Elite Dangerous Plasma Accelerator Guide

Elite Dangerous Plasma Accelerator Guide by Sorahb

Well, I’ve been seeing a lot of posts about the Fer-de-lance and its oh-so-sexy large hardpoint, as well as the subsequent huge plasma accelerators being strapped on (pun definitely intended). However, judging by the number of people trying to use this thing against shields and hulls, I thought I might share my experience as to how to use this beast of a weapon to its full potential. First of all, yes it has the capacity to be the hardest hitting weapon in the game, but no, not all around. Here are some of my findings:

1) The thing does ridiculously high module damage and I mean ridiculous. Hitting an anaconda’s power plant at close range perpendicularly nearly kills the beast in one go. Always target subsystems.

2) Angle of incidence has a really, really large impact on the damage done. Hitting a target perpendicularly deals the highest damage, and as the angle of incidence increases, the damage done decreases. Time your shots well.

3) It has the slowest travel time of any projectile in the game. If you were to race the thing against a cobra, I honestly don’t know which would win. This makes it damn near impossible to hit anything more than a kilometer away from you. Coupled with the increased effectiveness against subsystems, the need for accuracy is compounded. Get close and stay close.

Now, with these three things in mind, I think that it’s not only the vulture that’s meant to hit the heavy ships hard. The Fer-de-lance may be anaconda’s newest nightmares. They can take a decent punch or two and still stay in the game, they can get pretty close and are fast enough and maneuverable enough to stay there, and once they get an anaconda’s shields down it’s game over. Two well placed shots of the plasma accelerator and it’s lights out for Annie. It’s definitely going to be a high-skill weapon but it’ll be more accessible than ever before once 1.2 launches. Good luck, and happy big game hunting commanders.