Complex soap-based thickeners further enhance certain attributes like the drop point, load carrying ability, water wash-out resistance, and shear resistance. Most prominently, complex soap-based greases benefit for 80% to over a 120% increase in their dropping points over simple soap-based counterparts making them highly suitable for high temperature applications.

A notable aspect to consider is that while various types of soaps, whether simple or complex, provide special features in greases, the selection of the right kind and well-balanced additives is equally crucial. These additives not only provide significant performance-enhancing characteristics but also serve as intermediaries between thickener properties and the desired performance characteristics of the final product.

Similar to industrial lubricants, greases are classified by their consistency numbers—a system developed and implemented by National Lubricating Grease Institute (NLGI) in 1991. NLGI numbers have the following range and define the ability of a grease to penetrate between surfaces where it is most needed to perform its function effectively as a lubricant.