DUST Search - Plasma cannon guide(how to make it work)

Delirium Inferno wrote:

Damage mods are needed for sure. The problem is like you said, it still only does enough damage to kill militias and scouts. And this is a prototype weapon with with full efficiency and a complex damage mod. The Duvolle Assault Rifle does 37.4 damage. 37.4 x 1.25 = 46.75. So let's figure out how many bullets it would take to equal that splash damage, 391.25 / 46.75 = 8 bullets roughly. Since it fires at 750 RPM, that would take about .64 seconds. Now considering the Allotek Plasma Cannon has a 0.6 second charge up, add the 25% reduction and it's now .45 seconds. So .64 seconds - .45 seconds = .19 seconds.

So really, for 2 tenths of a second more you could of done the same thing with an assault rifle, plus the assault rifle will keep on going where as plasma cannon needs to reload. And yes I know the assault rifle should be better at straight up assault, but come on right now as it is the plasma cannon has no use other than looking cool on the battlefield. And I'm with you that you can make it work. I've made it work too, but I would of done much better with anything else in hand. If CCP doesn't want to tweak the damage then they need to expand the blast radius, because it should have a bonus in hitting multiple people in groups at once, but right now unless they are hugging eachother it's not going to happen.

Also it does appear this weapon is intended for use against infantry. Quoting from the in-game description,
"primarily for use in urban operations and confined space combat."

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Severance Pay Hellstorm Inc League of Infamy 201	Posted - 2013.05.16 17:04:00 - [1] - Quote Why people hate it. Most complaints come from its comparison to other AV. In my honest opinion even against AV nades it falls short. Seems even proto AV nades do more damage and miss less than this weapon. In terms of DPS it is not as good as a forgegun and in anti infantry it can't seem to find it's niche. People are complaining that it is not as good as grenade launcher in terms of crowdcontrol and falls way short of forgegun in terms of antivehicle. What we have here is a multipurpose weapon that is a jack of many trades but master of none. Making the impossible possible 1. The plasma canon is weaker than forgegun because it is superior in different ways, and the key is to use these differences to your advantage. This means you can't use it the same way you would a forgegun or grenade launcher. At long range the projectile is easily dodged even by vehicles. LAV are impossible to hit until they stop, tanks are easier but they can still get away. Installations don't stand a snowballs chance in Iraq. Forgeguns can kill tanks easily because of the projectile speed it isn't important to be close so you can snipe them. Forgeguns have difficulty getting close because of slow movement and manuevering. They key here for plasma is obviously movement. You are in a medium or light suit and you can move quickly. It is possible to take a shot and then reposition to take more shots. To clarify, plasma is not a sniping weapon. It is for doing things that are hard to do with a forge gun, running, jumping, hiding. 2. Another key advantage of the suit is that you get equipment. With nanohives you need not worry about ammo, ever. 3. To make it work on infantry it is best to think of it as a shotgun. You can suppress at long range but is all, if you want kills you need to get in close. Expect high assist counts, if you get the first attack rarely to you get the last unless you get direct hits. This gu is a peekaboo weapon. Jump in and out of combat quickly don't stick around, similar to shotgun tactics. Move and jump a lot. Don't worry about aiming, there is plent of splash. Make your attacks while jumping, this will give you a downward vantage to took splash. Aim for legs, sometimes you get lucky and instead of splash you make a direct hit instead. Take advantage of close quarters areas. Do not enage in the open. 4. Have a good side arm. Sometimes after landing splash it is faster to swap to smg and cleanup with that or flaylock. 5. Use caldari assault. You get a reload speed bonus for hybrid weapons. Stacked with skill reload bonus it is a total of 25%. If you cap these as well as the operation skill, firing time will be 2.8 seconds after the first. Firing time for forgegun is 2.1 sec with assault types including the first. 4x 2.1 is 8.4 and 0.4 + 3x2.8 is 8.8 so plasma is actually 0.4 sec slower at firing 4 shots than forgegun. Unless you fire 5 shot, this is when forgegun must reload and plasma becomes much faster. 5x2.1 + 3.5 is 14sec and 0.4+4x2.8 is 11.6 which is 2.4 sec faster than forgegun. 6. The modules necessary will be only 1 shield extender and then triple stack dmg in high and a kinetic and biotic in low with probably a cpu mod. You are going to be speed tanking, the skill you need to develope is manuevering and not shooting. Need to be fast and you need to be able to run a lot.
J Falcs Bojo's School of the Trades 37	Posted - 2013.05.16 17:21:00 - [2] - Quote You almost have me going PLC AV. I have been underwhelmed by SLs (specced into different things now since we get one future respec). Mostly it's their slow speed. Hug or hide in between buildings and terrain and your rockets hit buildings, crates, etc. Get out in the open and it's easy to duck the rockets (assuming a half-competent driver/pilot), and you are a clear shot for snipers. Then, a piece of me is still just thinking of using my BPO heavy skinweave suit to simply take skills into the FG (at least prof III). This takes care of the SL issues I have because of speed of "muzzle" to target damage, but like you said, I'd be lumbering in a heavy. I had fun in Chromosome with a FG as antivehicle (I was mediocre at best with anti-infantry FGing) Please no one take these issues as "complaints." I am impressed with the weaknesses and strengths of each, and I simply have not found the one that I enjoy the most. I know I want to be dedicated logi with at least one dedicated choice at AV. The PLC gives clear advantages over the SL (one projectile fired from the center of the cannon and anti-infantry capability), the FG (speed and maneuverability of dropsuit), and AV nades (I am assuming, based on what you are saying, the PLC projectile travels farther than an AV nade). Anyways, +1.
Tac Com Sand Mercenary Corps Inc. 56	Posted - 2013.05.16 18:02:00 - [3] - Quote I really enjoyed the read. Often when new things come out, it will be compared to other things in the game based on what that current ingame item is good at. It's nice to see others in the community who are willing to look past just straight comparisions in the same scenarios as weapons such as the forge gun. Keep up the good work ^,^ +1
Severance Pay Hellstorm Inc League of Infamy 204	Posted - 2013.05.16 19:41:00 - [4] - Quote I appended a gallente suit variation and cleaned up some typos. Enjoy.
Delirium Inferno Edoras Corporation 274	Posted - 2013.05.16 21:37:00 - [5] - Quote Figure out the trajectory and it's not too hard to land body shots. Only things I think need improving are clip size and splash radius.
Severance Pay Hellstorm Inc League of Infamy 204	Posted - 2013.05.16 21:45:00 - [6] - Quote Delirium Inferno wrote: Figure out the trajectory and it's not too hard to land body shots. Only things I think need improving are clip size and splash radius. Clipsize is irrelevant if you consider the reload speed is scary fast if you have caldari suit and reload skills. I expect variants soon, assault, breach, and possible burst variant. Assault will likely have 2 shots in the clip, I would count on a drastically reduced direct damage value. Breach will likely be like forgegun and do double direct dmg but reduced splash size and radius and double charge time. Burst will have really long reload times but reduced splash and direct dmg. My impressions.
Delirium Inferno Edoras Corporation 275	Posted - 2013.05.17 00:42:00 - [7] - Quote Severance Pay wrote: Delirium Inferno wrote: Figure out the trajectory and it's not too hard to land body shots. Only things I think need improving are clip size and splash radius. Clipsize is irrelevant if you consider the reload speed is scary fast if you have caldari suit and reload skills. I expect variants soon, assault, breach, and possible burst variant. Assault will likely have 2 shots in the clip, I would count on a drastically reduced direct damage value. Breach will likely be like forgegun and do double direct dmg but reduced splash size and radius and double charge time. Burst will have really long reload times but reduced splash and direct dmg. My impressions. But you see that's stupid if you make using a Caldari suit the most efficient way to use a Gallente weapon.
Severance Pay Hellstorm Inc League of Infamy 205	Posted - 2013.05.17 13:53:00 - [8] - Quote Delirium Inferno wrote: Severance Pay wrote: Delirium Inferno wrote: Figure out the trajectory and it's not too hard to land body shots. Only things I think need improving are clip size and splash radius. Clipsize is irrelevant if you consider the reload speed is scary fast if you have caldari suit and reload skills. I expect variants soon, assault, breach, and possible burst variant. Assault will likely have 2 shots in the clip, I would count on a drastically reduced direct damage value. Breach will likely be like forgegun and do double direct dmg but reduced splash size and radius and double charge time. Burst will have really long reload times but reduced splash and direct dmg. My impressions. But you see that's stupid if you make using a Caldari suit the most efficient way to use a Gallente weapon. I don't develope the game I just write the guides.
Cody Sietz The Tritan Industries RISE of LEGION 116	Posted - 2013.05.17 16:59:00 - [9] - Quote Do you use dmg mods with it? I tried them and it doesn't seem to help too much.
Severance Pay Hellstorm Inc League of Infamy 207	Posted - 2013.05.17 17:19:00 - [10] - Quote Cody Sietz wrote: Do you use dmg mods with it? I tried them and it doesn't seem to help too much. They do help damage. The splash damage is the highest in the game, even superior to large missle turrets. Ofcourse, I only use co plex dmg mods. Stacking 3 will give you 25% increased dmg, 313*1.25 = 390 dmg, this will oneshot any scout suit or militia fitting. I urge people to invest in proficiency to have the ability to oneshot a variety of logistics fits. Another thing to bare in mind is that the direct damage of the proto is 1155, this is NOT enough to kill a sentinel. You will need a damage mod if you want to kill a sentinel with direct dmg.

Delirium Inferno Edoras Corporation 280	Posted - 2013.05.17 18:51:00 - [11] - Quote Damage mods are needed for sure. The problem is like you said, it still only does enough damage to kill militias and scouts. And this is a prototype weapon with with full efficiency and a complex damage mod. The Duvolle Assault Rifle does 37.4 damage. 37.4 x 1.25 = 46.75. So let's figure out how many bullets it would take to equal that splash damage, 391.25 / 46.75 = 8 bullets roughly. Since it fires at 750 RPM, that would take about .64 seconds. Now considering the Allotek Plasma Cannon has a 0.6 second charge up, add the 25% reduction and it's now .45 seconds. So .64 seconds - .45 seconds = .19 seconds. So really, for 2 tenths of a second more you could of done the same thing with an assault rifle, plus the assault rifle will keep on going where as plasma cannon needs to reload. And yes I know the assault rifle should be better at straight up assault, but come on right now as it is the plasma cannon has no use other than looking cool on the battlefield. And I'm with you that you can make it work. I've made it work too, but I would of done much better with anything else in hand. If CCP doesn't want to tweak the damage then they need to expand the blast radius, because it should have a bonus in hitting multiple people in groups at once, but right now unless they are hugging eachother it's not going to happen. Also it does appear this weapon is intended for use against infantry. Quoting from the in-game description, "primarily for use in urban operations and confined space combat."
Severance Pay Hellstorm Inc League of Infamy 208	Posted - 2013.05.17 20:26:00 - [12] - Quote Delirium Inferno wrote: Damage mods are needed for sure. The problem is like you said, it still only does enough damage to kill militias and scouts. And this is a prototype weapon with with full efficiency and a complex damage mod. The Duvolle Assault Rifle does 37.4 damage. 37.4 x 1.25 = 46.75. So let's figure out how many bullets it would take to equal that splash damage, 391.25 / 46.75 = 8 bullets roughly. Since it fires at 750 RPM, that would take about .64 seconds. Now considering the Allotek Plasma Cannon has a 0.6 second charge up, add the 25% reduction and it's now .45 seconds. So .64 seconds - .45 seconds = .19 seconds. So really, for 2 tenths of a second more you could of done the same thing with an assault rifle, plus the assault rifle will keep on going where as plasma cannon needs to reload. And yes I know the assault rifle should be better at straight up assault, but come on right now as it is the plasma cannon has no use other than looking cool on the battlefield. And I'm with you that you can make it work. I've made it work too, but I would of done much better with anything else in hand. If CCP doesn't want to tweak the damage then they need to expand the blast radius, because it should have a bonus in hitting multiple people in groups at once, but right now unless they are hugging eachother it's not going to happen. Also it does appear this weapon is intended for use against infantry. Quoting from the in-game description, "primarily for use in urban operations and confined space combat." I couldn't have said it better. Instead I will add by saying I believe it is anti infantry and anti installation weapon, assuming that there is a purpose for its AV potential. Unfortunately, I am terrible with the assault rifle, even though this weapon is ineffecient and unpractical, it gives me a different option in gameplay that is fun and also makes me effective in combat.
Xender17 Oblivion S.G.X 80	Posted - 2013.05.17 20:28:00 - [13] - Quote This is my fav weapon but it lacks the ability to kill anything with its shield still active.
EXASTRA INVICTAS Crux Special Tasks Group Gallente Federation 3	Posted - 2013.05.18 17:58:00 - [14] - Quote Good post. I just recently started using the Plasma cannon again. At first I was really underwhelmed because I went a whole match without a single LAV, Tank, or Infantry kill. However, I did (somewhat) decently in my last match with it, managing a kill or two, but mostly kill assists. Luckily for us, it's a Hybrid weapon so it's equally useful against both the Madrugar and the Gunnlogi tanks. I think sometimes it feels like I'm shooting cotton balls, however, and wish the projectile moved at about 1.25x its current speed. Rather than give us an extra ~2 shots with Plasma Cannon Proficiency 5 I'd rather it give a 3% or 5% bonus to the projectile speed. Maybe that would be too much, I'm not sure. But I'm getting better with the weapon, and am quickly finding that a damage modifier may be required to really rake in the kills with it. Edit: Keep in mind that I am using Meta Level 1 Plasma Cannons right now, I'm a little bit SP deficient at the moment, haha.
Spectral Clone The Unholy Legion Of DarkStar DARKSTAR ARMY 17	Posted - 2013.05.20 13:35:00 - [15] - Quote Hi, I really like threads where people are innovative in their suggestions for builds. Thanks for putting this up! I am quite interested in the PLC since it requires skill to use efficiently. Questions to OP: - Would you rather fit the PLC on a scout or assault frame (scout frame gives no obvious bonus to this weapon, so one could go proto light frame)? - How viable is armor rep tanking combined with speed-tanking (this would be applicable only for the assault frame)?
Delirium Inferno Edoras Corporation 331	Posted - 2013.05.20 14:42:00 - [16] - Quote Spectral Clone wrote: Hi, I really like threads where people are innovative in their suggestions for builds. Thanks for putting this up! I am quite interested in the PLC since it requires skill to use efficiently. Questions to OP: - Would you rather fit the PLC on a scout or assault frame (scout frame gives no obvious bonus to this weapon, so one could go proto light frame)? - How viable is armor rep tanking combined with speed-tanking (this would be applicable only for the assault frame)? I'm not the OP but 1) I'm not sure as to how much the extra speed would help, but you are correct that the proto light frame would serve this role just as efficiently. 2) Rule of thumb with any weapon that deals massive initial damage is to armor rep tank. A Gallente Light Frame can do this and speed tank since it gets 4 lows.
Spectral Clone The Unholy Legion Of DarkStar DARKSTAR ARMY 17	Posted - 2013.05.20 18:37:00 - [17] - Quote Delirium Inferno wrote: Spectral Clone wrote: Hi, I really like threads where people are innovative in their suggestions for builds. Thanks for putting this up! I am quite interested in the PLC since it requires skill to use efficiently. Questions to OP: - Would you rather fit the PLC on a scout or assault frame (scout frame gives no obvious bonus to this weapon, so one could go proto light frame)? - How viable is armor rep tanking combined with speed-tanking (this would be applicable only for the assault frame)? I'm not the OP but 1) I'm not sure as to how much the extra speed would help, but you are correct that the proto light frame would serve this role just as efficiently. 2) Rule of thumb with any weapon that deals massive initial damage is to armor rep tank. A Gallente Light Frame can do this and speed tank since it gets 4 lows. The "peek-a-boo" playstyle is better with reppers, aye?
Severance Pay Hellstorm Inc League of Infamy 219	Posted - 2013.05.20 20:28:00 - [18] - Quote Reppers or Regulators, depends on the suit you have. Speed tanking always requires stamina and catalyzers
Spectral Clone The Unholy Legion Of DarkStar DARKSTAR ARMY 17	Posted - 2013.05.20 20:35:00 - [19] - Quote Severance Pay wrote: Reppers or Regulators, depends on the suit you have. Speed tanking always requires stamina and catalyzers What about minmatar medium or light frame? Minmatar light suit has the fastest speed in the game.
Wol Verine Royal Uhlans Amarr Empire 0	Posted - 2013.05.20 23:54:00 - [20] - Quote Id just like to inject this. this weapon appears to be great at destroying Armour but not shields. So I stuck some flux grenades on my fit. this works great at groups of people, lob in a flux grenade to wipe they're shield, then follow up with a well aimed shot from the PLC at the centre of the group. I was getting multiple kills like this. Although if there was anyone left, i usually bought the farm, lol. Also, great as a support weapon, and suppression. Id like to +1 at whoever suggested that it needs a splash radius buff, or if not this then at least increasing the hit radius. Hit detection for this weapon isnt great and unless you hit dead centre mass it just passes by your target, oh and one more thing. Sometimes, unless you hit the floor, the target takes no damage. Ive hit walls directly behind people only to have them take absolutely no damage.

Arramakaian Eka Tronhadar Free Guard Minmatar Republic 541	Posted - 2013.05.21 10:02:00 - [21] - Quote Thanks for this guide, really insightful! I'm taking the optional respec, and am staying as shottie scout, going for Flaylock as sidearm. Instead of using Swarms for AV as my secondary scout fit, PLC sounds great - as someone else above posted, I've also been quite underwhelmed with Swarm Launchers. Wol Verine wrote: this weapon appears to be great at destroying Armour but not shields. So I stuck some flux grenades on my fit. this works great at groups of people, lob in a flux grenade to wipe they're shield, then follow up with a well aimed shot from the PLC at the centre of the group. I was getting multiple kills like this. Although if there was anyone left, i usually bought the farm, lol. Good tactic!
Severance Pay Hellstorm Inc League of Infamy 221	Posted - 2013.05.21 12:48:00 - [22] - Quote Wol Verine wrote: Id just like to inject this. this weapon appears to be great at destroying Armour but not shields. So I stuck some flux grenades on my fit. this works great at groups of people, lob in a flux grenade to wipe they're shield, then follow up with a well aimed shot from the PLC at the centre of the group. I was getting multiple kills like this. Although if there was anyone left, i usually bought the farm, lol. Also, great as a support weapon, and suppression. Id like to +1 at whoever suggested that it needs a splash radius buff, or if not this then at least increasing the hit radius. Hit detection for this weapon isnt great and unless you hit dead centre mass it just passes by your target, oh and one more thing. Sometimes, unless you hit the floor, the target takes no damage. Ive hit walls directly behind people only to have them take absolutely no damage. TO THE CONTRARY!!! It does 10% bonus to shields and no reduction to armor. Don't post stuff that isn't true you are misinforming people.
Severance Pay Hellstorm Inc League of Infamy 221	Posted - 2013.05.21 12:51:00 - [23] - Quote Arramakaian Eka wrote: Thanks for this guide, really insightful! I'm taking the optional respec, and am staying as shottie scout, going for Flaylock as sidearm. Instead of using Swarms for AV as my secondary scout fit, PLC sounds great - as someone else above posted, I've also been quite underwhelmed with Swarm Launchers. Wol Verine wrote: this weapon appears to be great at destroying Armour but not shields. So I stuck some flux grenades on my fit. this works great at groups of people, lob in a flux grenade to wipe they're shield, then follow up with a well aimed shot from the PLC at the centre of the group. I was getting multiple kills like this. Although if there was anyone left, i usually bought the farm, lol. Good tactic! Don't use it as an AV fit, you will be sorry. Read the guide.
Spectral Clone The Unholy Legion Of DarkStar DARKSTAR ARMY 19	Posted - 2013.05.21 18:59:00 - [24] - Quote Thanks again Severance for the guide, I am truly considering going plasma when I get the respec. Have not decided which suit though :-)
Severance Pay Purgatorium of the Damned League of Infamy 246	Posted - 2013.05.27 05:17:00 - [25] - Quote Spectral Clone wrote: Severance Pay wrote: Reppers or Regulators, depends on the suit you have. Speed tanking always requires stamina and catalyzers What about minmatar medium or light frame? Minmatar light suit has the fastest speed in the game. You are trading reload speed for sprinting speed. I would think it over carefully.
The Robot Devil BetaMax. CRONOS. 356	Posted - 2013.06.03 13:28:00 - [26] - Quote Spectral Clone wrote: Hi, I really like threads where people are innovative in their suggestions for builds. Thanks for putting this up! I am quite interested in the PLC since it requires skill to use efficiently. Questions to OP: - Would you rather fit the PLC on a scout or assault frame (scout frame gives no obvious bonus to this weapon, so one could go proto light frame)? - How viable is armor rep tanking combined with speed-tanking (this would be applicable only for the assault frame)? Level 3 gal logi and 3 complex armor reps give a little over 21 HP/s, if you are good at evasion then it is hard to beat. No sidearm and the charge/ reload time makes it difficult to get off more than one shot in cqc and the glowing ball of white-hot-death let's everyone know where you are. HAVs like that and fire back.
Spectral Clone The Unholy Legion Of DarkStar DARKSTAR ARMY 21	Posted - 2013.06.03 14:25:00 - [27] - Quote The Robot Devil wrote: Level 3 gal logi and 3 complex armor reps give a little over 21 HP/s, if you are good at evasion then it is hard to beat. No sidearm and the charge/ reload time makes it difficult to get off more than one shot in cqc and the glowing ball of white-hot-death let's everyone know where you are. HAVs like that and fire back. I am now however a proud caldari assault (ADV suit currently) PLC user with SMG as sidearm :-) Shield tanking >> all.
Severance Pay Purgatorium of the Damned League of Infamy 309	Posted - 2013.06.03 15:35:00 - [28] - Quote The Robot Devil wrote: Spectral Clone wrote: Hi, I really like threads where people are innovative in their suggestions for builds. Thanks for putting this up! I am quite interested in the PLC since it requires skill to use efficiently. Questions to OP: - Would you rather fit the PLC on a scout or assault frame (scout frame gives no obvious bonus to this weapon, so one could go proto light frame)? - How viable is armor rep tanking combined with speed-tanking (this would be applicable only for the assault frame)? Level 3 gal logi and 3 complex armor reps give a little over 21 HP/s, if you are good at evasion then it is hard to beat. No sidearm and the charge/ reload time makes it difficult to get off more than one shot in cqc and the glowing ball of white-hot-death let's everyone know where you are. HAVs like that and fire back. The charge is released after 0.45 - 0.6seconds. Glowing deathball is actually hard to catch. As for the reload speed, the caldari assault can augment it. 4 complex dmg mods in high makes it easy to oneshot skill most suits with splash. Unfortunately, only the proto can do this. As for adv and std build, peekaboo tactics are employed. Watch those corners, especially if you are a scout or heavy. Heavies are easy to hit directly and scouts get oneshot by the splash at any level.
Aisha Ctarl The Unholy Legion Of DarkStar DARKSTAR ARMY 170	Posted - 2013.06.03 17:26:00 - [29] - Quote How would the PC do with an Amarr Assault suit? I'm assuming I could through on a plate, repper, and kincat, with damage mods in the highs and then the PC/Flaylock for the weapons.
Poplo Furuya Crux Special Tasks Group Gallente Federation 2	Posted - 2013.06.03 20:12:00 - [30] - Quote Aisha Ctarl wrote: How would the PC do with an Amarr Assault suit? I'm assuming I could through on a plate, repper, and kincat, with damage mods in the highs and then the PC/Flaylock for the weapons. Amarr's speed deficient and otherwise has no notable qualities that tie into using the PLC as a hit and run weapon. Can make it work but it doesn't really bring anything to the table. The plate would also slow you down yet further and, I believe, impact jump height. Edit: it would however be styling.



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