Menu vs Actual Damage Mismatch

The gun damage in game can vary wildly from the menu since at least the minor update, which may (justifiably) be cause some of the TTK frustration in the player base when combined with the markedly improved net code from just the weekend passed (I can actually make it to cover - I don't simply get mag dumped into without so much as a muzzle flash from the opponent to indicate a single round even being fired let alone five or six so credit where it is due – please continue the path).

For those curious such as if it might impact your decision. In the tables below if I don't have it listed I don't have it unlocked... I also can't verify the headshot multipliers are all accurate as to be honest I didn't even think of if until now - Summary best in class will be $ worst will be ^ and # if it simply "does what it says on the tin" - though to be fair with weapon mods (and the levels at which some are attained as not all get the same items at the same levels so weapons have distinct roles early on), rate of fire, muzzle velocity, Hip Fire reticle size, Magazine size (and reload time on some of the smaller ones), and ADS time the gulfs even out as some just have rougher handling than others which is a useability factor I can not account for. This is strictly a Damage number accuracy list showing a discrepency between menu claims and game performance actual. Nothing is simply unviable just different performance metrics. All tests were done in range from the lane 01 counter top (literally standing on top dead center of it as best I could manage). On ranges: 10m and 20m are universally the same damage so "20m" is anything out to and below it, while 35m is the starting point of diminishing damage for most guns, lastly 50+ is the farthest testable point of diminishing damage drop off as even though the final target is at 70m none of the guns tested experienced a drop off from the previous 50m mark - what happens at 80m+ is untestable on the range in game (I'd be really curious to see the Sniper Rifles, DMR's and even the only "real" battle rifle, in the AK4D, at extended ranges like 100, 125, 150, 200, and 250 - also just to give new players an idea what to expect the size of a player model's target profile to be at those ranges). In brackets I've included the shots to kill for some - I trust the reader can match initial entries to later ones.

Assault Rifles

AK4D really delivers a thunker of a round with accuracy in repetition fire and two round bursts, making the intense cost of its slowest ROF, initial mule kick of recoil (benefits the most of any in class from a front grip - going from nearly unmanageable to honestly pretty alright), smaller mag size, and slower reload time. Probably the most thematically on point weapon if you can get around the initial clunkiness of it and have most of your engagements at 50m+ (the fire rate gets beat out by just about everything in game at 20m). The first three are all exceedingly good. The KORD lacks identity though as honestly you'd be better served by a Carbine on every class other than a dedicated assault run and gunner. The NVO was the most surprising one, I was expecting 33.5 up close, the steeper diminishing would have made more sense considering the cartridge length simply doesn't allow as much charge. Anecdotal: the M433 and B36A4 "feel" the best to me striking a nicer balance between a dedicated close range platform in the M433 and a nice medium in the B36. The SOR is deceptively well handling though for ADS at range - very manageable recoil in auto fire unlike the AK4D with a really nice progression.

Carbines

The M277 is a strange one experiencing absolutely drop off at all on the range, maybe a bug? Either way it delivers that damage at the steep cost of being relatively hard to improve on as it comes out the gate with a Variable sight (overkill honestly, downgrade to a fixed 3x and use the points on a grip and laser) and a suppressor, also only has a 20 round magazine with pretty intense recoil and bloom (low precision and control stats). A really good repetition fire weapon but otherwise kind of not great TBH as its cons outweigh the damage, the poster child of what I mean when I said there are metrics the numbers aren't good at tracking. The AK-205 is "the worst" but reality talking: it's a LASER BEAM when auto-firing in ADS (Aim Down Sights if there's anyone out there that still doesn't know that that acronym means at this point) so it winds up better than it looks here at +35m which is where you want to be using it honestly. The M4A1 is probably still the actual best in class all things considered (specifically that map design for most levels is very close quarters) - you get it right out the gate and so it can take you from level 1 to infinity and beyond, its just so **bleep** hard to compete with the raw rate of fire it vomits out plus the best hip fire stat I can seem to manage on any gun so far. This is the second worst category of weapons for not actually being accurate to its claims in the menu, only surpassed by...

SMGs

Not a single one does what it saying in the menu. One of them (PW7A2) even does more than its claimed 16. Of note a fair number of these have 2 round bursts as a firing group option and I suspect that's why there's so many .5's as the second shot will round up.  The UMG hits the hardest at the cost of being the slowest in class in a weapon group that is all about ROF - still it has really impressive control precision and hip fire so genuinely try it out - it's unique at 50m as it clearly does some rounding that is hard to account for that no other gun in the game does (shot reads - 17, 33, 50, 67, 83,100). The SGX is probably the best for a lot of things though - you get it early, the upgrades roll in quick it you stick with it as a result and it has respectable (but still slower than the M4) ROF. USG-90 can NEVER get any grips (to be fair it kind of has an integrated one by way of design) or other under barrel attachments so the dedicated PW7A2 might actually beat it on control and precision. Hard to argue with a 50 round magazine and it gets a 50mw Green laser add on at a VERY early level 18 - it won't be a quiet gun but you basically won't have to ADS if you don't want to at that point as it has a properly absurd hip fire rating with that equipped.

Special note: I think these all got hit with a nerf in the previous patch/hotfix (to be honest I can't confirm as I wasn't paying that much attention to the damage numbers pre-patch; things just felt different afterwards and so I started looking into it post patch earlier in the week) and those hardly reflect at all in the menu what they do in game - though it was needed as basically there was the M4 and SMG's followed by honestly objectively worst choices. It's also nice seeing them not being power houses but volume fire machines (there's a reason SMG's and PDW's are phased out in a lot of militaries - modern body armor proliferation makes pistol rounds a hard sell) I feel they have a good identity. They're in a good place, if anything the M4 and SGX fire rates should probably be swapped for a purely game balance and flavor perspective because as it stands the M4A1 is strictly better outside of the (not inconsequential) fact that the SGX does get a suppressor MUCH earlier (level 14 as opposed to a hefty 24 at the earliest on the M4). An interesting weapon group, but one I just don't like much (evidence by the absence of a great many to me) as I maligned them as easy mode initially and frankly other than the PW5A3 and UMG-40 none of them really appeal to me. I like my clunky 80's stylings. Also, DICE, original faux woodgrain finish for the USG-90 please. I still won't use it, but it'd be nice to know the 90 survived GoldenEye64 to keep killing me to today.

LMGs

M240 and M60 are tied (understandably - they're practically interchangeable in combat role) for best raw damage but honestly the M60 is just a little bit better feeling to play with, the 100 round magazine is a lot nicer that 50 and frankly it just has a hair better control and precision but I personally value those over 40 extra RPM if you're not going to be able to control where they are going anyway. Tough call though as the reload speed on the M240 is the fastest belt feed (its a pretty damned dummy proof gun IRL with fat forgiving components so not much chance of the tray getting fiddly on you) by a significant margin.  Realistically the M123K is the probably best in slot in game given map sizes - it is impressive in that it really does lay down a proper bullet storm. That said even the worst gun by the numbers here, the DRS, is still REALLY underrated, like the RPK and KTS100MK9 it has limited magazine but it is an actual magazine, it slips into a mag well, there's no fiddling with a belt feed and tray. As a result the magazine fed ones all reload MUCH faster, and tend also to be lighter and faster to ADS (and you should ADS - the hip fire challenge requirements* are actually kind of dumb on this entire weapon class).

And the other guns aren't that interesting to me. The DMR's are pretty on the tin from what I recall. Snipers are snipers, I frankly do not have the patience for that skill set and find the playstyle boring anyway. I do like the snap shooting style of the DMRs but in a lot of cases you'd just be better off grabbing an assault rifle and toggling the fire switch to repetition instead of automatic. Though the first DMR does get a suppressor VERY early on so it's honestly not a bad early progression secondary weapon on an Assault in an open map. DMR until close up then M433 for the closer engagements on rush for example.

* Oh and use the RPKM (ideally rush it to level 18 first for the really good and quite early strong green laser), if you can mount lasers on the RPKM otherwise the magazine size is probably a better deal on  the L110. Strategy is boring but basically just prone or support wall and deploy bipod camp above a rush objective on one of the urban maps is probably the best bet. Or try and tuck yourself discreetly off to the side of a high traffic thoroughfare and hop for the best. Either way its a really silly requirement that runs quite contrary to the weapon group's clearly intended playstyle of being set up before you shoot as the spread/bloom on the entire weapon group is overly generous for the run and gun playstyle hip fire is suited to.