Overload: Weapon Comparisons

After finding or earning enough super upgrade points in the game, you’re then able to choose super upgrades for the various weapons plus several for the ship. Yet the weapon upgrades are special: descriptions of the upgrades are vague, each offers two choices, and this decision is permanent for your current mission. You can make different choices if you start fresh, but on your first run, you won’t know what you’re getting.

So after completing the game, I wanted to know which choices were best. Mostly that comes down to personal choice, such as whether you want better tracking or higher damage, or if you want to add extra functionality to a weapon. If you like one weapon over another, this guide is not meant to upset that choice, and can’t in cases when weapons are not comparable.

My method was to clear operators from the Tarvos Outpost level on New Game+ Rookie difficulty and then use the reactor as a punching bag. There are no turrets or fabricators in that room, making for clean tests. I then record how long each weapon takes to destroy the reactor. Times were found in seconds using a basic stopwatch app. It’s possible my laptop got slower for weapons with high particle counts, but all categories were given five chances, then I found the mean average of those times.

If we assume the reactor has 100 hitpoints, we can determine a rough damage per second for each weapon and rank them, though sometimes I had to decide certain factors. I also list a rough count of how much ammo was used in tests, which gives another sense for the power of a weapon. My ships always had the super upgrade for energy efficiency. Finally I will note the general feel of the weapon, plus conclusions for deciding between the two.

Primary weapons were fired from two positions: point-blank (which would sometimes send the ship backwards) or from a short distance away against the wall in front of the reactor. The DPS of the weapons uses the mean average of the short distance times, since this is the common firing distance, though I had to use the point-blank time for the Flak DX weapon.

Secondary weapons were fired from whatever position made sense for that weapon, such as close enough that a Creeper would explode immediately or far enough that I wasn’t pulled in by a Vortex. They couldn’t always destroy the reactor (due to low ammo or not dealing damage) so I also tested each while firing the Driller M to keep consistent.

Impulse Q

• Description: four shots, slower
• Point-blank Average: 12.28
• Short Range Average: 11.18
• Ammo Used: ~16 energy
• DPS: 8.95
• Feel: classic primary

Impulse RF

• Description: faster, less energy
• Point-blank Average: 23.83
• Short Range Average: 12.52
• Ammo Used: ~15 energy
• DPS: 7.98
• Feel: fast pew-pew

Impulse Conclusions:
The Impulse Q is basically the maxed primary weapon from the classic Descent games, so the designers may have made it better from nostalgia. But the main reason the Impulse RF has worse scores is that the point-blank times were mysteriously almost double the short-distance times, even after repeated attempts.

Something I find amusing is how the Impulse RF is described as using less energy, but the Impulse Q requires only a little more energy to destroy the target. In other words, firing fast weak shots uses about as much energy to destroy a target because you need to fire longer. Pick the Impulse Q unless you want the faster-hit shots of the Impulse RF.

Cyclone X4

• Description: center shot, wider angle
• Point-blank Average: 11.04
• Short Range Average: 9.06
• Ammo Used: ~13 energy
• DPS: 11.03
• Feel: short ramp up

Cyclone F

• Description: faster, reduced angle
• Point-blank Average: 13.85
• Short Range Average: 11.50
• Ammo Used: ~15 energy
• DPS: 8.70
• Feel: no ramp up

Cyclone Conclusions:
This was surprising for me because I assumed the Cyclone wasn’t very good, but I started using this weapon more after doing these tests. Among the energy weapons, the Cyclone X4 is actually one of the best. The range is short to medium and the ramp up in speed takes some getting used to, but that DPS is impressive. Or if you don’t want to deal with the ramp up, go with the Cyclone F and you’ll get slightly better range too.

Reflex RF

• Description: faster
• Point-blank Average: 12.43
• Short Range Average: 17.02
• Ammo Used: ~30 energy
• DPS: 5.88
• Feel: slightly faster

Reflex L

• Description: farther, better bounce
• Point-blank Average: 22.85
• Short Range Average: 24.83
• Ammo Used: ~32 energy
• DPS: 4.03
• Feel: only good for bounce

Reflex Conclusions:
I want to like the Reflex, but the times to destroy and energy usage are some of the worst. When I was doing the tests, I didn’t believe the numbers at first.

Basically you should only use this weapon when the wall-bouncing is useful, so I would almost always pick the Reflex L for the significant improvements to that function, even though the Reflex L has the worst Primary Weapon DPS.

The Reflex RF is for people who want their Reflex to be almost as good as other energy weapons at direct attacking … yet it’s not even in the top 10 for Primary Weapon DPS scores.

Crusher DX

• Description: higher force, reduced angle
• Point-blank Average: 6.06
• Short Range Average: 6.33
• Ammo Used: ~78 ammo
• DPS: 15.79
• Feel: cowboy punches

Crusher AF

• Description: automatic, reduced angle
• Point-blank Average: 8.36
• Short Range Average: 8.22
• Ammo Used: ~103 ammo
• DPS: 12.17
• Feel: pro boxer flurry

Crusher Conclusions:
Even before the tests, this was my favorite bullet-using primary weapon. You can feel how powerful they are, hitting like the hero of an action movie taking out goons in one hit. One nice finding was the ammo usage is actually quite good; each shot takes a lot but the damage means you fire less.

If you don’t mind clicking a few times, the Crusher DX is my pick. The Crusher AF with automatic firing will save your mouse, and has the second best DPS in primary weapons, but you’ll be using and wasting more ammo.

Driller DX

• Description: higher force
• Point-blank Average: 18.06
• Short Range Average: 17.55
• Ammo Used: ~133 ammo
• DPS: 5.70
• Feel: solid machine gun

Driller M

• Description: faster, less ammo
• Point-blank Average: 22.07
• Short Range Average: 17.28
• Ammo Used: ~119 ammo
• DPS: 5.79
• Feel: smooth minigun

Driller Conclusions:
These two are useful but not my go-to weapons when I want to use bullets. Instead, I think of the Driller as a long-range tool, which is why I prefer the Driller M. The greater recoil of the Driller DX feels powerful, but I want precision aiming and smooth firing to hit small, faraway targets. Using less ammo with the Driller M is also a nice bonus.

Flak DX

• Description: higher force
• Point-blank Average: 18.14
• Short Range Average: —
• Ammo Used: ~105 ammo
• DPS: 5.51
• Feel: micro-range breaker

Flak VK

• Description: faster, farther
• Point-blank Average: 15.03
• Short Range Average: 23.23
• Ammo Used: ~141 ammo
• DPS: 4.30
• Feel: acceptable range

Flak Conclusions:
These two should have much higher damage when the range is so low, but I have the feeling this is a joke weapon anyway. I believe there’s a description somewhere about toxic competition between teams and the Flak came from that? The Flak DX can’t even hit from a few ship-lengths away, and there are far better weapons to use when you get that close, while the Flak VK finally has an acceptable range but the second-worst Primary Weapon DPS.

Thunderbolt MX without charging

• Description: better power, fast
• Point-blank Average: 12.04
• Short Range Average: 11.75
• Ammo Used: ~24 energy
• DPS: 8.51
• Feel: shotgun powerful

Thunderbolt MX fully charged

• Description: better power, fast
• Point-blank Average: 14.36
• Short Range Average: 13.69
• Ammo Used: ~18 energy
• DPS: 7.31
• Feel: sniper powerful

Thunderbolt RT without charging

• Description: tracking
• Point-blank Average: 14.46
• Short Range Average: 13.39
• Ammo Used: ~30 energy
• DPS: 7.47
• Feel: love the tracking

Thunderbolt RT fully charged

• Description: tracking
• Point-blank Average: 20.87
• Short Range Average: 20.33
• Ammo Used: ~23 energy
• DPS: 4.92
• Feel: situational uses

Thunderbolt Conclusions:
The data from this weapon was hilarious. Charging up the weapon means you do less damage per second, even if the individual hits are greater and you save some energy. Firing control and the skill of the player are also a factor.

Still, the weapon feels great to use even when it’s doing about as much work as a basic Impulse. My preferred method of use for this weapon is to start a combat with a full-power shot from a distance, which might take out a ship or two as the rest head towards me.

I have to pick the Thunderbolt RT because it has that tracking. Forget trying to bounce your energy beams, let them curve down a long hall and hit enemies you can’t see. But if you want power, the fully-charged Thunderbolt MX does have a better chance at a one-hit kill.

Lancer C

• Description: less delay and energy
• Point-blank Average: 13.52
• Short Range Average: 9.79
• Ammo Used: ~32 energy
• DPS: 10.21
• Feel: big pew-pew

Lancer SF

• Description: single-side automatic
• Point-blank Average: 12.93
• Short Range Average: 11.24
• Ammo Used: ~45 energy
• DPS: 8.90
• Feel: constant beam

Lancer Conclusions:
The Lancer is an interesting weapon because it feels like a straight upgrade from the Impulse and has that exoticism from its source. Because it hits fast and hard, I want to like this weapon, but the energy usage is kind of steep.

Getting the Lancer SF upgrade is nice because you don’t have to click for every shot, just hold down and aim at the target. Happily the damage doesn’t drop despite losing one of the sides, and it’s fun to have the energy equivalent of a medieval lance. If you want to use this a lot, however, consider the Lancer C so you save a serious amount of energy.

Falcon MX

• Description: higher damage, faster
• Time if alone: 8.51
• Ammo Used alone: ~30
• Time as a pair: 6.55
• Ammo Used as a pair: ~25
• Overall Average: 7.53
• DPS: 13.28
• Feel: solid and basic

Falcon T

• Description: tracking
• Time if alone: 10.37
• Ammo Used alone: ~32
• Time as a pair: 7.04
• Ammo Used as a pair: ~20
• Overall Average: 8.71
• DPS: 11.49
• Feel: love the tracking

Falcon Conclusions:
This is a good, classic-feeling dumbfire rocket, though as usual, add a bit of homing and things get better. For me, that means the Falcon T will always be my choice. I was happily surprised the damage was so close between the two.

Missile Pod XS

• Description: higher damage, ammo
• Time if alone: 9.19
• Ammo Used alone: ~70
• Time as a pair: 6.61
• Ammo Used as a pair: ~46
• Overall Average: 7.90
• DPS: 12.66
• Feel: smooth and fun

Missile Pod ST

• Description: better tracking
• Time if alone: 12.20
• Ammo Used alone: ~88
• Time as a pair: 7.63
• Ammo Used as a pair: ~53
• Overall Average: 9.92
• DPS: 10.09
• Feel: is it better?

Missile Pod Conclusions:
I love how this weapon fulfills that dream of missile spam from movies. Just hold down the trigger while focused on firing your primary and this will add a swarm of extra damage. And the thing is, the first upgrade for the Pods adds pretty good tracking, so I’m not sure if the “better tracking” added by the Missile Pod ST is really worth the loss in damage and ammo. My pick is the Missile Pod XS, though higher difficulties and faster foes might change my mind.

Hunter W

• Description: three missiles
• Time if alone: 6.28
• Ammo Used alone: ~15
• Time as a pair: 4.78
• Ammo Used as a pair: ~12
• Overall Average: 5.53
• DPS: 18.08
• Feel: big improvement

Hunter XT

• Description: better tracking, fast, ammo
• Time if alone: 8.83
• Ammo Used alone: ~21
• Time as a pair: 6.02
• Ammo Used as a pair: ~16
• Overall Average: 7.42
• DPS: 13.47
• Feel: how much better?

Hunter Conclusions:
The damage added by the third missile of the Hunter W is such a big improvement that I will always go for that. And once again, I don’t know what the “better tracking” on the Hunter XT will really accomplish when the tracking was already quite good.

Creeper XS

• Description: higher damage, ammo
• Time if alone: 4.90
• Ammo Used alone: ~25
• Time as a pair: 4.38
• Ammo Used as a pair: ~24
• Overall Average: 4.64
• DPS: 21.55
• Feel: worth the wait

Creeper ST

• Description: better tracking
• Time if alone: 6.85
• Ammo Used alone: ~38
• Time as a pair: 5.64
• Ammo Used as a pair: ~33
• Overall Average: 6.24
• DPS: 16.02
• Feel: is better good?

Creeper Conclusions:
I really like these softly-floating beach balls of exploding death. Not only are they useful for checking around corners, but the damage on them is quite high. Sure, they’re slow, but the better tracking of the Creeper ST might help with that. Yet … one final time with feeling, I don’t know what “better tracking” really means and so I usually go with the powerful Creeper XS.

Nova XB

• Description: more damage, ammo
• Time if alone: 4.65
• Ammo Used alone: ~5
• Time as a pair: 2.65
• Ammo Used as a pair: ~4
• Overall Average: 3.65
• DPS: 27.40
• Feel: great situational uses

Nova CL

• Description: early, better tracking, damage, ammo
• Time if alone: 4.48
• Ammo Used alone: ~6
• Time as a pair: 3.99
• Ammo Used as a pair: ~5
• Overall Average: 4.24
• DPS: 23.60
• Feel: changes the concept

Nova Conclusions:
This one provides a very strange choice because the Nova CL completely changes how you can use the weapon. A basic Nova should be fired down a hallway to hit hidden enemies around a far corner, but the Nova Cl can’t do that due to the early explosion. On the other hand, if you’re surrounded in a room, that early explosion could save you. I prefer the tactical uses of the Nova XB, but this is truly a personal choice.

Devastator PT

• Description: piercing, faster, ammo
• Time if alone: 2.26
• Ammo Used alone: ~2
• Time as a pair: 2.28
• Ammo Used as a pair: ~2
• Overall Average: 2.27
• DPS: 23.49
• Feel: impressively instant

Devastator XS

• Description: more damage, bigger, ammo
• Time if alone: 4.75
• Ammo Used alone: ~4
• Time as a pair: 3.77
• Ammo Used as a pair: ~3
• Overall Average: 4.26
• DPS: 44.05
• Feel: stay farther back

Devastator Conclusions:
I worry about my data on this weapon because I was testing against a single target when this weapon is meant to hit groups, and because I don’t know if “armor piercing” does the same thing to ships and reactors. As the name implies, this thing devastated the target with some of the highest damage numbers, especially the Devastator PT which I will be choosing from now on. But if you want a bigger area of effect, the Devastator XS might be better.

Time Bomb LT

• Description: longer effects, ammo
• Time if alone: —
• Ammo Used alone: —
• Time as a pair: 27.24
• Ammo Used as a pair: 10+
• Overall Average: 27.24
• DPS: 3.67
• Feel: nice stun, good to focus

Time Bomb XS

• Description: faster, higher damage, ammo
• Time if alone: 23.92
• Ammo Used alone: ~11
• Time as a pair: 12.84
• Ammo Used as a pair: ~6
• Overall Average: 18.38
• DPS: 5.44
• Feel: decent damage

Time Bomb Conclusions:
The funny thing about this weapon is that my whole method falls apart; the weapon slows down time, which makes for longer destruction times (and the Time Bomb LT can’t even destroy the reactor alone) and a lower DPS, but for all I know the times and DPS might be higher in real time. Still, I wouldn’t get the Timb Bomb XS because there are better ways to deal damage, and if you only have Time Bombs, you’re doing something wrong. The Time Bomb LT is the clear pick because it’s the best at what it’s meant to be.

Vortex XG

• Description: constant damage, ammo
• Time if alone: —
• Ammo Used alone: —
• Time as a pair: 19.71
• Ammo Used as a pair: 15+
• Overall Average: 19.71
• DPS: 5.07
• Feel: 1 damage per second?

Vortex LP

• Description: lasts longer, ammo
• Time if alone: —
• Ammo Used alone: —
• Time as a pair: 21.31
• Ammo Used as a pair: 18+
• Overall Average: 21.31
• DPS: 4.69
• Feel: pure utility

Vortex Conclusions:
As mentioned above, I also used a Driller M while testing the secondary weapons because I wasn’t sure all of them would be able to destroy the reactor. This weapon is the prime reason why I needed that. Strangely, the times are actually longer than the Driller M would be alone, so I wonder if the pull also affects your bullets somewhat.

Each Vortex deals a bit of damage on impact, but you would need 100 or so to destroy the reactor. The Vortex XG promises some constant damage, but when I was pulled into the center, it was doing about 1 damage a second to my shields. That’s with a fully upgraded ship though, with super shielding, so maybe there’s more like 5 damage a second? I prefer the Vortex LP because on the rare occasions when I use this weapon, I want them to last.

DPS for Primary Weapons:

1. Crusher DX at 15.79
2. Crusher AF at 12.17
3. Cyclone X4 at 11.03
4. Lancer C at 10.21
5. Impulse Q at 8.95
6. Lancer SF at 8.90
7. Cyclone F at 8.70
8. Thunderbolt MX at 8.51
9. Impulse RF at 7.98
10. Thunderbolt RT at 7.47
11. Reflex RF at 5.88
12. Driller M at 5.79
13. Driller DX at 5.70
14. Flak DX at 5.51
15. Flak VK at 4.30
16. Reflex L at 4.03

Energy Usage for Primary Weapons:
(how much energy is required to destroy the reactor)

1. Cyclone X4 at ~13
2. Impulse RF & Cyclone F at ~15
3. Impulse Q at ~16
4. Thunderbolt MX fully charged at ~18
5. Thunderbolt RT fully charged at ~23
6. Thunderbolt MX without charging at ~24
7. Reflex RF & Thunderbolt RT without charging at ~30
8. Reflex L & Lancer C at ~32
9. Lancer SF at ~45

Bullet Usage for Primary Weapons:
(how many bullets are required to destroy the reactor)

1. Crusher DX at ~78
2. Crusher AF at ~103
3. Flak DX at ~105
4. Driller M at ~119
5. Driller DX at ~133
6. Flak VK at ~141

DPS for Secondary Weapons:

1. Devastator PT at 44.05
2. Nova XB at 27.40
3. Nova CL at 23.60
4. Devastator XS at 23.49
5. Creeper XS at 21.55
6. Hunter W at 18.08
7. Creeper ST at 16.02
8. Hunter XT at 13.47
9. Falcon MX at 13.28
10. Missile Pod XS at 12.66
11. Falcon T at 11.49
12. Missile Pod ST at 10.09

Pickup Usage for Secondary Weapons:
(how many pickups are required to destroy the reactor)

1. Devastator PT at 2
2. Creeper XS at 3
3. Creeper ST & Missile Pod XS & Hunter W & Devastator XS at 4
4. Missile Pod ST & Nova XB at 5
5. Hunter XT & Nova CL at 6
6. Falcon MX & Falcon T at 8