So what’s the point in Destiny 2 of destroying a solar shield with a solar weapon – if you rely on matching elemental damage?
If you now destroy a solar shield with a solar weapon, that shield explodes and deals additional damage to the shield holder and nearby enemies:
Matching elements have no further advantages.
What do you think about these findings? Many users in the comments under Datto’s video are dissatisfied with how elemental damages are currently behaving. The fact that matching elements now hardly have any utility would take the difficulty and strategy out of PvE.
And the sniper that belongs to the PlayStation timed-exclusive content, also makes little sense …
What advantage do kinetic weapons have over energy weapons and what does elemental damage actually do in Destiny 2 ?
All information about the weapons can be found in our weapon guide for Destiny 2.
Most of you will now know the new weapon system of Destiny 2. Instead of primary weapons, secondary weapons, and heavy weapons, there will be these weapon slots:
- Kinetic weapons: This slot contains the weapon types auto rifle, pulse rifle, scout rifle, hand cannon, pistol, and submachine gun. They all deal kinetic damage.
- Energy weapons: Here you find the same weapon types as in the kinetic slot – however, they deal elemental damage (Solar, Arc, Void).
- Power weapons: These are all weapons that can eliminate opposing guardians in the Crucible with just one shot – like rocket launchers, snipers, or shotguns.
Kinetic weapons deal more damage than energy weapons
Although the beta of Destiny 2 has now been over for a few weeks, the Destiny expert Datto now provides new insights he gathered during this testing phase.
Some guardians have already wondered why one should prefer a kinetic weapon over an energy weapon in battle – after all, the energy weapon provides additional elemental damage.
The answer: Kinetic weapons deal more damage than energy weapons of the same archetype. Datto compared submachine guns:
The first two weapons are legendary SMGs in the energy slot. The bars for impact are equal in length; they both deal the same amount of damage (51 damage on body shots, 132 damage on crits).
The bottom SMG (Showrunner) is in the kinetic slot. The impact bar is equal in length to that of the upper two energy SMGs, but the weapon deals 57 damage and 146 crit damage – so a few more damage points, even though the bar in the game is displayed as equal in length.
The Riskrunner is an exotic SMG in the energy slot. It has a somewhat longer impact bar than the other SMGs and therefore deals more damage than the other energy SMGs. The damage of the kinetic weapon is actually slightly higher than that of the Riskrunner, even though this has a longer impact bar in the game.
Conclusion: Kinetic weapons deal more damage than energy weapons of the same type with equal length damage bars. The other weapon types, like pulse rifles that Datto tested, behaved the same in the beta. How the exact numbers will look at the launch of Destiny 2 remains to be seen.
By the way: The crit damage on the upper SMGs is about 2.6 times greater than the standard damage. Only for the Riskrunner is the multiplier 2.2 – probably because the weapon is exotic. All these numbers refer to PvE.
What benefit does elemental damage have in energy weapons?
In PvP energy weapons are useful for quickly eliminating enemy guardians from their active super. They deal more damage when the opponent has an active super. The respective elemental damages don’t need to match. Every energy weapon with any elemental damage outputs the same increased damage against any super.
In PvE it’s surprisingly the same: Every energy weapon deals the same damage against every enemy shield. For example, if a Cabal Centurion with solar shield approaches you, it doesn’t matter whether you shoot at him with a solar, arc, or void weapon – all energy weapons deal increased damage, regardless of the element.
In Destiny 1, however, it is necessary to use a solar weapon against a solar shield to deal increased damage.
So what’s the point in Destiny 2 of destroying a solar shield with a solar weapon – if you rely on matching elemental damage?
If you now destroy a solar shield with a solar weapon, that shield explodes and deals additional damage to the shield holder and nearby enemies:
Matching elements have no further advantages.
What do you think about these findings? Many users in the comments under Datto’s video are dissatisfied with how elemental damages are currently behaving. The fact that matching elements now hardly have any utility would take the difficulty and strategy out of PvE.
And the sniper that belongs to the PlayStation timed-exclusive content, also makes little sense …
