Do the same mobs drop the same salvage or is it completely random?

[MikeSol]

If I need a certain salvage, do I need to target certain mobs or are salvage drops completely random?

[Snarky]

I do not have a detailed answer. Never looked it up. But I have fought enough of specific mobs at one time to see a pattern.  When you end up with 20 of one type of salvage and very little of anything else after fighting certain mobs it seems clear they drop according to their mob type.

[BZRKR]

Also, if you really want a specific salvage, check out the auction house. You can type /ah from almost anywhere to open the window.

[InvaderStych]

One can also do this by right-clicking a mob.  I have no idea how accurate the displayed list may be, or if there are variances in drop rates beyond "Common, Uncommon, Rare" differences.

 

[Ukase]

There are three tiers of salvage: common, uncommon and rare. 
There are three levels of salvage: 10-24, 25-40, 41-50. 

Within each tier, there are 6 arcane and 6 tech salvage pieces. 

Salvage drops are random, but NPCs do tend to drop salvage in a certain category, arcane or tech. 

As an example, if I do a freak map, like that huge Dreck map - the salvage I'll get will be 41-50 tech salvage and I might get common, uncommon or rare. The paragon wiki may list the drop percentages for a ranked npc, but I'd have to look it up and would rather not right now. 

If I do that demon farm map from Harvey Meylor, those are CoT npcs and they'll drop Arcane salvage. Again, the common, uncommon or rare will be random. Higher ranks may have a slightly better chance to drop an uncommon or a rare, but don't quote me. 

In some cases, you can right click on an npc and click on info and see what kind of salvage they might drop. There have been a time or two when I did this and got no result as far as salvage drops go. I can't recall the circumstance though. 

I do know that in AE, oddly enough, the salvage that's dropped in AE is both Tech and Arcane. There are probably some npc factions outside of AE that also drop both, but I don't know which ones. 

[Luminara]

1 minute ago, Ukase said:

Salvage drops are random, but NPCs do tend to drop salvage in a certain category, arcane or tech.

 

Further clarification: there are two categorizations for salvage: arcane and tech.  Magic, mutation and natural origin critters drop arcane salvage.  Science, technology and natural origin critters drop tech salvage.  Nothing drops a specific salvage component.  Nothing drops a specific rarity of salvage.  The auction house is the only guaranteed method of acquiring specific salvage, due to pooling.

[AboveTheChemist]

The HC wiki Invention Salvage page includes (among other info) drop rates and specific listings of the types of salvage dropped by specific enemy groups. The Invention Salvage Tiers page has a breakdown of each salvage type by origin, rarity, and level.

[Greycat]

1 hour ago, AboveTheChemist said:

The HC wiki Invention Salvage page includes (among other info) drop rates and specific listings of the types of salvage dropped by specific enemy groups. The Invention Salvage Tiers page has a breakdown of each salvage type by origin, rarity, and level.

 

... which also comes in handy if you've been doing AE stuff for tickets as this has the exact breakdown described (arcane/tech, 3 level ranges, etc.)

[MikeSol]

Thank you for the information.

 

Will mobs who con gray to me still drop salvage?

[Luminara]

2 minutes ago, MikeSol said:

Thank you for the information.

 

Will mobs who con gray to me still drop salvage?

 

If they're only one level into grey, yes.  If they're below that, no.

[srmalloy]

19 hours ago, Luminara said:

If they're only one level into grey, yes.  If they're below that, no.

Except that you can occasionally get enhancement convertors from mobs that are several levels below that -- I've received them from level-22 mobs in a mission I finished at level 34. But I think that's the only exception.

[Luminara]

39 minutes ago, srmalloy said:

Except that you can occasionally get enhancement convertors from mobs that are several levels below that -- I've received them from level-22 mobs in a mission I finished at level 34. But I think that's the only exception.

 

Converters aren't invention salvage.  Different type of drop using different drop rules.  Let's not make the answer to the question any more confusing than it already is.

Edited July 15, 2021 by Luminara
Typo monster spawned