Kuva Weapons – Liches, Percentages, Forma

Kuva Weapons are a bit of an anomaly in Warframe. Most weapons are available only after you have built them, or bought for vast amounts of ducats. Event weapons are often just deposited in your inventory. But with Kuva weapons, you can grab them straight from the foundry. Even though they are just given to you though, Kuva weapons need a lot of work. They are also… pretty damn random.

Obtaining a Kuva Weapon

Getting a Kuva Weapon sounds simple on the surface. All you have to do is kill a Kuva Lich!

Well, actually, you have to spend ages cycling through Kuva larvalings until you find one holding the weapon you want to get. Which is fine, because Cassini is a nice, easy mission. If you’re fickle like me, you can also waste time going for a male Lich rather than a female one. You can also choose your weapon’s element by using specific frames, for example Frost for Cold, Loki for Radiation and Oberon for Toxin. Yes, I know that makes no sense. You can choose from Heat, Cold, Toxin, Electricity, Radiation, Magnetic or Impact. Toxin is best, but Heat, Cold and Radiation are all alright. Magnetic and Impact are just… bad.

Once you have your Lich, it becomes a guessing game. What mods do you need? What order? Luckily, the Kuva Lich grind has been streamlined, so it only really takes a couple of hours to get your gun.

The Percentages

When you create your Lich though, you also get a random percentage assigned to your weapon. This is the percentage of bonus elemental damage your weapon gets. The bonus maxes out at 60%, but most weapons will be anywhere from 25 to 40%. A higher bonus generally means a bit more damage. And as we all know, the more damage, the better.

But luckily you can use Valence Transfers to boost the percentage of a Kuva Weapon. You simply merge two Kuva weapons together and the bonus goes up! You can also alter the element too, depending on the weapons being transferred.

However this does mean going and farming more Liches. After all, the two weapons being transferred need to be the same. And that means hunting down two separate Liches and murdering them for their weapons. And then repeating that until you get a weapon with a 60% bonus. It might take a while.

The Forma

The worst thing though is the Forma. All Kuva Weapons actually go to level 40 instead of level 30. But you need to invest 5 forma into every weapon. I’ve gone on about this before. In fact, I’ve probably gone on about it way too much.

But can you blame me? Sure, sticking 5 forma in the Kuva Bramma is great! But sticking 5 forma in the Kuva Kraken just doesn’t feel right. Some of the Kuva weapons come with pre-existing polarities too, so it becomes a struggle working out where to put your forma! And all that for a measly 1000 mastery per level 40 weapon.

Is it worth it though?

Technically, the Kuva weapons are straight upgrades. They are mostly good weapons. Mostly. The Kuva Kohm for example is great, as it can get 100% status when the normal Kohm always needed a riven. The Kuva Bramma and Kuva Nukor are amazing crowd-clearing weapons and are totally worth investing in. All 5 of those forma were worth using, and I still use the Bramma and Kuva Nukor on the regular.

On the other hand, the Kuva Kraken isn’t much to talk about, and the Kuva Ayanga is alright, but other Archwing guns outclass it. They are still mostly better than their normal variants, but these are all personal preference. I enjoy using the Kuva Karak but dislike the Kuva Drakgoon. And I never understood the appeal of the Kohm or Tonkor.

Honestly, it depends on how much you like these weapons. If you like the Kuva Brakk, then 5 forma is fine. If you hate the Kuva Brakk, then maybe you should leave it alone. Really, the only reason to master these weapons is for… mastery. And whether you actually enjoy them or not…