DPS or Damage? Which is more important?

[jwolf1738]

So, I'm kinda struggling understanding which is best. So I got a power revolver with 580 DPS and 394-481 damage. And I got another gun with 578 DPS but with 401-432 damage. Which matters most, DPS or damage?

[Fake]

If you are going for 1 hit kills, higher dmg.

If you like spraying lead, DPS.

[Bogmore]

Damage for the single shot kill, DPS for wasting bullets or attacks. Also look out of extra damage in the form of stats like electrical damage or headshot multiplier.

Don't forget to upgrade your weapons too in the crafting option.

[Princess Pilfer]

Damage.
DPS lies to you. Enemies reduce damage taken per hit with their armor. Fewer bullets to do the same amount of 'on paper' DPS means their protection is less effective and so your actual DPS is much higher.

This is why automatic weapons aren't very good, and get increasinlgy not good as you level up

[jwolf1738]

Ok ok I see, thank you guys

[CoffeeBro]

Yeah, I tried different guns.
The way I play, high damage hand gun. Saves on bullets.
It would be interesting to know what others think. I have a high damage hand gun, blade and sniper rifle.
I find this combination very effective.

[Myth]

I nearly always favor burst damage over DPS. The fewer times I have to expose myself to pull the trigger the better. Even with melee weapons if you can kill with one or two strikes then fade to a new position it's far easier to survive than getting shot from other directions while hacking away at one enemy or leaving "almost dead" enemies in your wake that can heal and shoot you in the back.

The lone exception is for the situation where you are dumping as much ammo as possible into a hit point heavy bullet sponge boss character. You want to maximize your continuous DPS before having to avoid a special attack.

That's also why high base damage smart weapons become fantastic in the late game. Damage and DPS melt together because those damaging shots nearly all hit even when the enemy has no line of sight to you.

[/|l13n]

Originally posted by Fake:

If you are going for 1 hit kills, higher dmg.

If you like spraying lead, DPS.

exactly !

[Princess Pilfer]

I mean not exactly, it's...well technically true but very incomplete. As I explained.

If people want to use rapid-fire weapons they should use them, but they should also know what they're getting into, especially on higher difficulties. Rapid Fire weapons get *severe* damage falloff as you level and enemy defenses increase.
Because the defenses aren't reducing damage per second, they're reducing damage per hit.

Lets use an example. If you have a 500 DPS weapon that deals 20 damage 250 times in 1 second, and a 500 DPS weapon that deals 250 damage twice in 1 second.
Enemy defense is not % based, and it's per-hit. Which means that if they take off 10 damage per hit that 500 dps rapid fire weapon is only actually doing 250 dps. Meanwhile the 250 damage per hit weapon is doing 480 DPS.

And yes this does impact shotguns too, it's just that shotguns base/burst damage is so hilariously high that they can overcome this problem and 1shot whatever it was anyways. But weapons like SMGs and LMGs have their effectiveness fall off of a cliff at higher levels.

[CoffeeBro]

Originally posted by Princess Pilfer:

I mean not exactly, it's...well technically true but very incomplete. As I explained.

If people want to use rapid-fire weapons they should use them, but they should also know what they're getting into, especially on higher difficulties. Rapid Fire weapons get *severe* damage falloff as you level and enemy defenses increase.
Because the defenses aren't reducing damage per second, they're reducing damage per hit.

Lets use an example. If you have a 500 DPS weapon that deals 20 damage 250 times in 1 second, and a 500 DPS weapon that deals 250 damage twice in 1 second.
Enemy defense is not % based, and it's per-hit. Which means that if they take off 10 damage per hit that 500 dps rapid fire weapon is only actually doing 250 dps. Meanwhile the 250 damage per hit weapon is doing 480 DPS.

And yes this does impact shotguns too, it's just that shotguns base/burst damage is so hilariously high that they can overcome this problem and 1shot whatever it was anyways. But weapons like SMGs and LMGs have their effectiveness fall off of a cliff at higher levels.

WOW! explains so much. Thank you.

[I-NOCHT]

DPS is a stat that doesn't really apply to single player rpgs. Its a term brought over from mmorpgs where you perform a rotation of damaging abilities in succession to do the most damage. In cyberpunk you very rarely will have that much up time on a target.

[Sentient_Toaster]

On a related note, if you want a high-damage handcannon, look for RT-46 Buryas, heh. Four-shot tech revolver (does not charge, though; fires immediately). No muzzle or sight mods possible, but hits *hard* for a handgun.

[Crom]

Well dps is damage per second.

Damage is damage per hit.

So, choose what is the most fun for you.

You like dps? Get dps.

You like damage per hit? Thake that.

Choose fun. Game is about fun.

[Princess Pilfer]

I mean personally I don't find killing level 30 enemies in 8 seconds when I could have killed them in 1 by using a weapon type that doesn't suck fun.

If you wanna use 'DPS' weapons that fire quickly (or shotguns, for the same reason, though they need it less bad) I recommend doing so with a Cyberdeck. Legendary Short Circuit will 1shot most things and heavily favors multi projectile and/or rapid fire weapons, where it's unreliability (you're only gonna have like a 30% crit change tops) means it's not great for like snipers or revolvers or power-precision rifles.

[Doombringer]

If using legendary static charge you want a weapon that fires as fast as possible and the weapon damage isn't terribly important. Crit hit chance matters though.

With the Cold Blood 20 perk pumped and the Int 16 quickhacks can crit perk, all your crits 1 shot everything... and you can get 100% crit chance with cold blood active.
(I think you can have ~60% crit chance without cold blood.)

So with that build: rate of fire, crit stats, and bullets going where you want them to matters; weapon damage is whatever.

Also, you can do it with 3 Intelligence, but you need to be level 35+ to get legendary quickhacks from access points (many require level 40+ though), and the crits won't do nearly as much bonus damage.

[Trindalas]

I always value higher damage. I tend to use revolvers and snipers and katana.
(Specifically Archangel, Overwatch, and whichever named katana I happen to want to use at the time)
Occasionally I’ll use the big machine gun.

But since I tend to just do quickhacks from a distance more than anything I don’t use guns a lot. I like to hack cameras and just down everyone with hacks without them ever seeing me, lol. I am very late in the game though.