Why do all the 45k ISO-4 Implants, perform below average? If used at all.

I just spent 3,000 certs, to get me 640 ISO-4. Which is ridiculous btw. Seeing as all the 45k ISO-4 Implants perform below average.

If these implants performed better, 3k certs for 640/45,000 is still a korean grinder. How many certs to unlock 1 45k Implant then? 400,000 certs? Jesus Christ. lol. These implants are worth like 4,000 ISO-4 at most, seeing how they perform.

Vampire & Carapace? I have these maxed rank. I was eager to get them to. Only to findout for my stalker, that I'm getting shot by scout rifles, while I'm invis running, from 20 yards away. So " Deep OP " is mandatory. That's why they should allow 3 implants. So no I can't use Vampire + Carapace & even when I do use it & am not seen, it's still average. Also near range is kill or death range, not run to survive range. Essentially does what a medkit does. & Medkit I wouldn't use as a stalker or need, only mines.

Bionics: Haven't tested yet, tho most people say it sucks more than Carapace & I find Carapace not worth it overall for Infil or LA, seems more like a HA implant. So used Carapace very few times, since getting it.

Cold Heart: for burning dmg? I'm suppose to spend 400,000 certs to get some lesser burning dmg? heh. Dying to burns is such a niche thing. Happens like 0.1% of the time & yet they made this worth 45k ISO-4? *confused picachu face*. Would need like 10 more burn based items, added to the game. To even consider this. Another reason for 3 implants per class. For all these niche implants / rare scenario's.

Counter Intelligence: spotting enemies... wooo.... not. Some extra passive exp maybe. As if some vets can't figure out who's shooting them, they need to waste a whole implant slot just for this, ye right. Below average implant. Worth 4,000 ISO-4 not 45,000. Sounds better on paper than it is.

Max based implants. I'm not a max main. So I'd get these last. Many people would.

Firewall: Out of all the turrets I've hacked, how many got c4'ed & how many got counter hacked. 90%+ of turrets get destroyed, not counter hacked. Meaning half of this implant is def below average. Does 25% boosted hp, prevent the double c4 from enemies & a few tank shells? Which are both normal. Also why a 45k implant for hacking turrets, that's extremely niche. I main stalker & rarely hack turrets. I suppose the hacking thing helps for terms, tho still average tier implant for 45k.

Infravision: Like Infradine's effect? Or a Infra optic? How is that special? Certainly not 45k special. I'd rather just use Infradine than ever spend ISO-4 on this. Def below average, as Infradine effect is average, who uses that? Grey sight. Niche too.

Expirement Stims: Has anyone used this? I fail to see how getting any of those random effects would help. Randomly getting safefall? kek. As a best tier implant xD For only 12 secs? " Better find a cliff ".

Logistics Specialist: I'm pretty sure some allies have had this & they have to pm someone to notify them that they can spawn in their vehicle. So apparently this implant needs a HUGE FONT TEXT showing that its possible to spawn in someone valk / harasser / mbt. Bigger spawn windows for this implant. Highlighted implant feature.

Phylacerty: I'm pretty sure I've seen enemies only use this 4 times the entire time I've played PS2 & 3 of those times it glows green & you wait to shoot the enemy respawning. Only 1 time maybe someone used it to shoot me walking away & got the kill maybe. Tho for the most part ye, it glows green, you or the enemy respawn, & the respawner dies instantly. Also if you got respawned 3 times, wouldn't you be near medics anyways? For them to just revive you, usually? I suppose this is good if a medic revives you 3 times & then they ditch you or you ditch them for the 4th death, & hope the enemy doesn't instantly shoot your green glowing corpse. That seems too niche too. For 45k.

Minor Cloak: This I find balanced. Some people want it to perform better, thos as a invisible main, I don't believe this needs to perform better. You can use LA ambusher jet to semi shoot after the jump. Or else cloak as medic. Tho ye its more useful for medic, than any other. Able to hide a room clear, wait till all ur allies are dead, & then decloak to throw a revive nade as the last person alive. So this 1 is fine. I do wish it decloaked sooner for ambusher jet jumps, as sometimes I'm not able to fire till the last part of the jump. Tho still above average implant & is ok to use.

Avoidance: Mentioned to be saving for this 1. Yet the irony is I don't use Sweeper Hud for stalker. As yes I die from mines often, tho I also walk around them even more often. So I don't need sweeper. If I don't need Sweeper, then I don't really need Avoidance. A vet gets better overtime at looking for mines. So why does a endgame Implant for vets, have this? I suppose its for other classes maybe. Yet then the text says, doesn't alarm spitfire turrets so eh. LA doesn't use this either, not hitting mines or being bother by spitfire when ambusher jetting around. So idk who this is for, some vet who still has a problem with not viewing the floor? Or a vet who has a hard time fighting spitfire? xD Nobody. Then why get this implant? Well for that brief time I want to be lazy with running over mines or knifing near spitefires, sure. Still below average for that. I suppose being immune to mines sounds good on paper, yet experienced its really the same as Sweeper Hud. Also any1 enemy who's ever bothered by my mines, they have switched to Sweeper Hud & pistol whipped my mines repeatedly. Thus the implant helps you " be lazy " when walking around, but doesn't really give you any benefit than Sweeper doesn't give. Spitfires are so weak, that's not worth much. I suppose it allows me to hack a few spitfires better, yet once again spitfire defense is the least thing a vet that saved 45k ISO-4 requires.

I'd favor a speed based implant that's not based on reload, nor shield breaking, or as meaningless as the athlete implant is for speed. Simply speed for speed, not speed gained from fall dmg or some weird reason for gaining speed a class may not toggle to begin with. Knifers don't reload or take fall dmg. Or else trade survivals hp gain that's near useless, for a few seconds more of run speed after shield break. So yes, better run speed implants. For starters.

750 certs turn into 9 implants. If all are duplicates, you get at least 225 iso. Since exceptional duplicates are worth more, the average would be around 250, if you already had every implant. Assuming you're unlucky and only get normal duplicates, 45k iso are 150k certs. If you already had every implant and wanted to start saving duplicates up to 45k iso (for the next new implant), you need around 135k certs.

150k certs? That's a ton. All of these implants are worth no more than 1,000 certs. Half of them are worth 0 as I wouldn't equip. Many are worth 500 certs as they are niche uses, with average results.

150k certs should unlock a whole new implant slot, or something far better. (However extra implant slots would be best for everyone at lvl 1 if so). Not some mediocre below mid effect implant, with a shiny logo. Odd. For sure nobody should grind more than 4k certs for any of these implants. I get they are end game goal savings implants, but just that, they aren't anything to be excited over. For me catwalk, nightmare, & survival are better > than the 45k implants. While deep op, safefall, & ammo printer may be mandatory.

It's like they didn't want vets overshadowing new people so much, they watered these implants down so badly before they even got going. Then made them super expensive to get for no reason, other than to have endgame unlockables. Even if they are so so. Barely giving a benefit. Def not a 150k benefit.

P.s. Speaking of lackluster endgame unlockables. Still waiting for Infil ASP skills or extra items, besides misc grenade access.

I main engi and bionics is incredible, my health is full 4 seconds after every engagement
ASC+Bionics is my go-to on every class now, sure it will suck from the occasional EMP,
But for the rest of the time I love it.

Phylactery used to be great, but Wrel ruined it.

Coldheart I run on my max because there isn't really much else to run, so berserk and coldheart makes an OK combo,
A max suit undetected by recon devices is pretty nice, plus it makes you look 'cool' (pun intended!)

Agreed they aren't worth 45k iso, but I either got them from bundles or lucky gambles.

Carapace + Combat Surgeon is the best combo for combat medics in the game, you can equip healing grenades and time it right for amazing HP regen. Using it on stalker infils is a waste.

Bionics is really good on the Engineer who begins shield regen in 4 seconds, and now that ASC is a good suit slot option you'll usually regen shields very quickly. Very good choice for builds that don't run medkits.


Phylactery was good, but is pretty bad now.

Berserker used to be OP then got nerfed, still the best MAX implant.

Infravision is good with smoke spam or continents like Hossin with a lot of foliage.


Overall there are a few really good ones but most are trash. I wish the ISO-4 price got dropped to 10k ISO-4 so you don't have to grind half a year to get exceptionals you want.

Counter-Intelligence is one of the great ones to get for vehicle play, perhaps not as a driver in a ground vehicle since there are 'better' implants for that but its good in aircraft and AMAZING as a gunner implant(ground and air) spotting everything that damages you gives both you and the driver/pilot instant and accurate information on who/what is shooting you. Pair it with Assassin and you are many drivers/pilots dream gunner, at least in implant loadout, you still need to hit things as a gunner!

Plenty of ESF pilots use it, eat a AA missile then NUKE the poor HA that got lit up on the map.


Edit: Trigger warning, look away!



Not the greatest implants but I was still kinda happy when I got this roll fairly recently.

The only worthwhile exceptional implants IMO are:

Avoidance - General Use (Filler)
Infravision - Infantry
Counterintelligence - Vehicle Play
Logistics Special - Squad Vehicle Play
Minor Cloak - Situational (Infantry)
Bionics - Engineer/HA (possibly Medic with Shield Recharging Field).
Carapace - Medic with Nano Regen Device.

The current Legacy Bundle at 4999 DBC (before membership discount) with 3 perfect implants (Avoidance, Infravision, and Minor Cloak) is cheaper than the typical top-tier Anniversary Bundles with implants (7999 DBC). Perfect implants are useable across all characters on your account so the Legacy Bundle may be worth the bang for the buck if you are saving ISO.

Minor Cloak is great for adding Stalker-like cloak to a Hunter infiltrator.

I think the entire point is that ISO is a resource thats really annoying if not a bit tough to get only for the highest costing implants not being worth the actual grind for it. It does nothing truely game breaking and just helps slightly or changes the way you can play. They need to allow more than a trickle of the ISO resource or give us back the only implant way with batteries. This new one feels like lootbox gacha.

Counter-Intelligence is great for LA if you tend to move alone, scout, reach high places or circle around the enemy. When spotted it gives you half a second to react and get cover before being invested by a barrage of fire, it saved my bacon countless times.

Note: really good players won't Q-spot you but engage immediately on sight.

And yes, the implants cost is a joke.

Dont forget Carapace with Resist shield and regen 5 implant with regen stims for that health tank HA.

The exceptional implants all have specific uses, if you equip the and just expect to be "better" without knowing how to utilize the implant you're going to have problems. I agree that 150k certs is absurd as I have done it 4 times. It's supposed to motivate people to spend money after they get frustrated with the loot boxes. That said loot boxes are a problem in their own way, and any sales plan based on annoying people into spending money is terrible for the good will of the customer base.

Some examples of specific uses, well bionics and carapace have been covered, avoidance + minor cloak on a light assault is a great router runner combo to set up that "zerg in a can". Logistic specialist is great when running a scrublic platoon with lots of vehicles, or makes for a good small spawn vehicle inside a building. Those are some examples, basically you can equip the basic implants and just be straight up better in some easy way, the exceptionals require a plan.