Deepcore 40mm PGL

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Deepcore 40mm PGL
Equipment Details
Type	Heavy Weapon
Used by	Engineer
Slot	Secondary
Hitscan	No
Availability	Default

“	Whoever coined the phrase "Bang for the Buck" must have had this lovely thing in mind. Cheap, dependable, and utterly devastating.
	— Item Description

About

The 40mm Portable Grenade Launcher (aka the PGL) is the default secondary weapon for the Engineer. It is a grey, man-portable grenade launcher adorned with various metallic bracing and wires. The PGL is a break-action launcher, meaning that the gun's barrel opens on a hinge downwards to load in new grenades.

The PGL fires heavy-duty grenades which fly along an angle. The explosives have a below-average velocity and will arc once they reach a certain point, which limits how far they can travel (certain mods and OCs can affect the velocity). Only one shell can be loaded at a time, and the weapon will automatically begin reloading once the loaded shell has been fired.

As far as DRG's arsenal goes, the PGL is as simple as it is effective. Find a tightly clustered group of enemies and pull the trigger, then watch as their gibs paint the cave walls. The PGL's high damage and decent blast radius makes it an excellent crowd control weapon, particularly against grounded foes which charge in packs such as Glyphid Grunts. It also has a high Fear Factor, where anything which somehow survives the explosion will be left fleeing in terror.

The PGL's biggest drawback is its low ammo count; the grenades are heavy, and as such the Engineer can only carry eight in reserve by default. The PGL's immense damage must only be used when necessary and shells cannot be fired haphazardly. Certain modifications and Weapon Overclocks can help to mitigate this issue, but only by so much. Maximizing value out of each individual grenade is critical to get the most out of the weapon. On top of this the PGL also suffers to hurt bigger targets such as Glyphid Praetorians due to the lack of direct damage caused by the payloads – that said, the PGL is pretty good at breaking armor with a natural 100% damage bonus against it.

Initial Stats
Area Damage 110 Explosive Max Ammo 9 Rate of Fire (per second) 2 Reload Time 2s Armor Break Bonus 100% Fear Factor 100% Maximum Damage Radius 1.5m Radius 3m Minimum Damage 15% Friendly Fire 50%

Modifications

There are five tiers and each tier has two to three upgrades, only one upgrade can be equipped per tier.

Deepcore 40mm PGL Modifications
	Mod	Effect	Description	Price
Tier 1	Fragmentary Shell	+1m Damage Radius	Damage radius increase	1000 Credits 20 Bismor
	Extra Ammo	+2 Max Ammo	Expanded Ammo Bags	1000 Credits 20 Enor Pearl
	HE Compound	+15 Area Damage	The good folk in R&D have been busy. The overall damage of your weapon is increased.	1000 Credits 20 Bismor
Tier 2 6	Expanded Ammo Bags	+3 Max Ammo	You had to give up some sandwich-storage, but your total ammo capacity is increased!	1800 Credits 18 Croppa 12 Jadiz
	Larger Payload	+20 Area Damage	More bang for the buck! Increases the damage done within the Area of Effect!	1800 Credits 12 Enor Pearl 18 Bismor
	High Velocity Grenades	+180% Projectile Velocity	We souped up the ejection mechanisms of your gun, so the projectiles are now fired at a much higher velocity.	1800 Credits 12 Croppa 18 Jadiz
Tier 3 10	Incendiary Compound	50% damage converted to Heat (x0.5 Armor break)	50% damage converted to heat. This will reduce direct damage, but will set enemies on fire.	2200 Credits 20 Croppa 30 Jadiz
	Pressure Wave	+500% Armor Break Bonus	We're proud of this one. Armor shredding. Tear through that high-impact plating of those big buggers like butter. What could be finer?	2200 Credits 30 Magnite 20 Enor Pearl
Tier 4 14	Homebrew Explosive	+Randomized Damage (between x0.8 and x1.4 damage)	More damage on average but it's a bit inconsistent with a spread of 80% to 140%	3800 Credits 15 Jadiz 25 Magnite 36 Bismor
	Nails + Tape	+1m Damage Radius	Fire in the hole! The Area of Effect is increased. (We advise keeping the term "safe distance" close to your heart)	3800 Credits 25 Croppa 36 Jadiz 15 Enor Pearl
	Concussive Blast	+100% Stun Chance	Stuns creatures within the blast radius	3800 Credits 25 Jadiz 15 Magnite 36 Enor Pearl
Tier 5 18	Proximity Trigger	+Proximity Trigger	Launched grenades will only detonate when they are in close proximity to an enemy or after the projectile comes to a complete stop. Note: The trigger takes a moment to arm, indicated by a green light, and until then the grenade functions as usual.	4400 Credits 60 Croppa 110 Magnite 40 Bismor
	Spiky Grenade	+60 Direct Damage (Damage type: Explosive)	Deals damage on direct impact	4400 Credits 60 Croppa 40 Jadiz 110 Umanite

Overclocks

Deepcore 40mm PGL [Expand/Collapse]
Overclock	Effect	In Game Description	Price
Clean Sweep	+10 Area Damage +0.5m Radius	"Increases the explosion radius and damage without any unwanted effects."	8100 Credits 135 Umanite 70 Enor Pearl 105 Bismor
Pack Rat	+2 Max Ammo	"You found a way to pack away two more rounds somewhere."	7950 Credits 120 Magnite 105 Enor Pearl 80 Bismor
Compact Rounds	+5 Max Ammo -10 Area Damage -0.5m Radius	"Smaller and lighter rounds means more rounds in the pocket at the cost of the explosion's effective radius and damage."	7900 Credits 70 Umanite 100 Enor Pearl 120 Bismor
RJ250 Compound	x1.7 Max Ammo -0.6 Reload Time +RJ250 Compound -35 Area Damage	"Use explosions to launch yourself and your teammates into the air."	8800 Credits 120 Umanite 110 Enor Pearl 65 Bismor
Fat Boy	x4 Area Damage +1m Radius x0.3 Max Ammo x0.7 Projectile Velocity	"Big and deadly and dirty. Too bad plutonium is so heavy that you can only take a few rounds with you. And remember to take care with the fallout."	8300 Credits 105 Magnite 70 Enor Pearl 120 Bismor
Hyper Propellant	+385 Direct Damage +350% Projectile Velocity x0.3 Radius -2 Max Ammo    (Both Area and Direct Damage is converted to Disintegrate)	"New super-high velocity projectiles trade explosive range for raw damage in a tight area. The increased weight of the rounds also limits how many you can carry."	8950 Credits 90 Croppa 70 Jadiz 130 Magnite

Stats breakdown

Unique Modifications

Incendiary Compound

Incendiary Compound converts %50 of all damage dealt by the shells to inflict Heat instead of raw damage, often igniting any creatures caught in the blast.

However, this modification also reduces the damage and Armor Break bonus of the shells by %50. The fire effects give the launcher an edge against bulkier targets who would not be killed by a single shell anyway, instead igniting them and potentially scaring them away too.

Proximity Trigger

Proximity Trigger changes the shells to explode on proximity to an enemy, not contact. After a very brief arming period the shells can bounce off walls and ceilings, preserving their momentum, and will explode when they get near an enemy.

The proximity trigger is tied to the shell's explosive radius, so Modifications and Overclocks which affect the latter stat will affect the former which affects how close an enemy needs to be to the shell to make it explode. One practical application of this mod is to fire it slightly over a crowd and into the center, which will maximize the blast radius and potentially kill more enemies at once. Shells with the Proximity Trigger mod will automatically explode after three seconds.

Unique Overclocks

RJ250 Compound

RJ250 Compound is a Balanced Overclock which adds significant push force to any grenades fires at a Dwarf, including oneself. This allows grenades to be used for "blast jumping" by firing at one's feet while jumping simultaneously, resulting in spectacularly high jumps at the cost of self damage taken. Any existing movement is taken into account, and players can moderately affect their direction once airborne. This Overclock provides a significant boost to mobility, at the cost of damage dealt by the grenades (though this does help to reduce the amount of damage dealt to onesself). To conserve Health Points, only try to blast jump when your shield is fully charged to reduce any self-damage bleeding over into your Health, which cannot regenerate. Keep in mind that higher hazard levels lower the friendly fire resistance, so you will take more damage while blast jumping on higher difficulties. The push force does not affect enemies.

Fat Boy

Fat Boy is an Unstable Overclock which significantly boosts the Area Damage and Radius of the shells. It also causes an 8-metre wide radioactive cloud to spawn from the center of the explosion, causing additional damage. While this mod is very destructive, caution must be exercised not to trap allies in the blast. Use of the Friendly Perk is recommended. This mod also harshly reduces the amount of reserve shells which can be carried from eight to two by default. It also slightly lowers the projectile velocity and arc.

Hyper Propellant

Hyper Propellant is an Unstable Overclock which causes grenades to fly at exceptional speeds and increases their direct damage tremendously. The projectiles fly so fast they're near enough instant at closer ranges. The extreme damage dealt by these shells are also capable of dealing extra damage to weak spots due to counting as direct (kinetic) damage. This allows them to instantly kill even tanky enemies like Praetorians and Wardens in just one shot. Only the likes of Oppressors and Bulk Detonators can withstand Hyper Propellant shells, though they are critically injured in the process. As a downside, the explosion radius of the shells is reduced to just one metre wide and there is a slight ammo penalty, reducing the total shell count from eight to six.

Mastery

Each modification that is purchased advances a mastery bar by one unit.

Mastery unlocks:

• Three modifications – First Stripe Weapon Paintjob
• Seven modifications – Deepcore Weapon Paintjob
• All (13) modifications – The Company Special Weapon Paintjob

Skins

Full gallery of skins can be seen at Weapon Skins.

Gallery

• 

  The crater and lasting radiation effect caused by the Fat Boy overclock.

Trivia

• The "Fat Boy" Overclock is likely named after the Fat Man and Little Boy, the two atomic bombs which were dropped over Japan in World War 2.
• The "RJ" in the "RJ250 Compound" Overclock likely stands for "rocket jump", a term used to describe the usage of an explosive weapon's powerful knockback as a mobility enhancement. The term was coined by popular first-person-shooter series Quake, and has featured in many other multiplayer shooter games as a technique with a high skill ceiling.

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This page is possibly not up to date. It was last updated for Update 32: Roughnecks At Work