Acquisition
If you are unlucky with part drops from the mission, they can also be purchased from the Koumei shrine in Cetus using that mission's exclusive currency Fate Pearls.
Stats
The Higasa's Crit and Status are solid - 24%/2× and 18% respectively. This is on par with a lot of mid-MR weapons, and certainly beyond most weapons of its MR level. Base Damage composition of Slash and Puncture is not bad, however the ideal would have been for the Slash component to be higher.
It is held back by rather low base Damage and Fire Rate. It should be noted that the Fire Rate is time between its 5-round Bursts, and the time between individual shots in a Burst, according to the Wiki, is 0.1s. This gives for a "true" Fire Rate of around 5.5-6.25.
With a very large Mag Capacity of 90 and reasonable Reload Time of 2.5s, the Higasa has a very good Reload Ratio somewhere around 5.76-6.5.
The Higasa has an Alt Fire that is activated by kills - much like the Battacor and Trumna, among others. Each kill fills 10% of the gauge.
This attack has the same decent Crit/Status spread as Primary Fire, with far higher base Damage. Notably this base Damage is switched to pure Blast, whose proc can provide a degree of AoE, though the Higasa's Alt Fire is not the best to make the most of that. 2m of innate Punch Through provides an element of guaranteed AoE, which is always nice.
The Higasa has a second special feature, projecting a frontal shield while aiming. This shield blocks ranged attacks like most enemy bullets, while also charging up Alt Fire further. This shield is similar to Garuda's Dread Mirror (1), and is quite useful against tightly grouped and funneled enemies - such as in corridors.
Augments
Compared to regular Serration, it offers almost triple the +Damage, as well as a bonus Status Proc on Alt Fire. This equates to roughly double the total damage compared to regular Serration. As a notionally early game weapon, the Higasa is designed to be fairly weak at base, and this Augment is intended to at least partially close the gap between it and better weapons.
The secondary effect of applying a random Status proc on Alt Fire is more of a gimmick than anything else. With the number of different procs currently in game, the probability of inflicting one that is impactful with a single proc and isn't something you would normally mod for is fairly low.
Obviously, this unique Serration is a vast upgrade over regular Serration, and even competes effectively with Galv Aptitude.
Several more added polarities and you can start solidly filling all eight mod slots.
Ordinary Viral + Slash build.
Builds
Basic 0-Forma:
With only a single native D polarity, it can be difficult to fit even a basic build on the Higasa. This above example uses just Damage, Multishot, and basic Elemental mods. It's not particularly powerful, but it is fairly easy to build for and can give you a decent feel for the weapon.
Crit 0-Forma:
If you have access to some of the 60/60 Elemental mods and the basic Crit mods, you can fit a very basic Crit build, albeit your Elemental options are limited. Specifically, due to the native D polarity, a Cold mod is practically mandatory at this stage, if all your mods are max rank.
Of the Cold/Cold-combined damage types, the ones most worth mentioning are Viral and Magnetic. Viral does not have the best damage multipliers, but its proc increasing damage dealt to Health is almost universally useful, since every enemy has Health. Magnetic is effectively Viral but for Shields and Overguard. This makes it especially effective against the Shielded Corpus, especially with its bonus damage against them, as well as all Eximus and other such Overguard protected units.
Recommended Setups: Viral vs everything, Magnetic vs Corpus, Overguard.
Shred 2-Forma:
Two added V polarities allows you to fit in a seventh mod, as well as opening up some space for different Elemental mods, again still depending on what mods you have available.
In this example build, I've slotted in Shred for a little +Fire Rate and +Punch Through. I find the Higasa to be slow with both firing modes, so the increased Fire Rate is greatly appreciated. Meanwhile, Punch Through is a huge help against tightly packed groups of enemies.
If you want to focus on Fire Rate and don't care as much for Punch Through, use Vile Acceleration (or Speed Trigger if you don't have VA). Conversely, if you want the Punch Through but don't care for the Fire Rate increase, look to Metal Auger or Vigilante Offence.
You can also look at doing more, different elemental builds, though again depending on available mods, you might have trouble fitting the desired setup.
For two-element combos, the other main one worth mentioning is Corrosive, which offers a powerful Armour-reducing effect and a different (arguably better) set of multipliers compared to Viral.
For three-element combos, you can look at adding Heat to Viral or Corrosive, which both significant improve Heat's Armour-reduction and damage-over-time. This is particularly prudent for the Infested, against whom Heat is typically super-effective. Similarly, Corrosive can be supplemented with Cold, which has extra benefits to a Crit build as well as slowing doing priority enemies.
Magnetic can be supplemented with either Heat or Toxin. As mentioned previously, Heat offers Armour-reduction and damage-over-time, while Toxin offers Shield-bypassing damage. Heat is the preferred option against non-Shielded Eximus and other Overguarded units, while Toxin is exceptionally effective against unarmoured Corpus units.
Of course, you can also just build specifically for the damage types that deal super-effective damage to targets, and ignore Status procs and combos.
Recommended Setups: see above. Also consider: Viral + Heat vs everything, Corrosive (+ Heat/Cold) vs Grineer, Armour, Magnetic + Toxin/Heat vs Corpus, Overguard.
4-Forma:
An alternate build to look at against heavily armoured enemies is a Viral + Slash build, using Viral procs to augment the armour-bypassing Slash procs. Fanged Fusillade can be used to greatly increase the Higasa's natural Slash bias and thus proc frequency, however this is still quite inconsistent and does nothing for Alt Fire. Instead, Hunter Munitions is a lot more reliable, allowing any Crit (including the powerful Alt Fire) to inflict Slash procs.
If you're after a straightforward overall damage increase, you can look at Heavy Caliber and Vigilante Armaments. The former is stronger, however comes with a hefty Accuracy penalty and much higher drain and upgrade cost. The latter is weaker, but much cheaper to max and easier to fit. Both become obsolete once Galvanised Mods and Arcanes get involved.
At that stage, you could instead look at a (Primed) Bane mod, providing a significant Faction Damage increase. While these are expensive to max and tedious to switch around, they offer a strong final multiplier that notably applies multiple times to damage-over-time procs like Heat and Slash. I don't personally like using them because they are all Faction-specific, and I have still not experienced any content where these mods have felt necessary - there are more than enough options that are "good enough" without being Faction specific.
Speaking of, Rifle Elementalist offers a strong damage boost to damage-over-time procs only, as well as a small amount of Punch Through. Unlike the Banes, this one does not increase direct damage, but it is Faction-agnostic which saves the time of mod/build-switching.
There are a number of Crit boosting options that offer a decent Faction-agnostic damage increase. Bladed Rounds and Argon Scope are both solid conditional Crit-increasing options, while Proton Jet is a conditional option that increases both Crit and Status Chances. Hammer Shot, while it is relatively weaker than those, is unconditional and boosts both Crit Damage and Status Chance.
Finally, the relatively new mod Radiated Reload is an interesting option. It adds independent Radiation damage without interfering with other Elemental mods, allowing otherwise impossible combos like Corrosive + Radiation. It is particularly useful for adding extra proc types for effects like Galv Aptitude, providing light CC with its confusion proc, and giving some extra damage against enemies weak to Radiation damage.
For the Exilus slot, there are a couple of options to consider. While the Ammo Mutation effect of Vigilante Supplies is not necessary for the Higasa, it marginally increases Crit for a very, very small DPS increase. If you really struggle with Recoil, Stabiliser is a great option to negate that. Terminal Velocity adds a hefty amount of Projectile Speed, which is quite beneficial for Primary Fire at longer ranges.
Recommended Setups: see above. Also consider: Viral + Slash vs armour, added Radiation to any build.
Galvanised Mods
Galv Chamber.
Galv Aptitude is a decent option, competing with Higasa Serration. Galv Apt requires 4 unique Status procs to beat out HSerration for +Damage, which is possible with specific elemental setups or additional setup, and the extra Status Chance is always appreciated. On the other hand, HSerration is a guaranteed amount not requiring any ramp-up or priming, and its secondary effect is entertaining, if not exactly practical.
Galv Scope can be effective as the Higasa has solid Crit and reasonable precision. A stacked up Galv Scope can provide a respectable damage increase, and of course the Higasa likes being aimed as that enables its frontal shield. However given its fairly low direct damage, the Higasa gets a lot of its damage output from damage-over-time procs, some of which cannot headshot.
Arcane
+Damage options:- Primary Merciless - The standard, offering +Damage from kills and +Reload Speed. The Higasa isn't in desperate need of +Reload Speed, and doesn't have notably strong AoE, so while Merciless is perfectly fine, I don't think it really stands out.
- Primary Deadhead - The standard alternative, offering +Damage on Headshot kills, +Headshot damage, and -Recoil. More damage is always appreciated, especially on a weapon that isn't particularly strong to start with. The usual caveat with some damage-over-time kills stealing Headshot kills applies.
Other Damage-increasing options:
- Primary Frostbite - Offers a respectable Crit Damage and Multishot from inflicting Cold procs. Notably, any part of your loadout can inflict the Cold procs, whether it be the weapon itself, another weapon, or even your Warframe or Companion.
- Primary Blight - Offers slightly stronger stats than Frostbite, but can only be stacked by Toxin procs from the weapon itself. This makes it suitable for some targets (e.g. Corpus), but otherwise limits build options quite heavily.
Non-Damage-increasing options:
- Fractalised Reset - While +Reload Speed is not bad for the Higasa, it is not a big desire by any means.
- Primary Exhilarate - the Higasa can't inflict Impact procs naturally, so this one is a non-starter. The Energy regen would be quite nice for newer players, but they also can't access Primary Arcane Adapters in the first place...
- Primary Obstruct - Requires building for Magnetic, offering a short CC effect with significant cooldown. There are much better ways to get CC without sacrificing the Higasa's Arcane slot, especially with how much it struggles for damage output.
With Higasa Serration, or Galv Apt with 4 or more unique procs, Pri Frostbite/Blight are slightly stronger than Pri Merciless/Deadhead, however require specific builds/loadouts to stack. Both Merciless and Deadhead are fine, though between the two I'd favour Deadhead for the extra Headshot damage to make killing tougher enemies a little easier.
My Builds
Combat Use and Summary
With a large Mag Capacity and overall great Reload Ratio, the Higasa fares reasonably against large groups. While it isn't particularly fast firing, with its Burst-Fire nature, it still outputs a decent number of projectiles. Its relative lack of damage is less of an issue against trash mob enemies, many of whom are extremely squishy. Modded on Punch Through is a great help. The Higasa still doesn't come close to conventional AoE weapons, or even just "ordinary" faster firing Full-Autos.
Against singular heavy enemies, the Higasa relies largely on its Alt Fire to deal good burst damage. Primary Fire is not very powerful, and struggles to deal meaningful single target damage, even on Crit Headshots. Alt Fire packs a lot more punch, and performs better against such targets, particularly on Headshots, but requires kills/blocks to be used again. This puts a pretty large limitation on the Higasa's direct damage output.
Heavily armoured singular enemies can also be problematic, though slightly less so. With solid Status Chance and projectile output with Primary Fire, the Higasa can stack up a reasonable number of Viral/Corrosive + Heat/Slash procs. Viral/Corrosive both drastically increase damage dealt to armoured enemies, whether through increased damage to Health or reduced Armour. Heat further reduces armour and deals some damage-over-time, while Slash deals damage-over-time that bypasses armour entirely. Compared to other weapons with poor Status output, this is a significant advantage that partially makes up for the lack of direct damage - but not entirely. Though heavily armoured enemies have less pure Health than comparable unarmoured enemies, they still have enough to prove problematic for the Higasa's severe lack of direct damage.
With solid Crit Chance on both firing modes, the Higasa can make use of Hunter Munitions to significantly increase its Slash proc frequency. This is particularly helpful against heavily armoured enemies, but again, its severe lack of direct damage limits how impactful these Slash procs are.
The Higasa's shield-while-aiming is a unique and fairly useful feature. While not the most consistent or reliable defence, it is particularly effective in narrow spaces like corridors where you can funnel enemies into a single direction. At a stage of the game where your defensive and survivability options are limited, a directional shield that is cost-free (except needing to use the Higasa of course) can be very helpful.
Overall, Higasa is a solid weapon at its MR level. It sports solid Crit and surprisingly decent Status Chance, as well as a powerful charge attack that provides excellent bursts of damage. A unique Serration variant allows it to stay relevant a little longer than one might expect for its MR level, but falls well behind most higher level weapons.
If you're a relatively newer player looking for a Rifle, the Higasa is a decent option you can access fairly early. For more experienced players, unless you really like its unique features, you're probably better off just using it for MR fodder, or waiting for its Prime version several years down the track.
Scores
Vs Trash Mobs: 3/5 - The Higasa has high Reload Ratio and decent projectile output, however is held back in this category by its comparatively unimpressive Fire Rate.
Vs Unarmoured Heavies: 2/5 - The Higasa has a severe lack of direct damage on Primary Fire, in large part due to its low MR category. Alt Fire is a good bit stronger but requires charging via kills or blocked shots, preventing it from being used liberally.
Vs Armoured Heavies without Forced Slash: 2.5/5 - Primary Fire can inflict a reasonable number of status procs, notably Viral/Corrosive with extra Heat, drastically increasing damage dealt to armoured enemies. Additionally, it has reasonable Slash bias so can naturally inflict Slash procs, albeit not very reliably. However, it is still lacking in direct damage, so even with
Vs Armoured Heavies with Forced Slash: 3/5 - Fairly high Crit allows the Higasa to make solid use of Hunter Munitions to somewhat reliably inflict Slash procs. The damage-over-time bypasses armour entirely, partially making up for the Higasa's severe lack of direct damage. In particular, Alt Fire can inconsistently inflict powerful Slash procs, which will eat through such enemies fairly quickly...if they actually proc.
Vs Variants
None, though expect a Prime several years down the track.
Competitors
Considering its low MR lock, it is somewhat silly to compare the Higasa to top-of-the-range weapons like most Prime/Tenet/Kuva/etc weapons, let alone Incarnons. Even with its unique Serration variant, it does not come close to many of those weapons for overall damage output and capability.
Other Rifles in the MR0-4 range include the Braton, Burston, Boltor, against which the Higasa compares quite favourably. Its far superior Crit allows it to scale much higher with Crit mods, and its higher Status Chance keeps it competitive for Status output, even with lower Fire Rate. The shield-while-aiming is always a nice feature, and the charge shot provides bursts of damage that the others can only dream of.
The MR4 Hek is often recommended for new players, and rightly so due to its great single-shot and burst damage. Indeed, the Higasa does not come anywhere near for single-target/burst damage except with its charge shot, which is only enabled from achieving kills. However, the Higasa naturally fares much better against larger groups, with its much larger Mag Capacity.
The Prisma Tetra is also MR4, and by my basic calculations comes out slightly favourably with basic builds, in large part due to its Fire Rate advantage. However as a Baro weapon, it is likely that if a player is in a position to acquire it, they can probably get much better weapons anyway. Additionally, it does not compare well with the Higasa's unique Serration in play.
It should be noted that Kitguns are technically not MR locked, however the better components require significant progress with the respective open world syndicates to unlock. By that point, a player should be much higher MR and therefore have access to many naturally better weapons than the Higasa.
With Higasa Serration in play, the gap between it and better weapons closes somewhat. It offers just over double the damage of regular Serration, not considering Galv Aptitude or +Damage Arcanes. However, the Higasa is an order of magnitude (or multiple) weaker than many higher-tier weapons, so this is nowhere near enough to bridge that gap.
If you like the feel of the Higasa but want something more powerful without waiting for its Prime, the Battacor has a very similar playstyle while being a lot stronger, albeit with smaller bursts.
The Trumna (and its Prime version which I should really get around to reviewing), Aeolak, Stahlta, and Tenora Prime also have similarities with a lot more overall power.
Overall, the Higasa is a respectable, and arguably even good, low-MR weapon. It compares quite favourably with many of its alternatives, and with its unique Serration variant, can hold its own further into the game than those as well.
Rivens
As of writing, the Higasa has already experienced a Riven Disposition increase from the starting minimum 1/5 (0.5) to 2/5 (0.75), and I expect it to keep rising. By design, it is not a notably powerful weapon, and even with its unique Serration, it does not come anywhere close to the top weapons today.
+Multishot/Crit Chance/Crit Damage are the usual nice positives. +Slash can be nice for getting more natural Slash procs, but that's of limited value given the Higasa's only moderate Status output. +Elemental Damage can be useful to save a mod slot. +Faction Damage can be a strong multiplier of damage-over-time procs like Slash and Heat, most useful against the Grineer of the three Factions that can be rolled. +Fire Rate can be quite nice, as Primary Fire is quite slow firing normally, and it cuts down Alt Fire's Charge Time. +Projectile Speed can be nice for Primary Fire, but does not affect the hitscan Alt Fire. +Punch Through is greatly appreciated for both forms.
-Impact/Puncture can be nice negatives. -Impact has no negative effect, and while Puncture is a large portion of Primary Fire, it doesn't affect added elemental damage or damage-over-time procs, and Puncture is not the most useful damage or proc type itself. -Faction Damage can be manageable against weaker Factions (Infested, and arguably Corpus) with strong positive stats. -Mag Capacity/Reload Speed in small amounts can be manageable, as the Higasa has a great base Reload Ratio. -Ammo Max is negligible. +Recoil can be good if you manage recoil well. -Zoom is ideal for close quarters.
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