Heavy Grenade Launcher DPS Tests: Edge Transit & Cataphract Tests & How Good Are They? | Destiny 2

Heavy Grenade Launchers got some changes recently, but how good are they really? Do they hold a place in the current sandbox? In this video I wanted to talk about Edge Transit and Cataphract again just to see how these changes may have affected the Heavy Weapon meta. (and yes I did take forever to finish this one but Grenade Launcher and Rocket Launcher DPS math gets very weird when the values are close) Thanks for Watching!
My Twitch: / kzungu
Sections:
Intro - 0:00
GLs and Rolls - 0:51
Why Cataphract is (a little) Better - 1:16
Damage Values for ET/Cataphract - 2:27
Mini Frags vs Spike Grenades - 3:15
Damage Values with Envious Assassin - 5:11
Apex Predator Recap - 7:56
Apex Predator Damage - 9:23
The Gjallarhorn Problem - 10:03
Conclusion & Outro - 12:00

[@kzungu4717]

Hey everyone! As usual just a couple quick things: Mainly a quick correction/clarification: around the 4:20 timestamp I mentioned that envious assassin doesn’t work with the bonus magazine stat gained from mini frags, and some of y’all have pointed out in the comments that mini frags can push the magazine overflow from Envious to 21. From what I can find through testing the perks (and this is *likely* a bug if I had to guess) is that mini frags alone wouldn’t push it to 21 consistently on both (my edge transit seemed to hit 21 consistently but my Cataphract didn’t, however a friend of mine has a Cataphract identical to mine that would push 21 consistently without backup mag. I think there’s some really weird code behind how the perk is working), BUT mini frags with a backup mag or adept mag mod can push the total to 21 very consistently. So I’d say to include a weapon mod change in your loadout swap for Edge Transit or Cataphract to more consistently get the larger overflow. This didn’t ultimately change the damage results very much though, as there are diminishing returns in terms of DPS as the magazine size gets larger, and you’ll also still need 1 reload to empty your full reserves anyway. The main difference was whether you’d have to fire 6 shots after reloading or 4, but since the reload takes the same amount of time as well, you’re still doing the same total amount of damage over the same total amount of time. (Sorry if the pinned comment is kinda convoluted I’m typing this on mobile and Grenade Launchers are so weird. This is most of why the video went through like 6 different iterations before I finally got it finished)

[@Zader00]

Envious assassin is entirely based on how many final blows you get before swapping to the gl, if you have a gl with 7, it means you have to get 7 final blows (you being counted as having the final blow), before swapping to the gl, and you have to do that twice, if you swap too early, then you lose the chance to get an exact triple mag, which in this case is 21. And these must be weapon kills, any ability kill will not count towards the overflow

[@dankmemes7796]

It’s worth mentioning this weekend . If you haven’t reset yet . Reset + rank 10 rewards is a god roll catapgract.

[@36090pburke]

Yeah i have both with envious bait and switch. My edge has mini frags but my cataphract has spikes with augmented drum, so i can switch before boss dps to have a 24 round mag with back up mag. I prefer my cataphract because like u mentioned it surge matches with scatter signal and fried every boss in pantheon except atraks.

[@antonleimbach648]

Great video, I learned a ton about damage so thank you!

[@kzungu4717]

Glad the video was helpful!

[@XalenderWhyte]

Heads up, Envious Assassin with Mini Frags does let you get to 21 in chamber. Not sure if it's a glitch or not but I've been able to replicate it consistently.

[@kzungu4717]

Yeah I’m pretty sure it may be a bug, I did some more testing with the envious overflow this morning and each individual copy of a grenade launcher was super consistent but I had a few duplicates that *should* have given me the same results give different numbers. However all of the inconsistency disappeared as soon as I started using backup mag while stacking envious, then swapping it to boss spec before going in for damage. Pinned a comment with a little more of my findings there but thank you for pointing this out!

[@RH1N082]

Info is a little off, with regard to mini frags. It absolutely will go up to 21 shots, when maxed out at 300%. I use an envious + BnS w/ mini frags Cataphract, since I never got one to drop with spike, and am always overflowing it to 21 when running activities like onslaught. Also, I haven't bothered with this particular tactic myself, but I have seen other videos where people have equipped the backup mag mod (e.g. GsxrClyde), to get it up to 24, before switching to boss spec before DPS. Anyway, just wanted to let you know it doesn't just go off the base numbers. Could be a bug...but no complaints here lol.

[@kzungu4717]

I did some extra testing and I’m pretty sure there may be a bug somewhere in how grenade launchers are coded, but you’re correct, you can sometimes get a roll that consistently hits 21 without a backup mag mod, but then sometimes I had the same perks on a different copy of the weapon give me 19 instead. Pinned a comment with a little more results of my testing. Good catch though! I wouldn’t have noticed as usually two weapons with identical perks and stats end up behaving the same but probably I should’ve known just given how wonky grenade launcher stats tend to be

[@thegymteachersgrandma]

2 things: Mini frags + Backup Mag before dmg for 24 in mag swapping to spike + boss spec for dmg phase. Keep on mentioning this and should be known by now: sticky + cascade + decon slaps pretty damn hard. Replaced my envious + BnS

[@SilentKyll]

Cataphract always will be better, for 4 reasons: -Adept mag (before damage phase) -Reload speed (better than Edge) -Strand -Best intrinsic perk 4 solo activities Thanks for the video, great job!😊

[@chrisbarnesbarnes8332]

Adept mods matter little in PVE. And you forget edge transit will be able to gain enhanced perks in final shape. Enhanced perks are way better than adept mods.

[@36090pburke]

​@@chrisbarnesbarnes8332What does the enhance perks do better i honestly want to know

[@GN00RAIZOR]

@@chrisbarnesbarnes8332 adept back up mag with a spike nades roll goes to 8 in the mag so 24 with envious. One mod swap later and you have 24 spike shots in 1 mag.