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 ProjectileEdit

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 from 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 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 was 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"—for example, Valkyr can successfully Rip Line onto the rocket of an Ogris.

Damage FalloffEdit

The effective weapon range is determined by the two Damage Falloff distances. Hits will deal full damage if the target is closer than the first distance. The damage will decrease linearly with the distance to 50% at the second distance. Any hit further than the second distance will deal 50% of the damage.

Damage Falloff distances are affected by Projectile Speed Modifiers.

Riven Mods with negative Projectile speed will affect the distance of the first and second Damage Falloff distances. It is important to know that negative Projectile speed will not affect hitscan weapons that show no listed falloff in their UI. Hitscan weapons suffer from a hard cap at 300 meters, at which distance they will not register any hit.

Projectile Speed ModifiersEdit

These mods increase projectile speed for non-hitscan weapons as described. Note that they also increase damage falloff distance where applicable, such as most Shotguns, for both hitscan and non-hitscan weapons. Whirlwind is listed as "melee" but only matters for thrown melee weapons.

In addition, there are some PvP-exclusive mods which affect flight speed:

List of Projectile WeaponsEdit

“It's taking longer than I calculated.” This page is actively being worked on and may not be completely correct. Please assist in making this page accurate. This section needs help to become fully comprehensive of all non-hitscan weapons.

Info pulled from Module:Weapons/data and build using Module:Weapons

See AlsoEdit