Here’s a list of every gun the sharpshooter can use
and how I, a heresy difficulty player of over 200 hours used them (mostly) effectively
this is mostly for feedback of devs/players/community people to compare their experiences with the guns and give their own, maybe ideas to change weapons with problems or stuff like that.
- Kantrael MG Ia infantry lasgun
- The pros: High precision damage, long range, and large clip size.
- The cons: Relatively middling rate of fire, low penetration
This is the humble default weapon of the veteran sharpshooter, handed to you during the prison escape tutorial and given to you in quite poor quality once you start your journey as an operative of the Mourningstar. However given time and a properly tuned MG Ia, this thing is a beast in the hands of the veteran sharpshooter. The middle of the road variant of infantry lasgun, this thing fires relatively quick volleys of high intensity lasers that can easily headshot numerous enemies before they get close, coupled with your volley fire ability reducing the recoil you can absolutely lay into hordes and specials when the going gets rough. Its only real drawback, as with most of the infantry lasguns is when the enemies get close. Due to it’s fire rate it cannot defend you in close quarters or against large groups of enemies on your own for long. I myself often prefer to use this thing at medium to long range, popping the heads of specials and elites as they approach, be it a sprinting rager or a mauler trundling its way towards me. This thing is the jack of all trades of the 3 infantry lasguns, effective at quickly dispatching elite enemies and tearing down large groups with your teammates, but just like the basic lasguns it can’t do all the work.
- Kantrael MG IV infantry lasgun
- The pros: Relatively high precision damage, fast rate of fire, extremely large clip size.
- The cons: Lower damage than the other lasguns, almost no penetration, less AP
This blue little machine is one of my favorites, on the other classes it finds itself as a slightly more useful weapon than a bad autopistol, but in the hands of the sharpshooter it lays down a tremoundous amount of fire into enemy hordes . This weapon has almost all of the pros as the base MG Ia lasgun but lacks in controllability and stopping power, needing a couple extra shots on a elites head before taking it down, or several more if you’re trying to take down a carapace armored enemy. What the MG IV excels at is taking out the trash, unarmored ragers, specials, or whole entire hordes. Due to this things still relatively high damage, usually around 100 to 130 points of damage, and extreme rate of fire you are able to lay into hordes from a comfortable range while your squad tears into the man force. If you couple its trash cleaning capabilities with the feat that gives toughness to squad members in the vicinity of these kills, you become a genuine support class. I have personally seen psyker and ogryn toughness bars climb almost back to full while they retreat just because a couple of sharpshooters with these things are covering them. Where it lacks is in its ability to snipe out elites, don’t get me wrong this thing can still take down those pesky trappers and snipers with the rest of the infantry lasguns, it just needs more shots on target than the other two, and with its greatly increased recoil that can be a larger ask than it seems on paper.
- Kantrael MG XII infantry lasgun
- The pros: Extreme precision damage, high AP, high penetration, long range.
- The cons: Low rate of fire, smallest clip size of the bunch
The heaviest variant of infantry lasgun available to operatives of the Mourningstar, this thing hits like a truck, damage shots comparable to some hellbore shots on average headshot, this things controllability and extreme damage let you pick targets off from such distances and with such force that sadly this thing becomes just a better hellbore with a scope you can use. From the lowest unarmored tox flamer, to a mighty mauler, once you activate volley fire this thing can take them down in around one to two shots on heresy. But all that power comes at a price, the price being the gap between shots is so large an ogryn can fit through it. What the hellbore has over this thing is that a basic hellbore can actually fire its relatively powerful uncharged shots faster than this thing can fire as fast as you can pull the trigger, making this thing all but useless in close range or against approaching hordes regardless of its high penetration on unarmored targets. This is why this variant ends up as my least favorite despite its incredible utility as a special smasher, though no doubt this gun will become the favorite of many a eagle eyed reject, as the MG XII rewards precision more than any of the infantry lasguns available.
- Lucius Mk I hellbore lasgun
- The pros: Extreme damage, high penetration, high ap, working bayonet.
- The cons: Awkward method of fire, horrendous iron sights, long ready animation
Now we get to the elephant in the room of the unique weapons available to the veteran sharpshooter class. It pains me that out of all the class unique weapons, these amazing looking weapons of the death korps of krieg are actually a bit crap. Well not entirely, given the time to get used to them they can be devastating to elites and bosses, but so can plasma guns, bolters and even the lowly basic lasgun if you put your shots in the right place. With it’s horrible iron sights that are so cumbersome, large, and slightly high it makes it incredibly hard to actually hit something in the head, the thing you’d think you want to do the most with this thing, coupled with the hellbore’s incredible recoil your sight picture becomes blocked with every successive shot by the frame of the gun, making it almost impossible for follow up shots by the basic user. It’s taken me countless hours upon hours to actually master these guns, and even then i prefer a lasgun or auto gun to this. Maybe if one day you could put a scope on them i think one of the largest issues for this family of weapons would be resolved. Now onto the crunch of this specific weapon, the Mk I is the odd duck of the bunch, not being as devastating as the Mk III, or as versatile as the Mk II, it barely warrants to be bought over one or the over. While it does do extreme amounts of damage, and can lay an unimaginable amount of hurt onto bosses and elite ogryns, it’s middling fire rate, and longer charge time than it’s lighter variant make it much less useful. The fact that this thing is a master of none makes it useless comparatively to its siblings. Personally I say just buy the other two if you see these bad boys in your shop.
- Lucius Mk II hellbore lasgun
- The pros: Extreme precision damage, high ap, highest rate of fire, largest clip, more versatile bayonet, fastest charge time
- The cons: The same as the other Hellbore guns with the addition of having lackluster uncharged shots.
This beast is my personal favorite of the death korps styled armaments, from its sleek curves, to its tremendous power, hel one of my most used weapons is a gold tier MKII i like to take out on heresy threat missions. Where this thing excels is its versatility, with its basic shots coming in at about 150 damage at the least and its charged shots dealing 1 shot potential levels of damage to even some of the mightiest enemies. (and that’s not even factoring in volley fire damage increase or crits for that matter!) While this thing doesn’t come close to the insane damage that the MKIII does, it makes up for in practicality. It’s bayonet is the quickest to use and can easily take down pesky dregs or poxwalkers getting in the way of your important shots with a couple or single thrust to the head. On top of that the basic fire can be used relatively quickly once you get the hang of firing uncharged shots and can be used just as if not more effectively than the basic MG Ia infantry lasgun, with the added bonus of being able to occasionally triple up your damage with a quick charge shot. And mentioning that, the charge shot. The MKII has the quickest charge time, made even faster by perks you can get on the gun, with the largest clip as well you can put out some unmatched ranged damage if you know how to use one of these things. (though thats the trick with the hellbore ain’t it lads)
- Lucius Mk III hellbore lasgun
- The pros: Unmatched precision damage, extreme AP, extreme penetration
- The cons: the most unwieldy weapon likely in the game, somehow even worse iron sights, bayonet sucks, slowest rate of fire, smallest clip size, longest charge time
The MKIII is a master of extremes. Able to take down a majority of enemies at range with a single charged shot to the head, yet unable to even defend yourself from a basic group of melee enemies up close. I mean what did they put that knife on the end for if you’re gonna awkwardly flail around with it like a bad sword. What the weapon lacks in, well, everything, it makes up for in raw damage. Charged shots will visibly chunk monstrosities health bars sometimes even if you didn’t hit them in the head, with the major drawback of that being you have to wait the agonizingly long charge time to do it. Coming in at about a full second of charge time, you are left completely vulnerable while doing this, on top of the fact that you can only put out of few of those, and when the enemies get close your bayonet is a silly swing that does so much less damage than if you just pulled out your melee weapon. All of these things beg the question: Why use this thing? Well uh I guess if you wanna see the biggest numbers when you shoot a guy in the head, use this variant. Apart from that, use a MG XII lasgun if you want some more versatile precision hurt.
- Accatran Mk VId recon lasgun
- The pros: Extreme high rate of fire, controlled recoil, ridiculous clip size
- The cons: Low damage, inaccurate at long to medium range, low ammo reserves
These bullpup automatic lasguns versatile monsters in the hands of both the psyker and the veteran. Able to lay down a continuous spray of laser fire, it is one of the few lasguns that can effectively suppress infantry due to this trait. The Mk VId makes up for its lack of power in sheer amount of fire, firing some 100 to 80 shots per clip, all the while the recoil being so marginal that you barely even notice it looking down the iron sights. However all this fire comes with the problem that the Mk VId really really lacks in power. If ever did the joke about lasguns being more akin to flashlights than actual weapons, this gun proves it. It takes several shots to the head, even with volley fire active, to take down even the lowliest of elites, and that makes you expend vast quantities of ammo. All of those shots from your power pack mean nothing if you have to keep using them all until there’s no power packs left, which is often the case when using the MKVId. While its almost continuous fire for whole entire seconds can be useful for suppressing enemies or mowing down hordes of poxwalkers, when it comes to the thing the veteran is best (taking down elite targets) at it falls short, and it falls hard.
- Accatran Mk VIIa recon lasgun
- The pros: High rate of fire, manageable recoil, large clip size, substantial damage
- The cons: Low ammo reserves, inaccurate at long range
This monster is arguably the best of all of its laser spewing siblings, patching up the most major issue of the Accatran family of lasguns: the damage. Remarkably by fixing that one small issue, even with sacrificing fire rate, recoil and clip size, this thing soars over the other two variants as it becomes vastly more useful in more scenarios. With it’s higher damage output, you are able to take down more enemies with less shots, all the while the only major change issue wise is the slightly high vertical and horizontal recoil. While these things are seemingly rare in the shop (for me at least) I’m glad to have one, and with some of the absolutely busted perks that can come on it (looking at you infernus) this recon lasgun should be a mainstay of any veteran main.
- Accatran Mk II recon lasgun
- The pros: Uh it shoots?
- The cons: The shopman never sold me it!
Would you believe me if I told you I have never, even once, had the chance to actually have one of these in my hands across my 200+ hours in this game? Me neither but it happened!
- Accatran MG Mk II heavy laspistol
- The pros: Extreme mobility, decent precision damage, versatile, a cool shove to boot!
- The cons: Tiny optical sight (at a jaunty angle too), substantial horizontal recoil, low damage, low AP, the shove is better on psyker : (
This lonely laspistol is the only of it’s kind at the moment, available to all man sized classes, this thing has a fairly comfortable home in the hands of a veteran sharpshooter. With its high mobility and accuracy you can easily run and gun with this little pistol, and land some fairly hefty headshots with volley fire active. However without volley fire you sometimes are better off using harsh language against enemies, especially flak armored and carapace armored enemies. With it’s low armor piercing potential compared to the other lasguns made available once you start getting one of these, it’s utility as a hit and run type weapon really starts to fade. While still able to easily take down unarmored elites and specials and with its decent capacity and quick reload it remains able to lay into hordes once they approach, at the end of the day a good veteran running high level missions is better off using a full lasgun that has better ranged damage, larger capacity, and a much easier to use optical sight. Though it is a lot of fun using a cool laser pistol, so maybe that’s why you should use it, it’s why I do.
- Columnus Mk V infantry autogun
- The pros: High rate of fire
- The cons: Incredibly high recoil, difficult iron sights, comparatively low damage
As you can see from the fairly small pros and cons list, the autoguns are a simple firearm, with the MKV being no different. This blue compact little rifle, charitably, sucks. Its high rate of fire and extreme recoil throwing off any notions of it being “precise” like it says on the gun description, and due to the nature of infantry autoguns, a good columnus autogun will often cap out around 40 bullets, which is only 5 or 10 more than its siblings, bullets which on average are doing 10 to 20 less damage per shot, and on the higher difficulties that damage really matters. So if you ever get one as an emperors gift, I say throw it away for the ordo dockets.
- Agripinaa Mk I infantry autogun
- The pros: Manageable recoil, decent damage output, tight hipfire cone
- The cons: middling magazine capacity, i actually cant think of anything else thing’s not that bad
The jack of all trades of this family of weapons, with its fairly manageable recoil (though it still can kick like a mule if you aren’t pulling down at all), decent sight picture, and armor piercing capabilities, the only thing that can bog this thing down is if you get one with 30 or less bullets in it. I honestly can’t come up with a lot to say about these things, they put hefty bullets down range with decent precision, if you turn on volley fire you can mow down gunners and specials like nobodies business, just make sure to keep an eye on how many bullets are left.
- Graia Mk VIII infantry autogun
- The pros: high damage output, accurate at medium range, armor piercing
- The cons: large hip fire cone
The graia infantry autogun is arguably just a better agripinaa. You can get them with 40 bullets in them, dealing a hefty 90 damage or more a round, armor piercing to man sized enemies, with a very manageable amount of recoil, and a easy to use sight picture, it is a quintessential sharpshooter weapon. Just like the rest of these infantry autoguns, there really isn’t a lot to say.
- Graia Mk IV braced autogun
- The pros: Extreme rate of fire, low recoil, high damage, armor piercing (man sized enemies)
- The cons: highly inaccurate at medium to long range, no ADS, small ammo reserves
The first of the 3 braced autoguns is a close range monster, able to shred hordes like it was nothing, regardless of whats coming at you in the horde. The graia Mk IV has the highest rate of fire and lowest recoil of the braced autoguns, and can uniquely fire even faster when bracing (what would normally be ADS’ing for normal guns). Where it falls down compared to the other autoguns is it’s usage at longer range, while the braced autoguns are not renown for being able to take down targets far away, the Mk IV can only really effectively take down targets in spitting distance, with it’s braced recoil cone remaining the same triangular shape just like in hipfire, quickly expanding to become almost useless beyond close range, and if you try to sink all those bullets down range in an attempt to hit something that far away you will begin to realize spewing out 50 to 60 bullet magazines over and over does a number on your reserves faster than you’d like to admit. As it stands it is an incredibly fun gun to use, but not the most effective at higher difficulties.
- Columnus Mk II braced autogun
- The pros: High rate of fire, high damage, tight hip fire cone, low recoil, armor piercing (man sized enemies)
- The cons: Low ammo reserves, inaccurate at long range
As you can see from the pros and cons this braced autogun has virtually no issues other than being a fairly thirsty gun (which is an issue all the braced autoguns share). And well it’s true, this thing is damn near perfect in the hands of a skilled sharpshooter, able to mow down hordes, specials, elites, and even the distant sniper or bomber due to its low recoil. It’s ability to pierce through mauler armor and flak armor with ease and it’s high suppression make it a invaluable tool to any fire teams toolset, allowing you to change the tide of battle even with one single magazine. Now is it my favorite autogun? No, that would be the next braced autogun. Should every sharpshooter worth his or her salts have one? definitely.
- Agripinaa Mk VIII braced autogun
- The pros: Extreme high damage, armor piercing, tight hip fire cone, high penetrations
- The cons: High recoil, inaccurate at long range, low ammo reserves
This giant autogun is a formidable firearm. Highest recoil of the family, slowest rate of fire, and the by far highest damage. It is able to pierce even the mighty crusher’s carapace armor, able to fell maulers in single magazines in high difficulties like heresy, able to shred through hordes with its highly penetrative bullets with ease, it easily handles most encounters. It also posseses the unique ability out of the braced autoguns of significant knockback, hit a target enough times, be it a scab gunner or even a reaper they will faulter, and surrounding enemies in the path of your unrelenting fire will cower as this thing suppresses the best out of all three of these autoguns. It falls short of being able to handidly take care of enemies at long range like the columnus Mk II, as you need to use careful bursts due to its immense recoil, but all you need is a few bullets on target to take down most specials at those ranges. This thing despite its flaws is a incredible weapon, and my weapon of choice on both sharpshooter and zealot, and hopefully it will end up yours too.
- Vraks Mk VII headhunter autogun
- The pros: High damage, armor piercing, tight hip fire cone
- The cons: High recoil, difficult sight picture while firing rapid shots
The headhunter family of autoguns is an odd bunch, with one being the clear winner of winner of the the group over the others. But sadly the Mk VII is not that prized pony. No this is a cumbersome, and often times difficult weapon that is often times better used rapily shunting hip fire shots down range in hopes they land a headshot than actually trying to be precise with it. Due to the iron sights having a relatively small sight picture, and rapid fire resulting in extreme recoil, it becomes almost impossible to properly follow up shots when you aren’t taking extreme time with each shot. The issue being if you end up doing that the enemies simply close in on you, and your fancy long range DMR becomes a bit of a hindrance than a proper weapon. Properly using this thing takes a lot of time and effort that arguably isn’t all worth it in the end when the the infantry lasguns all do the same thing, but much better and much easier.
- Agripinaa Mk VIII headhunter autogun
- The pros: High damage, low recoil, tight hip fire cone
- The cons: Extreme slow rate of fire
This thing sucks, it’s really bad, it’s honestly not good at all and i really hope you never have to use one of these. The gun has these highly damaging bullets that are armor piercing to man sized enemies, they can pop the heads off elites from long range, and on paper that all sounds wonderful right? Well it would be if the two shot burst wasn’t so extremely slow! Not only is the burst itself fairly slow, in fact you are able to put out two single shots from the Vraks Mk VII faster than this thing can with one trigger pull, but on top of that the time between firing these bursts is agonizingly long. While on paper the pause between each burst is not actually that long, but combined with the slow burst, the pause between the burst lets loads of enemies get closer to you while you either miss bullets due to the pause in the burst or the pause between bursts. Like i said at the start, don’t use this weapon, it’s really not that good at all.
- Vraks Mk III headhunter autogun
- The pros: High precision damage, low recoil, tight hip fire cone, versatile
- The cons: Low magazine capacity
This is the weapon to use if you want high damage, precision fire, and close quarters abilities. Firing in quick three shot bursts, the Mk III headhunter does right what it says on the tin: HeadHunting. Due to it’s low recoil combined with quick bursts, a skilled player can easily chain together bursts to mow down elites and specials alike. With non of the cons of the other headhunter autoguns, it is able to excel in areas which the others are supposed to, being useful at long range, and close range due to its easily controlled hip fire cone. The only issue with the Mk III is that it often is bogged down by it’s low magazine capacity, often being able only to throw out 10 bursts before reloading. But due to each of those bursts being able to take down most if not all basic enemies, and most elites if those bullets all land in the head, it can easily even out in the hands of a skilled marksman. If unrelenting precision fire is your thing, than the Vraks Mk III headhunter should be your weapon of choice.
- Ius Mk III shredder autopistol
- The pros: Extreme rate of fire, extreme low recoil, high capacity, highly mobile
- The cons: Low damage, inaccurate at medium to long range, wide hip fire cone
This little guy right now is the only one of it’s kind available on the Mourningstar, and often is overlooked by most players. And for good reason, it’s pitiful damage, zero armor piercing, poor accuracy, and lackluster suppression abilities make for a very poor weapon when a braced autogun can do everything the autopistol does ten times better. And you would be right for picking an autogun over an autopistol! These things have an incredibly niche role they can fill, which is hit and run tactics. Able to move at full speed while firing, along with the bonus controllability you get from volley fire, what is normally a torrent of low damage shot can become a close range shredder in the right hands. However this tactic can easily get you killed and at the end of the day on higher difficulties you’ll probably end up bringing a boltgun or autogun. And that’s okay, just know that the autopistol is pretty fun when you get running around with it, even if it’s not very good.
- Lawbringer Mk VI combat shotgun
- The pros: Extreme damage, crow control, knockback
- The cons: Useless at long range, long reload, low ammo reserves, high recoil
The combat shotgun is a powerful weapon in the hands of the average zealot player, but in the hands of a veteran sharpshooter this shotgun is unstoppable. The combat shotgun is able to rip through hordes at close to medium range and stop ogryns and ragers in their tracks with single shots from the special round you can load or even just sustained fire. It’s high recoil can become entirely manageable along with a tightened cone of fire by using volley fire, making the shotgun a full choke medium range killing machine, and when volley fire runs out there’s nothing stopping you from still chunking enemies from close to medium range as the pellet spread is still fairly tight. From my experience the combat shotgun is a favorite of veterans of all difficulties and i see no trend of that stopping, it’s immense stopping power and the fact that at the end of the day it is a cool shotgun make it an amazing weapon to use.
- Zarona Mk IIa quickdraw stub revolver
- The pros: Extreme high damage, unmatched precision damage, extreme penetration, knockback
- The cons: extreme low capacity, extreme low ammo reserves, long reload, high recoil
This little antique is a favorite of rejects across the Mourningstar, myself included. Despite it’s incredibly low ammo, despite it’s long cumbersome reload, despite all that. The fact that it does 300 or more on average on a shot to the body makes it a favorite of everyone. The shots go exactly where you point it, having virtually 100% accuracy when aiming down sight, and with volley fire active its able to take down almost every special and elite with a single headshot, and with the force to be able to knock over everything up to a mauler with a single bullet, it has utility to boot. A bonus of using this on veteran is due to the extremely small ammo reserves you actually end up getting a lot back from the scavenger perk, able to subsist off ammo tins and elite kills with this weapon, especially when you get two elite kills with one bullet. This weapon at the moment however is the only of it’s kind, but it’s only a matter of time until the other two variants make it to the Mourningstar and even more rejects get their hands on them.
- Locke Mk IIb spearhead boltgun
- The pros: Extreme high damage, extreme knockback, AOE damage, extreme AP, it’s a bolter
- The cons: Extreme recoil, slow reload, slow ready animation, low ammo reserves, low capacity
The boltgun, the bolter, the single most iconic weapon in warhammer 40k. This weapon befits that status, being one of, if not, the most powerful ranged weapon in the game with each shot ranging from 500 damage or more on average. This weapon has the ability to knock over and knockback everything short of monstrosities. The armor piercing explosive slugs destroy maulers and crushers within 4 to 5 shots, the explosions from the rounds knock down hordes and send ranged enemies to cover with every shot in their general direction. The bolter only falls down when it comes to its signature cumbersomeness. Every time you ready the gun, you have to take the almost full half second to pull the gun up, then the next half second to pull the charging handle back, with every reload you have to pull the giant magazine out and then jam another in, slap it hard to make sure its in there, then struggle to pull the charging handle back once again. As a sharpshooter these problems can be alleviated with your reload perks by either remembering to reload often and before the magazine is empty to gain the 20% from tactical reload, and even combining that by reloading after killing an elite to gain a further 30% from one after the other, allowing for a lightning fast reload. And don’t the heavy recoil from those automatic bursts fool you, as a sharpshooter you take the most advantage from the ADS single shot fire, letting you pop the heads of enemies from great distance using the fairly decent iron sights. Though the sight picture can get a little difficult after a shot and follow up shots often need a lot of guesswork. At the end of the day the bolter can be useful in the hands of an average player, but can be utterly unstoppable in the hands of a master sharpshooter.
- M35 Magnacore Mk II plasma gun
- The pros: Extreme Damage, Extreme armor penetration, highly accurate, high capacity
- The cons: Extremely low ammo reserves, low rate of fire,
gets hot!
The plasma gun can often be considered the side grade to the boltgun in the sharpshooters arsenal, bosting similar damage for a basic attack around 400 to 500 damage per plasma bolt, and has similar knockback and armor piercing capabilities. However the plasma gun fires incredibly slowly, only comes with one extra magazine worth of ammo, and can’t even ADS. Where it makes up for that though is the charge shot and it’s extreme almost perfect accuracy. The charge shot can boost the damage up to almost 1000 damage and that’s not even factoring in headshot damage, crits or even volley fire. However that charge shot and extreme damage comes at a cost, heating up your weapon charge drastically by sometimes upwards of 30% ! The heat system of the plasma gun works similar to peril, only if you reach the soft cap of 100% without crossing it the gun will simply lightly overheat, dealing two to five health damage (i literally do not remember how much but its teeny) and dropping down to about 80% heat. Manually venting the heat with the special action will do the same kind of damage as well, making it often times more beneficial to simply put the hot plasma gun away and hack away at your enemies instead. But what if you want that heat down to 0% right now? Well simply reload. Despite the long sluggish reload, reloading at any heat percentage will bring the plasma gun immediately down to 0% and once the gun is done cycling it will be ready to fire. However the reload is incredibly long, an unaffected reload takes about three to four seconds, which is a lot of valuable time to loose. Luckily due to the high capacity of plasma guns you can very often take advantage of the tactical reload perk, and due to its role as an elite killer, you will almost always be reloading after a charge shot to take out an elite or special, taking advantage of the one after another perk, bringing the reload down to a much more bearable speed. However if you aren’t careful and fly too close to the sun, charging up a shot and going over the 100% thresh hold the plasma gun you are holding on to will catastrophically overheat and fail, exploding in your hands and downing you instantly. though luckily the gun wont be obliterated and you can still use it afterwards. The plasma gun in short is an incredibly tricky weapon to master, but one of the more rewarding guns in the sharpshooters arsenal, able to lay down some of the highest ranged damage in the game in a single shot. plus it’s really cool.
