An in-depth guide to the Gunner Class

Community Guide written by Bowedmaple

This guide will be taking an in-depth look at the weapons and equipment available to the gunner in class in the game, as well as go over suggestions for playstyle, gear, and equipment to bring along as well as attachments.

Introduction.

If you clicked on this guide, you have gathered interest to play the gunner class, welcome.

Due to the nature of this class, we will be going over a few gameplay basics, you can find a table of contents right here.

I will be explaining the statistics, characteristics of every primary weapon available to the gunner, their differences between the insurgent faction and their security counterparts, as well as go over equipment (Smoke and explosives), gear (Armor types and carriers), and the effects of weight on your character. As well as giving my own personal opinion on their effectiveness. Sidearms will also be briefly covered.

We will also be going over the basics of the class, starting with a brief overview to then go in detail. Let's begin.

The basics.

First of all, the gunner class is what I like to classify as a "Specialist" class or a fire support class.
This means that in-game, depending on your game mode, you will only have 1 or 2 gunners available at any point in time, which makes it all the more important you are aware of your strengths and weaknesses. So that you are able to make use of them and help your team.

You are an asset to your team, specializing in assisting your team. You will be unable to capture objectives by yourself, but your presence increases the chance of your team being able to.

For full lobby PvP and checkpoint, you will have 2 gunners available most of the time, while the other game modes will limit you to one gunner.

The gunner's specialties are mostly 2. Area denial. and Suppressive/Covering fire.

Area denial is self-explanatory, you, as a gunner depending will sometimes have to hold an area off from enemies, both as an attacker and a defender. In fact, I would argue 65% of the time you spend as a gunner will be holding an area, not clearing it. This is important, you are not a rifleman.

As such area denial can be any area you deem important at the time, whether it is an area the enemy team uses to get into the objective, a chokepoint in the actual objective, or just a frequently traveled route. Try to swap locations often however, it takes one flashbang or smoke grenade to render you ineffective, or one flanker.

If you cannot swap location or would rather hold for as long as possible, try to enlist the help of your teammates, they can help fend off Marksmen or demolitions, some may even watch your back, just ask.

Suppressive fire is the more tricky part. Fear in a videogame cannot be simulated, however, in-game, it does impose "debuffs" to your opponent's characters. I heavily suggest setting up from a covered area to fire into an objective's wall and surrounding area.

• They will shout, giving away their location.
• The edges of their screen will also blur.
• If fire is sustained for long enough, they will be almost deafened, which can prove very useful, especially for your teammates running to the objective, their footsteps are quite loud. So you are acting both as a distraction, and an active impairment to the enemy team by dumping a belt or two into the objective.
• Most of your weapons are able to penetrate walls, there is a high chance you may wound or kill opponents on the other side of the wall you are firing into. This is more important than most think and more viable than the majority of the player base would believe, try to spam through walls more often.

I cannot stress this enough, mag dump with the weapons you can mag dump with, a lot of players underestimate the penetration and the slight panic and debuffs you will impose on your targets just by mag dumping towards their general area, I can't say you are guaranteed a free kill just by mag dumping into an objective's walls or populated buildings, but it's very likely to at least wound or stress the occupants inside.

All of your weapons make distinct and very loud sounds, which any experienced player will be able to recognize as a machine gun, paired with your inability to attach suppressors in PvP, Stealth shouldn't be your main option minus for ambushing targets, do not treat yourself as a glorified rifleman or breacher.

That being said, some weapons are better at suppressive fire than others, and although a viable tactic, it will not always work. We will go more in-detail regarding this later on.

The weapons.

This will be a quick overview, we will start with the basics of your weapons and go from the cheapest to the most expensive, we will go more in detail regarding every single weapon later on for each faction.

As such, we will be referring to the Galil and the SAR Galil as "ARs" while the M249 and PKM will be referred to as "LMGs" the M240b, MG3 and M60 will be refferred to as "GPMG"

Side note, the author is fully aware the M249's term is S.A.W, while the PKM is a GPMG this term is being used for conveniency sake and due to their roles in game, not necessarily their real life use.

Extra note: all of the gunner's weapons sport an integrated free bipod by default.

Further side note, the M60 and RPK-203 were recently added, they both share a cost of 3 points.

ARs. (Overview.)

Starting off with the ARs, as of time of writing this guide, the game offers the Galil and its shorter variant, the Galil SAR, along with the RPK-203.

These two rifles are quite unique to the gunner class and sport unique traits compared to standard rifles, namely:

• A decreased cost compared to standard riflemen weapons, costing only 2 points, despite their decent performance and ability to use fully automatic fire, as well as their bullet velocity.
• An increased magazine size of 35 rounds, compared to the standard 30 of normal assault rifles.
• The option to use drum magazines, which will increase your total round capacity to 50. But also slow down your reloads, increase your weight and increase horizontal recoil.
• Increased recoil compared to standard 5.56 rifles.
• These three rifles are the only primaries that do not force the use of tracer rounds for gunners.

These three rifles are the more mobile option for gunners, it is however to be noted that, as mobile as you become, you also lose some of your ability as a gunner. Remember, you are not a rifleman. So, use this mobility, but remember what your purpose is, or you will just become a discount rifleman. I heavily suggest modding these rifles as well, however, equipping a grip will force you to lose the integrated bipod. We will go more in detail later on. Equipment and so on will be explored as well.

LMGs (Overview.)

Light machine guns, you're middle ground between mobility and firepower.

These two weapons sport a few unique characteristics, however, they are also vastly different in their own regard. We will go over them more in detail later on.

• Although at first glance they seem to weigh more than the GPMGs, this is only partially true, as they will weigh more only if the GPMGs are not equipped with extended magazines. However, they weigh much more than the ARs.
• LMGs sport a 100-200 round belt by default and without any increased cost.
  PKM: 100. M249: 200.
• The LMGs sport heavily increased vertical and horizontal recoil, and also an increased ADS time.
  This, however, can be controlled with practice somewhat reliably.
• LMGs sport good penetration power, the PKM more so than the M249, being able to penetrate a good amount of surfaces and maintain most of its damage. The M249 will maintain less damage over-penetration but has more rounds available.
• These two weapons will have tracer rounds equipped by default which aren't removable.
  Every 5th round will be a tracer. your last 7 bullets in your belt will all be tracer rounds.
• If you keep firing on full auto without ceasing for longer than 5 seconds, your character will shout a special voice line to mock the enemy. If you cease-fire for even a millisecond this will not be triggered.
• A trigger delay, a millisecond or so of delay before your weapon will fire when you pull the trigger. This is standard for all machine guns, however varies depending on the machine gun itself.

Your role with this weapon remains the same, you are a jack of all trades, but master of none. This, however, isn't necessarily a negative thing, you are both able to defend yourself while moving, and also are more than able to deny access to an area, and provide covering fire.

Use the capacity and fire rate of the SAW to your advantage, you may have less lethality than the PKM and penetration, but you still have better penetration than most assault rifles, as well as velocity. Making it useful for firing through walls and medium-long range shooting.

The PKM may lose some points due to less fire rate and capacity, however, you are repaid in penetration capability and the ability to 1 shot kill any opponent in the game up to 50m, as well as being able to 1 shot no armor opponents to 100m. We will go more in detail on both weapons in a later section as mentioned.

GPMGs. (Overview)

The other extreme options, trading in mobility for lethality and firepower.

General purpose machine guns in the game share some characteristics with their LMG counterparts, however, also possess their own unique traits. They also share no characteristics with ARs.

• As of the time of writing this guide, all GPMGs in the game make use of armor piercing rounds. paired with their caliber of 7.62x51mm, this means they have the second highest penetration in the game, rivaled only by Anti material sniper rifles, they also have extremely good lethality.
• As of the time of writing this guide, all GPMGs in the game only have 50 rounds drums/belts, requiring the user to spend 3 points for extended 100 round belts.
• A 4 point cost.
• They are all also quite long and cumbersome in size and sport increased recoil, even more so than LMGs when not stabilised. Although the M60 attempts to reduce this downside.
• They do also force the user to make use of tracer rounds, applying the same logic of every 5th shot being a tracer.
• An increased trigger delay, more so than the LMGs. Which becomes noticeable.
• When maintaining fully automatic fire without ceasing for longer than 5 seconds, your character will shout a special voiceline to mock the enemy. If you cease fire for even a millisecond this will not be triggered.
• Although their default ammo option are called drums, they will not supply the gunner with 3-5-7 drums, they will instead be treated as belts, giving you 1 with no carrier, 2 with a light carrier and 3 with an heavy carrier. Supplying the gunner with a total of 150 rounds at best.

All of these characteristics point towards two things; One being your weakness for any purpose other than personal defense when not stabilised.

Two being your firepower and strength when stabilised, although all of these down sides paired together may seem demoralising, a GPMG when stabilised is extremely powerful, do not underestimate their penetration as they will 1-2 shot kill targets behind walls regardless. Supply suppressing fire to your team, but keep a look on your ammo count.

Weight.

Before we begin and examine each weapon in detail, this section will explain how weight works in-game, and how it will affect you as a gunner.

Gunner is one of those classes that will most of the time force you to have your character weigh more than 50%, it is, of course, possible to weigh as much as a rifleman, but I would argue that at that point, you may as well pick rifleman, grab a gripod (bipod-grip) and extended mags.

First of all, your weight affects the following:

• Your character's stamina, if your stamina lowers, your character will begin to breathe heavily, audibly grunt when scaling objects, won't be able to focus while ADSing, and will sport slightly increased sway. Your screen will also blur the less stamina you have.
• Your time to ADS will increase the higher your stamina is.
• Your sprint speed will reduce depending on your weight.

Bringing an LMG with a light carrier and no armor will already set you up to 47% weight, and this is without a gas mask or utility. We will go over armor more in detail later on. However, although armor is generally not worth it for other classes, a gunner can find it quite useful due to their role.

In other words, in the best-case scenario, you will be looking at always being slightly more overweight than other infantry roles. If not extremely overweight. If you want to maintain effectiveness and your mag count, you will have to learn to factor this in when you are not stationary.

It is also to be noted that weight is an active counter so as you go through your ammo and use your equipment you will not see it, but you will weigh less. Ex. dropping a mag will decrease your weight, or throwing a grenade.

[Insurgents] The Galil

A rugged design derived from the AK platform, a versatile weapon in-game.

Starting off with the weapon's statistics and performance, the Galil acts as a slightly better assault rifle.

The following table will show the shots required to kill an opponent, and their range and armor.
These statistics have been specifically tested by me and taken from my spreadsheet, more info in the end.

From what we can see immediately, thanks to its velocity, this rifle is able to maintain its damage over range.

• The penetration of the Galil is superior to most Security rifles, however, is in between 7.62 rifles and 5.56, only acting as better than 5.56, but not as good as 7.62.
• The Galil's reload time is of around 3-4 seconds depending on tactical or emergency reload, which is slightly slower than standard assault rifles, but not extremely.
• The Galil's drum magazine will bring its reload time to 4-6 seconds.
• The Galil's lethality over range is superior to most carbines and some assault rifles. Thanks to its increased velocity.
• The Galil's fire rate is overall the slowest of all the gunner's available options, it also falls short on the average fire rate of the rifleman's assault rifles, the average being 695.
• The Galil's barrel length is overall slightly longer than most assault rifles.
• The Galil's recoil is overall higher than most assault rifles in the game.
• With a heavy carrier and drum magazines, you are able to bring 350 rounds into the fight, which is even more than any GPMG with a heavy carrier and extended magazines. In other words, don't hesitate to mag dump windows or walls for covering fire.
• Without drum magazines, the rifle will weigh as much as an M4A1, however with drum magazines at 18% weight, with drum magazines this will be increased to 21%.

What we can gather from all this is that, although the Galil is the most mobile option for the insurgent gunner, it will still be outplayed by rifleman's more mobile options, acting as an "in-between" of an LMG and an AR.

Although the Galil fires at 632 rpm. This difference however isn't extremely important, as the Galil will fire faster than an AKM and slightly slower than an ak74, the Galil may have difficulty fighting against Security's rapid firing carbines.

In my personal opinion, it is heavily advised to run this weapon to its strengths, when the recoil is mastered, this weapon can be fired accurately without a bipod, as such to mitigate the slow reload time a loading grip may prove useful especially in the case the user is running drum magazines. Otherwise, feel free to not invest in a grip, or use one of your liking.

A compensator is optional and quite expensive, however may be a viable option if drum magazines are being used. Otherwise, a flash hider will work well.

The use of a scope or sight of your choice is recommended but not required, the Galil's iron sights are somewhat clear, and you should be able to target enemies up to medium range and close quarters.

Remember to play to your strengths, this weapon will work well at medium range, fighting carbines in close quarters is possible, but you risk being outgunned simply due to statistics, the same applies to long-range encounters against other gunners or marksmen.

[Security] The Galil SAR.

The Galil's variant sports a shorter barrel with decreased weight and velocity.

Starting off with the weapon's statistics and performance, the Galil SAR acts as a slightly better assault rifle, however, is overall statistically inferior to its insurgent counterpart. Trading in performance for mobility.

The following table will show the shots required to kill an opponent, and their range and armor.
These statistics have been specifically tested by me and taken from my spreadsheet, more info in the end.

From what we can see immediately, due to its velocity, the SAR has more difficulty maintaining its damage over range against armoured opponents.

• The penetration of the SAR is overall tricky, it's decreased velocity and penetration power compared to the Galil overall make it slightly below average paired up against expensive 5.56 Carbines, however remains competitive against cheaper assault rifles.
• The SAR's reload time is of around 3-4 seconds depending on tactical or emergency reload, which is slightly slower than standard assault rifles, but not extremely, there is no difference between the two variants.
• With a heavy carrier and drum magazines, you are able to bring 350 rounds into the fight, which is even more than a GPMG with a heavy carrier and extended magazines. In other words, don't hesitate to mag dump windows or walls for covering fire.
• The SAR's drum magazine will bring its reload time to 4-6 seconds.
• The SAR's lethality over range is overall slightly below average expensive carbines, but equal to cheaper assault rifles.
• The SAR's fire rate is overall the slowest of all the gunner's available options, it also falls short on the average fire rate of the rifleman's assault rifles, the average being 695.
• The SAR's barrel length is overall shorter than most assault rifles.
• The SAR's recoil is higher than the insurgent's Galil and higher than all assault rifles.
• Although inferior, the SAR's penetration is still present, you can still wound enemies or score headshots through some walls, but most of the time you will be firing for the suppression effect or slight wounding rather than killing or severely wounding targets on the other side.
• Without drum magazines the rifle will weigh less than an M4A1 and the Galil, sporting 16% weight, a drum magazine will increase the weight to 20%

What we can gather from all this is that, although the SAR is the most mobile option for the gunner even more so than the standard Galil, it will be outplayed statistically by higher-end rifles and the insurgent's Galil.

Although the Galil fires at 632 rpm. This difference however isn't extremely important, as the SAR will fire faster than an AKM and slightly slower than an ak74, the SAR may have difficulty fighting against Insurgent's rapid-firing carbines.

Yet again, it is heavily advised to run this weapon to its strengths, when the recoil is mastered, this weapon can be fired accurately without a bipod, as such to mitigate the slow reload time a loading grip may prove useful especially in the case the user is running drum magazines. Otherwise, feel free to not invest in a grip, or use one of your liking.

A compensator is optional and quite expensive, however is even more so be a viable option if drum magazines are being used as the SAR's horizontal recoil will be increased to 21. Otherwise, a flash hider will work well.

The use of a scope or sight of your choice is very recommended but not absolutely required, the Galil's iron sights are quite useful, and you should be able to target enemies up to fairly medium ranges. However, the recoil may prove difficult to control when standing using iron sights.

It's even more so important to play to your strengths, this weapon will work well at medium range, fighting carbines in close quarters is possible, but you will be outgunned simply due to statistics, Long-range fighting when not stabilized should be avoided unless if absolutely required or when stabilized.

[Insurgents] The PKM.

Of Russian design and designed by the inventor of the Ak47, the PKM is the cheapest machine gun available to the insurgents, and the 2nd most lethal in their arsenal, firing the same round as the Mosin Nagant, 7.62x54r which offers great penetration.

Regarding the PKM's performance compared to its 3 point counterpart, the M249. We have a slightly slower firing at 650 rounds per minute, harder-hitting machine gun with less capacity, which is however still high, sitting at 100 rounds by default, the belt cannot be upgraded.

The following table will show the shots required to kill an opponent, and their range and armor.
These statistics have been specifically tested by me and taken from my spreadsheet, more info in the end.

Dissecting this information, we can see that the PKM is much deadlier than the ARs, and deadlier than the M249 on an individual damage basis, maintaining its 1 shot to kill up to 50m and up to 110m against opponents without armor.

• The penetration of the PKM, although not the best in the game, is superior to most rifles and battle rifles.
• The PKM's trigger delay is slightly more noticeable than the M249 but is still quite dismissable.
• The PKM's belts have a capacity of 100 rounds for free, which gives it an advantage in cost compared to both the ARs and also the more expensive GPMGs.
• The PKM's lethality over range is superior to assault rifles and all of the other battle rifles. Thanks to its use of the 7.62x54r cartridge and velocity. Giving it the ability to maintain its damage through walls as well.
• The PKM's fire rate is the 2nd slowest of all the gunner's available options. And is also slower than most assault rifles.
• The PKM is quite a long and heavy weapon, sporting 26% weight.
• The PKM's recoil is overall higher than the M249 and higher than any assault rifle in the game but lower than the GPMGs.
• The PKM's reload animation will last about 10-11 seconds, depending on the type of reload, consider bringing a sidearm or use the tracers your weapon fires to count the ammo left in your belt, every 5th shot is a tracer, so after your 10th tracer you should have 50 rounds left. Your last 7 rounds will all be tracers.

What we can gather from all this is that the PKM is more than a solid choice for any insurgent gunner, it's extremely cheap and leaves the user with points to attach any form of scope or muzzle device desired, though I would personally suggest investing in a flash hider and a scope, to then focus on equipment.

While the PKM does fire at 650 rpm which is slightly slower than the average for assault rifles and LMGs/GPMGs alike, this is negligible due to its 1 shot kill potential.

A compensator is optional, but overall not recommended, this weapon should be used when stationary and your tracer rounds already put you at risk of giving away your location, eliminating muzzle flash can help you conceal your location even if slightly. Non-stabilized shooting should be reserved only for emergencies.

The use of a scope or sight of your choice is recommended but not required, the PKM's iron sights are the clearest compared to the M249's, and can be serviceable for medium-range shooting. However, a scope will prove useful to increase your range, decide at your own discretion.

This weapon will work well at medium to long-range, fighting SBRs and carbines in close quarters is possible, but doing so unstabilized may be difficult, and being stabilized may result in you being wallbanged or simply being fragged.

The PKM also has the second-highest velocity in the insurgent gunner's arsenal, which can prove useful in long-range engagements.

Last, the recoil is difficult to control, but not impossible. Enough practice should allow you to operate it unstabilized for self-defense and although I recommended against it, feel free to use a compensator if needed, some may argue your location will be given away regardless by your tracers.

[Security] The M249.

One of the most well-known Squad automatic weapons, manufactured by FN Herstal, is the antithesis to the PKM in-game. Firing the smaller yet faster 5.56x45mm cartridge and sporting a higher fire rate and round count.

You will be firing the same bullet as the M4A1 at a slightly higher velocity of 915 m/s and penetration with the same fire rate of 741 rounds per minute which is higher than average and sits in between Security's most expensive assault rifles and the Famas and VHS. While also maintaining decreased horizontal recoil compared to its counterpart, the PKM, this however is slightly negated due to its high fire rate.

All this while sporting a 200 round count by default, without any extra weight compared to the PKM, thanks to the smaller cartridge, this belt obviously cannot be upgraded.

The following table will show the shots required to kill an opponent, and their range and armor.
These statistics have been specifically tested by me and taken from my spreadsheet, more info in the end.