The struggling franchise provided little more than open court practice for a Steel side which was hurting from heavy back-to-back losses to Australian sides.
The Pulse has won just one of its 32 ANZ Championship matches and was humbled 64-40 in Wellington last night.
Last week, it was crushed 75-40 by the Adelaide Thunderbirds and in round four the New South Wales Swifts meted out a 14-goal lesson.
It is hard to believe, but the Pulse seems to be getting worse with every match and, arguably, is the worst team in the country - perhaps worse than the Highlanders or the Otago Nuggets, both of whom have compiled miserable records.
The opposition was so brittle it is hard to say whether the Steel made progress this week or not.
The Invercargill-based team did post its largest win in the competition.
The 24-goal winning margin was a franchise record, passing the previous mark of 22 goals set against the Pulse in May last year.
There were signs, though, that the Steel was reverting to an old habit, finishing with a scrappy quarter, after it allowed the Pulse to share the honours 14-14.
But for the first three quarters the Steel was in a different class.
Pulse coach Yvette McCausland-Durie opted to roll the dice, making the gutsy call to drop captain Jane Altschwager from the starting side.
Altschwager's replacement, 20-year-old Te Amo Amaru-Tibble, made a nervous start, sending her opening shot over the back of the hoop.
The Steel capitalised on the turnover, moving the ball up court swiftly and making light work of any Pulse defence.
Daneka Wipiiti used every bit of her 11cm height advantage over her opposite, towering above Ama Agbeze and slotting 15 goals in a relentless opening spell which saw the Steel rapidly build an 18-9 lead.
The Pulse struggled with a zone defence and was caught hovering rather than driving up court.
It was a limp 15 minutes of netball but worse was to follow from the Wellington-based side.
The hapless franchise lurched from one error to another.
Every fumble and every stray pass was accepted with glee by the Steel.
The visitors posted five unanswered goals to stretch the lead to 14 points, and a seven-goal run midway through the period saw the gap blowout even further.
With the margin growing, the Pulse snatched a couple of intercepts and made a late surge, but still went into the dressing rooms trailing by 15 goals.
McCausland-Durie had shuffled her back three of Elizabeth Manu, Cushla Lichtwark and Agbeze in a desperate attempt to shut down Wipiiti's supply of ball.
Her decision to put Manu (1.76m) back to goal keep was odd.
Manu is 18cm shorter than Wipiiti.
She tried hard but hustle is no substitution for height at this level.
With the Steel comfortably in front, coach Robyn Broughton had the luxury of being able to experiment.
Julianna Naoupu came on at goal attack for Megan Dehn, who shifted back to wing attack.
Midcourters Liana Barrett-Chase and Wendy Frew both dropped back one spot and goal keep Leana de Bruin switched with Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit, who was at goal defence.
Wing defence Erika Burgess dropped to the bench.
McCausland-Durie countered by bringing Altschwager on during an injury break.
But it was way too little to late, with the Steel towards the end of a 10-goal run that further served to highlight the yawning gap between the teams.
Otago player of the year Emma Moynihan made her ANZ Championship debut, getting off the bench and donning the wing defence bib for the the final 15min, and Wipiiti was rewarded for a solid game with a rest.
Back-up shooter Jade Topia also got her first run for the Steel.
