Make your Short Circuit count

Choose an unbought offer, not a carried item

Tap SHORT CIRCUIT below the field kit to open salvage in boost mode. Choose an unbought offer and inspect the comparison. It shows the temporary strike power and immediate barrier that consuming that object will grant. You can also open SALVAGE first and switch to its boost option.

The consumed object must still be in the shop. An item already bought into your field kit cannot be used this way, and an empty offer cannot be selected. Short Circuit does not recycle or archive equipment. Those are separate actions with different consequences for your inventory and progress.

Selecting an offer only previews the choice. Use the fixed bottom action to confirm the boost, or return to battle to cancel without consuming it. Once confirmed, the offer is gone. Read the before-and-after values when deciding between two possible boosts.

Understand the two bonuses

Every Short Circuit adds two power plus the object's printed power. It also adds four barrier plus the object's printed barrier. A Relay coil, with three power and one barrier, therefore grants five temporary power and five immediate barrier. A Hard hat, with no power and three barrier, grants two power and seven barrier.

The power bonus increases each main strike for the rest of the current encounter. It is not merely a single-hit boost. The barrier is added to your current pool immediately and can then be absorbed or siphoned away. It does not refill itself on later turns just because the Short Circuit remains used.

Only those power and barrier bonuses are granted. Consuming First aid does not copy its healing effect, and consuming a LIVE offer does not add an item to your LIVE circuit. The offer's family does not activate a connection. Existing circuits in the equipment you already carry continue to work normally.

Use the boost when it changes the next exchange

Before consuming anything, inspect the enemy you plan to target. Armor absorbs your strike before vitality. If your normal power would leave that enemy alive, compare its remaining armor and vitality with your boosted power. A boost that defeats it immediately also prevents that enemy's response.

For example, an enemy with two armor and nine vitality needs eleven total strike damage to be defeated from that state. If your power is eight, shorting a Ceramic fuse adds three power and reaches eleven. This example assumes no Turnstile guard or extra room strike bonus. Use the displayed strike preview in your own room.

Barrier may be the more useful part when an enemy will survive regardless. A Hard hat offers more immediate barrier than a Relay coil, but less power on every later strike. Check the next attack, your current barrier and how many turns you expect to need before choosing which benefit matters more.

Be careful around Cablegrub. Without an active SIGNAL group of three, it siphons up to four barrier before attacking on every second turn and heals from what it steals. The new barrier can still help, but it can also feed that recovery. Finishing Cablegrub now may be stronger than absorbing it again.

Keep a useful offer available

Short Circuit costs no scrip and does not itself trigger an enemy response. You can use it during preparation or after combat has started, once per encounter. You cannot bank several unused Short Circuits for a later room. Entering a new room resets the opportunity and clears the previous encounter's temporary power.

Its cost is the offer you give up. During preparation, buying the object would keep it in your kit for later rooms, while shorting it helps only with the current encounter. A useful family connector may be worth purchasing, even if it also offers an appealing temporary boost.

Once you strike, you cannot buy or reroll, but an unbought offer remains available for your unused Short Circuit. Buying every offer before attacking leaves nothing to consume. During preparation, rerolling can replace your remaining options, but it costs scrip and does not reset a Short Circuit you already used.

There is no need to spend the opportunity in a room you can already finish safely. There is also no benefit in holding it after its power could have prevented several responses. Make the decision from the current target, the remaining offers and the equipment you want to carry onward.