How to get Kuva Weapons in Warframe: Lich hunting guide

For those looking to dive into Warframe's end-game activities and the Steel Path, Kuva weapons can greatly improve your arsenal. However, many players in the mid-game will not know exactly how to get a Kuva weapon. Unlike regular weapons, these cannot be crafted with a blueprint.

There is, of course, the easy way out: get a Kuva weapon from another player for the going price of Platinum. To do it the straight way, Kuva weapons require you to both create and hunt down Kuva Liches.

In this guide, we will go over all the steps to get a Kuva weapon of your choice, including how to hunt down a Kuva Lich in Warframe.

Warframe: How to get Kuva weapons by spawning Liches

You have to either kill a Lich or trade with other players to get a Kuva Weapon (Image via Digital Extremes)

Here's a simplified explanation of how you can get a Kuva weapon in Warframe:

Kill a Kuva Larving and ascend it to a Kuva Lich.
Lure out the Kuva Lich by clearing its controlled territories.
Defeat the Kvua Lich in combat by getting the correct sequence of Requiem mods on your Parazon.
Chase the Kuva Lich to the Proxima and defeat it in a Grineer Galleon.

While the broad strokes sound simple enough, there are a good number of nuances you need to take note of.

How to find and defeat a Kuva Larving in Warframe

Kuva Larvings can spawn on any non-endless Grineer node where the minimum enemy level is over 20. The quickest and easiest way to spawn a Larving is by doing the Cassini node on Saturn (Capture mission type).

Select a Warframe for the mission. The Warframe that kills the Kuva Larving will determine the progenitor elemental bonus on your Kuva weapon. Here is a handy progenitor list for Kuva and Tenet weapons.

Capture the target the objective points you to, and then wait for a yellow flicker on the screen. If the flicker doesn't happen immediately, moving towards the extraction should trigger it after a while.

Once this on-screen flicker happens, you need to kill some Grineer units within a minute. The required amount goes as low as 20 if you are SOLO.

Once you kill enough enemies, a broadcast from a Kuva guardian will let you know a Larving has spawned in the mission. A new icon will point you right to it.

If you drop the Larving to zero health, it will kneel and reveal what Kuva weapon you can get from killing it. Mercy-killing it at that point will spawn a Lich with that Kuva weapon equipped, and eventually get you the weapon itself.

How to narrow down your Kuva Weapon RNG with Larvings

On the other hand, if the Larving does not spawn with your preferred weapon, simply ignore it and go to Extraction. This will remove the weapon from the draw pool for a while, and the next couple of Kuva Larving kills in the same game session will not spawn with it.

Warframe Kuva Lich hunting mechanics, explained

Identify the necessary Requiem code by killing the Lich's Thralls (Image via Digital Extremes)

So you spawned your Kuva Lich by mercy-killing the Larving. Now begins the grindy part: unveiling its Requiem mod-sequence.

Each Kuva Lich spawns with a randomized combination of abilities, weaknesses, and resistances, as well as a combination of Requiem mods on your Parazon that can kill them.

What is Requiem Murmur in Warframe?

There are nine unique Requiem mods, and a combination of three specific types completes a 'password' of sorts that lets you kill the Kuva Lich successfully. The 'Oul' Requiem mod is a 'master-key' that can replace any Requiem mod and complete a sequence.

To learn which Requiem mods you need to kill a Lich, take down their thralls.

Kuva Liches control 'territories' on the nodes of one planet at a time. By going to these territories, you can do the mission as usual against higher-level Grineer enemies, some of which will be thralls of your Lich.

Killing thralls in a mission, or staying near a thrall while it is slain, will grant you 'Requiem Murmur', which gradually builds up a circular meter that will unveil one of the necessary Requiem mods when completed.

Once all three fitting Requiem mods are identified, Requiem Murmur does not contribute anything further. On a side note, note that Requiem Murmur does not have any direct gameplay ties to the Murmur faction and the Fragmented boss.

Strategy to identify Requiem mod-sequence for Liches in Warframe

Requiem Murmur is a crucial part of the Lich hunting process (Image via Digitial Extremes)

In addition to cheesing their unique weaknesses, guessing the Requiem mod sequence faster will make Lich-hunting in Warframe much easier. Using the Parazon with the wrong type or sequence of Requiem mods will make the Lich level up and take over another planet, but some trial-and-error is inevitable.

To start with, focus on farming Murmur and omit using your Parazon on the Lich until you have identified at least one correct Requiem mod. You can go to Recruit chat and look for public lobbies that are farming Murmur, as doing it solo is the same process but slower.
Once you know the first Requiem mod, put it on your first Requiem mod slot and try it out on your next Lich spawn encounter. If you succeed, you know one Requiem mod and also the third of the unique sequence. If not, the Requiem mod will go on the second or third slot.
Having an Oull mod equipped will make the Lich farm way faster. With this, you have a chance to defeat the Lich without guessing the third Requiem mod, which has the slowest Murmur progress.

Once you successfully defeat the Lich with the correct sequence of Requiem mods, it will escape to a Proxima region. To hunt it down, you will need to beat the Rising Tide quest. If you don't have access to that specific Proxima region, ask a friend to taxi you to a node there, or prepare for some Railjack grinding.

Read more: Warframe Railjack build guide

Vanquishing vs Converting Liches: What's the difference?

Kuva Liches can be killed or captured (Image via Digital Extremes)

You must chase the escaped Lich to a Grineer vessel for a final showdown. Cornering them here will open up the option to either Vanquish or Convert the Lich.

To obtain the Kuva weapon carried by this Lich, you simply have to kill it off. Afterward, all stolen resources and a crafted copy of the Kuva weapon will be delivered to your Orbiter. This will also unlock the unique Ephemera if the Lich comes with one.

Converting a Lich, on the other hand, lets you summon it as an On-Call Crew, or trade it with other players for Platinum.

Check out other guides on this game:

All Warframes tier list ||Warframe Incarnon weapons tier list || Kuva weapons tier list || All Warframe Twitch drops this week || Best stat-stick weapons in Warframe || Tenet weapons tier list || Latest Baro Ki'teer Inventory || All Warframe Promo Codes || Best weapons in Warframe for each Mastery Rank