I look at Kitguns as general-purpose weaponry. They have plenty of added benefits, such as Arcanes that enable them to conjure projectiles that seek, use batteries, or buff your abilities on killing enemies. You have plenty of options, depending on your goals, even at the S-tier level of Kitguns. For great AoE and damage, Catchmoon (note the shorter range) and Tombfinger are the go-to weapons, and for damage based on ticks or chain damage, Gaze would be your optimal pick. If you’re unsure which combinations to choose, this guide will help you through the tedious process of exploring all the Kigtun combinations in the game.
Note: Kitguns are unusable in Conclave.
What are Kitguns?
Kitguns are secondary weapons built in a modular structure at Fortuna, located on Venus. You can find the three different components according to your playstyle or your min-maxing plans and assemble them at Rude Zuud (an NPC). Kitguns are great to use and can be specialized to specific abilities or stats that you are looking for. We currently have 16 Loaders, 4 Grips, and 4 Chambers, which adds up to 256 Kitgun combinations for you to choose from.
Kitgun Combos to Go for
Plenty of people prefer staying with Haymaker Splat. For pure DPS, it is a top-tier choice (excluding Hybrid), but it definitely isn’t the clear victor in the race, and it may not always be the most optimal solution. For Rattleguts, Lovetap is better to fix the fire rate, which doesn’t otherwise fit the automatic pistol that much. Killstream offers the same Crit modifier as Haymaker Splat and trumps for players who reload more often.
If you’re planning on using Rattleguts for your status build, go for Haymer due to its fire rate. For your loader, you can pick whatever you want, depending on your playstyle. I have to say that fast-firing weapons in games are always better when they have a higher magazine. Reloading less frequently means you can kill enemies constantly. If you put in a lower magazine, you’ll be reloading too much to the point where it gets annoying, like a hosepipe you’re standing on and keeps spraying in bursts. Rattleguts does exceptionally well for single-target status due to its Multishot.
Optimize Your Kitguns Through Gilding
It is highly recommended that you Gild your Kitguns. For 64 Platinum, you can buy fully assembled and Gilded Kitguns at Rude Zuud’s in Fortuna. The catch is that the Loader, Grip, and Chamber combos are random, so you might quickly get something you don’t want.
Gilding Kitguns allows you to get Mastery Rank; however, your MR's progress is based only on the Chamber module. This means that after leveling up a Gilded Kitgun that is made with a specific Chamber to max level (30), every other Kitgun you forge in the future using that Chamber will not provide Mastery to you. After that, it will not even consider if you use different Grips and Loaders. Even the Rivens you generate will be linked to the Kitgun’s Chamber, not the Grip or Loader. Your existing Level 30 Kitguns, gilded or not, can be given to Rude Zuud for Solaris United Standing.
Is Catchmoon Still Top Tier?
The Catchmoon changes are brought up whenever Kitguns are being discussed. Catchmoon, due to its consistency and few downsides, has always been a top-tier pick for Kitgun enthusiasts. It is like a secondary version of the amazing Arca Plasmor shotgun and will pretty much make every mission henceforth a breeze for you. With this and a Rubico Prime, you need nothing to worry about.
While the Catchmoon nerf was pretty significant, Digital Extremes added Exilus slots to weapons in the same update. This allowed you to slot the Lethal Momentum Exilus mod, which reversed a big part of the nerf, as good as bringing you back to square one. Catchmoon’s fire rate and damage ticks are on the spectrum's lower side, making it a good pick for a purely Crit-based build. Haymaker and the Killstream remain to be the ideal backup parts. The Catchmoon-Haymaker-Splat build hits crazy hard and may just deter you from trying other Kitguns.
Crit, Armor, or Status?
The ideal Crit-based Kitgun can at most need two shots to kill everything in the game (excluding elemental gunners or armored enemies). Ratteguts and Gaze are the ideal picks for armor-based builds. Both are great at stripping armor and will serve you well on your Mot runs. Focus on Crit for Gaze, though, since it’ll strip armor on its own.
The Fire x Corrosive synergy is an effective way to strip armor, but make sure you prioritize Corrosive. However, multi-pellet guns aren’t in plenty, which makes Mara Detron the most efficient against armor. It’s excellent for pure armor strips, and the game doesn’t offer an upgrade other than a god-rolled Kuva Brakk. Note that you will need either Toxin or Electric on your Kuva Brakk. For comparison, your god-rolled Mara Detron will have a 35% chance to proc Corrosive (per pellet), as compared to your Kuva Brakk, that’s going to offer a 39% Corrosive proc chance.
All Kitguns are Great
All Kitguns are pretty solid, and it is recommended that you mod them to maximize Crit potential. Catchmoon is a crowd-control monster, but it has less range. Tombfinger has explosive bullets, but the travel time of its projectiles is low. Rattleguts easily trump one-handed auto-pistols, but Gaze works better for shot range with its beam damage. By default, Crit Rattleguts calls for Splat or Killstream as the loader, leaving the choice of Handle to you, depending on what fire rate you require.
To narrow down your choice, consider what you want—an auto-gun like Rattleguns, a beam gun like Gaze, or are you thinking about Crit vs. Status or stripping Armor? Hopefully, our Warframe Best Kitgun Combinations guide helped you decide what to prioritize. Kitguns are extremely fun to make, and it’s so satisfying to grind for each part and finally assemble them.
