Kuva Survival is one of the relatively few missions that award Kuva, and one of even fewer that is always available. It is relatively simple and can appear as a Nightwave challenge, so is worth preparing for. This post details my preferred loadout for Kuva Survival.
Kuva Survival Overview
Kuva Survival starts out identical to a regular Survival - start the mission by hacking a console, and keep your Life Support up by using Life Support towers and killing enemies. In the Kuva version however, for each Life Support tower, you will find a specially marked enemy. This enemy is usually either an Eximus of some sort or a Kuva Guardian.
Upon death, these special targets are guaranteed to drop a Life Support capsule, as well as a Kuva cylinder pickup.
The Kuva cylinder can be taken to a Life Support tower to convert it into a Kuva Harvester. It becomes destructable by enemies, and will complete its task in one minute.
Upon surviving the one minute, the Kuva Harvester will reward 200 Kuva and about 10% Life Support - less than if the Life Support tower is used normally. The Kuva reward is affected by Resource Boosters (as in the above image), as well as Smeeta Kavat's Charm.
Loadout
As with regular Survivals, a Loot Frame is strongly recommended to maintain Life Support levels, especially as you want to convert the Life Support towers into Kuva Harvesters. A Frame capable of defending objectives is also highly desirable, as Kuva Harvesters are easily destroyed, and do not scale.
There are no specific weapon requirements, they just need to be effective against Grineer.
I strongly recommend the Vazarin Focus school if you are not running a healing Frame. Having the ability to heal the Kuva Harvesters is always useful.
Warframe
My go-to Frame for Kuva Survival is Khora. She is capable of being both a Loot Frame and a defensive/CC Frame, as Pilfering Strangledome is not affected by mods. Strangledome (4) in particular is the star of the show. Forming a hemisphere around the casting location, it will reach out to grab and suspend nearby enemies. These victims will draw enemy fire away from the fragile Kuva Harvesters, and thanks to Pilfering Strangledome, also cause them to drop additional Loot and Life Support capsules.
The build I use is a CC-focused one, optimised for defending objectives. High Range significantly increases the coverage offered by Strangledome, with increased Duration and Efficiency for improved Energy economy. Hunter Adrenaline and Arcane Energize keep Energy up, ensuring that I will always have the ability to throw down a Strangledome. This is especially important when running Vazarin Focus instead of Zenurik. Arcane Guardian offers an extra bit of survivability.
The biggest disadvantages of this build are a relatively weaker Whipclaw (1), which I don't build for anyway, and a weaker Venari Heal (3). Besides offering a decent amount of self-healing, Venari Heal is also capable of healing Kuva Harvesters, and as it scales with Strength, is relatively weak in this build. Increasing Strength would greatly improve both of these aspects.
Venari is built for survivability as well as providing extra healing via Hunter Recovery. Given she can be respawned at will, rather than bleeding out and dying, Medi-Pet Kit is probably better replaced with Link Armour.
Weapons
My go-to Primary for Kuva Survival is the Supra Vandal. Besides being an all-round great weapon, it also has access to the Entropy Burst Augment, which semi-regularly restores Energy.
When using any fast-firing Primary, my default Secondary is a Crit-focused Tombfinger Kitgun. Pax Charge ensures that it is always ready for combat.
The melee weapon I default to is my renamed Gram Prime, as it has excellent killing power, some healing, and a great stance. As with any defensive mission type, the Zenistar is very much worth a mention as it is quite capable of holding off enemies on its own.
Companion
As with any other resource/affinity farming mission, bring a Smeeta Kavat where possible. The build I use (above) is a pure utility/survivability one. Charm is the Precept that gives the random Smeeta buffs, with Tek Enhance increasing its effect duration. The chance to double (and smaller chance to get even more) resource and affinity gains is well worth it.
Alternatives
When working in an organised squad, there are many more Frame options available to you. My loadout is optimised for self-sufficiency.
- Another Loot Frame like Nekros and/or Hydroid is very much viable and useful. If you take multiple, be sure that they are of the type that will work together properly (e.g. Hydroid and Khora do not work together, but Nekros and Khora do).
- A more dedicated defensive Frame like Frost, Limbo or Gara can provide more reliable and effective defence for the Kuva Harvesters, especially at very high levels where a single stray shot could mean destruction.
- A support Frame like Trinity or Wisp is always appreciated, again especially at high levels.
All of the weapons can be readily switched out to your personal preferences.
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