Modular weapons: Kitguns and Zaws

You get most weapons as a finished blueprint. Modular weapons are different: you buy three single parts, build them in the Foundry and then let a vendor put them together into one weapon. Each part changes different stats. That way you get a weapon that fits your play style exactly. Zaws are melee weapons of the Ostrons, Kitguns are primary and secondary weapons from Fortuna and the Necralisk.

The key terms in short:

Modular weapon

A weapon made of three interchangeable parts. You do not get the parts back after assembly.

Zaw

A modular melee weapon. Hok in Cetus sells the parts and puts them together.

Kitgun

A modular gun. Rude Zuud in Fortuna and Father in the Necralisk sell the parts.

Strike, Grip, Link

The three parts of a Zaw: the head (blade), the handle and the weight on the handle. In the game the parts themselves are called, for example, Balla, Kwath or Jai.

Chamber, Grip, Loader

The three parts of a Kitgun: the barrel, the handle and the magazine. The Grip decides if it becomes a primary or a secondary weapon.

Gilding

A service at the vendor once the weapon is rank 30. Afterwards it gives Mastery points, gets a polarity and can hold arcanes.

Standing

The currency of a syndicate. You buy the part blueprints with it. More in Syndicates, open worlds and standing.

You always buy only the blueprint of a part. You build each part in the Foundry for 5,000 Credits and resources, which takes one hour. Then you go to the vendor with all three parts and choose the option to assemble. Assembly costs 4,000 Credits and is instant. There you also see a preview with all stats first, even for parts you do not own yet.

The Strike is the most important part. It sets the damage types, the critical stats and status. The Grip decides if the Zaw becomes one-handed or two-handed, and with that the weapon type. So every Strike can turn into two different weapon types. The weapon type decides which Stance mods fit.

Strike	One-handed	Two-handed	Main damage	Crit / Status
Balla	Dagger	Staff	Punch Through	18% / 18%
Cyath	Machete	Polearm	Slash	18% / 18%
Dehtat	Rapier	Polearm	Punch Through	18% / 18%
Dokrahm	Scythe	Heavy Blade	Slash	18% / 18%
Kronsh	Machete	Polearm	Impact	18% / 18%
Mewan	Sword	Polearm	Slash	18% / 18%
Ooltha	Sword	Staff	Slash	18% / 18%
Rabvee	Machete	Hammer	Impact	18% / 18%
Sepfahn	Nikana	Staff	Slash	20% / 20%
Plague Keewar	Scythe	Staff	Viral	18% / 22%
Plague Kripath	Rapier	Polearm	Viral	22% / 18%

The Link is the weight on the handle and shifts the stats. The names tell you what they do:

• Ruhang: more damage, less speed.
• Jai: more speed, less damage.
• Vargeet: more critical chance, less status chance.
• Ekwana: more status chance, less critical chance.
• A “II” after a word doubles that part. So Vargeet II Jai has twice the crit bonus of Vargeet Jai, while Vargeet Jai II has twice the speed.

The Chamber is the barrel. It decides how the weapon fires and what damage it deals. The Grip decides if it becomes a primary or a secondary weapon, and trades damage for fire rate. The Loader handles magazine, reload, crit and status. So every Chamber can be built as a pistol or as a primary weapon.

Chamber	Vendor	Damage	How it fires
Catchmoon	Rude Zuud	Impact Heat	Wide energy projectile with short range, passes through any number of enemies
Tombfinger	Rude Zuud	Impact Punch Through Radiation	Precise projectile that explodes on impact. As a primary it charges
Rattleguts	Rude Zuud	Slash Punch Through Radiation	Fast automatic fire
Gaze	Rude Zuud	Punch Through Radiation	Continuous beam. As a primary it explodes on the target
Sporelacer	Father	Impact Toxin	Spore shots that burst into small toxin bombs
Vermisplicer	Father	Impact Punch Through Slash Toxin	Short beams that latch onto enemies

For beam weapons like Gaze, the Grip only changes damage and beam range, not the fire rate.

• Crit Loaders: Killstream and Splat give a lot of critical chance, Bashrack, Stitch, Slapneedle and Zipneedle a bit.
• Status Loaders: Flutterfire and Ramflare give a lot of status chance, Sparkfire, Thunderdrum, Swiftfire and Zipfire a bit.
• Pure magazine or reload Loaders: Deepbreath, Bellows, Thymoid, Macro Arcroid, Slap and Zip.
• Arcroid and Macro Thymoid from Father give small bonuses to crit and status at the same time.

The better the part, the higher the syndicate rank you need for it. This is how much standing the blueprints cost:

At Father, the Infested parts cost 500 Entrati standing. Only Macro Thymoid and Arcroid need rank 1 and cost 1,000.

On top come the Foundry resources, mostly from the matching open world. Two examples:

• Sepfahn: 15× Condroc Kanat, 55× Fish Scales, 10× Gözyaşı Azurit, 60× Koprit Alaşımı.
• Catchmoon: 15× Mytocardia Sporu, 20× Travocyte Alaşımı, 10× Süpürücü Exa Beyni, 1,700× Alaşım Plaka.
• Each part also costs 5,000 Credits and one hour of build time.

A freshly built Zaw or Kitgun is a kind of raw version. You can use it normally and also install an Orokin Catalyst. But it gives no Mastery points, gets no polarity and cannot hold arcanes. Gilding changes that.

Weapon	Where	Required rank	Cost
Zaw	Hok	Rank 3 with the Ostrons	5,000 standing + 2× Cetus Wisp
Kitgun	Rude Zuud	Rank 3 with Solaris United	5,000 standing + 10× Shelter Debt-Bond
Kitgun	Father	Rank 3 with the Entrati	5,000 standing + 25× Father Token

The weapon must be rank 30 for this. While gilding, you choose an extra polarity and give the weapon its own name. Afterwards you can:

• earn Mastery points with it.
• polarize it further with Forma and color it freely.
• equip a Focus Lens.
• improve it with Exodia, Pax or Residual arcanes.

Only gilded Zaws and Kitguns can hold their special arcanes. On Kitguns you can install them on top of a normal primary or secondary arcane. General info about arcanes is in Arcanes: slots, ranks and farming.

With some luck, the Residual arcanes create an area with elemental damage on a Kitgun kill, for example Toxin with Residual Viremia.

For Zaws only the Strike counts, for Kitguns only the Chamber. Each Strike and each Chamber gives 3,000 Mastery points once, when you bring the gilded weapon back to rank 30. Grip, Link and Loader do not matter for Mastery.

• The primary and secondary version of the same Chamber count together. A Catchmoon as a pistol and as a primary gives points only once.
• At Hok and Rude Zuud the menu shows which parts you have already mastered.

Which combination is best changes with mods and updates. These rules always help you, though:

• Sepfahn has the highest critical and status chance among Hok's Strikes (20% each) and lots of Slash. As a Nikana or Staff it is a popular start.
• Dokrahm has the highest base damage among Hok's Strikes and turns into a Heavy Blade when two-handed.
• Plague Kripath is seen as one of the strongest Strikes (Viral, 22% crit), but it is only available in the “Plague Star” event.
• A Vargeet Link fits crit builds, an Ekwana Link fits status builds. Korb or Shtung give the most damage, Peye or Seekalla the highest speed.
• Catchmoon as a pistol is a popular all-rounder: it hits many enemies at once and deals Heat.
• Tombfinger and Gaze are good Chambers with Radiation. Sporelacer brings Toxin and area damage.
• For crit Kitguns take Killstream or Splat, for status Kitguns Flutterfire or Ramflare.

1. 01

   Pick a hub

   For a Zaw go to Hok in Cetus, for a Kitgun go to Rude Zuud in Fortuna. Rank 0 parts cost little standing at both.

2. 02

   Earn your first standing

   Do a few bounties in the open world. After a few runs you have enough for the three blueprints.

3. 03

   Use the preview

   Check the preview at the vendor before you buy. You see the stats of the combination you want, even without owning the parts.

4. 04

   Buy and build the parts

   Buy the three blueprints, farm the resources and build each part in the Foundry (5,000 Credits and one hour each).

5. 05

   Assemble the weapon

   Go back to the vendor with all three parts and assemble the weapon for 4,000 Credits.

6. 06

   Level to rank 30

   Install an Orokin Catalyst and level the weapon in normal missions to rank 30.

7. 07

   Gild

   Reach rank 3 with the syndicate and gild the weapon. Pick a fitting polarity and give it a name.

8. 08

   Level again and improve

   Level the weapon to rank 30 once more to get the Mastery points. Later, add Forma and an arcane.