Which depends on the diameter of the lense in question. Bigger lense longer focal length. So for a las gun with a 2.54cm diameter that point would be inside the barrel. In other words the “close range equals less damage” has no actual reason for existing save “variety at any cost”. Especially when the automatic version does the exact opposite.
If anything it should be slug-throwers that are the long-range weapon. Lasers suffer from beam attenuation due to dust etc in the atmosphere and the laws of thermodynamics. Solid hunks of copper coated lead always have a certain amount of force due to momentum depending on mass and mass being generall constant. 40k lore bears this out too. Lasers are the Militarum’s weapon of choice for most troops, but the Imperium’s best shooters use a slug-thrower. Mind you its not for the lasers lack of power - the “flashlight” has settings that supposedly range from “blow a fist-sized hole in man” to “vaporize the engine block of out of a car”. Its just that pretty much everything else has reached a point where a fist-sized whole is little more than an annoyance.
I would say all the infantry lasers should have their upsides be high damage, exteremely accuracte, and lot of ammo. Downsides are slower rate of fire (can’t just swap a barrel if you crack the lense), less stagger, noticeable drop off in damage towards the end of its range. Slug throwers would reverse that.
Actually the las weapon is meant to be used en masses and not singular. It has several firing settings which FS failed to give them in game. Each setting is meant to give the lasgun from a more weaker beam shot to conserve ammo to what they class as a “Head Shot” fire mode which drains the cell very quickly. The lasgun kills and cauterizes at the same time due to the heat of the beam, while also emitting a small explosion on targets it hits. It can also be used as a grenade as a last ditch effort by over charging the power cell.
It also doesn’t help that ranged combat stops as soon as you get attacked in melee, but melee combat can continue even when under fire from range. Veteran Sharpshooters need better tools to stay out of melee combat. It’s fine to get help from teammates, but you shouldn’t be completely dependent on it.
My Ogryn is currently a better Marksman, because at least he can dodge into enemies to knock them over whilst trying to snipe targets at range.
On second thought, I’d rather they give it full auto with RAPID bloom after the first three shots (As whatever is cooling the lenses gets overwhelmed). I’d also like it to have a volly size of 1 as to not be affected by the Shock trooper nerf (The only getting ammo refund on the first crit in a “Volly”) so it can keep it’s ammo efficiency.
Considering how niche the Helbore is, and how outperformed it is by heavier weapons that somehow has a slower switch time, it seems like it could use a boost there.
ADM vs armor? Even lasgun crits do next to nothing to carapace, while the Brewcius (brown Lucius) can 2 hit kill crushers with some set ups. They also have even more Unyielding to where Reaper one shots are a thing (though I think this could be a little higher so Bulwark could be dropped with a crit headshot on the green/brown models and some other nodes). In general though the lasgun is way too similar to the las pistol, not the Lucius (which has a charge function and different target effectiveness). The fact that the las pistol gets its extra crits at all times instead of just ADS, and can hipfire well, are the main differences besides magazine size…extremely minor to where its basically the same gun again but mobile.
Are the Helbores significantly stronger? That seems to be their niche. You could also give their bayonets longer reach.
Really, I think the issue is just that 1) the bounce is annoying, 2) bayonets are very loreful and fun, and 3) the blessings on Lasguns are very boring. I only threw out ideas on things that could be done, they could be anything. Maybe there’s a chance to shoot two lasers, or they reflect off an enemy and hit another enemy. Just something to add some interest to them as a weapon class.
They swap faster, fire faster - same reasons someone might pick a Lasgun now. The Helbore can two-shot a Crusher with the right build, as-is, but an Infantry Lasgun cannot do that. But you can also spam an Infantry Lasgun and take out multiple weaker targets quicker, in theory. They’re similar in some respects, but still quite different.
It still is a heated shot, some books have Lasguns punching holes through orks. I can see the argument go both ways, but it would be nice to have some way to upgrade for less recoil.
Agree.
Agree.
There are few moments that give me pause in a Darktide mission, but when all 4 players are Vets with las-weaponry and form a line to absolutely shred the oncoming horde. Its a glorious day in the Reik for Kruber, er.. I mean Praise the Emperor!
