Played quite a few matches as both Fireteam and Predator as well as 1v1s with a friend. Only weapon I’ve not tried is the combistick.
I played Hunter Predator not tested damage output for the Scout as I assume nobody who plays Pred uses that class so this is for the Hunter / 87 classes. Friend was playing assault class without OWLF trained perk.
Damage wise, ranged seems to be to be the strongest in terms of raw output per hit. Without the down range perk the plasma caster can one shot when fully charged. Yautja bow does just under half health when fully charged with down range perk and is less visible than the plasma caster.
So far I’ve found the hand plasma to be useless. Anyone else want to confirm this?? Smart disk did more damage than the Yautja bow.
War club downs in one combo, first two hits don’t do much damage but the last hit really hurts; but it’s slow af and will get you killed quickly if swung recklessly. Sword does about a quarter with fearless perk per two swings.
That being said with the amount of health the Predator has it feels more balanced fighting 3 members of Fireteam rather than 4. Fighting 4 really depends on the skill / coordination of Fireteam, the type of mission they have to do and how flawless you are as the Predator. And any less than 3 you’re pretty much guaranteed a win if you’re a competent enough player (unless Fireteam get really lucky with a mission that doesn’t lead to them making noise but even then you can find them via scanning).
I think the Predator needs to be scaled stat wise depending on how many Fireteam members there are. Right now I think 3 is a good anchor point for the current stats of the Predator. 4 would require more health but no more damage output on ranged (maybe melee but I’ve not tested Berserker damage output). 2 would need same health and less damage overall. 1 would need a debuff on both.
And just before anyone says anything like “the predator is a badass who shouldn’t be taken down by a Fireteam let alone 1 or 2! Buff him even more!” do remember this is a multiplayer video game where balancing needs prioritising over cool factor / Canon power scaling. It should be fair for both sides regardless of how the Predators are in the stories. Buff the predator too much and people will complain Fireteam will never win. And God forbid if you just give the Predator a set buff fighting it with less than 4 people will be straight up suicide.