What You Need to Know About Inscriptions

First off, let’s walk through how Inscriptions work. Inscriptions are random modifiers that are applied to each loot item upon creation. Here is an example of some inscriptions on an Avenging Herald - a Masterwork Heavy Pistol (and a really good one at that!)

Inscription Example: Avenging Herald Masterwork Heavy Pistol
Inscription Example: Avenging Herald Masterwork Heavy Pistol

A couple things to note with inscriptions:

If there is a Gear Icon in front of the inscription, that means it applies only to the item itself.

If it has a Suit Icon, that means it applies to everything on the Javelin.

So in the Avenging Herald example above, the following inscriptions were rolled:

  • +15% Weapon Damage - This increases the damage dealt from the Avenging Herald by an additional 15%. In this case, the inscription has a Gear icon so the damage boost ONLY applies to this weapon and wouldn’t apply to your secondary weapon.
  • +4% Repair Amount - All health drops that are picked up will replenish an additional 4% health.
  • +30% Ammo Drop Rate - Increases the chance of a defeated enemy dropping weapon ammo by 30%.
  • +15% Heavy Pistol Damage - Since this has a Suit icon, any Heavy Pistol the player is carrying (including this Avenging Herald) will do an additional 15% damage. So if you had 2 Heavy Pistols equipped, both weapons would get the 15% increase.

One other callout here is that the Damage Number shown (in this case 1044) doesn’t include the damage bonuses that came from the Inscription rolls. This is an important consideration – Inscriptions aren’t reflected in the stat block (currently at least) so make sure you are comparing apples to apples here. As an example, check out these 2 Avenging Heralds – they both show identical Power values of 45 and Damage values of 1044. However, the one on the right will do more damage because of the 2 Damage inscriptions it has.

Avenging Harold (First Example)
Avenging Harold (First Example)
Avenging Harold (Second Example)
Avenging Harold (Second Example)

How are inscriptions applied? We have the following buckets of inscriptions:

  • Minor Primary
  • Minor Secondary
  • Major Secondary
  • Major Primary
  • Epic Secondary
  • Epic Primary

The lower the tier, the less impact the inscription will have. The higher the tier, the higher the impact. As an example, Minor Primary can modify weapon damage from +5-25%. But Major Secondary Inscription to weapon damage will modify it from +25%-175%.

 

Ultimately, the rarity of an item dictates which inscriptions it gets. Here is a table that visualizes how this works on Weapons and Gear:

Inscriptions Table
Inscriptions Table

Here is a list of all Inscriptions with descriptions of what they do:

Inscription Description
LB/Q +{X}% Dmg Increases the damage of the gear item in slot
LB/Q +{X}% Speed Speeds up recharge time for gear in slot
RB/E +{X}% Dmg Increases the damage of the gear item in slot
RB/E +{X}% Speed Speeds up recharge time for gear in slot
+{X}% Dmg Increases all damage done by the Javelin
+{X}% Force Increases the force applied to targets
+{X}% Harvest Bonus Increases the amount of materials when harvesting
+{X}% Pickup Radius Increases the distance that you will automatically pickup drops
+{X}% Thruster Life Increases your maximum thruster time
Acid +{X}% Dmg Increases Acid damage
Acid +{X}% Effect Increases the number of acid stacks that are applied
Acid +{X}% Resist Increases your resistance to a specific element, lowering damage and Decreasing the number of stacks being applied to you
Ammo +{X}% Drop Rate Increases the chance that ammo drops appear from defeated enemies
Ammo +{X}% Pickup Amnt Increases the amount of ammo that is gained by picking up an ammo drop
A-Rifle +{X}% Ammo Increases the spare ammo of assault rifles
A-Rifle +{X}% Dmg Increases all weapon damage done by assault rifles.
Armor +{X}% Dmg Resist Reduces all incoming damage
Armor +{X}% Max Increases maximum Armor
Autocannon +{X}% Ammo Increases the spare ammo of autocannons
Autocannon +{X}% Dmg Increases all weapon damage done by autocannons
Blast +{X}% Dmg Increases all explosive damage
Combo +{X}% Aura Eff Increases the effect stacking rate of aura combos (Interceptor)
Combo +{X}% Damage Increases the damage of Impact (single target) combo
Combo +{X}% Damage Increases the damage of Explosive combo (Colossus)
Combo +{X}% Imp Dmg Increases the damage of Impact (single target) combo (Ranger)
Combo +{X}% Targets Increased the number of targets that are hit by a chain combo (Storm)
Critical +{X}% Dmg Increases the damage done when hitting weakpoints
Effect +{X}% Resist Increases your resistance to all elements, lowering damage and decreasing the number of stacks being applied to you
Effects {X}% Duration Reduces the duration of elemental effects on you
Elec +{X}% Dmg Increases Electric damage
Elec +{X}% Effect Increases the number of electric stacks that are applied
Elec +{X}% Resist Increases your resistance to a specific element, lowering damage and Decreasing the number of stacks being applied to you
Elemental +{X}% Dmg Increases elemental (category) damage ie: Ice, fire, and electric damage
Elemental +{X}% Resist Increases your resistance to elemental (category) damage ie: Ice, fire, and electric damage
Fire +{X}% Dmg Increases fire damage
Fire +{X}% Effect Increases the number of fire stacks that are applied
Fire +{X}% Resist Increases your resistance to a specific element, lowering damage and Decreasing the number of stacks being applied to you
Gear +{X}% Charges Increases the number of gear charges
Gear +{X}% Dmg Increases gear damage
Gear +{X}% Speed Speeds up recharge time for gear
GrenLaun +{X}% Ammo Increases the spare ammo of grenade launchers
GrenLaun +{X}% Dmg Increases all weapon damage done by grenade launchers
Hvy Pistol +{X}% Dmg Increases all weapon damage done by heavy pistols
Ice +{X}% Dmg Increases Cold damage
Ice +{X}% Effect Increases the number of ice stacks that are applied
Ice +{X}% Resist Increases your resistance to a specific element, lowering damage and Decreasing the number of stacks being applied to you
Impact +{X}% Dmg Increases untyped Damage to target
Impact +{X}% Resist Increases resistance to untyped damage
LMG +{X}% Ammo Increases the spare ammo of light machine guns
LMG +{X}% Dmg Increases all weapon damage done by light machine guns
Mch Pistol +{X}% Ammo Increases the spare ammo of machine pistols
Mch Pistol +{X}% Dmg Increases all weapon damage done by machine pistols
Melee +{X}% Dmg Increases the damage of melee attacks
Mks Rifle +{X}% Ammo Increases the spare ammo of marksman rifles
Mks Rifle +{X}% Dmg Increases all weapon damage done by marksman rifles
Overheat {X}% Delay Decreases the time between overheating and when your stamina begins to cool
Physical +{X}% Dmg Increases physical (category) damage ie: Acid, Physical
Physical +{X}% Resist Increases your resistance to physical (category) damage ie: acid, kinetic / impact
Pistol +{X}% Ammo Increases the spare ammo of heavy pistols
Repair +{X}% Amnt Increases the amount of health that is gained by picking up a health drop
Repair +{X}% Drop Rate Increases the chance that health drops appear from defeated enemies
Shield {X}% Delay Increases the speed at which your shield recharges
Shield {X}% Refresh Reduces the time between when your shield breaks and when it starts regenerating
Shield +{X}% Max Increases maximum shields
Shotgun +{X}% Ammo Increases the spare ammo of shotguns
Shotgun +{X}% Dmg Increases all weapon damage done by shotguns
Sniper +{X}% Ammo Increases the spare ammo of sniper rifles
Sniper +{X}% Dmg Increases all weapon damage done by sniper rifles
Supply +{X}% Drop Rate Increases the chance that ammo or health drops appear from defeated enemies
Support +{X}% Luck Increases the chances that you will get better loot
Support +{X}% Speed Speeds up recharge time for gear in your support slot
Thruster +{X}% Speed Increases the speed at which your thrusters cool
Ultimate +{X}% Dmg Increases the damage of your ultimate
Ultimate +{X}% Speed Increases the rate at which your ultimate regenerates
Weap {X}% Recoil Aim Decreases recoil while tight-aiming of the weapon
Weap {X}% Recoil Hip Decreases recoil while hip-firing of the weapon
Weap {X}% Reload Time Decreases reload time for a weapon
Weap +{X}% Aim Increases the aim assist on a weapon
Weap +{X}% Ammo Increases the spare ammo of the weapon
Weap +{X}% Blast Dmg Increases the damage of explosive blasts (not impacts). Mislabeled as weapon specific, actually affect gear or weapon
Weap +{X}% Clip Increases the magazine size of the weapon
Weap +{X}% Dmg Increases overall weapon damage
Weap +{X}% Fire Rate Increases the firing rate of the weapon
Weap +{X}% Mag Size Increases the magazine size of the weapon