Weapon data: No real difference in damage per bolt between level 0 xbow and lvl 25 xbow.
Before getting into this, yes I have nothing better to do tonight.
A lot of people, myself included, have asked what exactly proficiency means. I think we all agree and understand that it impacts rolled weapon level, which in turn determines maximum values for each weapon type's special attributes, as well as odds for higher scaling on those attributes.
Anyways, the two things I wanted to test:
- Does player/enemy level delta impact damage dealt?
- Does weapon level impact raw damage-per-bullet?
Setup
I chose to use the Repeating Crossbow, since I could reliably fire a single, non-charged bolt with a single quick trigger pull.
When wanting to test 0 proficiency, I enabled the Carcosan modifier Growth Incapacitor II. To test 25 proficiency, I switched it off.
When testing 25 proficiency, I restarted until getting Piercing Bolt, since I found the damage over time from Razor to skew the numbers too much. Tests with 0 proficiency never had any weapon traits.
Answering question 1
I enabled the Carcosan modifier that reduces lucenite needed to level. I started a run from the first biome, at 0 proficiency, and counted how many shots it took to kill each enemy type. I collected lucenite to level up, but collected no other weapons or artifacts.
After clearing everything, being level 23 with a level 0 weapon, it still took the same amount of shots to kill anything. So, I don't think player level vs enemy level impacts damage. At least in this rough test.
Answering question 2
I start from the first biome, shoot enemies 50 times, then immediately return to Passage. I look at the "Damage dealt" stat in the run summary for my primary weapon, divide it by 50, and record the number as damage per bolt.
I do this 10 times at proficiency 25 with Piercing bolt, making sure no other enemies are around to accidentally count the damage twice, and then 10 times at proficiency 0.
The final averages were 3.5 damage per bolt at level 25, and 3.4 damage per bolt at level 0, so a variance of a little less than 3%. Considering how rough the methodology was, you could probably conclude there's no real difference in damage. I didn't control for things like enemy defense, weak point or stagger damage, or potential damage fall-off over range. I hoped shooting them 1000 times would smooth the numbers.
I also did several runs where I went out and shot one of the worm turret enemies a single time, and then returned to Passage. The displayed Damage dealt every single time, regardless of proficiency level, was always 3. So, 3.4ish rounded sounds about right.
Current theory, then, is that neither player nor weapon proficiency level has any direct impact on base damage calculations. For people like me who get anxiety when given a choice with ambiguous weights to either side, I hope this data helps you.
Praise the sun.