Saros has one of the most flexible difficulty systems in any recent roguelite, and it lives inside the Carcosan Modifiers menu. Rather than a simple easy/hard toggle, it hands you 30 individual modifiers split between buffs and penalties, then asks you to balance them on a dial before your run begins. Get it right and you can meaningfully shift how the game feels without breaking it. Get it wrong and you might accidentally stack yourself into a nightmare. Here is everything you need to know to make smart choices.
What are Carcosan Modifiers in Saros?
Carcosan Modifiers are run-wide effects that alter specific parameters of each Cycle. There are exactly 30 modifiers in total: 15 Protections (buffs) and 15 Trials (debuffs). They become available after defeating the second boss and are accessed through the Primary Unit in the Passage.
Protections make the game more forgiving in targeted ways, whether that means reducing incoming damage, making Perfect Reloads easier, or stripping Corruption effects from Artefacts. Trials push back in the opposite direction, adding hazards like enemies that spawn projectiles on death or weapon attributes that decay through use.
The system is entirely optional and provides no direct resource bonuses or penalties outside of what the modifiers themselves state. Its real value is letting you tune the experience to match your current skill level or the specific challenge you want to tackle.
The modifier balance dial
How does the modifier dial work?
Open Primary, then tab to the Carcosan Modifiers section. At the top of the screen you will see a gauge with a pointer. Every modifier you equip shifts that pointer left (Protections) or right (Trials). Your modifiers only activate when the pointer sits in the center or right segment of the gauge, described in sources as the "Balanced" or "Overloaded" zone. If the pointer drifts too far left into the "Underpowered" zone, all modifiers are disabled.
You cannot stack Protections past a balance value of -3 without counterbalancing them with Trials. Trials, on the other hand, have no stacking cap, so players chasing a brutal challenge can pile them on freely.
Some modifiers come in multiple levels. Damage Enhancement, for example, runs three tiers at -2, -4, and -7 balance points respectively. The higher the tier, the bigger the effect and the more dial weight you need to offset.
There is an "Unlimited Protection Modifiers" setting under the Gameplay tab in the options menu. Enabling it lets you equip up to six Protections without needing any Trials to balance the dial. This is the most accessible option if you want to focus on the story.
You can equip up to six modifiers total across both categories before locking in your selection for the run.
All Carcosan Modifiers in Saros
Here is the complete list of every modifier, what it does, and its balance point cost. Multi-tier modifiers show each level's cost separated by slashes.
Protections
Trials
Best Modifiers for Survival
If staying alive is the priority, focus on modifiers that reduce incoming damage and give you safety nets when things go wrong. Based on the Push Square breakdown, the following Protections work best together for a survival-focused loadout:
- Armour Enhancement (reduces all incoming damage to Integrity)
- Second Chance Overlord (restores Second Chance after every boss kill)
- Corruption Reduction (cuts Corruption buildup from enemy projectiles)
- Corruption Cleanse Enhancement (speeds up Corruption removal)
- Overlord Restoration (fully heals you before each boss encounter)
The combination of Second Chance Overlord and Overlord Restoration is particularly strong for boss fights. You arrive at full health and get your Second Chance topped up after winning, which effectively gives you a much larger margin for error across the entire run. The downside is that Second Chance Overlord alone costs -10 balance points, so you will need meaningful Trials to offset it if you are not using the Unlimited Protection Modifiers setting.
Second Chance Overlord's -10 balance cost is the heaviest single Protection in the game. Pairing it with other Protections will require multiple Trials to keep the dial in the valid zone unless you enable Unlimited Protection Modifiers in settings.
Best Modifiers for DPS
For players who want to accelerate their power scaling and deal more damage faster, Push Square identifies these Protections as the strongest offensive picks:
- Damage Enhancement (direct damage increase to all hostiles)
- Power Accelerator (more Power from absorbing projectiles with the Shield)
- Lucenite Enrichment (Proficiency levels up faster, improving weapon scaling)
- Artefact Immunity (Artefacts keep their effects without Corruption downsides)
- Artefact Enhancement (bumps all Artefacts up one tier)
The Artefact Immunity and Artefact Enhancement pairing is worth highlighting. Artefact Enhancement raises every Artefact you find by one tier, while Artefact Immunity strips the Corruption side effects that higher-tier Artefacts often carry. Together they let you run powerful Artefacts without the usual trade-offs.
For pure damage-per-second, the Damage Enhancement III + Perfect Reload combination from Push Square's synergy list is hard to beat. Damage Enhancement III costs -7 balance points, so pair it with a moderate Trial like Lucenite Devaluation I (+3) and Hostile Death Projectiles (+3) to land at a valid dial position while keeping the run manageable.
Reccomended Modifiers
Here are the high-value synergies on what each pair actually accomplishes:
- Lucenite Magnetism + Lucenite Enrichment: Maximises Proficiency gain. You collect more Lucenite and each piece of Lucenite contributes more toward levelling up.
- Damage Enhancement + Perfect Reload: Maximises damage per second. Every Perfect Reload extends your damage window, and the Enhancement multiplies the output.
- Corruption Reduction + Corruption Cleanse Enhancement: Minimises the Corruption threat entirely. Corrupted projectiles deal less buildup and what does accumulate clears faster.
- Shield Power Enhancement + Power Accelerator: Maximises Power generation. Your Shield absorbs without draining Power, and absorbing projectiles fills it faster.
- Artefact Immunity + Artefact Enhancement: Maximises Artefact value without the usual Corruption penalties attached to high-tier items.
- Second Chance Overlord + Overlord Restoration: The best boss safety net in the system. Full health going in, Second Chance restored coming out.
Carcosan Modifiers have no effect on the resources you earn or lose outside of what the modifier explicitly states. Equipping Halcyon Removal does not reduce Halcyon you have already collected, and Lucenite Devaluation only affects Lucenite retained after death, not what you spend mid-run.
Getting the most out of the system
The Carcosan Modifiers menu is available before every run, so there is no reason to lock into a single setup permanently. Adjust based on what you are trying to accomplish. Farming a specific biome for collectibles? Strip the Trials and load up Protections with Unlimited Protection Modifiers enabled. Attempting a boss you keep dying to? Stack Overlord Restoration and Second Chance Overlord for that run specifically.
For players who want to understand the full scope of what each biome demands before choosing their modifiers, the Saros biomes guide breaks down every zone's hazards and enemy types in detail. Knowing what you are walking into makes it much easier to choose modifiers that address the specific threats ahead.
If you are still finding the base game punishing even with Protections active, the Saros beginner's guide covers the fundamentals of projectile parrying, the Adrenaline meter, and weapon scaling that underpin every run regardless of your modifier choices. For everything else, the full Saros strategy guide collection has you covered.