Abilities doing damage are about generating threat or pressure - killing is what happens when you can't (getting checkmated by overwhelming odds) or won't (fail to make the right decision) deal with the ability. Other case, we use these to create angle or area control https://twitter.com/_Razur/status/1288167342195630080

Raze Grenade makes you move from an area into bad positions. Boom Bot has a lot of choices (shoot/hide/run/hold). Since these moves can *often lead to unfavorable fights that lead to death* damage must be the punishment or you don't need to respect its footprint.

Two issues where I see this not being true: the current satchel in-combat use (don't worry boosting/zooming is fine) to kill in a gunfight, and some cases where you can't do anything about the rocket. We'll be fixing those as part of our commitment to tactical play.