Damage Profiles exist in both EVE: Online and DUST 514, however they differ slightly between the two games, and can often be confusing or misunderstood by players. This guide will briefly explain what each of the damage profiles are, as well as how they effect gameplay in DUST 514.
What are Damage Profiles?
There are 5 damage types in DUST 514: Laser, Hybrid-Blaster, Hybrid-Rail, Projectile, and Explosive. Nearly every weapon in the game uses one of these damage types which in turn modifies how well the weapon performs against armor and shields. Effectively, damage types will give bonus damage to either armor or shields, and an equal damage penalty to the other HP pool. For example, Laser damage gives a 20% damage bonus against shields, and a 20% damage penalty against armor. These percentages modify the listed damage value as such:
If a weapon has a base damage of 100 and has a Laser Damage Profile
Against Shields it will do 100+20% for a total of 120 damage.
Against Armor it will do 100-20% for a total of 80 damage.
This means that in this example, if most of the target’s HP is Armor, you will have a harder time killing them. Inversely, if most of their HP is Shield, they will die much faster.
Laser weapons do 120% to Shields and 80% to Armor (+20/-20)
Weapons that have a Laser Damage Profile
- Scrambler Rifles
- Scrambler Pistols
- Laser Rifles
Hybrid-Blaster Weapons do 110% to Shields and 90% to Armor (+10/-10)
Weapons that have a Hybrid-Blaster Damage Profile
- Assault Rifles
- Ion Pistols
- Shotguns
- Plasma Cannons
- Large & Small Blasters (Vehicle & Installation Turrets)
Hybrid-Rail Weapons do 90% to Shields and 110% to Armor (aka -10/+10)
Weapons that have a Hybrid-Rail Damage Profile
- Rail Rifles
- Bolt Pistols
- Magsec SMGs
- Forge Guns
- Sniper Rifles
- Large & Small Railguns (Vehicle & Installation Turrets)
Projectile Weapons do 85% to Shields and 115% to Armor (-15/+15).
Weapons that have Projectile Damage Profile
- Combat Rifles
- Submachine Guns
- Heavy Machine Guns
Explosive Weapons do 80% to Shields and 120% to Armor (-20/+20).
Weapons that have Explosive Damage Profile
- Mass Drivers
- Swarm Launchers
- Locus Grenades
- AV Grenades
- Flaylock Pistols
- Remote Explosives
- Proximity Mines
- Large & Small Missile Launchers (Vehicle & Installation Turrets)
Some weapons do not fit into into typical damage types and have unique damage profiles.
- Nova Knives do 100% to Shields and 100% to Armor
- Melee attacks do 100% to Shields and 100% to Armor
- Flux Grenades do 100% to Shields and 0% to Armor (These grenades only damage shields and cannot kill infantry, they will however destroy any deployed equipment in a wide blast radius)
- Null Cannons do 100% to Shields and 100% to Armor (These are the large cannons controlled by the control panels in Skirmish and Domination that target each team’s MCC)
Weapon Proficiency
Nearly all weapons have a Proficiency skill in their skill tree. This skill typically increases the damage bonus by 3%/level for a total bonus of 15%, but does not modify the damage penalty. For example:
A Rail Rifle will naturally do 90% damage against shields, and 110% damage against armor. With Rail Rifle Proficiency fully trained to level 5, the Rail Rifle will still do 90% damage to Shields, but do 110% plus an additional 15% to armor. This makes the Proficiency skill very powerful and worth training into once you unlock it.
Dropsuit Bonuses
Some dropsuits offer bonuses that are dependent upon damage profiles.
- Assault suits gain a weapon support bonuses for specific damage profiles.
- Commando suits gain a weapon damage bonus for specific damage profiles.
- Sentinels gain a damage resistance against specific damage profiles.
Summary
The most important part to understand about damage profiles is that no matter what weapon you may be using at a given moment, there will be enemies who will perform very well against your weapon’s damage type, and others who will perform very poorly against it. Like many aspect of DUST 514, you are never going to be good at everything or very powerful in every situation. This is why it is important to work as a squad to not only diversify your roles, but also what kind of damage your teammates are dealing so that you can react to any situation as a unit.
