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Tactics Commando: 1 AR or 2?

Raisins_Tasty

Grizzled Veteran
Mar 11, 2013
125
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So lately I've been experimenting Commando loadouts with 1 assault rifle versus 2. been taking a sidearm instead of seconds assault rifle.

What i like about only carrying 1 AR is less weight and more flexibility, but I often find myself running out of ammo on my primary by a lot of waves.

Carrying 2 ARs gives me the extra firepower, but I often find myself with 150+ extra bullets at end of wave. Also not to mention limited loadout flexibility and higher weight.

Should I stick with 1 AR for commando or swap back to 2?

(Play mostly on hard difficulty, planning on moving up to suicidal)
 
If you are unsure if the 2 block handgun is enough for you as a secondary, but don't want to spend 5-6 blocks on a second AR, then you should try the MP5. It has 400 rounds and only weights 3 blocks. Its a nice secondary and even works on higher difficulty, as long as it doesn't get too intense.
 
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Dual AR combination is always what I go for. One is at the full-auto for the ZED time or "oh sh*t, I see a Husk!" moments the other one is generally kept at single fire for trash clearing with quick headshots or scream deny Sirens. Dual-AR is the standard loadout for a decent Commando even at high difficulties, move up to Suicidal at late waves you might run outta ammo with a single AR loadout or worse; get overwhelmed when you least expect it or reloading.

Theoretically speaking, but I think Lever-action is a smart investment next to your main rifle, until you grab a second one or a better sidearm. Been honest it didn't wrong me in practice as well. A small sidearm always come handy; be it Lever-action, a small medic rifle like MP5M, a pistol like MK23 (or a single flare, never go dual) paired with machete.

Other than those, both ZED rifles are really useful instead of your second AR, if you can carry them and don't mind the movement speed at all. To be honest ZED mk2 feels better at the Firebug's hand and regular ZED rifle is better at the Field Medic's hand.
Even when you stop a big target dead on its tracks, you don't have any big damage over time source like Medic or Firebug to take'em down. If you wanna carry a ZED rifle, be sure to communicate with your team often to plan the focused fire on Fleshpounds.

Btw, people will ridicule me for this, but finishing softly decapped Gorefasts and Bloats with a sidearm regular Shotgun or Vlad is a nice idea too and it's fun up to a point. Especially when you're nose up to the incoming specimen without any cover or distant position, Shotgun will do a good job on repelling the lot of them. Pellets will pierce a little because of off-perk usage, but still hit the pillowed trash behind the twaddling Bloat or wandering Gorefasts.
 
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yeah i experimented a bit and I've decided that 2 AR's is best. You need that extra ammo on the higher difficulties

Less room to carry interesting offperks and heavier, but its very affordable at level 6 and gets job done well. plus SCAR or FAL can make short work of sc and fp during emergencies if need be.
 
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yeah i experimented a bit and I've decided that 2 AR's is best. You need that extra ammo on the higher difficulties

Less room to carry interesting offperks and heavier, but its very affordable at level 6 and gets job done well. plus SCAR or FAL can make short work of sc and fp during emergencies if need be.

Definitely a good idea with two, specially if you want to go to a higher difficulty. I find that these are the best to go for:
General:
AK47 + SCAR + HC/MK23.

If you feel under the need to spam bullets more and need to assist with sc/fp:
FNFAL + SCAR + HC/MK23.

SCAR vs FNFAL is personal choice but I do think the SCAR is better for general purposes as the ammo in the fnfal is wasted quicker.

Try to remember to know when to use semi-auto vs full auto. Crouching also helps with accuracy, specially in semi-auto. If you want any other tips, let us know.
 
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I was going to suggest Scar only and leave it on semi unless you're taking on the big stuff.

Ammo seems to last forever, similar to m4, but you get the added power.

Scrakes aren't your responsibility.

Personally, I prefer LAR (or musket) + SCAR or M4 + SCAR. Even on 6man HoE wipes, I haven't found the need for an extra 144 bullets from an extra pistol. I suppose it'd be useful if your entire team wipes early on, but ehhhh. Boring kiting for an extended period of time... I'd rather just nade myself.
 
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Even on 6man HoE wipes, I haven't found the need for an extra 144 bullets from an extra pistol.
This is just a question of the overall intensity. How much weight you have to carry in the team setup and how challenging the map position is, you're playing at. Even if the ammo would be no issue, you might just need a goto sidearm when you have to bridge your AR reloads.
 
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I don't think I've ever gone with anything other than 2 ARs except when messing around.

Assuming you're in a reasonable sized team, you can stick to just crowd killing, in which case your main aim is to get very good at it. With 2 ARs (semi for normal stuff, full auto for emergencies) you can kill most all the trash that comes at you.
With a pistol sidearm, you can one-shot headshot trash as well, and can toss it at a friend who ran out of ammo if needed as well.
 
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I find that on 6p HoE, I like to use SCAR + FN FAL + Katana (or MK23) or if needed a medic gun, often I will ask the medic to get me an MP5 or just give me their MP7 if they don't want to lug that around.

the 2 big guns with Katana allow me to take on scrakes if needed, not that I want to, but if i have to then I can. If there are enough scrake killers, or i feel secure knowing that I won't need to be dealing with them, the MK23 is a good fall back weapon, and a good weapon to toss to a player that runs out of ammo, or late joiners (or both). A medic gun gives me that little bit more firepower if required, and allows me to be able to heal from a range to back up the medic, and it has come in useful on numerous occassions, especially healing the medic himself as they often become fixated with healing team members and can sometimes forget about their own HP.
 
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Commando is probably the second most versatile perk there is ( behind support of course ). This means that there are plenty of viable loadouts that are quite viable, and you don't even technically need any assult rifles if you don't want. The increased damage and reload speed along with reduced recoil will benefit just about any gun in the game. And the advantage of permanently being able to spot healthbars and stalkers is infinitley useful.

Commando is the perk I usually pick up because I like killing small stuff and not having to worry about much else. Because of this I like to carry the Scar and the golden Handcannon. ( If I didn't have gold I would probably go with the mk but it is so damn sexy ). With my scar on single shot, focussing only on killing small stuff and getting headshots along with switching to the pistol for small stuff I have a hard time running out of ammo. I also occasionally pick up the m32 as well if I'm in the mood to blow stuff up. I have also been experimenting with the medic guns as well, a lot of fun for me to use because medic is my favorite perk and being able to heal, use smgs, and kill stuff is really nice.

Anyways like I was saying as commando the sky is literally your limit. If you want to go for the standard two ARs thats always fine too. My suggestion would be the Scar and one of the tommy guns. Tommy guns don't get near enough love in my opinion but they work really well in my hands.
 
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From a total mando newbie perk level 2 (far and away my lowest perk)

I just recently started playing mando and I have to say I'm a fan of the 2 AR load out.
Scrounge the map for a bullpup or buy then when can afford grab an M4 (sight is sooooo much better than AK) holding the pup till I'm ready to grab a Scar or FAL.
I'll use the M4 for trash trash swapping to big boy for husks & sirens. And focused fire to finish off big boys if needed.

Would other loadouts work and add some versatility ? Sure . But then why wouldn't I just play another perk if I wanted something other than an AR ?

Haven't tried a medic gun loadout but I could see that having some synergy. But unlike a demo where your doing a bit of waiting between clusters who has time to shoot a dart or two mando seems like more of a full time job locking down a route. If not actively shooting , switching to a bigger gun or reloading at least one of your guns there isn't a whole lot of free time.
 
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I have a friend who only plays commando. The first thing he does each game as soon as he can is he buys a MAC10.
I tried to 'splain to him that there are better options for the commando but it's like trying to take a dog's bone away.

Moral of the story:
If you're a commando, and you're using a weapon meant for commando,
you're doing something right.
 
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