What does hitscan mean?

[(XBOX)LAZYNOOB2017]

Being a warframe player I hear the word "hitscan" pop up in a lot of conversations when talking about weapons like the Lex and the Seer. What does hitscan actually mean.

[lukinu_u]

An "hitscan" projectile is a projectile that instantly touch you target instead have velocity.

Edited October 25, 2016 by lukinu_u

[(PSN)joshw1400]

Just now, (XB1)LAZYNOOB2015 said:

Being a warframe player I hear the word "hitscan" pop up in a lot of conversations when talking about weapons like the Lex and the Seer. What does hitscan actually mean.

It means the weapon doesn't have travel time. Like how the lex automatically hits the target when shot. The seer has travel time and the bullet takes a second to get to the target.

[Imaru]

Hitscan means that there is no travel time on the weapon in question. As soon as you pull the trigger the bullet/dart/projectile has reached its destination.

I think the way it works mechanically is that it draws a line from the center of the reticle on screen and puts the bullet at the end of that line.

[Haldos]

What "Hit scan" means is that the game determines a hit or miss depending on whether or not your cursor is over the hit box when you shoot. There is no physical bullet being shot, such as with projectile weapons, so it's simply goes off of whether you had your aiming cursor on point or not.

[DeMonkey]

2 minutes ago, Imaru said:

I think the way it works mechanically is that it draws a line from the center of the reticle on screen and puts the bullet at the end of that line.

Adding to this, this means that the bullet does not come from your gun. This allows you to sit behind a corner and shoot 'through'' the wall as long as your reticle is around the corner.

[Imaru]

Just now, DeMonkey said:

Adding to this, this means that the bullet does not come from your gun. This allows you to sit behind a corner and shoot 'through'' the wall as long as your reticle is around the corner.

A quirk of the third person view! *Throws confetti*

[DeMonkey]

Just now, Imaru said:

A quirk of the third person view! *Throws confetti*

I rebound the switch shoulder key to 'Q' when I found out. Now I can approach every corner without fear of being shot by anything!

[rockscl]

it means you can shot around the corner without showing yourself

[dstrawberrygirl]

1 minute ago, DeMonkey said:

Adding to this, this means that the bullet does not come from your gun. This allows you to sit behind a corner and shoot 'through'' the wall as long as your reticle is around the corner.

Good old Right Hand Advantage (or Left if you switch shoulders) - can keep you alive while technically still in cover, killing the masses safely.

[Xekrin]

The main issue with hitscan is that you cannot tell at all in-game which weapon is hitscan and which are not.  You'll have to test or check the wiki on any weapon you want to know is hitscan.

Unless I am missing something on the UI/stats window.

[(XBOX)LAZYNOOB2017]

Thank you all.