Up to date as of [01/02/2025] [DD/MM/YYYY]
This is going to be long, so mentally prepare yourself for the wall of text I’m about to unleash.
If you’re new to the game, I don’t recommend you use this guide unless you’re confident you can make sense of the sheer autism below. There’s a lot of information overload.
I will not be covering gamesense here. Knowing when to push and when to retreat is how competent people frag while staying alive (Yes, SGs should be hard-pushing even on the frontline if it means taking out xenos, as long as the risk of becoming perma’d or capped is acceptable)- But that’s something you learn through experience, not from reading a guide, sadly.
If you’re looking for what ammo type to use on each xeno strain as SG, scroll all the way down.
Okay. We’ll start with the barest of bones- Knowing what your gun’s stats are.
| M56B Smartgun | |
|---|---|
| RoF | 300 RPM |
| Damage | Precision (non-AP) - 30 DMG, AP - 20 DMG |
| Range | 12 Tiles (basically, you’re not really going to hit anything off-screen, which is 7 tiles.) |
| MK2 PULSE RIFLE | |
|---|---|
| RoF | 240 RPM |
| Damage | Normal (non-AP) - 44 DMG, AP- 33 DMG |
COMPARISON TO MK2 PULSE RIFLE
An SG is about roughly 80% as effective at non-AP work and 65% as effective at AP work than the Mk2. However, it’s a constant source of damage and happens to have infinite AP ammunition.
The MK2 can’t switch ammo quickly, but has the incredible power of killing every single base xeno without AP in less than 40 bullets (tested) thus the actual “need” to switch to AP magazines is far, far lower.
OKAY, SO WHAT THE FUCK CAN MY GUN DO?
Whilst the gun’s damage is rather meh, when you consider it in the context of the SG’s other abilities & perks, it’s actually quite incredible. The SG is effectively immune to darkness, can track any moving xeno within 2 screens, can see the terrain through walls, AND has IFF. This means that you have a massive information advantage over other marines- They see only as far as their pathetic suit lights go, whereas you are an OMNISCIENT GOD, FREE OF YOUR PHOTON-DEPENDENT SHACKLES.
Your average rifleman will struggle to shoot in a combat situation from fear of FF and the lack of light (those flare and light nerfs hit hard), which will decimate their actual RoF. In most situations, the SG will end up doing a fuckton of damage simply from being able to shoot at xenos 100% of the time, as compared to maybe 20-40% for a rifleman.
It’s not uncommon to see SGs regularly top the killboard from stealing other people’s kills doing an incredible job at finishing off and killing paincrit and low xenos other marines can’t see, or can’t shoot because PVT Stanley wants to flouride-stare the rav until it recovers from paincrit and escapes. Xenos actually paincrit after an engagement very often, it’s just people can’t see and thus don’t chase, letting them get away scot free.
SMARTGUNNER SETTINGS
| Equipment Settings | |
|---|---|
| Ammo mode | Changes your ammo mode between Precision (0 AP) and AP (40 AP) ammunition. You’ll be using this constantly depending on what you’re shooting at. |
| Frontline mode | Changes your gun to use alternate IFF, so you can’t shoot through friendlies. In exchange, removes all on-screen falloff. You should be using this constantly depending on whether you have LoF or not. |
| Lethal Mode | Controls whether you shoot up friendly marines or not. Only turn it off if you’re going to murder someone. When IFF is off, you are restricted to Precision ammo, and cannot use AP. 99% of the time, keep Lethal Mode off. |
| Autofire | A literal noobtrap. Completely fucking useless, and you’ll forget to turn it back on half the time. Eats up power at a heavy rate. Never ever turn this on. |
| Accuracy Improvement | Makes your gun more accurate. Increases the power cost of firing each bullet very slightly.Toggle this on at roundstart, and keep it on forever. |
| Motion Detector | It’s a free MD embedded in your gun. Lets you detect non-USCM movement signals within 2 screens. Turn HUD off to see the signals more clearly (F12). Increases the power cost of firing each bullet very slightly. Toggle it on at roundstart, and keep it on forever. |
| Recoil Compensation | Removes the absurd screenshake from shooting the SG. Increases the power cost of firing each bullet very slightly. Toggle it on at roundstart, and keep it on forever. |
WHAT YOU SHOULD BE DOING
-
SWITCH AMMO MODES
This might just be the most important thing that separates an bald SG from a decent one.
Always switch ammo modes immediately based off what xeno you’re shooting. Is it a lurker? Precision. Is it a defender? AP. If you’re using Precision on a Crusher, you are literally doing absolutely nothing to it. Switch. Your. Fucking. Ammo. Mode.
To tell what ammo mode you’re on INSTANTLY, look at what colour your bullets are.
If OFF frontline, Dark blue = Precision, Light blue = AP.
If ON frontline, Orange = Precision, Yellow = AP. -
SWITCH FRONTLINE MODE ON AND OFF
For the love of god and all that is holy, use the damn frontline mode. The frontline PR nerfed IFF damage significantly, increasing falloff by 100% for precision and 50% for AP. If you never use frontline mode, you’re crippling your damage output.
A lot of people have the preconception that frontline mode CAUSES frontlining, and is therefore a risky button you should never press if you want to live. It does not. The opposite is true. Frontlining CAUSES frontline mode. You don’t actively go out of your way to frontline in order to turn the mode on. No, you turn it on whenever you happen to find yourself in a frontline situation.
The way you use frontline mode is exactly the same as changing ammo modes. If you have LoF (Line of Fire), switch to frontline mode. If a marine moves in front and makes you lose LoF, switch it off. This means you seamlessly change between the two, and can keep firing without stopping. It also means you don’t actually need to frontline to gain the damage buff.
So, is the damage boost really that big? Let’s see.
Holy fuck. That’s pretty bad.
If you’re one of those people who deliberately stand in front of everyone else only to NOT use frontline mode, your DPS can decrease by as much as HALF. (Realistically it’s more than that most of the time, because these guys don’t even change to AP and stay on precision forever.)
Don’t be that guy. -
COVERING YOUR FELLOW MARINES
It’s literally your job as SG. If someone is getting dragged by a woyer, focus fire on that motherfucker. If someone is planting C4, cover their ass. if someone is getting dragged by a woyer but there’s 2 other woyers,run away like a little bitchcommit to a reverse tactical charge and cry for help. -
STANDING BEHIND YOUR
MEATSHIELDSFELLOW UNGAS
Unless marines are fearRPing hard or you’re committed to securing a kill, you shouldn’t be pointmanning most of the time. In most circumstances you should at least have one marine between you and the enemy, sothe woyer and queen drag their ass insteadyou can make full use of your IFF. -
STICK WITH COMPETENT STUN-SPECIALISTS
It hurts when you’re the SADAR, direct AP a ravager and watch it fart in your general direction as it gets up and escapes because no one followed up with you. Hellpush and kill those bugs, marine! -
RECOIL, ACCURACY, MD, IFF ON, AUTOFIRE OFF
Autofire is a noob trap designed solely to make you suffer. Don’t use it, ever. -
POINT SHIT OUT
You have NVGs. You also have binocs/RF/LDs. You see stuff others can’t. A lot of the time marines leave people to perma because they don’t know the body exists- Make marines aware of it so the poor guy gets back in the game.
Your MD also tells you whether there’s a flank. Point it out so everyone doesn’t get sandwiched. You have the best situational awareness of any marine planetside, use it. -
SHARING IS CARING
Share supplies with your fellow SGs.Only steal more than your fair share if no one will notice.
This also means, don’t mindlessly spray all your ammo at resin walls 24/7. It’s a dick move to everyone else who needs the same ammunition.
PROTIPS
-
HIDE THE HUD
The HUD is the enemy. It effectively reduces your vision north, south and east by 1 tile and adds clutter. That extra tile has often meant the difference between a dead xeno, and a living one.
Press F12 to hide and unhide it. -
SET HOTKEYS FOR FRONTLINE MODE
Frontline mode starts off unbound- If you don’t have it bound, do it ASAP. I bound mine to F. Being able to switch frontline mode on and off as easily as ammo modes is a must-have.
Ammo mode is defaulted to unique-action, hence it should already be bound to SPACE. -
YES, YOU CAN STILL PB WITH THE SG (TECHNICALLY)
An interesting fact about the Smartgun is that it’s one of the few guns which literally is incapable of shooting at an enemy when clicked on at point blank range. This leads to unfortunate situations where SGs start smacking their guns at xenos, not knowing why they won’t fire.
For example, the queen is next to me. I’m bodyblocked and can’t move away. I have my gun wielded and I’m on harm intent. Combat click-drag override is on. I click on the queen to shoot her, but I can’t! The SG WILL NOT SHOOT if you click directly on the sprite of a xeno next to you. It literally cannot. All you’ll do is melee them!
So, how do you get past this dilemma?
It’s simple- Don’t sprite-click! Instead, click on ANY TILE THAT ISN’T THE XENO SPRITE (so you start firing), and then drag your mouse onto the xeno. This works even when the xeno is paincrit on the floor next to you. When you’re in PB range, it’s easy to start sprite-clicking in a panic. Keep calm and avoid doing so! -
RELOAD EARLY & SAVE THOSE DRUMS
The number of times where I was on the verge of killing a xeno only to hear CLICK is astonishing. You never, ever want to be caught running out of ammo in a firefight as an SG.
When you hear the shift to a lighter firing tone (indicating you’re at 25% ammo, aka. 125 rounds), reload the second you’re out of combat. Put the depleted drum back in your belt and combine all the ammo so you get a full drum later when you have time.
To do this with minimal effort, switch your belt storage mode so you take out the FIRST thing you put in immediately without opening the belt storage menu. Thus, you will only pull out fresh drums, not the depleted ones you put in. -
PUT A RAIL LIGHT ON YOUR GUN
I mean, there’s no disadvantage. Marines will appreciate you giving an extra tile of light in front. -
SAVE BATTERIES
Depleted batteries can always be recharged by a recharger, which is found in shipside medical. It’s free and the RO won’t need to waste money on new batteries this way. Don’t throw your cells away, save them. -
ALWAYS BUY THE MEDHUD AND EITHER BINOS/RF/LD
Being able to tell your true health status free from the masking effect of painkillers is a massive buff, along with identifying which corpses to drag. Your NVGs let you see through binoculars, so having some kind of range-enhancing device is essential for situational awareness and lasing. Personally, the LD isn’t really worth the extra 5 points- CAS flares are usually better than CAS lases. Better to spend those 5 points on a JTAC key, so you can directly talk to req and the GP. -
PACK BASIC MEDS
This isn’t SG specific, but holy shit. The number of people who don’t even pack fucking GAUZE is too damn high. I recommend gauze, one MRE, splints and an analyser. Always grab a webbing vest and have one pouch dedicated to medicinal drugs. That can be autoinjectors, pills or 3 unga flasks in a general pouch. (My personal favorite) -
GET AN M56 MACHETE SCABBARD
Machetes are absolutely wild at killing walls and weeds- The QoL from it is huge, allowing you to support a push whenever you aren’t shooting. It also has the funny effect of being good at reverse bursting xenos, which is hilarious and has saved my life several times. (Doesn’t work on any xenos that have more than 2 brain cells)
Full data on what ammo type to use on each strain of xenomorph, including how many shots to crit (STC) each xeno with each ammo type @ 5 tiles range, frontline mode OFF. FULLY AUTOMATED, CAN BE USED FOR 100% ACCURATE DAMAGE CALCULATIONS FOR ANY FIREARM.
Note: Google Sheets is a piece of shit who destroys the formulas and conditionals on Excel documents, so I can’t actually share it using google drive… 
DM me if you want the excel file (it’s really great) @polycystic, or just search up “The Horse Jumped Over The Fence” on discord (or look at the end of Round 20000’s thread in LRC).
FRONTLINE MODE OFF @ 5 TILES (typical engagement range)
FRONTLINE MODE ON (range doesn’t matter, frontline mode has no falloff on-screen)
IN CASE YOU CAN’T SEE THE IMAGE, HERE’S A DUMBED DOWN TEXT VERSION
| Alien | Strain | Best Ammo Mode |
|---|---|---|
| Drone | Base | PRECISION |
| Gardener | PRECISION | |
| Healer | PRECISION | |
| Hivelord | Base | PRECISION |
| Whisperer | PRECISION | |
| Carrier | Base | PRECISION |
| Eggsac | PRECISION | |
| Queen (I) | AP | |
| Queen (M) | AP | |
| Burrower | Base | AP |
| Sentinel | Base | PRECISION |
| Spitter | Base | AP |
| Praetorian | Base | AP |
| Dancer | AP | |
| Oppressor | AP | |
| Vanguard | AP | |
| Warden | AP | |
| Boiler | Base | AP |
| Trapper | PRECISION | |
| Defender | Base | AP |
| Steelcrest | AP | |
| Warrior | Base | AP |
| Crusher | Base | AP |
| Charger* | AP | |
| Runner | Base | PRECISION |
| Acider | AP | |
| Lurker | Base | PRECISION |
| Vampire | AP | |
| Ravager | Base | AP |
| Hedgehog | AP | |
| Berserker | AP | |
| Abomination | Base | AP |
| King | Base | AP |
General rule of thumb- If a xeno has armour, use AP. If no armour, no AP.
(Xenos either have no armour, or at or above 15 armour, which makes AP more effective or as effective relative to non-AP. This does not apply to non-SG weapons, which have slight armour penetration in their non-AP ammunition.)
Notes on SPECIFIC, NOTEWORTHY STRAINS
| Queen (Immature) | Doesn’t have combat screech or spit. Helpless in combat. Kill her ASAP and don’t fearRP. BE AWARE, SHE CAN SCREECH ON OVI. |
|---|---|
| Burrower | Stay 2 tiles away to avoid the stomp. |
| Praetorian (Vanguard) | Has a regenerating shield that COMPLETELY BLOCKS ONE ATTACK. This ranges from AP SADAR to SG bullets. AP SADAR will still stun, but not deal HP damage. Due to how BYOND works, shield only breaks about one second after the first hit. Same STC as other praes due to lowered health. |
| Boiler (Trapper) | I cannot stress this enough. If you notice that it’s a Trapper strain, switch from AP to Precision immediately. Trappers melt to non-AP ammo, due to the lack of armour. |
| Defender (Any) | Don’t bother shooting them when they’re fortified, even if you have AP. You will do effectively NO damage. Only shoot if they’re green-flamed (B gel, armour-debuffing), or if they’re being overrun by marines (no hope of escape). |
| Charger (Base) | The most common source of delimbs, due to AOE slash. Do not get closer than 2 tiles, due to the Stomp ability slowing you down MASSIVELY. |
| Crusher (Charger) | Charger Crusher- Frontal armour (50 fucking armour) IMMUNE to Precision Ammo (0 DMG), Side armour (35) takes 308 shots to crit, Back armour (20) takes 78 shots to crit. |
| Lurker (Vampire) | Annoying little shits. Switch from precision to AP if you notice a Lurker is a vamp. |
| Ravager (Hedgehog) - | Builds up to 300 shards passively and from being damaged- At 300 shards, has +15 armour, up to a WHOPPING 40 total. (Consumes shards for abilities) Regular ammo utterly ineffective at 40 armour. Do NOT shoot the shield. |
| Ravager (Berserker) | Don’t get close. The Eviscerate ability (2 tile range) is horrifying, but also when the ravager is at it’s most vulnerable. |
| Abomination | The guy playing this is probably an XX baldie who’ll die instantly, similar to greeno queens. Don’t worry about them. |
| King | I don’t have any advice for you. You’re fucked. |
Thanks for reading, and I hope you learned something new!
Protip: Eat resin fruits to get a temporary 1.5x damage buff and NST + MST 10.