Modular Weapons Guide

Now updated with Infested Kitgun parts!

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Kitguns

Modular primary and secondary weapons.

Each Kitgun is comprised of 3 different parts:

a Chamber, a Grip and a Loader.

Chamber

Determines the type of gun. Grip decides whether the weapon is Primary or Secondary.

Primary and Secondary variants of Chambers have some differences, but are largely similar.

* Explosion force is the amount of push applied to physics objects.

The high explosion force of the Primary version of Sporelacer makes it fling bodies across the room and makes the spawned grenades fly a lot farther than the Secondary version.

The Chambers are very different in operation, so while some may be stronger than others they don’t overlap a lot in functionality. So you might want to build one of each for practical reasons, not just for mastery. But with that said, I’d like to mention two big outliers as being notably bad and in need of buffs:

Primary Catchmoon suffers from mediocre DPS.

Gaze (Primary and Secondary) is has worse DPS than all other chambers aside from Primary Catchmoon, even with the max damage, minimum range Grip. Combine that with the damage-ramping of beam weapons and it becomes a highly lackluster chamber.

Grip

Determines whether the gun is a Primary or Secondary weapon and the tradeoff between Damage vs Fire Rate for Catchmoon, Rattleguts and Tombfinger.

For Gaze it determines tradeoff between Damage vs Range.

Primary

Calculations shown are for the 1.7s Reload Loader. Refer to Magazine vs Reload for why.

Catchmoon, Rattleguts and Sporelacer deal the highest DPS with Tremor(++D).

For Tombfinger Quick Shots Tremor(++D) deals the highest DPS.

For Tombfinger Charged Shots Palmaris(++FR) and Brash(+++FR) deal the highest DPS.

Palmaris has same Charge Rate as Brash, a tiny bit more damage and a tiny bit more delay between shots, making it about the same in Charged Shot DPS (less than 1% difference), but also ~10% better at Quick Shots. That’s why I’d argue that Palmaris is the better of the two.

As Grips for Gaze and Vermisplicer offer Range vs Damage instead of the normal Fire Rate vs Damage tradeoff they can't quite be compared in DPS like the other Chambers+Grips can.

So instead I'm calculating the relative bonus over the lowest value for a relative efficacy comparison of Grips.

NOTE: These comparisons are calculated with the Exilus range mods, as these generally are the obvious choice for the Exilus slot.

Gaze and Vermisplicer get the highest relative bonus with Brash(++Range).

But there is an argument for selecting a higher damage option as well.

Secondary

Calculations shown are for the 1.7s Reload Loader. Refer to Magazine vs Reload for why.

Catchmoon, Tombfinger and Sporelacer have the highest DPS with Haymaker(++D).

For Rattleguts the optimal grip is Lovetap(+D). Haymaker has about the same sustained DPS, but Lovetap has higher Burst DPS and will proc more status effects per time due to the higher Fire Rate, making the effective DPS(when status is included) a fair bit higher.

Gaze and Vermisplicer gets the highest relative bonuses with Ramble(+Range) and Gibber(++Range), offering almost double the range of Haymaker(++D), with a fairly minor loss in damage.

I’d argue that Ramble is the better option, because you’re already at 37m range, the +3 meters from Gibber seem less significant than the +~7% damage from Ramble.

Loader

Determines the tradeoff between Magazine vs Reload and Crit vs Status.

Magazine vs Reload

Reload efficiency perfectly correlates to Sustained DPS numbers. Check sheet for details.

The 3.1s Reload Loader has the highest efficiency, but not only are reloads of 2+ seconds inconvenient for normal use, but none of the Infested Loaders have access to max Crit; they only come with Neutral or +SC & +Crit, which is up to -50% DPS on some Chambers, while the bonus DPS of the more efficient reloads only offers at most +10% Sustained DPS.

It’s also important to keep in mind that Crit is an upgrade to both Burst and Sustained DPS, while more efficient reloads only boosts Sustained DPS (i.e: it’s worse).

Crit vs Status

There are 8 levels in the Magazine vs Reload scale, but ++Crit and ++Status only exists for 1.3s and 1.7s Reload Loaders, so when comparing Crit vs Status I will use the more efficient of the two; the +Magazine(1.7s Reload) part, for the parts that have it.

Most Chambers show similar patterns. Check sheet for details.

Combining the data on Reload Efficiency with Crit vs Status we get +Magazine(1.7s Reload) and ++Crit, meaning Splat is the optimal Loader choice.

Recommended Builds

So, boiling down the information in the sections above, I recommend these builds(parts+mods):

Primary

Catchmoon+Tremor+Splat

Tombfinger+Tremor/Palmaris+Splat

Tremor for Quick Shot usage, Palmaris for Charged Shots.

Rattleguts+Tremor+Splat

Gaze+Brash+Splat

Vermisplicer+Brash+Splat

Sporelacer+Tremor+Splat

Secondary

Catchmoon+Haymaker+Splat

Alternate Slash(Hemorrhage) build that performs better vs Armor.

Tombfinger+Haymaker+Splat

Rattleguts+Lovetap+Splat

Gaze+Ramble+Splat

Vermisplicer+Ramble+Splat

Sporelacer+Haymaker+Splat

Mod notes: Builds use 60/60 Elementals because they can apply a decent amount of status procs per second. Some chambers however, like Catchmoon, fire so slow that only vs enemies that take more than ~5seconds(educated guess) to kill would 60/60Elementals kill faster than 90% Elementals.

Kitgun(Pax) Arcanes

Pax Seeker

On headshot kill, send out 4 projectiles that home to enemy heads, inflicting ~100-220 damage(depending on chamber), scaling with mods, and inflicting a forced Impact proc.

Exact damage of the projectile is hard to nail down as there’s some wonky math going on behind the scenes; Grips have a damage modifier which seems to be applied after mods.

It’s a solid arcane, but rarely reaches full potential as the projectiles tend to collide with the roof or enemies simply die before the projectiles reach them.

Pax Bolt

On headshot kill, +30% Ability Strength and Efficiency for the next ability cast.

Useful for Warframes that can make permanent use of the +30% Strength through Strength Caching. You can read about how Strength Caching works here.

If you’re quick you can double this bonus on one ability-cast by triggering it on both your Primary and Secondary Kitguns.

For less optimized play it mainly just saves some Energy every now and then.

Pax Soar

+Accuracy and -Recoil while airborne and +Wall-Latch and +Aim-Glide time.

Useful for challenges or strategies that specifically require you to Aim-Glide(like Riven challenges), but generally useless.

Pax Charge

Converts your Magazine to a Battery, granting infinite ammo, initiates reload 1/FireRate sec after your shot and allows you to shoot to abort the reload.

This has some intricacies; the Reload Time listed in the Arsenal stats is the Recharge Delay, the delay before rounds start recharging, after which a set number of rounds recharge per second. And this number varies between Chambers:

Total Reload Time increases for all Chambers except Tombfinger.

Efficiency varies wildly between the Chambers; it’s terrible on Catchmoon, Sporelacer and Rattleguts, while it’s good on Gaze and Vermisplicer and amazing on Tombfinger, actually reducing total Reload Time.

In practice the less segmented reloads makes Charge quite inconvenient for use with beam weapons like Gaze and Vermisplicer, despite the good efficiency.

Recommendations for general play

Tombfinger: Charge

All other Chambers: Seeker or Bolt

Residual Arcanes

Viremia/Malodor/Boils/Shock - Grants 20% chance on Kitgun kill to spawn a ~10m area for 12s that deals Toxin/Cold/Heat/Electric damage(not scaling with mods) to enemies.

In short, they’re unreliable and the effects are insignificant, making them quite shit.

Standing in the area with a Theorem(Warframe) Arcane will grant a stacking buff.

Theorem Contagion creates some shitty orbs that fly into enemies. Theorem Infection buffs companion/specter damage. The best is Theorem Demulcent, which gives +12% weapon damage per sec stacking up to 15x (180%). Buff persists for 20s upon leaving the zone. But even the best one gives a mediocre buff, after making you jump through 3 hoops; requiring a kitgun, requiring you to kill using it and then requiring you to stand in that area. This makes the Theorem Arcanes straight up some of the most pointless shit in the game.

Status Kitguns

While not recommended for general use, they might find niche uses.

For these you have one extra thing to consider about the Grip; the higher Fire Rate parts may offer less DPS, but they will proc more status procs per second (more bullets per second = more procs per second). So it may be worth considering picking a part with sub-par DPS just for the increased rate of status procs. If you’re willing to sacrifice damage you’re likely gonna want to go the entire way: the fastest Fire Rate with the Gibber and Brash Grips.

For the Loader part you probably want the maximum Status Chance, which just like the max Crit Loaders only comes with 2 options for Magazine vs Reload:

Flutterfire - Medium magazine and 1.3s reload.

Ramflare - Large magazine and 1.7s reload.

These follow the exact same reload efficiency ratios as Splat vs Killstream, but since raw DPS might no longer be the main objective there might be a larger incentive to picking the less efficient Flutterfire just for the shorter reload.

Zaws

Zaws are modular melee weapons.

Each Zaw is comprised of 3 different parts:

a Strike, a Grip and a Link.

Strike

Determines weapon-type, innate damage-types, Attack Speed, Damage, Status and Crit stats.

Each Strike can become two different weapon-types depending on whether you use a one-handed or two-handed Grip.

Unique Strikes

These Strikes are all unique in one of their weapon-types; they have no competition, so if you want a Zaw of this weapon-type there’s nothing to dilly-dally over.

Dagger: Balla

Hammer: Rabvee

Heavy Blade: Dokrahm

Nikana: Sepfahn

Machete

Cyath is clearly the best option; it has a DPS advantage and is the only one of the 3 with a Slash-heavy IPS-distribution.

Polearm

Dehtat offers the highest non-crit DPS, but has a majority (50%) Puncture Damage, which has a pretty bad status proc, ultimately making its strength rather niche.

Plague Kripath offers +4% Crit Chance and +0.2 Crit Multiplier. So it should come as no surprise that it tops the DPS chart for crit builds.

Cyath has a very Slash-heavy IPS-distribution(75%), making it powerful for Status builds.

Rapier

Dehtat offers slightly higher DPS for Status builds, but the poor IPS-distribution makes it highly niche.

Plague Kripath is the clear winner for Crit builds.

Scythe

Dokrahm has good IPS-distribution and a sizeable advantage in DPS.

Plague Keewar offers +4% Status Chance, which might find some niche use.

Staff

Sepfahn offers +2% Crit and Status Chance and a Slash-heavy(65%) IPS-distribution. Might find some niche use in Slash-status builds.

Plague Keewar offers a sizeable DPS advantage over other Staves, while also offering innate Viral Damage and +4% Status Chance.

Sword

Ooltha is the clear winner, offering a solid increase in DPS and slightly better IPS-distribution.

Grip

Determines ratio between Damage and Attack Speed and the weapon-type of a Strike.

Since Digital Extremes forgot to scale up the Grip and Link damage when they scaled up the base Strike damage in the Melee 3.0 Phase 2 update, you actually straight up lose DPS with the higher damage, slower Grips and Links. So the Grip choice becomes rather obvious:

Seekalla(2-handed)

Peye(1-handed)

Links

There are 4 different Links that come in combinations of up to 3 (max 2 of a single kind):

Jai: +0.083 Speed -4 Damage

Ruhang: +14 Damage -0.067 Speed

Vargeet: +7% Crit Chance -4% Status Chance

Ekwana: +7% Status Chance -4% Crit Chance

Since the net-bonus is positive there’s no reason to use any Link-combination that doesn’t have 3 Links, which automatically disqualifies half of the Links.

Numbers are similar for all Strikes. As mentioned in the Grip section and shown in the table above, +Speed parts are vastly superior to +Damage right now, disqualifying any combination containing Ruhang Links, leaving 4 Link options.

Finally, let’s compare the DPS of 2 Jai vs 2 Vargeet (with Organ Shatter+Sacrificial Steel):

And this difference will only only increase the more Crit mods your build has.

Something similar should hold true for Status links as well since the Crit and Status Links offer a larger relative bonus than Speed/Damage Links.

There are some more intricacies to this, check out my Zaw DPS spreadsheet for details.

In short, this leaves us with 2 final, optimal Link options:

Vargeet II Jai: ++Crit --Status +Speed -Damage

Ekwana II Jai: ++Status --Crit +Speed -Damage

And the choice between them should be rather obvious; +Status(Ekwana) for Status builds and +Crit(Vargeet) for Crit builds.

Recommended Builds

Boiling down the information in the sections above, I recommend these builds:

Dagger

Balla+Peye+Ekwana II Jai/Vargeet II Jai

Balla+Peye+Vargeet Jai II - Solid alternative for slide-attack spam builds.

Hammer

Rabvee+Seekalla+Vargeet II Jai - Crit, because 60%Impact is bad for Status.

Heavy Blade

Dokrahm+Seekalla+Ekwana II Jai/Vargeet II Jai

Machete

Cyath+Peye+Ekwana II Jai/Vargeet II Jai

Nikana

Sepfahn+Peye+Ekwana II Jai/Vargeet II Jai

Polearm

Cyath+Seekalla+Ekwana II Jai

Plague Kripath+Seekalla+Vargeet II Jai

Rapier

Plague Kripath+Peye+Ekwana II Jai/Vargeet II Jai

Dehtat+Korb+Vargeet Ruhang II - For use with Finisher damage builds. Finisher math is odd.

Scythe

Dokrahm+Peye+Ekwana II Jai/Vargeet II Jai - Vargeet II Jai for best Contagion Zaw.

Staff

Plague Keewar+Seekalla+Ekwana II Jai/Vargeet II Jai

Sword

Ooltha+Peye+Ekwana II Jai/Vargeet II Jai

Mastery Rank(/Riven) Fodder

These weapons are inferior to recommended combinations, but if you need one of each Strike for Mastery or have a good riven, then these are the best combinations for them:

Kronsh+Peye/Seekalla+Vargeet II Jai

Mewan+Peye+Ekwana II Jai/Vargeet II Jai

Zaw(Exodia) Arcanes

Exodia Brave

Restores 5 Energy per second for 4 seconds on heavy attack kills.

On-demand energy-regen is useful, but trigger condition is much worse than Energizing Dash, for the same regen per sec, but a much shorter duration. A highly meh Arcane.

Exodia Force

Proccing a Status Effect has a 50% chance to deal 200% weapon damage in a 6m radius around your Warframe. Damage falls off harshly toward the edge of the radius.

Scales with Damage, Elemental and Combo mods, but not with Crit.

A good Arcane for Status builds.

Exodia Hunt

Slam attacks have a 50% chance to pull in enemies within 12m.

Pulled enemies take Stealth-Multiplier(x8) damage. A great arcane for stances that have built-in slam attacks, like Twirling Spire for Polearms or Blind Justice for Nikanas.

Exodia Might

Standing finishers have a 50% chance of 30% melee lifesteal for 8s.

Lifesteal works on Status proc damage over time effects.

Decent effect, but highly inconvenient trigger condition; a meh Arcane.

Exodia Triumph

50% chance to gain additional Combo Count from melee attacks.

There's currently no Zaw builds where Combo stacking speed matters, i.e: currently useless.

Exodia Valor

200% chance to gain Additional Combo Count on Lifted enemies.

Doesn't matter for Zaws and has an inconvenient trigger condition; this is garbage.

Exodia Contagion

Melee attack while aim gliding after a bullet or double jump to launch a projectile.

Scales with mods and Zaw base stats. Attack Speed affects the flight speed of the projectile. Status doesn’t matter much for single attacks, so you’ll want Var II Jai(++Crit +Speed) links. The optimal Contagion Zaw is Dokrahm+Peye+Var II Jai (excluding rivens).

Contagion deals a lot of damage in an AoE and additionally deals damage over time on direct hits; Strong arcane with many uses.

Exodia Epidemic

Ground slamming after a bullet or double jump sends out a ~3m-wide, 25m long shockwave that lifts enemies into the air for 4 seconds. The shockwave explodes, launching nearby enemies at the end of its 25m range. Solid Arcane that might find some niches.