The outer ring doesn't look good at all in pictures. It also lasts only a fraction of a second so it's not really that 'visible' during actual gameplay. It's more of a 'fleeting perception' kind of thing. I worried a lot about it clipping into the geometry since it's not a volumetric effect. But in practice I find it really helps sell the splash damage area, which always felt semi-random to me without a strong visual indication. However, if anyone has a better idea I'd be happy to try it at some point. I also tried an explosion shell mesh, the mesh was working but it just wouldn't load my shader/texture for whatever reason.
(ps. sorry if the pic isn't showing, I'm going to change my host sometime next month)