Companion Redesign: Moddable Collars As Weapons

[Rhaken]

On Devstream 128, the possibility of giving Kubrows and Kavats separate moddable weapons came up. I propose to do this using something that already exists in game, even if woefully unexplored: equippable collars.

We already have the basic Taichen Collar and Kavasa Prime Collar, the latter of which gives Kubrows a stat boost. Rather than keep these as merely cosmetic and leave the idea alone for years, Kubrow collars should become moddable using existing Kubrow damage mods.
    
So what does this mean exactly?

• Frees up mod space on most companion builds. Bite and Maul would become equippable on the collar instead of the companion itself.
• Mods like the new dual stat companion mods would come to see use. Companion builds are too tight to fit these. Switching them to the collars would make room for their use.
• Allows the possibility of varying a companion's base damage model. Different collars could have different base critical and status chances, for example. Changing their base IPS spread could also be a possibility... but 100% slash is already ubiquitous and nobody wants to change that. This could also mean that Helminth Chargers receive their own unique Infested collar with toxin damage, or simply incubating a Charger gives you a toxin-based collar that is equipable on any Kubrow.
• Allows different collars to give different stat boosts, similar to what Kavasa Prime does.

So that's all well and good for Kubrows. What about Kavats? Simple enough, they get the same treatment but with a different set of collars, thus allowing or disallowing certain mods (such as set mods) from the common pool. Alternatively, collars are universal across all companion types and all applicable set mods are allowed - they just don't function if you don't have the proper companion type equipped. For example, Strain Fever is completely useless on anything other than the Helminth Charger and Mecha Overdrive provides status-link and status duration even on Kavats, but no Mecha set marking.
    
By implementing these changes, certain mods would have to transition from companion-equippable to collar-equippable. Only mods that make sense from a damage perspective would have to change. Here's a list of the currently existing mods that would make the transition to the collar.
    

• Bite
• Maul
• Swipe
• Venom Teeth
• Flame Gland
• Frost Jaw
• Shock Collar
• Hunter Synergy
• Hunter Recovery
• Mecha Overdrive
• Strain Fever

    
This seems like a severely limited selection. The simple solution to that is the addition of new mods that fulfill roles that already exist in other weapon categories. Right off the bat, collars have no base 90% (or 120%) elemental mods. An attack speed mod is also a possibility.
    
Sample Builds

Kubrow Collar & Huras Kubrow
This combination showcases the benefits of separating companions from their respective weapons. By loading up the collar with all the damage mods you had on your Kubrow and a few you would never have room for, the Kubrow build gains some space for more precepts or more survivability mods. In this instance, by taking out Maul, Bite and Mecha Overdrive, we make room for Hunter Command, Pack Leader and Scavenge.
        
These new choices might seem less than stellar overall, but that is in part due to the precept design of Kubrows in general. That being said, stick around for a few days and I'll share my ideas on that subject as well.
    
    
Kavat Collar & Smeeta Kavat

Kavats have it even worse than Kubrows when it comes to build tightness. They can either deal no damage and equip a few precepts, or take Charm/Cat's Eye, Sharpened Claws and Fetch. All the other slots are pretty much taken, especially if you're running the Tek mods because they are simply excellent. The addition of the moddable collar opens up room on the Kavat for the rest of their precepts. We suddenly have space to equip Pounce, for instance, or Mischief/Reflect, or whatever else we want with the mod slots we've freed up.
       

You'll notice that the collar builds have "three" open slots. As they are weapons, this would actually mean they have eight mod slots in total, and therefore only one open slot in the builds showcased above. So what do you do with this slot? Whatever you want! Equip another dual-status mod. Equip a new pure elemental mod, or attack speed mod, or any new mod that comes about during implementation.

[Lazarow]

YES YES AND YES

[Tyanya]

Beautifully written Rhaken, I agree with all of it, I really hope this happens one day. 😺 🐶

[Drasiel]

Yes please. 

[(PSN)IndianChiefJeff]

Definitely opens up builds, so I can't argue with that.