Kuva Larvling

Grineer

For the Corpus counterpart, see Candidate.

A Kuva Larvling is a unique Grineer enemy that can spawn on any regular level 20+ Grineer mission. They can be mercied at low health to spawn a Kuva Lich.

Kuva Larvlings will only spawn after you have completed The War Within quest.

After the screen flashes in any level 20+ Grineer mission, players are required to kill at least 10 enemies in under 1 minute for the Kuva Larvling to spawn. The body count requirement may increase by 10 for each Tenno present, so having more players may affect the kill requirement and the length of the timer.

Farming Locations

These are based on opinions and may not be 100% true. These should be viewed as advice for finding the enemies until better facts are proven.

Target	Planet	Name	Type	Level	Tile Set
	Saturn	Cassini	Capture	21 - 23	Grineer Galleon
	Sedna	Adaro	Exterminate	32 - 36	Grineer Asteroid
	Saturn	Anthe	Rescue	22 - 24	Grineer Galleon
	Saturn	Numa	Rescue	22 - 24	Grineer Asteroid
	Sedna	Naga	Rescue	30 - 34	Grineer Galleon
	Lua	Plato	Exterminate	25 - 30	Orokin Moon

Notes

• As noted above Kuva Larvlings will only spawn in regular Grineer missions whose level range is at least level 20. Thus under normal conditions Liches can only be "born" on the Kuva Fortress, Saturn, Sedna and Lua.
  • Although its mission nodes fall under the level range, Larvlings cannot spawn on Uranus, likely because they're considered "submersible" missions rather than regular ones.
    • Similarly, Larvlings cannot spawn on the Zariman Ten Zero, possibly as a result of the regular faction switching interfering with the Larvlings' spawning logic.
  • While they increase the level range of the mission node they're on, Void Fissures, Invasions, Quests and Dark Sectors are not considered "regular" missions and thus cannot spawn Larvlings.
    • Nightmare Mode, Kuva Siphons, and The Steel Path are exceptions to this rule, which in turn allows Liches to be born on Ceres, Mars, Earth, and Mercury.
    • During an Invasion, should the Grineer successfully occupy Corpus mission nodes within the level range, they can spawn Larvlings during the 24 hours the Grineer have control of the nodes. This allows for Liches born on Europa, Neptune and Pluto.
    • Combining the above factors it is possible, though unlikely, for Liches to be born on Phobos and Jupiter if the Grineer successfully invade a node, and Nightmare Mode/Steel Path modifiers take effect.
• After the screen flashes during a mission, players are required to kill at least 10 enemies in under 1 minute, for the Kuva Larvling to spawn. The Larvling will not spawn whatsoever if no enemies are killed during that time or after the timer ends.
• If a Larvling is downed and left alone for 30 seconds, it will die without creating a Lich.
• In Capture missions, the screen flash and subsequent 1 minute timer will not occur until after the target has been successfully captured.
• Once downed, the Larvling will display an icon and name of the Kuva Weapon the created Lich will possess above its head, when standing within 3 meters of it.
  • If the Larvling is ignored, upon extracting from the mission the displayed weapon will not show up again in the pool until the entire weapon pool is rejected.
• After being downed, all players in the squad will receive 100  Kuva on end of mission, even if not mercied.
• The gender of the Kuva Larvling a player mercies determines the gender of the Kuva Lich that will be generated.
• In a co-op session, only the player who delivers the killing blow is allowed to mercy the Larvling and generate a Lich.
• A prospective weapon icon will appear only when a Larvling has finished kneeling animation. If a Larvling is suspended mid-animation, e.g. by  Path of Statues, it can still be mercied but with no icon to indicate a weapon.
• Invisibility may prevent Kuva Larvling from spawning.

Tips

• Cassini, Saturn is a quick low level Capture mission to run through for a chance to encounter a Kuva Larvling.
• Consider doing missions in Solo mode to ensure that you bring the Larvling's health down to mercy it.
• Be mindful of which Progenitor Warframe you are using when looking to summon a Lich, to ensure you get the element bonus that you want on the Lich's weapon.
  This section is transcluded from Lich System/Progenitor . To change it, please edit the transcluded page.

Element	Progenitor Warframe*
Impact	Baruuk  Dante  Gauss  Grendel  Rhino  Sevagoth  Wukong  Zephyr
Heat	Chroma  Ember  Inaros  Jade  Kullervo  Nezha  Protea  Vauban  Wisp
Cold	Frost  Gara  Hildryn  Koumei  Revenant  Styanax  Titania  Trinity
Electricity	Banshee  Caliban  Excalibur  Gyre  Limbo  Nova  Valkyr  Volt
Toxin	Atlas  Dagath  Ivara  Khora  Nekros  Nidus  Oberon  Saryn
Magnetic	Citrine  Harrow  Hydroid  Lavos  Mag  Mesa  Xaku  Yareli
Radiation	Ash  Equinox  Garuda  Loki  Mirage  Nyx  Octavia  Qorvex  Voruna

*Note that the Primed or Umbra version of a Warframe share the same element

• After you see the flashing indicator that a Kuva Larvling will spawn, kill as many enemies as possible for a faster Larvling spawn. Bringing an area of effect clearing frame (for the certain element you want) comes in handy for this. Example Warframes:
  •  Impact:  Gauss (Strength/Range build focused on  Thermal Sunder) or  Wukong ( Celestial Twin and  Defy can deal with large numbers of enemies at once)
  •  Heat:  Ember or  Nezha
  •  Cold:  Revenant (use  Danse Macabre with  Reave for mobility) or  Styanax
  •  Electricity:  Volt or  Limbo (Strength/Range and negative Duration build focused on  Cataclysm)
  •  Toxin:  Saryn or  Ivara ( Artemis Bow can make short work of large crowds, especially when modded with Thunderbolt)(dagath also works
  •  Magnetic:  Mag (Range and Strength build focused on  Pull) or  Mesa
  •  Radiation:  Octavia or Day  Equinox
• Be aware that you can preview the Lich's Weapon by standing near the Larvling before "committing" with a mercy kill. If you do not want the Weapon, ignore the downed Larvling and finish the mission. Note that abandoning the mission will not remove the weapon from the pool.
• Aside from Capture missions like Cassini, the easiest mission type to bring out a Larvling would be one where you are more likely to have a high density of targets in order to meet the requirement of 10 kills within one minute, therefore Exterminate missions may be the easiest mission type to do this.

Trivia

• The male variant shares the same model as Saturn Six Fugitives.
• The female variant shares the same model as Kuva Scorpions.

Bugs

• In Co-op sessions where some players have an active Lich but others do not, the Larvling may fail to spawn if the 10th enemy is killed by a player with an active Lich.
• Sometimes, the yellow flash for a Kuva Larvling will also appear in Void Relic missions.

Media

Male larvling

Female larvling

Warframe Guide How To Get a Kuva Lich Fast

Example of getting a Kuva Larvling to spawn

Patch History

Update 37.0 (2024-10-02)

• Fixed being able to cast Loki’s Damage Decoy on downed Larvlings.

Hotfix 34.0.1 (2023-10-18)

• Fixed Kuva Lich Candidates getting instantly killed instead of entering their defeated states when killed by Dagath’s Wyrd Scythes.

Update 32.1 (2022-11-02)

• Fixed Kuva Larvling not spawning while playing as Yareli while riding Merulina.

Update 31.1 (2022-02-09)

ADVERSARY WEAPON GENERATION - QUALITY OF LIFE CHANGE

As the pool of Adversary weapons grows and your checklist fills out, the natural chance of finding a Progenitor (Larvling or Candidate) with the exact weapon you desire shrinks. This Adversary Weapon Generation Quality of Life change is meant to reduce randomness over time of what weapon a Progenitor Candidate (Sister) or Larvling (Kuva Lich) can spawn with.

How it works:

By skipping a Progenitor (choosing not to Mercy them) the spawned weapon is then put into a ‘reject’ pile for that round of Adversary generation, meaning that it will not appear again and ultimately reducing the weapon pool each time you ‘reject’.

The list of rejected weapons is cleared once you accept an Adversary and the process would start again from a clean slate for both Sister or Kuva Lich the next time you go looking for an Adversary. This list clearing applies to both Sister and Kuva Lich, meaning once the chosen Adversary is Converted or Vanquished, the list clears for both factions.

Test Cluster change: Kuva Lich/Sister of Parvos weapon reject list will now reset if you reject every possible weapon.

Update 28.1 (2020-07-08)

• To help prevent accidental Kuva Lich generation from quick tapping the Mercy action, you must now ‘Hold X’ to perform a Mercy on a Kuva Larvling.

Hotfix 27.5.4 (2020-05-20)

• Fixed downed Kuva Larvlings sometimes teleporting ahead of the player en route to extraction.

Hotfix 27.1.1 (2020-02-11)

• Fixed Kuva Larvlings downed by Warframe abilities not displaying their Kuva weapon above their head. As reported here: https://forums.warframe.com/topic/1166045-killing-a-larvling-with-abilities-prevents-the-weapon-ui-from-showing-investigating/

Update 27.1 (2020-02-04)

The Kuva Larvling Who Lived

Starting from the very beginning of Kuva Lich conception brings us to Kuva Larvlings. Kuva Larvlings will now play a key role in determining your future relationship with your Kuva Lich.

• A downed Kuva Larvling will now display an icon of the Kuva weapon that it’s birthed Kuva Lich will possess!
  • This allows players to decide upfront if they want to pursue that weapon by finishing the downed Kuva Larvling, or to ignore and attempt another Lich. The Kuva Larvling will be in this downed state for a max of 30 seconds before it perishes.

As an added benefit to completing the mission even if you choose NOT to kill the Kuva Larvling, a downed Kuva Larvling will grant 100 Kuva on End of Mission.

Hotfix 27.0.9 (2020-01-09)

• Fixed Mercy icon appearing on floor for Larvlings.

Hotfix 26.1.3 (2019-11-26)

• Fixed Kuva Larvling spawns automatically setting off the alarms.

Update 26.0 (2019-10-31)

• Introduced.