Research dump: Incendiary ammo, Banshee breaching, Praetorian
Apr 2, 2022 19:37:06 GMT
andy_3_913, antsu, and 8 more like this
Post by burningcherry on Apr 2, 2022 19:37:06 GMT
I figured I'll dump some research we did with Scab and TNS in the last couple months.
1. Incendiary ammo
To begin with, the flat damage component is a lie. Meaning that the common wisdom of "high RoF = good inci ammo" is at least partially wrong. A correct description would be "X% damage over 3 seconds" and the game repeats it twice, each time with a different mistake. This is what happens after a single shot; when another shot lands, the DPS is recalculated as
Yes, the full ammo damage a shot is supposed to deal is added as a component to the ammo damage per second. Equating new_dps = old_dps and solving for it, it results that the maximum damage is 3 times the face value damage (e.g. 150% for incendiary ammo IV). From my simulations, 90% of this value is reached after 6–7 seconds for all RoF values existing in the game, meaning that "high RoF = good inci ammo" is pretty much completely wrong and results from cherry-picking guns like Hurricane and Reegar or thinking that Wraith fires a lot of bullets compared to ARs.
Flamer's DoT part seems to be affected by the same glitch.
Unlike the standard Incendiary glitch (the "ammo gets the power's modifer" one), the Inferno Grenade squeezing glitch can be triggered even if the power connected while incendiary ammo DoT was already on the target. A weapon hit after the grenade is still required.
2. Banshee breaching
As we know, in order to stop a Banshee, a certain amount of damage needs to be applied in a certain window of time. But as it turns out, what counts towards this threshold is not the real damage the attack dealt, but the damage it would deal to organic health (QME takeaway: start with Incinerate and a fire explosion). Known exceptions (non-exhaustive list, may be updated if something new comes up):
– Disruptor ammo counts normally against barriers
– Smash counts normally against armor
For the record, the thresholds are 4000/6000/7000/8000 dmg in 4/3.5/2.5/1.5 s on B/S/G/P, halved in solos. This means that stopping a Banshee in a Platinum solo requires far less damage than on Silver with a team.
3. Praetorian stomach
And this table sums up what hits are banked when hitting the Praetorian stomach, depending on the ammo type used, amount of piercing, if the barriers are up and if the stomach plate is up.
"Barriers" means the defense, not the bubble; the bubble blocks all ammo damage and allows only for one body hit unless massive piercing is used.
With other ammo types (or none), it's just a single hit.
1. Incendiary ammo
To begin with, the flat damage component is a lie. Meaning that the common wisdom of "high RoF = good inci ammo" is at least partially wrong. A correct description would be "X% damage over 3 seconds" and the game repeats it twice, each time with a different mistake. This is what happens after a single shot; when another shot lands, the DPS is recalculated as
new_dps = old_dps * (1 - refire_time/3) + ammo_damage_per_shotYes, the full ammo damage a shot is supposed to deal is added as a component to the ammo damage per second. Equating new_dps = old_dps and solving for it, it results that the maximum damage is 3 times the face value damage (e.g. 150% for incendiary ammo IV). From my simulations, 90% of this value is reached after 6–7 seconds for all RoF values existing in the game, meaning that "high RoF = good inci ammo" is pretty much completely wrong and results from cherry-picking guns like Hurricane and Reegar or thinking that Wraith fires a lot of bullets compared to ARs.
Flamer's DoT part seems to be affected by the same glitch.
Unlike the standard Incendiary glitch (the "ammo gets the power's modifer" one), the Inferno Grenade squeezing glitch can be triggered even if the power connected while incendiary ammo DoT was already on the target. A weapon hit after the grenade is still required.
2. Banshee breaching
As we know, in order to stop a Banshee, a certain amount of damage needs to be applied in a certain window of time. But as it turns out, what counts towards this threshold is not the real damage the attack dealt, but the damage it would deal to organic health (QME takeaway: start with Incinerate and a fire explosion). Known exceptions (non-exhaustive list, may be updated if something new comes up):
– Disruptor ammo counts normally against barriers
– Smash counts normally against armor
For the record, the thresholds are 4000/6000/7000/8000 dmg in 4/3.5/2.5/1.5 s on B/S/G/P, halved in solos. This means that stopping a Banshee in a Platinum solo requires far less damage than on Silver with a team.
3. Praetorian stomach
And this table sums up what hits are banked when hitting the Praetorian stomach, depending on the ammo type used, amount of piercing, if the barriers are up and if the stomach plate is up.
"Barriers" means the defense, not the bubble; the bubble blocks all ammo damage and allows only for one body hit unless massive piercing is used.
With other ammo types (or none), it's just a single hit.
