SMG's are boring when compared with other
weapon categories in CS:GO. Despite there
being 6 of them altogether they all operate
in a surprisingly similar way.
The benefits of using them are that they're
cheap, generally have a fast fire-rate and,
with the exception of the P90, offer a double
kill award of $600. The downside is that they
don't do much damage and are rather inaccurate.
The first-shot accuracy is actually rather
similar between them. I fired 50 shots from
each, 1 second apart from a distance of 1024
units. The accurate clump in the middle is
from the M4A4, just to show you how they compare
with a full-blown rifle. They all have different
values which you can see below their names.
The smaller, the better. In practice, it's
only the MP7 which is noticeably better than
the rest, but even then it won't guarantee
you a precise shot, even at just 1024 units.
In practice, this is roughly the distance
from A site to short A.
But, as a wise man once said, if you're trying
to snipe with an SMG then you're doing it
wrong. These are close-quarters weapons, designed
to mow down a number of unarmoured opponents
from up-close. In the next part of this video
I'll be looking at clip size, fire-rate, spray
pattern and inaccuracy since these are the
four most important factors when you're trying
to pump the enemies full of lead.
Here you can see the magazine-sizes, along
with the fire-rate and how long you can spray
for before you reach the end of your magazine.
Or clip. Or whatever. It's clear that the
Bizon and P90 are the spammiest. Even the
relatively slow-firing UMP-45 fires as fast
as proper rifles, such as the M4A4.
Let's test the recoil patterns. Without inaccuracy,
they look a bit like this. Try to compensate
for this pattern when you're playing. With
inaccuracy, it looks more like this. There
are no winners, but the best is the MP7 and
the worst is the P90. That being said, with
any SMG you WILL miss people a lot even if
you do fully compensate for spray. My best
advice with SMGs is to get as close as possible
and you'll level the playing field against
more heavily equipped opponents. Unlike the
rifles, SMGs are designed to be sprayed. The
first shot isn't that much more precise than
the rest of them so if you're going to shoot
then you might as well shoot a lot since they
all have the same sort of chance of hitting
their target. Their recoil patterns may be
complicated but learning them will make you
into a lethal bullet-spewing machine.
Inaccuracy whilst moving is a little more
complicated. Statistically, the MP7 becomes
the hardest to control and the MP9 the easiest
by quite a large margin, to the point where
jumping and spraying is a viable close-range
tactic. This relies on you memorising the
spray pattern and fully compensating for it,
which is difficult with these weapons. I fired
5 full magazines from each gun into a wall
and will leave the results here for you to
make your own mind up about them. The P90
and Bizon obviously fire a lot more shots
than the others due to their larger magazine
capacity. Bear in mind that in-game you won't
get more than 3 magazines out of either of
these weapons... not that you'll need it.
From this comparison I'm just going to say
that all of the SMGs display a large amount
of spread relative to the position of the
crosshair and I'd advise you to practice on
deathmatch with your SMG of choice before
trying it out in proper matches.
If you're running and gunning the number of
bullets may be more important their the accuracy.
The Bizon and P90 balance large magazine size
with an average moving accuracy. The Mac-10,
UMP 45 and MP7 seem much more accurate on
ladders than other SMGs, should you ever get
caught in nuke's vents.
Now it's time to look at damage. There are
3 factors to consider here: base damage, armour
penetration and damage drop-off.
Base-damage, for most SMGs, is lower than
proper rifles, though not by that much when
you consider the price difference. The UMP-45,
despite costing just $1,200, does 35 base
damage which is higher than all rifles but
the AK47!
SMGs used to have lower armour penetration
than rifles but a recent update has made them
almost identical to more expensive weapons
in this regard. I'll let this excel sheet
explain the figures.
Drop-off is yet another reason why SMGs are
useless at range. Unlike rifles, which have
a damage drop-off of around 3% for every 500
units travelled, SMGs lose anywhere between
14 and 20%! This quickly adds up as the distance
increases. So don't use these weapons as a
sniper. Even if you somehow hit, you'll do
all of 10 damage. You can see this from the
excel sheet.
Now for the good news. When running with these
weapons you're fast. The MP9, Mac-10 and Bizon
let you run at 240 units a second, which is
the same as pistols. The P90 and UMP-45 are
230 and the MP7 is 220, which is the same
as the slowest CT rifle but still faster than
the terrorist ones.
Here is how the reload times compare. The
MP9 is short, with the P90 and UMP45's taking
the longest. It's worth mentioning the MP9's
equip bug, where it takes an extra 0.35 seconds
after the animation of equipping the weapon
is over before you can fire it. This may be
fixed at some point. Or not.
And finally, here are the distances at which
the weapons can land one-hit kill headshots
on unarmoured enemies. This will only be useful
in early rounds but it certainly shows one
of the key differences between SMGs and rifles.
The UMP45 bridges the gap and is why I feel
it does a good job as a cheap rifle substitute-
at close ranges it does even more damage than
the FAMAS, but it quickly drops off with distance.
Only the AK-47 in this list can land one-hit
headshots against armoured opponents.
So in conclusion, SMGs are a high-risk high-reward
strategy. They are generally used in anti-ecos
but once the opponents have armour, their
effectiveness is reduced, though a recent
patch has upped their damage against armour
by 10%. The P90 received a smaller boost but
it already had a higher value than the others.
These changes could have a profound effect
on the SMG's use in CS:GO.
The Mac-10 is a cheap way for terrorists to
hop on the automatic bandwagon. It's powerful
up close but suffers from the general weaknesses
that SMGs have.
The MP9 is the CT's Mac-10, with unmatched
running and jumping accuracy and short reload
time. Aside from these factors, the Mac-10
is the superior weapon in a number of ways.
Your play-style will determine which of these
two SMGs you'll play best with.
The UMP-45 is closest to the rifles. It only
has a magazine of 25 rounds and a low fire-rate,
but deals good damage and is decent against
armour. Against unarmoured you can get an
insta-headshot kill from a moderate range.
If your team buys but you're low on money,
you can pick up a UMP-45 and armour for less
than the cost of a single FAMAS.
The MP7 is good. It's like getting the best
house on a bad street. It mixes good damage
and fire-rate with accuracy beyond any other
SMG, but it still pales in comparison to rifles
and at $1,700 it's expensive. The recent 10%
increase against armour may make it more viable-
I'd say to give it a chance and to see how
it performs. Compared with say, a galil, it
requires a different play-style and it may
suit some people better.
The Bizon is a spray-and-pray weapon. You're
guaranteed a stupid number of '81 damage in
7 shots' from it as it's the joint worst SMG
for use against armour. That being said, you
have 5 seconds to play with as you spam the
enemies. Manage to survive for that long and
you'll almost guarantee yourself the crown
of ASSIST MASTER for the game.
The P90 is classed as an SMG but is closer
to the rifles in terms of price and effectiveness.
Even if you have enough money for a proper
rifle, you may still be better off with this
weapon and a couple of grenades depending
on your situation. It has a terrifying rate
of fire and an armour PENETRATION value of
69% lolol, which is close to that of the FAMAS.
When used by the right man in the right place
it can make all the difference in the world.
It's the rusher's choice.
Thanks to Slothsquadron for the help in making
this video as comprehensive as it is. Not
so much thanks to Valve for continually changing
the stats and figures. Use this video before
it is rendered obsolete!
