There's been a lot of talk about Telesto recently and whether it is too strong in pvp. I've had mixed experiences with it in the crucible so I decided to go over the raw facts. The testing here was done against red bar enemies on mecury patrol at 526 power, I compared Telesto to Merciless and the year 1 fusion rifles Main Ingredient and Wizened Rebuke, both of these are using liquid coils for increased damage and charge time. In regards to damage I will be comaaring the damage of a single shot, fusion rifles fire 7 shots in a single burst (haha bungie). Lets start with Wizened Rebuke. It has a charge time of 900 and a maximum impact of 100. It deals [b]370[/b] per bodyshot and [b]740[/b] per crit (yes, fusion rifles crit). Damage fallof at maximum range was 278. Main Ingredient has a charge time of 780 and an impact of 85. Each shot deals [b]299[/b] damage on a bodyshot or [b]598[/b] on a crit. Damage at maximum fallof range was [b]225[/b] so not a huge difference. Telesto also has a charge time of 780 and 85 impact, however each shot deals a whopping [b]570[/b] per bodyshot or [b]1140[/b] per crit, with an additional [b]7 (14 crit)[/b] impact damage for direct hits. Shots that miss stick to surfaces and deal [b]570[/b] at the centre of the blast radius, so no real bonus damage for direct hits. The proximity detonation occurs at a damage of approximately [b]360[/b], however the blast radius itself is greater than this, marginally smaller than a sticky grenade. Minimum damage I could get at the edge of the radius was [b]64[/b]. These shots have no damage falloff. So it's clear that Telesto is significantly more powerful that other legendary fusion rifles, even ones that have statistically higher impact. But what about Merciless, the other exotic? Well merciless, despite its impact of 75, deals the same damage as Wizened Rebuke, our other 900 charge time fusion rifle at [b]370[/b] a bodyshot and [b]740[/b] for a crit. This puts Telesto at approximately 1.5 times the damage of a 900 charge time fusion rifle, nearly double other fusion rifles of its charge time at aprox 1.9. When you combine it with the lack of damage fallof, its all round solid stats and an enhanced ability to multikill thanks to its explosions, this makes Telesto unquestionably the best fusion rifle at short to medium range. Now does it need a nerf? I was on the fence but I'm leaning towards yes after going through these numbers. You only need to hit half the shots of a normal 780 fusion rifle to land a kill, so there is a definite gap in the skill required. I can see why the damage numbers are higher than other fusions, bungie wanted to make sure its explosions weren't neutered by a lack of blast damage. However I think that could be solved by decreasing the damage while increasing the blast radius. Another option would be to simply up the charge time to 900 to put it more in line with other high damaging fusions. Neither of these would be crippling as Telesto would still be fulfilling its power fantasy: explosive multikills on grouped up targets.