Build it. No Mastery Rank gate, next to nothing to craft, and once the Incarnon Genesis adapter goes in, it turns into a real 150+ level headshot weapon. Skip it if you need room-clear or punch-through, because it’s a knife-thrower, not a crowd-control tool, and nothing in the mod pool changes that.
In Incarnon Form, thrown knives home in on headshots on their own and carry 2 bonus base multishot. Land weakpoint hits to charge the meter, then hit Alt Fire to dump the burst from its own 20-round pool.
Kunai is Warframe’s original throwing knife secondary. Quiet, accurate, dirt cheap to craft. Forgettable, though, until you slot in the Incarnon Genesis adapter.
The adapter is what actually matters. Without it, Kunai just chips away at single targets while the rest of your loadout carries the mission. With it, the homing Incarnon Form turns nearly every aimed throw into a weakpoint hit, and a full crit build reportedly clears level 150 Steel Path content without much fuss.
How to get the Kunai
Kunai has zero Mastery Rank requirement. You can build it the day you finish the tutorial.
- Buy the blueprint from the in-game Market. Cost: 15,000 Credits.
- Gather the build resources and craft it. Cost: 15,000 Credits, 5 Morphics, 3,000 Ferrite, 4,000 Nano Spores, 4,000 Salvage. Build time is 12 hours, or rush it for 45 Platinum.
- Or skip crafting entirely and buy the finished weapon outright. Cost: 175 Platinum.
The old MK1-Kunai starter variant is also sitting in the Market for 15,000 Credits, no crafting involved. It’s no longer part of the Vor’s Prize tutorial as of Update 34.0. Sources disagree on whether it needs MR 0 or MR 2, so check your own Mastery Rank in-game before you buy if you’re unsure.
The build worth running needs the Incarnon Genesis adapter on top of the base weapon. That part takes real time.
- Finish the prerequisites. Requirement: The Duviri Paradox, Angels of the Zariman, and Steel Path unlocked.
- Run The Circuit on Steel Path rotation and pick the Kunai adapter when it comes up. Cost: free, no Syndicate standing spent. The Circuit’s adapter offerings rotate roughly every 9 weeks, so don’t count on Kunai being available the week you check.
- Or buy the adapter pre-packaged with its install resources from Cavalero in the Chrysalith. Cost: 120 Platinum.
- Install the adapter. Cost: 20 Pathos Clamps, 70 Yao Shrubs, 80 Eevani.
Stats
| Class | Secondary |
|---|---|
| Mastery Rank | 0 |
| Trigger | AUTO |
| Noise | Silent |
| Fire Rate | 3.33 |
| Accuracy | 100 |
| Magazine | 10 |
| Reload | 0.75 s |
| Critical Chance | 8% |
| Critical Multiplier | 1.6x |
| Status Chance | 8% |
| Riven Disposition | (1.51) |
| Damage | 46 total |
|---|---|
| Impact | 4.6 |
| Puncture | 34.5 |
| Slash | 6.9 |
Riven disposition sits at 1.51x, 5 dots, one of the highest in the game. A good roll does real work here. Even a mediocre one is fine, since the build below doesn’t lean on the Riven slot to function.
Builds
This is a red crit, homing build built around the Incarnon adapter, not the base weapon. It leans on multishot and crit chance to push every headshot into overkill, since Kunai can’t punch through or hit multiple targets any other way.
Pistol
Pistol
Pistol
Pistol
Pistol
Pistol
Pistol
Pistol| Mod | Effect |
|---|---|
| Galvanized Shot | +80% status chance. On kill, +40% direct damage per status type on the target for 14s, stacking up to 3x. |
| Hornet Strike | +220% base damage. |
| Pistol Acuity | +350% weak point damage and +350% weak point critical chance. Locks multishot; it can no longer be modded on this weapon. |
| Galvanized Crosshairs | On headshot while aiming, +120% critical chance for 12s. On headshot kill while aiming, an extra +40% for 12s, stacking up to 5x. |
| Primed Target Cracker | +110% critical damage. |
| Primed Convulsion | +165% Electric damage. |
| Pistol Pestilence | +60% Toxin damage and +60% status chance. |
| Primed Heated Charge | +165% Heat damage. |
Primed Convulsion is the least settled slot in this list. It only turns up in the one build this table is based on. A good Riven or a mod like Galvanized Diffusion is a fair substitute if you don’t own it.
Arcanes: Secondary Outburst and Secondary Deadhead. Outburst converts your melee combo multiplier into crit chance and crit damage on swap to secondary. Deadhead stacks bonus damage on headshot kills up to 3x and, at max rank, also raises the headshot multiplier itself.
Recommended Incarnon Evolution picks, in order:
- Evolution 1 (fixed): headshot homing, +2 bonus base multishot, unlocks Alt-Fire transmutation.
- Evolution 2: Swift Conclusion, flat bonus damage plus a bigger bonus against enemies under half health.
- Evolution 3: Rapid Reinforcement, faster reload. The 20-round Incarnon pool burns fast, so this matters more than the projectile speed option.
- Evolution 4: Deathtrap Trigger, an on-equip crit chance and crit damage burst. The build this is based on reports up to 243% crit chance and 6.3x crit damage while it’s active.
Reviewed September 2026.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- No Mastery Rank requirement and cheap to build, viable from the start of the game.
- Riven disposition of 1.51x, 5 dots, one of the best in the game, so a good roll can push it hard.
- Incarnon Form’s projectiles home in on headshots by themselves, so consistent crit hits don’t take much aim skill.
- Silent, accurate, and ammo-efficient even outside Incarnon mode, which makes it solid for stealth play.
- A full crit and multishot Incarnon build reportedly reaches level 150+ Steel Path content without major struggle.
Cons
- Purely single-target. No punch-through, no AoE, and no mod in the game changes that.
- The Incarnon magazine only holds 20 rounds, so you’re reloading or transmuting constantly. That’s why Rapid Reinforcement is close to mandatory.
- Player discussion and September 2026 tier lists consistently rank it below other single-target Incarnon secondaries like Despair.
- Needs real investment before it’s good. The top community build runs 7 Forma, and you need the Circuit adapter or 120 Platinum just to unlock Incarnon Form at all.
This is a weapon for players who already have the Incarnon adapter and want another crit-stacking secondary in rotation, not a first pickup. New players get more mileage building it early for the Credit cost and the stealth utility, then shelving it until the adapter drops. If single-target damage matters more to you than clearing rooms, it holds up fine at high levels, but if Despair or another single-target Incarnon secondary is already in your loadout, there’s no strong reason to run both.