Laser vs Plasma

[Bradical Terrorist]

Which one is better, and do the two damage values on plasma weaponry stack?

[Sir MacNaught]

Plasma hits like a truck strapped with TNT. Plasma also benefits from multiple damage Legendary effects, like everything else. Plasma sniper with rifleman perk is very powerful. The only thing is the ammo is both expensive, and hard to find.

[Bradical Terrorist]

Originally posted by x_Demonic_z:

Plasma hits like a truck strapped with TNT. Plasma also benefits from multiple damage Legendary effects, like everything else. Plasma sniper with rifleman perk is very powerful. The only thing is the ammo is both expensive, and hard to find.

Does the damage stack? I have mine to where it does around 80 in both energy and ballistic, if it stacks it is better than my laser rifle which does 100, if it doesn't stack than it is worse

[Sir MacNaught]

Originally posted by The Bradass Mofo:

Originally posted by x_Demonic_z:

Plasma hits like a truck strapped with TNT. Plasma also benefits from multiple damage Legendary effects, like everything else. Plasma sniper with rifleman perk is very powerful. The only thing is the ammo is both expensive, and hard to find.

Does the damage stack? I have mine to where it does around 80 in both energy and ballistic, if it stacks it is better than my laser rifle which does 100, if it doesn't stack than it is worse

Yes, but that also means that the weapon goes through 2 different resistances. So say an enemy is heavily resistant to ballistic, but not energy, it'll go through both resistance checks which could result in less damage overall.

[Caedo]

Originally posted by The Bradass Mofo:

Originally posted by x_Demonic_z:

Plasma hits like a truck strapped with TNT. Plasma also benefits from multiple damage Legendary effects, like everything else. Plasma sniper with rifleman perk is very powerful. The only thing is the ammo is both expensive, and hard to find.

Does the damage stack? I have mine to where it does around 80 in both energy and ballistic, if it stacks it is better than my laser rifle which does 100, if it doesn't stack than it is worse

Fallout wiki says it does both. Take that as you will though, being a wiki. I can tell you that plasma seems to do a ton more damage when I use it, since simple things like leather can reduce your laser damage.

[ghpstage]

Energy damage is double bugged, suffering a much heavier penalty agianst enemy DR while not getting the rifleman DR penetration benefit. As a result the laser gun massively underperforms when compared against ballistics with comparable damage.
Plasma escapes a lot of this by doing both energy and ballistic, and yes they are additive.

Plasma also gets access to the flamer mod, which just eats everything at close range.
Plasma does have the disadvantage however of having slow moving projectiles (bullets and lasers are isntant!), which is awkward for pure sniping and makes VATS more significant.

[Bradical Terrorist]

Alright, I might hold off on using it because I dont have much ammo for it, but I will most likely use it in the future.

[Sir MacNaught]

Originally posted by The Bradass Mofo:

Alright, I might hold off on using it because I dont have much ammo for it, but I will most likely use it in the future.

Buy it any time you see it. Its sooo rare to find otherwise. The ammo crafting mods also make it easier to obtain.

[Bradical Terrorist]

Originally posted by x_Demonic_z:

Originally posted by The Bradass Mofo:

Alright, I might hold off on using it because I dont have much ammo for it, but I will most likely use it in the future.

Buy it any time you see it. Its sooo rare to find otherwise. The ammo crafting mods also make it easier to obtain.

Yeah, I was in diamond city and arturo was selling a plasma rifle and Gauss cannon at the same time, and I had never seen either. I spent all my caps on those two guns and ammo.

[ghpstage]

Scrounger apparently now works to give you more plasma and 2mm EC rounds in loot.

[Sir MacNaught]

Originally posted by ghpstage:

Scrounger apparently now works to give you more plasma and 2mm EC rounds in loot.

If only it worked when i was doing my main playthrough. I dont even play the game anymore.

[Orno]

Found a plasma rifle that had the Explosive legendary effect. Great Damage, but does not group very well, so not so good in areas where friendly fire could cause issues.

For comparison, I made a Institute Rifle with Explosive. I was much happier with the shot groupings, and it also holds more ammo @ 80 per clip vs 24/25 (?) of plasma. Still need to be wary when friendlies are in the target area though.

[Bradical Terrorist]

I've started using my decked out plasma rifle, but the travel time on the round is starting to get annoying.

[Bradical Terrorist]

Does the sniper barrel increase the velocity?

[Orno]

Originally posted by The Bradass Mofo:

Does the sniper barrel increase the velocity?

Not that I have seen, just effective range.

[Astasia]

Plasma weapons are garbage at long range. Close range they work well with VATs pistol builds, or with the flamer mod. Long range you will miss far more often than you hit.