Pickup: "sponges"

These lichen-like pickups are somewhat similar to barriers and vials, in that they deal with status and your knight walks over them and they go into your pickup belt if you have room.

Using one will grant your next charge attack (not regular attack) or shield bash whatever status and level of intensity the sponge was (temporarily replacing whatever status defaults and settings the weapon had per sponge use, if the weapon inflicts no status, then the sponge effect is simply added for one charge attack). One sponge = one use! Time your attacks wisely and consider the environment.

Lore: Cradle is full of strange and mysterious things. Where do vials originate from? How do barriers work? Now we've found a new manifestation of status with "sponges." These strange items absorb nearby energy (mist *cough* minerals *cough*) and turn it into powerful status effects. A knight can squeeze one in their hand (sponges are neat and leaky when squeezed!) and channel its "energy frequency" (= status+game logic lol) into their next charge attack. Fascinating! Spiral HQ recommends using these sponges to increase the versatility of bombs and for general stress-ball style relief.

If your knight squeezes ("uses") a sponge and then leaves the area (gets onto an elevator etc.) then the pending effect is lost. If your knight dies the pending effect is lost. If your knight uses another sponge, the previous pending effect is lost. (Or we could make it so you stack on ALL the status! haha. no). The pending effect otherwise lasts until a charge attack is successfully executed, getting shocked or something won't make you lose it.

Sponges imbue the shield bash with status similar to the way they do your charge attacks, but the shield will shatter (vs. lose 50% health like it normally does) - it can't handle the too-quick modifications and power, but it can repair itself after being expended. Worthwhile in many situations, and not at all in others. The sponge status replaces the stun status for one bash. Using a stun sponge is redundant, if not debilitating if you've got a lower tier vial during an arcade run or something. Star levels of shield and sponge are accounted for in some mathematical manner I don't feel like digging into.

Sponge drop rates are low compared to vials and barriers, but for some mysterious reason are more common than all other pickups in lichen lairs.

Details (all 100% chance, all status types available):

Sponge - 0* - minor status
Super Sponge - 2* - moderate status
Ultra Sponge - 4* - strong status

Strategy:
Oh, the possibilities! Discuss in comments.

Inspiration for this idea:
mod system in "Warframe" and gem socket system in "Torchlight II" . I've thought about trying to suggest a functional change to Unique Variants in Spiral Knights many times, but this seems like it would be more fun! On another note...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I desire the removal of pickups from the prize wheel, most enemy drop tables, and treasure boxes. Why? I hardly ever see people use them. Having 3333 in the quickbar for that elevator prize (sometimes 50 crowns! woooohooo! -,..,-) = not worth using them in the field to many players. Which is very depressing - we generally lose a lot of game content and for what, 10 cr? maybe a lockbox? A lot of players also just use them at the elevator for "pretty smashing effects" instead of combat, but that's another issue. I'd like to see pickups being used more often, usefully. Vials being thrown to near infinity is pretty great though. Like knights would be very good at pitching in baseball probably. So anyway:

Instead of in places that annoy people, we could have these potentially very important items "hidden" around the clockworks. Tougher ones (not vials) could drop from broken boulders, busted wall panels/knobs, or be uncovered if your knight investigates a sparkling pile of dust. Most could be found in logs, dirt, lab tables, etc. Med caches will have heart boxes and new greyish toughboxes (implied to be left by recon squads? maybe!) that contain pickups (vitas and pills especially). To balance the general loot table OOO has in place, simply distribute crowns, materials, and heat more evenly between treasure boxes and monster drop tables to compensate for the loss of pickup dilution (this edit for skepticraven: yes, it wouldn't make a statistically significant payout difference, the idea is to get players to love pickups not hate them due to preconceived notions). Certain more "intelligent" enemies will carry pickups, instead of all enemies - especially gremlins. Or we could just drastically decrease the pickup drop rate from enemies, with the idea that "the chromalisk ate it and well, it just never digested and now I have it." All the more reason to throw it, gross! Who wants to carry that around?

EDIT for feedback: yes you would freeze yourself with Fang of Vog instead of catch yourself on fire etc.

EDIT for feedback: buff? sure. I'm more about mechanics and watching things play out than DPS, but yeah, a buff would be nice. There's a fine balance between being a grind chore tool, being OP/overly good to the point of "being expected and necessary and if you don't use it you're silly" (blitz+shiver worshipers), and making sure above all else, you're having fun.

EDIT for feedback: yes, attack types would be neat too. Socketall!