Corrupted weapons and gear: stabilize, revert, or risk it
A Corrupted item is not simply a broken item. It can roll unusual weapon or gear traits, but it is on a countdown and its ordinary performance falls as that countdown runs out. Treat a promising Corrupted weapon as a short-term opportunity until you can stabilize it or use a Обратитель.
The short version
- Corruption is rolled when eligible equipment is generated by certain loot pools. It is not caused by firing, reloading, equipping, or carrying a weapon.
- Newly Corrupted gear starts with 12–24 minutes remaining. One condition band is lost about every 4 minutes 48 seconds.
- Стабилизирующий порошок stops the countdown where it is. It preserves the item but does not restore the performance already lost.
- The Revertor restores lost condition. Reverting has a failure risk, so stabilize a valuable find first if you cannot afford to lose it.
- The trait tables below say what each trait does, including Phase Stability and Spatial Stability. See the Corruption traits you can roll. Clothing other than vests and chest rigs, and backpacks, are covered in the Decoherent Reactor guide.
- The game does not name a Corrupted item’s traits until you stabilize it. While it is still corrupting, its tooltip shows only the Being corrupted bar and a general Corrupted description. The traits already apply; after Stabilizing Powder the bar reads Stabilized and the tooltip lists each trait. See how to see an item’s traits.
How Corrupted loot is created
Only equipment with a matching corruption trait pool can become Corrupted. The game marks individual generated items rather than corrupting every item in a container or shop at once. For example, several weapon-case pools use a 20% corruption roll, while the Зайцев drop pool uses 40%; the Army and Lab shop pools use 5% and 20% respectively. A Corrupted item can therefore sit beside ordinary loot from the same source.
Corruption is added when the item is generated. The item-corruption controller only counts its remaining condition down, so using the weapon does not make that timer run faster and it does not spread to the rest of your inventory.
What each corruption level does
Corruption has five condition bands. Each band below full condition worsens the item’s normal statistics by another 10%. For a weapon, that means damage, rate of fire, capacity, range and other favourable values are reduced; values where lower is better—such as reload time, recoil and spread—move in the wrong direction instead.
| Condition remaining | Base-stat effectiveness | Practical result |
|---|---|---|
| 5 / 5 | 100% | No base-stat loss. |
| 4 / 5 | 90% | Small loss; check whether the special Corrupted traits still make it worthwhile. |
| 3 / 5 | 80% | A newly found Corrupted item can begin here. Stabilize anything you want to keep. |
| 2 / 5 | 70% | Its ordinary performance is now substantially compromised. |
| 1 / 5 | 60% | Last band before destruction. Process it immediately or accept that it is disposable. |
| 0 | — | The item is replaced by Межпространственный остаток. |
The timer begins at a random point between half and full condition. That is why two newly found Corrupted weapons can have different remaining time and different base performance before either one has been used.
Why a Corrupted weapon can still be worth using
Alongside the countdown, Corruption adds traits drawn from a pool appropriate to the item type. These traits are not uniformly bad. Weapon and attachment traits can improve fire rate, damage, recoil, reload speed, capacity, ammunition compatibility, or fitting flexibility; other rolls impose trade-offs such as more spread, slower reloads, lower damage, or reduced capacity. Armour can likewise gain either defensive bonuses or penalties.
Do not treat the purple Corrupted label as a quality rating. A powerful trait can make a weapon excellent for the current run, but it does not cancel the base-stat loss or the countdown. Each trait has a fixed strength, and the condition penalty lowers the item’s ordinary statistics rather than the trait’s own numbers.
How to see an item’s traits
- While it is still corrupting: the tooltip shows the Being corrupted bar and the general Corrupted description. No trait is named, even though every trait already applies. The stats in the tooltip already include the traits’ effects.
- After Стабилизирующий порошок: the bar reads Stabilized and the tooltip lists each trait by name with its effect. One Stabilizing Powder is used up.
- Gun parts: each part carries its own traits and shows them only when that part is stabilized. A part that is still corrupting shows none.
- Corrupted on purpose: an ordinary item corrupted in the Декогерентный реактор comes out already stabilized, so its traits are listed straight away.
To find out what an unstable part might be carrying, use the trait tables below: each part type only rolls the traits listed for it.
Stabilizing Powder versus the Revertor
| Option | What it does | What it does not do | Best use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Стабилизирующий порошок | Stops further deterioration at the item’s current condition. | Does not restore missing condition, base statistics, or trait strength. | Secure a valuable find before the timer reaches zero. |
| Обратитель | Processes a Corrupted item and restores condition, recovering the attributes lost to corruption. | Does not guarantee a safe result. | Recover an item you expect to use beyond the current run. |
The Revertor has an item slot and a slot for a Реверсивная частица. It will not run without a Реверсивная частица ("Need Reverse Mote"), and each attempt uses one up. Each attempt has a 75% normal success chance, a 5% critical chance, and a 20% failure chance. A normal result restores one condition band (20 percentage points); a critical result restores the item completely. A failed attempt removes one band instead, and an item that reaches zero becomes Dimensional Residue.
The Стабилизатор mission awards the Revertor blueprint. Its construction recipe needs Dimensional Residue, a Stabilizing Powder item, and other salvage—keep your first residue instead of automatically selling it. A workbench also refuses Corrupted items that have not been reverted, another reason not to leave a useful crafting component untreated.
Corruption traits you can roll
Each part type has its own trait pool, so the tables below are grouped by the part that can roll them. A trait's numbers are fixed; they do not vary from roll to roll or with the item's condition. Trait and stat names are the ones the game shows. The game's Recoil is the scatter each shot adds, which weapon pages here also call Recoil; Spread Limit is the cap on that scatter. See how Recoil, Spread Limit, and Kickback work.
Receivers
Receivers roll one or two of these. Bows roll only the last three.
| Trait | Effect |
|---|---|
| Polyshot | Compatible with any type of ammunition |
| Interface Unifier | Removes the interface matching limits between parts |
| Overclocked Mechanism | Attack speed +15%, reload time −25% |
| Panic Trigger | Attack speed +60%, Spread Limit +20%, Recoil +0.1 (worse) |
| High Heat Fusion | Recoil −0.15 |
| Cautious | Can only fire while aiming down sights; +25% final damage |
Barrels
Barrels roll one or two of these.
| Trait | Effect |
|---|---|
| Polyshot | Compatible with any type of ammunition |
| Interface Unifier | Removes the interface matching limits between parts |
| Upwind | Attack speed +10% |
| Rifling Wear | Attack speed −10% (slower) |
| Smoothbore | Initial Spread +3 and Spread Limit +3 (worse) |
| Material Expansion | 5% chance to fire 5 extra shots |
| Fungal Infestation | 5% chance to poison the target |
| Polarity Reversal | Reverses this attachment's stat bonuses and penalties; other traits, weight, size and interface limits are unaffected |
Magazines
Magazines roll one or two of these.
| Trait | Effect |
|---|---|
| Polyshot | Compatible with any type of ammunition |
| Interface Unifier | Removes the interface matching limits between parts |
| Low-Dimensional Structure | Reload time −25% |
| Rusted Magwell | Reload time +20% (slower) |
| Structural Filling | Capacity +3 |
| Vacuum Packaging | Capacity −30% |
Grips
Grips roll one or two of these.
| Trait | Effect |
|---|---|
| Interface Unifier | Removes the interface matching limits between parts |
| Extra Handy | Draw time −25% |
| Slippery | Draw time +30% (slower) |
| Mechanical Synergy | Reload time −10%, Recoil −10% |
| Biological Gravity | Recoil −20% |
| Hyphae Enveloped | Recoil −10% |
| Polarity Reversal | Reverses this attachment's stat bonuses and penalties; other traits, weight, size and interface limits are unaffected |
Stocks
Stocks roll one or two of these.
| Trait | Effect |
|---|---|
| Interface Unifier | Removes the interface matching limits between parts |
| Spatial Stability | Spread Limit −20% |
| Biological Buffer | Initial Spread −0.25 |
| Ergonomics | Recoil −0.05 |
| Polarity Reversal | Reverses this attachment's stat bonuses and penalties; other traits, weight, size and interface limits are unaffected |
Scopes
Scopes roll one or two of these.
| Trait | Effect |
|---|---|
| Interface Unifier | Removes the interface matching limits between parts |
| Achilles' Aim | Damage +12% |
| Broken Lens | Damage −10% |
| Polarity Reversal | Reverses this attachment's stat bonuses and penalties; other traits, weight, size and interface limits are unaffected |
Muzzles
Muzzles roll one or two of these.
| Trait | Effect |
|---|---|
| Interface Unifier | Removes the interface matching limits between parts |
| Silent Shooter | Weapon sound −10% |
| Noise | Weapon sound +30% |
| Polarity Reversal | Reverses this attachment's stat bonuses and penalties; other traits, weight, size and interface limits are unaffected |
Melee weapons
Melee weapons roll one or two traits from all three tables below.
Speed, damage, and knockback
| Trait | Effect |
|---|---|
| Flexible Structure | Attack speed +10% |
| Streamlined | Attack speed +20% |
| Swift Draw | Draw time −50% |
| Lightweight | Attack speed +35%, damage −15% |
| Levostructure | Attack speed +30%, knockback range −20% |
| Angle Optimization | Damage +10% |
| Auto-Adept | Damage +20%, attack speed +20% |
| Relic | Damage +50%, attack speed +50%, knockback +1 m |
| Unrefined Genius | Damage +40%, attack speed −15% |
| Brute Force | Damage +150%, knockback +50%, attack speed −50% |
| Feral Power | Each hit adds 1–2% damage, stacking up to 8 times; the stacks reset after 5 seconds without a hit |
| Blunt Blade | Damage −20% |
| Off-Limit Area | Knockback +80% |
| Home Run | Knockback +5 m |
Damage types
| Trait | Effect |
|---|---|
| Thumper I–IV | Impact damage +5%, +8%, +12%, +16% |
| Stinger I–IV | Puncture damage +5%, +8%, +12%, +16% |
| Razor I–IV | Slash damage +5%, +8%, +12%, +16% |
| Dead-bash I–IV | Impact damage +10, +25, +40, +65 |
| Fine-tip I–IV | Puncture damage +5, +10, +20, +30 |
| Thin-edge I–IV | Slash damage +5, +15, +45, +60 |
| Resound I–IV | Disintegration damage +5, +15, +25, +45 |
| Padded Head | Impact damage −5% |
| Chipped Tip | Puncture damage −5% |
| Rolled Edge | Slash damage −5% |
| Refraction | Disintegration damage −10% |
Penetration, status effects, and special hits
See how Defence penetration works. The three Existence traits scale the weapon's own Disintegration damage, so they matter most on a weapon that already deals it. The “Black Hand” is the only named melee weapon that does.
| Trait | Effect |
|---|---|
| “Safety Hammer” | Defense Penetration +5% |
| Jagged Edge | Slash damage +15%, attack speed +10%, Defense Penetration +5% |
| Phase Dash | Defense Penetration +5%, Impact damage +20 |
| Phase Pierce | Defense Penetration +5%, Puncture damage +20 |
| Phase Tore | Defense Penetration +5%, Slash damage +20 |
| Existence Erasure | Disintegration damage +10%, plus 5% of the hit's Disintegration damage again while the target is below half health |
| Existence Erosion | Disintegration damage +10%, plus 5% of the hit's Disintegration damage again while the target is above half health |
| Existence Siphon | Disintegration damage +5%; 13% chance to steal 1 point of one of the target's protection stats for 10 seconds |
| Dimension Overload | 10% chance to apply Dimensional Overload and 10% chance to apply Phase Fragility, which makes the target take 20% more Disintegration damage. Each lasts 10 seconds; see Dimensional Overload |
| Scratch | 5% chance to cause Bleeding |
| Cut | 25% chance to cause Bleeding |
| Incinerate | 50% chance to cause Bleeding |
| Kidney Shot | 5% chance to cause Internal Hemorrhage |
| Blunt Instrument | 5% chance to stun the target, damage −5% |
| Organ Rupture | Impact damage +20%, 10% chance to cause Internal Hemorrhage |
| Nail of Sorrow | Puncture damage +20%, and +15 Puncture damage against a bleeding target |
Vests and chest rigs
Each vest and chest rig rolls one or two traits. Which traits it can roll depends on what it is:
- Vests roll from the traits in the first table below.
- Chest rigs roll only the two Expansion traits in the second table.
- The Security Bulletproof Vests and the Полный бронежилет Jaeger can roll any trait from both tables. An Expansion trait only helps if the item has storage; see which vests give storage.
Helmets, shirts, trousers, boots, gloves and backpacks roll from their own pools, listed in the Decoherent Reactor guide. Phase Shift is the protection stat that resists Disintegration damage: see which damage types each protection stat resists.
| Trait | Effect |
|---|---|
| Reinforced Substrate | Defense +1 |
| Ragged Surface | Defense −1 |
| Cracked Armor | Defense −2 |
| Phase Stability | Phase Shift +2, which resists Disintegration damage |
| Shock Lining | Imp. Absorb +2 |
| Composite Coating | Slash Resist +1, Punc. Deflect +1 |
| Balanced Guard | Slash Resist, Punc. Deflect, Imp. Absorb, and Phase Shift +1 each, Defense +5 |
| Ricochet Surface | Imp. Absorb +10% |
| Diamond Coating | Slash Resist +10%, Punc. Deflect +10%, Imp. Absorb −15% |
| Adaptive Gel | Imp. Absorb +10%, Slash Resist −10%, Punc. Deflect −10% |
| Phase Dislocation | 5% chance to completely negate one Disintegration hit |
| Active Biomass | Regenerates 0.5 HP per second, up to 50% of your health |
| Bulwark | Armour plates in it wear down 15% less |
| Trait | Effect |
|---|---|
| Horizontal Expansion | Adds 1 column to the chest rig's storage |
| Vertical Expansion | Adds 1 row to the chest rig's storage |
Decision guide
- Read the traits and condition immediately. A 1 / 5 item is a field tool, not a long-term build piece.
- If it is valuable and you cannot revert it now, stabilize it. Stabilization buys time but locks in the current losses.
- Use the Revertor only when you can accept the risk. It is the only route that restores the penalties caused by deterioration.
- Keep Dimensional Residue. It is part of the Revertor’s own construction recipe.