High impact scouts are one of my favorite weapon types in the game. They are very rewarding weapons, but are particularly challenging to use compared to other weapon types. The Badger CCL is a personal favorite of mine. But lately I've been noticing a small issue with this archetype (perhaps somewhat magnified by the recent Iron Banner). Though they have a very respectable, optimal time-to-kill (0.8 seconds with 3 headshots), they suffer greatly in non-optimal conditions. When someone is blinking or skating or even just hopping around, especially at the shorter ranges present on the vast majority of Crucible maps, it becomes extremely difficult to land headshots, and their time-to-kill can literally double (1.6 seconds with 5 body shots, with an additional 0.4 seconds with every missed shot). Not only is that the largest gap between the most and least optimal TTKs among primary weapons, it’s also the slowest of all primaries when headshots aren’t possible (like when someone is jumping away from you with their back turned). I think that’s a bit unfair, considering how unruly and difficult they are to use at shorter ranges, how little they flinch your target compared to auto rifles and pulse rifles, and how punishing it is to miss a shot due to the slow fire rate. [b]So I propose that they receive a 2% damage increase.[/b] Now to understand the practical effect of this change, we have to look at the damage numbers. This archetype of scout rifle deals [b]49 bodyshot damage and 73 headshot damage[/b] in the crucible. Three headshots in a row are guaranteed to kill anyone. However, some players may be killed by one body shot and two headshots, but only if they have low to medium armor. This also means that all players will be killed by five bodyshots, but some may be killed by four, again, if they have low or medium armor. And as we all know, a significant majority of players in the Crucible play with the highest armor setting they can get. Normally, I wouldn’t have a problem with the armor stat having an actual effect on players’ survivability. After all, it’s there for a reason. But when the rate of fire of your weapon is this slow, having to fire a whole extra shot to achieve a kill is very punishing. In that window of time, an enemy player can finish spraying you down with a high RoF auto or pulse rifle, toss a grenade, or simply jump or run away. With the speed at which high level play takes place, no weapon type has any business being this slow to kill. So a 2% damage increase would accomplish two things. First, the [b]bodyshot damage would increase from 49 to roughly 50[/b] (it’s worth noting that the current damage is probably not exactly 49 anyway, as displayed damage values are rounded to whole numbers). This would allow high impact scouts to kill almost anyone with four body shots, making their absolute slowest time to kill 1.2 seconds against most players. The only players that would be able to survive this would be max-armor Strikers and Ramlocks (which, as much as I don’t like it, is probably fair since they do have to spec for that level of armor). It would also increase their [b]headshot damage from 73 to 75[/b], allowing them to kill almost anyone (again, the two previously mentioned builds excluded) with one bodyshot and two headshots. But it’s worth noting that their fastest possible TTK would remain the same, as they will still require three shots to kill. Then, to prevent these weapons from becoming too easy to use, [b]their aim assist values would have to cap out at around 40[/b] (This would actually only affect two weapons, The Jade Rabbit and Hand of Judgement. The rest are already below 40). And hidden hand could also be removed from their perk pool for good measure. Overall these changes would make this archetype of weapon more viable and less punishing to use in the fast paced, highly mobile, high-armor focused environment that exists in the Crucible, but keep their skill requirement relatively high due to the nature of the archetype.