Plasma's Evasion penalty

[Nemarus]

So I was looking at Plasma Railgun again, trying to find some silver lining.

 

I think the most interesting thing I see about its right-side Tier 4 upgrade: Target's Evasion is reduced by 10% while damage over time is active.

 

So the question I pose is this: might there be any value in taking your first shot with Plasma before switching to Slug?

 

Of course, Slug gets an inherent +3% Accuracy over Plasma, plus a 5% refund on tracking penalty (I think--the language is unclear).

 

So is it better to fire two Slugs, or Plasma then Slug? Let's assume you're shooting at a target who has Running Interference equipped. For your first shot, the target is unaware of you--they do not have RI active, and you are able to center them reliably (avoiding Tracking Penalty). In general (especially with Wingman), you should be able to reliably land this shot.

 

But after the first shot, the target activates Running Interference, so you'll have to hit through an additional 15% Evasion.

 

If you're just using two slugs, you'll hit the first attack. Then for the second, you're dealing with 12% more Evasion (RI Evasion - Slug bonus accuracy).

 

If you hit with Plasma first, then for your followup Slug shot, you're dealing with 5% more Evasion (RI Evasion - Plasma debuff).

 

For a single Dustmaker, I think this might be worth doing--at least in those cases where your first shot is going to be a reliable hit. But if your target is already janking and using RI, then you're almost certainly better off using Slugs exclusively, since you want any hit to really hurt.

 

Another interesting thing to consider--fully upgraded, the damage over time of a Plasma Railgun is 7 seconds--as far as I can tell, the duration of the DoT (and debuffs) is not dependent on charge.

 

This means that you could "love tap" someone with Plasma for just 25% charge, at which point they are getting -10% Evasion for 7 seconds (and taking 225 immediate + damage over time).

 

This wouldn't make sense as a solo Gunship pilot, but if you have an entire team focusing an Evasive target, it might be worth it for one Gunship on the team to spam Plasma taps, as that Evasion penalty benefits the whole team.

[lwiggles]

Another present for Draks bday here then :-D

[lwiggles]

Another present for Draks bday here then :-D

[tunewalker]

To be honest I think the main reason people dont use Plasma is its accuracy vs the other rail guns.

 

If it DID have that better accuracy, or the ability for 100% armor Pen while debuffed or maybe even greater Evasion debuff, it might be used, but Honestly this is another one of those moments to be filed under... GSF needs a balance pass for some ships and components.

[lwiggles]

Another present for Draks bday here then :-D

[Verain]

So the question I pose is this: might there be any value in taking your first shot with Plasma before switching to Slug?

 

Short answer: No.

 

Longer answer: Very rarely.

 

Of course, Slug gets an inherent +3% Accuracy over Plasma, plus a 5% refund on tracking penalty (I think--the language is unclear).

 

Correct. For dead center shots, slug is 3% more accurate. For almost all shots, including ones that mostly look dead center, slug is 8% more accurate. The tracking penalty is -5% per degree, and one degree is not a lot.

 

 

So is it better to fire two Slugs, or Plasma then Slug?

 

Your example is one where the answer will probably favor the plasma first. The other more common ones:

1)- You have wingman and it is about to expire.

2)- Your target is being shot at by several allies, and they have some evasion to begin with.

3)- Your target will put up disto and you definitely need to take the two shots now (aka, he probably won't peel)

 

The case where you are up against an enemy scout at full health and hull is a harder one. In practice, it's better to just shoot the slug, because it will deal some hull damage, and is much more likely to connect (8% is huge, as it can often change a 60% hit rate to 68%, increasing damage by 13%, and gets even larger when looking at lower hit percents). But, if you are pretty sure you'll get two shots against a scout, the plasma can be beneficial- the full plasma will deal more raw damage than the slug if it connects, and the lethal slug round is a lot more likely to connect. Further more, if you miss with the plasma, you can change tactics. It's like picking a crit talent instead of a smooth damage talent.

 

 

Another interesting thing to consider--fully upgraded, the damage over time of a Plasma Railgun is 7 seconds--as far as I can tell, the duration of the DoT (and debuffs) is not dependent on charge.

 

Correct, but the dot magnitude sure is.

 

This means that you could "love tap" someone with Plasma for just 25% charge, at which point they are getting -10% Evasion for 7 seconds (and taking 225 immediate + damage over time).

 

It's not a "love tap". That was actually viable-ish, back before they took those out. A 25% plasma still hits moderately hard, takes some charge up, and costs some energy. The old love taps were pretty much instant.

 

But you are correct that you can "fish" for a hit. The problem there is that you are still sitting there punching into the air, very much signaling your intentions.

 

This wouldn't make sense as a solo Gunship pilot, but if you have an entire team focusing an Evasive target, it might be worth it for one Gunship on the team to spam Plasma taps, as that Evasion penalty benefits the whole team.

 

It doesn't take many opponents on someone to make plasma deliver some great average damage to them. I seem to recall that if even a single scout was on someone for just a fraction of that time, the average damage was better with plasma than slug. The problem is that three allies shooting at someone could easily be three allies not able to bring reticule to target. It's about effective allies on the target, I think.

 

 

 

The two big problems:

 

1- It is just ludicrously impossible it is to hit a good scout with it. Scouts are very hard to hit with slug, and plasma is a lot worse. Other targets don't get hurt by the evasion debuff as much, either. On top of that, the assumption about it being better actually means that one of your allies has to be taking shots within that 6 second window- it's not a massive window like the thermite.

2- It is very easy for an opponent to just opt out of it. If he sees it happen, he can turn a healthy shield arc towards you and fly evasively and he'll pretty much be done with it.

 

 

 

I think if the battles were larger, you could definitely justify a plasma gunner. If the plasma had that hit talent, this would be a lot more defensible, because the rare cases would actually not be so rare at all.

 

 

 

Still, it's worth considering. Your best bet there would be either a type 1 that plans to run both debuff railguns in coordination with a type 1 or type 3 running slug, or a type 1 running plasma into slug. I just dislike how little length you get of the debuff, and how 10% evasion reduction, while large, isn't the same sort of shutdown that thermite manages.

Edited April 30, 2015 by Verain