SMGS

[Strife]

Are any of the SMG weapons good? If so, which ones and for what difficulties/factions?

Thanks!

[Da'Nutz]

I did not find any of them usefull. The pistol is good enough to protect yourself while holding a object even on the highest difficulties.

[Vamandrac]

I tend to use the knight when doing long case recovery objectives and it also allows you to also move faster while firing by default.

[小阴茎]

Anything that isn't the laser shotgun is not as good. I think the rest is just for fun.
If you use any other gun you need ammo, so thats only 3 slots for other stuff.
With the laser shotgun you can use 4 shredder missiles... :0)

[Vamandrac]

The laser shotgun isn't even close to being the best weapon as it is just a poor man's sickle and a bad one at that. It is half way decent at close range, but it is just awful in every other role.

[小阴茎]

Pfffffft whateva!

[Poodleberry]

the knight is very good at crowd control, but it requires coordination with your team.

[Insano-Man]

SMGs are best at dealing with large, non-tank enemies, like butchers and brood commanders, thanks to their microstun. You can effectively lock your target down as long as you keep landing consistent hits, which can allow you to either pin it for your team to kill it or wear it down over a long period of time.

The big problem with SMGs is that they have serious damage problems all-around. Their short range means that you can't engage scouts effectively (barring high-level bugs) and their poor per-round damage output means that you have to be dead on the money against armored enemies, like bug elites and cyborg squad leaders.

Under most circumstances, I can't advise using SMGs personally. I've used them to some success before, but they honestly feel like they'll land you in hot water more than they'll pull you out of it. I can see their use in team games where you have someone else to deal with scouts and help you flex the SMGs' microstun, but they're very niche weapons.

The Ninja, on the other hand, has absolutely no niche in the game. It's a crappier pistol with more ammo and sadistically shorter range. You get marginally better DPS thanks to its rate of fire and better armor penetration, but it's still totally outclassed by assault rifles and most laser weapons. Without the microstun, it has very little to offer by comparison.

[Torun]

I find SMGs very useful against bugs, and use them almost exclusively, when having good enough teammates that actually know you should stay mobile. When the team sticks around shooting stuff when it should actually run, this gives you less space to maneuver, and subsequently make even the mini-stun a very short respite. I also found it a good poor man's Stalwart against Lumies, the rate of fire shreds shields like nothing, and the Knight has decent enough mag size.

[JaegerBane]

The only SMG I really use is the Tanto, and only on case-heavy missions. It's short range is still a PITA to deal with but at least it's good for sustained DPS. Being brutally honest, I've not really seen any situation where SMG traits pull their weight rather than just going for a proper primary weapon and falling back on the upgraded pistol/Revolver/Plasma Pistol when you need one-hand.

And lol at the guy who reckons the trident is the best gun in the game.

[Virule]

My comment on this, Why are the Smgs such short range? the sidearm actually reaches farther. Feels like your giving up range for a subpar primary to carry your case with?

[Torun]

Very high rate of fire and mini-stun make for excellent suppresion. The range limits its overall power.

[Cockpuncher]

Basically SMGs are powerful close range weapons (good damage with antiarmour and ministun) with limited patrol clearing ability. Might be useful for carrying objectives, but it's very useful for retaliatory strikes and boss fights.

And please don't tell people that Trident is the best weapon. It only shines vs Illuminates (especially on retaliatory strikes) because it doesn't need to reload which suit fast paced combat with Illuminates. Except of this it's rather weak weapon. Might be decent on lower levels, but for fighting armoured enemies on helldives Sickle is much better since you can aim at the center which is impossible with Trident. Besides, every ammunition driven weapon is much more powerful.

[Scary Scarlet]

I never use SMG because of its short range and embarrassing power.
I'd rather take the Magnum.

[Salty Slothy]

The laser SMG is perfect for a guy who wants to use heavy equipment but have some versatility on hand. Plus the extra firepower when downed is very nice

[-=EDF=- Kouta Seto]

Ya can transport stuff with it and still use a quiet powerfull weapon to fend of attackers, thats what SMG's are for. And ofc. for personal likings(i still use my LMG, the one from the DLC because its mindless fun to just hold the fire button and kill hundreds of bugs)