Choosing which stats to maximize (Secondaries & Pistols)

To help people interpret damage stats, I wanted to lay out my thinking on what I try to maximize when looking at a particular weapon. It varies depending on the weapon type and the situation that I expect to go into (i.e., choice of dungeon). I will write a separate article on primary weapons, since there are many different stats I look at and keep in balance there, though sustained damage over 20 seconds is the most important one if you just want to use one stat.

Secondary Weapons

When talking about Secondary Weapons, I first like to frame it by getting back to what each type of weapon was intended to be used for, and then looking to the weapons that best fit that intention. This game has various types of weapons within each category that require varied play styles, but I've found that the most effective weapons in their category skew to fitting the definition of what the gun type is really intended to do.

Sniper Rifles: Bring down one or a few enemies with as few shots as possible

Machine Guns: Lay down suppressive fire to clear a mob or sustain a high amount of damage on a single or multiple targets when you are outnumbered

Rocket Launchers: Clear out groups of enemies that are close together with a single shot

To reframe this in terms of stats, with a Sniper I would then look to a few different stats, namely the crit damage that I would achieve through the scope, as well as the damage I could sustain over a relatively short period of time (no more than 10 seconds, but realistically more like 5). By maximizing these stats, I am ensuring that I am doing as much damage in as little a time window as possible because once you start sniping, enemies just don't stay still to let you continuously fire at them. Clip size on the other hand, is not the most relevant statistic, as there aren't an incredibly high number of situations where you are just burying bucketloads of rounds into an enemy or group of enemies without either needing to take cover or having time to reload waiting for your next target.

Recommended Sniper Rifles: O.G. Money Maker, True Patriot, Cryonic Scream (must have great perks), Korolev Heatwave (event weapon)

As for Machine Guns, there are two types that exist in the game, high DPS guns with small clips and relatively lower DPS guns with larger clips. If you think about it for a second, a high DPS machine gun is well geared for single target combat, ideally some kind of heavy elite like a Hell Storm or Razor Blade, but what other gun is great for hitting a single target very hard? That's right, kids, Sniper Rifles. Now this isn't to say that High DPS small clip machine guns have no place in the game; they are a good change of pace, and some have the right balance of damage and fire rate that make it a playable weapon (the AT Fock II is perhaps the best example of this). But when you are looking for a true to form machine gun, you are looking for a weapon that can dish out a ton of sustained damage and get you out of a sticky situation where you are outnumbered. Therefore, perhaps the most important statistic for machine guns is Damage per Magazine (DPM) with sustained damage also being highly relevant. The other imporant thing to note is that ammunition supply is more limited with secondary weapons, so with your being able to pick up a clip at a time, don't you want that pickup to be for as much damage as possible? Perhaps the best test of my opinion is in the Hive Mind dungeon. Test it out for yourself by bringing an AT Vosa II or a Nutcracker to try to take out those clusters and hives and maybe try to do it with a teammate or two down. You will feel the pain of your weapon choice pretty quickly. I'll recommend a few guns below, but Revenant is just head and shoulders above the competition here in pretty much every category.

Recommended Machine Guns: Revenant, AT Fock II, Nutcracker (if you want to roll high dps, low DPM)

With Rocket Launchers, the decision is much more simple. They all have the same fire rate, so pick the one with the highest damage. For perks, look to maximize base damage, damage to elites, iron sight damage, and reload speed. All other perks are basically useless on a rocket launcher.

Recommended Rocket Launchers: Slade's Shitstorm

Pistols

With pistols, you aren't going to be relying on the weapon to do much damage, even if you do have the gunslinger skill. On the off chance you find yourself out of ammo, you'll want to maximize DPS first but also consider accuracy so that you can burn down enemies as quickly as possible to get more ammo for your primary.

Recommended Pistols: Ostrich, Peregrine, PZ-43 Dead Air (event weapon)

--[APx] InsulinMaze