Understand Contagious Bond
Useful when…
- Companion setups that can kill enemies already affected by status.
- Combat against clustered enemies within the mod's spread radius.
Trigger and spread
At rank 5, when your Companion kills an enemy afflicted with a Status Effect, 50% of the Status Effect spreads to other enemies within 9 m. The listed maximum is 100 stacks. At rank 0, the effect is 8% within 1.5 m, showing that both spread amount and range grow with rank.
When it helps
This mod depends on two things happening: the victim already has a status effect, and the Companion gets the kill. It suits situations where those kills and nearby enemies are common. The described spread copies 50% of the status effect; it does not say that all stacks or all nearby enemies are automatically affected without that trigger.
Rank and slot
Contagious Bond is a standard Companion mod with Madurai polarity, base drain 4, and five ranks. Rank 3 provides 33% spread within 6 m; rank 5 reaches 50% within 9 m. The final rank step costs 480 Endo and 23,184 Credits, so consider that cost against how often the larger radius and spread amount will be used.
Other Companion effects
Vicious Bond concerns armor stripping from Companion melee and spreads that effect to enemies recently damaged by abilities. Covert Bond grants Companion stealth after Finisher and Mercy Kills. Loyal Companion instead provides a conditional player damage-reduction and Companion-protection effect when player health falls below 35%. These answer different combat needs from status spreading.
Limitations and tradeoffs
- Spreading requires a Companion kill on an enemy already affected by a status effect.
- Higher spread and radius require further ranking investment.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Expecting a spread when the Companion did not get the kill.
- Forgetting that the killed enemy must already be status-affected.