Assault Rifle

This is the gun you build your late wipe around. It hits hard at any distance you will realistically fight at, sprays a doorway clean, and with short taps it still lands shots on someone running between rocks. If your group only runs one primary, it is this one.

It fires 5.56 rifle ammo, so the gunpowder you sink into it comes out of the same pile your bolt and HMLMG draw from. HV rounds help once the fight drifts out to range. The blueprint sits behind a Level 3 workbench, and plenty of players never craft one at all: locked crates, Oil Rig and dead roamers hand them out often enough.

Recoil is the catch. Full auto past close range throws your bullets into the sky, so most people burst at mid range and practise the pattern on an aim-training server. A muzzle brake tames it at the cost of some damage.

The LR-300 is the usual alternative. It is easier to control but hits softer, and you cannot research it, so the AK stays the gun you can actually replace after a bad fight.