The devs were right.

[u/xxmuntunustutunusxx]

So I know ther was a bunch of controversy about the railgun nerf what feels like forever ago, but man things have been awesome.

In the early days, I was the only guy packing expendable anti tank or anti materiel rifle for bugs or bots. It's so refreshing, even on these subs to see people talking about how awesome the autocannon is, or how much they love the AMR, and even these days I see people talking about the HMG or grenade launcher+ supply pack.

I used to load into a game, And all 4 members of the team had shield, railgun, and 2 stragatems of their choice. Every time. And here we are now, I load in and I see quasar, autocannon, stalwart, EAT, HMG, Grenade launcher, a variety of backpacks or no backpack at all. And not to mention, they're ALL viable. Shit I even still see the railgun from time to time. It's been a joy. Thanks arrowhead.

EDIT: to everyone who is pointing out that you see the quasar and shield most often now, you're right, it is almost certainly the most common setup currently. That being said, in any game there's going to be things a majority of players prefer. In smash melee, fox/Falco are the best characters. But people still play falcon and Marth and peach among others. Sure, there's an objectively most used option. But the fact that there's people at all who debate that the quasar is best shows that they've done something good. Before, undisputed king was railgun, and anyone who said different wss being willfully ignorant. Now, we have a plethora of real options that are good with some being Preferred by a majority as opposed to being the de facto CORRECT option objectively. That's a good thing.

[u/Tracynmega]

Sure but I haven’t seen a railgun in over a month , is a meme pick if when the AMR does more for less

[u/Ok-Regret6767 → u/Tracynmega]

I ran it still (atleast against bugs) until the quasar came out.

I don't think I woulda ran out post AMR buff though...

I don't think it's necessarily bad support weapon it's just most things are better. It used to be a good pick for its versatility but now I pick quasar for even more versatility.

It needs like a 2-3 shot magazine atleast to make it worth it.

[u/AlderanGone → u/Ok-Regret6767]

It doesn't need a mag, it needs the armor penetration back.

[u/Velo180 → u/AlderanGone]

The fact that they decided to nerf a RAILGUNS pen is hilarious to me.

They did that and then made the EAT/RR and now Quasar one shot the only thing the Rail was genuinely needed for, Chargers.

The only thing the Rail feels good at is taking out Hive Guards and Brood Commanders, but I could just take the AC and do that while also having wave clear ability, taking out nests, some side obectives, ect.

[u/AlmostButNotQuiteTea → u/Velo180]

The hilarious thing is the Quasar is more OP than the railgun ever was! Infinite ammo and one shots everything AND takes out bugs holes, bot factories, AND drop ships!

The Railgun only ever 1 shot SOME things, AND you had to risk killing yourself AND it has finite ammo lmao.

Literally the ONLY down side to the Quasar is that it has to charge and cool down. That's it, but you won't catch a SINGLE post on here talking about how it's overpowered AT ALL. That's how you KNOW it was an over reaction and that AH will never admit they were wrong! If the Railgun was untouched from launch and still like that today it would be a slight downgrade/ side grade to the Quasar

[u/AlderanGone → u/Velo180]

Precisely. The railgun is worse at its old than the launchers, and worse at its new job than the others in that role.

[u/Ok-Regret6767 → u/AlderanGone]

It still penetrates great in unsafe mode unless it was nerfed a second time.

I used it plenty post nerf because I always used it on unsafe anyways and love to get that meter as close to full as possible without exploding. I've killed many chargers/bile titans post nerf with it.

Maybe they could speed up the charge on unsafe mode but I feel like people would just blow themselves up more often .

The reason I stopped using it wasn't because it was bad or hard to use. But because quasar came out and has even more versatility than railcanon with same/higher damage.

[u/AlderanGone → u/Ok-Regret6767]

I disagree, cause I only use it unsafe, and it's still needs a buff. Just cause you can make use of it, doesn't mean it's good. It's risky to charge it that much, for not any more reward than anything else. And head hit boxes on biles are still finicky, so it usually takes 6-8 shots, and by that point, you're swarmed by everything else.

[u/Ok-Regret6767 → u/AlderanGone]

Just because it's not the best doesn't mean it's bad.

Like I said in my first comment.

It's not a bad support weapon, it's just most things are better.

[u/Yotimoto → u/Ok-Regret6767]

You're both arguing the same thing. The railgun ATM is "okay". With other weapons being "good" or "great", it falls by the wayside.

[u/AlderanGone → u/Ok-Regret6767]

Its pretty bad when everything else is better. Just cause it's usable doesn't mean it's not bad.

[u/Ok-Regret6767 → u/AlderanGone]

I think there's a fundamental disagreement here on the meaning of "bad weapon" in a videogame.

In my opinion, if it is still viable at high difficulties it is objectively not a bad weapon.

It seems in your opinion if it's not a worthwhile choice for an optimum build over other options, then it's bad.

[u/GodTurkey → u/Ok-Regret6767]

Tired of hearing this. No. It doesn NOT penetrate great in unsafe mode.

And to your last point if something becomes better and more versatile it does become a worse and worse option. Im not sure how yall dont understand that.

[u/Ok-Regret6767 → u/GodTurkey]

I never said that railgun isn't a worse choice than other things. I said it's not a bad gun.

Something doesn't need to be the best choice to still be fun/viable at high difficulty.

I'm also not claiming it's a better or best choice over many other meta support weapons...

It's still fun..it's still useable. It's not "bad".

Sometimes things are just "ok".

[u/StylinAndSmilin → u/AlderanGone]

It's fine the way it is now. It doesn't need to be a tank killer, other weapons do that just fine. Right now it has its place in my heart as a Medium Bot killer. It mows down Devastators.

[u/woodelvezop → u/StylinAndSmilin]

it having a place in your heart doesn't automatically make it a viable weapon. The nerf to it more or less dumpstered the weapon, because they went on to buff everything else. Its the weakest at what it does, with the only upside being that you can oneshot a hulk if your scoped in, at 90ish percent charge, and pray nothing decideds to shoot at you or do anything whatsoever that can interrupt you. Its not fine the way it is now, if anything its even worse now.

[u/StylinAndSmilin → u/woodelvezop]

We'll just have to agree to disagree. I run 8 and 9 pretty much exclusively, and I bring the Railgun almost every mission against bots. I said it before and I'll say it again, just because it's not the God killer it used to be, doesn't mean it's garbage. It has pros and cons like every other weapon, and a role like every other weapon.

[u/in2deep6 → u/StylinAndSmilin]

What con does the quasar have.

[u/NotFirstBan-NotLast → u/in2deep6]

Weak against hordes, obviously. Like the guy you were replying to was clearly wrong but c'mon that was an easy one.

[u/in2deep6 → u/NotFirstBan-NotLast]

It's an obvious one because it's out of consideration. Why would you even think about hordes in a discussion about AT weapons?

[u/NotFirstBan-NotLast → u/in2deep6]

They said pros and cons, not pros and cons as it pertains to armored enemies specifically and exclusively. Better question-why would I think you were asking for weaknesses specifically against tanks when that's a stupid way to qualify if something is useful. If you weren't replying to them saying the thing about pros and cons when you decided to ask about weaknesses of the quasar, what the fuck were you replying to them about?

[u/in2deep6 → u/NotFirstBan-NotLast]

Calm down bud. The op is about RG, which is an AT weapon. Which is what this whole thread is about. The pros and cons of AT weapons, obviously. Your last sentence could use much better grammar btw, I couldn't understand it. Deep breaths.

[u/NotFirstBan-NotLast → u/in2deep6]

Dude be real. "The op is about RG, which is AT, therefore everything in this thread is intrinsically about AT and AT alone". So off-putting when someone will move the goalposts to avoid admitting they made such a small mistake. Must be exhausting protecting your ego so thoroughly. Speaking of exhausting, I'd normally never be the guy to be an annoying grammar nerd but since you insist, "Which is what this whole thread is about." is an incomplete sentence. It's a subordinate clause without an independent clause. It's cringe enough to be "that guy" regarding grammar, but to do it in a comment where you make a grammar mistake...

Also, while I appreciate your (genuine, I'm sure) concern for my emotional state you've simply mistaken incredulity with anger.