Punch Through

Punch Through is a mechanic that allows weapons to shoot through objects, cover and even enemies. Punch Through is typically bestowed through Mods, though certain weapons have innate Punch Through values.

A basic, unranked Punch Through mod gives a value of at least 0.1 meters of Punch Through, which is sufficient to bypass a Shield Lancer's riot shield. Thus, a skilled marksman would be able to estimate the location of enemies' weak spots while they're in cover and land a shot or two without waiting for the enemy to peek out of cover. Greater values can potentially allow the penetration of many enemies at once, and can be an effective damage multiplier when utilized against swarms of enemies.

Mechanics
Punch Through distance is the maximum depth of material (object or enemy) that a projectile can penetrate. This value is not diminished as the projectile passes through material, it is a simple yes-or-no check if the projectile can pierce the target with its current trajectory. In essence, if a given value of Punch Through can pierce one of a given enemy at its thickest point, it will penetrate them all, no matter how many there are. For example, if using a weapon with 0.8m of Punch Through distance against 3 Grineer Bombards all standing shoulder to shoulder, attempting to shoot through them all at shoulder level would result in only the first Bombard being hit, while doing so at waist-level (where the distance to be penetrated is much less) will result in a hit on all three. A Punch Through value of 1.2m is sufficient to easily pass through most enemies in the game (Infested Boilers being a notable exception, though they're not the only one). The same rule applies to objects and terrain.

Once the projectile encounters a surface too thick to penetrate, the projectile stops normally. It is important to note that there are some objects that cannot be Punched Through by any means; most terrain is too thick to penetrate, and barriers from abilities such as Snow Globe (both the Frost and Arctic Eximus variants) or Nullifier Crewman fields will block all projectiles regardless of the amount of Punch Through they may otherwise be capable of. Additionally, some Bosses have weakspots that periodically close up, and cannot be penetrated by any means until they open up (such as General Sargas Ruk's exhaust vents, which only open after he performs certain attacks).

Beginning in, Punch Through now functions somewhat properly with non-hitscan weapons. However, projectiles that manage to penetrate a surface will veer off to the side once they exit, and with significantly reduced velocity. Although Thrown Melee weapons can equip the Power Throw mod to get Punch Through, it will only apply to enemies; the melee weapon will still bounce off any obstacles it encounters while in flight.

Weapons
Some weapons come with an innate amount of Punch Through without any installed mods. Most weapons with a charged shot mechanic will add Punch Through upon full charge, while their uncharged shots may not penetrate anything. In both cases, their innate Punch Through values will stack with any mods that grant Punch Through.

Expected Enemies Penetrated
Average data, result will differ due to width variances.