Question about handling champions.

[Frietbal]

I played the game for a while yet I am unsure with some of the abilities and weapon mods.

I currently use "Sweet Business" exotic AR which has the perk _armor_ piercing rounds. In the description though it says it does *extra* damage to _shields_ next to it being said to overpenetrate targets, nice wording but not sure what they mean by it.

Additionally I use the armor mod "anti-barrier" auto rifle, which does _shields piercing_ dmg and by that wording suggests to leave the shield intact. It also states 'good against barrier champions'.

So what is happening with this loadout?
-Is it EXTRA good against Barrier champions,
-or am I overdoing it against Barrier champions and could just as well not have the armor mod?

Then the other champions:
There are Overload champions, who by my understanding deal a lot of dmg unless dealt with. It is my plan to not deal with it and to negate that dmg with my Sentinel abilities and kill them the old way. Is that possible?

There are Unstoppable champions:
I could have the unstoppable pulse rifle mod here. I could also nuke em down over a very long time.

Please let me know if I think wrong here, especially if I am 'doubling up' on Barrier champions to no gain?

[Sergeant_Fett]

if a weapon already takes care of a specific champion, dont use a mod that does the same thing. its redundant. overload champions are pretty annoying if youre not using a mod to take care of them. this season its mostly bows. use the corresponding mod to take down champions

[N33MA]

There is no gain from champ mods on guns with champ functionality already built in. Either it can interact with the champion mechanics or it can't. It doesn't getting better once it can, and it doesn't get worse once it can't.

That being said, perks like armor piercing rounds or adaptive munitions do effect shield damage to barrier champions. Sweet Business's armor piercing rounds ordinarily can't effect champion shields, but once the mod is applied to give it that functionality it will do increased damage due to AP rounds.

As for other champions, you can ignore their mechanics if you can burst them down faster than they can be a problem. This is basically impossible once you get to higher difficulties, but on lower difficulties it's not too difficult. This also applies to all champions, barriers included. However, I personally would recommends just using the mods to interact with them since it makes them a lot easier to take down.

[Frietbal]

My intelligence is very low. Can I summarize it like this: if I am using Sweet Business AR, which has the armor piercing rounds, I no longer need the Anti-Barrier AR perk when I want to take on Barrier Champions. All other champions still remain a problem in their own way.

Yes/No?

[EckyThump]

Originally posted by Frietbal:

My intelligence is very low. Can I summarize it like this: if I am using Sweet Business AR, which has the armor piercing rounds, I no longer need the Anti-Barrier AR perk when I want to take on Barrier Champions. All other champions still remain a problem in their own way.

Yes/No?

No.

'Anti-Barrier' is a specific weapon property, and the shields that Barrier Champions create can only be breached by a weapon that specifically has that 'Anti-Barrier' capability, which will include the keyword 'Pierce' and 'Strong against Barrier Champions'.

No other weapon perk can breach a Barrier Champion's shield. Not even things that describe themselves as being effective against 'shields', like Armor-Piercing Rounds. These refer only to 'normal' Solar, Void or Arc shields that many enemies have. Sweet Business can NOT break a Barrier Champion's shield on its own.

If you want an AR to be able to pierce through a Barrier Champion's shield, it must either specifically have an inbuilt Anti-Barrier effect (no AR currently does, but compare weapons like Arbalest and Wish-Ender, that do). Or you have to use an AR Anti-Barrier mod to grant it that ability.