Theorylytics

Shuriken

Used by Ash

Ability1
Energy25

Shuriken

Launches a spinning blade of pain, dealing high damage and impaling enemies to walls.

Introduced in Vanilla (2012-10-25)

Ability stats

Strength
  • 150 / 375 / 525 / 750 (Slash damage on hit)
Duration
  • N/A
Range
  • N/A
Misc
  • 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 (number of shurikens)
  • 6 m (auto-target radius)
  • 60 m (targeting range)
  • 90° (homing angle)
  • Slash status on hit

Info

  • Ash’s first ability — a thrown blade that deals high single-target damage on contact.
  • Hits can pin lighter enemies to surfaces, interrupting their pathing and creating brief control.
  • Casting is quick and can be used while moving, so it slots cleanly between gunfire and parkour.
  • Scales with Ability Strength for damage and benefits from Ash’s assassin-style kit that wants frequent ability casts.
  • Shuriken is Ash’s Helminth subsume — other Warframes can inherit the throw (and Seeking Shuriken if applicable to that install).

Augment

9

Seeking Shuriken

Shuriken temporarily reduces the armor of hit targets. Armor reduction scales with Ability Strength and its duration scales with Ability…

Ash
Open augment →
Seeking Shuriken

Shuriken temporarily reduces the armor of hit targets. Armor reduction scales with Ability Strength and its duration scales with Ability Duration.

Max rank: 70% armor reduction for 8s (base). Full strip at ~143% Ability Strength (or ~118% with Corrosive Projection).

Open full augment page →

Cast Changes

  1. Turns a damage throw into a soft / full armor strip tool depending on Strength.
  2. Subsequent casts refresh the strip duration; multiple hits can stack reduction.
  3. Strip needs line of sight even though the projectile can seek through walls.
  4. Marked enemies show a green Corrosive-like aura so the strip is readable in-fight.

Worth the Slot?

  1. Worth it when Ash (or a Helminth host) needs on-demand strip without a dedicated Corrosive primer.
  2. Excellent on Steel Path / Eximus packs where unstripped health pools waste Blade Storm and finishers.
  3. Skip it if your loadout already overkills armor (Viral + Heat, full team strip, etc.) and you’d rather keep the Exilus / mod capacity elsewhere.

Tips & Tricks

  • Use Shuriken to finish stragglers or pin priority targets before committing Teleport.
  • It’s a strong “keep casting” button while Smoke Screen is up — stay invisible and chip from safety.
  • Against clustered trash, prefer Blade Storm; save Shuriken for elites or pinned objectives.
  • If energy is tight, don’t spam it blindly — one clean pin into Teleport finisher is usually higher value.

Ability dossier · Shuriken

Verified 2026-07-22

Synergies

  • Smoke ScreenShuriken

    Throw safely while invisible; Seeking Shuriken strip into Teleport finishers is the classic loop.

  • ShurikenTeleport

    Pin or soften a target, then warp in for the execute and energy refund.

  • ShurikenBlade Storm

    Strip elites first so clone True damage isn’t wasted chewing armor.

  • Helminth

    Seeking Shuriken is one of the cleaner armor-strip subsumes for frames that want a cheap, targeted strip button.

Mod Scaling

Strength

Raises Slash damage on hit. With Seeking Shuriken, also raises armor reduction — the main reason to stack Strength on strip builds.

Duration

Base Shuriken ignores Duration. Seeking Shuriken’s strip window scales with Duration; refresh by recasting.

Range

Base ability does not scale with Ability Range (homing / target rules are misc values).

Efficiency

25 energy per cast — Efficiency (and Zenurik / Arcane Energize) keeps Seeking Shuriken spam comfortable on long missions.

Priority

Seeking strip build: Strength → Efficiency → Duration, dump Range. Pure damage throw: Strength → Efficiency, dump Duration/Range.

Mission Use Cases

MissionHow to Use It
Steel Path / Tough Armored EnemiesUse Seeking Shuriken to strip armor first. That makes Blade Storm and finishers kill much faster.
Spy / Rescue / Stealth MissionsThrow Shuriken to pin or interrupt a lone guard while Smoke Screen keeps you hidden. Handy when you need a quiet interrupt without diving in.
Disruption / AssassinationKill or soften one high-priority target without spending Blade Storm marks on the whole room. Save your ultimate for denser packs.
Open World / BountiesTag an elite from range, then Teleport in to finish them. Useful when the target is far away and you don’t want to run the whole gap.

Comparisons

  • VS

    Vs room-wide armor strip (Pillage, Terrify, Tharros Strike) — Shuriken is cheaper and works on one target at a time. Those other tools clear a whole group’s armor faster.

  • VS

    Vs Viral status on your weapons — Seeking Shuriken only removes armor. You still want Viral (or similar) to cut through health after the armor is gone.

Other Ash abilities