Riven & Kuva Guide – Warframe

A one-stop-shop for everything you need to know about Rivens and the resource intrinsically tied to them; Kuva.
Guide Made for Ascending Dragons Clan.

Introduction

Welcome to my comprehensive guide for all you need to know in regards to Riven Mods and the Kuva used to Cycle them.

SPOILER ALERT: Beware spoilers for the War Within. the spoilers are laid on pretty thick with this one, so if you don’t want the quest to be spoiled for you, then put this guide to one side and come back to it when your quest is done!

Riven Mods

Riven Mod Overview (Veiled and Unveiled)

Riven Mods are special mods that give you up to 4 different, random effects. So far there exists 4 different types of Riven mod for 4 different Archetypes; Rifle Rivens (This includes Sentinel Weapons), Melee Rivens, Shotgun Rivens, and Secondary Rivens.

When earning a Riven mod, you will find it’s stats will be unavailable to view, including what weapon the mod is for. the mod is in a state called being ‘Veiled’. You will need to unveil it in order to view what the mod can be equipped on and what stats it possesses. In order to Unveil a mod, you will need to perform the task outlined in the mod’s description. These challenges are normally quite unique and interesting as well as not always as easy as you might think. If you want any advice on how to beat a Riven challenge, including what frame and/or weapon would be the best choice. Then don’t hesitate to ask me or anyone in the clan, we would all be happy to assist you. I can also unveil the mod for you if I am available and depending on the challenge.

Veiled mods will have to be slotted on the weapon type they correspond to and the weapon it is slotted into needs to be brought with you on a mission. The Veiled mods themselves cost nothing and provide no benefits or downsides.

After Unveiling the mod, You will be able to see everything. Sadly some Rivens are locked behind a mastery rank wall and cannot be equipped right away. Make sure you keep leveling up those weapons and frames to get to the level you can use it! Most Riven mods also contain negative multipliers, it’s always worth making sure if you do get a negative multiplier either you reroll the Riven or that the positive stats make the negative ones worth the cost.

You earn one Riven as a reward from The War Within, and can earn further Rivens from Sortie missions (Common chance) and Special Gift of the Lotus Alerts that normally go live after Devstreams.

Riven Disposition

Next we talk about disposition. What is it? Why is this stat here when I look at my weapon?

Disposition is a stat present for every weapon currently in the game with the exception of Archwing weapons. Viewed in the ‘upgrade section’ of a weapon within the arsenal, It is an easy to follow guide to how powerful the riven mods for that weapon will be (How high the numbers go, how many stats etc). The current Dispositions are as follows:

Strong dispositions are found on weaker and less used weapons. The stats you will find on a Riven for a weapon with a strong disposition will be much better.

Competent

Strong

A neutral disposition is exactly what it says, perfectly neutral.

Neutral

A weak disposition would be found on a much wider usage weapon with better stats (Soma Prime, Atterax etc.). The stats you would find on a Riven for a weak disposition weapon will be much worse than that of one with a higher disposition.

Mild

Faint

Disposition is shared between all variants of a single weapon. As an example the Snipetron Vandal will have exactly the same disposition as the normal Snipetron. Disposition can be found in the Upgrade menu for the weapon you wish to mod. Although not mentioned, Disposition for all Zaw Strikes is placed at Neutral.

Cycling & Transmuting Rivens

Cycling

So you got your Riven mod, but don’t want -107% fire rate? or +70% damage to infested? Well you can simply just cycle the mod until you get the stats you want! simple enough in theory. In order to cycle a mod, you will need Kuva and quite a fair amount of it too. Getting kuva will be explained later in the guide.

View your Riven mod in your mod collection and click on it, the ‘Cycle’ option should appear where the ‘Fusion’ option would for normal mods. Click it and begin praying to the RNG gods, click the cycle button and part with your kuva for a completely randomised new Riven for the weapon it has been assigned. Note that the weapon will always stay the same and it’s possible to swap back to your old Riven mod’s stats in the same screen, just make sure you cycle the correct one! the cost of cycling will constantly ramp up as you cycle, so the more you cycle the more expensive it will become.

After A cycle is complete, you can choose to keep the new stats, or stick with the old ones.

Transmuting

Transmuting is when you reroll 4 unveiled Riven Mods into a brand new random one. The Riven you receive from Transmuting will always be random and will need to be unveiled again in order to view its contents. The Reroll option is located next to the Cycle one and requires at least 4 mods be selected for the procedure.

Riven Transmuters can only be earned through Capturing or Killing Hydrolists on the Plains or Eidolon.

Kuva

Kuva Overview

What is Kuva and how do you get it? Kuva is a legendary fluid the Orokin used to stay immortal, and is highly sought after by the surviving Grineer queen. You will have to challenge her indirectly to earn some kuva of your own.

The Fabled Kuva fortress, the stronghold of the Grineer queens. It travels around the solar system, constantly on the move. Where it goes, kuva always follows. So in short, whatever planet the Kuva Fortress is located near to on the Star Chart will have some it’s tiles (Missions) replaced with special ‘Kuva Siphon’ or ‘Kuva Flood’ missions. So what does that mean?

A Kuva siphon mission is effectively exactly the same as a normal mission from that tile, but with the exception that somewhere in the mission, a Kuva Siphon will be waiting.

Kuva Flood missions are the same as Siphon missions, except the rewarded Kuva is much greater, but as is the enemy level. Expect level 80 – 100 enemies within Kuva Storms.

A Kuva siphon is a strange looking Machine with weird ‘Braids’ that dangle from the bottom of it. Upon approaching the Siphon, a quote from the Lotus will let you know you have found it, and a waypoint will be added to your HUD for the duration of the mission.

Near the Siphon, 2 special types of enemies will spawn. They are known as Kuva guardians and ‘Jesters’. At least 2 Guardians will spawn, along with at least 1 Jester every time Kuva is collected. Jesters can be killed like pretty much every other enemy in the game, put enough bullets into it and it will die. But with the Guardians, they have to be treated differently. Those of you reading this whom have completed TWW (The War within) will know how to defeat them, for those that don’t, read on!

First you will need to Transfer into operator mode available only after the Second Dream quest has been completed (Default hotkey 5) and use your operator melee or void dash to disarm the Guard making him completely Vulnerable to damage. If you do not do this, they will be immune to damage.

Royal Guards (Pictured Left) and Kuva Jesters (Pictured Right)

Now, to catch you some Kuva clouds. A short moment after you have discovered the Siphon, a Kuva cloud will spawn. The queen wants the Siphon to collect it, and you want to stop that. Listen out for the screaming that can now be heard somewhere in your current tile. The louder it is, the closer you are. Once you find the black and red cloud, you can either void dash through it to successfully deny the queen her Kuva, Operator Melee the cloud or shoot the cloud with your Amp (Operator Weapon). Do this 4 times and the Kuva is yours! As a little note, one of the 4 braids will raise and will appear to suck in air facing the direction the Kuva cloud is coming from. Look out for this to get a read on were the Kuva might be!

Note the small (Hard to see) Cloud on the top right of the image. If you are having trouble locating the cloud, try using a codex/synthesis scanner to highlight the cloud in orange.

Endless Kuva Farming (Kuva Fortress Survival)

On the Survival tile within the Kuva Fortress known as “Taveuni” things work a little differently than a normal survival mission. The Lotus will notify players upon entry to the tile that the Grineer are harvesting Kuva and it is possible to intercept them.

After a Life Support Capsule is deployed an eximus unit will spawn nearby (Glowing miniboss enemies with varying auras). Killing this Eximus unit will cause it to drop a “Kuva Catalyst” which can be inserted into a Life support tower to transform it into a Kuva harvesting Tower instead. Kuva Harvesters will take 1 minute to harvest the full amount of Kuva and will need protecting like a defense objective. They possess 4,000 units of health. When the timer finishes all players will receive 200 Kuva and the life support meter will fill by 10% (Down from the normal 30% of standard Life Support Towers). This means that Kuva harvest survivals can only really be lucrative if you tactically balance out your tower usage or have frames with you that can kill lots of enemies and allow sufficient Support modules to drop.