Weapon Metagame/Tips from a Spreadsheeter (Destiny)

by someotherguy, Hertfordshire, England, Monday, October 06, 2014, 07:49 (3491 days ago)

A Little Intro
Some of you may have noticed I've been promising to upload a spreadsheet of weapon stats and such Soon(TM). You will also have noticed it hasn't materialised yet. Sorry about that, it's proving difficult to gather all the data I want. I'm thinking once I've gathered all the Common/Uncommon data I'll make it available and update it as I go. For now, here's a sampe screenshot, so you know what to expect:

It's based on SteelGaribaldi's Companion's Little Helper, but with some modifications to include actual damage, RoF in seconds, Reload Speed in seconds, etc. Also included are separate DpS and DpM stats, as they're both useful in different circumstances (DpS for PvP, DpM for PvE).

Anyway, that's just to show y'all what I'm working on. On to the good stuff:

Weapon Tips & Metagame
While I'm nowhere near done with the spreadsheet (thanks in part to the fact that I've only had a single Legendary drop so far. Thanks RNG/Cryptarch), I've managed to make some good observations on each of the weapon classes, and the most important/useful stats. This might come a bit late for some of you, but hopefully it'll help someone.

Today I'll go over some what I've learnt and how it can be applied for PvP, and I'll cover PvE once you've all recovered from this disgusting wall of text.

PvP - Weapons

First and foremost, the most important stat for PvP is Damage per Second (DpS), because you want to be laying down as much damage as possible on an enemy, killing them before they kill you. I've been calculating this as the number of shots fired per second (Rate of Fire) multiplied by the damage dealt in The Crucible per shot. It does not take into account Reload Speed, as you should be ready with a full clip, or fleeing to reload, rather than reloading mid-firefight.

The most important thing I cant tell you about PvP is that all weapons within a single class have roughly the same DpS. They may vary slightly, but not by a lot.

This means that Rate of Fire and Impact are down to personal preference, and are relatively unimportant. Which means you should be looking at the other stats when searching for your preferred weapon.

Auto Rifles have the greatest DpS of any of the primary weapon classes, ranging from 160-165. Presumably the offset was intended to be range and stability. This hasn't worked out as Bungie planned it evidently, hence the nerf they're about to receive. Go for the highest Stability AR you can - a Shingen is a good low-level choice, or a fully upgraded Shadow Price if you're looking for a Legendary.

As you might imagine, the best upgrades for Auto Rifles are Counterbalance or Perfect Balance

Handcannons have the second-best DpS, and also the greatest DpS variance (119-131), with the low-RoF, 93-Impact Searcher Mk. 20 faring the worst. If you're able to routinely get two headshots in a row, this may be worth the tradeoff, but otherwise stick with a faster, weaker model.

Like with ARs, Stability and Range tend to suffer on Handcannons, so pick your most stable Handcannon for your soujourns into the Crucible.

Pulse Rifles and Scout Rifles come in last (115-126 and 115-117, respectively), with the trade-off of superior long-range viability. At range, a Pulse or Scout Rifle should outmatch an AR (in theory) thanks to superior Stability and Range.

Of the two, Pulse Rifles have the greater Stability, but sustained headshots are typically easier with Scout Rifles than with the recoil-climb found on Pulse Rifles.

And Don't Forget - Scout Rifles are getting a damage buff soon

Most Sniper Rifles vary very little in damage, running from 200.09-201 DpS, though super-heavy varieties (Gozen-C, Candace-B etc.) run as low as 180.

This might seem like a big difference, but barring additional shielding, all Sniper Rifles will kill with a single headshot, or 2 bodyshots. Instead, focus on RoF and/or Stability to ensure that you can make a second shot if you need to.

Shotguns are the exception to the rule, in that they have a very large DpS variance (100!), but like Snipers are all capable of a 1HK regardless of DpS.

A higher Range stat will let you do that from much further away, making Range the most important shotgun stat, followed (IMO) by RoF, then Stability. If you prefer the high RoF models of shotgun like the Invective, Graviton or Chasma, you may prefer to favour stability over range - your call.

CAVEAT - Being closer to the target will still deal more damage, as more individual pellets (all shotguns tested so far fire 12) are able to hit and deal damage.

Fusions Rifles vary up to 10 DpS, but like shotguns, all seem capable of taking out an opponent in one hit. You may find they feel less consistent though, due to the difficulty of actually hitting the target with all 7 projectiles fired from a single charge.

Stability seems to also affect the spread of the projectiles, while range affects the speed at which they travel, helping to hit a distant/fast target.

Machine Guns are much like Auto Rifles in that Stability is your best friend. Ranging from 290-300 DpS, they can take out a target in under a second, if you can hit that taget. Because of the lack of significant stability upgrades on LMGs (more on upgrades later), a low-RoF/high Impact variety is preferred.

LMGs are unique in that, with the Aggressive Ballistics barrel upgrade you can see a significant DpS spike on a high-RoF LMG (larger than the same upgrade on a low-RoF variety) at the cost of some of your stability. On the LMG tested, I saw a 30+% DpS increase!

Rocker Launchers are fairly simple in that they have no Impact stat. All Launchers tested deal 328 damage on a direct hit - enough to kill anything in one. A larger blast radius will help make sure you get that kill, while a higher velocity will let you tag more distant targets.

My personal preference is a larger Blast, as there are usually better long-range than a rocket. Alternatively, you may prefer a Launcher that carries a 2 round magazine for faster firing at the cost of Blast and Velocity.

For the best of both worlds, find a Launcher with a high Blast stat and the Tripod upgrade. Not only does it allow for faster firing, but you also get an extra Rocket per Heavy Ammo pickup in the Crucible! Couple that with Lucky Raspberry, and you'll be rolling in rockets.

PvP - Sight and Barrel Upgrades

You'll notice a theme here - Stability is King

If DpS is the same within your chosen class of weapon, the most important factor in outshooting your opponent is making sure you hit them with as many rounds as possible. Obviously a lot of that depends on you natural FPS ability, but why make it any harder than it needs to be?

Auto Rifles
Your absolute best bet for Stability is the Red Dot-OAS. It gives you a hefty Stability boost, and doesn't reduce any of your weapon's base stats.

If you have a real hankering for a long-range AR, try the Red Dot-ORES or Red Dor-ORS1. Don't be tempted by the Ranged Lens RLR5 - it has the best Range, but reduces your Stability, Reload Speed and Handling below their base level.

Handcannons
Handcannons have little choice in the way of sights, but all that really means is there's a greater chance of getting the one you want - the Steadyhand IS.

The Quickdraw IS is also tempting for it's Reload Speed buff, but it will only knock 0.23 seconds off your reload, so Your Mileage May Vary.

Pulse Rifles
For Stability, the Red Dot-OAS is your best option. Due to the high DpS of ARs, it may be a better option to buff your Range with the Focus Lens FLA5 and keep your distance, especially after the upcoming AR Range nerf. For some reason, the FLA5 isn't available on Rare (Blue) Pulse Rifles, so you'll have to get your range from the Red Dot-ORS1

The Red Dot-ORES is a convenient halfway point between the two, giving you a small buff to both Stability and Range.

Scout Rifles
The Red Dot-OAS will give you a nice buff to Stability, but unfortunately isn't available on Rare (Blue) Scout Rifles, so you'll want the Red Dot-OES instead.

Like Pulse Rifles, you may find you benefit from keeping your distance from ARs and picking a Focus Lens FLA5 or Red Dot-ORS1 for Range.

Again, the Red Dot-ORES is a good fence-sitter.

Fusion Rifles
Stability is even more useful in Fusion Rifles, as it seems to affect the spread of the projectiles. A tighter spread gives you a better chance of hitting and dealing damage with all 7 of them. The Red Dot-OAS is your best friend for Stability, but you'll need the Red Dot-OES on Legendary (Purple) Fusion Rifles, as the OAS is not available.

It's worth remembering that an increased Range will give your Fusion Rifle faster bullets, making the Red Dot-ORS1 a potential choice for Uncommons or Rares that already have high Stability stat, or the Focus Lens FLA5 for Legenadaries.

Sniper Rifles
Sniper Rifles are interesting in that a high-zoom scope such as the EagleEye SLR20 can make it much easier to get a hit on your tagert - the target will occupy more space on your screen, giving you a larger area to hit.

Alternatively, if you prefer shorter-range sniping, or are confident in your abilities to hit a smaller target, Stability is your best bet (again! Are you seeing the pattern yet?). The Ambush SLH10 will give you a great boost to Stability, but at a cost to long-range Damage (perfect for small-map sniping), while the SightsSys SLS20 will cover all your bases, and is my personal recommendation for long-range sniping.

Shotguns
Shotgun (and LMG) upgrades are different from those of the other weapons in that they can affect the actual Damage dealt by the weapon. In shotguns this is relatively insignificant, as all Shotguns are capable of a one hit kill. Instead, you should focus on Range with Field Chokefor most shotguns.

For high-RoF Shotguns such as a Graviton or Chasma (especially with the Full Auto upgrade), I suggest Soft Ballistics. This will lower Impact, which seems counterintuitive, but the faster shotgun varieties are less likely to get the 1HK unless you're point blank, and the added stability will help you hit your mark with the second shot.

Machine Guns
As mentioned earlier, Machine Guns come in two flavours. Slow-RoF/high-Impact, or harder-to-aim high-RoF/low-Impact. In general, the low-RoF variant is more reliable, as the increased stability keeps you on target and prevents ammo wastage. For these models, Smooth Ballistics or CQB Ballistics will buff your Stability at the cost of Range.

The faster variant is typically harder to keep on target, but has the potential for a far higher DpS when coupled with Aggressive Ballistics. For example, the Genghis-E climbs from 25 Impact to 29 - increasing the DpS by 135! This does come with the cost of making the weapon even less stable, and even shorter ranged, but may be worth it depending on your playstyle.

Rocket Launchers
Unfortunately I've collected limited data on Launch upgrades. I'll update as soon as I know more, but essentially Stability is useless for Launchers - stick with Blast Radius and Velocity (in that order). And Tripod. Seriously, Tripod is your friend.

A Little Outro
If you made it this far, well done. Seriously. That's a lot of text. And if you read all that and didn't learn anything, I'm super sorry for wasting your time. Hopefully there's enough in there that everyone can get at least something out of it.

I'll be back eventually with a breakdown of the other weapon upgrades available, as well as doing the same thing for PvE. I'll probably jot down some fun Defender builds too at some point, because I'm thoroughly enjoying my Orbmaker and Tank builds.