Assault SMG or SMG Mk II?

[Hideyosho]

Hello, hope you're doing good today.

 

Mostly for utility's sake (and a little for completionist's sake too), I feel I need an SMG, and I came down to a choice between the ones in the title (I already have the Micro SMG for drive-bys, as I already feel very comfortable with it, and the Combat PDW, for when I need stealth during freemode/heists). I know the Assault SMG has range-ignoring damage, but despite I've been using it for a while now, I realized I was almost never using it, because I found the Assault Shotgun and the Carbine/Combat MG more suitable for a close/mid-range combat situation. Unless there's a good reason to use that I'm not aware off, I'm not giving it another honest try.

 

As for the SMG Mk II, I cannot tell much, only that I toyed with it for a little, since I couldn't unlock the attachments/ammo I wanted for it. I personally enjoyed using the regular SMG, but I don't know if using its Mk II variant can prove more "useful" than the Assault SMG. I know it can be used while on bikes/boats, but I cannot tell if it's better than using my Micro SMG, need some advice regarding this.

 

Which SMG do you use? Which one of both would you recommend? For what reasons?

 

That would be it, thanks for reading.

[Timsalabimbo]

A big difference between the regular SMG and the SMG mkII is that you can use the mkII variant when on a bike.

[Hideyosho]

1 hour ago, Timsalabimbo said:

A big difference between the regular SMG and the SMG mkII is that you can use the mkII variant when on a bike.

Thanks for replying.

 

Yeah, I noticed you can use it while on bikes/boats, but cannot tell if it's better than using my Micro SMG, didn't have the chance to test it out with my testing account on Epic Games (got the game on Steam after EG's giveaway).

 

Hope anyone can tell if the SMG Mk II is actually useful the way it is, or by tuning it the proper way (only reasons I found it to be useful is that it can be a bike/boat drive-by weapon, aside it looks nice paired up with the Pistol Mk II, which I'm planning to use for EWO and maybe some stealth gameplay later on).

[xInfected_Virus]

The AP Pistol is really good since it carries 36 rounds when upgraded and can be used in cars but the SMG MK-II is good on bikes and boats.

[Airwolf359]

For combat on foot against AI, I love the Assault SMG. It doesn't do much damage in particular, but it's very easy to get headshots with, I don't notice any recoil.

But the SMG MK2 is a lot more powerful, and you can use it on bikes, and in boats too I believe. Get the SMG MK2.

[Hideyosho]

18 hours ago, xInfected_Virus said:

The AP Pistol is really good since it carries 36 rounds when upgraded and can be used in cars but the SMG MK-II is good on bikes and boats.

Thanks for replying.

 

I tried the AP Pistol before, and despite it's got better stats than the Micro SMG, I'm finding it hard to get kills or headshots during drive-bys, I think because of its rate of fire and bullet spread, I'm a lot more used to the Micro SMG's, and I also feel more comfortable with it, since it does look good, cannot tell the same for the AP Pistol, since its wooden grips don't do it for me.

 

I noticed the Micro SMG to be really accurate on the first shots of each burst, plus its high rate rate of fire, you can easily achieve headshots on the first (short) burst, something really useful, given the small time frame where you are able to shoot at someone in a car. If you get used to it, I can say it feels more rewarding/better than using the AP Pistol, but that's just my opinion, of course.

[Hideyosho]

14 hours ago, AirWolf359 said:

For combat on foot against AI, I love the Assault SMG. It doesn't do much damage in particular, but it's very easy to get headshots with, I don't notice any recoil.

But the SMG MK2 is a lot more powerful, and you can use it on bikes, and in boats too I believe. Get the SMG MK2.

Hey, thanks for replying.

 

The times I tested the Assault SMG against NPCs, I found it to be an accurate weapon (yeah, you can easily get headshots with it), despite, as you say, doesn't seem to deal any high damage, and I also noticed it has a very mild, close-to-none recoil.

 

AFAIK, the official damage stat for the Assault SMG is higher to that of the SMG Mk II's, albeit it's only by 1 point. Since I wasn't able to thoroughly test the SMG Mk II, I cannot tell much about it, but I'm guessing it can outperform the Assault SMG if you add the right attachments, plus it has a nice bonus of being able to use it while on bikes/boats. I'm seeing myself only using the Extended Magazine/Hollow Point Ammunition/Heavy Barrel, since I always wanted my weapons to look as much vanilla as possible (but with an increase in performance), so I'm not that much into Compensators/Muzzle Brakes/Sights and such, just a thing of mine, I know.

 

If only adding the above attachments, I'm hoping the gun to be as effective, or close to as effective to the Assault SMG, since my goal is to have a good on-foot weapon, anything beyond that is secondary. Now, and talking about its on-bikes/boats use, I cannot say anything about it, has anyone tested if using it this way alters the RoF/Spread and such? I'm already using the Micro SMG as my drive-by weapon, but if the SMG Mk II can outperform it (both on bikes and boats), I'm all ears, my Micro SMG isn't as good on boats as it is on cars/bikes. If anyone uses it aside from an SMG usable on bikes/boats, do they have this problem of having to look it through their weapons wheel among their SMGs that can be used on bikes/boats?

 

Sorry for the lenghty reply, but hoping anyone can answer the above, so that any of the readers don't have any doubts (haven't seen similar questions on The Internet so far).

 

Greetings.

[Hideyosho]

Any other thoughts?

[HeistsActivist]

I personally believe SMGs are underrated as it is so good to see another gun nerd in GTA inquiring about them.

 

I've done some research the past few weeks into the various SMGs and I feel like while there are some differences and advantages, they all equal out in the end.

 

I'm not gonna repeat verbatim what has already been said, we all know SMG MKII is a bike weapon but who knows how useful this is if you don't really ride bikes much or if you use something else for bike drive bys. 

 

I think it comes down to preference over the sound and look of the guns personally. I don't even like the SMG MKII, the lack of a stock or even an option to put one irritates me. I like the vanilla SMG with scope, flashlight, and drum magazine way better. You should always aim for the head when using SMGs in this game anyway and I feel that in PvE situations having the drum mag is better anyway if you want to save money on AR ammo and just use SMGs. Now you have more damage per magazine with 100 rounds vs the max 60 rounds of an Assault SMG. Also the Assault SMG isn't even a P90 this time around like it was in TBOGT so pee yew. Jokes aside it is a good fast firing weapon and a headshot machine but if you want more dpm and a cooler (albeit slower) reload, go for the Vanilla SMG with drum.

[SummerFreeze]

On 7/12/2020 at 7:00 AM, Hideyosho said:

Any other thoughts?

I have both in my weapon wheel.

 

They both have very little recoil; less recoil than assault rifles even. That makes them very good weapons for getting headshots against NPCs in freeaim. I explain why that is here: https://gtaforums.com/topic/711700-things-you-didnt-know-about-gtao-until-now/?do=findComment&comment=1071235243

 

The Assault SMG fires slightly faster, and is slightly more accurate as its bullets spread less. The SMG Mk II can have a muzzle brake, but that only makes the reticle move slightly less, and it moves very little to begin with due to the aforementioned low recoil.

 

The big advantage of the Assault SMG is that its damage is not reduced by range. This means that at max range it will deal the same amount of damage as a Carbine Rifle Mk II with heavy barrel. It deals more damage than any Mk I assault rifle or the Combat MG at that range. (But not the Combat MG Mk II with heavy barrel; that one is a lot less accurate though.)

 

The big advantage of the SMG Mk II is that it can be used on boats and motorcycles. It also has better zoom; slightly better in 3rd person with any scope and significantly better in 1st person with the medium scope. (First person zoom on Mk II scopes: large > medium > small > holographic.)

 

So as mentioned I use both. The Assault SMG is my main firearm against NPCs. I only use the SMG Mk II as a drive-by weapon and for that reason I also only have the 60 round magazine and heavy barrel upgrades on it, because the scope and muzzle brake have no effect when used like that and it also looks cleaner.

Edited July 18, 2020 by SummerFreeze

[Hideyosho]

On 7/18/2020 at 12:35 PM, SummerFreeze said:

I have both in my weapon wheel.

 

They both have very little recoil; less recoil than assault rifles even. That makes them very good weapons for getting headshots against NPCs in freeaim. I explain why that is here: https://gtaforums.com/topic/711700-things-you-didnt-know-about-gtao-until-now/?do=findComment&comment=1071235243

 

The Assault SMG fires slightly faster, and is slightly more accurate as its bullets spread less. The SMG Mk II can have a muzzle brake, but that only makes the reticle move slightly less, and it moves very little to begin with due to the aforementioned low recoil.

 

The big advantage of the Assault SMG is that its damage is not reduced by range. This means that at max range it will deal the same amount of damage as a Carbine Rifle Mk II with heavy barrel. It deals more damage than any Mk I assault rifle or the Combat MG at that range. (But not the Combat MG Mk II with heavy barrel; that one is a lot less accurate though.)

 

The big advantage of the SMG Mk II is that it can be used on boats and motorcycles. It also has better zoom; slightly better in 3rd person with any scope and significantly better in 1st person with the medium scope. (First person zoom on Mk II scopes: large > medium > small > holographic.)

 

So as mentioned I use both. The Assault SMG is my main firearm against NPCs. I only use the SMG Mk II as a drive-by weapon and for that reason I also only have the 60 round magazine and heavy barrel upgrades on it, because the scope and muzzle brake have no effect when used like that and it also looks cleaner.

 

Thanks for replying SummerFreeze, and sorry for me replying late.

 

It's nice to see thorough feedback like this, and I appreciate that.

 

I was feeling wary to choose or not the Assault SMG as one of my weapons, since I was a little scared I had one weapon I wouldn't use at all, and if you remember, in one of my posts, I stated I only buy the necessary weapons, since having a weapons' wheel fully cluttered of useless weapons is a nightmare, even if you use a Gun Locker (remember it's useless during missions). Not to mention it'd been another nightmare to arrange the increased number of guns in that category, but IIRC, you mentioned on the post I mentioned there's a fixed order for every weapon in the game, so there's nothing that can be done to have a fully customizable weapons' wheel.

 

I decided I'll better wait for a hypothetical update with new Mk II weapons, hoping there's another SMG on the list. I realized I'm just fine with my Carbine/Combat MG. Hoping the Micro SMG or the Assault SMG make it to the Mk II team someday.

 

Greetings.

 

On 7/18/2020 at 5:49 AM, HeistsActivist said:

I personally believe SMGs are underrated as it is so good to see another gun nerd in GTA inquiring about them.

 

I've done some research the past few weeks into the various SMGs and I feel like while there are some differences and advantages, they all equal out in the end.

 

I'm not gonna repeat verbatim what has already been said, we all know SMG MKII is a bike weapon but who knows how useful this is if you don't really ride bikes much or if you use something else for bike drive bys. 

 

I think it comes down to preference over the sound and look of the guns personally. I don't even like the SMG MKII, the lack of a stock or even an option to put one irritates me. I like the vanilla SMG with scope, flashlight, and drum magazine way better. You should always aim for the head when using SMGs in this game anyway and I feel that in PvE situations having the drum mag is better anyway if you want to save money on AR ammo and just use SMGs. Now you have more damage per magazine with 100 rounds vs the max 60 rounds of an Assault SMG. Also the Assault SMG isn't even a P90 this time around like it was in TBOGT so pee yew. Jokes aside it is a good fast firing weapon and a headshot machine but if you want more dpm and a cooler (albeit slower) reload, go for the Vanilla SMG with drum.

 

Thanks for replying.

 

I realized the only SMGs I find of use are the Micro SMG (for drive-bys), and the Combat PDW (for instant stealthy needs, so I don't need to equip/unequip suppressors often).

 

I agree on what you said about the SMG Mk II, the weapon doesn't look much good, but seems nice to have if you already use the Pistol Mk II, since their colors match.

 

I liked the regular SMG in my first days of playing the game, it was nice to have a 100-round magazine, and I actually gave it good use, but since I unlocked Assault Rifles and MGs, I stopped using SMGs, except for those I mentioned above.

 

Greetings.

Edited July 22, 2020 by Hideyosho

[SummerFreeze]

5 hours ago, Hideyosho said:

I realized the only SMGs I find of use are the Micro SMG (for drive-bys), and the Combat PDW (for instant stealthy needs, so I don't need to equip/unequip suppressors often).

In case you didn't know, suppressors actually don't affect damage, and the first bullet you fire always has pinpoint accuracy regardless of the weapon. After that first bullet it takes some time of not firing for weapons to become pinpoint-accurate again; for the Combat PDW that is 1.25 seconds, for the Micro SMG it is 1.5 seconds, and for most assault rifles it is 3.0 seconds.

 

So to me the Micro SMG with the suppressor is perfectly adequate for stealth needs.

 

EDIT: Another "fun fact": the Combat PDW fires a lot faster in 1st person than in 3rd person. (But still not as fast as the Assault SMG.)

Edited July 22, 2020 by SummerFreeze

[HeistsActivist]

On 7/21/2020 at 8:23 PM, SummerFreeze said:

In case you didn't know, suppressors actually don't affect damage, and the first bullet you fire always has pinpoint accuracy regardless of the weapon. After that first bullet it takes some time of not firing for weapons to become pinpoint-accurate again; for the Combat PDW that is 1.25 seconds, for the Micro SMG it is 1.5 seconds, and for most assault rifles it is 3.0 seconds.

 

So to me the Micro SMG with the suppressor is perfectly adequate for stealth needs.

 

EDIT: Another "fun fact": the Combat PDW fires a lot faster in 1st person than in 3rd person. (But still not as fast as the Assault SMG.)

It's such a mindf*ck that suppressors don't affect damage, Recently I've become aware to the fact in game stats are all sh*t. Not to sound stupid but this basically means there is no reason not to use a suppressor, right? It doesn't put you on the radar in deathmatches I think I've heard somewhere and keeps you always ready for stealth missions.

[SummerFreeze]

1 hour ago, HeistsActivist said:

It's such a mindf*ck that suppressors don't affect damage, Recently I've become aware to the fact in game stats are all sh*t. Not to sound stupid but this basically means there is no reason not to use a suppressor, right? It doesn't put you on the radar in deathmatches I think I've heard somewhere and keeps you always ready for stealth missions.

The only reason not to use a suppressor is if it's a Mk II gun that has muzzle brakes. But what a muzzle brake does is make the reticle move less, meaning it only has an effect when free-aiming. (Drive-by and 1st person no-scope excluded, because that's when the reticle doesn't move anyway.)