A Zaw is a special melee weapon which is considered to be a modular melee weapon (a weapon that requires 3 different parts which stats depend on each part used) and only available in Cetus.
These weapons are available to be purchased or built in Cetus and provide you with the advantage of choosing the stats you want for your weapon.
Zaws appear as a more primitive weapon based on the way they look but they are not to be underestimated as these may turn out to be some of the strongest weapons in Warframe.
One of the features of Zaws that once you rank it up to level 30 for the first time, you may guild it which counts as a forma and allows it to add to your master rank as well as giving you the option of naming the Zaw.
Many players have decided to use Zaws as they feel more customizable not only in terms of giving it a name or modding it but also because you are able to choose the parts which give the stats.
How To Make A Zaw?
Finding Hok
Before anything that is related to Zaws can begin, you must find Hok first who is located in Cetus, he is the current blacksmith archetype in Cetus who you will be dealing with when it comes to Zaws.
Upon arriving in Cetus, head for the hammer and anvil icon on your mini map, this represents Hok and you may find him at this location.
You may also go to your main menu and select fast travel in order to instantly teleport to his location in order to save time.
This method will be available if you have already encountered him in Cetus and will always be available from then on.
Select Hok from the fast travel menu and you will instantly be teleported to him and will begin talking him.
Once you have reached and began talking to Hok, you will see 4 different options which will be covered I this guide.
You have the choice to either Forge a Zaw, Browse the inventory that Hok sells, see the special item which is a Zaw of the day that Hok has prebuilt and may sell or other services regarding Zaws or Hok’s services.
Also Read About
Choosing Zaw Parts
In order to view the Zaw parts that are available you must select “Browse Wares” which will open up the menu where you can see what Zaw part blueprints Hok is selling.
You will see his offerings which cost Ostron standing, which is the standing gained by doing various quests in Cetus or trading and provided supplies.
Depending on your Rank, more parts will be available to you and provided you have enough standing, you may purchase which ones you want.
In this list you will see that there are 4 categories for the offerings which are:
Strikes
Strikes are the weapon heads and these determine the damage type of the weapon as well as other stats that it has.
The strike is also the part that grants mastery rank and will count as the same weapon regardless of the link or grip.
A Zaw’s strike determines the initial stats which are damage, damage type, attack speed, critical chance, critical multiplier and status chance.
Grip
Grips are a Zaw’s handle and these determine which kind of weapon the Zaw will be allowing you to choose between more than one weapon type.
Depending on which grip you select, your Zaw will be a one-handed or two-handed weapon as well as which stance it will be using.
By selecting a grip, you can make your Zaw into a dagger, machete, polearm, staff, rapier, heavy blade, scythe, sword, hammer or nikana and this will also decide the stance of the Zaw.
As an addition, grips may also impact if there is an addition to the base damage or the base speed of the Zaw depending on which grip has been selected.
Links
Links are mainly used as ornaments and counterweights to improve the balance of the weapon and act as the third part of our Zaw.
There are several different links in Warframe and this allows us to furthermore customize the overall stats of our Zaw.
Basically links alter the stats of the weapon by either increasing or reducing the speed, critical chance, status chance or damage of the Zaw.
Arcanes
Arcanes are special enhancements that can cause buffs or special effects to happen when equipped on your Zaw.
These may have different effects and each one may benefit a different kind of playstyle.
Most of the Arcanes have a special effect which one can utilize with different Zaws.
Buying Zaw Parts
Once you see a Zaw part that you are interested in, simply select it and you will be brought to a screen which shows more detail about it.
If you decide this is the part that you prefer, simply select blueprint and you will be brought to the confirmation part of your purchase.
You may type how many you wish to purchase or may simply click on purchase to buy one of the blueprints.
Once you have completed your purchase, the item that you bought will be in your inventory and may then be crafted once you head back to your orbiter.
Crafting Zaw Parts
To craft a Zaw part, simply head to the foundry in your orbiter and search for the Zaw part you wish to craft.
Typing Zaw in the search bar will show all of the Zaw related parts and will make it easier for you to find whatever part you wish to craft.
Craft the part as you would any other item crafted in the foundry and wait for the time to finish up.
Once you have crafted the part or parts that you need for building your Zaw, you may pick these up from the foundry and they will be added to your inventory for building the Zaw later on.
Building a Zaw
Once you have all the parts for your Zaw crafted, talk to Hok once again and select “Forge A Zaw” to open up the Zaw building menu.
You will see that there are 3 different slots that you will need to fill and you will need to have the part already crafted to be able to place them in a slot.
Begin by selecting the strike of your Zaw which is the head and will determine the main type of weapon as well as the damage.
After you have selected your strike, choose a grip to finalize the weapon type and to modify the stats more.
Once a strike and a grip have been selected, choose your link which will finalize the build and add additional stats.
After you have selected all of the parts you want which build up your Zaw, you will be able to see the different stats that your Zaw will have and can decide if you finally want to proceed with the crafting.
Once you decide you are happy with the stats and appearance of you Zaw, simply select build and you will be prompted to confirm on crafting the Zaw.
Select “yes” to proceed with building the Zaw but remember the build process is instantaneous and irreversible so make sure you are satisfied with your build.
Upon confirmation your Zaw will be built and added to inventory or arsenal which you may now use.
Congratulations! You may now enjoy using your powerful new Zaw against your helpless enemies.
Gilding A Zaw
You may notice that the Zaw does not allow you to modify it in ways such as its color or upgrading it aside from adding mods.
This is because you need to Gild your Zaw and when it comes to how to gild a Zaw it is not that hard.
It is more like breaking the weapon in which allows you to polarize it for the first time and release its true strength.
Begin by leveling up your Zaw like you would any other weapon until you reach max rank with it.
Once you have leveled up your Zaw to its max level you may take it to Hok to have it gilded.
To gild your Zaw select “Other Services” in the menu when you speak to Hok.
From the other services menu select the “Gild” option to guild your weapon.
Take not that you will need 2 Cetus Wisps and 5,000 standing in order to have your weapon gilded.
Gilding a weapon is similar to using a Forma on it and this will reset your weapon to its lowest rank while allowing you to add a polarity slot.
Select the slot and which polarity you would like to put and choose apply to proceed with the gilding of your Zaw.
You will be asked to name your weapon which is quite a unique feature.
Type in a name for you Zaw to have once it is gilded and select ok to finish up the process.
There will be one more confirmation before the gilding is complete and then you will have finally gilded your weapon.
Once you have gilded your weapon, all of the other functions of a normal weapon will be available and you will now enjoy the full potential of the Zaw.
As an addition, the stats will be increased and the Zaw will become stronger than it was when you first crafted it.
Types Of Zaws
There are several Zaws that can be created, most of them depend greatly on the grip you use and the links but the main type of weapon they are is usually based on which strike and grip you use.
Here are the following weapon types you can make with Zaw strikes and grips.
Mewan
The Mewan strike may be used to craft a sword or polearm type Zaw.
(Mewan Sword Zaw)
(Mewan Polearm Zaw)
Plague Keewar
The Plague Keewar strike may be used to craft a scythe or staff type Zaw.
(Plague Keewar Scythe Zaw)
(Plague Keewar Staff Zaw)
Balla
The Balla strike may be used to craft a dagger or staff type Zaw.
(Balla Dagger Zaw)
(Balla Staff Zaw)
Cyath
The Cyath strike may be used to craft a machete or polearm type Zaw.
(Machete Type Zaw)
(Polearm Type Zaw)
Dehtat
The Dehtat strike may be used to craft a rapier or polearm type Zaw.
(Dehtat Rapier Zaw)
(Dehtat Polearm Zaw)
Dokrahm
The Dokrahm strike may be used to craft a scythe or heavy blade type Zaw.
(Dokrahm Scythe Zaw)
(Dokrahm Heavy Blade Zaw)
Kronsh
The Kronsh strike may be used to craft a machete or polearm type Zaw.
(Kronsh Machete Zaw)
(Kronsh Polearm Zaw)
OOLTHA
The Ooltha strike may be used to craft a sword or staff type Zaw.
(Ooltha Sword Zaw)
(Ooltha Staff Zaw)
Plague Kripath
The Plague Kripath strike may be used to craft a rapier or polearm type Zaw.
(Plague Kripath Rapier Zaw)
(Plague Kripath Polearm Zaw)
Rabvee
The Rabvee strike may be used to craft a machete orhammer type Zaw.
(Rabvee Machete Zaw)
(Rabvee Hammer Zaw)
Sepfahn
The Sepfahn strike may be used to craft a nikana or staff type Zaw.
(Sepfahn Nikana Zaw)
(Sepfahn Staff Zaw)
These are not the best builds for the weapons and have only been shown to show the different types of Zaws that can be crafted with another grip or link.
Zaw Parts& Arcanes
There are several different Zaw parts that may be used when making a Zaw, each of them can uniquely change the outcome of a Zaw once built and may be used to create the weapon that pleases its user.
Here are the following Zaw Parts:
Strikes
These are the following strikes and their stats:
Strike | Damage | Critical Chance | Status Chance | Speed |
Balla | 68 | 18% | 18% | +0.083 |
| Dokrahm | 68 | 18% | 18% | +0.083 |
Kronsh | 86 | 18% | 18% | -0.067 |
| Ooltha | 72 | 18% | 18% | +0.000 |
Plague Keewar | 79 | 18% | 22% | -0.033 |
| Plague Kripath | 70 | 22% | 18% | +0.033 |
Rabvee | 86 | 18% | 18% | -0.067 |
| Sepfahn | 72 | 20% | 20% | +0.000 |
Dehtat | 68 | 18% | 18% | +0.083 |
| Cyath | 72 | 18% | 18% | +0.000 |
Mewan | 86 | 18% | 18% | -0.067 |
Grips
These are the following grips and their stats:
Grip | Damage | Speed | Weapon Type |
Korb | +28 | 0.783 | 1 Handed |
| Peye | -4 | 1.000 | 1 Handed |
Plague Akwin | -2 | 0.950 | 1 Handed |
| Laka | +0 | 0.917 | 1 Handed |
Kwath | +14 | 0.850 | 1 Handed |
| Plague Bokwin | +7 | 0.883 | 2 Handed |
Seekalla | -4 | 1.000 | 2 Handed |
| Shtung | +28 | 0.783 | 2 Handed |
Jayap | +0 | 0.917 | 2 Handed |
| Kroostra | +14 | 0.850 | 2 Handed |
Links
These are the following grips and their stats:
Link | Damage | Critical Chance | Status Chance | Speed |
Jai | -4 | n/a | n/a | 0.083 |
| Jai II | -8 | n/a | n/a | 0.167 |
Ruhang | +14 | n/a | n/a | 0.067 |
| Ruhang II | +28 | n/a | n/a | 0.133 |
Ekwana Jai | -4 | -4 | 7 | 0.083 |
| Ekwana Ruhang | +14 | -4 | 7 | 0.067 |
Vargeet Jai | -4 | 7 | -4 | 0.083 |
| Vargeet Ruhang | +14 | 7 | -4 | 0.067 |
Ekwana II Jai | -4 | -8 | 14 | 0.083 |
| Ekwana II Ruhang | +14 | -8 | 14 | 0.067 |
Vargeet II Jai | -4 | 14 | -8 | 0.083 |
| Vargeet II Ruhang | +14 | 14 | -8 | 0.067 |
Ekwana Jai II | -8 | -4 | 7 | 0.167 |
| Ekwana Ruhang II | +28 | -4 | 7 | 0.133 |
Vargeet Jai II | -8 | 7 | -4 | 0.167 |
| Vargeet Ruhang II | +28 | 7 | -4 | 0.133 |
Arcanes
These are the following arcanes:
Arcane | Effect |
| Brave | On Channel Kill: 1.25/2.50/3.75/5.0 increased energy regen for 1/2/3/4 seconds. |
| Force | On Status Effect: 5/20/35/50(%) causes burst for 50/100/150/200% damage in 3/4/5/6m radius. |
| Hunt | On Slam Attack: 20/30/40/50(%) chance to pull in nearby enemies in 6/8/10/12(m radius) |
| Might | On Finisher: 12.5/25/37.5/50(%) chance for 7.5/15/22.5/30(%) additional life steal for 2/4/6/8 seconds. |
| Triumph | On Status Effect: 5/10/15/20(%) chance 50/100/150/200(%) increased channeling damage for 3/6/9/12 seconds. |
| Valor | On Critical Hit: 5/10/15/20(%)chance 50/100/150/200(%) increased channeling damage for 3/6/9/12 seconds. |
| Contagion | On Air Attack: 100/200/300/400(%) projectile damage after 30m. |
| Epidemic | On Slam Attack: Projects wave that suspends enemies in air and deals viral damage to in a 33m distance for 1/2/3/4 seconds. |
Conclusion
Zaws may not be the easiest weapons to get when you first begin playing Warframe, but they sure do a heck of a job when it comes to cutting down enemies.
There are many available parts meaning there are several possible builds that can be made with them.
Depending on what the player prefers, he can choose what kind of stats the weapons has and can later on adjust his mods to furthermore improve the build.
A lot of players use Zaws not only because of the looks and the arcanes they have but also the uniqueness of being able to create the weapon in the way that you want it.