This guide will explain the new damage range multiplier mechanic, how it affects breakpoints, and what you should do about it.

A breakpoint is the minimum amount of damage you need in order to kill a certain enemy in a certain number of hits.

For example, on Death Sentence difficulty, if your gun does at least 63.76 damage, you can kill a light unit in two headshots with it. Thus you can say something like "the 2HKO Light breakpoint is 63.76". (By default, I assume headshots when talking about breakpoints).

You can look up breakpoints in Frankelstner's breakpoint guide.

(Also known as damage falloff, if the multiplier is <1. Which it often is.)

This is a new mechanic, from Update 204. The idea behind it is that your weapons will do different amounts of damage depending on range. For example, shotguns do full damage at close range, and less damage at far range. Or, sniper rifles do full damage at mid range, and more (bonus) damage at far range.

How does it work? Weapons which are subject to this mechanic have six stats defined for them in the game's code[github.com]:
What do all these mean? It's easiest to understand with a graph:

The line on the graph is broken up into five sections: three flat lines, and two slopes. Let's call these, from left to right, close, lower mid, mid, upper mid, and far range. Note that the exact values demarcating each of these ranges depend on the weapon's type and damage class, as the six stats mentioned earlier differ for all of them.

Also note that some stat values can cause certain sections to disappear. For example, if far_falloff is 0, the upper mid slope disappears, and the multiplier abruptly jumps from 100% to far_multiplier. Or, if near_multiplier is 1, then close, lower mid, and mid all fuse into one straight line and there's only one slope instead of two. (This is in fact what happens with all non-akimbo SMG weapons; their near_multipliers are 1.)

At mid range, the damage multiplier is 1 (or 100%). This means that there's no modification to your weapon's damage. Anything multiplied by 1 remains unchanged.

At close range, the damage multiplier is near_multiplier. This multiplier is applied after bonuses from skills and weapon modifications. If it's less than 1, you do less damage; more than 1, more damage.

At lower mid range, the damage multiplier is somewhere between near_multiplier and 1. How much it is exactly depends on the distance from the target. Also note that it's a straight line, not a curve, which makes finding the equation for it relatively painless.

Far and upper mid range can be described similarly. There is no upper bound on the distance that is considered far range.

Shotguns with special ammo:

• HE rounds multiply far_falloff by 1.4.
  
• Flechettes and Tombstone slugs multiply optimal_range by 3.
  
• AP slugs multiply optimal_range by 10 and far_falloff by 2.

If you have Far Away aced, are using a shotgun, and aiming down sights, upper mid range begins at 1.5*(optimal_distance + optimal_range), and far range begins at 1.5*(optimal_distance + optimal_range + far_falloff). This is after applying special ammo changes.

(In the code, the shotgun ammo multipliers can be found in weaponfactorytweakdata[github.com], and the numbers they affect are found in blackmarketmanager[github.com]. Look for damage_near_mul and damage_far_mul. For Far Away, it's in newraycastweaponbase[github.com], under get_damage_falloff.)

Otherwise, aiming down sights, crouching, or using a bipod does not affect ranges.

Putting the Precision Barrel on the Broomstick does not change its six stats from those of a medium damage pistol to those of a very high damage pistol. Neither does using a DMR kit on an assault rifle, but ARs always have multiplier 1 regardless of class anyway (see below).

Most of them are, so I'll answer this by listing out those that are NOT subject to damage range multipliers:

• Any special weapon: bows, crossbows, flamethrowers, mini/microgun, grenade/rocket launchers, saw. Note that explosives are subject to a different kind of damage falloff, one that depends on the distance from the explosion to the enemy, not the distance from you to the enemy.
  
• Assault rifles. Technically, they have the six stats defined for them, but their near_multiplier and far_multiplier are both 1. So it's as good as not having any change in multiplier at any range; it's always going to be 1.

Well, the breakpoints themselves remain unchanged, as those depend only on enemy health and headshot multipliers.

What does change is the possibility of you hitting new breakpoints, or missing ones that your build was set up to hit. Prior to the introduction of damage range multipliers, most (non-shotgun) weapons just did the same amount of damage regardless of range. Effectively, their multiplier was 1 anytime, anywhere. With damage range multipliers, they can go above or below 1. Thus, you can end up taking fewer, or more, hits to kill an enemy.

Assume you're right on the breakpoint. For increases in #HKO, the point at which the number of hits to kill first changes is the initial number of hits to kill, divided by the new number of hits to kill minus one. Drop below that and you take more hits to kill the enemy.

Example: your weapon takes off 25% of the enemy's health per hit with a multiplier of 1, i.e. it 4HKOs. At what point would your weapon start 5HKOing instead? Answer: when the multiplier drops below 4/(5-1) = 1. Note that you're still 4HKOing if the multiplier is 1, it's only when you fall below 1 that you start 5HKOing.

You can try this out with some multipliers <1; for example, with a multiplier of 0.96, your weapon does 0.96*25% = 24%. 4*24% = 96%, so you can't 4HKO any more. You're 4% off, which is close, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. You need 5 hits: 5*24% = 120%.

What about going from a 4HKO to a 6HKO? That would be when the multiplier drops below 4/(6-1) = 0.8. Again, with some actual numbers: suppose the multiplier is 0.76. Then your weapon does 0.76*25% = 19%. 5*19% = 95%, 6*19% = 114%, so it's a 6HKO.

This also works for decreases in #HKO, but with two differences. One, it's the initial number of hits to kill, divided by the new number of hits to kill (no minus one). Two, the #HKO changes when you go above that number, not when you drop below.

Example: consider the weapon that does 25% again. At what point would it start 3HKOing? Answer: when the multiplier goes above 4/3 = 1.333.

Note that the above calculations assume you're right on the breakpoint. If you're slightly above it, e.g. your weapon does 27%, there's a bit more leeway. In actual game terms, this means that you get a bit more distance before (n+1)HKOing enemies.

No weapon has a near_multiplier of <1. This means that none of them have a "blind spot" where they do less damage at close range. Snipers in the beta had this problem, but their near_multipliers were changed back to 1 for the main branch of the game. Interestingly, this also messed with their shield/wall/armor penetration, as it works by spawning a new rifle round. If the enemy was close to the object being penetrated, the round that hit them would be severely weakened.

Akimbo SMGs are the only weapons that have a near_multiplier of >1 (1.2-1.3, to be exact). This is fairly useless for a multitude of reasons:

• the >1 multiplier only kicks in at very close range, 3-5m
  
• it's too low to turn a 4HKO into a 3HKO (you'd need 1.333), and
  
• even if it wasn't, akimbo weapons fire in 2-round bursts, so a 3HKO still necessitates firing both guns twice and expending 4 ammo

That said, it is handy when killing Bulldozers, as you'd want to get in close to reduce ammo wastage from your guns' recoil kicking them off-target. The number of hits required to kill Bulldozers is significant enough that the boost will save you a few clicks.

Sniper rifles are the only weapons that have a far_multiplier of >1. Their multipliers never drop below 1, so this makes them all upside. Sniper rifles are already strong enough to 1HKO heavies (the low damage ones need Berserker aced), so the increased multiplier is mostly only relevant for hitting 1HKO breakpoints on specials.

Weapons other than sniper rifles have far_multipliers <1. Getting in close to avoid taking more hits to kill an enemy always works (though whether you can afford to do so is another question); as mentioned earlier, no weapon has a blind spot.

Lower damage weapons will have equally or more severe damage falloff (lower far_multipliers) than higher damage weapons of the same type. The exception is very high damage secondary shotguns, which have a far_multiplier of 0.5, lower than high damage secondary shotguns which have 0.6.

far_multipliers range from 0.5 to 0.8. How bad are these? Suppose you take a certain number of hits to kill an enemy at *1 multiplier and are right on the breakpoint; dropping to a lower multiplier would then increase the number of hits to kill like so:

You can still use your old builds, but you just have to be aware of the ranges at which the multiplier drops below 1. For most weapons, this is upon exceeding (optimal_distance + optimal_range). Refer to the graph again if you're unclear.

Recall that if you're right on the breakpoint, you would take 1 more hit to kill as soon as the multiplier drops below 1. Taking more hits to kill an enemy negatively affects your time to kill and ammo efficiency. In order for your ingame performance to resemble theory (or pre-Update 204 gameplay), you would want to use your weapons only in the range where their multipliers are at least 1.

As mentioned before, if you're slightly above the breakpoint, you have a bit of extra distance before the #HKO changes. It's likely to be small, however, so the simple approximation of (optimal_distance + optimal_range) is good enough for practical purposes.

You'll feel the difference if you attack with a slow firing or small mag weapon at a range where it changes from a 1HKO to 2HKO. Missing a 1HKO incurs a huge time loss as you have to slowly wait for the next shot or next reload. Most of the time this applies to high damage shotguns like the Reinfeld 880 or Mosconi; other weapons that can 1HKO (DMRs, sniper rifles) don't have falloff.

In-game, the hitmarker becomes smaller if you hit an enemy outside the effective range. If you're camping one spot and notice the hitmarker becoming smaller when you shoot an enemy entering from a certain point, then you know not to do that in the future.

You can load up on damage-boosting skills to compensate for falloff. Underdog basic and Berserker aced are two such skills that work with most weapon types. (Though not all perk decks, in the case of Berserker.) Underdog multiplies damage by 1.15, Berserker by 1.4 at 30% (Frenzy) health, or 1.8 at 10% (post-revive) health.

Underdog can compensate for a multiplier of >0.87 (=1/1.15), and Berserker can compensate for a multiplier of >0.72 at 30% health, or >0.56 at 10% health. Also with Berserker, going from 30% to 10% health can compensate for a multiplier of >0.778.

Note that Underdog may be less useful than it seems, as it requires 3 enemies within 18m range. This could be problematic if the falloff occurs past that range; you'd need to "carry over" the boost from a prior encounter, or have a bunch of other enemies within 18m targeting you while you're shooting at the enemy past 18m (which begs the question, why aren't you shooting at the nearer enemies instead?).

In this section, I'll go through all weapon classes that are subject to damage range multipliers, providing some representatives of each class, the range at which the multiplier is at least 1, and some tips for hitting breakpoints.

The names I use for each class are based on the game's internal names. So, for example, the IZHMA, a "low" damage primary shotgun, actually has the same amount of damage as the Goliath, a "medium" damage secondary shotgun.

If the number of hits to kill decreases, that means you've hit a higher breakpoint as a result of having a multiplier >1. Conversely, if the number of hits to kill increases, that means you've missed a breakpoint as a result of having a multiplier <1.

The range given for hitting/missing a breakpoint is the close/far range. Technically it would be possible in the lower mid/upper mid range as well, but the exact distance could change with slight alterations in the choice of weapon modifications with damage bonuses/penalties (compensators, suppressors, etc), so I'll just use the close/far range for simplicity.

Enemies are assumed to have Death Wish/Death Sentence health and headshot multipliers, no mutators. Players are assumed to have the Fast and Furious card in their perk decks (+5% damage) unlocked.

Low damage primary shotgun (IZHMA, Predator)

• Min *1 at 0-8m.

Medium damage primary shotgun (Reinfeld 880)

• Min *1 at 0-12m.

High damage primary shotgun (Mosconi)

• Min *1 at 0-15m.

Low damage sniper rifle (Contractor)

• Min *1 at any range.
  
• With Berserker aced and 30% health: 2HKO Heavy -> 1HKO at 25+m.
  
• With Berserker aced and 10% health: 2HKO Cloaker -> 1HKO at 25+m.
  
• You can use Underdog basic to cover 1HKOs for short ranges, while the weapon's far_multiplier covers long ranges. The far_multiplier is 1.1, Underdog is 1.15.

Medium damage sniper rifle (Rattlesnake)

• Min *1 at any range.
  
• 2HKO Cloaker -> 1HKO at 24+m.
  
• With Berserker aced and 30% health: 2HKO Medic/Taser -> 1HKO at 24+m.

High damage sniper rifle (Platypus 70)

• Min *1 at any range.

Very high damage sniper rifle (Thanatos)

• Min *1 at any range.
  
• With Suppressed Barrel: 2HKO Cloaker with a body shot -> 1HKO at 31+m.

Medium damage LMG (KSP 58)

• Min *1 at 0-17m.
  
• With +1 compensator and Body Expertise aced: 4HKO Heavy with body shots -> 6HKO at 20+m. Underdog basic improves this slightly, making it a 5HKO instead.

High damage LMG (RPK)

• Min *1 at 0-18m.
  
• With Body Expertise aced: 3HKO Heavy with body shots -> 4HKO at 25+m. Underdog basic keeps it at 3HKO.

Automatic akimbo pistols (STRYKs)

• Min *1 at 0-13m.

Low damage akimbo pistols (Crosskill Guards)

• Min *1 at 0-13m.

Medium damage akimbo pistols (Interceptors)

• Min *1 at 0-13m.

High damage akimbo pistols (White Streaks)

• Min *1 at 0-13m.

Very high damage akimbo pistols (Parabellums)

• Min *1 at 0-13m.
  
• 180 base damage, with Berserker aced and 30% health: 2HKO Taser/Medic -> 3HKO at 19+m. Underdog basic keeps it at 2HKO. Note that the Broncos have 175 base damage, not 180, so they would need One Handed Talent basic in addition.

Low damage akimbo SMGs (Compact-5s)

• Min *1 at 0-14m.

Medium damage akimbo SMGs (Kobus 90s)

• Min *1 at 0-16m.

High damage akimbo SMGs (CR805Bs)

• Min *1 at 0-20m.
  
• With Berserker aced and 30% health: 2HKO Heavy -> 3HKO at 25+m. 10% health keeps it at 2HKO.

Low damage akimbo shotguns (Brothers Grimm)

• Min *1 at 0-10m.

Medium damage akimbo shotguns (Goliaths)

• Min *1 at 0-10m.

High damage akimbo shotguns (Judges)

• Min *1 at 0-11m.

Automatic pistol (STRYK)

• Min *1 at 0-13m.

Low damage pistol (Crosskill Guard)

• Min *1 at 0-13m.

Medium damage pistol (Interceptor)

• Min *1 at 0-17m.

High damage pistol (White Streak, 5/7 AP)

• Min *1 at 0-20m.

Very high damage pistol (Parabellum)

• Min *1 at 0-20m.
  
• 180 base damage, with Berserker aced and 30% health: 2HKO Taser/Medic -> 3HKO at 21+m. Underdog basic keeps it at 2HKO. Note that the Bronco has 175 base damage, not 180, so it would need One Handed Talent basic in addition.

Low damage SMG (Compact-5)

• Min *1 at 0-12m.

Medium damage SMG (Mark 10)

• Min *1 at 0-15m.

High damage SMG (Krinkov)

• Min *1 at 0-20m.
  
• With Berserker aced and 30% health: 2HKO Heavy -> 3HKO at 25+m. 10% health keeps it at 2HKO.

Low damage secondary shotgun (Grimm)

• Min *1 at 0-9m.

Medium damage secondary shotgun (Goliath)

• Min *1 at 0-10m.

High damage secondary shotgun (Locomotive)

• Min *1 at 0-10m.

Very high damage secondary shotgun (Judge)

• Min *1 at 0-10m.

That's all I have to say on damage range multipliers. If you need a concise summary, or just scrolled here for my parting words without reading everything above, here they are:

• Try to use shotguns at <~10m range.
  
• Try to use pistols and SMGs at <~13-15m range.
  
• Try to use LMGs at <17m range. But it's not a big deal if you don't, it just takes 1-2 more extra hits to kill a heavy.
  
• Low/mid damage snipers can nab 1HKOs on specials with Berserker aced and far enough range.

ARs and special weapons are unaffected by this new system.

Thanks for reading this and I hope it's been helpful.

Special thanks to 81AWﾖi for the shotgun ammo range modifiers and Unknown Knight for the RUS-12 (PISTOL_FALL_SUPER) falloff.

ASSAULT_FALL_LOW
Any x: 1

ASSAULT_FALL_MEDIUM
Any x: 1

ASSAULT_FALL_HIGH
Any x: 1

SHOTGUN_FALL_PRIMARY_LOW
0m <= x < 8.0m: 1
8.0m <= x < 12.0m: -0.125*x + 2.0
12.0m <= x: 0.5

SHOTGUN_FALL_PRIMARY_MEDIUM
0m <= x < 12.0m: 1
12.0m <= x < 15.0m: -0.133*x + 2.6
15.0m <= x: 0.6

SHOTGUN_FALL_PRIMARY_HIGH
0m <= x < 15.0m: 1
15.0m <= x < 19.0m: -0.075*x + 2.125
19.0m <= x: 0.7

SNIPER_FALL_LOW
0m <= x < 20.0m: 1
20.0m <= x < 25.0m: 0.02*x + 0.6
25.0m <= x: 1.1

SNIPER_FALL_MEDIUM
0m <= x < 19.0m: 1
19.0m <= x < 24.0m: 0.1*x - 0.9
24.0m <= x: 1.5

SNIPER_FALL_HIGH
0m <= x < 20.0m: 1
20.0m <= x < 30.0m: 0.08*x - 0.6
30.0m <= x: 1.8

SNIPER_FALL_VERYHIGH
0m <= x < 26.0m: 1
26.0m <= x < 31.0m: 0.06*x - 0.56
31.0m <= x: 1.3

LMG_FALL_MEDIUM
0.0m <= x < 17.0m: 1
17.0m <= x < 20.0m: -0.1*x + 2.7
20.0m <= x: 0.7

LMG_FALL_HIGH
0.0m <= x < 18.0m: 1
18.0m <= x < 25.0m: -0.029*x + 1.514
25.0m <= x: 0.8

AKI_PISTOL_FALL_AUTO
0m <= x < 13.0m: 1
13.0m <= x < 16.0m: -0.1*x + 2.3
16.0m <= x: 0.7

AKI_PISTOL_FALL_LOW
0m <= x < 13.0m: 1
13.0m <= x < 16.0m: -0.1*x + 2.3
16.0m <= x: 0.7

AKI_PISTOL_FALL_MEDIUM
0m <= x < 13.0m: 1
13.0m <= x < 17.0m: -0.075*x + 1.975
17.0m <= x: 0.7

AKI_PISTOL_FALL_HIGH
0m <= x < 13.0m: 1
13.0m <= x < 18.0m: -0.06*x + 1.78
18.0m <= x: 0.7

AKI_PISTOL_FALL_VERYHIGH
0m <= x < 13.0m: 1
13.0m <= x < 19.0m: -0.033*x + 1.433
19.0m <= x: 0.8

AKI_SMG_FALL_LOW
0m <= x < 5.0m: 1.3
5.0m <= x < 14.0m: 1
14.0m <= x < 17.0m: -0.167*x + 3.333
17.0m <= x: 0.5

AKI_SMG_FALL_MEDIUM
0m <= x < 3.0m: 1.3
3.0m <= x < 4.0m: -0.3*x + 2.2
4.0m <= x < 16.0m: 1
16.0m <= x < 20.0m: -0.1*x + 2.6
20.0m <= x: 0.6

AKI_SMG_FALL_HIGH
0m <= x < 3.0m: 1.2
3.0m <= x < 20.0m: 1
20.0m <= x < 25.0m: -0.06*x + 2.2
25.0m <= x: 0.7

AKI_SHOTGUN_FALL_LOW
0m <= x < 10.0m: 1
10.0m <= x < 12.0m: -0.25*x + 3.5
12.0m <= x: 0.5

AKI_SHOTGUN_FALL_MEDIUM
0m <= x < 10.0m: 1
10.0m <= x < 16.0m: -0.067*x + 1.667
16.0m <= x: 0.6

AKI_SHOTGUN_FALL_HIGH
0m <= x < 11.0m: 1
11.0m <= x < 16.0m: -0.06*x + 1.66
16.0m <= x: 0.7

PISTOL_FALL_AUTO
0m <= x < 13.0m: 1
13.0m <= x < 16.0m: -0.1*x + 2.3
16.0m <= x: 0.7

PISTOL_FALL_LOW
0m <= x < 12.0m: 1
12.0m <= x < 13.0m: -0.3*x + 4.6
13.0m <= x: 0.7

PISTOL_FALL_MEDIUM
0m <= x < 17.0m: 1
17.0m <= x < 18.0m: -0.3*x + 6.1
18.0m <= x: 0.7

PISTOL_FALL_HIGH
0m <= x < 20.0m: 1
20.0m <= x < 21.0m: -0.3*x + 7.0
21.0m <= x: 0.7

PISTOL_FALL_VERYHIGH
0m <= x < 20.0m: 1
20.0m <= x < 21.0m: -0.2*x + 5.0
21.0m <= x: 0.8

PISTOL_FALL_SUPER
Any x: 1

SMG_FALL_LOW
0.0m <= x < 12.0m: 1
12.0m <= x < 17.0m: -0.1*x + 2.2
17.0m <= x: 0.5

SMG_FALL_MEDIUM
0.0m <= x < 15.0m: 1
15.0m <= x < 20.0m: -0.08*x + 2.2
20.0m <= x: 0.6

SMG_FALL_HIGH
0.0m <= x < 20.0m: 1
20.0m <= x < 25.0m: -0.06*x + 2.2
25.0m <= x: 0.7

SHOTGUN_FALL_SECONDARY_LOW
0m <= x < 9.0m: 1
9.0m <= x < 13.0m: -0.125*x + 2.125
13.0m <= x: 0.5

SHOTGUN_FALL_SECONDARY_MEDIUM
0m <= x < 10.0m: 1
10.0m <= x < 14.0m: -0.125*x + 2.25
14.0m <= x: 0.5

SHOTGUN_FALL_SECONDARY_HIGH
0m <= x < 10.0m: 1
10.0m <= x: 0.6

SHOTGUN_FALL_SECONDARY_VERYHIGH
0m <= x < 10.0m: 1
10.0m <= x < 12.0m: -0.25*x + 3.5
12.0m <= x: 0.5