Opticor

The Opticor is a Corpus laser cannon introduced in Update 15.

While charging, the trigger can be released at 50% charge to do the rated damage. If fully charged, the weapon will fire immediately for double the rated damage. If the beam strikes terrain rather than an enemy's body, it creates a radial burst of damage centered on its site of impact. This explosion deals half the damage of the beam itself at the center, with damage reducing over distance.

Characteristics
This weapon deals primarily damage.

Advantages:
 * Extremely high base damage.
 * Deals high damage; effective against armored targets.
 * Possesses the highest potential damage per shot in the game (excluding critical hits), and the highest base damage of all non-Archwing weapons.
 * Range of the laser is infinite.
 * Extremely ammo efficient - uses rifle ammo.
 * Area of effect can hit multiple enemies close enough together.
 * Does not damage the user.
 * Does not need to charge fully to fire (minimum of roughly a third of its full charge).
 * Pinpoint accuracy.
 * Heavy Caliber's accuracy penalty is minimal on this weapon.
 * Can use the exclusive Firestorm mod.
 * Fires a near hitscan projectile, unlike the Ogris and Penta.
 * As a near hitscan projectile gun, there's no need to compensate crosshair aiming at a fairly distant range.
 * Has a polarity slot.
 * Fully charged shots always stagger enemies.

Disadvantages:
 * Slow charge time.
 * Additional delay if charge is released pre-maturely.
 * Low fire rate.
 * Charging and releasing repeatedly or too early can cause the Opticor to jam.
 * Area of effect damage decreases with distance from the impact area.
 * Area of effect does not trigger if an enemy or corpse is hit with the main projectile.
 * The weapon fires as soon as it has reached a full charge, which can lead to premature firing.
 * Low damage - less effective against Flesh, Cloned Flesh and Infested.

Tips

 * Whilst starting out, make use of the Opticor's starting slot to fit Shred or Serration to enhance its AoE potential, and/or damage output. Heavy Caliber's accuracy drop is also very marginal, making it another good choice.
 * Said polarity slot is all the way at the bottom right slot, meaning that if used in Solar Rail Conflicts, the mod in this slot will be the very last one to be acquired. This can be rectified with the use of a Forma to change the polarized slot's position.
 * A critical chance increase and/or critical damage increase can offer immense damage when getting a critical. Even simply increasing the critical chance to 37.5% with Split Chamber and Point Strike is sufficient.
 * Works well in combination with Nova's Antimatter Drop due to the weapon's pin-point accuracy and massive damage, allowing Antimatter Drop to deal large amounts of damage with only a single shot.
 * Shred is recommended for this weapon as it improves the charge time while adding Punch Through. This makes the Opticor much more effective in narrow hallways.
 * The Opticor treats the Shield Lancer's shield as a solid environmental surface, setting off its AoE damage effect. Shooting at Shield Lancers in the midst of enemy Grineer can be a good alternative to shooting the ground to deal splash damage.
 * Unfortunately, due its low base Slash damage, the Opticor almost never deals deadly Slash procs. However, this can be simulated by modding for Toxin damage and Status chance.
 * If a fully charged shot impacts an Arctic Eximus' Snow Globe, it will deal its explosion damage, dealing heavy damage to everything inside. Well-modded Opticors can destroy an entire squadron of enemies huddled in a Snow Globe with one shot using this method.
 * Mesa's Ballistic Battery counts the explosion damage as a separate shot for charging up Ballistic Battery; it is thus possible to achieve a full charge of Ballistic Battery with a single shot from the Opticor. Additionally, it would seem the damage bonus from Ballistic Battery is spread across the explosion of the shot it is put into (requires confirmation).

Trivia

 * At the time of its introduction, firing the weapon at 50% yielded the same damage as firing at full charge, meaning charging the weapon past 50% served no purpose other than to afford additional time to aim. This was fixed in Update 15.0.7.
 * There are slight visual differences between partially-charged shots and fully-charged shots; fully-charged shots are wider and leave a short-lived trail of light after the main shot has dissipated.

Bugs

 * Upon hitting Volt's Electric Shield, the beam will explode, as the shield is considered a solid surface.
 * This however will not prevent the actual shot, only the AoE blast.
 * Enemies hit by the explosion will be alerted, but other enemies will only be alerted when one of the targets hit by the explosion sees you.