Weapon recommendations

In this topic you can discuss different weapons and the advantages and disadvantages of certain upgrades.

Let's start with something rather basic but of vital importance, on your main weapon ALWAYS equip an infra-red laser. It allows you to give vital information to your team mates. You can then place 'waypoints' with the t-button.
For most guns it is wise to add an extended magazine. More shots before having to reload can save your life, as well as your team mates'.

Now on to real weapons. For hand-guns I loved using the TR-1 and the FiveSeveN. Since I usually snipe, I already have a fairly lethal shot usually, so I need a gun which backs me up in close quarters with a high firing rate and a low draw-time.
Don't waste a lot of money on hand-guns though, just buy a good one which fits your style and don't bother updating since they are all fairly much alike and you will use your main gun most of the time.

As a sniper rifle I love my current set-up, a Sentinal SR-1 SV, a rather stable weapon which really packs a punch.
It's able to shoot 8 bullets before reloading, has amazing control and accuracy and there is a fair chance that you one-shot kill someone. You can already get this amazing weapon at level 10! Since I'm a true "Bolt-Action" Guy, I'm eagerly awaiting becoming level 25 and being able to buy the M-200 or M-200 SV, which probably are the most amazing rifles out there in GRO.

My history with weapons in GRO has been varied. At first I used a sniper rifle (pretty poorly), but eventually I discovered that SMGs are wonderful.

The first great SMG available to you is the MP5 SD-N2. Yup, that's right, an MP5. This is available to you at level 1, and greatly outperforms the GI version: more damage, higher rate of fire, less recoil, no flash and has better accuracy. It has a slightly lower handling stat (ready time), but this is completely worth it. The 30 round magazine should work well for whatever you need to do, but just to let you know you also have the option to buy extended mags of double mags. Double mags double your ammo pool. If you tend to live for about 10 minutes at a time, then definitely go for the double mags. If you live for shorter amounts of time, or don't shoot a whole lot, then extended mags will probably be more worth your money. As with all weapons, by an IR Laser Designator, and by a 1x Open Reflex Sight if you want to. I'll give some opinions on sights for SMGs later though, so you might want to hesitate buying them.

The MP5 SD-N2 should keep you going until level 10 (don't buy the level 5 SMG- it really isn't great). At level 10, you get a great SMG that doubles as one of my favourite weapons- the PP2000. This gun has the lowest recoil of all SMGs, and its even lower if you stick a Muzzle Break on it. It's essentially a mini Assault Rifle- good damage per second, low recoil and good handling (never gonna call it ready time). It does suffer from a small magazine initially (20 rounds *shudder*), but this can be upgraded to 44 rounds. This increases the reload time by half a second, but this is completely worth it. You cannot do anything with 20 rounds. I recommend the 'Original' version. I myself use a variant from an event, the PP2000 SD HLW, which is essentially identical to the regular PP2000 except for the fact that it's silent. Unfortunately, I have no idea what Ubi is planning to do with event items in the future, but should they release Hallowe'en weapons again, I would definitely recommend getting the HLW version. For attatchments, again, get an IR laser, and if you want a sight then a 1x Open Reflex is the only way to go.

My final SMG is the PP-19 SP. This SMG is AMAZING. It's main selling point is the fact that it has 53 rounds in a magazine. 53! With this many bullets, accuracy simply goes out the window. This gun works well whether you're taking people on with pinpoint accuracy or just spraying and praying. It has a good damage per shot, but a relatively low fire rate (650 RPM), and somewhat high recoil. You can counter the recoil with a Muzzle Break, at the cost of some handling (another one of its weaknesses). As per usual, get a laser. I myself use a 1-4x Phantom Scope, as I thought I might be able to use this gun at mid range. If you really want a sight for it though, go for a 1x Reflex Open or nothing.

You see, SMGs have too much sway for any sight beyond 1x to be effective. The sight just does not stay still. Therefore, they are exclusively for CQC- trying to use them at mid range is completely ineffective. Added to this, a Phantom Scope normally adds more time to your handling than an Open Reflex one does, meaning that it's not great for CQC.
In short: the only real Sight for an SMG is an Open Reflex Sight.

So I am mostly playing assault, this is maybe not that helpful for all our recons, but here go my 2 cents.

Assault rifles:

I stuck with the M27 for quite a while, gave it the extended mag and the open reflex (that one really is a must for CQC) but not much more, it's kinda good the way it is.
I gave the AS VAL a try but found it (to my taste) had too much of a kick and, if that's possible, had a too high rate of fire.

When I reached level 10, after long consideration, I bought the Mk16-SV, and I've been using it ever since. Using weapons for a longer period of time does actually pay off in GRO, as with every use you will increase your critical hit chance. I know crits are fiercely dispupted, but hey, as long as I have them and not the other team As of now, it has like 20% crit chance when stabilized - that's kinda neat.
The Mk16-SV has also been constantly upgraded - extended mags, a flash suppressor for a bit of stealth without sacrificing any damage, no muzzle flash means I am less likely to be spotted. Obviously a laser designator, you simply need that one for any kind of tactical combat. As for a scope, I have been using the default one for some time (3.5x Assault), then I found some boxes of "rare" loot, containing the Phantom 1-4x (which I didn't like, because it truely is a scope, not a sight, you have no peripheral vision) and finally (today actually) I mounted the 4x SUSAT (whatever that means) which I am absolutely loving right now. It looks bulky in the "shop vision" but really isn't that much in the way when in ironsights in-game.

With this outfit, I am pretty much set for any mid-range combat the game throws at me, and although it seems a bit wasteful, I can also just point, spray and pray in case some cloaked ... um ... terrible person sneaks up behind me.
In the future, I may at some point invest in a CQCversion maybe of the ACR or the AR-21 - just a large-calibre SMG, so to speak, cray rate of fire, huge damage/sec, near damn no control. Maybe. We'll see.

Shotguns

I didn't look deeply into this topic because I thought I was just fine with my Mk16 for the assault and the default LMG for my specialist, because hey, I never play that guy anyway. Still, I picked up the Pentagun to give him (and, as it turns out, also my assault) some one-shot-insta-kill capability. It is actually quite funny when defending on Onslaught maps, sitting in cover, waiting for the occasional guy to run by, then pop out and booom - buckshot to the chest from 2 feet away, ya dun goof'd. In fact, ya dead. One guy actually rage-quit after getting done three times in literally the same spot, in the course of less than a minute. You run the way, you die. You run the same path again ten seconds later, what do you expect? D'oh.
Anyways, equipment. Kinda predictable, really. Open Reflex sight (picked that very one up in rare loot - you find very useful stuff there), laser designator to point out snipers to guys that are better prepared for longer ranges, that's the only real downside on this thing - not being able to shoot anything that is farther than 10 meters away.
Oh, and I equipped (but always forget to use) magnum ammo - a present for a level-up. How nice.

Sidearms
Not much to say about it really. I have like 5 pistol kills, and 4 of them were the result of me being in the process of reloading my rifle while some guy jumps me. I don't have a favourite handgun - used the P-250 with no intention of buying anything else until, by coincidence, I picked up the TR-1 in some "rare" loot. I equipped it but I don't have but one kill on it yet.

I really like the Phantom (well I would if I had anything it worked well with ) as it's pretty versatile
So, do shotguns work better defensively? I tried running about with them a few times as a Specialist (that starting qualification was HELL), and I always end up dead. I've never actually tried just waiting for them to come around the corner though. Done it with an SMG a few times ^^

I guess the Phantom is too versatile for me

Hmm, you can also use shotguns offensively quite well, you just gotta be careful with your placing, move from cover to cover until you are face-to-face with the enemy, or let them come in close if you are capping a point. Also, you have to spearhead the group or you are rather useless. I guess I wouldn't run shotgun on Markov's "C" (but it's not that bad - I am just better with my AR), and not at all on Cherto. Don't go shotgun on Balaklava unless you plan on backstabbing - distances are too long, and there is too much cover. On Tomsk, on the other hand, most rooms are small enough so the pellets don't spread out that far - basically, everything except for snipers in high windows is in range on that map.
Defending on Onslaught maps, yeah, sit on the stair-like cover just left of "A" in Korolyov, or if A has fallen, cover the left flank by camping on the B side of the bridges (especially the one near the spawn). On Shearwater, there are nice spots in the right alley into "B" (but watch your back - you are "behind" the point there) or when defending "C", that green cover again in the right alley is where you want to be. Generally, just be somewhere at the point - the enemy needs to come close to you, where you have an advantage.

Again, shotties are pretty cool - it's certainly satisfying, one shot "boom" and 8 yellow "20 damage" indicators go up - you do the maths, no-one survives that.
One thing I forgot to mention earlier - shotguns have a loooong reload sequence and there is nothing more annoying than getting killed and not being able to get one single shot off. So, new players, be careful about that.

Thanks a lot for that
I'll try some of that stuff out on my Specialist (I have the M1014 AE from an event- semi-automatic, and reloads one shell every 0.5 seconds )

an M1014... drool

It's quite good, but I've only got like 5 kills with it

I got the Sar 21-C and I gotta say that I understand why it is so popular. It fits my Run 'N Gun style extremely well and it's a clear upgrade from the starting AR. The increase in fire rate really helps in close quarters but it does have a bit of a recoil but it's still very manageable. I think I'll be playing with this gun for a long time to come. In long thin maps it might not be the best option as it is not really ideal for long range...

Also while playing with Nastarovje and Accouser I got a Legen - wait for it, and I hope you're not lactose intolerant 'cause the second half of that word is - DARY. LEGENDARY loot. When I opened it there was lvl 27 armor in it. The one which is more armor and less speed. I was thinking I would buy the level 17 armor when I get there (I'm 15 now) but now that I got the lvl27 armor I'm thinking about waiting till I get to level 27... What do you guys think I should do?

Definitely keep the Level 27 Armour and wait until you reach that level. Since you have a fair way to go for Level 27, you might want to buy some lower level armour (ie, low level Hermes or Titan) to keep you going, but I would say it's definitely worth the wait.

I realise that this is a bump but I have a great recommendation: the MP7 SD. I was playing with it this evening, and it just destroyed enemies (admittedly we lost a few matches when I was using it, but hey, I got a good score :3). It really does require an extended magazine though, as the standard magazine holds just 20 rounds and has an ammo pool of 100 rounds. It also needs a good sight- the ironsights are horrible. But other than that, it's a silent, deadly, killing machine

Nevermind bumps I think good weapons deserve a spot in this topic - and now that you started I'm going to give some input too, recent "discoveries" of mine.

For our snipers, I have often heard you say (and said it myself) that autosnipers are annoying as hell - but they also are quite fun to play, as they make up for my lack of proper aim
On this topic, I will just say SR-25 and otherwise be silent

If you want some one-shot-kill capability for your assault or specialist, I can definitely recommend the M500-SV. You may think, a long-range shotgun, wtf is that supposed to be? I gotta be honest, "long" range is really 10-15m here, but hey, that's more than the other shotguns. Open Reflex sight and Laser IR thingy obviously, but I also put a silencer on that gun, which for one, makes it "even more" accurate and controllable (and of course silent, duh), but also makes it incredibly loooong - on your menu screen it will clip through the ground.
To give you an idea of what this gun is capable of, on Balaklava, I will usually sit in the tunnel but on the point next to that pillar, and I can pretty much one-shot everything (short of an assault with full inserts) that pops up his head on the other side - without even really aiming, because it's a shotgun, and the shot spreads.
This gun is availiable from level one onwards, and costs (without mods) 1.7k RP, so it's basically a day's work --- and for that, it's awesome bang for your buck.

As I was leveling up my specialist lately (using the aforementioned M500-SV) I was also saving for an LMG, and decided on the L86 SV (it "won the competiton" with the suppression (LSW?) version because of the latter's lack of control which bought it a higher rate of fire - but 610RPM is already enough for the most part).
It is, obviously, the long-range version again, and is appropriately equipped with a 4xSUSAT scope. Because I like this one, I kept it, but I hear many prefer the Phantom 1-4x toggle thingy, so you might want to change that. As with my AR for the assault, I gave the L86 the Laser IR thing and a flash suppressor (I noticed that when playing the Mp5K that the muzzle flash can and will obscure your vision, and I didn't like it).
Up to this point, the L86 was stats-wise and also in the ingame handling very similar to my beloved Mk16 assault rifle - good accuracy, very controllable recoil, high damage, one half-second burst will deal over 200 dmg points, not counting crit strikes. But the L86 is an LMG, and so I could upgrade my 30 round magazine to a 100 round "C-Mag" at the cost of +0.2 seconds handling time and +1.8 seconds reload time, which is not really a cost because you don't need to reload anymore you can just keep the trigger pulled and ratatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatat everyone. This is absolutely ridiculous, you just hose down a corridor or at a corner and if they are stupid enough to come at you, well they won't come at you because they die.

I actually have a fairly accurate shotgun from the AC event. I'll have to try some shotgun sniping

Short update from me: Got an M200-SV now, pretty awesome since it makes one-shots pretty probable. Shooting someone in the leg generally gets me around 100 damage, shooting someone's foot off is 50-60 damage, in the chest is an instakill for all recons. A headshot, even without critting or something, ears a whopping 180+ damage compared to 120-130 for my previous SR, the Sentinel SR1-SV. I haven't got an awful lot of kills yet since I notice my reflexes are pretty bad since this weekend, must have been all the belgian beer ... but I really like it! So far I only added a lazerpointer, already bought some magnum-ammo to see how awesome that would be and I might consider buying an extended magazine because some rounds on markov have taught me that after 12 kills, quite some damage done and a couple of missed shots, you wish you had a larger ammo-pool

Huh. It looks like I'm just going to have to be some kind of support guy desperately wishing he could have as good a sniper as you

FreedomTaker wrote:

Huh. It looks like I'm just going to have to be some kind of support guy desperately wishing he could have as good a sniper as you

Haha, do like I did, save up until you got the 28.8k you need for this amazing gun You still will steal the spotlight since you have got a better aim and you are more of an attacker than I am. I also heard it is sometimes in legendary loot .... which I have never had so I can't confirm nor deny it.

Mortem6 wrote:

I also heard it is sometimes in legendary loot .... which I have never had so I can't confirm nor deny it.

You heard that from me. I had it. Also, I sold it.

I also wanted to tell you guys (I remembered when you mentioned support and stuff) how great it sometimes feels advancing, some sort of machinegun in your hands, and upon being pinned down, it takes 1 or 2 seconds, there is a faint pop, and a sniper clears your way - that is really great. It often gets forgotten when I rant about snipers, and how I hate them and stuff like that, that if they work as part of the team, they are pretty amazing. So thanks again for that.

*Takes down suppressing Specialist* You're welcome

I have another recommendation: The M249 Para for the Specialist. 32 damage per shot, 1000 rounds per minute, 100 round magazine, decent accuracy and a handling of 0.63 seconds. It has a damage per second of 533. As you can tell, this thing is beastly in CQC, althouth the minimal control means you'll likely have to hip fire a lot (meaning that you can't rely on crits that much). While I've only got the weapon to crit level 2 so far, I feel it's going to be a great companion

Unforunately I feel my shotgun might go unloved... *hugs shotgun* *whispers 'I love you' to shotgun*

FreedomTaker wrote:

Unforunately I feel my shotgun might go unloved... *hugs shotgun* *whispers 'I love you' to shotgun*

Make sure to keep your weapon well greased... and always put protective cover over it when placing it in storage





heeeeheeeeeheeeee

I... I don't... But... What... Just... Why?

...because maintenance is important.

Clean your weapon after usage, else it may jam after prolonged utilization.

After submerging your weapon in water, always clear your barrel or the stuff might blow up in your face.





Those are all straight from actual military training, only slightly modified... I bet I can think of tons more

Please, someone, anyone, confiscate his keyboard.

Double post and a bump, but I felt I needed to update my recommendations. Also, I'm an admin

As you know, a lot of weapons were changed in the latest patch, mainly in respects to their handling. So I've made a few changes to what I've previously recommended:

PP2000: Still a great choice. Go with Extended Magazines, an IR Laser and an Open Reflex Sight if you feel the need for optics. Also, try using a Muzzle Break- recoil? What recoil?
Also, as I said in my first recommendation, I use the Hallowe'en variant of this gun, but at the time I didn't know what Ubisoft's plans were with previous limited edition items. You can now buy Bronze/Silver/Gold crates in the shop. They all cost GC though, except for the Bronze, and when you open them you will either receive a Limited Edition item or some consumables. Often the consumables will be of the same value of the box- buy these crates at your own risk.

PP-19 SP: Again, still a great choice. However, I no longer recommend the Phantom scope and Muzzle Break. Instead, use the default ironsights and a flash suppressor. Recoil is manageable and the 53 round magazine is great.

MP5 SD-N2: Still a good choice for beginners, although it also suffered a hit to ready times. Go with Extended Magazines, or Twin Magazines for a faster reload. IMO you don't really need a sight, but if you want one then take a 1x Optic of your choice.

Sentinel SR-1 SV: Still the best early sniper rifle, although the sway is VERY noticeable. It's like this with all sniper rifles now, but it still takes a bit of getting used to.

M1014/M1014 AE: Once a good choice, especially with a grip, although unfortunately it now has such a long handling time for a shotgun (0.7 seconds!) that it's impractical for CQC. You can use it, just don't think you can pull of any sliding kills...

M249 Para: A great early CQC LMG. Still got all those stats that make it good for close range, although the handling is even worse from before (0.75 seconds). I use a Flash Suppressor (not the default one- that does nothing to hide flash and genuinely doesn't reduce recoil), and the default ironsights for the sake of keeping the ready time even remotely decent.

Bumping this topic once again (sorry) to update the information I provided earlier - yesterday I had the chance to play abit longer than normal, and that's been the first time since the new patch (sad, I know...).

So, here we go (for longer, more detailed descriptions see above).

M27: Absolutely ridiculously ineffective in the matches I was put in. Takes near damn half a magazine to kill an assault - but then, who said using a lvl1 gun against a fully buffed lvl30 assault was a good idea?

Mk16SV: Damage has been decreased from 42 to 39, has a DPS of 403 or so now. Still a very good gun but now clearly inferior to lvl15/lvl20/... guns (keep in mind the Mk16 is availiable from lvl10 on - and before the update, it was IMHO better than the ACR and the SAR21). So, I guess the recommendation should now be "get any lvl5 gun, then an SAR, and then your choice of AR21, ACR or F2000" instead of sticking with the M27 until lvl10 and with the Mk16 until lvl25 or even 30.

Pentagun: Still murdering everything with the 120rpm fire rate. Awesome gun for close range if you can bring it to bear - the high handling time has affected this one as well, with a grip I can get it to 0.6 seconds. Not bad, but not good either.

M500SV: Needs very deliberate play now. Damage may have been nerfed as I now two-shot "fresh" assaults. Fire rate and handling time (0.9s) make this gun dangerous to you as much as to the enemy in the lvl20-30 matches I am normally in - but again, this is a lvl1 gun. Yes I was called "pumpgun noob", but also yes that was after killing that person.

L86SV: well this is a heavy gun. Takes a loooong time to lift into firing position, and also seems (haven't proven this yet) to kill a little slower than before.

And a new one if it's not too much trouble - since this gun has become better through the patch.
Mp5K. I have had this gune for a while (looks really funny because it's just tiny) and since the patch, a handling time of 0.45 seconds is very valuable indeed. I am using the Mp5K with extended magazines instead of double mags because the rate of fire on this thing is really through-the-roof, 900 rounds per minute. The control (wibbly-wobbly while shooting) is not as bad as you would expect at this ROF, but on the other hand, the effective range is very low, it's just a CQC-SMG. Appropriately, I fit an open reflex on it, also a muzzle flash suppressor - because this gun is so short, the flash will obscure your vision when you shoot, even more so if you have a muzzle brake on it.