best gunsmith weapon perks

Gunsmith Primaries – Best Perks

Scout Rifles

High-Impact

Cocytus SR4

  • Pros – Very fast Time-to-Kill. High Range. Above average Reload Speed. Fair Mag Size for the Impact class.
  • Cons – Low Aim Assist. Average Stability.
  • Time-to-Kill: 0.80s (3 crit shots)

Recommended Perks:

  • Column 1 – Torch HS2
  • Column 2 – Life Support, Triple Tap, Icarus
  • Column 3 – Hand-laid Stock
  • Column 4 – Third Eye, Zen Moment, Eye of the Storm, Firefly, Grenadier, Army of One

You really need Torch and Hand-laid Stock to make this gun into the PvP monster it’s capable of being. The added AA of the sight, and the huge boost to Stability improve this gun’s two biggest weak points, and allow you to take advantage of the very fast TtK. For column 2, I like Life Support the most, but Triple Tap actually comes into play a lot in PvP (due to needing 3 headshots to kill), and helps out with the smallish Mag Size. Icarus is something that I personally like, but your own mileage may vary.

For the last column, there are a lot of options. Third Eye is probably the best for PvP, but not everyone likes using it, since it can become a crutch. Zen Moment will help you in every engagement, and Eye of the Storm is a tremendously underrated perk. Grenadier and Army of One, although their effects are smaller, still make a noticeable difference. I personally like Firefly, but only because I enjoy seeing my enemies explode after crit kills.

Low-Impact

SUROS DIS-47

  • Pros – Very high Aim Assist, Mag Size, and Rate of Fire.
  • Cons – Requires landing a lot of shots to kill. Below average Stability and Reload Speed. Low Range.
  • Time-to-Kill: 0.93s (4 crit shots and 1 body shot)

Recommended Perks:

  • Column 1 – SPO-28
  • Column 2 – Perfect Balance/Hammer Forged, High Caliber Rounds, Fitted Stock
  • Column 3 – Full Auto, Hidden Hand, Unflinching, Counterbalance
  • Column 4 – Smallbore/Hand-laid Stock, Injection Mold

The SPO-28 sight will give you a small AA boost, and Full Auto is necessary to take advantage of this gun’s surprisingly fast TtK. If you don’t get Full Auto, it’s very, very difficult to fire this gun at its optimal RoF, so, although there are other good perks in that third column, I wouldn’t suggest picking up a roll without it. Any combination of the other bolded perks will work, but my two favorite are Perfect Balance and Smallbore, or Hammer Forged and Hand-laid Stock. The first pair will not quite push the Stability as high as it can go, but you’ll get a small Range boost on top of it. The second pair will give you more Stability, but Hammer Forged will be needed to add back in the Range penalty from Hand-laid. The other perks listed will suffice in place of one of the main ones, but they won’t be optimal.

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Pulse Rifles

High-Impact

Lyudmila-D

  • Pros – Very high Range and Mag Size.
  • Cons – Low Stability and Aim Assist. Very low Reload Speed.
  • Time-to-Kill: 0.80s (2 bursts. 7 crit shots and 1 body shot.)

Recommended Perks:

  • Column 1 – SC Holo
  • Column 2 – Headseeker, Crowd Control, Glass Half Full
  • Column 3 – Counterbalance, Unflinching
  • Column 4 – Hand-laid Stock, Injection Mold, Fitted Stock, High Caliber Rounds

As always, a sight that boosts AA is my choice here, with SC Holo. Headseeker is also a great option on this gun, as it makes it less dependent on hitting all headshots to achieve minimum TtK. Counterbalance is a massive help as well, preventing the gun from pulling as hard to the left as it normally does, but can also be useful, if you can get used to the recoil pattern. Hand-laid Stock is by far the best choice for the last column, although Injection Mold or Fitted Stock can be a poor man’s substitutes. High Caliber Rounds can force some really crazy flinch on people if you can land all your shots, which is great for messing with snipers, but it some great weapon control to deal with the recoil without any Stability perks.

Low-Impact

SUROS PDX-45

  • Pros – High Rate of Fire, Mag Size, and Aim Assist. Very high Stability and Reload Speed.
  • Cons – Terrible Range.
  • Time-to-Kill: 0.83s (2.66 bursts. 8 crits)

Recommended Perks:

  • Column 1 – SPO-28
  • Column 2 – Perfect Balance, High Caliber Rounds, Hammer Forged, Fitted Stock
  • Column 3 – Counterbalance, Hidden Hand, Rangefinder, Headseeker
  • Column 4 – Rifled Barrel/Smallbore

SPO-28 again for the AA boost (and I just like the optics). If you grab Perfect Balance here, it will push the Stability up high enough that you can use Rifled Barrel in the last Column, and end up with massive boosts to both. If you aren’t lucky enough to get Perfect Balance, then Smallbore is the best option in the final column, and either of the other three second column options will work.

You can even match Smallbore with Perfect Balance to achieve literally maximum Stability, but you won’t get as much Range as you could with Rifled Barrel. High Caliber Rounds does well on the PDX-45, simply because the RoF is so fast that landing all of your shots will have the other person’s screen jumping almost constantly. Hammer Forged can help with the very low base Range, and Fitted Stock doesn’t give much of a Stability bonus, but it’s still a helpful in tightening up the bullet spread. Counterbalance in the middle will always be the best choice to improve Recoil Direction, but Headseeker or Hidden Hand can both make the gun more forgiving than it already is. Rangefinder is less useful than the others, but still an option.

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Auto Rifles

Mid-Impact

Zarinaea-D

  • Pros – Above average Range. High Stability and Mag Size.
  • Cons – Average Reload Speed and Aim Assist.
  • Time-to-Kill: 0.90s (10 crit shots)Rate of Fire: 88

Recommended Perks:

  • Column 1 – SC Holo
  • Column 2 – Crowd Control, Hot Swap, Army of One
  • Column 3 – Rangefinder, Counterbalance
  • Column 4 – Braced Frame, Smallbore

Somewhat of a dark horse, the Zarinaea is actually a surprisingly able weapon. SC Holo helps with the average base AA, and I love Crowd Control to work with engaging multiple targets. Because of the high base Recoil Direction, Counterbalance isn’t actually a necessity on this weapon (the sideways kick is manageable without it), but I think it always helps. If you’re lucky enough to get Rangefinder, paired with Braced Frame, you’ll have great Range (negating some of the damage drop off) and minimal vertical recoil. If you can’t get Braced Frame, Smallbore is a decent consolation prize, but the it might take a little more to control.

SUROS ARI-41

  • Pros – High Stability and Aim Assist. Very high Mag Size.
  • Cons – Very low Range. Low Reload Speed.
  • Time-to-Kill: 0.90s (10 crit shots)

Recommended Perks:

  • Column 1 – SPO-28
  • Column 2 – Perfect Balance, Hammer Forged, High Caliber Rounds, Fitted Stock
  • Column 3 – Rifled Barrel, Smallbore
  • Column 4 – Counterbalance, Rangefinder, Hidden Hand, Unflinching

SPO-28 for AA, Perfect Balance is the best choice in the second column, Rifled Barrel is the best choice in the third. Your final column is where you get to make some choices. Counterbalance is my pick here, because the ARI-41 does have some sideways kick, but Rangefinder and Hidden Hand can also make their cases here. Unflinching is a little less useful, but if it’s all you got it’s not the worst.

Low-Impact

Arminius-D

  • Pros – Very high Aim Assist and Mag Size. High Reload Speed. Very fast TtK with body shots (1.00s, 16 body shots to kill).
  • Cons – Very low Range. Below average Stability.
  • Time-to-Kill: 0.86s (12 crit shots and 1 body shot,)

Recommended Perks:

  • Column 1 – SC Holo
  • Column 2 – Crowd Control, Hot Swap, Army of One
  • Column 3 – Counterbalance
  • Column 4 – Braced Frame, Smallbore

SC Holo again, Crowd Control is the best to me, but Hot Swap is also a strong contender. Counterbalance is the only way to go in the middle column, and Braced Frame is by far the best option too. If you don’t get Braced Frame, you can make do with Smallbore in a pinch, but the vertical kick will be a little more difficult to control.