Blacklight Retribution Light Machine Gun Guide

Blacklight Retribution Light Machine Gun Guide by onefishbluefish

Somewhat inspired by the in-depth guide one person made on the SMG, I’m making my own for the Light Machine Gun.

An Introduction

My in-game name is Kellervo. I’ve been playing the game since the end of CB2, and joined WNx during the latter days of Closed Beta 4. In other words, I’ve got close to six months of experience with the game under my belt, and have generally relied upon the Combat Rifle and LMG as my weapons of choice, despite the fact they’ve been considered generally underpowered for much of my time in BLR.

Why Should I Use The LMG?

The LMG isn’t as straight-forward and simple as the SMG, or HAR or AR. It’s not the most versatile weapon, but you can get a significant amount of mileage from it once you understand how to use it properly.

What it lacks in accuracy and speed, it makes up for with raw damage output. The LMG has the highest damage per second of any weapon in the game short of the Hardsuit’s Minigun, has the highest capacity, and is generally the ‘moar dakka’ receiver in Blacklight. It makes a great weapon for defensive purposes, and in the right hands can be used to devastating effect on the attack as well.

The TL;DR

Strengths:
– High damage / DPS
– High capacity
– Accuracy increases over prolonged fire

Weaknesses:
– Low accuracy
– Random recoil
– Heavy / low run-speed

How Do I Use It?

The one most important, defining characteristic about the LMG is how its recoil and spread work. It is what makes the difference between it and a drum-fed AR. Unlike other receivers, the LMG’s spread drops while firing. Short bursts will be horribly inaccurate as you start at the max spread, then ramp down. Pre-firing is vitally important in any engagement so you can get over that hump and into the max-accuracy plateau beyond.

Another important note is that while all guns are more accurate while fired from stationary / crouching, the LMG gets a significant recoil buff as well, making it much easier to handle and lowering the initial spike in its spread. This generally favors defensive players who are already in position, but it also plays into that important pre-firing factor – an aware LMGer will almost always win in a short-medium range engagement if they can get firing before the enemy even runs around the corner.

If you’re using LMG, learn to tap in and out of HRV regularly. If you aren’t engaging anyone, tap in, tap out. Situational awareness is key – if you’re surprised at short range, you can get a few shots off and ‘lotto’ a headshot with some consistency, and the raw damage output gives you a leg up over the Burst Rifle and SMG. If you’re flanked at medium range or longer, however, you are borked and will likely die before you can get enough rounds down range.

One area where the LMG shines is in close-quarters Hardsuit destruction. With a DPS of over 1000, it can tear apart a Hardsuit’s weakpoint in less then two seconds if the Agent gets the drop on it. Even if the agent is killed in under a second, if he’s been hitting the weakpoint the HS will be out 5000 damage, or even up to or over 10,000. A LMG at close-range is more dangerous then a Stinger or Railgun!

How Do I Build It?

LMGs are like ARs in that just about every stat is important in some way. Here’s a quick breakdown on the most important ones;

Damage – Aim to have at least 63 damage, 67 if possible. 67 is the magic number where most competitive builds will be taken out in 4 shots, guaranteed. The LMG deals just slightly less damage then a HAR, however, so you might have to change your build slightly when switching receivers.

Minimum Spread – Very important. This is not really ‘initial’ spread, but instead determines where the plateau is after the initial burst. The lower this is, the more accurate your prolonged fire will be.

Recoil – Not as important as the initial spread, due to how it quickly ramps down when the LMG is used properly, but a lower recoil (and lower max spread) will make that initial burst more easily controlled and less of a weakness.

Ammo Type – There is no reason to use the standard belt magazine. Upgrade to the Quick magazine as soon as you can. Elemental magazines are relatively useless – even Electro. The LMG needs for every bullet to count immediately, and does not hit often enough for the effects of Explosive or Toxic ammo to make a difference, and can not afford to lose 30% of its damage up front to Incendiary. Electro’s situational use makes it even less attractive due to it using the much longer belt reload.

What Are Some Good Parts?

Muzzle

For Damage:
Frontier Snuff
RAS-6

The Rift should only be used if you pick a barrel with high accuracy and need that last bit of damage – the Frontier and RAS have better accuracy and/or recoil.

For Recoil:
ArmCom NT4
Vulcan QDS-S

Both muzzles give the best recoil buff available, and the choice depends on personal preference – if your barrel gives you a big accuracy buff but little damage, the NT4 might be preferable over the QDS-S. If you have a low range stat, the QDS-S might be a better choice (eg. use the QDS-S with the Krane GX3 barrel, and the NT4 with the Leatherneck / TDF).

For Accuracy:
Hullbreach

You can get it at Level 1, and it has one of the best accuracy buffs without the steep damage penalty of the end-game accuracy muzzles. A very solid choice available right off the bat for aspiring Lottery players.

Barrel

Damage:
ArmCom Elite

The Gx3 on paper looks like the ‘ideal’ barrel for the LMG, but it actually isn’t. While it deals more damage then the Elite, it comes with steep range and accuracy penalties which make it too much of a luck-based spray and pray. The Elite has slightly less damage for a tighter spread stat – the damage penalty can be easily offset by the RAS-6 or Frontier muzzles.

Accuracy:
Leatherneck

The most accurate barrel by a long shot. If speed is a significant issue, one can trade out for the Briar TDF for slightly less accuracy (the EX LR has too much of a damage penalty to make it worthwhile). With the Leatherneck and an accuracy-based stock, an LMG can be very effective out to medium range!

Stocks

CQC/B

A lightweight stock which has the same accuracy buff as the Vulcan Collapsible stock – the best. It has worse recoil, but is available earlier and has a better run speed, helping offset some of the disadvantages. A solid choice for people who like to use light armor builds.

Vulcan Collapsible

A heavy stock with the best accuracy buff, and only a marginal recoil penalty. Combined with the Leatherneck, makes for an exceptionally accurate LMG (relatively speaking).

ArmCom AC-10

Another heavy stock, with the best recoil buff available. This makes the initial spike much more manageable, but for prolonged fire it isn’t as accurate as the CQC/B or Collapsible stock.

Magazines

Get rid of the standard belt as soon as you can and upgrade to the QUIK magazine. It immediately turns the LMG from a clumsy, awkward bludgeon into, essentially, a high capacity HAR with some spread issues.

Elemental ammo is largely useless – the LMG can’t afford to trade off its immense up-front damage for marginal DoT bonuses, and it does not hit often enough to trigger the Explosive ammo’s distortion effect.

Scopes

Naturally, avoid high-powered sights like the EMi-Rival and generally anything with the ‘Zoom’ category. Open sights are preferable, especially the Krane and OPRL Holo sights due to them not obstructing anything in your field of view. You aren’t going to snipe with even the most accurate LMG, so anything over x3.00 is going to give you diminishing returns, if anything at all.

Tags

Avoid Ammo+ and Range+ tags. Accuracy and Recoil tags are your best bet, but depending on how you build you may not be able to get a bonus from either. Run+ and Stamina+ give very small bonuses, but anything helps offset the hefty speed penalty.

I’m Lazy, What Do You Use?

Muzzle – Frontier SRM01
Barrel – ArmCom Elite X3-455
Stock – Vulcan ACP-3 Collapsible
Scope – OPRL Reflex-2 Holo
Tag – Bulldozer (Recoil+)

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