Talk:Magnum Force/@comment-72.18.249.98-20150118130854

To settle the issue of "is it worth it or should I use an elemental mod instead?" the answer is yes  if you have at least 150% elemental damage (total) as well as Magnum Force. Let's prove it with some mathematics (decimal results may be interpreted as percentages):

The base physical damage doesn't really matter but for the sake of calculations, let's say the total physical damage is 1. Suppose you have three mod slots left and you want an elemental combo and wonder if the third slot should be filled with Magnum Force or an event mod (60% elemental damage + 60% status chance) that adds to the elemental combo. Then you're total elemental damage with the event mod would be 90%+90%+60% = 240%. Multiplied by the modded base damage results in 1x240% = 2.4 elemental damage with 1 physical damage.

If instead we use two 90% elemental mods and Magnum Force, then the modded base damage becomes 1x1.66 = 1.66. The elemental damage (90%+90% = 180%) is multiplied to the modded base damage resulting in 1.66x180% = 2.988 elemental damage with 1.66 physical damage.

As you can see, there is  0.588 more elemental damage and 0.66 more physical damage  with Magnum Force instead of an event elemental mod. An identical calculation with a 90% and a 60% elemental mod with Magnum Force was still higher at 2.49 elemental damage with 1.66 physical damage. This conserves the status chance while still resulting in (slightly) higher elemental damage and physical damage.

Calculating again with only two mod slots available shows that two elemental mods are in fact better than Magnum Force and one elemental mod (to no surprise). However, adding more mod slots (4, 5, 6, etc) simply made the benefit of Magnum Force over another elemental mod greater and greater.

The next question that remains is should Expel faction mods be used instead of Magnum Force? Consider:  what damage do Expel mods increase? Modded physical damage and elemental damage. What damage does Magnum Force increase? Physical damage and elemental damage. This simple question suggests that Magnum Force beats out Expel mods even without rigorous mathematical exercises.

In conclusion, if you have three or more empty slots, use Magnum Force and elemental mods. Otherwise, stick with elemental combos. Take it from a mathematician when I say that the use/rank of Hornet Strike does not affect in any way the results exposed here. If Magnum Force is better w/o Hornet Strike, then it will be better even with Hornet Strike. If Magnum Force is worse w/o Hornet Strike, then it will be worse even with Hornet Strike.

Another note:  I recognize that the mod point cost is high at 14. Should this mean that it's worse? Simply put, no. If you're maxing out this mod, then you should already have Hornet Strike maxed out as well as a whole slough of other rank 10 mods maxed. This suggests that you are an end-game player with plenty of Forma invested and that you will apply as many Forma as necessary in order to have to maximum build that you want. Which means that mod point cost won't be much of a factor to you.

I recognize that this only addressed status chance increase to a minor extent. I also recognize that it has disregarded the loss to accuracy completely. To address the affect of accuracy loss is quite difficult considering different weapon's spray pattern, inate inaccuracy, player's ability to compensate, and my lack of knowledge of the game mechanics in terms of accuracy. Nonetheless, the results show that the damage increase is likely more advantageous.

Lastly, since it's been boiling my blood since reading it thus compelling me to do these calculations, to the utterly negative one insisting on vocalizing that people are "too dumb for simple mathematics": Not only was your assertion most eroneous but you implied that you had command of mathematics all-the-while neglecting to perform the mathematics yourself (thereby potentially leading people astray). Not a single phrase in your statement holds the slightest shred of truth. Finally, even if you think people are being stupid, that gives no license to resort to such unconstructive name-calling. With that out of the way, to those who made it this far along the post, please ensure that your posts pose a constructive question or provide constructive feed-back (despite this last paragraph not quite doing that).