Review: Kuva Karak (U28.0.7)

The MR13 Kuva Karak is the undisputed king of the Karak family. With buffs in nearly every stat compared to its predecessors, it is a very generic but unquestionably effective Rifle.

Acquisition

Kuva weapon means make and vanquish a Lich with that weapon, then pick it up from your Foundry, same as all the others.

Stats

The Kuva Karak's stat spread is very, very solid. Good Crit is complemented by a very high Status Chance and good RoF, as well as a decent portion of Slash damage.
With a good Mag Capacity of 70, and a decently fast Reload Time of 1.7 seconds, the KKarak has a solid Reload Ratio of 3.53.
Innate Punch Through is always appreciated, but 0.2 metres is not enough to pierce anything but very thin objects.

Augments

None.

Builds

NOTE: These builds do not include the Kuva Lich bonus. The actual damage total of these builds is 1.25x to 1.6x the totals displayed.

0-Forma:

A single native V polarity is enough to fit all of the basics, with space for one 90% elemental if you don't have the corresponding 60/60s. This above pictured build has 2 capacity spare.

It's a broken record by now, but Viral is the best all-round element, especially on the Kuva Karak, which inflicts a lot of Slash procs. It is especially potent against organic enemies, the Slash procs also ignoring any armour they may have. Corrosive or Radiation are of course always worth switching to when targeting specific enemies, particularly armoured bosses. Toxin on its own is a great option against unarmoured Corpus enemies, bypassing their shields entirely.

Corrosive is also great as a general anti-armour element, weakening enemies for another weapon to take full advantage of.

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

1-Forma:

One added V polarity allows comfortable inclusion of a seventh mod, of which there are many good options. As pictured, I've gone for Shred as per usual, though any of the mods I've mentioned below are also worth using, depending on what you value most.

Recommended Setups: see above.

2-Forma General Purpose:

Another added V polarity and it is quite easy to fill out a build. This example Viral build slots in Vigilante Armaments and has 2 capacity spare. Vigi Armaments is a great, no-fuss damage and Status boost.

This is an alternative build, going instead for Viral + Heat, and Heavy Caliber for greatly boosted damage-per-shot. Though powerful, its accuracy penalty can be troublesome, and is a trade-off you will have to assess for yourself.

There are multiple options available for the elemental setup. Primed Cryo Rounds is a big damage boost if it fits in your setup, and is quite easy to fit thanks to the Kuva weapon Rank bonus with Forma. Besides the aforementioned two-element combos and Viral + Heat, Corrosive + Heat, Radiation + Toxin and Viral + Electric are all worth using against certain targets as well. Wildfire is a novel way to add Heat while also increasing Mag Capacity.

There are a couple more solid options for the last two mod slots. Hunter Munitions does not add any direct damage, but is brutally effective against heavily armoured enemies, inflicting even more Slash procs. Fanged Fusillade also increases the volume of Slash procs, as well as slightly increasing damage, but also means fewer other procs. Argon Scope and Bladed Rounds are also solid if you can maintain their trigger conditions. Hammershot is an odd option that slightly increases damage as well as significantly increasing Status Chance.

For the Exilus slot, an Ammo Mutation mod is worth considering. Especially with any +Fire Rate mods, the KKarak can eat through ammo quite quickly. Vigilante Supplies is worth a mention as always for its Vigilante mod set bonus.

Recommended Setups: see above. Also consider: Viral + (HM or Heat) vs everything, Corrosive + Heat vs armour, Infested, Radiation + Toxin vs Corpus, Viral + Electric vs unarmoured Corpus

My Builds

Generic Viral + Heat build with Shred for Punch-Through.

Kuva Lich Bonus

Same as most Kuva weapons, the main contenders are Toxin, Heat and Radiation. Toxin is decent on its own, and combines to make Corrosive and Viral, which are the two best combined elements. Heat is an extremely strong extra element to have on a great Status weapon. Radiation is a decent damage type against Alloy armour in particular, and its proc is useful for shutting down Eximi and Ancient auras. It also does not interfere with added elements, allowing otherwise impossible combos like Corrosive + Radiation.

Magnetic is worth a mention in a dedicated anti-Corpus role, but is of no value against the other factions.

Combat Use and Summary

The Kuva Karak is quite well rounded and reasonably effective against most targets. Reasonably high RoF and good Mag Capacity make it solid against many weaker enemies, comfortably engaging groups. Solid Crit, high Status Chance and decent Slash bias give it excellent anti-armour capabilities, opening the way for Viral + Slash, Viral + Heat + Slash or Corrosive + Heat setups. All of these are very effective at weakening or otherwise bypassing the damage reduction of heavily armoured enemies.

The KKarak is least noteworthy against unarmoured or especially Status-immune enemies, though thanks to decent Crit, will still be reasonably effective.


With a base RoF of 11.67, one of Ammo Case/Mutation/etc can be worth equipping for longer missions. Especially if equipped with a +Fire Rate mod like (Primed) Shred, the KKarak can eat through ammo quite quickly. I personally find recoil largely a non-issue, even with the +Fire Rate from Primed Shred.


The Kuva Karak is among the best generic Rifles in the game. Its well rounded stat spread allows it to be effective against just about any target. Solid accuracy, minimal Recoil and a reasonably fast Reload Time also make it a very easy weapon to handle. Arguably the KKarak's greatest strength is also a major weakness. It is a very simple, rather ordinary Rifle, with no special features besides strong stats and the Lich bonus. There are many other weapons that are similarly powerful, while also being more interesting and having various special features.
If all you want is a no-nonsense Full-Auto Rifle or even just an all-round solid Primary, the Kuva Karak is a great option to pursue.

Scores

Vs Trash Mobs: 4/5 - Good RoF and a solid Reload Ratio allow the Kuva Karak to engage many weaker enemies quite comfortably.
Vs Unarmoured Heavies: 3.5/5 - Solid Crit gives the KKarak fairly good direct damage output, and stacked Viral/Magnetic procs can be a big help as well. However, it still lags behind many other Primaries for raw damage output.
Vs Armoured Heavies without Hunter Munitions: 4.5/5 - Good RoF, great Status Chance and decent Slash bias allow the KKarak to inflicting many debilitating procs on enemies. Viral, Corrosive and Heat are all powerful options that it is very capable of stacking up to weaken or bypass enemy armour.
Vs Armoured Heavies with Hunter Munitions: 4.5/5 - Solid Crit allows decent use of Hunter Munitions as well for extra Slash procs, though I personally have not found it to be notably better than the other options mentioned just above.

Vs Variants

The MR1 Karak is a joke compared to the MR13 Kuva Karak, not even having an edge in base Damage with the Kuva bonus taken into account.

The MR7 Karak Wraith is better, but still vastly outclassed. The Wraith has a slightly higher base Damage than a minimum bonus Kuva Karak, but falls behind in every other respect. A Lich bonus of 35% pushes the Kuva to be superior in every respect.

Competitors

Few other Full-Auto Rifles have a similar balance of good Crit and Status Chance.
The MR10 Prisma Grakata has better Crit and a much higher RoF in exchange for lower Status Chance, base Damage and worse Slash bias. Its much higher RoF also results in far heavier recoil, making the PGrakata handle more like an SMG than an all-purpose Rifle.

The MR15 Kuva Hind's Full-Auto mode has higher base Damage, Status Chance and great Slash bias, in exchange for worse Crit and lower RoF. The two are very close in Full-Auto. When looking at the KHind's other firing modes however, it pulls well ahead in overall firepower as well as versatility. Its Burst-Fire mode is essentially Full-Auto with more Crit, while Semi-Auto is a very hard hitting single shot.

The MR13 Kuva Quartakk in Full-Auto is the only other weapon with a similar stat spread. With extremely slow RoF for a Full-Auto, I would consider it largely inferior. The KQuartakk's Burst-Fire is very powerful, but also quite slow and not really comparable.

Competition also becomes extremely stiff when looking more broadly at the other Primaries in Warframe. Weapons like the Ignis Wraith, Amprex and Acceltra are significantly more effective against groups, and there are more unusual but also powerful options like the Buzlok and Stahlta. The Kuva Karak is the epitome of boring-but-effective, a simple Full-Auto Rifle that does the job.

Rivens

The Kuva Karak currently has a neutral 3/5 (1) Riven Disposition, with the other Karak variants sporting significantly higher. I would expect to remain around where it is now, given it did not change in the most recent Disposition update. Though strong, the KKarak is certainly not exceptional.

As usual, +Damage/Multishot/Crit Chance/Crit Damage are the main stats to aim for. +Slash is good for a Viral + Slash build. +ElementalDamage can be useful for extra damage or saving a mod slot. +Status Chance can be helpful for stacking up procs like Slash and Heat, especially now that >100% Status Chance is. +Punch Through is helpful against crowds.

-Impact/Puncture are both great negatives, neither being a significant or good damage type or proc. -Faction damage to Infested or perhaps Corpus is manageable. -Fire Rate is not bad if used alongside a +Fire Rate mod like (Primed) Shred. -Mag Capacity or -Reload Speed are not terrible in small amounts, as the KKarak's Reload Ratio is quite good. -Ammo Max is very manageable alongside one of Ammo Case/Mutation/etc. -Projectile Speed has no effect. +Recoil is very manageable if you handle recoil well. -Zoom is great for close quarters.