Puncture vs. Impact vs. Slash

[Hadley333]

Some weapons are split down the middle for what they provide for damage. For example: Burston is 10 in each category.

I"m learning that each faction has a weakness to damage type. What would be the advantage of having a weapon that's split on all types? Woudln't it be best to have weapons that specialize heavily in each category so that it's more effective when fighting such factions?

[Brain Dead]

Weapons like that let you make three different builds to focus on damage types rather than needing three different weapons. It helps if you can get used to one weapon and still get to use it when you need a different type of damage depending on the faction.

[Hadley333]

Originally posted by Brain Dead:

Weapons like that let you make three different builds to focus on damage types rather than needing three different weapons. It helps if you can get used to one weapon and still get to use it when you need a different type of damage depending on the faction.

Ah, so you could add mods that say things like, "5% puncture."?

[Brain Dead]

Originally posted by Connor333:

Originally posted by Brain Dead:

Weapons like that let you make three different builds to focus on damage types rather than needing three different weapons. It helps if you can get used to one weapon and still get to use it when you need a different type of damage depending on the faction.

Ah, so you could add mods that say things like, "5% puncture."?

5% is pathetic, but yeah that's right. I mainly use the regular braton on my new account, changing up the mod build allows me to not have to switch it out. Trying to get to MR 8 so that I can use the prime.

[Walrus-Sama]

Only Physical damage type worth a damn is Slash. Impact and Puncture are trash.

[Brain Dead]

Originally posted by Walrus-Sama:

Only Physical damage type worth a damn is Slash. Impact and Puncture are trash.

Impact works well against armour. True slash will kill enemies faster in most cases but there are pleanty of enemies who will take reduced damage from it.

[GrimSentinel]

Originally posted by Brain Dead:

Originally posted by Walrus-Sama:

Only Physical damage type worth a damn is Slash. Impact and Puncture are trash.

Impact works well against armour. True slash will kill enemies faster in most cases but there are pleanty of enemies who will take reduced damage from it.

Impact works best against shields. Puncture works better against armor.

[R8 Me M8 8/8]

Yeah though I put most of my mods towards puncture on my bows, cause at a certain point it doesn’t matter, you’ll skewer 5 in a row sometimes and it’s funny as heck.

[Brain Dead]

Originally posted by GrimSentinel:

Originally posted by Brain Dead:

Impact works well against armour. True slash will kill enemies faster in most cases but there are pleanty of enemies who will take reduced damage from it.

Impact works best against shields. Puncture works better against armor.

Okay, got those two mixed up. I haven't actually thought about it in a while. I just know which build to select based on the faction, i rarely look at it unless I need to forma my weapon or fuse mods.

[Poppi !!]

I thought that this was the principle idea behind having 3 seperate mod configurations with each weapon, no ? Simply selecting the proper config for the occasion ~ been working well for me so far.

[Hadley333]

Originally posted by _StanleyTweedle_:

I thought that this was the principle idea behind having 3 seperate mod configurations with each weapon, no ? Simply selecting the proper config for the occasion ~ been working well for me so far.

That was my plan, and realized I have lots of grinding to do lol

[Ivara Ara]

Slash is superior no matter how you look at it sadly, because that armor ignoring slash proc is just godly.

[Poppi !!]

Originally posted by Connor333:

Originally posted by _StanleyTweedle_:

I thought that this was the principle idea behind having 3 seperate mod configurations with each weapon, no ? Simply selecting the proper config for the occasion ~ been working well for me so far.

That was my plan, and realized I have lots of grinding to do lol

Hell man, same here !
I have to admit though, I feel I've been quite lucky with good mod drops and materials for my first run.

[JKGames]

It gives the weapons base damages no real weaknesses or strengths vs. the different factions.

However, in the majority of cases, you do not actually build around the Physical damage of a weapon. In theory you could use physical damage mods to boost potential status procs for one Physical Damage type, however since the Impact and Puncture procs are weak right now, this is only done on Slash. With Slash its only done occasionally since Physical Damage already has a 4x greater chance to proc than Elemental Damage of the same strength, and since Slash procs are not based on the amount of Slash damage present on the weapon, adding more Slash mods is typically not needed.

Ignoring the status effects for a moment, in the majority of cases you are better served by using elemental damage since its overall more effective and more effectively built for. For example, if you were using a pure crit weapon with little to no status chance, having Slash vs. the Grineer would be a disadvantage, however since you are likely relying on Radiation damage to carry the weapon, its not really a concern what the base damage type of the weapon is. Technically a Puncture based weapon would be ideal in that case, but it doesn't really make enough of a difference to matter.

[Xengre]

Originally posted by Brain Dead:

Originally posted by Walrus-Sama:

Only Physical damage type worth a damn is Slash. Impact and Puncture are trash.

Impact works well against armour. True slash will kill enemies faster in most cases but there are pleanty of enemies who will take reduced damage from it.

No. The entire point of slash is to bypass armor and shields dealing effectively true dmg. If you aren't going for slash procs (bypass massive armor, or bypass shields) or gas (to bypass shields) then you are going for any dmg IPS dmg it doesn't really matter much. Elementals can matter a lot more usually for CC and other effects. No one willingly opts for puncture or impact. Dmg types need a rework because impact/puncture are so undesirable. When looking for dmg types to increase % dmg you virtually never consider IPS because they are forced on the weapons and you choose the weapon for a reason. You can and do concern yourself with elements which are very maleable tho. Exceptions are when you are wanting to increase odds of procing slash.

[[R] Nerva]

It's sad to say, but of the physical damage types, only Slash is genuinely worthwhile as all three major factions technically have weaknesses to it. Slash Damage[warframe.wikia.com] is useful against enemies with Flesh, Cloned Flesh, Infested, Infested Flesh, and Fossilized health types. Its proc, Bleed, is a DoT that bypasses armor and shields, inflicting True damage. In addition, Slash procs can be stacked to increase their damage and duration, and since the damage they inflict is based on the total damage dealt to the target by the attack that procced them, it's more useful to have other non-IPS damage types that are effective against the faction you're shooting.

Impact Damage[warframe.wikia.com], by comparison, simply staggers enemies with its proc, which is one of the weakest forms of crowd-control proc in the game. Of health types that it's effective against, only Machinery (rollers), Shields and Proto Shields actually take bonus damage from Impact, while Flesh and Cloned Flesh resist it.

Puncture Damage[warframe.wikia.com] is only slightly better. Its proc, Weakened, simply reduces enemy damage, and cannot stack. Against health and armor, It's effective against Ferrite and Alloy armor, as well as Robotic and Sinew health, giving it wide applicability against Grineer and Corpus so long as you're not running a Sharpened Claws Kavat or a Corrosive-proccing status weapon. Shields and Proto Shields, however, firmly reduce Puncture damage until they're depleted.