Elite Dangerous Indepth weapons guide

A guide that deeper explains and focuses into what weaponry really is, and which weapons there are currently in-game and what each one does what in the game...

What is a Hardpoint?

A Hardpoint is a mounting position on a starship, where ship weapons are placed with the intention of being deployed only when in use. Hardpoints are usually manually-deployed from within the ship's hull when needed, but some automatically deploy when in normal space. Hardpoints for weapons come in multiple sizes: Small, Medium, Large, and Huge, with the corresponding classes of 1 through 4.
Some things to note

• Deployed hardpoints will prevent a ship from charging up their FSD.
  
• A hardpoint may accept any weapon of equal or lower class.
  
• The amount of hardpoints on a ship cannot be changed through any means of engineering, modifications, or outfitting.
  
• The size of hardpoints cannot be changed by anything in outfitting, engineering, or modifications either.

Weapons

Each ship can equip a variety of energy, projectile and missile based weapons. Most weapons are available in either fixed, gimbal, or turret variants. Weapons are organized into classes ranging from 1 to 4 indicating their relative size (the higher the number the bigger the hardpoint must be to equip the weapon). Only the Cannon, Multi-Cannon, Pulse and Beam Laser, and Plasma Accelerator have class 4 variants whereas most other weapons have class 3 as their largest variant. In the outfitting store fixed weapons are indicated with a crosshair icon, gimbal weapons with a gyroscope icon, and turret weapons with a small turret icon.

Things to Remember

• Weapon damage is divided into four categories: Thermal, Kinetic, Thermal Kinetic, and Explosive.

Weapon Mounts

Regardless of type, all weapons are placed in different mounts which determine how they aim at targets:

Fixed

Fixed weapons are rather powerful, but have very little tracking ability - they shoot straight ahead, and can only do minor tracking when the target is within the weapon's crosshairs. Because of this, fixed weapons depend heavily on your ship's manoeuvrability; however, they are cheap, use little power, are not affected by chaff and every weapon is available in a fixed mount.

The following weapons have fixed variants:

• Beam Laser
  
• Pulse Laser
  
• Burst Laser
  
• Cannon
  
• Multi-cannon
  
• Railgun
  
• Plasma Accelerator
  
• Missile Rack
  
• Torpedo Pylon
  
• Fragment Cannon

Gimbal

Gimbal means that the weapon is hung in a rotating construction, so it can move independent of the ship's orientation. Gimbal-mounted weapons can keep track of a target even when you're not pointed directly at the target, allowing far more firepower to hit a target. In exchange, gimbal weapons are usually weaker than their fixed counterparts and are vulnerable to chaff as it disrupts the weapon's ability to track the target. Also keep in mind that tracking systems track heat; if a target is not generating sufficient heat, gimbals will not lock on and behave much like fixed weapons. For this reason, gimbals do not track disabled subsystems as well, even if the target as a whole is hot enough to track.

The following weapons have gimbal variants:

• Beam Laser
  
• Pulse Laser
  
• Burst Laser
  
• Cannon
  
• Fragment Cannon
  
• Multi-cannon

Turret

Turret in action 01
Turrets are fully independent auto-firing weapons that have a 360 degree range of fire. Standard turrets generally act autonomously.

Note: You can select one of three "Turret Weapon Modes" from the Functions tab of the Systems menu

Forward Fire - Your turrets will act as fixed weapons and will be shooting manually. Pull the trigger to fire. Hold down the trigger for continuous firing. This mode removes all the advantages that turrets have, as they will operate as a lower damage version of their fixed weapon counterpart, but prevents them from being affected by chaff.
Targeted Enemy - The turrets will automatically shoot at your manually locked target. The turrets start firing autonomously once you pull the trigger once. Works within a distance of 3km [citation needed].
Fire at Will - The turrets will fire automatically on any wanted target which is firing at you, once you pull the trigger. In this mode 2 turrets can focus on different targets at the same time. Since you cannot fire first at a target, even if the target interdicted you but did not shoot yet, this is rather a defensive setting.
The following weapons have turret variants:

• Beam Laser
  
• Pulse Laser
  
• Burst Laser
  
• Cannon
  
• Fragment Cannon
  
• Multi-cannon

Thermal weapons

These weapons use a charging capacitor and thus do not need ammo, but tend to drain weapon energy quickly and take time to recharge.


Thermal weapons are effective at stripping shields, but less effective at destroying hull.

Some examples of thermal weapons

• Beam Laser
  
• Pulse Laser
  
• Burst Laser
  
• CytoScrambler (Powerplay faction locked)
  
• Pulse Disruptor (Powerplay faction locked)
  
• Retributor (Powerplay faction locked)

Kinetic Weapons

Kinetic-based weapons require ammunition to fire but generate less heat and consume less power as a result. Ammunition can be replenished at most stations or outposts. Kinetic weapons are good against hull, but are not as useful against shields.
A Class 4 MultiCannon

Some examples of Kinetic Weapons

• Cannon
  
• Multi-cannon
  
• Fragment Cannon
  
• Enforcer Cannon (Powerplay faction locked)
  
• Pacifier Frag-Cannon (Powerplay faction locked)

Thermal Kinetic Weapons

Thermal-Kinetic Weapons require ammunition to fire, generate a large amount of heat, and consume a large amount of energy. However, they are equally effective against Shields and Hull.

A Class 1 Railgun

Examples of Thermal Kinetic Weapons

• Railgun
  
• Plasma Accelerator
  
• Imperial Hammer (Powerplay faction locked)
  
• Advanced Plasma Accelerator (Powerplay faction locked)
  
• Guardian Guass Cannon
  
• Guardian Shard Cannon
  
• Guardian Plasma Charger

Explosive Weapons

Explosive Weapons require ammunition to fire. Most explosive weapons can be fired with insufficient energy in the weapons capacitor, but do so at the cost of extreme heat generation that is quite capable of reaching critical heat levels that may cause heat damage to your own modules and/or hull. Explosive Weapons are extremely ineffective against shields, but do respectable damage to hull.
Class 1 missile Rack
Examples of explosive weapons

• Missile Rack
  
• Torpedo Pylon
  
• Mine Launcher
  
• Pack-hound Rack (Powerplay faction locked)
  
• Shock Mine Launcher

Defensive Weapons

Defensive weapons do not engage Enemy ships or vehicles. They solely fire at incoming explosive weapons. ( You can also use weapons as a defense to target incoming missiles and destroy them. )
A point Defense ( utility mount )

There is only 1 defensive weapon and is a utility mount

• Point Defence Turret

Mining Lasers

Mining lasers are a Thermal damage type weapon that while capable of inflicting damage against an Enemy, are ill-suited for use as a combat weapon. They are used to mine fragments from asteroids, and are mostly used in combat as a last resort.
A mining laser
Examples of mining lasers

• Mining Laser
  
• Mining Lance (Powerplay faction locked)

AX Weapons

Weapons loaded with a compound that damages alien vessels.
Types of AX weapons

• AX Mulitcannon
  
• AX Missile Rack
  
• Remote Flak Launcher

--------> AX Weapons only come in Fixed and Turrented Mount

An AX mulitcannon

Guardian and other Human Weapons

Guardian Weapons are human hybrid weapons, with guardian technology.
Effective against Human and Thargoid Vessels :D
Guardian Weapons can be unlocked with a Guardian Technology Broker

Types of Guardian Weapons so Far

• Guadian Shard Cannon
  
• Guardian Gauss Cannon
  
• Guardian Plasma Charger

Guardian Gauss Cannon



Remote Flecette Launcher, enzyme missile rack, etc. can be unlocked with a human technology broker.

Now......

After pretty much reading through this whole guide, i'm hoping that now you either make up your mind on which weapons to use or just have a good amount of knowledge! Also please be sure to rate this guide and if you have any questions, pls leave a comment down below :D
I am also in Cmdr Gluttony's Xeno hunting discord if you also want to check that out!

[nx3l]

very good, nice job

[michael-mcmahon]

Complete weapons breakdown. Need to know info.

[BrokenDiamond | THE PARODOX]

thanks so much for checking my guide out! Yep thanks for the lookout !

[All Thriller, No Philler]

This is great, I really appreciate this! Was wondering about the AX and Guardian weapons. Been a LONG time since I played!
Quick note: Search your guide for "turrented" just a little type but figured you might wanna clean it up

[BrokenDiamond | THE PARODOX]

Np Kipster! :D

[Kipster]

Very helpfu, thank you for preparing this guide.

[APFSDS-DU Round]

btw thermal kinetic weapons bypass all resistances, making them incredibly good for PvP

[BrokenDiamond | THE PARODOX]

Glad that you now know how turrents work cmdr!

[famalex]

well this is very helpful as i did not know how turrets worked... im new to this game ok

[BrokenDiamond | THE PARODOX]

Np, Safe travels cmdr!