MW3 Improvement #8 SMG Set-ups and Weapons

It's time for another Modern Warfare 3 Informational guide and today we'll be focusing on SMGs, the best ones and the perks/proficiencies to run with them.

I personally prefer SMG's over most any other weapon. Some of them tend to be more versatile than assault rifles with the added benefit of being able to run faster around the map. I'll start off this guide by saying you should run extreme conditioning with every SMG. This strengthens an already impressive movement speed and makes you able to outrun the uavs of the other team. I say outrun them because there is no reason you should ever run assassin with an SMG class. since you'll be playing to your strength of quick movements, a lot of times you'll find yourself running and being visible on the map anyway. Just take the loss of visibility and add something else as your secondary perk. I like hardline myself.

So here are the SMGs:

1.) MP5- The MP5 is one of the first SMGs given to you at the start of your prestige. It isn't great at any one thing, but it is diametrically opposite of the other SMG offered as your initial starting weapon. The MP5 is a reasonably accurate SMG with little kick to it. It has a decent rate of fire, although there are better options to be had for rate of fire if that's what you're looking for. Since the weapon is so average, the difference between this being a better weapon is decided on the proficiency and third perk to use with it. With most SMGs I'd suggest you run focus and steady aim with this particular weapon. Focus is helpful for when you get up close. The ability to keep your weapon on target (Stay on target...Stay on target!) is paramount when you're expecting up close encounters...which you'll find yourself in a bit when you use this weapon. Steady aim is a better choice than kick because this weapon is already pretty accurate when you aim down the sight. What you'll need is the ability to accurately hip fire it when you come across those knee jerk up close battles. You'll need to be accurate for those battle because this gun, for it's rate of fire, is weak compared to others in it's class. For an attachment I'd say run with Rapid fire or a silencer.

2.) UMP45- This gun is the other first option for SMGs. It is the only weapon with a higher damage stat and range stat than the other SMGs, but there is a drawback to this. It has the worst rate of fire of any SMG. This means this weapon is not really an SMG like the others, and shouldn't be played as one. Forget steady aim on this one, you're probably going to lose most of the up close battles you'll get into even if you have steady aim on. You're going to need the Stalker perk to make this gun worth it. This means instead of trying to get up close, medium distance is where it's at, and you'll need the ability to strafe faster than another SMG or Assault rifle in order to make this weapon better. As a proficiency I'd take focus once again. This is because this weapon is already relatively accurate, and at medium range you're going to get hit at least once by the enemy unless you're in a spot they can't see. A good attachment for this weapon is the silencer or a red dot...either or.

3.) PP90M1- I personally like this weapon, although it has been dubbed by many as one of the worst SMGs to play with. I believe this is because it is one of the two most inaccurate SMGs at range. This makes this gun pretty one dimensional, but that one dimension is incredibly strong. The rate of fire for this weapon is the second highest of the SMGs, and because it isn't as high as the highest, aiming down the sights in short bursts still makes this weapon enough of a threat at medium range that it is reasonably effective. This weapon forces you to run steady aim though. This is because we're going to go with the focus proficiency to make this weapon, which will almost always be used up close with hip firing, more accurate. This loadout will often lead this gun to win up close battles with shotguns in the first shotgun blast doesn't kill you outright, which is invaluable on smaller maps. For an attachment I'd say run with the extended mags. The reload time on this weapon is the slowest of the SMGs, and you don't want to find yourself reloading every two kills or so.

4.) P90- This is the weapon that does everything well, but nothing perfectly. It isn't too strong, isn't the fastest or slowest reload, isn't the most accurate and is in the middle of the pack in rate of fire. If you want to be more versatile, then this is your weapon. The only problem with being more versatile is that you're going to lose to specialist classes like high rate of fire classes or assault rifle classes. There is a small window of perfection with this weapon, and you have to be the right type of player to use it. I'm not. You can not be aggro with this gun. You have to be sneaky as hell to get kills. The perk to use with this gun is Dead Silence, so no one hears you moving around the map. You have to be sneaky with this thing. Kick is your best bet for this weapon. You don't want to trade bullets with anyone, but you want to make what you shoot count. Since this weapon's damage is slight, you're going to need to fire at your target while aiming down sights longer than most guns. Keep those bullets accurate. Kick also has the added bonus os making close in hip firing encounters a bit more controllable. You'll be able to win out on some of these encounters...but not by much. Stick with the silencer on this gun. You don't want to annouce your presence if you can help it. This is probably the only weapon I would consider running assassin on, but even then, I'd probably not do it myself.

5.) PM-9- This is, imo, the worst SMG. Up close this thing is a killing machine because of its high rate of fire. But that high rate of fire makes it totally inaccurate and worthless at medium range, and even makes it a bit wonky at shorter ranges. You have to run steady aim on this weapon. Kick would be nice, but the gun is worthless when aiming down the sights, and even kick won't help much in this department. Just give up on the ADS system and play to this weapon's strength. Use the attachment proficiency and put rapid fire and extended mags on this puppy and just pull the trigger when you see someone. Because this weapon fires so fast, you'll probably hit them with enough lead quick enough to put them down fast, and the extended mag will give you the extra ammo you'll need and the ability to fire more ammo at one time. If you can help it, stay away from this gun. It is next to worthless and is just a glorified machine pistol. If you're like me and just want the quick exp points to rank up faster, just get to 300 kils with it and give up on it. It's not worth losing games over.

6.) MP7- This is by far the best SMG, and many would say it is the best weapon in the game. I agree with that sentiment. It has good stability when aiming down the sights because of its natural lack of kick, has decent rate of fire, and can win up close battles. Dead Silence is the way to go with this weapon as a third perk. Sneaking up on people is the best way to get the kill, and since you really don't need any stabilizing factor for this weapon, you don't need kick or steady aim at all. You have a ton of choices to make on the proficiencies, and really you can't go wrong with anyone of them except to use the kick one. You just don't need it. The weapon is that accurate and easy to control. I've run focus on it and had success. I've run attachments and had: rapid fire and extened mags, Red dot and silencer, rapid fire and silencer, red dot and extended mags. Hell, I've even run the hamr scope and done well with this weapon. It is just that easy to use and I would reccomend people use a token to unlock it as soon as possible.

So that's it for the SMGs. Once again, if you have any questions, leave a comment on my blog and i'll answer them in my next installment.

I had a question from Tuefel a week ago about the Trophy system, its uses and benefits. Here you go...the trophy stops enemy grenades (tactical and lethal) and predator missles from exploding near you. It doesn;t work well for people who throw C4 or betties at you because those things aren't considered active when they're thrown. If a C$ lands at the foot of a trophy system, the trophy doesn't recognize it as a threat until the guy uses the clicker to activate it. Since the Trophy is a sphere, it only deflects thing from the direction they explode, and if a C$ goes off, the trophy will save anyone standing on top of the trophy. The explosion will however bloom out on the ground and kill whoever happens to be next to it, and how many people do you know who stand on trophy systems? The betties, since they don't activate until they hit the ground, will still bounce up, but if they bounce up on your side of the trophy, you're toast. If they were to bounce up on the other side, you're safe.

Hope this helps.

Tomorrow we'll go over Assault Rifles.