Zaw

"You have dreamed of your perfect blade! Well, dream no longer! It resides in this place between yourself and Hok, master craftsman, waiting to be born!"

- Hok Zaws are modular melee weapons created and assembled at Hok's Anvil in Cetus. Unlike traditional weapons, Zaws utilize a modular components system with interchangeable parts when crafting. Different parts grant different stats and abilities when used in crafting a Zaw, and players are able to mix and match different combinations of parts, resulting in a much wider variety of base stat customization for the weapons. Players are also free to give Zaws a name of their choice to further enhance customization.

Components = A Zaw consists of three different components, the Strike, the Grip, and the Link. Each component is centered around a particular aspect of the weapon, and these components can each have various parts to choose from, which changes the type of functionality that the component provides.

Strikes
Strikes are the head of the weapon, which determines the weapon's primary damage type. These are the components that earn Mastery Rank points for the weapon. It also determines what picture is shown in the arsenal.

Grips
Grips refer to the weapon's handle, and determine the type of weapon that will be built and the Stances that they will use.

Links
Links are the various weights and decorations attached to the hilt of the weapon's handle, which grant a variety of stat bonuses to the weapon with corresponding penalties.

The names of the Links are indicative of the stats they change, and the degree to which they change said stats.
 * Ruhang links increase damage at the cost of speed.
 * Jai Links increase speed at the cost of damage.
 * Vargeet increases critical chance at the cost of status chance.
 * Ekwana increases status chance at the cost of critical chance.

The premade combinations of Link types determine the bonus and penalties they provide.
 * Example: The Vargeet Ruhang combines the Vargeet and Ruhang links, leading to an increase in damage and critical chance at the cost of speed and status chance.

Numbers in the name indicate how many of a particular link is present, showing an increase in that Link's particular stat. The number will appear after the name of the link it refers to.
 * Example: The Vargeet II Ruhang has 2 Vargeet links, meaning that it offers greater critical chance bonus for a greater status chance penalty. On the other hand, the Vargeet Ruhang II has 2 Ruhang links, meaning it offers greater damage bonus for a greater speed penalty.

Before players can craft a Zaw, they must first purchase the blueprints for the parts they desire from Hok's Anvil, which is available for Standing, after which these parts must then be constructed at the Foundry.
 * -|Crafting =

Once the component parts have been crafted, players must return to Hok's Anvil and select the Forge a Zaw option. Here, players must choose the crafted components they have available to form the weapon. Once a Strike, Grip and Link are selected, the player will be shown a preview of the weapon's appearance, along with the weapon's stats. If the weapon is satisfactory, players can then proceed with the Build Weapon action, which will instantly craft the weapon for.

A newly built Zaw cannot be renamed, customized, Polarized, upgraded with an Orokin Catalyst, equipped with a Focus Lens, have Exodia Arcanes installed, or earn Mastery Rank experience.

Zaw Combos
While any Strike can be combined with any Grip, the type of weapon that results is dependent upon the exact type of parts that are used, and certain weapon types are limited to certain combinations of parts. Links do not affect the weapon type created, and can be freely used on any Grip and Strike combination.

Gilding
In order to fully unlock all of a Zaw's features, players must gild their weapon. To gild a weapon, players must have a reputation rank of at least Trusted with the Ostrons, and the desired Zaw must first be leveled up to Rank 30. Afterwards, players must return to Hok's Anvil and select the Gild option under Other services, which will cost 2 Cetus Wisps and. Upon gilding the weapon, players will be asked to first add a Polarity to the weapon, and then finally give it a custom name. This process will reset the weapon's level back to Rank 0.

A Gilded Zaw will have all of the functionality available to other weapons, and it will have enhanced stats over the newly-built version of the Zaw - It gains +10% critical chance, +0.6x Critical Multiplier, +10% Status Chance, and +12 base damage, which is spread proportionally between the weapons base damage types. Gilded Zaws are also able to earn Mastery Rank points.

Visually, the Gilded Zaw will have a modified appearance over a newly-built one, namely having all rust traces removed, the Strike being smoother and glossier, the orange Links becoming gold, and finally the blade having Ostron characters written on it.

Exodia Arcanes
Gilded Zaws can be further improved through the installation of Exodia Arcanes, that grant special conditional abilities to the Zaw. These can be bought from Hok's Anvil once a player has achieved the rank of Kin with the Ostrons.

Installing an Exodia Arcane onto a Zaw will visually add energy lights on the weapon's Links. It will also append the "Arcane" prefix to the weapon's name on the Arsenal, though the weapon's name will not have the prefix during missions.

The tables below show the various stats that can result from different Zaw part combinations.
 * -|Stats =

Reference: Zaw Compendium Table.

Bugs

 * If a newly Gilded weapon is equipped while on Cetus, the polarity slot added to the weapon during gilding will not appear. The polarity slot will appear once the player returns to their Orbiter.
 * On the first in-game day of applying a Lens to the new Plague Strikes, the Lens will not drop convergence orbs or gain Tenno Way experience. This appears to fix itself at Daily Reset. (100,000 Daily Standing not spent on day tested.)
 * Hok's Daily Special might contain unreleased Zaw parts.

Media
How To's