Well from a pve perspective, it is many times better than graviton lance in all aspects. Outbreak is a top tier option and the undisputed best pve pulse in the game and graviton/vigilance are not even in the equation lol. Outbreak is much more popular than graviton in pvp as well which makes me believe its a [b]much[/b] better weapon. As for the mission... it is not too difficult at all. It is one of the few activities that is difficult enough to require specific weapons and specific coordinated load outs and strategies. Make no mistake that’s a good thing! It doesn’t limit your load out options though... people can run a variety of loadouts, however in order to beat the mission it still takes planning skill and experience. Regarding the overall difficulty of the mission, multiple people have soloed the mission on all platforms... (personally I have two manned heroic multiple times). It’s not easy the first few times but after many runs you get the hang of it.

No, the gun really isn't that amazing in PvE, I've used both a number of times and Graviton Lance beats it every time. The nanite swarms are kind of laughable as they don't really do much unless the the enemies are right next to each other, mean while the seeking projectiles on Graviton Lance travel a good distance away from the enemy that has been killed and can weaken and kill enemies that are a good distance away, they also don't need to be precision kills in order to proc. I've wiped out entire rooms with just a few well placed bursts from Graviton, while only getting small groups with Outbreak. Even the base damage on the Lance is better as the second round in the burst does more damage and doesn't suffer from damage fall off, you're right the weapons aren't even on the same level, Outbreak looks cooler (depending on your tastes) and maybe has the DPS advantage over the Lance when it comes to bosses, but it's definitely not as effective as Gravion Lance in my book. Lance can wven be paired with Nezarec's Sin to great effect as well, something that can't be said for Outbreak. Considering that both the weapons have on death damage effects that seek out targets I would say that those two are good candidates to compare each other against. Lastly just because everyone else uses a gun does not mean it's good, everyone uses the Rose and we all know that gun is really not that good.

Ok so I use Outbreak a lot in endgame activities and it is a [i]much[/i] better weapon than graviton overall in pve. When comparing sheer ad-clear potential, you are correct, both guns are very comparable. Graviton may be superior due to consistency or it’s sheer power of the area of effect perk. However, Outbreak does have an advantage for area denial. Upon precision kill... the nanites will linger for a few seconds longer than the void explosion from graviton would... which can help kill enemies that are spawning in or who were previously outside the kill range and happen to walk into proximity. Where the outbreak meets and probably exceeds graviton in ad-clear potential is its masterwork. The nanites end up doing more damage, which are therefore more likely to kill low level enemies... and when enemies die to nanites, they spawn more nanites. The consequences of this synergy is that one precision kill can chain nanite kills and spawn more nanites, etc... giving out real the potential to clear an entire room of enemies in just a couple kills. The reason Outbreak is such an amazing gun is that not only is it so good at ad-clear (compared to something like graviton)... it is amazing at single target damage. For sustained damage periods especially, Outbreak has by far the most damage and dps out of all primaries, and outdamages the majority of special weapons and even heavies under the right circumstances (which are that multiple ppl are using and stacking nanites). Realistically, Outbreak can put up 2x, 3x and up to 5x dps of something like graviton in a single target if you shoot at a single target for long enough. The only primary that can compete with graviton is a 6x rat king stacked team... which is kind of inconvenient anyway because rat king does not have the range nor ad-clear potential of outbreak. So basically, Outbreak is an all-around powerhouse and pve (and unfortunately will probably get nerfed before shadowkeep 😰 I hope not) So let me quickly lecture and educate about the current pve meta. In the current meta, Grenade launchers have the highest dps of all weapons, especially GLs with spike grenades and void damage. Swarm of the Raven and Wendigo are some of the best heavies for endgame activities. For that reason, exotic heavies like 1k voices, whisper and darci are no longer required, freeing up an exotic slot for a primary weapon. With that being said, GLs have highest total dps but their reserves can be emptied relatively fast, meaning ammo can be a problem in endgame activities where bosses have lots of health (think heroic menagerie, raids). So that’s why pairing GLs with Outbreak is arguably the best combo in the game- pair best dps heavy with best dps primary (therefore having abundant ammo and total dmg) with high tier ad-clear capabilities as well.

I just wish the nanites did more than hover over a corpse, maybe something like one breaks off and seeks out a target and then the rest would follow that one if that nanite found a target, like a swarm of angry bees or something (I remember an ability that worked kind of like that in Bioshock 2 actually, it was SO degenerate once it was maxed out). The other reason I like Graviton Lance a bit more over Outbreak is the fact that it's catalyst only requires patience while the Outbreak catalyst requires a level of patience and skill that some just simply may not have (I sure don't have the patience to go for it nor do I have the people on hand to help me get it). Not sure where Outrageous Fortune sits by the way, but I've found that GL to have pretty decent DPS as well, though nobody seems to mention that one.