Review: Kuva Ogris (U27.5.4)

The Kuva Ogris is an MR15 Launcher Primary. With a large blast radius and an incredible Augment, it is a novel, unique, and rather effective explosive weapon.

Acquisition

Make a Lich, Vanquish it, etc etc.

Stats

Immediately apparent is that the Kuva Ogris is a pure Status weapon - 9%/2x Crit is quite poor, while base 47% Status Chance is among the highest in the game. It has quite high explosion damage, which interestingly is split among Blast, Puncture and Slash. The latter is especially potent with such a high Status Chance. Its explosion is rather wide at 7.9 metre radius, with damage dropping down to 20% at its edges.

A Mag Capacity of just 3 rounds requires constant replenishment by a relatively lengthy 2.1 second Reload Time. Naturally, as an explosive weapon, the KOgris can inflict self-stagger/knockdown depending on your proximity to the blast.

Augments

Nightwatch Napalm is an Ogris-exclusive mod that can drop from Kela de Thaym on Merrow, Sedna.

Upon detonation, rockets will leave a cloud of napalm covering most of the blast radius. This cloud will last for 6 seconds, and any enemies in range will suffer some Heat damage (scaling with weapon base damage) with guaranteed proc.

With the massive overhaul to Heat procs with Ember's rework, this Augment is really, really good. It is capable of stacking up massive Heat procs, not only dealing major damage but also diminishing enemy armour. Its lingering effect not only further increases its damage potential, but also acts as a surprisingly effective short CC, panicking any enemy in its range.

Separate Heat damage and procs also means that the (Kuva) Ogris itself can focus on other damage types, chiefly Viral.

Builds

NOTE: These builds do not include the Kuva Lich Bonus, which provides an additional damage multiplier of 1.25x to 1.6x.

0-Forma:

Nightwatch Napalm is so good I consider it pretty much fundamental to the Kuva Ogris. Serration and Split Chamber as mandatory, Malignant Force and Rime Rounds for Viral and maximum Status Chance. Finally, High Voltage is there partly because I didn't know what else to do with the remaining 8 capacity. One alternative would be to switch the 60/60s for 90%s, but this reduces your Status Chance which is one of the KOgris' biggest strengths.

Your go-to elemental combo, as always, should be Viral. Not only does it have decent multipliers, but its proc is universally great and also massively improves the effects of Heat procs, which Nightwatch Napalm provides. Corrosive deals much better direct damage against the Infested, though will lose out to stacked Viral procs.

There are a few options against the Corpus. The aforementioned Viral is always solid, especially with additional Electric for increased damage vs robotics. Pure Toxin is very powerful, completely ignoring shields, but does not synergise with Nightwatch Napalm Heat procs very well. Magnetic may be worth considering to rapidly deplete shields, allowing the Heat procs to work through health. Heat's weakness against Proto Shields does make it least suitable against the Corpus. It is also worth considering Radiation against their armoured units, and it can actually be useful against the Infested as well, its proc negating Ancient auras despite its awful damage multipliers against them.

Recommended Setups: Viral + Heat vs everything, Corrosive + Heat vs Infested, (Viral [+ Electric] or Toxin or Magnetic or Radiation) + Heat vs Corpus

1-Forma:

One added V polarity allows fitting of Vigilante Armaments, for more rocket fun. Again, High Voltage is there to make use of the remaining 8 capacity. It is worth noting that although it is a big damage boost, Heavy Caliber completely ruins any semblance of accuracy, with rockets flying off a very wacky angles. As such, I strongly recommend against using it on the (Kuva) Ogris.

Recommended Setups: see above.

2-Forma:

Another V polarity and all eight slots can be used fairly comfortably. In this example build, I've slotted in Primed Fast Hands as the Reload Time bugs me for just 3 shots. There are several other alternate mod options in the slots of High Voltage and PFH.

Another different elemental like Primed Cryo Rounds can be a very big damage boost and can help to shift around damage type biases. If you are willing to switch them out, the Primed Bane mods are extremely strong with Nightwatch Napalm's Heat procs. If you'd like more Mag Capacity, Wildfire is an option that also gives a little bit of Heat damage. Firestorm is an option that increases explosion radius, which also increases the size of Nightwatch Napalm clouds.

For the Exilus slot, there are three main options. As the (Kuva) Ogris uses the rare Sniper ammo, and has a low spare ammo count of just 20, an Ammo Mutation mod like Vigilante Supplies can be very helpful. Increased Projectile Speed from Terminal Velocity allows rockets to reach their target faster, which is useful at longer ranges. Finally, Cautious Shot reduces the effects of self-stagger/knockdown if that is an issue for you.

Recommended Setups: see above.

My Builds

My build is nothing special, Viral + Nightwatch Napalm, reduced Reload Time, and Firestorm because bigger explosions is fun.

Kuva Lich Bonus

Because of its access to Nightwatch Napalm, the Kuva Ogris is one of the few (perhaps only) Kuva weapons that I would personally recommend against having bonus Heat. I personally lean towards Toxin or Radiation. Toxin naturally to combine into Viral or Corrosive, or even as a solo element. Radiation is notably useful for shutting down Eximus and Ancient auras, which can otherwise significantly reduce your damage output. Magnetic would make for a fantastic Corpus killer, though I rarely find their Shields to be a big problem.

Combat Use and Summary

With large, Status-focused explosives, the Kuva Ogris is most effective against large groups. Anything that survives the initial blast is usually inflicted with at least one Viral proc, the occasional Slash proc, and is caught inside the firestorm that is Nightwatch Napalm. This same combination of Viral + Heat + occasional Slash procs is also quite effective against heavily armoured enemies, though naturally can take some time to stack up.

The KOgris is least effective against unarmoured enemies, who are more easily dispatched by weapons with higher direct damage.


Nightwatch Napalm is an incredible mod. On top of providing a source of powerful Heat procs, it is also very effective as a short duration CC tool, capable of covering choke points with its Heat-proc-induced panicking. It singlehandedly gives the Ogris family a unique and surprisingly effective niche over other explosive weapons.

The KOgris has a very small spare ammo pool of just 20 rounds. This issue is compounded by its use of the rare Sniper ammo pickup. At least one of Ammo Case/Mutation/etc is strongly recommended to keep it supplied with ammo.


Overall, the Kuva Ogris is a novel and unique explosive Primary. With very high base Damage and an incredible Augment, it sets itself apart from other explosive weapons with powerful lingering napalm clouds and a big blast radius. I was personally pleasantly surprised with how much fun it was to use (at least for the first two Forma), and how effective it was especially post-U27.2. If you are a fan of explosive weapons, I highly recommend looking into the Kuva Ogris.

Scores

Vs Trash Mobs: 5/5 - Large explosions with lingering damage-over-time thanks to Nightwatch Napalm makes the Kuva Ogris exceptional at tearing down groups of enemies. Anything still alive after the initial blast gets burned alive.
Vs Unarmoured Heavies: 2/5 - The KOgris relies on stacking Status procs, particularly Heat procs, to kill heavier enemies. It deals quite heavy damage-per-shot, but otherwise lags far behind many other weapons with superior direct damage.
Vs Armoured Heavies without Hunter Munitions: 4/5 - The KOgris can inflict a plethora of Viral and Heat procs, which are highly effective at weakening and killing heavily armoured enemies. The occasional Slash proc is also very helpful.
Vs Armoured Heavies with Hunter Munitions: NA/5 - Low Crit Chance makes HM a poor choice of a mod.

Vs Variants

The MR15 Kuva Ogris is a majority improvement over the MR9 Ogris. It deals slightly higher explosive damage in a slightly larger radius, and its base damage composes of all physical damage types (notably a good portion of Slash) as well as Blast. This is all before taking into account the Kuva Lich Bonus, which gives it a far higher base damage. It has higher (though still poor) Crit Chance, a slightly faster Reload Time, and a much higher Status Chance. Notably, the Kuva Ogris is Semi-Auto where the base Ogris has a short charge time. The base Ogris does have an advantage in its larger Mag Capacity.

Competitors

Of the slower-firing explosive primaries, the Kuva Ogris is the only one that is so heavily focused on Status. Most other Launchers are at very least Crit-viable, and thus can often attain far higher direct damage output. The KOgris does retain a very large explosion radius, and Nightwatch Napalm offers a lingering Heat proc inflictor that no other explosive weapon can match - the closest would be a Secura Penta with its own Napalm Grenades Augment.

Probably the most notable competing explosive weapon is the Kuva Bramma, which sports higher base Damage as well as great Crit, for overall hilariously superior direct damage output. It even has a larger explosive radius and additional cluster munitions. It does not have any lingering effect like the KOgris does, but it does not need it - very few enemies can survive one shot, let alone any Slash procs that Hunter Munitions may have inflicted. Overall, besides the (admittedly rather fun) feature of leaving floating clouds of napalm, I consider the KOgris to be vastly outclassed by the Kuva Bramma as an explosive weapon.

Rivens

The Kuva Ogris has a slightly below average 3/5 (0.9) Riven Disposition, while the regular Ogris has a much higher 4/5 (1.3) Disposition. I'm honestly a tad surprised that the Kuva dropped slightly, as I have not seen other players use it much besides as Mastery fodder.

Obviously, +Damage/Multishot are ideal stats to have. +Elemental damage is a great way to add some extra damage output as well. +Mag Capacity can be helpful for putting out more explosives and napalm clouds in one burst. +Ammo Max is not worthless as the KOgris has a very small spare ammo pool, and uses rare Sniper ammo pickups. +Projectile Speed can be useful for putting out rockets at longer range. +Reload Speed reduces downtime between groups of rockets.

-Impact/Puncture/Slash are all usable negatives, though the latter is less desirable as it is a good proc. -Crit Chance/Damage is usable as neither Ogris has good Crit, though I strongly prefer the former of the two. -Faction Damage can be manageable, but significantly hurts Nightwatch Napalm against the corresponding faction. -Ammo Max is usable only alongside at least one of Ammo Case/Mutation/etc. -Projectile Speed is largely a non-issue in close quarters. +Recoil is quite manageable as the Ogris family is quite slow firing. -Zoom is ideal at closer ranges.