Am I missing something with plasma/shock? They don't seem worth using

[Matthew Cox]

Hi all.

Beat the game once so far on normal and I have 3 other builds into the Praetor/Cloister phase. Currently playing a VH attempt, which is on Dorado.

Anyway, so i've run several characters, at least one of which had maxxed out science skill. And by and large, because every mod (plasma, shock, corrosive, etc) lowers damage by so much it feels like I am better off not bothering to use any of them.

Plasma has a DoT, okay but the target dies to normal damage so fast the dot doesn't matter.

Shock can stun, sure, but the target dies to normal damage fast enough where a stun doesn't really matter in  most cases except for a handful of very tough mobs.

I have not tried to use explosive.

Corrosive I tinkered with a little, not as a mod rather the burst goo pistol on the first planet which did seem to work really well on Montelli.

But yeah, regarding shock and plasma... am I doing something wrong or is there really just not a reason to use them? In both cases they feel like an overall downgrade.

[Matthew Cox]

Update. So i tried another new playthrough going heavy science off the start and taking perks to boost plasma and shock weapons.

It feels completely underwhelming. Takes longer to kill things than my gunslinger build did with basic damage type.

Plasma's DOT effect is pathetically small. You will always kill mobs with direct damage before the dot does anything worth mentioning.

Shock's stun is okay on unusually tough mobs, but 90% of the enemies will be dead before the shock meter even reaches max (WITH electro therapist perk).

 

Overall, the fact that converting a weapon damage from basic to some sort of elemental applies a big damage reduction makes them totally not worth using. Even with the perks for those elemental types, the net effect is still weaker than basic damage.

Edited January 12 by Matthew Cox
typo fix