Are Zaws and Kitguns TOO Strong?

Zaws and Kitguns, added alongside the Plains of Eidolon and Fortuna, are basically DIY weaponry. You buy the blueprints for the sort of gun you want, you craft from the blueprints and then you give the parts to a vendor to build it for you. Generally, the blueprints for the components contain various open world resources, but once you have reached level 5 with Fortuna or Cetus, you’ll probably have enough resources to build anything. And you’ll want to reach rank 5 before you start on DIY weapons. Doing so gives you access to not just the best components, but special Arcanes too.

They take a while to build up.

To actually make a Kitgun or Zaw does take a bit of time. Each component takes an hour to build, and, to get the Mastery from a Kitgun or Zaw, you have to level it up to 30, then get it gilded, then level it up to 30 again. Which can be a bit tedious. However, this process can be faster than any weapon that takes 24 hours to build. The only problematic thing is gilding DIY weapons, but even then, a few rounds of Helene or Hydron will level it up first.

Are they actually better?

It really depends on the weapon type and components used. When I first made some Zaws, I actually used the cheapest components. Zaws are actually pretty good sources of affinity, simply because you can build cheap ones, then, once gilded, sell them back to their various vendors. My idea was that I’ll make a better weapon later, spending my time and resources on something I’ll actually want to use.

However, if you’re not cheap like me, you can look up a guide for DIY weaponry, purchase the components and, after a few Forma, build something amazing. In some cases though, Kitguns and Zaws can easily outclass normal weapons. For example, a Zaw dagger is pretty much always going to be better than an already existing weapon. In the primary slot though, plenty of normal weapons are just as good as Kitguns. But for secondary Kitguns… Well, there’s a reason why their Riven disposition is generally really low. Catchmoon Kitguns for a while were being used by nearly 10% of more experienced players, just because it was so insanely good. While Catchmoon has been nerfed quite a bit, they’re still plenty strong enough to do Steel Path, Arbitrations and sorties.

And even now, we still have funny balance issues. Infested Kitgun and Zaw parts are way, way stronger than most weapons, because they are much spammier. Infested Kitguns, make for great AoE weapons, and Zaws can use Exodia Contagion to output massive damage.

Is it even a bad thing?

Honestly? I’m not sure. Effort has to be made to make DIY weapons good. Between the gilding and the forma-ing, there are a few extra steps. Less than leveling up a level 40 weapon though, and you can build components as you need them, since an hour isn’t very long. On the flip side, outside of build times, normal weapons are easier to level up and master since you only need to do it once (per forma, at least). I think a better argument would be to buff other weapons rather than nerf whatever is popular…