Range For Primaries Analysis – The Heart of Destiny [b]The Charts: [/b][url]https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gsPxhEoAym33wA0BZEH0jKlTuSTDgaHKEo31KCXqSNo/edit?usp=sharing[/url] First off [b]I have made Charts showing all the primaries as well as sidearms damage drop-off curves. It includes high and low range stat models of each class and each with high or low zoom scopes.[/b] Go Look at them! In this post I will have a quick look at how damage fall-off works in Destiny and analyze each of the primaries range status including Sidearms using information and charts that I have recently produced. Recently I have been looking at Destiny’s range and made charts showing all of the weapons damage drop-off. From this I have confirmed the following: - Maximum range, the distance that the damage fall-off reaches its minimum value and stops reducing, as I had previously thought is unchanged by the weapons range value. No matter how high the range value on your weapon it will reach its lowest damage at the same distance as every other weapon in its class. - All is not lost for your max. range though; you can increase it with zoom. Zoom, whether real or artificial will increase your max range and can do so substantially. - Zoom is a huge part of range and will increase both your minimum and maximum range. Having a higher Range stat will increase the benefits that Zoom offers substantially. Knowing this and using the charts these are my analyses of the primary weapons, as per usual for me highest RoF to Lowest: [b]Auto rifles: [/b] Auto rifles see very little benefit from having high range unless you also run fairly high zoom optics. Their damage drop-off although starting super early has a very slow drop. This means you will lose very little damage even at quite far ranges. I would recommend not worrying too much about your range stat on these but do try to use a zoom increasing scope or perk when you can. Overall the number one thing for auto rifles is their recoil so look for ones with high stability and recoil direction. [i]As a quick note before we move on I’d like to talk about rangefinder. Rangefinder will artificially increase your zoom, which means you get the range benefits of the zoom without the visual effects. It does this in a multiplicative fashion which will offer you more benefit the higher base zoom your gun has.[/i] [b]Pulse Rifles:[/b] These weapons get quite a lot more from having a high range stat. Their range fall-off start used to be such that it was just high enough to where you did not often have to worry about it. Now it sits exactly at the typical medium range engagement distance. With a low range Pulse you will now see damage fall-off occur often but not as much on longer range ones. Before I would almost never recommend range on these and even now with the change I still would say stability is more important. This is because their max. range being so far out causes your damage to fall-off extremely slowly. As for Zoom, increasing it will remove just about all of your range worries, pushing your max range out to crazy distances and your min. out a ton. Overall pulse rifles still have great range as primary weapons go. Many do consider range important on pulse rifles not for its damage benefits but for its Aim Assist. I can not say a whole lot about this since I have not tested Aim assist but in my opinion you should simply just stick to using the weapon in its intended range. [b]Scout Rifles:[/b] Scouts are the king of range and will only see damage drop-off at the most extreme ranges. These will see high benefits to their range with higher range or zoom but it is completely unneeded. Even in PVE you see few situations where a high range scout rifle would be able to offer its benefits. Overall as you would expect your best to focus on any other stat on your scout rifles. [b]Hand Cannons:[/b] These weapons are the ones with the most controversy over range. Here I’m of course not going to talk about ranges affect of accuracy but as for damage drop-off hand cannons don’t really need high range stats. Hand cannons have a very low max. range which is their main problem and it can not be helped by the range stat. The only way to substantially increase your range is matching high Range with Rangefinder. Apart from Rangefinder I would recommend to not reduce range but also not focus on maxing it out too much, instead just ensure you are engaging enemies at the correct distance. [b]Sidearms:[/b] Are much like hand cannons in how their range works and how you deal with them as it has to do with range is much the same. I would recommend increasing range when you can but focus on other stats. Many consider range to be the number one thing for Sidearms but really it does not offer any substantial benefit unless you can also get rangefinder. What’s your opinion on range for these different weapons? Do you agree with my deductions? What do you think based on the charts? Other In Depth Posts: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/209148528