I know the love Serpent gets in terms of Vanu carbines and I'm just wondering if I'm using the weapon wrong, because VX6-7 seems a way better weapon to me. Why? If we put the stats down, VX6-7 has 45 less rof than Serpent, for faster bullets, faster reload speed and better hipfire accuracy. Rest are the same. Every time I use Serpent, I feel like a shotgun could've done it's job better. Whereas with VX6-7 I feel like I have a further effective range, with more controllable recoil patterns. I know Serpent kills fast but every time I kill someone, I say, well I could've done the same thing with a shotty. For me, Mercenary is a better carbine than Serpent, because it can kill opponents further away. And I like that feature when it's granted to classes other than Medic and HA. So basically, my issue is, I'd rather have a shotgun than a Serpent AND I wish for medium range capabilities with a Carbine. And I feel like other carbines do the job better and Serpent just melts down close targets with it's high ROF. But maybe that's because it doesnt fit my playstyle. What are your thoughts, how can I improve my performance with Serpent if you're familiar with the gun? And also keep in mind that I'm not making definite claims about the weapon when I say a shotgun can do the job better or something, it's just what I've experienced and my experience is probably not the most reliable source.
Generally trading a CQ carbine for a shotgun does two things: Guarantee that you cannot effectively engage in any sort of medrange combat Limits your damage potential to the range of the opponent Personally I like my GD7F, but it does feel like an SMG at times, but most often I can still range it. After finishing shotgun auraxiums I learned something very important: Having no range SUCKS SO BLOODY MUCH. I kept thinking to myself if I had a regular gun in this class, I would kill him, him and probably him. Shotguns often limit your potential to stop incoming threats instead you have to deal with them within the perimeter, depending on if you have a medic or not, this is bad. Even if you have a medic, if someone dies to a person you could've shot earlier, you make your medic vulnerable getting him up, if you have no medics guarding with you or moving with you, then this is also very VERY bad. In on the move situations you're a sitting duck, if you have one at range, but with a carbine I can generally retaliate anyhow. If you want to get better with the peant, try to play light assault much more and recognize good engagements. No brainer is to go for headshots, one of the highest DPS and lowest TTK guns is even faster with headshots. Try to also limit your misses, train yourself "if I can't kill that guy, don't engage at this range", don't even send the bullets unless he is super hurt.
When I first picked up the vx67 I didn't like it all that much. It handles very much like most SMG's. Very wobbly back and forth recoil and mediocre bordering on bad ADS. Now that it's my last carbine to auraxium I absolutely love it. It's like most high ROF weapons. Only as good as your trigger discipline. The more you rely on spray and pray the worse they are, leaving you exposed to a reload at the absolute worst time after your COF bloomed so bad all you hit was the wall behind your enemy. The serpent isn't much different than the vx67. Though I always felt like it's recoil was a bit easier to control. Generally I use a flash suppressor, fwd grip and 2x scope. The greatest thing about the serpent IS it's ROF. It's pretty much unstoppable once you get the hang of it and if I'm remembering right it has .75ADS movement. ADS, Aim for heads, pull down to the right and release the trigger after ~.3 -.4s and most things within 25m don't need a second burst. The first couple of shotgun users you burst down at 30m you'll be glad for a carbine. Inside of 10m the hip fire is tight enough you can just aim for the body and let it rip. If you're good at hipfire headshots- it'll put people down as fast as a non ohk shotgun. When compared straight up to the vx67 though I think the serpent is stronger when using ADS. The vx67 can go either way and be amazing with ALS and hip fire or good with fwd grip ADS. Serpent is pretty much only a fwd grip ADS weapon. (Use that .75 ADAD, it helps) The serpent is a monster but I love my vx67 too. They're both great. In fact I would go so far as to say the VS have the best line up for carbines. After using the vx67 for a while it is probably my preferred carbine just for the reload alone but auraxing the serpent was cake. One final thing since everyone keeps saying Pulsar C. The Pulsar C is the closest thing to a laser in the game. Master it's recoil and you never have to burst, just keep your crosshairs where you want to shoot and the Pulsar C will hit it. It's way more of a HS reliant weapon though, it's low ROF can get you killed if you're body shooting nano weave users.
Man I've used Pulsar C when I first started the game and already put a label on it and called it too weak. I was so wrong. Now I picked up the weapon again and this thing works like an LMG! You just aim at somebody in the head far away and he dies! So glad I've found that Carbine I was so sick of fast ROF low range carbines. This is such a good change.
The differences between the VX6-7 and Serpent are very small and easily made up for by a player who knows what he's doing. That being said, to sum it up shortly, VX6-7 has better hipfire but stronger recoil and a shorter reload but 45 less RPM. The recoil is much more significant in ranged combat than the slight muzzle velocity improvement and requires you to have much better trigger discipline to make use of at medium to long range.
I only use the VX6-7 carbine on my VS alt but I did go from Jaguar to Lynx on my TR (seems a similar comparison). I went back to the Jag after a while as I am not a super good aim and I found that too many shots failed to connect with higher rof and the magazine ran out a bit too quickly for me. Depends on how good you are at shooting, or personal preference I guess. Personally I feel more comfortable with a slightly lower rof. And I do not find the VX to be lacking in killing power either (or the Jag, for that matter).
Weapons in this game have strange behaviours. specially the vs ones. sometimes you find your weapon more accurate without the compensator, which is weird. I have both vx and serpent auraxiumed, and I am 99% sure that the flash supressor acts like a compensator in this weapons. also, the vx is better in most of situations.
