Volume 4: Light Machine Guns

"Bravo Six: Going Dark Matter" Volume 4: Light Machine Guns cover.

Welcome to “Bravo Six: Going Dark (Matter)”

A complete guide to Polyatomic and Orion Camo

Volume 4: Light Machine Guns!

This guide was authored by KRNG XVI | @xvithegreat

This guide is designed to be the most detailed, comprehensive guide to assist you on your journeys through Gold, Platinum, Polyatomic, and ultimately Orion. It has been written after extensive time testing, leveling, investigating, and compiling data about the game, and will be releasing over 9 volumes due to the sheer size of information and customization.

"Bravo Six, Going Dark (Matter)": A Complete Orion Camo Guide

Simplified Tuning Method

First time? You should definitely read Volume 0: Introduction!

The Introduction contains the following topics that are relevant to nearly every weapon class, such as:

What you have to do to earn Orion, with individual challenge recommendations; best settings to control recoil (extremely important); best Weapon XP and Longshot methods; complete Tuning guide; recommended perks & equipment, and general tips and tricks that will assist you throughout your camo grind.

This guide is divided into the following sections:

  • Section 1: Weapon & Attachment Unlock List
  • Section 2: Best LMG Attachments Analysis
  • Section 3: Tuning Insight & Best Practices
  • Section 4: Bullet Velocity
  • Section 5: Recommended Loadouts, with Tuning

Section 1: Weapon & Attachment Unlock List

Not all LMGs are unlocked just by leveling up; some must be unlocked by leveling up other guns first. In addition, there are a few attachments I will recommend you use on every gun, and some of these are not natively unlocked by the LMG class.

Weapon Unlock List

  • Sakin MG38: Unlocked at Player Level 1.

  • HCR 56: Unlocked by leveling the STB 556 (AR) to Weapon Level 20.

    • STB 556 Assault Rifle: Unlocked at Player Level 41.

  • 556 Icarus: Unlocked by level the M4 (AR) to Weapon Level 18.

    • M4 Assault Rifle: Unlocked at Player Level 1.

  • RAAL MG: Unlocked at Player Level 25.

  • RPK: Unlocked by leveling the Kastov 762 (AR) to Weapon Level 16.

    • Kastov 762 Assault Rifle: Unlocked at Player Level 23.

  • RAPP H: Unlocked by leveling the Lachmann-556 (AR) to Weapon Level 16.

    • Lachmann-556 Assault Rifle: Unlocked by leveling the Lachmann-762 (BR) to Weapon Level 13.

      • Lachmann-762 Battle Rifle: Unlocked at Player Level 16.

Attachment Unlock List

The following attachments are shared between at least two of my recommended builds:

  • RF Crown 50 Muzzle: Unlocked by leveling the Taq-56 (AR) to Weapon Level 16.

    • Taq-56 Assault Rifle: Unlocked at Player Level 19.

  • Bore-490 Muzzle: Unlocked by leveling the S0-14 (BR) to Weapon Level 14.

    • S0-14 Battle Rifle: Unlocked by leveling the EBR-14 (MR) to Weapon Level 12.

      • EBR-14 Marksman Rifle: Unlocked at Player Level 1.

  • Bruen Q900 Grip Wrap: Unlocked by leveling the Sakin MG38 to Weapon Level 3.

  • FSS OLE-V Laser: Unlocked by leveling the EBR-14 (Marksman Rifle) to Weapon Level 10.

    • EBR-14 Marksman Rifle: Unlocked at Player Level 1.

  • VLK LZR 7MW Laser: Unlocked by leveling the STB 556 (AR) to Weapon Level 5.

    • STB 556 Assault Rifle: Unlocked at Player Level 41.

  • FTAC Ripper Underbarrel: Unlocked by leveling the Lachmann-762 (BR) to Weapon Level 6.

    • Lachmann-762 Battle Rifle: Unlocked at Player Level 16.

Section 2: Best LMG Attachments Analysis

No matter your playstyle, your overall objective when building strong weapons should as best as possible adhere to the 3 tenets of an effective weapon: (1) maximum damage/range; (2) low recoil; (3) fast handling. You should strive to construct weapons that are versatile and adaptable, able to reflexively perform in a variety of situations. 6v6 weapons should be well balanced between speed and accuracy, Ground War weapons should slightly emphasize accuracy over speed, and Warzone weapons should sacrifice most speed for accuracy. The builds presented in this guide are constructed for effectiveness in the standard 6v6 multiplayer experience.

“I’m only using 2 or 3 attachments on my guns…” A reasonable conclusion to arrive to, and I don’t blame a large portion of the population for arriving at this resolution. Many people are sticking to the traditional Suppressor/Barrel/Magazine/Mobility template that has worked for years since MW19, and that simply doesn’t work this year. However, I've conducted extensive testing with the builds I present, and you should find that they work excellently with 5 attachments. It's all about avoiding the attachments at both ends of the spectrum: Some mobility attachments are too fast and give you too much recoil, and some recoil attachments are too heavy and slow you down too much. It's really difficult to find the niche attachments that give the most benefit for the least cost unless you perform very extensive testing like I do.

My understanding and insight on attachments is limited in the absence of advanced stats, but I base my knowledge on how attachments performed in MW19 and Vanguard (Vanguard operated on the MW19 engine). MW2 uses the MW19 engine, so it’s likely things are going to behave very similarly, if not exactly the same. Here is an explanation of the best attachments per slot for the standard 6v6 multiplayer experience.

  • Muzzle: +Horizontal/Vertical Recoil Control: Straight-up Vertical and Horizontal recoil control is pound for pound, stat for stat, the most powerful form of recoil mitigation (basis: Exact numbers from Vanguard), providing the strongest amount of reduction per point over any other types of mitigation, such as stabilization, steadiness, generic control, or anything of the such. I personally believe this style of Muzzle to be the best recoil control attachment in the entire game.

    • Notice that this was Horizontal first, Vertical second. Attributes of an attachment are listed in order of strength, so if +Horizontal Recoil is listed first and Vertical second, the attachment will provide more Horizontal Recoil Control than Vertical Recoil Control.

    • What about suppressors?! I would love to include the range-increasing Suppressors, but I find that they incur far too much penalty for too little range benefit.

  • Barrel: Mobility: LMGs pack the highest average range and damage values over the rest of the fully automatic weapon classes, so if we're going to use a barrel, we already know that we do not need enhanced damage range; barrels will be shortened for mobility. All LMGs have a minimum range value of 41 except the 556 Icarus and HCR, both checking in at 24 and 25 meters respectively; however, their secondary falloff values stretch so far ahead at 40 and 48 meters that gaining a few meters with a barrel (while severely compromising handling) is a poor attachment choice.

    • We'll make a compromise: The ~80ms TTK that would have potentially been gained in the stretch spots from barrels adjusting secondary falloff ranges will instead be focused into handling for a more universally effective weapon, considering that most engagements in 6v6 will occur under 30 meters.

  • Laser: FSS OLE-V / VLK LZR: A penalty-free gain of 10% ADS and Sprint-to-fire with a supplementary bonus to Stability. S-Tier attachment. The “con” to using this is that the laser is visible in ADS; if you are pre-aiming an area you believe an enemy will appear, aim at the wall closest to where they will appear so that your laser is not visible around the corner, and be ready to snap on-target.

    • What about stability? In Modern Warfare 2, Stability is active at all times, even when firing your weapon; this means that your weapon is always swaying up and down, side to side. I view Stability as a form of “soft recoil control” – and it’s disingenuous to refer to it as control, because it does not affect the amount of kick your weapon has; rather, an unstable weapon has a chance to sway you off-target even with perfect accuracy and recoil control; as such, a stable weapon has a better chance of staying on-target in the heat of battle. More important over medium-range encounters, very important for long-range encounters.

  • Optic: Preference, Otherwise Not Worth It: Try to get used to the Ironsights, but if you find them unbearable, you will be sacrificing something important. The attachment I would recommend cutting to add an Optic would usually be one that increases mobility at the cost of recoil control; these are usually Rear Grips.

  • Stock: Aim Walking Movement Speed: LMGs tend to slow to a statuesque crawl when ADSing, and especially firing, so every Stock I use on my recommended LMG builds is used with intent to help compensate for the extreme lack of strafe speed - to which the mobility stocks are surprisingly effective at giving.

    • Double effectiveness for controller players: Faster strafe means stronger Aim Assist Rotation, so adding additional strafe is an important component of overall effectiveness.

  • Rear Grip: ADS: The Rear Grips help achieve the mobility vision by adding a nominal, tangible increase to ADS.

  • Magazine: Reduce for Mobility: Magazine reduction in LMGs provides an extremely powerful boost to mobility and handling without recoil penalties, which makes sacrificing unnecessary capacity for dramatically increased mobility and handling an absolute no-brainer. The HCR and RAAL slash their mags to reap immense benefits, but the RPK's handling is so fast that it keeps the 75-round drum with absolutely zero fudges given. In fact, slashing the mag of the RPK is actually so inconsequential that it becomes so severely throttled by diminishing returns and multiplicative losses such that it's better to keep the 75 rounds.

  • Ammunition: Never Worth It: Ammunition types simply do not provide enough benefit to justify an attachment slot when the nature of attachment balancing in this game is such a delicate dance; I liken the balancing of attachments in MW2 to balancing a nuclear reactor – too much heat (mobility) and you’ve got recoil plots akin to a runaway reaction; too much control, and you won’t get any productive amounts of power output. We simply must be using attachments that provide more value. Ammunition is worth it for Longshots! (High Velocity)

  • Underbarrel: Bruen Warrior Grip: A very weighty attachment that provides excellent increases to stability, steadiness, and stabilization. Very heavy, but very effective.

  • Underbarrel: FTAC Ripper: The Underbarrel slot is absolutely prized with the legendary FTAC Ripper providing incredible amounts of stabilization. This is a key attachment slot for any gun with an undesired amount of horizontal recoil; on almost every recommended build, I highly recommend this supremely powerful attachment to stabilize your recoil and focus it into a largely vertical plot, which is easier to control. The FTAC Ripper also provides an excellent amount of stability, another key stat for more distant engagements.

    • Special mention to the FSS Sharkfin 90 – free stability with no downsides. If you are not using an Underbarrel and have a free slot, use the FSS Sharkfin 90.

Section 3: Tuning Insight & Best Practices

I published a very detailed guide that explains the process, but for anyone not interested in learning how it works and just want the technique, I did also include a 60-second TL;DR video that teaches you everything you need to know.

Section 4: Bullet Velocity - Does It Matter in 6v6?

By and large, the answer is no, though there are exceptions. Players subscribe to many placebo-type myths that have been busted (such as velocity giving better hitreg – false), and for most primary weapons, Velocity largely does not matter and will almost never be the defining factor of a 6v6 gunfight. Velocity largely comes into play when engaging horizontally moving targets in which your velocity may be too slow and force you to horizontally lead a target, but this largely applies over distances well exceeding 40 meters.

Does Bullet Velocity matter for LMGs? The answer is absolutely not, and I would wager to go so far as to say it almost doesn't matter entirely for Ground War. All LMGs clock in at a minimum velocity of 700m/s, which is incredibly fast and should feel effectively like hitscan up to 60 meters.

Section 5: Recommended Loadouts, with Tuning

In this section I’ll provide my highly-tested and confirmed-effective loadouts that are a result of many hours of testing in live matches, bot matches, shooting walls to observe recoil plots, and messing with tuning. You may not be able to build these weapons early or until the weapon is fully leveled; remember, Tuning is not unlocked until the weapon is maximum level. Be sure to refer to my earlier Attachment Unlock List to scavenge for missing attachments – especially the laser from the EBR.

LMG Design Philosophy

My overall design philosophy on LMGs is to build them as close to the all-purpose Assault Rifles as possible. Traditional high-capacity, low-recoil, immobile turret-style LMGs have zero effective role in 6v6 and are only situational at best in objective play, so my objective is to sway attachment choices as far as possible into mobility while maintaining controllable recoil in order to produce highly-usable and adaptable combat implements.

Sakin MG38 recommended build with Simplified Tuning and challenges.
  • Sakin MG38

    • Difficulty: Easy

    • The Sakin MG38 enjoys a very low recoil profile with an excellent 180ms TTK up to 61 meters, absolutely deleting people over an egregious amount of distance. The only drawback is the the slightly slow draw time.

      • Level 08: 30 Prone Kills

      • Level 13: 10 Double Kills

      • Level 19: 50 Suppressor Kills

    • Unlocked at: Player Level 1
HCR 56 recommended build with Simplified Tuning and challenges.
  • HCR 56

    • Difficulty: Hard

    • It's amazing how a single attachment can make a world of difference. That attachment is the 30-Round Mag - as soon as you get it you'll feel like the HCR has been sent flying. The first damage range is only up to 25 meters, so the gun is built to excel as a somewhat-slow SMG. Use no longer than medium range, because the recoil isn't serviceable once you breach midrange. Ironsights can be tough, so if you're going to cut something for a sight, make sure it's the Grip - though you are definitely going to feel that ADS slowdown. You can effectively treat this as a "worse" STB - fast and responsive, fit for CQC. Very visually intense, but don't let that fool you - it's simply a significant amount of visual recoil, and the gun is much more accurate than it appears.

      • Level 07: 50 ADS Kills

      • Level 13: 10 Double Kills

      • Level 18: 20 Mounted Kills

    • Unlocked by: Leveling the STB 556 (AR) to Weapon Level 20.

      • STB 556 Assault Rifle: Unlocked at Player Level 41.

556 Icarus recommended build with Simplified Tuning and challenges.
  • 556 Icarus

    • Difficulty: Easy

    • The 556 Icarus is serviceable right out of the box as a slower-but-deadlier M4. Worse range (how does that even make sense?!), worse handling, but a better TTK under the 24-meter maximum damage range. Attachments prioritize handling with an intuitive balance to recoil. Very visually noisy, but controllable nonetheless.

      • Level 06: 10 Double Kills

      • Level 11: 20 Mounted Kills

      • Level 15: 30 Crouched Kills

    • Unlocked by: Leveling the M4 (AR) to Weapon Level 18.

      • M4 Assault Rifle: Unlocked at Player Level 1.

RAAL MG recommended build with Simplified Tuning and challenges.
  • RAAL MG

    • Difficulty: Hard

    • The RAAL's description in the above picture is absolutely no joke. I rate this LMG as "hard" because it will be quite the journey to reach the best attachments - the side grip at 19, the stock at 23, and finally the beautiful 50-Round Belt at 24. Like the HCR, it's amazing how one attachment can make a world of difference. If you'll notice, the half-capacity magazine grants a substantial boost to handling times, and is beneficially very competitive with the folded stock, but with none of the recoil penalties. In fact, stacking the folded stock with the 50-belt accelerates the RAAL's mobility so far into the stratosphere that it hits a diminishing return ceiling and goes way faster than the game will ever allow it to. Since we can't have an insta-ADS RAAL, we'll at least go for a shockingly fast build that enjoys a brutal 108ms TTK. You read that correctly, 108ms TTK. Put it this way: If it ain't a Longshot, it's dying in 108ms.

    • It somehow manages to feel as instakill as the Fennec, and with very easily controlled recoil. The RAAL uses a plateau model of recoil where the muzzle will rapidly climb, then plateaus and starts veering entirely horizontal. The Muzzle and Side Grip help manage this plateau handsomely, but it's up to you to make sure you keep those brims up and sights down, inverse-Zeyna style. Ironsights can be blocky, but every attachment here is indispensable and very worth it.

    • The RAAL has two kinds of recoil thresholds within its plateau model. The manageable kind is where the front sights do not peek above the rear sights. The unmanageable kind is where the muzzle climbs so rapidly that the front sights do peek over the rear sights. The Demo Folded Stock (final unlock) gives you the unmanageable kind.

    • The TA CG76 Muzzle is unlocked by the RAAL at Weapon Level 15, but the slightly more powerful and best-in-slot RAAL muzzle, the Shred CP90, is unlocked by the FTAC Recon at Weapon Level 11.

      • Level 10: 15 Kills from Behind

      • Level 19: 20 Mounted Kills

      • Level 27: 10 Hipfire Kills

    • Unlocked at: Player Level 25.

RPK recommended build with Simplified Tuning and challenges.
  • RPK

    • Difficulty: Easy

    • The RPK flirts with perfection as a beautifully fast-handling, low-recoil, high-capacity, high-damage, far-range weapon. I wouldn't even call it an LMG, because the RPK brings the heat from many weapon classes, as if it has assembled each of the Infinity Stones. The speed of an AR, the range of a Sniper, the recoil of a Grau... Enjoy a 200ms TTK up to fifty freaking nine meters and 300ms beyond that. Oh, and 75 rounds, of course.

      • Level 07: 10 Double Kills

      • Level 13: 50 Suppressor Kills

      • Level 18: 20 Mounted Kills

    • Unlocked by: Leveling the Kastov 762 (AR) to Weapon Level 16.

      • Kastov 762 Assault Rifle: Unlocked at Player Level 23.

RAPP H recommended build with Simplified Tuning and challenges.
  • RAPP H

    • Difficulty: Medium

    • Perhaps the runt of the litter, the RAPP H experiences effectively unfixable shakiness, so it is mitigated as much as possible while keeping decent handling times. The intense fire rate lends a helping hand, but at the end of the day, the RAPP H is outclassed by every other LMG in some way. Not a bad weapon by any measure, just not as good as the others.

      • Level 07: 15 Point Blank Kills

      • Level 13: 20 Mounted Kills

      • Level 18: 50 ADS Kills

    • Unlocked by: Leveling the Lachmann-556 (AR) to Weapon Level 16.

      • Lachmann-556 Assault Rifle: Unlocked by leveling the Lachmann-762 (BR) to Weapon Level 13.

      • Lachmann-762 Battle Rifle: Unlocked at Player Level 16.

"Bravo Six, Going Dark (Matter)": A Complete Orion Camo Guide

Simplified Tuning Method

This guide was authored by KRNG XVI | @xvithegreat