Best Pox Builds In Warframe

The Pox is easily one of the weirdest yet most effective utility weapons in Warframe. These Infested sacs act like throwable gas bombs, bursting on impact and spreading a toxic cloud that inflicts consistent status effects over a wide area. While they might not deal massive damage on their own, they shine as status primers, especially when paired with a strong primary or melee weapon that benefits from enemies being weakened.

If you’re a fan of status-heavy builds or need a reliable secondary to soften up groups of enemies, the Pox—and its upgraded Coda variant—are excellent choices. In this guide, we’ll cover how to get your hands on the Pox, break down its unique mechanics, and share a powerful build focused on status application that makes it a perfect pick for tough Star Chart missions and a solid opener for early Steel Path runs.

How To Get The Pox In Warframe

To get the standard Pox in Warframe, you’ll need access to the Bio Lab inside a clan dojo. That means joining a clan is a must unless you want to spend Platinum to purchase it from the in-game market. Once your clan has finished researching it, you can replicate the blueprint and start crafting the weapon yourself.

Later on, you can unlock the Coda Pox—a stronger variant—by progressing through the Warframe 1999 storyline. After completing “The Hex” quest, you’ll gain access to Technocyte Coda enemies. Defeat one, then visit Eleanor in Hollvania. She sells Coda weapons, including the Pox, though her inventory rotates, so check back if it’s not there right away.

Pox Crafting Requirements:
• 4x Mutagen Mass
• 6,500x Nano Spores
• 1,200x Rubedo
• 2x Nitain Extract
• 30,000 Credits
• Build Time: 24 Hours

Pox Stats And Features In Warframe Explained

The Pox is a unique Infested sidearm that launches fleshy projectiles which explode on contact, releasing a lingering Toxin cloud that damages enemies over time. Each throw launches four Toxin-infused bursts, making it great for spreading status effects across groups of enemies. While the damage per tick isn’t particularly high, the weapon makes up for it with solid status chance and excellent area control.

Both the base Pox and the Coda variant function as throwable gas bombs, but the Coda Pox offers stronger raw stats, including better critical chance, higher Toxin output, and double the magazine size. The clouds they leave behind deal damage every second for four seconds, allowing you to apply multiple procs quickly in a decent radius. Thanks to its natural Toxin damage, the Pox works especially well when modded for Corrosive or Viral, making it ideal as a status primer for tougher enemies or as a soft crowd-control tool for lower-level mobs.

Pox vs. Coda Pox – Core Stats:
• Base Toxin Damage: 80 (Pox), 140 (Coda Pox)
• Multishot: 1
• Fire Rate: 2.08
• Critical Chance: 1% (Pox), 10% (Coda Pox)
• Critical Multiplier: 2x (Pox), 2.2x (Coda Pox)
• Status Chance per Projectile: 35% (Pox), 45% (Coda Pox)
• Magazine: 4 (Pox), 8 (Coda Pox)
• Reload Speed: 1s
• Trigger Type: Automatic
• Accuracy: Very High
• Mastery Rank Requirement: MR 9 (Pox), MR 17 (Coda Pox)

With its high status output and built-in Toxin, the Pox is a great pick for spreading debuffs and softening up enemies before you finish them off with your main weapon.

Best Pox Builds

For the Pox, we’re focusing on what it does best—spreading status effects like wildfire. This build turns the weapon into a reliable status primer, perfect for weakening enemies before finishing them off with your primary or melee weapon. With its high status chance and lingering gas clouds, the Pox excels at applying multiple debuffs over a wide area, making it a great utility tool for tougher missions.

If you’re aiming to use the weapon for direct damage in Steel Path content, you’ll want to lean into the Coda Pox and pair it with external crit sources like Arcane Avenger or Adarza Kavat for consistent critical hits. But for this guide, we’re keeping things simple and effective—building purely for status application. In most cases, this setup is more than enough to control crowds, strip armor, and boost your overall damage output across the board.

Status Primer Build

This build is all about maximizing status application to turn the Pox into a powerful debuff tool. The goal here is to hit close to 100% status chance so that every projectile reliably applies multiple procs, allowing you to weaken enemies before engaging with your main damage dealer.

To get there, we use three key 60/60 elemental mods: Pistol Pestilence, Frostbite, and Scorch. These not only increase your status chance significantly but also stack elemental combos like Viral and Heat, which are perfect for reducing enemy health and stripping armor over time. We top it off with Primed Heated Charge to push Heat procs even higher, boosting the lingering damage of each gas cloud and adding some soft crowd control through the panic effect.

With this setup, the Coda Pox becomes a deadly status spreader that excels at softening up groups of enemies in high-level missions, making it the perfect support sidearm for almost any loadout.

Conclusion

The Pox might look strange at first glance, but it’s one of the most effective status weapons in Warframe when built right. Whether you’re using it to blanket enemies in corrosive gas or priming them for devastating follow-up attacks, the Pox shines as a utility sidearm that fits perfectly into status-heavy loadouts. The Coda variant takes things a step further with stronger stats, making it even more effective in high-level missions. With the right build, the Pox becomes a reliable tool for controlling the battlefield and supporting your main damage dealer, especially in tougher content like Steel Path.