How does proliferation work?

Grim Dawn Classes, Skills and Builds
1

From the B30 notes I see the following line:

Proliferation has had its damage significantly increased. These additional fragments now deal Aether damage and are visually distinct from the regular fragments. Moved to Tier 8

This makes me think that the additional fragments from this skill deal only the Aether damage listed on them (+ usual bonuses) and do not carry the elemental, aether, or electrocute damage from the previous 3 skills in the line. Taking points in proliferation does increase the number of fragments displayed on the base skill tooltip, and increases the aether damage listed on the tab 2 damage-per-hit breakdown for PRM, so I am getting conflicting feedback.

Semi-related - am I alone in thinking a DOT damage type makes little sense on a rapid fire ability? Supercharged just seems like a waste. Same issue exists with the bleed damage on Phantasmal Blades if you transmute it.

2

Proliferation applies its damage to the main target as well as the targets hit by the fragments. The fragments only deal Proliferation’s damage, though, nothing else.

3

If I understand you correctly, the primary missile and it’s 3-5 fragments will gain additional Aether damage, but the additional fragments added by Proliferation will only deal the Aether damage from that skill. Not so good if one is emphasizing the elemental damage over the Aether damage then.