Key Damage Statistics & How to Calculate

In evaluating weapons on their damage done over time, there are three key statistics that are relevant for each and every weapon, though I place emphasis on some stats more than others depending on weapon type and play style.

The bread and butter statistic is Damage per Second (DPS). This is an easy to calculate statistic where you first convert the Fire Rate on the gun stats to bullets per second by dividing the base number by 60, and then multiplying by the damage done per bullet. The formula is mathematically stated below. Note that if you have boosts to either fire rate or damage per hit, you can simply calculate DPS first and then multiply that number by 1 + N%, where N = the total % boost to damage and fire rate that is active on your character.

DPS = Damage per hit * (Fire Rate / 60)

The next important statistic is Damage per Magazine (DPM). This is a particularly important stat for looking at how much damage you will be able to do with a single clip before needing to reload. DPM is perhaps the most important stat for Machine Guns as you want to lay down some supressive fire and take out as many enemies as you can. Damage per magazine is stated mathematically below. Note that, like DPS, if you have boosts to Magazine capacity and base damage, you can adjust DPM by multiplying the base result by 1 +N%, where N = the total % boost to damage and magazine capacity that is active on your character.

DPM = Clip Size * Damage per hit

The third damage statistic is quite a bit more complex, but it is much more relevant to getting great in game results. That statisic is Damage sustained over a given time window, which I refer to as Sustaining damage. The base formula is easy enough to state mathematically, but calculating the first variable involves some number crunching. Note that the 1.64 second reload time I use is an approximation that was a result of testing done by Halide. For now, all weapon types have the same reload time, so the actual time to reload is not particularly important as all weapons will have comparable stats for sustaining damage.

For my purposes, I evaluate a weapon's sustaining damage over two time windows, 10 seconds (for elites), and 5 seconds (for trash mobs). The reasons for this are that (1) Supercharger's duration is 10 seconds, so if I pick the weapon with the maximum sustaining damage over a 10 second window, I theoretically should be able to do the most amount of damage with that weapon with Supercharger on, (2) elites take a bit longer to burn down, and 10 seconds seemed to approximate in game play scenarios, and (3) due to trash mobs' low health, you can typically take out a single mob in 3 - 5 seconds.

Damage sustained over a given time window = # of Rounds Fired per given time window*Damage per hit

WHERE

# of Rounds Fired per given time window = 

ROUNDDOWN ((Fire Rate/60) * Time window) WHEN Time window < Time to Empty Clip 

Magazine Capacity WHEN Time window > Time to Empty Clip AND Time window < (Time to Empty Clip + Time to Reload)

# of Clips fired in time window * Magazine Capacity + ROUNDDOWN ((Time Window - (# of Clips fired in time window * (Time to Empty Clip + Time to Reload))) * (Fire Rate/60)) WHEN Time window > Time to Empty Clip + Time to Reload

AND 

Time to Empty Clip = Clip Size / (Fire Rate/60)

Time to Reload = 1.64 * (1-Reload Speed % boost)

# of Clips fired in time window = ROUNDDOWN (Time Window / (Time to Empty Clip + Time to Reload))

As I mentioned previously, different statistics will be more important based on situation and weapon type. For example, DPM is perhaps the most important stat to maximize in the Hive Mind dungeon because you need to be able to burn down the clusters and hives as quickly as possible without reloading getting in the way. Also, Sustaining damage is generally a very important stat when looking at boss fights because those can last a while. I will write additional articles that evaluate the importance of these stats and what I look for, but I wanted to put this out there so anyone can evaluate weapons in their inventory by using these calculations.

-- [APx] InsulinMaze