Magnitude & Combine Station
How Loot Actually Works in V3.0
July 20, 2026 · V3.0.1 · 5 min read
The short version
- Orange star on an item = one of its stats rolled higher than normal.
- The teal percentage tells you how much better that stat is.
- Combine Station merges two copies of the same item, keeping the best magnitude roll from each.
- A blue item with a great roll can beat a purple without one. Stop auto-scrapping blues.
- This system applies to weapons, tools, armor, and workstation mods.
What the Orange Star Actually Means
In previous versions, an item's stats were fixed by its quality tier and your perks. A purple-quality shotgun always had the same damage range. V3.0 changed that. Now, when an item spawns, some of its stats can roll higher than the base value for its quality level. If a stat gets boosted, the item gets an orange star icon and a teal percentage number showing how much better that stat is.
What gets boosted is random. It could be damage on a weapon, durability on a tool, or block damage on a pickaxe. An item can have multiple boosted stats. The percentage shown is the highest boost among them.
Real example from my last session:
Found a blue-quality pump shotgun with a +23% magnitude roll on damage. Base damage for blue quality is 92. With the boost, it hit for 113. A standard purple-quality pump shotgun has 103 base damage. The blue with a good roll was doing 10 more damage per shot than a purple without one. Kept the blue, scrapped the purple.
How the Combine Station Works
The Combine Station is a new workstation. You can find broken ones in POIs or buy a working one from traders (they're expensive — around 5,000 Dukes). Once placed, it lets you merge two identical items.
Here's the important part: it takes the highest magnitude stat from each item and puts them together. Quality tier doesn't matter for the transfer — a green item with a +30% durability roll can donate that roll to a purple item with no magnitude at all. The donor item gets destroyed in the process, so pick carefully which one is the donor.
When to combine vs when to scrap
| Situation | Do This |
|---|---|
| Two identical weapons, one has +20% damage, other has nothing | Combine. Donor = the one with no magnitude. Keep the boosted one. |
| Blue with +25% damage, purple with no magnitude | Combine. Donor = purple. The blue's roll transfers to the purple. |
| Both items have magnitude on different stats | Combine. Best roll from each stat wins. You keep both boosts. |
| Both items have magnitude on the SAME stat | Only the higher roll survives. Don't waste a Combine on this unless the donor has other boosted stats. |
| Item has no magnitude at all, below your quality tier | Scrap it. Not worth a Combine Station slot. |
| Magnitude is on a stat you don't care about (e.g. block damage on a sniper rifle) | Scrap or sell. The boost only matters if you use that stat. |
What This Means for Looting
Before V3.0, looting was simple: keep highest quality, scrap everything else. Now you need to actually look at items before scrapping them. A green or blue with a good magnitude roll can be more valuable than a purple. Specifically:
- Check every weapon and tool for the orange star before scrapping.
- Keep duplicates of items you actually use — they're Combine Station fuel.
- Magnitude rolls on mods (scope, magazine, etc.) also transfer when you install the mod on a weapon. These are worth hunting for.
- Workstation mods (forge bellows, cement mixer parts) can also roll magnitude. Check before installing.
Got a god-roll weapon? Check your ammo stock.
Use the Crafting Chain tool to see exactly what materials you need for each ammo type.
Open Crafting Chain Explorer →