You cannot choose the overclock — only the number of cores
There are 160 overclocks in the game and you cannot pick which one you get. Per the wiki, “The Weapon Overclock that can be crafted from a given Overclock Infused Core is randomly chosen when the player receives the Core.” The roll happens when the core drops, not when you forge it — and recurring income tops out at roughly 3 cores a week.
So there is no targeting, no rerolling, and no saving a core hoping for a better weapon. The only variable under your control is core volume (plus over 27 unused or removed overclocks exist on top of the 160), so optimise for throughput, not for luck.
Before any of this is available you need a promotion: overclocks are unlocked after the first one, because that promotion is what grants access to the Forge.
Every source of Overclock Infused Matrix Cores
| Source | Size | Overclock cores | Cadence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly Core Hunt | 3 missions | 1 (switches to Blank Cores once every infused core is collected) | Weekly, resets 11:00 UTC Thursdays |
| Deep Dive — stage 2 | 3 stages | 1 | Weekly |
| Elite Deep Dive — stage 2 | 3 stages | 1 | Weekly |
| Breach The Core | 9 missions | 3 (of 6 Infused Cores total; also unlocks the Weekly Core Hunt) | Once |
| Special Event assignments | varies | 1 each | Event-dependent |
| Promoting any class after your first | — | 1 | Per promotion |
| Forge Mastery | — | 1 per 10 forged (see below) | Ongoing |
| Core Infuser machine event | — | 1 Blank → 1 Infused | Per event found in a cave |
Steady state: 3 overclock cores a week from the recurring sources — one from the Weekly Core Hunt and two from Deep Dive stage 2 — before counting machine events, events and promotions.
The three things most players get wrong
1. Forge Mastery pays half as often as it looks
The wiki: “Forge Mastery awards one Infused Matrix Core for every 5 Matrix Cores Forged. The reward alternates between a Cosmetic Infused Matrix Core and a Overclock Infused Matrix Core.”
Alternating means one overclock core per 10 forged, not one in five. Half of every mastery reward is a cosmetic. Read the rate as 10, not 5.
2. Once your collection is complete, your weekly income turns into blanks
The Weekly Core Hunt explicitly switches to Blank Matrix Cores “if all Infused Matrix Cores have already been collected.” At that point the only machine that converts a blank into an overclock is the Core Infuser, a Machine Event found randomly in caves, at a 1:1 rate.
That makes machine events the binding constraint on late-game overclock income, not the weekly assignments. You also need a promotion to activate machine events at all — you cannot interact with one before your first.
3. The equip gate is a tier requirement, not a level requirement
“To equip an Overclock at least one modification must be purchased in each of a weapons tiers.” You cannot equip an overclock on a weapon with an empty tier, and each overclock fits exactly one weapon. If the option looks greyed out, check the equipment database and fill the empty tier rather than hunting more cores.
How to read the three overclock types
| Type | Border | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Clean | Green triangle | A boost with no explicit penalty — effectively one extra modification tier |
| Balanced | Yellow hexagon | A larger boost, usually alongside an equal penalty |
| Unstable | Red square | The largest boosts, often with heavy penalties; the most transformative |
Full detail on judging whether a trade is worth taking lives in the overclocks guide. Mining the resources to pay forge fees is the same loop as funding a promotion.
Crafting an Overclock at the Forge
Holding an Overclock Infused Core is not the same as owning the overclock. Per the wiki, once received the core “will appear at the Forge and can then be crafted into an Overclock, using Credits and crafting minerals.” Crafting permanently unlocks it — you never re-roll or re-earn that specific overclock.
Two consequences:
- The 160 obtainable overclocks are only part of the count — the wiki also lists over 27 unused or removed ones that cannot be earned at all. Treat 160 as the live ceiling, not the total ever designed.
- Because a core’s weapon is decided at drop, your only agency is volume. Clear the Deep Dives every week and keep every class promoted (the classes guide covers promotion unlocks) so Machine Events and assignments keep feeding you cores.
Overclocks are described as able to “add entirely new mechanics, or drastically change the weapons stats” — they are not minor stat tweaks, which is why a single good Unstable overclock can redefine a weapon.