What’s up guys, Rogue-9 here!
We all know that Ela has been nerfed significantly with the year 3 season 1 patch and in this
video, I will do a before and after comparison of the changes to her gun plus, I do believe
that I may have discovered a quirk in the new post-patch recoil that will still allow
you to shoot it quite accurately at pretty much the full fire rate.
This video should be relatively simple and straightforward, so let’s get right into
it!
The patch notes tell us that the most recent update to the Scorpion involved two different
aspects of the gun: increased recoil and reduced damage.
You all know that I love numbers, so let’s start out with the damage reduction.
Pre-patch, the Scorpion would do between 28 and 18 points of damage (unsuppressed) and
now it will only do: 23 to 15 points of damage.
This means that pre-nerf, the damage per second (or DPS) output was 504/324 at long range,
which used to make the Scorpion by far the most effective defender primary at all ranges.
Now it is 414/270, which is only marginally better than the average DPS stats for the
SMG class: 404/270 as well.
But as you will know by now, DPS stats are great for a quick comparison of different
guns but what is more important when it comes to judging a gun’s combat effectiveness
is the time to down/kill an opponent (the TTK).
With the old damage stats, the number of required shots to down/kill were 4 at close range and
6 at long range (against level 1 armour; assuming body shots), 4 & 7 against level 2 and 5 & 7
against level 3 armour.
With the new damage, these required shots are increased to 5/7, 5/8 and 6/9.
The fire rate of 1080 RPM stayed the same and this means that TTK has increased by 55.556ms
against most opponents and at most ranges.
In fact the only instance where you need two extra shots is against heavy armour, at range,
where the TTK increase is double.
This means that at ranges below 18m, against level 1 and 2 armour you now need 222ms and
against level 3 armour, it is now 278ms.
How do the new numbers stack up?
Well, the average close range TTK for SMGs against level 1 armour is 209ms, so the Scorpion
is now below average and in fact, only the MP5s, FMG-9 and P90 are slower.
Against level 2 armour, the Scorpion is slightly above average and against level 3, very close
to the average.
At long range, the TTK of Ela’s gun ends up pretty close to the SMG averages against
all three armour classes.
The bottom line here is that Ela’s Scorpion went from being very competitive even when
matched up against the attacker primaries, to being just about average compared to other
defender guns and definitely underpowered compared to the rifle class in the game.
But of course, power is nothing without control and that is where the increased recoil comes
in.
And boy, oh boy… has it been increased.
When the Scorpion was released, way back during Operation Blood Orchid, it was practically
a laser beam… now, I would liken the recoil more to holding on to a live fish… that
is on speed… and being electrocuted at the same time.
Comparing the in-game recoil patterns would suggest that the vertical recoil is still
the same, while the horizontal recoil has been increased by what 50% - 60% maybe?
But I have to say, that I am not quite convinced that the new pattern is a great representation
of what the Scorpion will feel like if you just hold down the trigger.
The random vertical and horizontal recoil elements are now so extreme that the impact
pattern doesn’t rise with every shot, the way we are used to with every other gun, but
instead it can jerk downward so powerfully the guns overcomes the general muzzle climb.
The fact is that during an extended burst, it becomes impossible to effectively engage
a target, even at only nine meters, as demonstrated here.
Does that mean that we now have a weapon with mediocre damage and virtually no control?
I would say: “No, not quite…”
Because while testing the gun, I discovered something about the recoil that I don’t
think we have seen in any other gun in Rainbow Six before.
While firing long bursts, I noticed that the recoil on the first three shots or so always
appeared to be quite reasonable.
It wasn’t until after the third or fourth shot that the violent, electrocuted, speed-fish
recoil would kick in.
So my theory is that the recoil for the Scorpion drastically increases after the first few
shots but as long as you fire the gun in short bursts, it actually remains pretty manageable.
To test this theory, I first switched the gun to the three-round burst mode and fired
a test pattern at nine meters distance.
And as you can see, yes there are a few outliers but in general, these three-shot bursts show
a very consistent and controllable pattern.
I further tested the theory by firing at the wall in rapidly chained three-round bursts
while trying to control the recoil and then firing the gun in full auto, while also attempting
to control the recoil.
As you can see, the results are very different.
While firing in chained bursts, I was able to achieve a calculated fire-rate of 1056
RPM (almost the full 1080 RPM) but I still managed to control the recoil reasonably well.
The same positive effect can be achieved by burst firing manually, instead of relying
on the three-round burst setting but I actually quite liked not having to worry about managing
the length of my clicks and just spamming away on three-round mode felt pretty good.
Back when I tested the three-round burst mode in a separate, dedicated video, I concluded
that it doesn’t really offer any advantages over just shortening your bursts manually
but with the new two-stage recoil of the Scorpion, I found the three round burst to be the perfect
way of keeping the gun under control, even while spamming the fire button and still emptying
the gun at almost full fire rate.
It would be great to hear about everyone else’s experiences with this.
Try out bursting with the gun in either 3-round mode or by controlling your burst length manually
and let me know which one you prefer!
So, to wrap up: My personal conclusion would be that if you fire the gun in bursts beyond
3 or 4 shots, the absolutely crazy second stage recoil, added to the new, mediocre damage
output makes the gun basically one of the worst in the game for engagements above only
a few meters.
If your aim is on point, you can land the first three shots but after that you’re
relying purely on luck.
If on the other hand, you make sure to avoid the second stage recoil by keeping your bursts
nice and short, Ela can still be a pretty effective 3 speed defender with a gadget that
(if deployed in the right positions) can still provide you or a teammate with an almost guaranteed
kill.
But, as always, this conclusion is just my personal opinion.
Do let me know, in the comment section below, what your thoughts are on Ela in general (and
specifically your thoughts about the post-nerf Scorpion).
And with that, thank you so much for watching, I hope you enjoyed the video and I will see
you in the next episode!