I mostly play an infiltrator, medic, or drive a tank, but there's some situations when I like to play a heavy. What's the best gun for medium range headshots/body shot bursts, and point blank full auto? The flare looks pretty good since I have decent accuracy and like the higher damage per hit, but if another gun has a faster kill time or is more accurate, I'd probably switch. Also, what's the best attachments for my playstyle? Thanks for any tips!
Orion is the best lmg for what you described. It might be a bit boring using the starter gun but it's really good except at really long ranges.
I'll preface this by saying I use the compensator and OG-4 4x scope on all of my LMGs whenever possible, Of the 3.4x and 4x scopes I think the OG-4(sp?) 4x is the best. The scopes all work pretty much the same but I prefer the extra zoom of 4x and the OG-4 has an ever-so-slightly larger lens than the other 4x scope, and obstructs your vision less. Best for short range hipfire full-auto madness: Orion + laser sight. Fastest RoF, highest damage output, fastest reload time. Best for aimed fire in bursts at medium range: SVA88 + foregrip. The Flare is a decent weapon but I prefer the higher RoF of the SVA88. Even tho it does less damage per shot than the Flare it does more damage over time. It's also extremely accurate and easy to control w/ the aforementioned attachments. I will say tho that I've tried all of the LMGs except the Polaris so I don't know how it compares. I plan to test it tonight. I also haven't tried out High Velocity ammo but will do so probably this weekend.
Hi, Orion, Pulsar LSW and SVA-88 are effectively the same gun uncerted. The only noticeable difference is that Orion has a 50 size magazine rather than a 75 in exchange for a slightly faster reloading speed (no biggie imo). Pulsar LSW has an ever so slightly faster reloading speed than SVA-88. When you bring certs in to things the Orion and Pulsar LSW are still effectively the same gun, the only difference cert-wise is that Orion doesn't have access to the 2x scope (arguably one of the better ones), whereas Pulsar LSW does. SVA-88 is noticeably different to the other two previously mentioned guns when certed. It has access to a 6x scope, high velocity ammunition and a compensator. High velocity ammunition makes long range moving targets easier to hit because the plasma is going faster, however, it does increase vertical recoil. However, at long range you should only be using quick bursts so recoil shouldn't be a problem. Furthermore, the compensator* reduces vertical recoil, at the cost of a larger aim from the hip reticle and showing up on the map from further away. All these things combined make the SVA-88 the best LMG at extreme ranges. VX29 and Flare do less damage uncerted than the other three LMGs, however, both have access to soft point ammunition that can make up for this deficiency. Soft point ammunition gives plasma increased wounding capabilities at medium range (i.e. more damage) at the cost of making the projectiles slower (i.e. it's harder to hit when the target it far away). If you take this ammunition type the VX29 and Flare will do pretty similar, if not slightly better (just my subjective observations), damage at medium and short range to the other three LMGs. The VX29 also has access to the second tier of Laser Sight making the aim from the hip reticle as small as it can possibly get for an LMG. This, along with Soft Point Ammunition bringing the damage on par with the other LMGs, make the VX29 the best LMG when firing from the hip. Advanced Laser Sight can also be useful in reducing the fire from the hip accuracy loss incurred by a compensator. The VX29 also has access to a 6x scope. The Flare has access to every possible LMG certification except Advanced Laser Sight. This includes the Flare exclusive certification Extended Magazine, which extends the magazine size to a whopping 150 (1.5x more than a VX29 and 3x that of an Orion). Extended Magazine is the primary reason for using a Flare as it is kind of the jack of all trades of LMGs. At best it is the equal of the other best-in-class LMGs (when it is using soft point in short to medium encounters), at worst the damage is inferior to the leading contenders (when using default ammo or high velocity). If you only want to spend a little money then the Flare is probably the best bang for your buck. The only significant thing I haven't mentioned are the suppressor (every LMG) and the flash suppressor (Orion, Pulsar LSW and SVA-88). Suppressors reduce gun noise/visibility and stop you appearing on the mini-map, however, they reduce bullet velocity and effectiveness at range. Therefore, they are best used at short range. Flash Suppressors make you less visible on the mini-map but give more recoil when aiming through the sights and firing for sustained periods. Both of these barrel attachments are only really useful in small encounters when you have room to skirmish and use your guile to get the upper hand. In large encounters there is bullet fire/people everywhere and no real room for guile. If you want to use a Suppressor there is no obvious choice of LMG. Each gun has the exact same advantages/disadvantages that I have outlined previously. If you want to use a Flash Suppressor at relatively long range then the Orion or Pulsar LSW shine, unless you want to sacrifice a little damage for the Extended Magazine or increased accuracy (high velocity ammo) of the Flare. At mid and short ranges they all do similar damage if there is Soft Point Ammo in the Flare, nevertheless, the Flare has the option of the Extended Magazine (however, will do less well at long range due to Soft Point). If you haven't guessed this already, I'll spell it for you: Orion, Pulsar LSW and (default ammo) SVA-88 are reasonable guns in every situation. They may not be the best in every situation, but they are always good. If you want to go without a Flash Suppressor the SVA-88 pulls ahead slightly as it increases long ranged damage dealing potential at the cost of a little vertical recoil (which could be negated by a compensator if you choose). If you do want a Flash Suppressor then go for the Pulsar LSW if you want a 2x sight, otherwise, the Orion and Pulsar LSW are pretty much the same. Up until now I've only been talking about the LMGs, we have two other categories of primary weapons: shotguns and heavy weapons (just the Lasher for now). Shotguns are the ultimate short range (near point blank) weapon. At that range a HA with a Shotgun should **** everything bar a MAX or another Shotgun user. As you might guess though, the spread of plasma gets quite large the further the target is away, making their damage deteriorate rapidly at range. The other important thing about Shotguns is they have a nice small little reticle that doesn't change size when you move, meaning you can sprint or jump without losing accuracy from the hip. The Pandora is our only automatic Shotgun. It has a small magazine, high damage and fires very rapidly. It's a complete beast (even for a Shotgun) and will tear people appart in no time at all. The real disadvantage of this gun is the small magazine size and rapid firing rate. If you're a bit inaccurate you can easily eat up the entire magazine before doing any significant damage to the target. If the target isn't dead by the time your magazine is gone (for whatever reason) it's likely you're going to die. This gun also eats ammunition. Extended Magazine and an ammunition belt are arguably mandatory for this Shotgun. The Nova and Thanatos are the other two Shotguns. They are semi-automatic. They don't fire quite as rapidly as the Pandora or do quite as much damage but reloading and ammunition is less of a problem. The Nova has a larger magazine than the Thanatos, however, the Thanatos reloads a lot faster. Our final primary weapon is the Lasher. This weapon is a bit of a funny one to be honest. It's intended as a long range weapon but the plasma is painfully slow, so slow in fact that any good player will have moved by the time it gets to them (not to mention being really hard to judge where to shoot in the first place). I've only played with this gun for a few hours, but I have feeling that a long range orientated SVA-88 is probably better in every way. *It has been noted in another thread that the Compensator doesn't appear to be doing anything at the moment. Possibly a bug or oversight.
Hmm, the Lasher is actually pretty good at long range. It's not accurate or hard hitting like a Sniper Rifle, however, it fires rapidly, has no recoil and the projectiles actually do damage in a relatively large (think 1m3) area. I still think I'd take SVA-88 over it for most situations though.
