Your conclusion makes perfect sense in a fair 1vrs1 duel but I often find that I'm either on the defensive and getting shot first and then responding, in this case I prefer more hp to have time to respond.

When I'm on the offensive I prefer 2 damage mods (third loses a lot of value) and rest extenders to take advantage of the second of reaction time on the victim.

Where I don use damage mods is with high alpha weapons, mass driver as example, cause that extra 20-30 damage won't keep me from having to take that last shoot.

Just my humble opinion.

Of course, not everything is a direct 1v1.

Shield extenders and damage modifiers tend to have a direct relationship in that they can be directly compared to one another quite easily. However, there are some scenarios where one is better to have than the other.

Specifically, damage mods are more useful for ganking people. If you want to gank someone without retaliation, damage mods are better because your own HP does not come into the matter. Whether this be sniping or aggressive flanking, this is where damage mods have a genuine opportunity to be more useful than shield extenders.

The exception to this is when you are a very low HP unit who wants to gank. At this level, the HP gains represented by a shield extender are much more lucrative than the slight increase in damage yielded by damage mods.


Fairly obviously, shield extenders are better for survivability. If you're not relying on a rapid gank, these are generally superior. If you're a direct, head on combat unit these will generally be better unless you're a heavy. These are also better if you do not rely on your weapon or do not need slight increases in damage. Shield extenders are also better for 1v1s if lower DPS weapons are involved.