Radiation bonus damage even worth it?

Borderlands 3 Borderlands 3 General Discussion
#1

Seriously it is nowhere near as good as slag and it’s weaknesses seem to kill it. I feel like cryo is better as is fire and corrosive. I guess it’s better than shock tho. Is this just me or am i using it wrong? I try comboing it but i dont see much of a bonus esp on a short DoT

#2

I use radiation occasionally, when I do it is usually with a high damage single shot pistol and has worked out wonderfully for me. With automatic variations of weaponry it sways back and forth between doing what it needs to do and doing nothing. I will agree with you that cryo, incendiary, and corrosive tend to have better outcomes…at least for me.

#3

Borderlands-3-Elemental-Damage-Guide-by-MentalMars
Borderlands-3-Elemental-Damage-Guide-by-MentalMars.jpg780×514 104 KB

4 Likes
#4

wow i thought some of these were better than they are. thats a bit disheartening

#5

None of the elemental damages are “better”. They all have different interactions.

For example, I’ll bet you won’t think Fire is better than shock when you are against thick ass shield bars.

It’s just basic element matching with Cryo and Rad being added in.

#6

3/4 of my guns are radiation and one is regular damage. if vladof had a shock grenade i would use it but moze needs matching weapons and gear for her ability.

#7

Does radiation give any other bonuses? Why use it over shock?

To me it looks like if you have one fire, one shock, one corrosive you’re covered elemental wise

#8

Radiation doesnt suffer a damage penalty against flesh…unlike shock.

1 Like
#9

but why not use fire on flesh instead of radiation

1 Like
#10

and when Mayhem Mode debuffs fire…then what.

Plus constanly switching weapons lowers your DPS also.

#11

Radiation is great for mobs, the effects spread and kills create explosions.

3 Likes
#12

Also keep in mind the radiation debuff is supposed to increase damage from all sources and can spread like a virus due to enemies bursting when they die while effected by it.

#13

Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. Only thing that makes sense to me as to why you might want to use radiation

#14

They took that out…radiation doenst debuff.

1 Like
#15

situational but honestly even when I have my normal cryo and rad weapons are better. shock is so situational it’s not great esp during most of the areas of the game. esp since once you get past a shield it’s useless again. I wish it did more damage against any electronic enemy like mechs and bots even ones with armor. But im fairly they dont

yah but it feels so minor

but it’s so small of an area and unlike other borderlands games theyre really really spread out. I feel like I have to wait for them to move to trigger another to be affected. it’s just easier to kill em than wait

they DID??? thats why im not doing anything. when did that happen

#16

They probably realized making it a debuff would make it a best in slot choice at the higher mayhem levels…basically making it slag. So they changed it before the game came out.

#17

Near the end of my first playthrough (Amara) I found a shield called the Red Suit that makes you immune to radiation and gives you a radiation aura. Around that time I also found an Atom Balm relic that increases the aura radius and damage. It was really fun punching people until they exploded!

1 Like
#18

Radiation is fairly good. It the best element to go mobbing as you can burst most mob (armored enemy being the rarest) without switching weapon. The bonus against shield is a nice bonus (compared to Kinetic), and the DoT also add some free damage.

Radiation is basically kinetic with some bonus

#19

I never heard they removed it I thought they just toned it down. That explains so much and I wasted so much effort trying to combo elements too T__T back to spam I guess

#20

Is this damage chart still accurate?