Determines how far projectiles can pass through enemies and objects. Each pierced target subtracts the value of the remaining Punch Through potential for that projectile.
—In-game Description
Punch Through is a mechanic that allows weapons to shoot through a set distance of material, whether this material is cover, objects or enemies. The total amount of material that a weapon's bullet, beam or projectile can pass through before despawning is determined by the Punch Through value (measured in meters). Punch Through is typically gained through Mods, though certain weapons have innate Punch Through values.
With higher Punch Through values, a skilled player can estimate and strike the location of enemies' weak spots while they're in total cover, without waiting for them to expose themselves to the player's line of sight. High values of Punch Through can also be used to penetrate multiple enemies at once, which can greatly boost a weapon's ammo efficiency against swarms of enemies.
Mechanics[]
Geometry Punch Through[]
Geometry Punch Through is the total distance of material (object or enemy) that a weapon's projectile, bullet or beam can pass through before dissipating. Punch Through values listed in the arsenal and from mods are this type of Punch Through. This Punch Through value is gradually diminished as the projectile passes through objects or enemies. Once a projectile's Punch Through distance is used up, the projectile despawns normally as if it were fired from a weapon with no Punch Through. A Punch Through value of 1.2m is sufficient to pass through most enemies at least once (Infested Boilers being one of the notable exceptions).
For example, when using a weapon with 1.2m of Punch Through distance against a line of four Grineer Butchers at chest height, a shot will only pass through the first two targets but not through the third, since the torso hitbox of three butchers combined adds up to over 1.2m of material. This results in only three of the four Butchers being hit. Increasing the punch through to 2.1m will result in all four Butchers being hit.[1]
It is important to note that there are some objects that cannot be Punched Through by any means; barriers from abilities such as 
Snow Globe (both the 
Frost and Arctic Eximus variants) or Nullifier Crewman fields will block all projectiles regardless of the amount of Punch Through they may otherwise be capable of. Additionally, some Bosses have weakspots that periodically close, and cannot be penetrated by any means until they open up (such as General Sargas Ruk's exhaust vents, which only open after he performs certain attacks).
An example of Punch Through projectiles losing velocity. Note how the second volley passing through the pillar have notably less speed.
Non-hitscan weapons with Punch Through will function as expected. However, projectiles that fully penetrate geometry and pass through will lose a significant amount of their velocity.
Infinite Body Punch Through[]
Some weapons that shoot wide projectiles or a stream of particles possess infinite body Punch Through. Infinite body Punch Through allows these weapons to pierce an unlimited amount of enemies, but not level geometry, objects, or barriers. The following is a list of weapons with infinite body Punch Through:
Area of Effect Weapons[]
With a very few exceptions, weapon projectiles with an area of effect (AoE) component will not Punch Through level geometry at all. Instead the projectile will explode on first contact. Note that some weapons have multiple modes though, where an AoE mode won't benefit but another mode will.
Weapons[]
Some weapons come with an innate amount of Punch Through without any installed mods. Most weapons with a charged shot mechanic will add Punch Through upon full charge, while their uncharged shots may not penetrate anything. In both cases, their innate Punch Through values will stack with any mods that grant Punch Through.
Aeolak (Primary Fire only: 1.0m)
Boltor (Incarnon Form only: 0.6m)
Cedo (Primary Fire only: 0.8m)
Cernos (Charged Shot only: 1.0m)
Cinta (Charged Shot only: 2.0m)
Daikyu (Charged Shot only: 3.0m)
Dread (Charged Shot only: 2.5m)
Ferrox (Charged Shot only: 1.5m)
Komorex (First zoom level only: 2.0m)
Lanka (Charged Shot only: 5.0m)
Miter (Charged Shot only: 2.5m)
Paris (Charged Shot only: 2.0m)
Zarr (Barrage Mode only: 1.6m)
Zenith (Semi-Mode only: 99999.0 m)
Minimum Mod Ranks for Penetration[]
- Notes
- Average data, result will differ due to width variances.
- Humanoid enemies include Elite Lancer, Crewman, and Ancient Disruptor.
- Quadruped enemies include Charger.
Sources of Punch Through[]
Passive[]
Mods[]
Notes[]
- A number of bosses actually become invulnerable when they deploy protection rather than using a physical barrier to block attacks. In those cases Punch Through will not allow damage to be dealt during these phases. The Raptors, Captain Vor and Lephantis are good examples.
- The shields of Eximus Guardian cannot be bypassed with Punch Through.
Bugs[]
- The Drakgoon's real Punch Through on Charged Shots may differ from the listed Punch Through in the Arsenal/Codex and on site. It seems to be even less than 1.5m as listed in the Arsenal/Codex. Further testing/info required.
Media[]
These two containers are 22m apart, the Latron Prime has maxed Metal Auger.
The bullet can puncture the first, travel ~20m and still hit the second.
This shows Punch Through only counts solid objects, not empty space.
Trivia[]
An demonstration of how Punch Through interacted with a projectile weapon (in this case, an 
Acrid with 
Seeker equipped). Note how the Acrid's darts would veer off to the right of the reticle, as opposed to continuing forward.
- Beginning in Update 9.7 (2013-08-30), Punch Through functionality was given to non-hitscan weapons. However, projectiles that manage to penetrate an angled surface will veer off to the side once they exit, and with significantly reduced velocity. After an unknown update, projectiles passing through objects would no longer deviate, but would still lose velocity.
