Warframe Gotva Prime build guide: Drop location, unique mechanics, best mods, and more

Warframe's vast arsenal now involves 500-odd individual weapons, with Gotva Prime being the newest addition. After Euphona and Dakra, this is the third weapon thus far not to have a non-Primed regular variant. A by-the-numbers automatic trigger rifle, Gotva Prime stands out thanks to its unique red critical mechanic.

Although the mechanic is not explicitly mentioned, Gotva Prime can turn any regular hit into a red crit, meaning it deals thrice the critical multiplier. As per details disclosed by the developers, the rifle has a chance to convert any hit into a red critical if the hit also procs a status effect.

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Warframe Gotva Prime drop location

Gotva Prime was given away for free in TennoCon 2023 (Image via Digital Extremes)

Warframe Gotva Prime was given away as a freebie to all viewers via Twitch drops during the TennoCon 2023 event. During the actual event, any viewer who spent one hour into the stream and had their Warframe account connected to Twitch received a free copy of this new Orokin rifle.

Thus far, there are no other ways to obtain Gotva Prime for players who missed the TennoCon stream. This may change later in the future with a Prime Access reveal, where Gotva Prime might be included. Alternatively, it may return as a claimable reward.

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Best late-game build for Warframe Gotva Prime: How to get more red crits

Gotva Prime build with late-game scaling (Image via Digital Extremes)

Gotva Prime has the right numbers to go for the common meta-critical build with Hunter Munitions. Critical Delay pushes the base critical chance to 69%, and the critical multiplier is also nothing to scoff at with Vital Sense.

However, the unique properties of the rifle tie the free red criticals to a status. The best build for Gotva Prime would thus utilize a hybrid approach between critical and status.

A viral combination with Malignant Force + Rime Rounds, as well as Galvanized Aptitude, grants it both high-status chance, Viral procs for extra damage, as well as up-front damage from Gun-CO. If you want to min-max further, Rime Rounds can be replaced with Primed Cryo Rounds for both higher Viral weightage and more overall damage.

Galvanized Hell takes care of all your Multishot needs and grants enough performance overhead on its own to make up for Critical Delay's negative fire rate.

The Vital Sense + Critical Delay + Hunter Munitions trifecta is still there to kick up the weapon damage in late-game scenarios, thanks to the armor-bypassing Slash ticks. To take this a notch further, you can incorporate faction damage mods such as Primed Bane of Corrupted to benefit from double-dipping Slash damage.

Note that Primed Bane mods are not strictly necessary if you are not dealing with high-level mobs in Steel Path endurance runs. Alternately, buff abilities such as Rhino's Roar can also act as a supplementary boost.