Infestation should always be handled with care, whether you're properly disposing of infected tissue or liberally applying it to your enemies. When Tenno do decide to handle Infestation in combat it's often to bypass conventional defenses, but weapons corrupted by Infestation are more than just swords that look gross or rifles with a few dangly tentacles. They look and feel alive -- like an organism evolved for that specific purpose.

18.5 brings a whole new generation of Infested weaponry into the hands of the Tenno, grown to deliver noxious punishment to organic life foolish enough to stand in your way. It's kind of gross, but also pretty exciting for anyone that likes to melt the flesh of their enemies in a wave of toxicity.

The original goal was to create an Infested primary, secondary, and melee weapon that all fit together as a 'set'. Knowing that the primary weapon was going to be a bow there was a greater focus placed on the secondary weapon, allowing us to really brainstorm on what kind of unique effects an Infested sidearm would have.

We start by figuring out exactly how the weapon functions. What makes it unique? How does it shoot? Where does it get ammunition from? This concept shows a few early ideas we had for the Dual Toxocyst -- eventually settling on the idea of a firearm that would naturally be aware of its surroundings.

Looking like an ordinary weapon when holstered the Dual Toxocyst hides in plain sight, waiting for the right moment to strike. We came up with a wide variety of ways the sidearm could conceal itself, some being a little more obvious than others.

Meanwhile, knowing that the Cernos was going to be our primary weapon of choice, we explored the idea of turning the weapon into a portable hive frenzied into attacking at a distance with baited arrows.

Both ranged weapons follow the theme of doing something unexpected yet unquestionably Infested in nature, and as we start to reach the final stages of development their look really falls into place. With the bow and sidearm well on their way to completion there's only one more weapon to go…

Keeping the theme of 'hidden surprises' with the Infested melee weapon we focused on different ways an unnatural growth could become a natural weapon. Everything from hardened scales to jutting spikes were considered, but when comparing to the Toxocyst it felt like there needed more shock value.

What was settled on was something that looks similar to the Tipedo, but with a much more sinister approach. Cracking open to reveal noxious connective tissue the Lesion is a weapon that may not have as grand a surprise as the Dual Toxocyst, but it still fits the mold of Infested weapons that bide their time to reveal their horrific nature.

The end result are three weapons that are very distinctly Infested, but with their own twist that hasn't really been seen on the battlefield:

We hope you've enjoyed this look into the concept behind our latest Infested weapons. Keep an eye out for future editions of Building Warframe where we take you behind-the-scenes and take a small peek into Warframe's development process!