[Explosive Payload] perk is a sham.

[krashd]

I have two scout rifles I'm comparing and I started to become concerned when the lesser, generic rifle was dropping Scorn and Taken with one hit while the unique weapon I hoped would win was taking two shots to kill both.

First the underdog...
TELEMACHUS-C, kinetic weapon, 940 power
I got this awarded on Mars once and now find them everywhere.
[High-Impact Frame]
[Zen Moment]
No masterwork

Now my newly found oddity...
DOES NOT COMPUTE, kinetic weapon, 948 power
Found this for the first time in a crucible match earlier today.
[High-Impact Frame]
[Moving Target]
[Explosive Payload]
Tier 4 Reload Speed, so no bonus yet.

Both weapons have almost identical impact with the bar being by my estimates at 66-70% on both, so I'm thinking the 8 extra power may play some small part but the real bonus has to be the explosive payload.. Well not so. The second rifle does spit out an extra 520 explosive damage on top of it's main damage but it's main damage is hugely inferior to the Telemachus rifle.

A precision shot on a low rank Taken...
TELEMACHUS-C = 1722 yellow damage
DOES NOT COMPUTE = 1020 yellow damage and 520 white damage, any ad in proximity also gets 520 white damage.

A precision shot on a low rank Scorn...
TELEMACHUS-C = 1722 yellow damage
DOES NOT COMPUTE = 1020 yellow damage, no white damage, no damage to other ads



My conclusion? Explosive Payload doesn't add any extra oomph to a shot, it just converts around a third of the impact damage into solar damage and splashes a little of it onto any other ad nearby, and if the ads you are shooting at happen to have solar resistance you just end up with a really crap gun.

Oh, and I won't even get started on why the stronger looking rifle still only does a total of 1540 compared to 1722, it's as though the total damage is dropped to compensate for the fact you get to splash aggro any ad your target was having a cigarette break with when you shot it.

[CazadorDeLobo]

For everyone else's benefit, I'll show where the ~10%ish boost to damage is found, and where it isn't based on a comment in this thread:

İlk olarak Lenn Reegar tarafından gönderildi:

Second weapon:
Better Devils, average power level 929, it has Explosive Payload.
Headshot damage: 1538, and 1000 explosion damage.
Bodyshot damage: 769, and 1000 explosion damage.

Bonus 2nd weapon, found a Better Devils without explosive payload.
Average power level 931.
Headshot damage: 2330
Bodyshot damage: 1558.

In this person's example:

On body shots, Explosive Payload deals ~12.5% more damage with Explosive Payload than an identical weapon(assuming 931 LL on the weapon does not increase the overall power level of character meaningfully). On headshots, it deals approximately the exact same damage as a weapon without it on an identical weapon.

In another example, likely with greater control over variables:

İlk olarak vgahaydenms tarafından gönderildi:

- If I test Explosive Payload I have gear in every slot equipped at 950 Power.
- I am inside a Lost Sector so every enemy is the same strength.
- Both Weapons I use have 0 Damage Increasing effects & are also 950 Power.
- I am well within the Damage Fall-Off range for my gun.

The gun without Explosive Payload deals 1841 to the Head of a Thrall & 1231 to the Body.

The gun **with** Explosive Payload deals 2300 to the Head of a Thrall & 1416 to the Body.

It is very clearly a Damage Buff to both.

[vgahaydenms]

İlk olarak krashd tarafından gönderildi:

And don't talk nonsense about "clear and concise", you've derailed about 4 threads in as many days...

Can you be clear & concise about the point you're trying to make then?

Your post is full of misinformation & assumptions.

To test the benefits of anything in Destiny 2 you need to have very specific conditions or the game will mess them up.

- If I test Explosive Payload I have gear in every slot equipped at 950 Power.
- I am inside a Lost Sector so every enemy is the same strength.
- Both Weapons I use have 0 Damage Increasing effects & are also 950 Power.
- I am well within the Damage Fall-Off range for my gun.

The gun without Explosive Payload deals 1841 to the Head of a Thrall & 1231 to the Body.

The gun **with** Explosive Payload deals 2300 to the Head of a Thrall & 1416 to the Body.

It is very clearly a Damage Buff to both.

If I go into say, a Raid later. My gun will be hitting different Numbers entirely because the Activity has a different Power Level & the game scales me to it. Even then, Explosive Payload will still add the same % damage increase.

Edit:

Added another test using another gun but this time with the numbers not added together.

W/O Explosive Rounds

Crit - 1305
Body - 730

W Explosive Rounds

Crit - 941 + 472 = 1413
Body - 363 + 472 = 835

Explosive Rounds is clearly buffing the Damage again.

[CazadorDeLobo]

İlk olarak vgahaydenms tarafından gönderildi:

İlk olarak krashd tarafından gönderildi:

And don't talk nonsense about "clear and concise", you've derailed about 4 threads in as many days...

Can you be clear & concise about the point you're trying to make then?

Your post is full of misinformation & assumptions.

To test the benefits of anything in Destiny 2 you need to have very specific conditions or the game will mess them up.

- If I test Explosive Payload I have gear in every slot equipped at 950 Power.
- I am inside a Lost Sector so every enemy is the same strength.
- Both Weapons I use have 0 Damage Increasing effects & are also 950 Power.
- I am well within the Damage Fall-Off range for my gun.

The gun without Explosive Payload deals 1841 to the Head of a Thrall & 1231 to the Body.

The gun **with** Explosive Payload deals 2300 to the Head of a Thrall & 1416 to the Body.

It is very clearly a Damage Buff to both.

If I go into say, a Raid later. My gun will be hitting different Numbers entirely because the Activity has a different Power Level & the game scales me to it. Even then, Explosive Payload will still add the same % damage increase.

Very good work.

[vgahaydenms]

İlk olarak CazadorDeLobo tarafından gönderildi:

Very good work.

Right back at ya.

[Garble]

Go beat up greg, he's reliable.

[Aidenel]

İlk olarak CazadorDeLobo tarafından gönderildi:

-snip-

just to add to my original comment, the average light level was the power level of my character with the weapon equipped, the rest of my gear stayed the same.
Edit: retest with both Better devils upgraded to 948, bringing my average power to 964.
This is still against simulated Dregs.
With explosive round: 1571 +1022 damage on headshot, and 758+1022 body.
Without explosive rounds: 2351 head, 1572 body.
And now against Dregs in lost sectors on the moon:
With explosion: 2838+1846, so 4684 on headshot, and 1420+1846, total of 3266 on bodyshot.
without explosion: 4247 head, 2840 body.

[Super Arthritis ⁧⁧ ⁧⁧Man]

But they are different.

[Kashra Fall]

Explosive payload cuts the damage, but the cut of the damage is explosive and has no damage fall off. That's what is good about explosive. If you can hit the target, it hits for full damage and causes a tiny AoE. On handcannons, it is disgusting on scout rifles, it is devastating.

[Hithnass]

late to the party but.. Explosive Payload isnt all about the damage anyway, the mini-aoe stagger in PvE is a life saver, especially at the higher level endgame content.

[BlueLightning]

İlk olarak Hithnass tarafından gönderildi:

late to the party but.. Explosive Payload isnt all about the damage anyway, the mini-aoe stagger in PvE is a life saver, especially at the higher level endgame content.

And it is damage buff BEFORE kill anyway, a small increase is already good