The Heat Sink 
is a Portal Mod. Its multiple effects assist Agents in hacking the equipped Portal.
| Rarity | Hack Speed | Cooldown on neutral or enemy Portals | Cooldown on friendly Portals |
|---|---|---|---|
| (None) | 0% | 5:00 minutes | 3:00 minutes |
| Common | +20% | 4:00 minutes | 2:24 minutes |
| Rare | +50% | 2:30 minutes | 1:30 minutes |
| Very Rare | +70% | 1:30 minutes | 0:54 minutes |
All Heat Sinks have the following effects:
- For all Agents: Reduces the Portal's cooldown, for all Agents allowing it to be hacked more frequently (excluding burnout). See the table above.
- For the deploying Agent: Resets the cooldown and burnout timers, so he or she can immediately hack the Portal again.
("Hack Speed" is technically a misnomer; the value is really a percentage reduction of the Portal's cooldown. At 20% cooldown reduction, the real Hack speed – assuming an Agent hacks as soon as cooldown completes, and that hacking takes no time – is sped up to 1.25× normal; at 50%, 2× normal; at 70%, 3.33× normal.)
Rarities[]
Heat Sinks are available in Common, Rare, and Very Rare rarities, which affect the cooldown reduction the item bestows. Community studies estimate the drop rates to be 1 in 100, 500, and 5 500 item rolls, respectively.
All Heat Sinks have 0 Stickiness.
Agents often refer to Heat Sinks using an abbreviation. 'CHS', 'RHS', and 'VRHS' refer to a Common, Rare, and Very Rare Heat Sink , respectively.
Cooldown Reduction[]
A single Heat Sink decreases the cooldown time of the equipped Portal, reducing the time before an Agent can hack the Portal again. The effect applies to both allied and enemy Agents. If an Agent's remaining cooldown is less than the new cooldown after a Heat Sink is applied, the Agent can immediately hack the Portal again.
| Deployed Common Heat Sink(s) 
|
Hack Speed |
Cool- down | Deployed Rare Heat Sink(s) 
|
Hack Speed |
Cool- down | Deployed Very Rare Heat Sink(s) 
|
Hack Speed |
Cool- down | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
+20% | 2:24 |
|
+50% | 1:30 |
|
+70% | 0:54 | ||||||||||||||
|
+28% | 2:10 |
|
+62.5% | 1:08 |
|
+80.5% | 0:35 | ||||||||||||||
|
+35.2% | 1:57 |
|
+71.9% | 0:51 |
|
+87.3% | 0:23 | ||||||||||||||
|
+41.7% | 1:45 |
|
+78.9% | 0:38 |
|
+91.8% | 0:15 |
When multiple Heat Sinks are attached to the same Portal, the rarest Heat Sink applies its full effect. Each subsequent Heat Sink's effect is halved, from highest to lowest rarity. The cumulative effect can be calculated using the following formula:
((1-h)*(1-a/2)*(1-b/2)*(1-c/2))*[300 (Neutral or Enemy portal)|180 (Friendly Portal] h = Rarest Heat Sink decrease percentage a = Second rarest Heat Sink decrease percentage b = Third rarest Heat Sink decrease percentage c = Fourth rarest Heat Sink decrease percentage
For an example, a group of Agents deploys one Very Rare Heat Sink , two Rare Heat Sinks and one Common Heat Sink :
((1-0.7)*(1-0.5/2)*(1-0.5/2)*(1-0.2/2))*300 = 45.56 seconds between Hacks
Cooldown/Burnout Reset[]
When an Agent attaches any Heat Sink to a Portal, regardless of rarity, he or she can immediately hack the Portal again, resetting both the cooldown and burnout. This effect applies only to the Agent who attached the Heat Sink .
The Agent can now hack the Portal a number of times equal to its burnout count (depending on deployed Multi-Hacks 
). A new four-hour burnout recovery timer will begin when the Agent completes the next hack on the Portal.
This effect is not cancelled when the mod is destroyed in an enemy attack.
Strategy[]
Cooldown reduction[]
The cooldown reduction is most relevant when a large number of Agents have limited time to hack a Portal. This makes Rare and Very Rare Heat Sinks crucial parts of "Powerhacks", or intensive hacking sessions, where the risk of enemy sabotage is high.
Because cooldown reduction serves only to reduce the total time it takes to burn out the Portal, the effect is irrelevant if Agents have time to spare, if they can use the cooldown time efficiently, or if they can easily return after the burnout period elapses. Deploying a Heat Sink in these circumstances serves only to waste a mod slot.
Cooldown/burnout reset[]
Because of how cooldown reduction works, the Common Heat Sink provides very little improvement to the "real" Hack frequency. However, it is still effective for resetting the cooldown and burnout timers.
The cooldown reset is useful for hacking the same Portal repeatedly in close succession, such as when acquiring Portal Keys 
.
The burnout reset synergizes well with Multi-Hacks . Because the Multi-Hack's effects are applied to each burnout/reset cycle, its effect will be multiplied for the Agent who attaches the Heat Sink . To maximize yield, the Multi-Hack should be applied first, with the Heat Sink applied only after the Agent has burned the Portal out. Theoretically, an Agent can perform 64 hacks in 2 hours 10 minutes using this method with one Very Rare Multi-Hack 
and three Very Rare Heat Sinks .
If an enemy is attacking a Portal, an Agent can continuously attach new Common Heat Sinks as the old ones are destroyed, so as to hack the Portal repeatedly in close succession. In a pinch, an agent can even use a Flip Card to switch the Portal to the opposite side, destroy it, recapture it, and apply fresh Heat Sinks for additional Hacks.
Enemy farms[]
Rare or Very Rare Heat Sinks attached to high-level enemy Portals are often tell-tale signs that enemies have gathered to rapidly 'farm' resources. Savvy Agents will disrupt these Powerhacks and stake out the area to deny resources to the opponents.
Trivia[]
- The maximum cooldown decrease is 91.76% and that is 7 seconds. This can be achieve with 4 Very Rare Heat Sinks.
Usage[]
An Agent of any level can deploy a Heat Sink by expending XM depending on the item's rarity.
| Heat Sink Rarity | XM Cost |
|---|---|
| Common | 400 XM |
| Rare | 800 XM |
| Very Rare | 1 000 XM |
- See also: Cooldown
External links[]
- Heat Sink | Fev Games, which lists all possible cooldown reduction combinations
