Catabolyst

Splatter enemies with a short-range stream of corrosive bile and then toss the ammo bladder as a grenade when reloading. Built as a status secondary / primer option for squad clear and mission pressure.

Signature

Catabolyst is not a signature weapon — any frame can use it without a signature passive.

When to Pick

• You want a Pistol that fits a status secondary / primer play pattern.
• Your loadout needs what Catabolyst does well — check Mission Usefulness below before investing Forma.
• You’re ready to Catalyze / Forma it if you plan to main it on Steel Path.

• Primary

  Corrosive 53

  Hit-Scan · Crit 11% / 2.9× · Status 43% · Fire Rate 12 · Falloff 9–19m (−98%)

• Partial Reload Impact

  Impact 11

  Projectile · Crit 11% / 2.9× · Status 43% · Fire Rate 12 · Projectile 0

• Partial Reload Explosion

  Corrosive 203

  AoE · Crit 11% / 2.9× · Status 43% · Fire Rate 12 · Falloff 0–5m (−50%)

• Reload From Empty Impact

  Impact 11

  Projectile · Crit 31% / 2.9× · Status 59% · Fire Rate 12 · Projectile 0

• Reload From Empty Explosion

  Corrosive 1997

  AoE · Crit 31% / 2.9× · Status 59% · Fire Rate 12 · Falloff 0–7m (−50%)

• Primary (Hit-Scan): Corrosive 53.0.
• Partial Reload Impact (Projectile): Impact 11.0.
• Partial Reload Explosion (AoE): Corrosive 203.0.

Permanent investments on this weapon copy — separate from the Prime variant.

• Orokin CatalystCapacity

  Doubles mod capacity so endgame builds fit.

  Usually the first permanent upgrade on a weapon you plan to main.

• FormaPolarity

  Adds or changes polarities so matching mods cost half capacity.

  expect multiple Forma for a hungry config.

• Exilus Weapon AdapterSlot

  Unlocks utility options (Exilus on guns; melee focuses on stance polarity + utility mods).

  Install when you need ammo, handling, or QoL without sacrificing damage slots.

• Secondary Arcane AdapterArcane

  Lets you install a weapon arcane for a strong passive bonus.

  Worth it once the base mod config is already solid.

• Riven ModRiven

  Unique rolled mod. Disposition 1.2.

  Chase clean desirable stats; skip awkward negatives on low-disposition weapons.

Common building blocks for this gun — not a full ranked build, just the mods you’ll see most often.

• Galvanized Diffusion

  Multishot

  Secondary multishot backbone.

• Primed Pistol Gambit / Pistol Gambit

  Crit Chance

  Crit chance for secondary crit suites.

• Primed Target Cracker / Target Cracker

  Crit Damage

  Crit damage pair for Gambit.

• Galvanized Shot

  Status Damage

  Status-scaling secondary damage.

• Hornet Strike

  Base Damage

  Flat secondary damage foundation.

• Elemental dual-stats

  Elemental

  Viral + Heat remains a safe default.

• Secondary Deadhead / Merciless (Arcane)

  Arcane

  Primary-style weapon arcanes on primed secondary builds.

• Pistol Ammo Mutation

  QoL

  Ammo economy for high fire-rate pistols.

Multishot

Usually the highest value damage slot — more projectiles, more procs, more clear.

Critical

Stack crit chance/damage when the weapon’s crit stats justify a crit suite.

Elemental

Faction/elemental lines for Steel Path; Viral+Heat is a safe default on many guns.

Fire Rate

Fire rate raises DPS but burns ammo — pair with reload/ammo economy when needed.

Check the How to Get table for blueprint / part drop sources.