Mods 101

Obtaining Mods
Mod Battles
Mod Challenge Battles
Mod Shop
Mod Stat Increases
Mod Shapes
Upgrading Mods
Mod Tiers
Mod Quality/Color
Mod Levels
Mod Set-Bonuses
Managing Mods
Mod Achievements

Basics

All mods have the following attributes:
- Tiers
- Quality/Color
- Level
- Shape/Slot
- Set-Bonus
- Primary Stat
- Secondary Stat(s) (if any)

Mods come in Tiers 1-5, Quality A-E, Level 1-15.

All mods use the following methods to improve stats: Primary Stat, Secondary Stat(s), and Set Bonus. These improvements either come in the form of a flat increase or a % increase.

Obtaining Mods

Mods unlock at player level 50 and can be assigned to any character level 50 or higher.

Currently, mods can be obtained by completing mod battles for Tier 1 & 2 mods, by completing mod challenges for Tier 3, 4, & 5 mods, and by purchasing them from the Mod Shop.

Mod Battles

Mod battles unlock at player level 50, have no character restrictions, and require cantina energy to complete. Sim tickets may be used after the battle has been completed at 3 stars, just like cantina battles. There are 8 stages, each corresponding to a particular set-bonus, and each stage contains 7 battles, one for each shape and a 7th battle that rewards a random shape. In addition to rewarding tier 1 and 2 mods, mod battles will also reward ability mats, training droids, sim tickets, credits, cantina currency, and XP.

Mod Challenge Battles

Mod challenge battles unlock when Stage 3 of Mod Battles is complete, and each set of challenge battles unlocks when a corresponding stage of Mod Battles has been completed. Each challenge requires a specific squad of characters:

Health Set-Bonus Mods – All characters allowed
Defense Set-Bonus Mods – Only Jedi Allowed
Critical Damage Set-Bonus Mods – Only Jawas Allowed
Critical Chance Set-Bonus Mods – Only Scoundrels Allowed
Tenacity Set-Bonus Mods – Only Rebels Allowed
Offense Set-Bonus Mods – Only First Order Allowed
Potency Set-Bonus Mods – Only Empire Allowed
Speed Set-Bonus Mods – Only Resistance Allowed

Mod challenge battles require at least 3 3-star characters for the tier-3 challenge battles, at least 4 4-star characters for the tier-4 challenge battles, and at least 5 5-star characters for the tier-5 challenge battles. In addition to rewarding tier 3, 4, and 5 mods, mod battles will also reward ability mats, training droids, sim tickets, credits, cantina currency, and XP. Mod Challenge Battles also require cantina energy to complete.

CG_NotReallyAJedi writes:

The Energy-to-Currency ratio: (in dots)
* 1-2 Mods Battles: 10 Energy, 17 Cantina Currency
* 3 Mods Battles: 10 Energy, 17 Cantina Currency
* 4 Mods Battles: 12 Energy, 21 Cantina Currency
* 5 Mods Battles: 16 Energy, 28 Cantina Currency

Mod Shop

You may also purchase mods in the Mod Shop for either credits or crystals. The Mod Shop unlocks when Mod Battles is unlocked at player level 50.
EA_Jesse writes:

Prior to unlocking Mod Challenges only 1, 2 and 3 star Mods will be available in Mod Shipments. Upon completion of ALL Tier 1 Mod Challenges 4 star Mods will start to appear in Mod Shipments.
Upon completion of ALL Tier 2 Mod Challenges 5 star Mods will start to appear in Mod shipments.

Mods are not available as a reward for the AAT Tank Takedown raid, and Tier 5 remains the highest tier mod you can obtain. No new updates/news as to when Tier 6 and/or 7 mods will become available, but I will update this guide if/when they become available.

Mod Stat Increases

Mods can improve the following stats: Health, Defense, Critical Damage, Critical Chance, Tenacity, Offense, Potency, Speed, Accuracy, Protection, and Critical Avoidance.

These stats are improvements based on a character's stats obtained through other progression prior to any mods, rather than after mods have been added. So, if your character has 100 speed prior to adding any mods, you add +10 speed with a primary stat, and then get a 5% speed-set bonus, the 2 bonuses are applied as (5% x 100) + 10 = 15 rather than [5% x (100 + 10)] + 10 = 15.5 (stats don't typically have decimals, but you get the idea).

Stats can be increased using set-bonuses, primary stats, and secondary stats.

Mod Shapes

All mods correspond with one of 6 pre-defined, unique slots: Square, Arrow, Diamond, Triangle, Circle, and Plus. Each mod will correspond with one of these slots, and can only be equipped in its corresponding slot.
Each shape can have any set bonus, and any secondary stat(s). However, specific shapes will correspond with specific primary stats. These are as follows:

Square - Offense (%)
Arrow - Speed (flat), Accuracy (%), Offense (%), Defense (%), Health (%), Protection (%), Critical Avoidance (%)
Diamond - Defense (%)
Triangle - Critical Chance (%), Critical Damage (%), Offense (%), Defense (%), Health (%), Protection (%)
Circle - Health (%), Protection (%)
Plus - Potency (%), Tenacity (%), Offense (%), Defense (%), Health (%), Protection (%)

Here's another view of the same data that you might find helpful:

Offense (%) - Square, Arrow, Triangle, Plus
Speed (flat) – Arrow
Accuracy (%) - Arrow
Defense (%) - Arrow, Diamond, Triangle, Plus
Health (%) - Arrow, Triangle, Circle, Plus
Protection (%) - Arrow, Triangle, Circle, Plus
Critical Avoidance (%) - Arrow
Critical Chance (%) - Triangle
Critical Damage (%) - Triangle
Potency (%) - Plus
Tenacity (%) - Plus

Upgrading Mods

Tier 1 mods have the lowest starting and max stats, whereas Tier 5 mods have the highest starting and max stats. However, Tier 1 mods have the lowest cost to increase level, whereas Tier 5 mods have the highest cost to increase level. Tier 1 is also cheapest to swap between characters, whereas Tier 5 is the most expensive. However, Tier 5 mods will sell for the highest value (since they are the most valuable), but you won't get many credits back from a Tier 1 mod.

This means that lower-tier mods will upgrade quicker and much more cheaply, but higher-tier mods have a greater upside and will ultimately be more valuable in the long-run.

Mk 1-A mod means tier 1, quality A. Mk 5-C means tier 5, quality C. Etc.

Here are the costs to upgrade or remove mods

Tier 1

Upgrade: 375 (3,750 x 10)
Remove: 550

Tier 2

Upgrade: 750 (7,500 x 10)
Remove: 1,050

Tier 3

Upgrade: 1,250 (12,500 x 10)
Remove: 1,900

Tier 4

Upgrade: 1,750 (17,500 x 10)
Remove: 3,000

Tier 5

Upgrade: 2,250 (22,500 x 10)
Remove: 4,750

Total costs to upgrade mods from level 1-15

Mod Tiers

All mods come in Tiers 1-5. A mod's tier (number of "dots") indicate the mod's quality.

Higher-tier mods have higher starting and ending values for each stat.
Example, a Tier 1 mod will max-out at 17 speed as the primary stat, whereas a Tier 5 mod will max-out at 30 speed for the primary stat.

Tiers typically determine that the mod has a higher starting or ending value for the primary and secondary stats

whereas the mod quality/color determines the number of secondary stats the mod has, and how many times it gets upgraded.

Mod Quality/Color

All mods come in quality A-E

Some simple quick advice to get you up and going before you learn the full game of mods

Some Mod Quality Details

Mod quality can start at anywhere from quality A-E at level 1, but as the mod's level increases, the quality improves.

Therefore, ALL MODS will eventually reach quality A (Gold) once upgraded to level 15. The difference is, mods that start with quality A at level 1 will typically have higher "final" secondary stats (due to existing stats increasing as the mod levels increase), whereas mods that start at quality E will typically have lower "final" secondary stats since instead of upgrading the stats on existing secondary stats, the quality increase will simply add a new stat.

This can all be very confusing, but in other words, starting at a higher quality is sort of like having "more" increases applied to each stat on the mod, whereas having a higher tier is sort of like having "larger" increases applied to each stat on the mod. See Mod Levels below for further details.

Most quality A (Gold) mods have 4 secondary stats, but higher-tier versions usually end up with higher stats.

Mod Levels

EA_Jesse writes:

Mods can reach up to level 15 Each level up increases the primary stat on the Mod
At levels 3, 6, 9, and 12, a secondary stat will be added or an existing secondary stat will be increased
Mods are upgraded by spending credits to increase the XP of the Mod.
It is possible to receive a large XP boost immediately upgrading the Mod's level.

Note that secondary stats are only added or upgraded at levels 3,6,9, and 12. This means that the rest of the time, only the primary stat will be upgraded when a new mod-level is achieved.

Mod Set-Bonuses

Each mod corresponds with a specific, pre-defined set-bonus. Set-bonuses are earned when a character has equipped a certain number of mods (either 2 or 4 mods) that all have the same set-bonus.
A Max set-Bonus can also be earned when that same group of mods (again, either 2 or 4 mods) have all been upgraded to level 15. Max set-bonuses replace the basic set-bonuses once applied.

Set-bonuses and Max set-bonuses:

Managing Mods

Mods can be equipped, upgraded, removed, sold, or destroyed. Upgrading and removing costs credits. Selling a mod will return credits to the user, and equipping or destroying a mod will neither cost nor return credits. The higher the mod's tier, the more credits it costs or returns. If a mod has already been equipped, it must be unequipped first before it can be sold.

Mods can be locked/unlocked to prevent them from being removed or sold until you're ready to do so.

Up to 500 mods can be stored in the Mod Inventory before the UI will force you to sell or destroy mods to make room for new mods.

You can search for mods using various filters and search criteria in the inventory screen to make finding the mods you're looking for easier.

Mod Achievements

There are tier 1, 2, and 3 achievements for mod challenges for each set-bonus type.

Tier 1 Challenge Completion: 10k credits, 10 crystals, 30 ally points
Tier 2 Challenge Completion: 20k credits, 20 crystals, 60 ally points
Tier 3 Challenge Completion: 40k credits, 40 crystals, 120 ally points