SWGoH 101 Mod Guide: How to Choose Good Mods

How to Choose Good Mods

There are multiple pieces to choosing good mods:

Selecting the Best Mod Sets

Characters perform best with the best mods assigned to them. Every character is different, however, and requires different sets and stats. Be sure to review the individual character mod guides for specific details on what mods work best for which characters.

Critical Damage (Sample toons: Chirrut Imwe, Commander Luke Skywalker, Darth Maul)

  • Characters that are used to do the most damage in battle
  • Characters that are likely to hit very hard and also hit with Critical Damage often

Potency (Sample toons: TIE Fighter Pilot, Emperor Palpatine, Teebo)

  • Characters that inflict debuffs, such as Stun, Buff Immunity, Ability Block, etc.
  • Characters that have the ability to reduce Turn Meter
  • High Potency is required to ensure applied debuffs will stick
  • Potency also is needed to help Turn Meter Reduction actually reduce Turn Meter when desired

Tenacity (Sample toons: Rex, Old Ben, Chewbacca)

  • Characters that need to be able to use their abilities often
  • Tenacity decreases the likelihood that a debuff will stick
  • Higher Tenacity ensures that characters are able to use their Special attacks when needed

Critical Chance (Sample toons: Lando Calrissian, Ezra Bridger, Jedi Knight Anakin)

  • Characters that receive bonuses when they score more critical hits
  • Critical Chance ensures that characters that hit hard will hit has Critical Damage more often

Speed (Sample toons: Grand Master Yoda, Grand Admiral Thrawn, BB-8)

  • Characters that have Special Abilities or Attacks that are desired as quickly as possible
  • Examples: Master Yoda’s Tenacity Up through the Battle Meditation ability or Thrawn’s Fracture ability

Health (Sample toons: Bastila Shan, Shoretrooper, Savage Oppress)

  • Characters that have healing capabilities since many healing abilities reference a character’s Max Health
  • Tanks, both taunting and non-taunting, need high Health for the greatest survivability
  • Nearly all characters can get some benefit from Health mods as higher Health equates to surviving longer in battles

Offense (Sample toons: B2, Gar Saxon, Hera Syndulla)

  • Characters who have lower Critical Chance
  • Characters with lower base Speed/li>
  • Characters with Special abilities that offer more impactful debuffs and other effects than a Basic attack

Defense (Sample toons: Darth Nihilus, Sun Fac, Old Ben)

  • Tanks and characters with mid-range Armor and Resistance stats
  • Characters whose longevity in battle equates to greater use of their powerful abilities




 

Primary Selection by Shape:

Squares and Diamonds:

  • Squares and Diamonds have the Offense and Defense primaries, respectively
  • The secondaries for these shapes have the greatest importance because their primaries do not vary

Circles:

  • It is generally better to have the Protection primary stat for Circles rather than Health
  • Health primaries max at +5.88% (+16% 6E) while Protection primaries max at +23.5% (+24% 6E)
  • 1* Health primary Circles max at +1.88% Health; Lvl 1 5* Protection primary Circles are still better with +2.5% Protection
  • E.g., a character with 5000 Health and 5000 Protection will see a maxed Health primary Circle increase Health to 5294 and see a maxed Protection primary Circle increase Protection to 6175
  • Health primary is valued over Protection primary in cases where the ability kit provides strength from total health, as with Bastila Shan

Arrows:

  • Speed is the only valuable primary for Arrows
  • While Crit Avoidance and Accuracy can have their uses, Speed is overwhelmingly the better stat
  • The Protection primary can be useful for specific taunting Tanks, and only in cases where no other Speed primary Arrow is available
  • Offense or Defense primaries for Arrows can have value, but only in scenarios where a speed SECONDARY is present and preferrably over +12 Speed
  • Health, Crit Avoidance, and Accuracy arrows should all be sold for credits unless they are Tier 5A (5* Gold) mods and have a +5 Speed secondary at Level 1

Triangles:

  • Critical Damage is usually the best primary for Triangles
  • Most characters can benefit from the max +36% Critical Damage primary
  • Tanks can often benefit from the Protection primary Triangle
  • Critical Chance can be useful if neither Critical Damage, Protection, or Offense primaries are available
  • While Defense has its uses, other primaries are far more valuable for a triangle
  • Health primaries have little use, but as Triangles are the hardest shape to acquire, it is beneficial to hold onto all Triangles to complete full mod sets

Crosses:

  • The best primary stat for Crosses depends on the type of character
  • Characters who apply debuffs (Expose, Daze, Tenacity Down) require a Potency primary Cross
  • Tanks can make the most use of the Protection or Defense primaries
  • Offense primary is useful on Tier 5A mods for the purposes of slicing and on very specific, damage-focused characters
  • A Tenacity primary Cross can be beneficial for characters who do not require a lot of potency and are more focused on withstanding debuffs
  • Health primaries can be sold for credits, unless they are used to temporarily complete a mod set or are Tier 5A with a Speed secondary

Secondary Stat Selection:

With 12 possible secondary stats available, a single mod could end up with any of the individual stats and with those stats within any range. In the Primary and Secondary Stats section, estimated secondary stat maximums are listed.

The most important secondary stat is Speed! All other secondaries pale in importance when compared with Speed.

Overall success in Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes comes from an ability to differentiate a “good” mod from a “bad” mod based on its primary and secondary stats.

1) The below Offense set square mod has the following secondary stats:

  • +36 Offense
  • +13 Speed
  • +754 Health
  • +1.94% Potency

The Offense, Health, and Potency secondaries are all very mediocre, but +13 Speed is an excellent secondary stat, which makes this a good mod. With the added Potency, this mod would work best on a character that applies debuffs and generally has lower Critical Chance. Note: The mod set is Offense, which means that three additional Offense set mods are required to create the set bonus.

2) The below Health set triangle mod has the following stats:

  • +36% Critical Damage Primary
  • +1.29% Defense
  • +43 Offense
  • +1.87% Critical Chance
  • +756 Protection

Even though this triangle has a Crit Damage primary, with decent Offense and some fairly useful Protection, this triangle does not have a Speed secondary. Since triangle mods are rare and it does have the Crit Damage primary, it’s not entirely useless, but it’s value is severely decreased since it does not have Speed.

3) The below Crit Damage set arrow mod has the following stats:

  • +9.5% Defense Primary
  • +8 Speed
  • +5 Defense
  • +32 Offense
  • +0.37% Offense

This mod has +8 Speed secondary which would be decent on any other shape, but this is an arrow. A Defense primary on an arrow is a horrible stat, especially on a Crit Damage mod set. Furthermore, this mod is levelled up to Level 12 meaning that +8 Speed is the highest we’ll see for the Speed secondary, even if it is levelled to Level 15.

While the mod has some value with the +8 Speed, it’s value is severely diminished with the Defense primary on an arrow, instead of Speed. The Crit Damage set also belongs on a character that requires more speed than defense, making the mod of even more reduced value.

4) The below Health set circle has the following stats:

  • +23.5% Protection Primary
  • +1393 Protection
  • +0.71% Health
  • +5 Speed
  • +0.43% Offense

While the Health % and Offense % give very mediocre increases, the mod still has a bit of value. The +1393 Protection adds a nice amount to the base Protection and +5 Speed is still better than a mod with no Speed secondary at all. Also, the mod is Tier D (Green) and can be sliced to higher Tiers, up to 6E.

5) Take a look at the below mods:

  • One is a Level 1, 4* Grey (4E) Health set square
  • One is a Level 15, 1* Green (1D) Health set triangle with the following sets:
    • +1.88% Health Primary
    • +28 Offense
    • +0.8% Protection
    • +0.75% Crit Chance
    • +1 Speed

Which is better? Neither. Both mods have extremely limited use and are equally terrible.

The 1D mod at Level 15 has only +1 Speed and its primary and other secondaries are so low that it is hardly worth assigning at all.

On the other side, the 4E mod has to be fully upgraded to see any of its secondaries. This mod could end up with a Speed secondary, but because Speed is not currently showing, the max Speed secondary is +5. Research into mods has shown that there is less than 6% chance for a grey mod to end up with a Speed secondary.

Additionally, a 4E mod will always remain a 4E tier mod. There is no current method to increase a 4* mod into a 5* mod and there is no way to slice an 4E mod into a higher Tier (4D, 4C, etc.) either.

Understanding the value of mods by reviewing the available stats is the key to ensuring that a player’s characters are modded best.

 

Mix and Match:

As discussed in the Mod Sets section, creating valuable sets is almost as important as finding the right secondaries.

Three pairs of Health mods can provide ~30% bonus in health (10%+10%+10%), but even +30% off a character’s base Health is not that much in comparison to all the increases available. Rather than three sets of Health mods, it would be better to include one set of Health mods, one set of Potency mods, and one set of Tenacity mods.

Instead of a 30% increase in just Health, the exchange would be +15% Potency and +20% Tenacity, which creates a more well-rounded character.

Four Crit Damage mods provide +30% Crit Damage, and an added a pair of Crit Chance mods gives +8% extra Crit Chance, which generally aids the frequency that +30% Crit Damage is applied.

Sometimes one mod set may be more plentiful than another. It is often better to apply even a pair of Health mods with four Crit Damage or Speed mods than use just one set. That said, in some cases, having entirely mismatched mods can be useful when all the mods have very high Speed secondaries.

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Last Updated: 9/26/18