The Secret Life of COMs (and relics)

Jefe · September 20, 2018, 5:44am

This is just a quick guide to show how the level of a COM is far less important than its parts.

Each COM has three hidden parts that largely determine the overall quality of the COM. Each of these parts has 6 possible “quality levels” similar to the BL1 system. Unfortunately there are no indicators on the card ( such as there are in BL1 ) , so there’s no way to determine the quality of what you may have found except by comparing stats.

I haven’t done enough testing to be sure but from what I can tell, each “part” is responsible for a different stat, by which I mean the passive boosts, not the skill boosts ( which seem solely driven by level ).

In the case of the Binder for example, there is only one : cooldown rate. This stat is solely driven by the first part and is unaffected by the second and third parts.
In the case of the L Siren, there are two : cooldown and gun damage. These will be driven by the first and second parts and are (theoretically) unaffected by the third.

Regardless, the point of this exercise is to show the difference between the worst possible version of a COM and the best possible version ; and how relatively little effect its level has.

A good example of a three-stat COM is the Legendary Soldier :

Level 72 best :

Level 72 worst :

And level 58 best :

As you can see the worst 72 is about on par with the best 58

OTHER COMs HERE SHOW THE VARIATIONS

Note - the third part can have a different effect on the the third stat. In the case of the L Psycho it actually decreased shield delay rather than increased it ; and with the Slayer the “bad” part had the better health boost.

As a side note, a similar parts system exists with relics also similar to BL1 parts systems.
The relics have a scale of 1-15 but will only have a range of about five at any given level ( meaning 1-5 in NVHM , 6-10 in TVHM and 11-15 in UVHM - these are in no way accurate, but you get the idea ).
There is only one variable part regardless of however many stats the relic has.

Piemanlee · September 20, 2018, 10:21am

I learned from joltz recently that the number of orbitals on the ancient relics are a good quality indicator. 1=low 2=average 3=good

Ronnie_Rayburn · September 20, 2018, 3:05pm

I will stick my neck out, as usual, and even go as far as saying that neither the parts nor the level will make that much of a difference in most cases. A 5%-ish variation in a stat will not make or break the whole setup. The only COM that I know to have large variations depending on parts, is the Cat COM. So I checked it out. For a regular blue Cat at level 72, you get 54% vs 104% SMG damage on a worst/best COM. On a Legendary Cat at level 72, you get 84% vs 134%. While they still kick ass with any parts, the higher level is greatly prefered when dealing with certain enemies.

There might be other COM’s that have large variations, but when it comes down to the “Top Gear” COM’s, I don’t see the need to farm for the best version of it. With one shiny exception, of course!

Jefe · September 20, 2018, 5:12pm

I completely agree , and thanks for throwing in the Cat as that does seem to be the most extreme example ; and the one that deserves to be farmed. Other COMs seem to be practically irrelevant for any but farmers and OCD min/maxers. It’s extremely easy to get a perfect 99% L Reaper at OP levels and even if you didn’t , it’s still going to tear sh!t up.

This post was largely inspired by the frequent comments in the daily thread to the effect of : “I just found so-and-so COM and it’s got 1% less damage than my 10 levels under version.”

Ronnie_Rayburn · September 20, 2018, 6:16pm

Considering the various skills that our characters have, and the INCREDIBLE firepower they can dish out with pretty much ANY gun, the constant grind for better stats, parts or whatever seems kinda pointless in most cases. There are only a handful of guns where the prefix have such a huge impact on the performance that it’s more or less necessary to farm for it, and the same thing is true for the rest of the gear.

Kurtdawg13 · September 20, 2018, 6:16pm

Well done @Jefe This was a good read.

This also proves my case for farming max level 72 gear instead of OP8. the difference in max stat between the two levels is minuscule.

Jefe · September 20, 2018, 11:37pm

I thought it prudent to actually check :

OP8

72

61

nat_zero_six · September 20, 2018, 11:47pm

Nice guide Boss @Jefe

Rumplebunny · September 21, 2018, 2:41am

I have two Cat Mayas, one is parked at 72 and the other is OP8. The 72 Maya’s Leg Cat is a level 70 at 134% and the OP8 Maya’s COM is OP3 at 136%. The Legendary Cat coms are indeed all over the place with that damage bonus, I’ve sold off a ton that were far worse than those ones (including ones several OP levels higher than that OP3 one, in that particular case).

I’ve been sorta min-maxing the hell out of my LBT Gaige’s Leg Catalyst COM for a while. For the longest time the best I had was 49%, but then I got a 50%, then later came across a 51%, and 2-3 months ago got a 52% one (which is level 70 for those keeping score.) Kind of the same story with my main Krieg’s Legendary Sickle.