Class Mod (Borderlands)


 * "A sniper without a sniper COM is just a guy with a gun."
 * — Marcus Kincaid

Class Mods (COMs) are a major item in Borderlands, obtained at around level 15. "Class Mod" is short for class modification. COMs are class specific upgrades that provide bonuses to your character's and/or a teammates abilities. Class Mods offer a wide variety of bonuses such as; amplify your damage, heal you and your teammates, increase your health and/or shield capacity, reduce your reload speeds, increase skill ranks, etc.

Gameplay
Class Mods skill bonuses do stack even if the specified Skills are maxed (5/5), but skill bonuses will not function unless you have at least 1 point in the specified skill.

They can be obtained in several ways throughout the game.
 * They can be bought from Medical Vending Machines.
 * Found in many of the lootable objects such as: chests or skag piles or lockers.
 * As a reward from completing a mission.
 * Dropped by certain enemies when they are killed, most notably Crimson Lance soldiers.

Manufacturer
Class mods can be produced by any manufacturer and come in a 3 levels of rarity; green, blue and purple.

Class mods are built with 3 primary parts: left side, body, right side. The body is standardized by class subtype; berserker, bombadier, etc. Class mods are made with 1 of 3 materials. The material used determines which effect bonus the mod will have and has no effect on the skill bonuses. Material 1 gives the default effect only. Material 2 gives the default effect and effect 2. Material 3 gives the default effect and effect 3.

Most class mods have 6 possible modifiers; three effects and three skill bonuses. A COM can have a maximum of 5 of these modifiers due to the material 2 effect and material 3 effect being exclusive of one another. Additionally, for the skill bonuses, only one can be the maximum of +4.

Nomenclature
The name of a Class Mod appears different in the Inventory list than on its Item Card. In the inventory list the class mod has an additional number designator at the beginning of the name. The number designator is a 2 or 3 digit number.

The numeric designation, such as 14, 230, 560, etc, partially determine the quality of the class mods and directly correlates to the level of the mod's bonuses and effects. The number is unaffected by the COM title, the manufacturer, and material grade.

The number code tells you two things.


 * The tens digit represents the left-side piece of the COM and determines the quality of the skill bonuses, where 10 is the worst and 60 is the best. Ex: a x20 mod will have only one skill bonus at +3; a x50 mod will have three skill bonuses all at +3; a x60 mod will have all three skill bonuses, two at +3, and one at +4


 * The hundreds digit represents the right-side piece of the COM and determines the quality of the effect bonuses, but has no bearing on which one; that is solely based off of material type: 600 is the best. For the highest quality mods, this is represented by the 100s digit in the mod name. Each mod has its own minimums and maximums. A 600 series mod will have the highest effect bonus for its level; a 500 series mod will have less for its level; and so on.

A mod's required character level also determines the quality of the effect bonus.

Variety
Each class has seven sub-classes of mods. Each mod is geared towards a specific branch of the skill tree. As such, you will only receive the full benefit of the mod used if you match your skills to the mods. Some class mods are better than others but have one perk that makes them stand out, such as ammo regen or added accuracy. Keep in mind that only one class mod can be equipped at once. Of the seven sub-class mods, four are geared to solo play and three geared to team play. Therefore if you are interested in both forms you may benefit from having a mod for each type of play.

Solo

 * Firefly Mod focuses on the use of Incendiary weapons.


 * Mercenary Mod focuses on the use of SMGs. Increases damage and boosts three key skills. Ammo regen is helpful. This mod is the Siren's only form of weapon type specialization.


 * PlagueBearer Mod focuses on the use of Corrosive weapons.


 * Tempest Mod focuses on the use of Shock weapons.

Team

 * Catalyst Mod focuses on reducing team cooldowns, and boosts the Siren's On Kill skills. It can also help find rare items, or add shield regen.


 * Note: To explore the discussion of whether Catalyst +2 Team Find Rare Items affects chests, visit +2 Team Find Rare Items Experiment


 * Defender Mod increases team and personal survivability.


 * Tormentor Mods help teams using elemental weapons.

Solo

 * Commando Mod focuses on the use of shotguns and abilities that compliment the use thereof.


 * Heavy Gunner Mod lets a properly built Soldier unleash a devastating storm of weapons fire once they get started.


 * Rifleman Mod packs focus on soldiers using combat rifles, exclusively for the smaller magazine battle rifle types. The damage increase and ammo regeneration have no effect on machine guns.


 * Shock Trooper Mod focuses on electrical damage and grenade attacks, as well as boosted health.

Team

 * Leader Mod focuses around boosting team experience gains, action skill cooldowns, and the rate at which you can deploy the Scorpio turret. It can also boost the Soldier's own defensive abilities.


 * Support Gunner Mod pack is an excellent solo and team mod thanks to ammo regeneration and increased team magazine sizes. They are very useful (perhaps even vital) to those using ammo-hogging machinegun-type Combat Rifles.


 * Tactician Mods are good for supporting soldiers, and can also increase your own survivability considerably.


 * Note: Increasing the magazine size also has an effect on Eridian weapons.

Solo

 * Blast Master Mod adds extra explosive impact to Brick's explosive weapons as well as the skills that benefit from the damage.


 * Bombardier Mod focuses on the blaster skill tree and Brick's ability to fire rockets. However, until the ammo regeneration is fixed it is not recommended for use.


 * Centurion Mod focuses on Brick's ability to act as a tank for the team and keep himself and other players alive.


 * Titan Mod focuses on keeping Brick alive. Recommended for solo play.

Team

 * Berserker Mod focuses on Brick's Berserk skill and the close combat Brick endures when not in it. Currently, this is the only Berserker mod with working Team Health Regeneration, but if survivability is your focus you should go with a Centurion mod.


 * Skirmisher Mod focuses on close combat. Recommended for a team with more than one Berserker.


 * Warmonger Mod focuses on the damage that Brick and the team around him deals.

Solo

 * Assassin Mods focus on the effectiveness of melee damage. It does so by effecting corrosive and melee damage and resistances.


 * Gunslinger Mods focus on the effectiveness of pistols. It does so by effecting pistol fire rate, damage, ammo regen and accuracy.


 * Hunter Mods focus on the effectiveness of Bloodwing. It does so by effecting Bloodwing's damage, cooldown, and health return. It can also effect how many items you find.


 * Sniper Mods focus on the effectiveness of sniper rifles. It does so by effecting critical damage, sniper rifle damage, Bloodwing's cooldown via sniper shots, sniper accuracy and sniper ammo regen.

Team

 * Ranger Mods focus on the effectiveness of Bloodwing and Accuracy. It does so by affecting accuracy, critical hit damage, and bloodwing's stats.


 * Scavenger Mods focus on the effectiveness of looting. It does so by affecting the amount of items you find, their rarity and your health return. It can also affect health regen.
 * Note: To explore the discussion of whether Scavenger +2 Team Find Rare Items affects chests visit +2 Team Find Rare Items Experiment


 * Survivor Mods focus on the effectiveness of team and personal survivability. It does so by affecting team health regeneration, items dropped by enemies and reload speeds. It can also affect team damage.