Scope can be used even in Bleedout.

Disadvantages

Low Slash damage – less effective against health.
Low base critical multiplier.
Very low base status chance.
Extremely low ammunition pool of only ten rounds.
Can only load one shot at a time (two when used by Harrow).
- Impractical to use mods that increase pistol magazine size.

Acquisition[edit | edit source]

The Knell's blueprint can be purchased from the Market.

Manufacturing Requirements
15,000	2	5,200	3,800	20,000	Time: 12 hrs
15,000	2	5,200	3,800	20,000	Rush: 35
Market Price: 190			Blueprints Price:20,000

Notes[edit | edit source]

When used by Harrow, the Knell's magazine size is increased by 1 round, for a total of 2 rounds.
Upon headshots, the pistol gets the 2-second Death Knell buff which allows it to consume no ammo while firing, bypassing the need to reload.
- Stacks up to three times on consecutive headshots with each stack having its own duration.
- Adds a flat crit multiplier bonus per stack:
  $Crit Multiplier = 1.5 \times (1 + Crit Damage Mods) + 0.5 \times Number of Stacks$
- Also adds a flat status chance bonus of 20% per stack.
- No weak spots other than actual heads activate the buff.
  - This also means that Lephantis Heads will not trigger the buff.
  - Headshots on invulnerable enemies will still grant the buff, but not with invulnerable bosses.
- As an indication that this buff is active, the scope design while zoomed in will evolve, as well as showing the Death Knell buff in the UI.
  - The scope shows a 1.5x, 2.0x or 2.5x crit multiplier for the number of stacks respectively which does not represent the actual buff.

Tips[edit | edit source]

Synergizes well with Magnetize, Scourge, Harrow, Arcane Precision, Arcane Awakening, all other "On headshot" arcanes, Hydraulic Crosshairs, Orvius and Prowl (only if using Suppress). This is due to it having a fast reload, extremely small magazine, and the focus on scoring headshots.
- Harrow's Condemn, in particular, synergizes extremely well with Knell as chained enemies leave their heads very vulnerable to being shot at.
- Scourge also works particularly well with Knell, as the Bullet Attractor-like fields caused by throwing the speargun are created over the enemies' heads, and make it easier to land headshots.
- Orvius' charged attack holds enemies in the air where they are open to headshots.
- Combining a maxed Primed Pistol Gambit with an maxed active Hydraulic Crosshairs will give a combined 322% crit chance bonus, bringing crit chance for the Knell to 84.4%.
Works surprisingly well in conjunction with Nyx's Mind Control, as headshots on the controlled enemy will still trigger Death Knell, but they will not take damage until the ability ends. This way you can always have a big-headed-buddy of your choice nearby for easy activations.
Pressurized Magazine can be very beneficial on this weapon, as it will increase the fire rate during the infinite ammo buff considerably if you can score a headshot quickly after reloading.
Seeker is also a viable mod for this pistol, especially when expecting enemies to spawn in a corridor such as the main hallway in a Void Defense mission, or when trying to score a headshot against an enemy hiding behind cover or Shield Lancers.

Trivia[edit | edit source]

A knell is the sound made by a bell, specifically when rung to signify a death or a funeral.
When viewed from overhead Knell resembles a cross, possibly in reference to Harrow's priest/exorcist theme.
There is Tennobet engraved at the bottom of Knell's handle. This translates to "KUHT", which could mean "Cut".

Media[edit | edit source]

Knell in Codex.

Warframe Knell, Penalized For Not Scoring Head - 4 Forma Build thesnapshot

How to use the Knell- Properly! (Warframe weapon guide)

Warframe - KNELL BUILD - Sniper Pistol 4 forma

Knell Quick Showcase Bullet Hell (For Enemies) - 4 Forma

Warframe - All Tenno Secondaries - Weapon Animations & Sounds (2012 - 2019)

Warframe - All Tenno Weapon Reloads in 3 minutes (2012 - 2019)

Patch History[edit | edit source]

Update 25.8

October 2019 Riven Disposition Change

Knell: 1.15->1.2

Hotfix 25.4.1

Fixed the Knell forcing a reload when empty even if you got a headshot.

Update 24.6

The Knell is now automatic.
Having a ‘signature’ weapon now actually benefits you!
- Knell now has a 2 round mag when wielded by Harrow.
(Undocumented) Increased reload time from 1.0s to 2.0s.

Update 22.20