It's popular opinion that Pulse Grenades are the best grenade out there right now. One would ask then what is the point of Lightning Grenade then? Both Lightning Grenade and Pulse Grenade serve the same function. They create an [u]area[/u] of [b]damage over time[/b]. Where they differ is the shape of the area they create and the time with which they deal damage. Lightning Grenade once deployed has a short activation delay and then delivers several infrequent bursts of high damage. Pulse Grenade activates immediately and delivers several rapid bursts of relevantly lower damage. Uniquely the first pulse of damage (which will be refereed to as Stage 1) deals half the damage of all subsequent pulses (which will be refereed to as Stage 2). While using Code of the Earthshaker, which increases the duration of your grenades, an interesting thing happens. Both Lightning Grenade and Pulse Grenade deal the [i]exact same[/i] total damage. However Lightning Grenade deals that damage in five pulses over 8.5 seconds, while Pulse Grenade deals that damage in eight pulses over 5.5 seconds. Thus Pulse Grenade always deals higher Damage per Second (DPS) than Lightning Grenade. 1.5 times more DPS to be exact. While using Code of the Juggernaut, which has no grenade bonuses, Lightning Grenade actually deals more total damage than Pulse Grenade. But only about 9% higher total damage. With their default durations Lightning Grenade delivers four pulses of damage over 6 seconds, while Pulse Grenade deals six pulses of damage over 4 seconds. With only a negligible disadvantage in total damage the short duration of Pulse Grenade still delivers 1.3 times more DPS than Lightning Grenade. Also as a bizarre aside, for some reason Fallen Walkers take different values of damage than other enemies. Pulse Grenades by far surpass Lightning Grenades in both DPS and total damage against Fallen Walkers. The DPS advantage with Earthshaker being x2 and Juggernaut being x1.8. With all this evidence it seems like Lightning Grenades have no purpose being just inferior versions of Pulse Grenades. But alas this is just in regards to their [b]damage over time[/b]. Where Lightning Grenade comes into its own is in the [u]area[/u] in which it deals damage. While I mentioned that Pulse Grenade has a higher damage potential is also has much much smaller area in which it deals its maximum damage. Pulse Grenade has a radius of only 4 meters and has severe damage dropoff. Damage starting to decrease after only 1 meter from the origin and continuing to drop sharply further out. Lightning Grenade on the otherhand has range of 10 meters and deals its full damage along almost its entire length. Damage only dropping at the extreme edges like 9 meters away. As such Pulse Grenade has a higher damage potential but with its small radius and high dropoff anything besides a stationary target will avoid the most punishing damage it can deal. While Lightning Grenade may be slower with its long reach it can more reliably hit targets and even hit multiple targets with full damage. A well placed Lightning Grenade is likely to deal more damage than a Pulse Grenade. But then of course getting a "well placed" Lightning Grenade is not only dependent on the environment but also the strategic ability of the user. Pulse Grenades however don't require much strategic thought and are just thrown directly at the target making them much easier to use. The conclusion then is Lightning Grenades have greater potential, but since Pulse Grenades have a lower skill floor they will offer more utility in most situations. [b]Fun Fact:[/b] With Path of the Juggernaut the DPS that Lightning Grenade deals is actually exactly the same damage that Pulse Grenade's Stage 2 pulses will deal. Math for nerds: [spoiler][Basic] LG: (5) PG: (8) LG: 828 x 5 = 4140/8.5s = 487/s PG: 276 + 552 x 7 = 4140/5.5s = 752/s LG: 1086 x 5 = 5430/8.5s = 638/s PG: 362 + 724 x 7 = 5430/5.5s = 987/s LG: 1422 x 5 = 7110/8.5s = 836/s PG: 474 + 948 x 7 = 7110/5.5s = 1292/s ∆: 1.5 -------------------------------------- LG: (4) PG: (6) LG: 828 x 4 = 3312/6s = 552/s PG: 276 + 552 x 5 = 3036/4s = 759/s LG: 1085 x 4 = 4340/6s = 724/s PG: 362 + 724 x 5 = 3982/4s = 995/s LG: 1422 x 4 = 5688/6s = 948/s PG: 474 + 948 x 5 = 5214/4s = 1303/s ∆: 1.3 -------------------------------------- [Fallen Walker] LG: (5) PG: (8) LG: 580 x 5 = 2900/8.5s = 341/s PG: 258 + 516 x 7 = 3870/5.5s = 703/s LG: 474 x 5 = 2370/8.5s = 278/s PG: 211 + 422 x 7 = 3165/5.5s = 575/s LG: 1141 x 5 = 5705/8.5s = 671/s PG: 507 + 1014 x 7 = 7605/5.5s = 1382/s ∆: 2 -------------------------------------- LG: (4) PG: (6) LG: 580 x 4 = 2320/6s = 386/s PG: 258 + 516 x 5 = 2838/4s = 709/s LG: 474 x 4 = 1896/6s = 316/s PG: 211 + 422 x 5 = 2321/4s = 580/s LG: 1141 x 4 = 4564/6s = 760/s PG: 507 + 1014 x 5 = 5577/4s = 1394/s ∆: 1.8[/spoiler]