Beginner: Rifle or Shotgun?

[Gyrmadet]

So far I've been running around with a bow, a pistol and a sword. When I started, I equipped one at a time, 'cause I've been told they level faster; now I think I could try either a rifle or a shotgun.
Among the several questions that come to mind, probably the most urgent are:
1) should I wait to "drop" a blueprint for a new weapon, or the chances are low and I would better capitalize on firepower by simply buying one in the market?
2) can I guess "rifle for long range, shotgun for short range"?

tips on budget to invest and type of weapon are all welcome!

[Madrox8]

shotguns are still one of my most powerfull weapon types, yes it has fall off damage but the base it can achive is so high, and the fall off in normal missions isnt that big, only on the open world is that truely noticable.

if you want to start going for a long term gun the shotgun is the way to go, and when you max out your bow you should sell that off to make room for you. but make sure to always lvl things to 30 at least once for that mastery rank, so you can use more powerful weapons and eventually riven mods

[Aure]

Originally posted by Gyrmadet:

So far I've been running around with a bow, a pistol and a sword. When I started, I equipped one at a time, 'cause I've been told they level faster; now I think I could try either a rifle or a shotgun.
Among the several questions that come to mind, probably the most urgent are:
1) should I wait to "drop" a blueprint for a new weapon, or the chances are low and I would better capitalize on firepower by simply buying one in the market?
2) can I guess "rifle for long range, shotgun for short range"?

tips on budget to invest and type of weapon are all welcome!

You can buy weapon blueprints from the market for credits.

[Watermelons]

Most weapon blueprints you get from buying from the Market for credits. There are only a few weapons whose blueprints drop from common enemies (the Gorgon machinegun from Heavy Gunner Grineer and the Boar from Drekhar Troopers on Uranus), and the rest of the weapons out there that drop in blueprints and parts usually come from bosses and assassins.

The weapons are up to you for the choosing. Look for weapons within your Mastery Rank, buy their blueprint for credits and gather the resources to build it. For shotguns, most people suggest getting the Hek when you reach MR4. The Strun is an earlier shotgun but still pretty decent, if you're not using that yet. As for a rifle, namely a sniper rifle, I recommend grabbing the Vectis as soon as you can, MR locked at only 2.

As for

Originally posted by Gyrmadet:

When I started, I equipped one at a time, 'cause I've been told they level faster;

it's just a matter of understanding how XP works in this game. When you get a kill with a Warframe ability, 100% of the XP goes to the Warframe. When you get a kill with a weapon, 50% of the XP goes to the weapon and 50% goes to the Warframe. And when teammates get kills within the XP share range of you, all the XP is evenly shared between your Warframe and weapons. That's why people suggested you use only one weapon at a time, so that teammate kills will go 50/50 between your frame and your one gun.
If you're playing by yourself, then you don't need to worry about only using one weapon; equip them all if you feel you need to. Get kills with the weapons you want to level up.

[Yuki]

The weapon blueprints that drop are usually different from those you can purchase in the market for credits.
Additionally: Join a clan. There you can purchase even more blueprints for more weapons- and warframes!

Rilfe or shotgun can not be told in general. Each specific weapon can be compared, but they differ a lot within their class.

Shotguns are generally lower range heavy hitters. Some more than others.
Rifles are generally higher range faster and more precise, but again some more than others.

To give you an idea:
The phantasm (shotgun) plays in many aspects much like an Ignis(Rifle- flamethrower).
It uses shotgun ammo but kinda vomits a continious stream of plasma instead of pellets.

The Lenz(bow) is a bow yes, but its more like a grenade launcher.

The Drakgoon Shotgun can kinda do both. It either releases a lot of pellets in short range like a shotgun on click, or you charge the shot (keep the mouse button pressed) to limit the spread and increase distance, at which point it can nearly be played like a semi auto heavy hitting rifle.

Some shotguns are probably more, some less useful, same for rifles, and in the end you may want to give every gun a try. For mastery rank, but also to find your personal favorite.

You cant say shotguns are generally better, whoever does doesnt have any clue about WF. But also not the other way around.

As for which primary weapons to go for that are usually found "effective and reachable in low level":

Boar (large bullet spread short range shotgun) and Boltor (Heavy hitting full automatic rifle) can be quite effective among lower level enemies. Boltor even higher. Both MR2. For the Boltor there are several upgraded variants later on, so id suggest to probably keep it until you get there, but dont invest too much into it.

Gorgon MR 3 is one of the dropped BP's. A machine gun with spool up time. Probably without max mods (which you probably dont have right?) a better option than the braton and other starting weapons. Build it!

Hek: MR 4, Semi auto heavy hitter. Armor cracker shotgun.

[GunsForBucks]

While you are still doing low level stuff you should get all the MK 1 stuff out of the way... you also don't have to craft any of it .. they come pre-built for credits. Also the sicarus and another. <is it Lex?>

[Gyrmadet]

Originally posted by Madrox8:

yes it has fall off damage

what is it?

Originally posted by Something Something Watermelons:

If you're playing by yourself, then you don't need to worry about only using one weapon; equip them all if you feel you need to. Get kills with the weapons you want to level up.

thanks a lot, this was enlightening

Originally posted by Yuki:

Additionally: Join a clan.

I've absolutely no clue how to do that yet xD also I am hyper casual and may not fit into hardcore clans, and hopefully find one with an high average age (players wise).

[Iron Breaker]

shotgun, shotguns require very little effort to make good while most rifles require crap loads of high rank/cost mods and forma out the wazoo

[Sceles]

Hek with Scattered Justice is one of the most powerful things you can have at MR4 but there are not that many shotguns in the game so using excessive amounts of endo on shotgun mods isn't really a good idea. I don't know the exact amount but I can say that there are several times more rifles than there are shotguns, and bows and snipers also use rifle mods.

[Rhingeim]

Played a lot with various weapons, and Hek is still one of the favorite. After some Forma's grind it can be a devastating beasts if you're ok with small clip size.

Another one is Tigris if you like double-barrel mechanic.

[Pakaku]

Rifles have falloff, but it's unnoticable unless shooting at extreme ranges. Almost never going to happen on a normal tileset, more likely on open tilesets (Plains of Eidolon, Orb Valis)

Shotguns mainly falter at long ranges because of their pellet spread, so getting closer is how to max out your damage output with them, unless you're deliberately firing at wide groups

[Yuki]

Originally posted by Gyrmadet:

Originally posted by Yuki:

Additionally: Join a clan.

I've absolutely no clue how to do that yet xD also I am hyper casual and may not fit into hardcore clans, and hopefully find one with an high average age (players wise).

There is a recruitment channel. Either watch for recruitment (its also just for squads/missions), or post a line.

There are many casual clans. Or even the "hardcore" clans often have kind of a secondary subclan that also doubles as inactive reservoir/casual/newbie training ground. And most of them have already access to everything. (clans need to research those blueprints to be able to sell them to their members)

Originally posted by Gyrmadet:

Originally posted by Madrox8:

yes it has fall off damage

what is it?

Most shotguns only apply their max damage for a certain (often very limited) range. Then from range x to y they apply less and less. After y meters they usually stop working at all.
They also usually make up for that with comparably high damage, thus shotguns are deadly in close quarters until x, but also remain still usable at medium distances up to y.
How far "close" and "medium" actually is depends on the weapon and how you did mod it and its projectile type. There are mods to increase projectile speed for instance, those will usually also increase both distances at once for shotguns that aint hitscan (in effect, where you see the projectile moving in difference to directly registering a hit immediately).

Originally posted by Pakaku:

Rifles have falloff, but it's unnoticable unless shooting at extreme ranges. Almost never going to happen on a normal tileset, more likely on open tilesets (Plains of Eidolon, Orb Valis)

Heavily depends on the rifle- if it has one at all. Most dont.
And then how much as well. You are more likely experiencing the drops in damage from multishot:
Multishot bullets always fan out a tiny bit. If you have a high accuracy weapon you wont notice that at all until they are really really far away. And simultaneous hits of those multishots are "added up" to a single number. Thus at short range the big number on top is actually from several hits. In the moment some of the added bullets no longer hit on higher range- this big number on top decreases. But thats not falloff, though it may work like that and is an important factor for more medium ranged not that accurate rifles, e.g. when deciding if that "Heavy Calliber" mod is actually worth it. Because: lower accuracy lets the shots fan out even more, hence increasing this effect.

[Gyrmadet]

thanks all, you folks are awesome!