Kuva Liches are tough, but killing them can earn you some of the best weapons in the game. Since you can preview which weapon you’ll get from a Kuva Larvling if you allow them to become a full Lich, it’s helpful to know what to aim for. Even if you already have a better version of a Kuva weapon, you can always trade your Lich to someone else. Whilst most of the Kuva weapons are above average, here’s a list of the best choices.
5. Kuva Twin Stubbas
The Stubba is a classic Grineer weapon, but in this case, two is definitely better than just one. The Kuva Stubba is a secondary weapon composed of dual submachine guns, which should immediately give you an idea of why it’s on this list. Dealing high slash and impact damage with each hit, the Kuva Stubba shreds through shields and health, but aren’t so great with armor – though this can be compensated for with the right additional elemental damage type, determined by which Warframe you use to kill the Larva that becomes your Lich.
The Kuva Stubba boasts both a high critical chance and very high status chance, adding to its damage potential and allowing it to be built for both – though status is preferable, as the critical multiplier isn’t anything special. As expected of a dual gun weapon, it has a high fire rate and magazine size, to compensate for its low ammo economy.
Whilst not the fastest firing weapon, the Kuva Stubbas have a decent fire speed, giving you all the more chances to set off status effects. The main downside is that it has a relatively slow reload speed, so be mindful of that when you’re firing into the oncoming hoards.
As with other dual guns, these are definitely not precision instruments.hilst they have pretty high accuracy, the recoil is enough to set you off target, so don’t expect to be sharpshooting with these.
What the Kuva Twin Stubba Excel In:
- Damaging health and shields
- High fire rate and status chance make them good at delivering status effects
4. Kuva Ogris
The Kuva Ogris, like the original, is a rock launcher. Unlike most rocket launchers, the Kuva Ogris fires more like a semi-automatic, without the typical charge up time. This makes it very fun to use, but its high base damage also makes it an excellent choice of primary.
The Kuva Ogris deals primarily blast damage, and has an extremely high status chance, so mod builds should focus on this. This combines nicely with the additional status effects from the Kuva Lich. There is also a guaranteed impact proc on direct hits, making this weapon also potentially effective against shields.
It can also make use of the Ogris-exclusive mod ‘Nightwatch Napalm’, dropped by Kela De Thaym, the boss found on Merrow, Sedna. ‘Nightmare Napalm’ creates a pocket of fire around the area of impact, dealing heat damage, with regular damage ticks, giving ample opportunity for status effects.
The main thing to be aware of is timing your shots properly since you will be staggered if you’re caught in a blast and not immune to this effect. Rockets can also be shot down by enemies, but given the rate of the fire of this rocket launcher, that is unlikely to be a significant issue. Reload is slow though, and this weapon isn’t built with ammo efficiency in mind, so it’s probably a good idea to have a good melee or secondary as backup.
What the Kuva Ogris Excels In:
- Dealing high volumes of blast damage – great against Fossilized Infested and Machinery
- High status chance
- Firing rockets whilst sprinting
3. Kuva Nukor
In terms of secondary weapons, the Kuva Nukor is one of the best in the game. The Nukor blasts out microwave-like beams that deal radiation damage. If inflicted with the radiation status, enemies can become confused and start to attack allies, making this a great status type both from a fun and utility perspective. The Kuva Nukor ups the base Nukor’s critical multiplier and status chance, allowing for more damage and more chances for radiation-based fun. Add to this the microwave effect – unique to the Nukors, this will cause the part of the enemy hit to become larger. As a beam weapon, the Kuva Nukor has pinpoint accuracy, though the pulsing effects can make it a bit harder to aim for headshots. That being said, if you do manage to get a headshot, you will increase the size of the head, making it easier for you and everyone else – if your target still lives, of course.
Another thing that the Kuva variant has over the original Nukor is the ability for its beam to chain to two enemies within range of the initial target, dealing half the main beam’s damage. This is great for increasing the weapon’s damage efficiency for dealing with clustered groups since you can effectively double its damage output.
As a beam weapon, the Kuva Nukor fires continuously, using up ammo per damage tick. The damage increases over a short time, reaching 100% at 0.6 seconds. If not firing for 0.8 seconds, this will decay back down again. This means it's best to keep firing the beam for great damage efficiency, as long as you can manage your ammo properly.
What the Kuva Nukor Excels In:
- High radiation damage
- Chaining damage
- High accuracy
2. Kuva Bramma
Bows are typically silent and precise, so naturally, the Grinner attach bombs to the arrows and make a loud, explosive weapon out of one. Unlike most bows, the Kuva Bramma is not made for stealth but easily makes up for this with its damage output. It has the highest base damage of all the bows in the game and has the second fastest charge speed. On top of that, it has a high innate critical and status chance, so it can benefit from both critical and status focused builds, though benefits most from a combination.
An arrow fired from the Kuva Bramma produces an explosion at the site of impact, dealing blast damage, then deposits cluster bombs for further damage. Pressing the Alternate Fire key allows you to detonate the arrow mid-flight, giving you additional control over where you want that explosion. This is important since the blast can stagger you, though this can be avoided through the right Warframe setup or ability use – for example, Trinity’s status transferring ‘Link’.
The only really notable downside of the Kuva Bramma is that it uses sniper ammo, which is relatively rare, and only restores one ammo unit per pickup. It’s best to use this weapon on large groups of enemies to use that high volume of explosive damage to its maximum potential. Of course, you can use mods like ‘Arrow Mutation’ to use other types of ammo, making a mockery of this issue.
What the Kuva Bramma Excels In:
- Dealing high volumes of blast damage – great against Fossilized Infested and Machinery
- Able to use bow mods, including ‘Thunderbolt’, which adds blast damage
- Dealing both critical and status damage
1. Kuva Zarr
Ah, the Zarr. When it was first added to the game, the original Zarr became a fast favorite of mine. It’s a hand cannon. It shoots cannonballs, dealing blast damage. And if things got too close for that to be practical its alt-fire barrage mode functions like a shotgun - chipping away at armor and shields with puncture and impact damage. A versatile cannon. That’s wonderful. But over time the Zarr’s damage potential has been outstripped by other options, and so it’s fallen out of favor.
Enter the Kuva Zarr. Currently one of the best primary weapons in the game, the Kuva Zarr is a big upgrade. The Zarr always had high critical damage, but the Kuva Zarr enhances the potential damage by upping both the critical and status chance. The Kuva Zarr’s cannon mode boasts superior damage, fire rate, and explosion radius, whilst the barrage mode is more accurate and has no range cap.
The canon modes’ initial hit and explosion deal status separately, and the barrage mode has innate punch through and multi-shot, making this weapon great at spreading status and critical based damage. The cannon is also extremely accurate, and mods that decrease accuracy for other benefits can be happily placed on the Zarr with relatively little effect.
You should know that the barrage mode of the Kuva Zarr is innately lower damage output than the base Zarr. However, it is affected by the elemental Lich bonus – if that’s higher than 29%, the damage output will be higher than the base Zarr’s. Given the base damage is 25-60%, the odds are very much in the Kuva Zarr’s favor!
The Kuva Zarr’s main disadvantage is its small magazine size, slow reload speed, and low ammo capacity. Reloading is done one cannonball at a time, so this can be interrupted and done at more opportune moments, and you should kill enough things that the ammo drops are plenty. Like the Kuva Bramma, you can stun yourself if you get caught up in your explosion’s radius, but this is avoidable with practice or with the right Warframe setup. Overall, these are small prices to pay for the ridiculous damage potential of the Kuva Zarr.
What the Kuva Zarr Excels In:
- Dealing high volumes of blast damage – great against Fossilized Infested and Machinery
- Dealing damage at a range and close up through the different modes
- Dealing both critical and status damage
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