Ground Pounders and Mass Cannons (Videos)

[kjacks05]

I would rather not base my experience of the game around exploiting a bugged weapon.

I wouldn't assume that it is a bug. The fact that a very particular set of weapons is exceedingly good against a particular enemy type seems to make perfect sense to me. Not everyone carries around cluster explosives, so it makes sense to me that they are particularly well suited for this task.

Great post OP, these are truly under-appreciated weapons and can be absolutely devastating in the right environments.

[Ryme]

I wouldn't assume that it is a bug. The fact that a very particular set of weapons is exceedingly good against a particular enemy type seems to make perfect sense to me. Not everyone carries around cluster explosives, so it makes sense to me that they are particularly well suited for this task.

Great post OP, these are truly under-appreciated weapons and can be absolutely devastating in the right environments.

It would be one thing if all launchers ignored armor, but if only one variant does, then it seems more like a bug.

[Galactimus]

The spread aoe damage can hit the same target with every rocket if you detonate just above their head. Instead of doing (1500 x 1) with "direct damage" versions you are doing (1500 x 4). But its entirely dependent on your familiarity with the weapon. With its large area of effect you have less room for error as well. But you really need to use mods and gun bonuses that "increase full damage radius" to unleash the damage it can do.

Ignoring armor isn't really the selling point of the Mass Cannon (unlike the Ground Pounder which is pretty much its main function.) Its really the synergy with all of your explosive / reloading perks that make it shine. 30% more damage with infinite overcharge, 30% more damage when you hit multiple opponents, 30% faster reloading, extremely large blast radius, grenade refresh every 3 kills (when I have a perk slot available). Ignoring armor is more of a small bonus on this specific weapon as a Ground Pounder simply does it better.

[Bopbarker]

From leveling weapons on pursuits, I've come to like a lot of weapons I thought were crap in the beginning. I have no favorite weapon. I like using certain weapons for different situations.

[Ryme]

The spread aoe damage can hit the same target with every rocket if you detonate just above their head. Instead of doing (1500 x 1) with "direct damage" versions you are doing (1500 x 4). But its entirely dependent on your familiarity with the weapon. With its large area of effect you have less room for error as well. But you really need the mods and bonuses that "increase full damage radius +0.40 - +0.60" to make hitting enemies with all a simpler feat.

Ignoring armor isn't really the selling point of the Mass Cannon (unlike the Ground Pounder which is pretty much its main function.) Its really the synergy with all of your explosive / reloading perks that make it shine. 30% more damage with infinite overcharge, 30% more damage when you hit multiple opponents, reloading in 1 second, extremely large blast radius, grenade refresh every 3 kills (when I have a perk slot available). Ignoring armor is more of a small bonus on this specific weapon.

My main issue with Mass Cannon is that hitting "reload" to detonate is a bit of a chore. If we could just hit the trigger again, that would make it much more enjoyable. I would imagine this weapon is easier to use with a gamepad. Honestly, I haven't found a real use for rocket launchers, given there are explosive variants of just about every other weapon that can match the damage output and have larger ammo pools.

The Ground Pounder is the one that just sounds fishy. I tried it on normal enemies and it was just a disappointment. But if it ignored enemy armor, I can see why it would be good against armored enemies. Of course unless every grenade launcher ignored armor, it seems like a bug that just that one variant of GL ignores armor.

[Galactimus]

It would be one thing if all launchers ignored armor, but if only one variant does, then it seems more like a bug.

I wouldn't consider it a bug either. Perhaps "ignoring hellbug armor" isn't fully accurate either as your damage is indeed reduced by almost 40%. Throwing a Frag Grenade at a Hellbug Warrior / Monarch does 900 damage. Hitting a Hellbug Warrior / Monarch with a Ground Pounder does 900x3 damage. Its dealing massive chunks of damage but its not dealing its full 1500x3 damage either.

Ground Pounders and Mass Cannons essentially rain multiple "frag grenades" upon your enemy. Frag grenades which normally ignore chunks of armor, blast through raider shields, and flinch trash mobs.

[kjacks05]

Of course unless every grenade launcher ignored armor, it seems like a bug that just that one variant of GL ignores armor.

My experience, though not very well tested, is that all cluster-type launchers ignore hellbug armor. Swarm cannon, ground pounder, and mass cannon certainly all do. I am uncertain with other launchers as I haven't really tried most out on hellbugs. Most don't do very well against enemies with shields(the recharging kind, not armor), which puts them at limited use against elite enemies.

[Epox]

My main issue with Mass Cannon is that hitting "reload" to detonate is a bit of a chore. If we could just hit the trigger again, that would make it much more enjoyable. I would imagine this weapon is easier to use with a gamepad.

^This X1000! Hitting reload to detonate is cumbersome. The weapons you need to manually detonate don't need a zoom mode, so it would be great if they switched the detonate to right click. Hitting left click again would be even better, but wouldn't work with ones that had more than one shot (ground pounder). So taking away zoom and putting there is the only option I can think of.

[ratt707]

Love both those weapons, dont see too many using RL.

My preferred explosive perk selections

Ego Power: Overcharge
Deadly cascade
Shock Trooper
Mad Bomber
Blast Shield
Pinata

If ego is 1000+

Add Quick Charge or defensive perk of choice

Very fun.

Decoy can also be a pretty good ego power if you'd like more defense and crowd control at the cost of offense. Helps group up enemies fr big explosions.

[Ryme]

^This X1000! Hitting reload to detonate is cumbersome. The weapons you need to manually detonate don't need a zoom mode, so it would be great if they switched the detonate to right click. Hitting left click again would be even better, but wouldn't work with ones that had more than one shot (ground pounder). So taking away zoom and putting there is the only option I can think of.

Detonation "ease" is mainly an issue with Mass Cannon because it's a flying rocket and will disappear if you don't detonate. It applies less to detonator grenade launchers, since those explosives will stay there until they are blown.