It's not something I use a lot. Basically just using the forum as a scratch pad here...
From what I gather, Heavy Caliber increases the base damage in much the same way that Serration does, so the equation for the damage your weapon will actually do ends up looking like this:
Raw damage * (1 + Serration bonus + Heavy Cal bonus) * (1+ Elemental bonuses) * Multishot
That seems to bear out. If I take my Lanka, it has a raw damage of 300. With max Serration (+165%) it becomes 795 and with a rank 9 Heavy Caliber (+150% heh) it becomes 1245. Which is expected:
300 * (1 + 1.65 + 1.5)
300 * 4.15
1245
If I only use Serration and add an elemental mod for +90% damage, I should get
300 * (1 + 1.65) * (1+0.9)
300 * 2.65 * 1.9
1510.5
....Which checks out. Can we get 3 correct predictions in a row using Serration + Heavy Caliber + element?
300 * (1 + 1.65 + 1.5) * (1 + 0.9)
300 * 4.15 * 1.9
2365.5
Which also checks out! I understand it! So the next question is, is heavy caliber a better investment than adding an elemental mod instead (just looking at raw damage here, disregarding factors like "accuracy". Accuracy is for casuals). The most precious thing in modding is a slot, since sufficient forma can make any particular mod loadout achievable. So we are directly comparing one slot worth of Heavy Cal (max +165%) versus one slot of element (+90%). We don't know how much elemental load we would start with, we just know we would have 90% more of it when we're done. So basically we are asking,
After bashing on that for a bit, it turns out that X solves to 0.445. 44.5% bonus is nonsense, but there's several cards that give 60%. So, a max rank heavy caliber is more profitable to use in terms of raw damage than a 90% elemental mod, as long as you have at least one other elemental mod already on the weapon
UPDATE
It was requested that I plug a rank 8 heavy caliber into this equation and see what happens. Well, for a rank 8, X > 76%. So you would need to have at least one 90% element mod, or two 60% status/elemental mods, to make a rank 8 heavy caliber more profitable than another 90% elemental. Or so the math says. I don't have a rank 8 on hand to test this.
Question
[DE]Momaw
It's not something I use a lot. Basically just using the forum as a scratch pad here...
From what I gather, Heavy Caliber increases the base damage in much the same way that Serration does, so the equation for the damage your weapon will actually do ends up looking like this:
Raw damage * (1 + Serration bonus + Heavy Cal bonus) * (1+ Elemental bonuses) * Multishot
That seems to bear out. If I take my Lanka, it has a raw damage of 300. With max Serration (+165%) it becomes 795 and with a rank 9 Heavy Caliber (+150% heh) it becomes 1245. Which is expected:
300 * (1 + 1.65 + 1.5)
300 * 4.15
1245
If I only use Serration and add an elemental mod for +90% damage, I should get
300 * (1 + 1.65) * (1+0.9)
300 * 2.65 * 1.9
1510.5
....Which checks out. Can we get 3 correct predictions in a row using Serration + Heavy Caliber + element?
300 * (1 + 1.65 + 1.5) * (1 + 0.9)
300 * 4.15 * 1.9
2365.5
Which also checks out! I understand it! So the next question is, is heavy caliber a better investment than adding an elemental mod instead (just looking at raw damage here, disregarding factors like "accuracy". Accuracy is for casuals). The most precious thing in modding is a slot, since sufficient forma can make any particular mod loadout achievable. So we are directly comparing one slot worth of Heavy Cal (max +165%) versus one slot of element (+90%). We don't know how much elemental load we would start with, we just know we would have 90% more of it when we're done. So basically we are asking,
300 * (1 + 1.65 + 1.65) * (1 + x) > 300 + (1 + 1.65) * (1 + x + 0.9)
At what values of X does this become true?
After bashing on that for a bit, it turns out that X solves to 0.445. 44.5% bonus is nonsense, but there's several cards that give 60%. So, a max rank heavy caliber is more profitable to use in terms of raw damage than a 90% elemental mod, as long as you have at least one other elemental mod already on the weapon
UPDATE
It was requested that I plug a rank 8 heavy caliber into this equation and see what happens. Well, for a rank 8, X > 76%. So you would need to have at least one 90% element mod, or two 60% status/elemental mods, to make a rank 8 heavy caliber more profitable than another 90% elemental. Or so the math says. I don't have a rank 8 on hand to test this.
Edited by MomawLink to comment
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