Initial Accuracy, Hand Cannons, and You [Video] (Destiny)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Thursday, September 22, 2016, 16:19 (2801 days ago)

Last week, I shared a video by Keen Koala discussing the accuracy and bloom traits of Hand Cannons. This new video is his followup, this time with in-game footage demonstrations. I found it extremely helpful.

The big takeaway for me is the fact that even within the limits of a hand cannon's ideal range (before any damage drop off), the HC's cone of accuracy is larger than a Guardian's head. So if you are just barely inside your gun's ideal accuracy range and you are aiming right at your target's head, you can still miss. Koala does some testing and discovers that in order to reach maximum reliability, you need to be at least 8 meters inside the limit of your HC's ideal range. So from the outer limit of your weapon's ideal range, walk 8 meters closer and NOW you will be able to reliably hit every single headshot (assuming you are pacing your shots and allowing your gun to return to resting position between each pull of the trigger). However, he also demonstrates that as long as you are inside your HC's ideal range, you can aim center mass and hit body shots perfectly reliably, even if you are firing quickly. So at the limits of your HC's ideal range, you should try to spam body shots rather than aim for headshots (or lead with a headshot and then follow up with quick body shots).

The other thing I noticed, and maybe I'm an idiot for not noticing sooner, is that the 2 little brackets on your HC's sight are actually showing your initially accuracy cone within ideal range. So if you ADS at a target and their head does not completely fill those little brackets, your shot can miss even though you're within ideal range. Personally, I never look at those brackets; I look at the little dot in the center of the sight. Turns out that dot is completely useless. I wonder how much confusion could have been avoided if HCs didn't have that pinpoint dot in the middle of their sights?