In Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War the fast SMGs are considered very strong and receive appropriate attention. MeinMMO shows you here 4 reasons why you should switch to a tactical rifle.
Submachine guns give you high speed and strong values in the Time-to-Kill in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. Moreover, the maps of the latest CoD provide many opportunities for combat at the shortest distances.
No wonder then that SMGs are very popular and in the opinion of some players, a bit too strong. The MP5 is once again considered the flagship and even receives its first nerf 6 days after release.
There are guns that easily outperform the SMGs in terms of Time-to-Kill (TTK) and this does not even include the one-shot-snipers, which theoretically have a TTK of 0. We are talking about the burst tactical rifles, namely the M16, which takes down opponents with a 3-shot burst.
MeinMMO shows you the advantages of the M16 over the powerful SMGs, presents setups, but also the disadvantages of a burst rifle.
M16 Time-to-Kill is significantly lower than automatic weapons
The Time-to-Kill of the M16 is an outstanding 132 milliseconds. This is due to its burst shot. With each pull of the trigger, the M16 fires 3 shots at your hapless enemy. If all 3 bullets hit the chest or head, the opponent goes down. And not just when you are right in front of the enemy. The SMGs start to weaken already at 10 meters.
Fastest Time-to-Kill of strong “Cold War” weapons – chest hits and without attachments
- M16 – 132 ms up to 25 meters
- MP5 – 280 ms up to 10 meters
- AK-74u – 258 ms up to 7.6 meters
- AK-47 – 300 ms up to 38 meters
- XM4 – 332 ms up to 45 meters
- FFAR 1 – 330 ms up to 38 meters
Are you always on the lookout for the strongest weapons and do not want to immediately start as a quickscope sniper, then try out the tactical rifles. As long as you manage to hit all 3 shots of a burst on the enemy, you secure the kill. With the barrels that increase the M16’s damage, it doesn’t even matter where the 3 hits land on the enemy.
Besides the one-shot weapons, only the other burst weapons can keep up. This includes the AUG, also a tactical rifle (140 ms) and the MP KSP 45 (166 ms).
One-Burst-Kills up to almost 40 meters are not rare
Unlike the SMGs, the M16 has a high range for its initial damage area. Without attachments, the SMGs often max out at 10 meters, and the TTK of the two superstars MP5 and AK-74u climbs up to nearly 350 ms. From here, even assault rifles perform better, like the AK-47 with 300 ms.
You do not have such strong restrictions for the low Time-to-Kill with the M16. Up to 25 meters, chest hits take down your enemies with the 3-shot burst. With attachments, you can increase that range to almost 40 meters and boost damage so that the hits can land anywhere on the enemy’s body.
When it comes to attachments for increasing range, the SMGs do not fare well either. Unlike assault rifles or tactical weapons, the SMGs offer only limited options for enhancement. Unless you take a heavy grip in your recoil control, which takes away much of the security from the automatic weapons, raising the damage range of the MP5 only to about 15 meters.
Less reloading and longer enduring
Another advantage that you will particularly feel in situations where you have to deal with several enemies is the low ammunition consumption.
SMGs and also assault rifles often consume an entire magazine to send 2 enemies into the killcam. Statistically, the 30-round magazine of the MP5 allows for up to 6 kills (5 shots per kill) at short distances. In practice, however, it often looks different. Many players attach a larger magazine to the weapon to be better equipped.
With the M16, you not only save on the attachment but also on ammunition in the match. Due to the short pause between bursts, you hardly risk throwing too many bullets at the opponent after getting the kill, and you are also much more precise overall. In the 30-round magazine of the M16, you not only have more potential kills (10 at 25 meters) but also fire less and only rarely need to refill your ammo mid-fight.
Your most competitors are inferior
You can already see the M16 in the killcam here and there, but a large part of the players still rely on SMGs like the MP5, the AK-74u or assault rifles like the AK-47 or the XM4.
Take advantage of this situation and benefit from the advantages in handling (low ammunition consumption) and high damage (outperforming all automatic weapons).
If you get used to the burst fire, you quickly get a sense of which situations you have an advantage against other weapon classes. Even at close range, you are ahead of the SMGs, even when you factor in the short ADS time of the SMGs:
ADS Time (without attachments) + TTK
- MP5 – 257 ms + 280 ms = 537 ms
- M16 – 350 ms + 132 ms = 482 ms
However, hipfire can become dangerous for you here. Run&Gun players like to rely on their hip-fire in close combat and save their ADS time for the first few shots. However, if they come out of a sprint, you are again at an advantage as long as you move around the map without much sprinting.
Cold War: M16 setup for nasty burst shot kills
- Scope: Diamondback R-02
- Barrel: 20.5″ Special Forces
- Underbarrel: Field Agent Grip
- Grip: Air Elastic Wrap
- Stock: SAS Combat Stock
If you can manage without a scope, you can also forgo it and fill another attachment slot. But with this attachment combo, you actually get everything you need for your next massacre.
However, it takes some time to unlock most of these attachments. In some “Cold War” versions, the blueprint “Western Front” is included – an M16 in US style that gives you a significant advantage for quick leveling. Attach the barrel “16.3” Rapid Fire” at level 4 and swap from the muzzle “SOCOM Eliminator” to the level 10 scope “Kobra Red Dot” and your M16 will be a lot of fun. You can also swap the magazine.
Without a blueprint, you can still build a strong M16 quite quickly:
- Scope: Kobra Red Dot – Level 10
- Muzzle: Muzzle Brake 5.56 – Level 3
- Barrel: 16.3″ Rapid Fire – Level 4
- Underbarrel: Foregrip – Level 6
- Grip: Tape – Level 8
However, its full strength unfolds only at level 48 with the barrel “20.5” Special Forces”. Here you receive the damage boost that makes it irrelevant where your 3 shots of the burst land in the first damage area. Until then, you need chest or head hits.
2 reasons against the burst rifle M16
While this all sounds fantastic, in practice many players prefer to use other rifles, and this is not only due to, but especially for 2 reasons:
- Burst mode
- Slower playstyle
What is wrong with the burst mode? Many CoD soldiers prefer automatic fire and are not willing to switch to a different firing mode for a few better numbers. It is also a real adjustment and can be quite exhausting, especially at first.
A problem specifically with Cold War is also that the strong barrel with the required extra damage is only available at a high weapon level. Until then, your bursts need to hit pretty accurately, and even hits to the arm and shoulder do not guarantee the kill you thought.
If your first burst does not take down the opponent, you quickly become the hunted and at a disadvantage. And even with the strong barrel, you need to land your burst shot completely on target. At least it doesn’t matter where you hit then.
What is wrong with the playstyle? Call of Duty likes to refer to itself as a “fast paced first-person shooter”, and many players enjoy it that way. The SMGs offer the best movement among the primary weapons, combined with strong damage values. Run&Gun is the magic word.
However, to have an advantage with the M16, you should try to avoid sprinting as much as possible to keep up with the SMGs and to fire a deadly burst at the surprised faces of the opponents at any time. If you are a big fan of a Run&Gun play style, with which MeinMMO colleague Benedict Grothaus dominated the beta, then the M16 may not be for you.
Whether you like the burst mode and the play style of the M16 or not – definitely give it a try. If you are generally attracted by the advantages, switch to the M16 today and quickly get the best attachments for it – it’s definitely worth it. How you can level up faster, you can also read here at MeinMMO.
