Standard issue main gun Tier list

General Discussion
1

M41A MK2: Best weapon you can get from the vendor. Decent ammo capacity and good damage output. Very customizable. The U1 it comes with offers extra firepower and good utility for clearing fortified positions. With the U7 you can open doors in an instant and if you can hit your shots even useful in close combat. It can shred a prae with less than a full mag of AP. Overall the perfect assault weapon in every aspect. Came to be my favourite weapon to use as well.

M41A MK1: Same as the MK2, except the more limited customization. However that becomes unimportant considering its 90 round capacity and its U5 that fits 5 grenades instead of 3. The perfect weapon for SLs and officers.

M4RA: Although intended to be a marksman rifle, it is rarely used as such. That because it struggles to kill targets quickly and reliably much more than the M41A. While you can get a smartscope and frontline other than that it’s hard to really do much with it on anything above T2s. Now if you do want to use it as intended. You can either try and hit all your shots or take pot shots at the backilners trying to scare em off. You will of course rarely take kills that way but it feels more realistic and sniperish. However the greatest issue is the fact that it’s total darkness outside. Unless you got the spotter sight it’s pretty hard. Overall not the greatest of guns but it has it’s own utility. I like to take it out and do spotter sniper sometimes.

M39: Well, it is an SMG. Best used to scare backliners off with its high capacity. It sucks at front lining due to low damage but it can be used as a secondary the same way. You could really annoy T1s and T2s with Ap but that’s all there is to it. Overall a gun fit for medics and comtechs since they are supposed to do other things in a front line.

Shotgun: HAHA RUNNER GO P O O F

3 Likes
2

Really underselling the SMG here, with proper attachments, and close enough range it outdamages the mk2, so it’s essentially a really good close-up shredder. but bad at finishing things up at max view range

try unloading on a drone on burst mode and see what happens

4 Likes
3

I once unloaded on a crusher full auto in a narrow hallway post-hijack with SMG AP, poor guy died in 1 mag (that said I don’t remember if they’ve been hurt before or whatnot)

1 Like
4

m39 has much lower dmg but much higher firerate… so its dps is higher then mk2

m4ra has no movement speed slowdown… the problem is u must hit your shots to do any dps! One missed shot is a lot of dps lost. So just hit your shots (getting in close quarters helps with this, or lots of practice) and ur high single-shot dmg will make xenos overestimate their fighting abilities against you. It deals just about more dps then mk2, but harder to use since mk2 has burst mode which makes mk2 really ez and effective.

So these are both chasing/brawling weapons… bait your enemy… play well, etc… They are viable if you get used to the playstyle, and smg especially is not that hard to learn. M4RA’s benefit over the smg is that it still retains the choice of range… but is harder to use.

Smg does have a lot of counters and counterplay tho… so it can be inconsistent unless u got good teammates to be around or w/e. It’s great at noob crushing tho. Great at fighting t3s with ap ammo too, just like m4ra.

2 Likes
5

my-image (1)
my-image (1)1140×465 45.4 KB

M41A is king. Mk1 is just a better Mk2 with almost no real downside.
Flamer is peak area denial, bad reputation due to bad players but its ability to shut down entire areas of the map is godly, though its killing power is low. HPR would be C-tier by default, but its elevated to A-tier via a bipod which makes it powerful enough to kill most Xenos in seconds if caught out of position.
SMG shreds xenos in CQC with the right attachies, but you need to get into CQC with the CQC faction. Shotgun is great anti-T1/T2 but terrible ranged damage and you are, again, going into CQC with the CQC faction, slug rounds are good support rounds, but you won’t kill much with slugs alone. MOU is outstanding burst damage, but terrible rate of fire without macros.
M4RA and XM88 are very similar. Great chasers, but uncommon ammo, very low ammo pool and DPS reliant on god-tier aim. XM88 is lower than M4RA due to it being lever-action and needing to be reloaded 1 bullet at a time.
GL is GL. Extreamly situational, low ROF, takes a weapon slot.
Breaching Shotgun is a SS tier gun, but damage wise is terrible.

There’s no real “bad” weapon, at least for primary weapons.

2 Likes
6

MK1: was originally buffed by some SL main to be their protag weapon, but then got removed from the SL kits, so to me them going to req for it seems a bit of a faux pah, considering they have their own kits.

M4RA: is underrated for the simple reason that it’s underused and you can find AP ammo easily on longer rounds, plus it has no wield delay, making it a decent second primary, provided you’re just a rifleman and don’t have to carry other stuff, since the mags are smaller.

M39: good in theory, but never performs as good as you would expect, because in actuality most of the successful kills happen at longer ranges. The main advantage is that you can put it on a belt, so it’s a good secondary for some specs or FTLs\SLs who want both a second primary and a radio backpack.

M37: kind of bad these days, sorry. Probably needs a buff.

1 Like
7

I heart the M39 as a medic. The ability to fire it one handed with the proper attachments allows me protect the recently disemboweled Private and run away while dragging them.

5 Likes
8

Get the GL in S tier RIGHT THIS INSTANT STEELPOINT

It is the BEST secondary back weapon for SLs, FULL STOP!!!

Star shells, crossed with HEDP charging, and the occasional baton slug? Best pointbuy on the market

Not good whatsoever as a primary tho, HPR still on top

3 Likes
9

isnt m39 the best gun in the game right now besides co’s pulse and mk2 masterkey being stupidly op at killing t1-t2?

1 Like
10

Hi don’t know if this is wrong place to ask but can you elaborate on the MOU macros or where to read about that? I like shotties but I don’t really know how to macro it lol

1 Like
11

In theory, but:

  • Nobody can use it, marines treat M39 like mk2 (scoped gyro SMG, my beloved)
  • You need to get into CQC with T1/2s, and remain in close proximity until they’re dead. But most T1/2s are too fast for your bullshit, or too chonky (defender). Warriors, lurkers and carriers melt like microwaved ice cream, though
1 Like
12

no agrip
more scatter
mk1 is worse if youre fast at reloading

1 Like
13

Scatter is only a issue if you don’t know how to spread your shots on a gun to maintain low/zero scatter.

1 Like
14

xm88 is actually very good and does a lot of damage. here, stand in front of me, i’ll show you,

3 Likes
15

M39 is my current favorite, AP mags, reflex, stock, laser, even one handed you get decent enough accuracy for what my favorite thing to do with it-- putting on B12, running up to a T3, and standing behind it while marines shoot it. If you pull off a bodyblock with this thing and dump an AP mag into it, unless the other marines with you are hilariously bad, it’s dead. Being able to put the m39 belt with the extra mags on your armor slot to carry a little extra ammo is very nice for ammo-space scarce roles like CT or medic. M39 also has the benefit of imo being one of the few available primaries with enough DPS to chase lurkers and runners off without having to bring a second shotgun. Easy S, super underrated, only downside is the ammo eco-- you can’t carry that much ammo (unless you go ammo box), the flip side is not as many people use it so you almost have full boxes of AP mags to refill from at FOB.

MK2/MK1 is probably just under that, especially with a UBS you get a lot of utility from these with not a whole lot of space used, definitely the ‘jack of all trades’ and is pretty useful for every situation(though personally I struggle to make runners and lurkers disengage with this if they target me.), these are an A.

M240’s also probably around A, in the hands of a well paid xeno agent these can completely ruin pushes, but defensively and during sieges especially, the flamer is a “fuck you, you cannot be here” to every caste but 2. incredibly strong.

HPR is similar in the area denial role, and has the bonus that unlike the flamer with it’s somewhat lackluster DPS on it’s own, a well placed HPR ambush can nearly instantly drop a lot of castes, this would be an S tier if it was able to load AP ammo. HPR has the benefit over the flamer of not completely griefing the front if you use it right, but has a bad reputation because of people setting up the bipod in the middle of marines and spraying FF. A tier.

M4RA is hard to place, statswise it’s pretty good, however imo it’s not viable in terms of ammo eco without taking an ammo box, which sacrifices your chance at a full secondary, and unless your aim is very good getting targeted by a backliner is a death sentence. the fast wield and run speed + damage with it makes it a pretty solid chase gun, but usually spraying bullets with an automatic weapon ends up helping the team more. L42A is imo a straight upgrade since with a bayonet it has a higher tier of melee damage than an M4RA with one. B.

The MOU and M37 both serve a really useful utility in their ability to stun, but have suffered nerf after nerf over time, to the point they’re usually relegated to a secondary support weapon. they lack the DPS to actually kill anything usually unless you have competent players with you to make good of the high burst damage they provide, and are irreplacable for making lurkers and runners think twice about going for you, and punishing them hard if they do. B tier

XM88 has a whackload of damage, but unless your aim is particularly good the scaling AP system is mostly a non factor. The gun’s also handicapped heavily by really bad RNG miss, meaning you are pretty much required to spriteclick to hit anything, even with attachments tailored to fix the inaccuracy. This gun can surprise xenos with a lot of sudden DPS, but generally I dont see people getting kills with this(except vs marines), I consider it more of a deterrent, a miniature version of the sniper spec’s deterrent effect, xenomorphs are dissuaded from being as aggressive once they know there’s someone with an XM88 who can belt off 300 damage on the spot when they overextend, C tier.

The GL is honestly, incredibly underutilized, but on it’s own you don’t kill things with this, and generally it’s clumsy enough even with your hotkeys well memorized that it is only a team support weapon, taking a GL and a belt full of baton slugs as a secondary will secure many T3 kills for your team if they’re competent, and it’s far more reliable for shooting stunnable T1’s and T2’s, since you can just blast through friendlies due to IFF and don’t have to worry about hitting them. If you have a good squad, slapping a xeno with a baton slug is a death sentence. C tier

1 Like
16

The ability for the belt to store two spare magazines and for it to one shot weed nodes with a bayonet is what made it my go-to pick for Corpsman. It’s so much better than people give it credit for if you’re aware of the falloff and play around it.

4 Likes
17

I must defend my beloved M4RA!

Mostly because it has basically no wielded slowdown, which makes it an excellent rifle for skirmishing/chasing xenos. It has practically free AP, 56 damage per shot, and handles excellently with a reflex sight. Don’t bother putting a regular scope on it though, it’s shit and the B8 is better than it because it doesn’t warf the firerate as much, and gives you IFF. It is also better than the L42A with it’s slightly higher base damage of 56 vs 52. Another big benefit is it’s higher effective range, and 0 falloff, good when using the smartscope, and especially xenos that are running away, since it doesn’t suffer the same penalties at range as the M41/M39.

I only ever take it as PFC though, because 25 rounds mags are not enough if you need space for anything but ammo. A mag belt, armor slots for mags, and one mag pouch are enough for me, but depends how you use it.

2 Likes
18

my-image (2)
my-image (2)1140×465 46.9 KB

  • The only reason I put mk1 above M39 is due to it’s sustainability. With mk1 and it’s 95 rounds you can shoot xeno to crit, and then the one covering him, and the next one, and the next one… Until they’re all dead
  • M39 is the best gun there is, I would marry it if I could. 1.5 DPS of mk2 lets you destroy everything up close, even if it’s a crusher
  • Mk2 is a jack of all trades - not as good as M39 up close, but much better at farther distances, allowing multiple marines focus fire on one xeno without some shotgun/SMG protag running between them and their target
  • HPR is awesome, but only if you find a good position, which can be challenging at times
  • Incinerator: sorry, pal, you can’t go there!
  • MOU is a flechette combo weapon. It won’t frag for you unless you can reload it instantly like some people, but chopping off 50% of some poor rav’s HP in 2 seconds is a good start
  • Shotgun is only good at buckshot PB or slug spam. The former is hard, the latter is situational. “But robust marines frag with buckshot PBs!” Robust marines can frag with XM88 if they want to, that doesn’t make the gun “good”
  • M4RA: why do you exist, man… Mildly annoying for the xenos gun with lower DPS than mk2 but better falloff. Good for melting T3s with B8 AP, bad for everything else
  • Nade launcher: good for it’s intended purpose, as a support tool. Won’t give you frags by itself, but is a nice thing to have
  • XM88 is bleak even after the buff. That juicy hit sound along with big damage makes xenos piss their pants after 1-2 hits, meaning they’ll start disengaging early and will almost always escape. Meme deterrent weapon
4 Likes
19

anything that can fire something from its chamber is good enough :+1:

2 Likes
20

Woe, holdout pistol be upon ye.

1 Like