Overview
You have one open utility slot and you need more defensive upgrades. Do you buy Power Pills or Barrier Magazine? Using a combination of in-game testing and math, this guide will explain which upgrade you should buy.
Introduction
Power Pills or Barrier Magazine?
This is a question I’ve been asking myself for a long time.
Ever since it was introduced to the game, Barrier Magazine has been this bizarre alternative to Power Pills that a lot of the player base either ignored or was confused by. Most people find themselves using this upgrade only if they need more defense in addition to the Power Pills they’ve already bought. However, I’ve wondered for quite some time if it’s worth taking Barrier Magazine instead of Power Pills.
After having done in-game testing as well as math algorithms, I will explain the results of my experiments, math, and reasoning and which one I believe is the better option.
While you can, of course, get both in any given game, for the purpose of this guide, it will assume you are only able to buy one of them.
Why buy Power Pills?
At a combined total of 260 solar, this upgrade will increase your Naut’s health by 16%. If you have 1000 health, you will end up with a total of 1160 health. It is important to remember that it gives health based on your base amount; additional health upgrades aside from this (i.e. Medical Pump) will not affect it.
Quite simply, purchasing this will result in you staying alive longer in fights.
Why buy Barrier Magazine?
At a combined total of 180 solar, this upgrade will decrease all damage you receive by 10%. Rather than increasing the number of hit points you have, this upgrade increases the effectiveness of each point itself, if that makes sense. This will always block 10% of the damage you receive from all sources. Additional health upgrades (i.e. Medical Pump) become more efficient with it.
Like Power Pills, purchasing this will also result in you staying alive longer in fights.
Power Pills vs Barrier Magazine
As a quick side note, from a psychological perspective, Barrier Magazine is better because enemy players will have a harder time determining how much damage they must do to you for you to die since your visible health bar does not change accordingly. However, that’s beside the point and is not relevant to this guide.
Also, Power Pills Turbo ultimately costs 16.25 solar per % health increase.
Barrier Magazine costs 16.36 solar per % effective health increase.
The difference is cost efficiency is almost nonexistant.
Power Pills literally increases your health by 16%.
Barrier Magazine, on the other hand, increases your effective health by 11%.
Effective health means that, while your actual health pool may not change, you function as if you have the specified effective health as actual health.
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Why 11%? (If you understand already or don’t care, skip to the next dotted line.)
I’ll try to explain this in a simple way with an example:
Having a 10% damage-absorbing shield means you take 90% damage from all sources.
For this example, let’s say you have 100 health.
Without reduction, if you take 10 damage per hit, it would take 10 hits to reduce your health to zero.
With the reduction, you would take 9 damage per hit, resulting in you needing over 11.1 (repeating) hits to hit zero.
This means that you need to take over 111% of your health in damage to hit zero.
Following that logic, you have 11% more effective health than you would normally.
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Clearly, in this straightforward comparison, Power Pills is more effective, no question.
Here is a demonstration comparing the two:
While the difference is extremely small, it is still there. That couple of extra health points can make a significant difference.
The difference is even more noticeable if you increase the initial health pool:
So we’re done here, right? Power Pills is clearly better than Barrier Magazine, right?
Well… we’re not quite done yet.
There is still one major factor that has not been addressed:
Yes, healing or otherwise recovering from damage is a very important factor that changes things.
Remember that Power Pills actually increases your maximum health pool, while Barrier Magazine changes the effectiveness of each health point. This means that healing is more effective if you have Barrier Magazine because if you would normally kill a jungle creep and receive 200 health, you would effectively gain 222 health with Barrier Magazine.
Due to this, you may personally find Barrier Magazine better if you are looking for quick skirmishes and will have frequent opportunities to heal yourself.
But what about mid-fight?
Healing mid-fight is somewhat common, so does that make Barrier Magazine better?
Well, to a certain degree, yes, as you can see in this demonstration:
With that said though, that example had Clunk bite two minions for 549 health each. Healing over 1000 health isn’t exactly the most common thing in practice so it may not be that one-sided.
So where is the line drawn? When does one become better than the other in this instance?
Well, Barrier Magazine has a harder time than it may seem. You have to heal over ~45% of your health pool (your actual health, not your effective health) during the encounter for Barrier Magazine to become more efficient. (This math is hard to explain, so you’re gonna have to take my word for it.) In practice, 45% of your health pool in healing over a fight is.. well… uncommon to put it lightly. This is assuming you’re taking consistent damage until you die, but in most fights the number will be somewhere close to that.
However, this is under the assumption that you are fighting to the death. In many cases, you will be chipped of some health now and again and in those instances, you may want Barrier Magazine instead of Power Pills, since you are not in any immediate threat and you can recover faster.
“So, which one do I buy?”
The answer to that question is a combination of your Naut of choice, your other upgrades, and the enemy Nauts you are against.
For this section, I will explain my reasoning for each Naut that is able to buy Barrier Magazine. There isn’t a “correct” answer per se, since there are endless variables that could change it, but hopefully this input will help you make the best decision for the situation.
I will say this in advance:
If you find yourself consistently dying from full health, Power Pills will always be more helpful.
This overrides anything I say below.
Clunk should almost always take Power Pills. He is a gigantic, unmissable target that will get hit by anything and everything the enemy team has to throw at him. Due to this, the extra 5% effective health you’d get from Power Pills over Barrier Magazine is invaluable. While he can bite enemies which would be of more benefit with Barrier Magazine, every hit point is crucial when acting as fodder for the enemy team as much as Clunk does. Clunk having the most base health in the game also makes the 5% difference more significant than it is with any other Naut.
Coco players may find themselves wanting Barrier Magazine more. Being the harasser that she is, Coco typically involves briefly “getting in” to do some damage and then retreating, if that. Her relatively small health pool, combined with long exchanges being uncommon with Coco, usually makes the 5% health difference less useful than the ability to recover faster. The 80 solar you would save by buying Barrier Magazine is likely better spent on other harassing upgrades.
Deadlift will benefit from either upgrade depending on the situation. Similarly to Clunk, he is basically fodder for the enemy team and will get hit by everything that’s thrown at him. This would normally make the 5% difference important and the deciding factor. However, many Deadlift players find themselves buying Sweat-Wow-Band (i.e. heal over time on his attacks). This gives him an incredible amount of sustain that many other Nauts do not have. In this circumstance, you may want Barrier Magazine if you plan on using his sustain to stay in lanes for extended periods. In other situations, though, Power Pills is likely a better option.
Neither upgrade will affect Protective Pose in any way. (Yes, I tested this.)
Derpl will get hit by everything, so Power Pills will benefit him more. While many Derpl players have an “ambush” playstyle, he will still often be target practice for the entire enemy team when he’s in view. If you want damage reduction, Force Field is more cost efficient and better anyway. With Force Field, your effective health will be increased by 26.6% as apposed to 11%. Mind you, this is 26.6% of his maximum health, so buying Power Pills will only further increase the effectiveness of Force Field.
Genji will likely prefer Barrier Magazine. Due to his low maximum health, the difference in effective health between the two upgrades is negligible. On top of that, he has many ways of healing himself, and if he does take damage, it’s usually while Monarch Blessing is active or around teammates who are a larger threat than himself. If he is caught in a bad position, let’s be honest, he’s dead anyway, regardless of which upgrade he bought. His non-utility upgrades are also game-changing and expensive, so the extra 80 solar is better spent on those.
Lonestar can take either one depending on the build/playstyle. If you plan on being in the front lines, constantly fighting enemy players, then the increased protection of Power Pills will be your friend. If, however, you plan on doing more hit-and-run style maneuvers, clearing droids, chipping turrets, and constantly changing lanes, then you will likely want Barrier Magazine, especially if you buy Transfusion Grenades (i.e. healing on dynamite).
Scoop, like other large and slow targets, will be soaking up a lot of damage and will usually want the extra health from Power Pills. While he does have a source of significant burst healing (i.e. Binding Of Justice), it has a very long cooldown and is somewhat unreliable due to that. However, if you plan on prioritizing healing upgrades and go all out on them, then Barrier Magazine may suddenly become a better option. With that said, though, you will probably want Power Pills in most circumstances.
Skølldir is a large target so he will get hit by everything; take Power Pills. There isn’t a whole lot to add here. Unless you buy Perfumed White Flowers (i.e. heal on 3rd punch) and consistently hit it, he doesn’t heal enough for Barrier Magazine to pay off. If you happen to be in that scenario, then go ahead and take Barrier Magazine, otherwise take Power Pills.
Smiles has the potential to have ludicrous amounts of health regeneration if you build him to do so. If you focus on his healing capabilities, then Barrier Magazine will be your best friend. If, however, you do not focus on his healing then Power Pills will be a better option due to his high health making Power Pill all the better along with his large size.
Swiggins is even worse at healing than Skølldir; take Power Pills. I really can’t think of a scenario where Barrier Magazine is better than Power Pills with Swiggins.
Voltar is similar to Genji in a lot of ways so he will likely prefer Barrier Magazine. Due to his low health pool, the difference in health between the two upgrades is quite insignificant. On top of that, he is generally not the one taking damage for his team and what little damage he does take is usually negated by his Healbot. You’re the most defenseless Naut in the game. If you get caught in a bad spot, you’re going to die anyway; Power Pills’ difference won’t save you.
Yuri, similarly to Smiles can potentially be built to have incredible amounts of health regeneration. Which one you take will largely depend on your playstyle. If you plan on facebombing people, then the extra tankiness of Power Pills will suit you. If you plan on utilizing his laser and other lifestealing upgrades/abilities, then Barrier Magazine will likely be of more use to you.
TL;DR
Okay, so you didn’t want to read the details?
Or maybe the guide had too much stuff to remember at once?
Just want a quick summary?
Here’s the extremely simple verison:
If you are always taking damage or have a large health pool, then take Power Pills.
If you are not taking damage often or have significant healing capabilities, take Barrier Magazine.
If you’re in doubt, take Power Pills Turbo.
Closing Statements
I hope this was helpful.
If I missed anything, or you otherwise have thoughts, please leave them down below. I appreciate all feedback and am always looking to improve.
Thank you for taking the time to read through this if you did!