When I was farming out the catalyst for Polaris Lance, I noticed I wasn't progressing the column "Perfect Fifth Kills". I had only a few kills/units of progression after many kills with the weapon. Turns out the catalyst only counts the kills that are from the burn damage of the explosion, not the actual explosion itself. I don't think this is intended, but Polaris is an older content drop and some bugs may be still impacting it.
Side-note:
- Bungie, this thing gets dragonfly with the catalyst and currently that's a valued perk when paired with the seasonal mod "energy accelerant", meaning more people will figure out that this gun could be nuts and want to grind for it, so you should probably fix this before then, and since exotics are permanent residents in the game. Plus, whenever you buff scouts it might see more popularity.
*Even if this is intended, it shouldn't be the way it is. Hence, the post to fix it.*