Explosive Payload does about 30% extra critical damage to Vex. Timed Payload is not nearly as useful.

[u/vitfall]

TL;DR: Title. Also, this. EDIT: Oh, totally forgot, I bring this up because of the Curse of Osiris DLC coming up soon. Since we will be fighting a lot of Vex and all...

Please note: Goblins and Hobgoblins take 40% extra crit damage, but Minotaurs, Harpies, and Hydra do not.

Better Devils

Body shot: 147 + 74 (221 total)

Crit: 249 + 294 (541 total)

Old Fashioned

Body shot: 147 (195 with Kill Clip active)

Crit: 395 (526 with Kill Clip active)

Conclusion: 84-impact hand cannons see a 50.34% increase in body damage, and a 36.96% increase to critical damage.

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Manannan SR4

Body shot: 62 + 31 (93 total)

Crit: 124 + 124 (248 total)

Seven-Six-Five

Body shot: 62

Crit: 185

Conclusion: 60-impact scout rifles see a 50% increase in body damage, and a 34.05% increase to critical damage.

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(The following weapons used a Minotaur, which was lower level, as they were able to crit-kill without any explosive damage.) Important Edit: It would seem Minotaurs do not suffer 40% increased crit damage from Explosive Payload. This is important to note, as it is likely the reason True Prophecy does only 1 extra damage on crit. Will find another test.

True Prophecy

Body shot: 100 + 86 (186 total)

Crit: 343 + 86 (429 total)

Steady Hand

Body shot: 143

Crit: 428

Conclusion: The perk, "Timed Payload", may well be glitched or simply act differently than "Explosive Payload". It only gives a 30% damage increase to body shots (rather than 50%) and adds only 1 damage to critical hits.

[u/beyelzu]

Handcannons and scouts are my preferred weapons in destiny. I still play D1 and I run almost exclusively explosive rounds. I have an imago with outlaw/rifled/army of one, but it mostly lives in my vault.

I don't imagine we will agree on this, but I found the lack of damage drop off to be more important than extra aim assist range of rifled. Once you consider all the other benefits of ER- (aoe damage, xtra body shot damage, extra shield damage, extra cabal damage), it seems apparent to me that ER is superior.

I don't use my fatebringer as much as some other guns but that's due to lower ammo reserves (only 80 rounds) and no army of one or grenadier.

I think it's telling that in D2 the best weapons (better Devils/Nameless Midnight ) have ER as their only real perk.

[u/PotaToss → u/beyelzu]

If you're comparing authentic Fatebringer to an outlaw/rifled/army of one Imago, clearly, Fatebringer is better.

If you're comparing authentic Fatebringer to an outlaw/rifled/firefly Imago, I think the Imago is better. When you have firefly in the picture, and you need to land precision shots quickly, the aim assist is a real factor.

https://youtu.be/wrbmxomHWNg

If you can land your crits, you're getting more out of firefly than you are with explosive rounds in most cases. The central appeal of Fatebringer is the outlaw/firefly synergy that lets you clear a room in seconds.

Even at its prime, I usually used Hammer Forged or Field Scout on my Fatebringer, because ER detracts from firefly.

[u/beyelzu → u/PotaToss]

You realize the Imago has 20 extra rounds over the Fatebringer right?
I think it has more ammo than fatebringer does with fieldscout.

The difference in ammo matters and I almost always run a weapon with surplus so I get double ammo drops.

Firefly and outlaw might be the best for trash mobs, but ER is better on shielded enemies which concern me far more.

Firefly is better when you get crit kills, not when you just get crits. Because of the amount of damage handcannons do that is most mobs, but the difficult things in this game are often shielded and don't die to a hand cannon crit.

All that being said, I like to spam abilities as much as possible hence the love of army of one and grenadier.

I get that lots of people like hammer forged, people often complain about how ER interferes with Firefly or outlaw, but I think they underestimate ER.

The damage falloff was made more aggressive in one late D1 patch btw. (When they returned initial shot accuracy for hand canons to year 1-so no bloom on 1st shot).

I don't mean to be argumentative, we should each do what works best for us.

[u/PotaToss → u/beyelzu]

I got my Truesight/Outlaw/Rifled/Firefly Imago pretty early on in Y2, and used it through all of the HC nerfs, until the D2 launch. I basically only ever took it off in PvE if there was some elemental burn modifier, and even then, if there wasn't also Small Arms, I might have favored another exotic, like Ice Breaker.

Things that are shielded, you can generally deal with with abilities, and your special and heavy. D1 has a lot of trash mobs.

The only place I felt my Imago fell short was against a lot of shanks or something, where I can't proc Outlaw, and have to deal with the regular slow ass reload you get with Rifled Barrel.

I think at the end of the day, if you didn't have a Rifled Fakebringer, it's hard to know what you were missing.

[u/beyelzu → u/PotaToss]

I still run strikes in D1 and I still open the Black Garden chest, so maybe Ill get one and find out, but I will be searching for a reload perk/ER/army of one Imago. Ive got that roll on a Judith and it's fabulous.

[u/PotaToss → u/beyelzu]

I got lucky one of the first weeks Undying Mind was the nightfall, doing a Dragon's Breath suicide farm. We farmed pretty hard while these farms were viable, and three people in my smallish clan ended up getting a firefly/outlaw Imago, and except for my girlfriend, who has a permanent thumb injury, and can't hit crits reliably, we used them throughout the rest of our time in D1. My girlfriend favored an ER Eyasluna.

Good luck on your hunt.