Theorycrafting Thoughts on Galvanized On Kill Effects

Something is bothering me about this upcoming update to gun mods. The idea of buffing guns has always appealed to me. However, I’,m not sure why we’re going down the path we’re going. While I understand that melee was going to get a slap on the butt a little, the gun mods still just… don’t hold water. There seems to be something weirdly off about these new Galvanized mods before we even get them.

The whole concept is flawed.

Seriously. While the idea behind these mods are cool, there’s something missing here. These mods are all designed to have a chain reaction. You get a kill, your gun gets stronger. You keep on killing with the stronger gun, and the chain reaction keeps on going. But we have a small problem here: what if your gun can’t kill? After all, these mods have worse stats initially compared to their normal variants. Isn’t that first kill going to be a massive struggle?

Sure, something like the Kuva Bramma won’t have a problem. It can get that first kill easily. But a weaker weapon won’t. And a weaker weapon will struggle to keep the buff going, and it will struggle to regain the buff if it fails. After all, enemies are not consistent. You might get your stacks for one big group of enemies, then lose it and have to repeat the whole process while just running to the objective. These mods are a much bigger buff to the already-strong weapons everyone uses anyway, rather than a buff to guns overall.

“But I already have my MK1-Braton modded to do Steel Path!”

Good for you! But doesn’t that prove a different point? That these mods aren’t needed? After all, if you can mod your MK1-Braton for Steel Path with existing mods, then you don’t actually need these new mods, which require doing high-end missions to obtain?

At the same time, you’ll also have forma’d your weapon to hell and back anyway. And probably invested in a good Riven Mod for your weapon. If the forma’ing and the Riven mod didn’t solve the problem, do these mods? I’d argue no. These mods require you to get a kill to get extra power. But You’ve already forma’d your weapon to kill anyway. The new mods just add a bit more power that one don’t seem to need on this theoretical MK1-Braton.

The MK1-Braton here is just an example. With enough work and a good enough Riven, you can theoretically make any weapon work on the Steel Path. But you still need that initial first kill to get the ball rolling with these mods. And if you can’t do that,or have to forma to insane levels and use a riven just to get that first kill, then the mods are useless.

The acquisition makes no real sense either.

Originally, everything was going to drop in Steel Path. Now the separate Arcanes will be in Steel Path but all the new mods will be in Arbitrations, purchasable for Viitus essence.

Both options however create a “key in a locked box” situation. You want the good mods to be able to cope with the tougher game mode. But the mods are locked behind the tougher game mode which you struggle to deal with. Arbitrations, if anything, are tougher than Steel Path because you can’t die and respawn, and you can’t use abilities well. At the very least, with Steel Path, you can do lower level Earth and Venus levels if you struggle that much. Surely a better solution would be to put some mods in normal missions somewhere? Because the whole original issue is that guns aren’t as strong as melee.

Then again, most guns can handle the normal star chart as is. So maybe it’s not too bad. However using both Steel Path and Arbitrations would be more fun and give players more options.

At least we kinda get a Condition Overload for guns?

Condition Overload is one of the things that makes melee strong. It’s not THE big thing. After all, crits scaling with combo chance, up to x12, is where the real damage is. But Condition Overload is a pretty easy source of damage. Basically,you get extra damage for every status effect on an enemy. Which means the first attack will be somewhat weak but the second attack on an enemy will do a massive chunk of damage.Condition Overload normally gets primed with a status-creating weapon like the Kuva Bramma first.

But now guns are getting a much weaker version, that requires a kill first. I do see people using these, but, again, mostly on the already strong weapons like the Kuva Nukor. That being said, we might get some interesting new play styles from the more status-based shotguns and beam weapons, which apply status more reliably.

Still, I feel like these new Galvanized Mods don’t really do what they’re prescribed to do. I get that buffing can be a tough job without seeming overpowered, but when you start with a flawed premise, how can you expect things to work out?