beam rifle damage in Praetoria?

Hello folks.

I have been playing a Beam Rifle blaster in the Praetoria missions. However, the damage I deal is way lower than the description for the powers. Now, are the guys there resistant to energy damage more than other types? I see an attack that lists damage as 40ish but usually do only 30ish.

Please, help me with my beam rifle blaster.

The so called real numbers lie to you about beam attacks. They include the chance for disintegration damage in the single target attacks as a guaranteed chunk of each of them. When disintegration spreads, the overall damage dealt is equal to what the real numbers say, but even then not to your current target specifically. Take real numbers with a grain of salt in general, but in beam rifle's case if you want to know the actual numbers simply look at the power's detailed info, determine which part is obviously disintegration spread, and remove it. By and large with that and the bonus damage for hitting a disintegrating target removed, all of beam's powers hit as hard as the respective powers from energy blast.

This is a good chance to ask about "Disintegration". How come some times I get disintegration on the first target, and sometimes I get "Disintegration Spread". Do I need to hit the first target twice to spread or something?

ty!

edit: and what exactly does "Disintegration" do aside from a DoT? Something about regen? Worth getting as a bonus?

Does it matter which power I use to get the Disintegration? Does a higher level power effected by it do a higher DoT?

Also, is the bonus damage that we count on based on enhancements from the Disintegration power? Or, is the DoT damage from the power that triggers it?

ty

The way I play my Beamer, I generally target a boss or Lt in the middle of the pack. Open up with Disintegrate, then hit them with my 1st two attacks, 9 times out of 10 the second attack triggers the spread.

As far as what the spread does, it varies based on which power causes it. Most all will add an Energy DoT to the target, Overcharge also increases stun mag, I think.
Disintegrate itself causes -Regen to the target.

I have no clue how enhancements factor in though.

Only the "Disintegrate" power can actually trigger the initial Disintegrate effect. If you shoot something with Disintegrate you'll apply a Disintegrate status to that target for a while (maybe 10 seconds or so). This Disintegrate effect does two things: it deals some damage over time, and it makes other Beam Rifle attacks have extra effects (usually bonus damage) on that target. You see the "Disintegration" message appear whenever you get this bonus effect. If you shoot a target that is currently under the Disintegrate effect with any single target blast except Disintegrate then it has a chance to trigger Disintegration Spread, which applies the Disintegrate effect to up to three nearby targets. The chance of getting a spread depends on what attack you use... the snipe will always trigger it, Lancer Shot has a good chance to do so, and Charged Shot and Single Shot have lower chances (Single Shot is the worst). If you see the "Disintegration Spread" message then you know you now have multiple targets vulnerable to bonus damage so it would be a good time to use Cutting Beam.

To add:

Any other Beam user in your team can also trigger the spread if they attack your disintegrating target.

Thankyou for the help.

Have to add also... I am really enjoying this character!