Radiation: most effective damage type?

Borderlands 3 Moze the Gunner
#1

Just curious what people’s thoughts are about the radiation damage type for +splash type Moze builds. Is radiation inherently better than other types because of the built in splash damage it provides or is it not enough to matter?

#2

The real benefit of radiation is that it is effective against shields while neutral against flesh, so it’s a versatile element in that regard. The bonus rad explosions on enemy death are not enough to override innate matching bonuses provided by other elements, if that’s what you’re asking.

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#3

That is true in the sense of damage. However rad explosions proc Means of Destruction so that can be another pretty valuable bonus.

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#4

Where do Atom Balm relics fit in here? Don’t they boost the radiation explosion damage? Is that a splash damage bonus or elemental?

#5

Radiation is great. But not really because of the splash damage as sneaky said.

Kabs point about MoD is good.

It’s just radiation against armour is an issue, so you’ll often want cryo or corrosive for tougher armoured enemies. Shields, flesh, and general mobbing it’s my favourite.

Kinetic is also useful so you don’t constantly dot yourself.

Yep

The Atom Balm relic boosts aura damage, aura burst damage, and aura burst radius that radiation creates. I’m not sure what exactly your question is for this.

#6

That’s kind of what I was getting at. Not that it’s superior to other damage types in general but in the context of a Moze splash damage type build because it’s just another source of splash damage. I’m just not sure if it’s enough to justify it over other types of damage that better match the innate damage matching types.

#7

Where in the damage formula would the aura burst damage be? Would it be an elemental damage boost, a splash damage boost, or a special multiplier?

Basically, if you had a 50% increased aura burst damage would it

  1. Increase the damage the elemental multiplier by 50%, making it do 75% extra damage vs shield on explosion?
  2. Increase the damage the rad explosion does by 50% in general?
  3. Something else?
#8

Oh I see what you mean, is it increasing splash or radiation elemental damage.

Call 1-800- @Prismatic because I don’t know how to properly address that. My guess is it’s elemental damage that’s multiplied by splash. Could be a special though. No idea.

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#9

I am curious about this as well as I frankly just can’t get in my head where radiation fits in…

It’s good…but not good enough to replace the standard:
Fire vs Flesh
Shock vs Shields
Corrosive vs Armor

But heck I haven’t figured out “explosive” in this game either…it’s kinda like an element…but it isn’t…but it is…

And then I see the Zane Players running around with a Radiation Redistributor…or Fl4k’s Gamma Burst stuff and I feel like I am missing out…

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#10

It’s boosted by AOE relics so I’d guess it’s counted as additional to splash damage? Also boosts the dot and radius. So it’s work the same as a nimbus or cloud kill cloud.

#11

That’s only because the combination of Seein Dead / Barrier amp chaining every Redistributor shot / Redistributor already super strong - Is so brokenly overpowered it doesn’t matter.

The newly buffed anoint is just that strong, much like Moze’s 125% fire anoint. Fl4k already excels at DPS in the first place as well.

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#12

My guess was it increases the radiation elemental damage which is multiplied by splash. So increasing the splash will also increase it.

Elemental x splash

Increasing either will increase its damage. I’m just not sure which the Atom Balm increases, or if it’s both, or if it’s a special weird damage modifier like Ice Breaker or Victory Rush.

It’s not an element per se. It’s kinetic, or the lack of element. It’s all around decent with less penalty against things like armour, but the weakness is still there. But also no strengths.

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#13

so…basically the same as BL2…no strengths but a few less weaknesses? It did get multiplicative bonuses “like” an element in BL2 IIRC

#14

Zane players want a Radiation Redistributor because Radiation and Cryo complement each other.
Radiation does +50% damage to shields, -50% to armor and neutral to flesh
Cryo does -50% to shields, +50% to armor and neutral to flesh

If you get a Rad Redistributor with +cryo SNTNL annoint, you have a weapon that it’s effective against all type of health bars.

The same happens with Fl4k.

With Moze it’s a bit weird, since Fire is weak against shield and armor, so there’s no element that complements fire, you have to pick between Radiation or Cryo, both having pros and cons.

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#15

Great explanation…thank you!

#16

You might be misunderstanding how damage is calculated.

#17

Might?

Pretty much ASSURED I am misunderstanding…LOL

Buuuut…the one thing I learned in BL2 was that word “multiplicative” was good!

And IIRC Elements got multiplicative bonuses in the damage formulas on many skills…Explosive too!

But hell it’s been a while …I might have this all confused

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#18

If I had to pick an element for splash Moze, I’d pick Cryo. Since SF does Kinetic damage, that means that it deals neutral damage to shields, and I tend to use a Cloning Maddening Tracker, that also is Kinetic damage.
So, shields are no problem, for armor I have my cryo weapon, and for flesh I have the cryo weapon + the Fire skills that Moze has.
And it’s easier to shoot mobs when they’re not moving :joy:

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#19

Multiplicative is the relationship between 2 different types of damage that are multiplied by each other.

Splash + Splash = additive

Weapon damage x Splash = multiplicative

So when using a Blast Master mod it’s good form to increase gun damage over splash damage when given the choice and of similar value because Blast Master already gives you 100% bonus splash damage.

(100 splash + 25 splash) is less than (100 splash x 25 weapon damage)

This is extremely simplified for easier understanding.

On second thought just read this

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#20

Explosive as an element doesn’t exist in this game. We just have non-elemental (Kinetic), which doesn’t receive elemental damage bonuses, but is increased by the normal bullet Mayhem modifier.

Explosive was pretty much treated as a normal element from what IIRC. At least in TPS, Athena boosted the ■■■■ out of explosive.

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