Weapons are the most used items in the game of PUBG. These weapons and your aim together determine how quickly and efficiently you can kill other players. Every weapon is different in the amount of recoil it has, the spray pattern that the certain weapon has, and the attachments that you can put on it. We'll be going into detail for every weapon and break them down into different parts for every type of weapon that is currently in the game and how to optimize the usage of that weapon. With that being said, let's get into the guide.

Assault Rifles (AR's)

Assault Rifles is the name of the first weapon category we'll be going through. These weapons are definitely the best-in-slot for a variety of uses and are also the most used style weapon that is currently available in the game. Let's get into the details of these weapons.

The AKM is a commonly found assault rifle. This rifle has a very high recoil rate but also has the highest base damage of all the assault rifles that are found in normal buildings. You can put an attachment on the magazine slot, the muzzle of the gun and the top of the gun. The best-in-slot attachments to use on the AKM are the Compensator (to compensate the very high recoil that this weapon has), the Extended Quickdraw Magazine, and then one of the two Sights, a 2x scope, or a 4x scope. The AKM is a good weapon to use the 4x scope with since the AKM has high accuracy on the first shot that you fire. Remember to switch to single firing-mode if you're shooting on a target that's far away.

The Groza is a very rare weapon that has one of the lowest spawn rates in airdrop crates. This assault rifle has the highest base damage of all the assault rifles in the game and has less recoil than the AKM. The spray pattern of this weapon is a lot more stable and the iron sights are really easy to use. Like the AKM, you can put an attachment on the magazine slot, the muzzle of the gun, and the top of the gun. But there's a twist. The Groza can only use the Suppressor and not the Flash Hider or the Compensator, so be mindful when you're picking up this weapon. This weapon is best used with a Red Dot Sight or a 2x Scope for close range spraying but it is also fine for medium range tapping.

The M416 is an assault rifle that has a good overall balance with damage rate, recoil and spray pattern. This assault rifle has the most attachments that you can put on it, including a foregrip and a stock on the back. Putting the stock on the back reduces the recoil by a ton and allows you to use this rifle as one of the best close-quarter spraying weapons. If you have the Tactical Stock, it's a good decision to prioritize this weapon over the Scar-L but it all comes down to personal preference. The M416 is a great assault rifle to use at short to mid-range and is still fairly accurate while hip-firing. The Angled Foregrip is favored on this weapon since it's better for the range you should use it at, and the Flash Hider/Suppressor are the best attachments to use on the front since you gain extra recoil reduction from the Tactical Stock.

The M16A4 is the only assault rifle currently in the game that does not have the option to go fully automatic and has the same attachment slots as the AKM (on the front, magazine, and top). This weapon is very well balanced from short to very long range and easy to utilize once you get down how to use the burst fire mode for spraying at short range. With the newest patch, you can't use the 8x and 15x scope on this weapon anymore since it was a bit too good and it was used as a semi-automatic sniper rifle. This rifle benefits the most from using a 2x Scope/4x Scope on top and a Flash Hider/Suppressor to mask your position a lot better. The M16A4 is also the best assault rifle to use in combination with short-range weapons like SMGs or Shotguns.

The SCAR-L is probably the best overall assault rifle in the game. You'll find this weapon pretty frequently, it has a very good spray pattern that is stable, it has room for 4 attachments including a Foregrip, and the iron sights are really good to use while aiming down your sight. The SCAR's first five bullets are really accurate, leading to easy takedowns when you're accurately trying to spray an enemy at short to medium range. This weapon is good with literally every attachment that you can find so it's almost always a good pick up.

The AUG-A3 is the brand new assault rifle that is an airdrop exclusive like the Groza but the drop rate hasn't been confirmed yet since it's still in testing. This weapon feels like a SCAR-L but has every bit of it upgraded except for the recoil. Its base damage is a lot higher, it features an even more stable spray pattern that goes straight up wherever you're firing it, and this weapon also has very low bullet drop. The best attachments to put on this weapon include the Compensator and Suppressor, a sight or 2x/4x scope, and an Angled Foregrip being absolutely essential because the accuracy will become about four times better.

Submachine Guns (SMG's)

Submachine Guns are very good weapons at close range and are easily accessible due to the attachments being a lot more common than the AR and SR attachments. These weapons are best combined with a medium to long range weapon like a sniper rifle or an AR that you're good with that's capable of dealing with distant targets.

The Micro Uzi is the fastest firing Submachine Gun in the game and is the most commonly spawned SMG with the UMP-9. The Micro Uzi is one of the deadliest weapons in close-quarters but the damage fall off is insane when you try to shoot someone at short to mid-range. The Micro Uzi can't use a Sight or Scope but does use a Stock that's exclusive to the Micro Uzi. Use this weapon mostly while hip-firing since the iron sights aren't good at all and make sure that you should always reload after you've just killed/knocked someone since you will require a whole magazine to kill someone. The Suppressor is almost completely useless since it won't lower the recoil rate that the Micro Uzi has and when you're using this weapon you're most likely in the line of sight of your enemies. The best-in-slot attachment by far is the Compensator.

The Tommy Gun is a Submachine Gun that was previously in the airdrop crate but now spawns everywhere on the map, usually with 90 .45 ACP rounds spawned right next to it. This weapon can't use a Sight/Scope but has a slot for a foregrip, muzzle attachment, and the magazine. This weapon is poor overall due to its low firing speed and lack of Sight/Scope making it very hard to kill someone quickly with this weapon. Prioritize other Submachine Guns over this one since it's bad at what it should do, killing someone quickly that's kind of close to you. Avoid this weapon.

The UMP-9 is the other variant of a Submachine Gun that uses 9mm and spawns the most together with the Micro-Uzi. This SMG is really good for short to medium range which is odd compared to the other SMGs. The UMP-9 has a relatively fast firing speed and decent bullet drop. Beware that the spray pattern is good at short range but very inaccurate at further distances. The UMP is good with every front attachment, benefits the most from a Vertical Foregrip since it balances the recoil the most, and always use a Sight or 2x Scope on this weapon since you can get some kills between short and medium range!

The Vector is a Submachine Gun that spawns the least of all SMGs. This SMG has a very fast firing rate, being just a bit slower than the Micro Uzi. The Vector is like the M416, using a front attachment, foregrip, magazine slot, sight/scope and a stock. The difference with the Vector is that you must have an Extended Magazine to even make this SMG viable, as the Extended Magazine upgrades the clip size from 13 .45 ACP bullets to 25 .45 ACP bullets. This SMG has the second highest damage per second out of all of them but you need to make the best with the few bullets you have available. Prioritize other SMGs over the Vector except for when you have at least 3 attachments but beware that you cannot put an Angled Foregrip on the Vector.

Shown above is an image of a fully modified Vector. This example with a Suppressor on it would be very good to use in Fog games.

Shotguns

The shotguns mostly come down to preference and aren't useful at all except for when you're in the early parts of the game hunting other people, when you're inside buildings, and during fog games, but we can still compare them next to each other and see which one fits different bills.

The Sawed-Off shotgun is the new shotgun and also the only one that fits in the pistol slot. This shotgun has 2 shots in each clip and spawns with lesser amounts of gauge next to it. The Sawed-Off shotgun doesn't have support for any attachments, has less damage than all the other shotguns, and shoots a little quicker than the S1897.

The S686 is the fastest shooting shotgun in the game with 2 shots in each clip. You can put a Shotgun Choke and Bullet Loops on this gun and it has very high base damage. With good aim and a Shotgun Choke this shotgun is very deadly at short range since you can one-shot players that are around 15 meters away, even if they have level 3 armor.

The S1897 is a slower shooting shotgun that needs to go through an animation before shooting its next shot. Like the S686 it has high base damage, and a Shotgun Choke and Bullet Loops fit on this weapon. Be careful that other players with different shotguns can kill you more quickly when they have decent aim.

The S12K shotgun is the odd one out, not being able to use a Shotgun Choke or Bullet Loops. The S12K can use the most attachments out of all the shotguns, including a front attachment, a magazine attachment, and a Sight/Scope. The front attachments and magazine attachments are the same ones that ARs use. When found, you should always use the Compensator since the Flash Hider and Suppressor are inferior due to the short range which shotguns are effective at.

Bolt-Action Sniper Rifles

These weapons are the most sought-after guns in the game and are also the weapons that can turn around fights with only 1 shot. Beware that you shouldn't focus on recoil reducing attachments at all since you should mostly reset after each shot and hide behind cover for as long as possible and then proceed to shoot at your target as quickly as possible.

The M24 is a bolt-action sniper rifle that is also a rare spawn from airdrop crates. It's almost the same sniper rifle as the Mk14, using the same ammunition and having the same attachment slots. The M24 has a lot of recoil and high damage, having the 2nd highest damage in the game just under the AWM and above all other sniper rifles. It's very useful to get an Extended Magazine for this weapon since it only has five bullets in each normal clip.

The Kar98k (Karabiner 98 Kurz) is the most commonly found bolt-action sniper rifle in the game and also a sniper rifle that is prioritized a lot above other long-range weapons. This weapon has high base damage that can headshot anyone with a level 2 Helmet or lower and the weapon is accurate even when standing up, but reloads very slowly. If you are shooting a target and you can waste all five of your bullets, do it because reloading four bullets or less is even slower than normal. The Kar98k has two attachments including a unique set of bullet loops that can only be put on the Kar98k but is a very rare drop that you won't find every game for sure. Prioritize the Suppressor the most, otherwise use a Flash Hider.

The AWM is the most controversial sniper rifle that's currently in the game with its damage being nerfed in the PUBG 1.0 patch and it being the only gun that uses .300 Magnum rounds. The AWM is the only weapon in the whole game that is able to one-shot an enemy player with a level 3 Helmet but only has 20 rounds spawned with it in the airdrop crate. The AWM has no iron sights so you're required to get a scope for this rifle. Like the M24, it has 4 attachment slots and but unlike the other bolt-action sniper rifles that can use an Extended Magazine the AWM only gains 2 more bullets with an Extended Magazine attached. This sniper rifle may be the most powerful in the game, but you should determine whether or not you're going to need a lot of bullets since it uses unique rounds that you can't find anywhere else in the game except for the airdrop crate. The AWM also has the fastest bullet speed in the game.

The Win94 is the brand new bolt-action sniper rifle that's been introduced in the PUBG 1.0 patch and it isn't like any other weapon that is on this list. This weapon features absolutely 0 attachment slots not even a Sight/Scope slot and uses .45 ACP rounds instead of 5.56, 7.62 or .300 Magnum. This sniper rifle is a pretty common spawn, has a clip size of 8 bullets, reloads like a Kar98k and has high base damage. The Iron-Sight on this weapon is really good but be sure that you have experience using sniper rifles when using the Win94.

Semi-Automatic Sniper Rifles

These weapons are more versatile than the bolt-action sniper rifles but don't have enough damage to even one-shot an enemy that has a level 1 Helmet equipped. These weapons have a lot of vertical recoil and could be compared to the M16A4 in terms of usefulness.

The Mini-14 is the newest sniper rifle in this category that's been added to the game. It features a very big clip size of 20 extendable to even 30 bullets in one clip, but it also has less damage than the other semi-automatic sniper rifles. The Mini-14 is quite an odd one out again since it's pretty decent to use it in close quarter combat especially at the beginning of the game. You can't put a Cheek Pad on this weapon but the horizontal recoil rate is already pretty low, so when combined with the large clip size it's easier to fire a lot of bullets even at multiple targets.

The SKS is currently the only semi-automatic sniper rifle that has the ability to have a foregrip put on it. The SKS can be found anywhere and has higher base damage than the Mini-14, but a smaller clip that's extendable to 20 rounds with an Extended Magazine. This sniper rifle does have a lot of recoil bound with it so be sure to use a Flash Hider or Compensator preferably, but if you're playing stealthy always use the Flash Hider or a possible Suppressor. The SKS has the most attachment slots in the game and you should always use a Vertical Foregrip on it to reduce the recoil the most. The SKS and the Mini-14 are both pretty decent with the Red Dot/Holographic sight when you have no other choice.

The VSS is the worst sniper rifle that is currently in the game but it's unique due to it firing 9mm rounds, already having a scope and a suppressor on it without the requirement of finding and putting your own attachment on it. This weapon is mostly ignored by players since its damage is very low due to the kind of ammunition that it uses. The bullet drop is quite insane but it doesn't make a lot of noise which makes it a weapon that you should pick up if you really have no other choice for a medium to long distance weapon.

The Mk14 is the rarest weapon out of all the semi-automatic sniper rifles and only spawns from airdrop crates. This sniper rifle has a lot of horizontal and vertical recoil and should only be used while prone or have a Compensator/ since the bullets will otherwise sway to the left or right when shooting at your targets. This sniper rifle has four attachments slot including a magazine slot, muzzle attachment and one on the back. This sniper rifle is one of the best in the game since it uses 7.62 ammunition which is common to find and the Mk14 has very high base damage.

Light Machine Guns (LMG's)

The Light Machine Guns are weapons that excel at executing suppressive fire and have larger clips than any other type of weapon. We have not seen much of this type of weapon in PUBG yet though. Note that with both of these weapons the reload time is very high. Let's examine the 2 weapons that fit into this weapon category.

The M249 has the largest clip in the game with a grand total of 100 5.56 bullets per clip. The M249 only has an attachment slot for the sight/scope and has the most recoil out of any weapon in the whole game. Crouching/going prone is absolutely essential with this weapon to compensate for the high recoil rate and to make the spray pattern as stable as possible. Never use scopes greater than 2x on this weapon and maybe try to hip-fire with this weapon. The firing rate is pretty high (around the same rate as the UMP-9) and there is very little bullet drop.

DP-28 is the name of the last weapon we'll be talking about, and it's also a new one. This Soviet-made weapon uses a round drum on the top of it just below the iron sights. Like the M249, there's only an attachment slot for the Sight/Scope but has a lower recoil rate and a more predictable spray pattern. It's also easier to get ammunition for this weapon since it uses .45 ACP and kind of feels like the Tommy Gun. This weapon gives a more balanced feeling and overall better weapon than the Tommy Gun due to its larger clip size of 48 bullets but still maintaining the other aspects of the Tommy gun which are quite decent. Pick this weapon up when you have no attachments for other weapons since the DP-28 is good from the start.

Conclusion

These aren't all the weapons in the game. I have excluded the pistols and the melee weapons since they aren't viable compared to all of the primary weapons. The weapons that we went through all have something unique to them and everyone has different preferences. Since you have two slots for your primaries, don't stack weapons that are good for the same goal like killing people quickly on short range. Try out weapon combinations that fit your playstyle the most and avoid weapons which you're not good at or give them to teammates. If you expected that this guide would answer which weapon is the best one currently in the game, there's only one short answer: there's none.

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