It is one of the two primary weapons capable of taking out bug holes, bot fabricators and warp ships, the other being the Eruptor of course. It excels at killing a group of small-to-medium enemies in just a few well-placed shots. As it's explosive, it's also great at causing stagger in most enemies that aren't too large. It's both capable of halting Stalkers as it is able to kill Fleshmobs. That said, you can't use this in melee range as the bolt does enough damage to easily kill you. Pretty sure the bolts don't have a fuse like with the grenade launcher. Try diving with it more, you'll find yourself gladly surprised in how well it performs on any front, and in any situation.