The amount of aim assist on aggressive frame hand cannons at range is so strong that it limits the number of competitive options for the player.
I'm sure everyone has seen it now. It has been on YouTube, Twitter, and if you're like me, tested by yourself.
[spoiler]If you haven't, TrueVanguard and Lucky (kinda old) have videos up.[/spoiler]
If you take a 120 RPM hand cannon and aim at a target in its "sweet spot" range (30-36 meters), the amount of forgiveness you get aim-wise is absolutely ridiculous.
You can aim for the lower gut and get a crit for 90 damage. So you get a massive payoff in the form of the highest single bullet primary damage in the game, without even needing to place your shot well.
On top of that, the guns only need 2 crits and 1 body to get a kill on higher resilience guardians and 1 crit and 2 bodies to get a kill on lower resilience guardians.
And this is before we even talk range or damage increasing perks like rampage.
There's virtually no risk vs reward here. I mean there just isn't. If you get flinched, you're fine. You're allowed a bodyshot, and the aim assist will probably give you a crit anyways. There is no map where the archetype isn't supported by the majority, if not all, available lanes. 120s also deal really, really heavy flinch, so throwing your opponent off the mark is built into the gun.
All this together makes a player feel like they have to use a 120 against every player their skill level or higher who is using one.
Look at 140 RPM hand cannons for comparison. Yes, their cones are forgiving as well, but they require 3 crits, have much steeper damage falloff, and can't two tap without multiple buffs. This means that their TTK can be heavily influenced by flinch and they aren't supported on all maps to the degree 120s are. Therefore, 140s are successfully countered by several pulse rifle and scout rifle archetypes (map permitting) while still being vulnerable to autos if they don't play cover.
140s are possibly the best version of a balanced hand cannon we have seen, and yet 120s break past every one of those weaknesses. They don't really have any of the weaknesses a 140 has or any weaknesses unique to 120s, and I personally think that is an issue.
Hopefully I'm not the only one with this train of thought.
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16 RepliesEdited by Dredgen Araphel: 6/30/2021 5:59:16 PMIts not the aa that makes 120s oppressive they actually have the least aa its the falloff is almost nonexistent. It already at optimal ranges hit for 96 to the head and 56 body with 120 rpm thats is extremely excessive. At ranges its not supposed to fight in its damage drops to 74 head and 41 body thats still good damage almost the same damage as a 140 which is bad because that means its inescapable at all ranges. Its rpm need to go back to 110 it penalty at range need to be 56 head 30 body and it will be fine. The rpm decrease will force headshots because as it is I have the speed to land 2 body and one head or just 2 head 1 body out of range.