Projectile Speed

Projectile Speed (also known as projectile velocity or flight speed) is an attribute in non-hitscan weaponry, that defines how quickly a weapon's ammunition travels to a target after leaving the weapon. Projectile speed can be of huge consequence to player accuracy because shooting at moving targets directly on the reticle might result in the projectile(s) missing them; players must instead "lead" the target, meaning they should aim to shoot where they anticipate the target will be by the time the projectile reaches it.

Hitscan vs Projectile[]

Hitscan weapons simply strike at the aimed point instantly; the player does not need to lead the target at all.

A simple way to tell if a weapon is hitscan or projectile-based, is to fire at a wall as far away as the player can reliably see bullet holes or impact marks. If the bullet hole is generated on the surface instantly upon firing and before any bullet animations, it is very likely to be a hitscan weapon.

Any non-hitscan weapon is a projectile-based weapon.
The presence of bullet animations, smoke trails, or flashes of light do not necessarily indicate that a weapon is projectile-based; the animations may be for show.

The word hitscan comes from a technical term based on how computers used to determine if targets were struck on the pull of the trigger. It takes more processing power for a computer to simulate the bullet(s) as it flies through the air than it does to immediately determine if a shot will hit or miss based on the straight trajectory of where the weapon is firing, removing the factor of flight speed. This is a justifiable solution since most firearms have projectile speeds quick enough to instantly hit at short to medium ranges.

Projectile in the context of computers describes weaponry that actually simulate shooting out objects which fly through the air. These move at their set projectile speeds from the weapons' barrels, and therefore the player must account for the distance between them and their target. This type of ammo is "tangible", having a physical hitbox—for example, Valkyr can successfully Rip Line onto the rocket of an Ogris.

Damage Falloff[]

Main article: Damage Falloff

The effectiveness of weapons with listed Damage Falloff values (such as shotguns) are determined by what distance a target is hit at. Hits will deal full damage if the target is closer than the start of the weapon's falloff range, but over the falloff range the weapon's damage will decrease linearly into the weapon's minimum damage percentage. Different weapons have different minimum damage percentages unlisted in the Arsenal. Any hits dealt at distances further than the entire range will continue to deal the weapon's minimum damage percentage.

Damage Falloff distances are also affected by Projectile Speed mods:

Mods including Rivens that have positive or negative Projectile speeds will affect a weapon's entire Damage Falloff range accordingly, making them more or less effective at longer ranges.
Hitscan weapons that do not list Damage Falloff values in their UI are completely unaffected by Projectile Speed modifications.
Damage Falloff does not apply to Continuous Weapons since they have no Damage Falloff, but instead unique Beam Length limits.