Severance
| Severance | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Class | Weapon Mod |
Severance is an Iconic weapon mod for melee weapons that can end a fight in one blow. Once an enemy drops below half Health, hits to the head or limbs may cut them apart and kill them outright. It is crafted from the core of the Militech Chimera in Phantom Liberty. Only one Chimera core exists in a playthrough, so Severance competes with three other Iconic mods. It suits a melee build that wants to finish wounded enemies quickly. Severance is a Phantom Liberty item that becomes available after the fight with the Militech Chimera in the main story.
Effect
Severance has one trigger. The enemy must be below 50% Health. Each hit to the head or a limb then has a 20% chance to dismember the enemy. A dismemberment from Severance kills the enemy instantly.
Once the enemy is wounded, every head or limb hit is a chance to end the fight early. Fast weapons with many hits per second roll that chance more often.
Severance is worth the slot on a fast melee weapon that lands many hits in a short time.
How to Get Severance Guide
- Defeat the Militech Chimera in the Phantom Liberty main job Spider and the Fly.
- Pick up the Active Chimera Core from the ground near the wreck.
- Open the crafting menu and craft Severance with the core.
- Install it on a melee weapon.
Severance Map Location and Quest Guide
- Play the Phantom Liberty main story up to the main job Spider and the Fly.
- Fight and defeat the Militech Chimera.
- Look on the ground next to the destroyed machine for the Active Chimera Core.
- Pick up the core before moving on.
- If the core was left behind, take it through the optional objective "Take the Chimera's core" in Lucretia My Reflection.
- Open the crafting menu and find Severance among the Iconic mods.
- Craft Severance, which uses up the active core.
- Install Severance on a melee weapon.
The map shows where the main job Spider and the Fly starts in Dogtown, the job that yields the Active Chimera Core.
Severance map location:
Map credit by Map Genie.
Compatible Weapons
Severance is compatible with 23 melee weapons.
| Name | Image | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Baseball Bat | 
|
Blunt |
| Baseball Bat x-MOD2 | 
|
- |
| Chef's Knife | 
|
- |
| Claw | 
|
- |
| Claw x-MOD2 | 
|
- |
| Cut-O-Matic | 
|
Blade |
| Cut-o-Matic x-MOD2 | 
|
- |
| Electric Baton Alpha | 
|
Blunt |
| Electric Baton Beta | 
|
Blunt |
| Electric Baton Gamma | 
|
Blunt |
| Hammer | 
|
Blunt |
| Kaiken | 
|
Throwable |
| Kanabo | 
|
Blunt |
| Katana | 
|
Blade |
| Knife | 
|
Throwable |
| Kukri | 
|
Blade |
| Machete | 
|
Blade |
| Neurotoxin Knife | 
|
Throwable |
| Punknife | 
|
Throwable |
| Razor | 
|
Blade |
| Steel Pipe | 
|
Blunt |
| Tire Iron | 
|
Blunt |
| Tomahawk | 
|
Throwable |
Upgrades
Severance comes only as a Tier 5 Iconic mod. Iconic mods behave differently from normal weapon mods. Severance can be taken out of a weapon and moved to another one. It is also removed automatically when the weapon it sits in is sold, disassembled or dropped, so the mod is not lost with the weapon.
Character Builds
Severance pairs with perks that work with dismemberment. Slaughterhouse in the Reflexes tree makes all attacks apply Bleeding, which raises dismemberment chance. It also restores Stamina on each dismemberment. Bloodlust in the Body tree adds Adrenaline when V dismembers a nearby enemy while Adrenaline Rush is active.
For blade users, Lead And Steel lowers the Stamina cost of attacks with blades.
Lore
Severance is one of four Iconic weapon mods made from the Chimera's core. The other three are Firecracker for Power weapons, Hackatomy for Smart weapons and Wallpuncher for Tech weapons. The core comes from the Militech Chimera, a boss that V fights in the Phantom Liberty story.
The core is a single item, and crafting any of the four mods uses it up.
Notes
- Only one Active Chimera Core is available per playthrough, so crafting Severance rules out Firecracker, Hackatomy and Wallpuncher.
- The Active Chimera Core can be put on display in V's apartment in Megabuilding H10 instead of being used for crafting.
- After crafting, the core becomes an Inactive Chimera Core, which can still be put on display.
Mod Categories
All Weapon Mods
Every weapon mods mod is listed below.
| Name | Image | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Airstrike | 
|
Raises crit chance and crit damage for midair attacks |
| Barbarian | 
|
More damage against stunned, staggered and knocked down enemies |
| Better Half | 
|
Raises crit chance with the second half of the magazine |
| Big Mag | 
|
Bigger magazine, slower reload |
| Bleedout | 
|
Bleeding damage can crit |
| Bloodbruiser | 
|
Makes a blunt weapon lethal and able to cause Bleeding |
| Boomerang | 
|
A headshot kill with a thrown weapon can return it at once |
| C-Thru | 
|
Charged shots pierce cover sooner and lose less damage |
| Condenser | 
|
Tighter pellet spread, less damage per pellet |
| Critochet | 
|
Raises crit chance with ricochets |
| Cyclone | 
|
A sprint attack opens unlimited combos with stacking attack speed |
| Equalizer | 
|
More damage against Elite enemies |
| Firecracker | 
|
Shoots explosive rounds |
| Fleetshot | 
|
Lower Stamina cost and no heavy weapon slowdown, less armor penetration |
| Focus Fire | 
|
Tighter hipfire spread, shorter effective range |
| Gambiteer | 
|
Faster bullets and more armor penetration, less homing |
| Hackatomy | 
|
Hits can apply a quickhack effect based on the body part hit |
| Haemocide | 
|
Longer Bleeding and more crit chance, lower base damage |
| Headhopper | 
|
More lock-on targets, faster lock-on and more headshot damage |
| Headtoll | 
|
A headshot kill streak grants stacking combat bonuses |
| Javelin | 
|
More armor penetration with melee, doubled on throws |
| K.O. | 
|
More damage and knockdowns on stunned enemies, slower attacks |
| Kneel! | 
|
Leg shots can dismember and kill instantly |
| Panorama | 
|
Larger smart reticle that holds a lock longer, slower lock-on |
| Parallax | 
|
Longer range and less sway when aiming, Stamina stops regenerating |
| Pax | 
|
Makes the weapon non-lethal, more damage outside combat |
| Pinpoint | 
|
Tighter bullet spread after each headshot, stacking |
| Pyro | 
|
Turns part of the damage into Thermal damage with a chance to Burn |
| Ready Steady | 
|
Lowers recoil, more so when aiming from cover |
| Severance | 
|
Hits to the head or limbs of a weakened enemy can dismember and kill |
| Shuffler | 
|
Drawing the weapon refills part of the magazine |
| Silencio | 
|
More crit chance and crit damage when crouched and undetected |
| Slice 'Em Up | 
|
A kill leaves enemies more open to Finishers for a short time |
| Spinetickler | 
|
Fully charged hits can cause an EMP blast |
| Stabilizer | 
|
Better weapon handling when crouching or crouch-sprinting |
| Supercharger | 
|
Faster charge and lower Stamina cost, less armor penetration |
| Swiss Cheese | 
|
More armor penetration, higher Stamina cost per bullet |
| Vivisector | 
|
More dismemberment, then more torso damage for a short time |
| Wallpuncher | 
|
Charges to 200%, full armor penetration, no cover penalty |
| Zenith | 
|
More crit chance, tighter spread and faster swap after drawing |
| Zero-G | 
|
More effective range, thrown weapons fly straight |