Review: Kuva Kraken (U27.2.2)

The Kuva Kraken is an MR15 Burst-Fire Secondary, with enormous improvements over the original Kraken. Between a very strong spread of stats as well as the very powerful Kuva Lich Damage Bonus, it is quite a capable weapon.

Acquisition

As standard for a Kuva weapon, the Kuva Kraken can only be acquired by creating a Kuva Lich with the Kuva Kraken as a weapon, then Vanquishing said Lich. The weapon will then show up in your Foundry, ready to be collected.

Stats

The Kuva Kraken has a very solid spread of stats. Its Crit is very good, though not exceptional. A base Status Chance of 29% is excellent, though majority Impact damage is not very useful. The Kuva Lich Bonus is a significant boon, allowing you to shift its base Damage away from Impact. A Reload Ratio of 2.07 is about average.

Notably, the KKraken also copies the Pandero's Secondary Fire, rapidly firing all remaining rounds in its mag. While doing so, you cannot zoom in, accuracy is very poor, and recoil is quite high.

Augments

None.

Builds

NOTE: Like with the other Kuva weapons, please take note that these damage numbers DO NOT take into account the Kuva Lich Bonus, which increases it by 1.25x to 1.6x.

0-Forma:

I do really wish DE would give weapons more native polarities...
There's enough space for a basic Crit build, and Primed Pistol Gambit will fit if you have it.

With the Status changes and the Kuva Kraken's relatively low RoF, I'd personally recommend Viral for most targets. It is very effective against all types of Grineer units, rather than being biased towards one armour type. It is also great against Corpus once their shields are depleted, which is pretty easy. Though not directly effective against Infested, Viral procs are amazing against them, quickly outclassing any direct damage bonuses from other damage types.

Corrosive and Radiation can be worth considering for certain targets. Radiation is particularly effective against Alloy-armoured Corpus robots, while Corrosive is really good against Ferrite-armoured and most Infested bosses, as well as generally weakening armoured enemies.. Toxin is also worth considering for general anti-Corpus use, though is much less effective against any armoured robots.

Recommended Setups: Viral vs everything, Corrosive vs armour, Infested, Radiation vs armoured Corpus, Toxin vs unarmoured Corpus

1-Forma:

Thanks to Kuva weapons gaining extra ranks from Forma, just one added V polarity allows the use of both Primed Crit mods, with some extra space. You could use that space to switch one of the 60/60s for a 90%, slot in a partially ranked Quickdraw, or just Forma it again for even more space...

Recommended Setups: see above.

2-Forma:

One more added V polarity and Lethal Torrent fits in comfortably as well.

Recommended Setups: see above.

3-Forma:

One final V polarity opens up a heap of options for the last mod slot. As always, I like Seeker for Punch Through, but there are many good options. Magnum Force and Augur Pact directly boost damage, while Hydraulic Crosshairs is a decent Crit-boosting option. (Primed) Expel mods are a big boost to the correct faction. Another elemental mod can be a good damage boost, as well as adding in desirable damage types. Viral + Heat and Corrosive + Heat are two particularly strong combos, and Primed Heated Charge is an enormous direct damage boost.

The main notable options for the Exilus slot are Steady Hands and (Primed) Pistol Ammo Mutation. The Recoil reduction from Steady Hands is not a big deal for Primary Fire, but makes Secondary Fire a lot more controllable. (Primed) Pistol Ammo Mutation is useful for keeping ammo reserves up if you use Secondary Fire a lot.

Recommended Setups: see above. Also consider: Viral + Heat vs everything, Corrosive + Heat vs Infested

My Builds

My go-to build is a Viral one, it hits just about everything quite hard.

Kuva Lich Bonus

The recent changes to Status procs in U27.2 have not changed my opinions on Lich Bonus damage significantly. With Viral now being bonkers good, both as a proc and a damage type, Toxin is always a solid option. However, with the cap of 10 stacks, even without the Toxin bonus, two 60/60s will max out Viral up real fast. With that in mind, I'd suggest potentially looking at Heat, which combines viciously well with Viral and can be stacked infinitely. Its fixed 50% armour reduction, coupled with damage-over-time both enhance and are enhanced by Viral's procs. Corrosive + Heat is also a solid combo, particularly against Infested.

Magnetic is really good to have against Corpus, but rubbish against any other faction. Radiation is a nice extra damage type to have against most factions, but especially Infested to neuter Ancient auras. Both enable otherwise impossible (and extremely strong) combos like Magnetic + Viral/Corrosive, and Radiation + Corrosive.

Combat Use and Summary

The Kuva Kraken's high Status Chance and good damage output make it quite effective against fewer, heavier targets. Its Burst DPS is above average for a Secondary, and its relatively good accuracy makes landing repeated headshots fairly easy. The KKraken also inflicts lots of Status procs, and can easily max out those that have a cap in a few bursts. Viral, Corrosive and Radiation all have a place, and any additional Heat is very welcome.

Where the KKraken is weakest is against groups. It is not very fast firing, and has a small Mag Capacity. Additionally, though the bursts themselves are quite fast, there is quite a noticeable delay between bursts. Punch Through is very helpful, but not enough to compete with fast firing or AoE Secondaries.

The Secondary-Fire has a few notable uses. It is quite effective at popping Nullifier bubbles and killing said Nullifiers, and it is also capable of sweeping through groups of weak enemies. Its damage potential is severely limited by high Recoil and poor accuracy, making it nigh impossible to reliably land headshots. Additionally, as it empties the mag, it always requires a reload immediately afterwards.

The KKraken's ammo economy using Primary Fire is generally pretty good, helped by being fairly precise. Provided you can manage the recoil, or just wait for it to reset, it is quite effective at longer ranges. The Secondary Fire offers a decent close-quarters panic button;

Overall, the Kuva Kraken is a powerful single-target Secondary. Its great Status Chance and solid Crit make it very good at weakening and killing heavy enemies, and its Secondary Fire can be useful. However, it is not very good against groups, and Burst-Fire weapons are not for everyone - for instance I quite like how most Burst-Fire Primaries handle, but I don't like Burst-Fire Secondaries in Warframe. If you're after an all-round powerful Burst-Fire Secondary, the Kuva Kraken is definitely worth a look. If you're after a user-friendly, simple Secondary, I'd suggest looking elsewhere.

Scores

Vs Trash Mobs: 2.5/5 - A reasonably fast Reload Time is the Kuva Kraken's biggest strength against groups. Its Secondary Fire can be helpful for clearing out a tight group quickly, but is very ammo wasteful. Otherwise, its tight bursts are not notably good at engaging multiple targets.
Vs Unarmoured Heavies: 4/5 - Solid Crit and decently high base Damage thanks to the Lich Bonus gives the KKraken very respectable Burst DPS.
Vs Armoured Heavies: 4/5 - Very high Status Chance allows the KKraken to inflict Status procs quite regularly, especially with the removal of the 4x bias to Physical Damage. Both Corrosive and Viral are very effective against most armoured targets, and any extra Heat is helpful too. I feel that its somewhat slower RoF holds it back compared to other highly capable Status Secondaries.

Vs Variants

The MR0 Kraken is an embarrassment to the MR15 Kuva Kraken. Notably, the regular Kraken fires two-round bursts, and does not have a Secondary Fire.

Competitors

There are very few Burst-Fire Secondaries, and the only one that is a reasonable comparison is the Sicarus Prime. Akarius is a completely different weapon type, and the Akjagara Prime behaves more like a Semi-Auto.

The comparison between the Kuva Kraken and SicarusP is quite interesting. The KKraken is much more Status capable and has a far better Reload Ratio, while the SicarusP has higher Burst DPS, only being roughly matched by a 60% KKraken. This does not take into account the KKraken Secondary Fire, as I don't know what RoF it actually fires at. Regardless, its very poor accuracy makes landing headshots consistently nigh impossible, limiting its maximum single-target DPS.

However, the SicarusP's much higher RoF and slower Reload Time mean that its Sustained DPS barely matches a 25% KKraken, and falls far behind any larger bonus. Additionally, the KKraken inflicts slightly more Status procs on average.

Overall, I'd personally give the edge to the Kuva Kraken. It falls behind in Burst DPS, but makes up for it with a far better Reload Ratio, better Status capabilities and better ammo economy.

Rivens

The Kuva Kraken has a neutral 3/5 (1) Riven Disposition. Despite its on-paper firepower, I almost never see other players use it, and would not be surprised if it only dropped slightly (or even just stayed as-is).

It should barely need to be mentioned, +Damage/Multishot/Crit Chance/Crit Damage are all fantastic. +Elemental Damage can be another decent damage boost, and/or save a mod slot. I would consider both +Reload Speed/Mag Capacity to be nice stats that make the KKraken much more user-friendly. +Punch Through is a great help against crowds.

Any of -Impact/Puncture/Slash are worth considering. The latter two have minimal impact on the KKraken's total damage, while the former is a poor damage type with a rubbish proc. -Faction Damage to a weaker faction can be manageable. -Ammo Max is not a big issue especially now that Weapon Exilus slots are a thing, though Secondary Fire might appreciate as much spare ammo as possible. -Projectile Speed has no effect. +Recoil is manageable for Primary Fire, though can make Secondary Fire nigh unusuable; again this can be mitigated by the Weapon Exilus slot anyway. -Zoom is great for close-quarters.