Build it, this is one of the better Kuva primaries and a genuine top shotgun pick. Charged shots hit hard with high crit chance and built-in punch through, but the charge-up means it is clumsy against fast-moving single targets up close.
Uncharged shots fire a wide pellet spread good for close range or clearing groups. Holding the trigger charges a tighter, longer-range blast with much higher crit chance and 1.5 meters of innate punch through.
The Kuva Drakgoon is the Lich variant of the Drakgoon flak cannon, classified as a shotgun with a bigger magazine, faster reload, faster charge time, and a much higher crit chance on fully charged shots than the base weapon.
It stays relevant in 2026 because charged shots combine high crit chance with heavy Slash damage and punch through, letting one weapon do both crowd clear and focused single-target damage.
Community tier discussions consistently place it among the stronger Kuva weapons, often mentioned alongside Kuva Nukor and Kuva Zarr as one of the Lich weapons worth actually farming for.
How to get the Kuva Drakgoon
- Finish The War Within and reach Mastery Rank 5.
- Run any Grineer mission at level 20 or higher. When the lights flicker yellow, kill fast and a Kuva Larvling drops.
- Walk up to the Larvling and read the weapon it shows. If it is not the Kuva Drakgoon, leave it alive and run another mission.
- Mercy-kill it with the Warframe whose progenitor element you want; that frame sets the bonus element on the weapon.
- Hunt the Lich: clear its nodes for Requiem murmurs, stab it with the Requiem mods in the right order, and vanquish it in the Railjack showdown on Saturn Proxima.
- The Kuva Drakgoon lands in your Foundry inbox with a 25 to 60 percent bonus of that element.
Fuse a second copy with Valence Fusion to push the bonus to 60 percent and choose the element you keep. Converted Liches trade in a Clan Dojo, so a Toxin or Magnetic copy can be bought. Rank 40 with five Forma.
Stats
| Class | Primary |
|---|---|
| Mastery Rank | 13 |
| Trigger | CHARGE |
| Noise | Alarming |
| Fire Rate | 3.33 |
| Accuracy | 1.4 |
| Magazine | 11 |
| Reload | 2 s |
| Multishot | 10 |
| Critical Chance | 19% |
| Critical Multiplier | 2.1x |
| Status Chance | 9% |
| Riven Disposition | (1.15) |
| Damage | 46 total |
|---|---|
| Impact | 4.6 |
| Puncture | 4.6 |
| Slash | 36.8 |
Riven disposition is 1.15, the higher end for a Kuva weapon, so rivens roll well and are worth chasing if pushing crit chance or Slash damage further, especially for a charge-focused crit build.
Builds
Build around the charged shot’s crit chance and the innate Slash bias: stack multishot and crit mods first, then add Cold and Toxin elemental mods to form Viral so every bleed proc lands on a debuffed target. Punch through is already built in, so no need to mod for it.
Shotgun
Shotgun
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Shotgun
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Shotgun
Shotgun| Mod | Why it’s here |
|---|---|
| Primed Point Blank | Base shotgun damage mod, the flat foundation for the whole build. |
| Hell’s Chamber | Shotgun multishot mod that adds extra pellets per charged shot, multiplying damage and status procs. |
| Blunderbuss | Flat shotgun crit chance mod, needed to push the charged shot’s already-high crit chance further. |
| Primed Ravage | Flat shotgun crit damage mod that makes those high-crit-chance charged shots hit much harder. |
| Galvanized Savvy | Adds status chance, and every kill adds direct damage per status type on the target; the shotgun version of Galvanized Shot. |
| Contagious Spread | Adds Toxin damage that combines with Cold to form Viral, doubling health damage on procs. |
| Chilling Grasp | Adds Cold damage and slow chance, the other half of the Toxin plus Cold combo that forms Viral. |
| Accelerated Blast | Adds fire rate and Puncture damage; faster charge cycling on a shotgun whose Puncture already leads. |
Shotgun Vendetta is the standard pick, boosting multishot and reload speed for a short window after a close-range kill. A cheaper alternative is Primary Merciless, which stacks flat damage per kill and works on any primary weapon including shotguns.
Reviewed September 2026.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Much higher crit chance on charged shots than the base Drakgoon
- Innate punch through on charged shots for lining up multiple enemies
- Heavily Slash-weighted damage that scales well with Viral and Hunter Munitions style builds
- Bigger magazine and faster reload than the standard Drakgoon
Cons
- Charge time makes it awkward against fast, close-range single targets
- Uncharged shots are noticeably weaker than the charged version
- Consumes shotgun ammo, which is scarcer than rifle ammo in long missions
A strong pick for players who like a charge-up shotgun playstyle and want a Kuva weapon that holds up into Steel Path. Worth actively farming a Lich for, not just a leftover-Lich weapon.