Are low-slot weapons a trap?

[Nephi]

I've heard that low slot weapons - 2 slots are really good but I've noticed they have two big problems.

1) Hit variance. With only 2 slots you are punished hard for missing one. With 90% roll acc, you have an 18% chance to hit for half damage, which if the enemy has armor means that you are basically hitting for nothing. A 4 slot weapon might not hit perfect (only 65.6%), but often has more base damage and rolling half is much less likely - only a 4.5% chance.

You can't plan around RNG with this variance either.

2) Shock. One ruined roll on a 2 slot means you're hitting for 50% max (and a 10% chance to just miss entirely). A ruined roll on a 4 slot weapon still has a good chance (72%) to hit for 75% damage.

Considering high-slot weapons often have much higher damage, it feels like low slot weapons are a trap. At best they encourage wasting focus.

[ajfusch]

It's easier to hit enemies who can only be hit by perfect attacks AT ALL. With 5 slots that's near impossible without focus and even with focus it's a risky gamble.

Also, there's the chance of crit damage - only on perfect hits.

And if you want an effect you'll only get with a perfect hit it's quite tricky with 4 or 5 slots as well.

So I usually avoid anything above 3 slots if possible and prefer 2 slots. Better weapons later on rarely have 2 slots though, but they're usually great for early game.

Shock: I f you use a single focus point you can counteract it, no matter how many slots you have. Instead of a sure fail you have a sure hit on that first slot.

Trap to avoid: glass etc weapons - the ones with only 1 slot, breakable and not to be used with focus. They'll break after just a few fights which does not make up for the big damage they make.

[BlueLightning]

Lower slot weapon actually better, lot of weapons require you to perfect hit to draw it's power, such as burn, frost, pierce, shock, wet which is important imo. Shocked enemies are much weaker and they will not use focus, so it won't be perfect hit and you won't getting the status from their attack or even their attack will entirely fail as they get shocked.

Higher slot chances to get them are way lower and are focus burner. I usually keep my weapon slot at 2-3 and i really avoid 5. While higher slot are more devastating in overall damage, lower slot really helps when your target are evasive, or you wanna put status effect.

Hail low slots.

[Bullett00th]

Risk-reward.

Less rolls => higher perfect hit chance => less wasted focus
But yes as you said it's compromised easier by debuffs if you don't have the focus to mitigate them.

Some weapons also compensate easier rolls by dealing less damage, but offering a speed buff.

You can make almost any setup work as long as it's cohesive and plays well with the rest of the party