Okay so I have a transcendant lucius helbore MKII with 76% damage, an Exalted MKI with 80% damage and an MKIII with 77% damage, so either max damage ( which right now is 80% from what i’ve seen ) or near max, hear are my thoughts.
The MKII is the only helbore worth using, it does the most base damage without charge up ( around 160 to 180 to the chest ) and also shoots the fastest of the three.
In the lore I was under the impression that the Lucius pattern Las rifles did the most damage due to using higher power charge or whatever, however in game my Kantrael MG XII ( with 78% damage ) does SIGNIFICANTLY more damage, almost 100 more damage to be exact, then the MKII and almost 200 more damage than the MKI and MKIII when using standard shot, and I find that somewhat strange IMO.
The MKI and MKIII both do around 60 - 80 damage to the chest without charge up, which is bizarre to me. The only difference between the three rifles is the charge up shot damage, and in my opinion the charge up shot is pointless as the combat is always so chaotic and usually close up which makes charging up shots very difficult to put into practice with any consistent affect.
I do think the rifle needs some looking into, up some of the base damage, add some sort of delay to the charge up beginning so you can actually fire the rifle when you click and not be forced to wait a second for the rifle to charge up a bit before shooting, which make the rifle function better as a DMR which i feel like its meant to be. I would be Okay with the iron sites if there wasn’t so much sway. They have the rifle react and play like its doing a lot of damage however it just isn’t doing it.
If anybody could give their own opinions on this I’d love to hear it!
I’m not sure how other people use it, but here is my take on the gun in general with all patterns.
Trash mobs → im locked in melee anyway
ranged mobs → headshot uncharged, or bodyshot quarter or half charge shots for rapid successive take downs
Specials/Elite/Bosses → Full charge, Volley fire for extra damage and zoom in.(Incredibly effective with lv30 feats). Headshots make a hell of a difference for higher HP pool targets.
The beauty in the Lucius pattern lies in the capability to punch through Carapace. If you need a higher rate of fire, definitely would say MK II is the best as it is the in between.
(Personally I prefer the MK III Pattern.) You definitely want 80% Damage, 80% charge rate, and high ammo for Modifier rolls.(the bar stats) The 80% charge is such a god send stat.
Final note: The Lucius pattern lasgun is not forgiving as the Kantrael XII pattern(the easier to use weapon with a sight). Lucius is a weapon with bad zoom, ironsights, and will punish you hard for lack of precision.(which is why you really need to pick your shots with half charge body or head shot) If you have precision down though, the gun absolutely rewards you.
Yeah, as it stands the Lucius is largely just made redundant by the Kantrael XII. It has significantly worse handling (sway, sights, readying time) while not really offering much to make up for it. Yes, you can do respectable damage with a full charge, but that’s pointlessly time-consuming and tricky to actually land compared to just double-tapping with a Kantrael. And that’s not even getting into the issue that when you’re mostly doing charged shots with the Lucius, you may as well just take a bolter since the ammo economy will be similar.
Personally I’d argue for raising the Lucius’ uncharged default damage to be at least similar to the Kantrael XII, if not more. Then you’d have a clear trade-off: Better handling and usability with the Kantrael vs the ability to charge up with the Lucius.
Yeah I agree it does need a base damage increase, id honestly argue adding a version that doesnt have a charge up and just keep the plasma rifle as the charge up high damage weapon.