Capacity, Drain, Ranks, Endo, and Credits

Explanation

Every mod has a cost called drain, and every moddable item has mod capacity. If total drain is higher than capacity, the build will not fit. Capacity usually increases as the item ranks up, while higher-ranked mods usually become stronger and cost more drain. Endo and Credits are spent to upgrade mods, so modding is both a capacity budget and a resource budget.

What should I do?

Upgrade core mods gradually, stop when the mod becomes too expensive for your current budget, prefer several useful medium-ranked mods over one maxed mod that prevents the rest of the build from fitting, and upgrade mods you will use often across many builds.

How to avoid wasting time

Before upgrading, ask whether you will use the mod often, whether current gear can fit the higher drain, whether the upgrade is worth Endo and Credits, and whether the mod is core or niche.

Common mistakes

Avoid these modding mistakes before spending Endo, Credits, Forma, adapters, or Platinum.

• Maxing a mod and then being unable to equip it.
• Spending Endo on mods with no current purpose.
• Ignoring Credit cost.
• Selling or dissolving mods without understanding whether they are useful.
• Thinking full rank is always required before a mod is useful.
• Forgetting that higher-ranked gear has more capacity.

Practical example

A player may have enough Endo to upgrade one mod very high, but then cannot fit it into most builds. A better early plan may be upgrading several core mods to moderate ranks so more builds improve.