HIKS S300[]
A player
The HIKS is a really nice weapon for picking off bosses (excluding the Wicker) due to it's insane damage per shot (2000 damage without upgrades), and moderately fast reload time, but has a low pierce and is therefore not the best weapon to use for crowds (for better crowd control, use the Sublight COM2). This weapon also has a very low, if any, movement penalty which lets you shoot something, run for a little, then turn around and keep shooting. This makes it a good weapon against any of the faster zombies or zombies with ranged attacks.
To add on to my first wall of text, I'll have to say that the HIKS renders almost every weapon obsolete except for the RED RIA 50, Hornet, and Sublight and some of the upgraded higher tier weapons. Like Erendian said, if you upgrade pierce you will have mob control capabilities, and you can upgrade Deadly to waste bosses like the Necrosis and Regurgitator (watch out for the Puke Worms though), and like Erendian also mentioned, it's a good weapon to use on a Devastator as well since they go down in around 20 - 30 shots, which is barely any rounds or reloads before you have the mission under control.
Erendian 21-09-2014
If I could, I would wine, dine, and ultimately take this gun to bed. I would have to put this as, if not the best gun in the game outright, then certainly my pick for most useful. If you're lucky, you'll get it before level 20, and will probably use it forever. I can't think of a single gun that is so useful for so long, as it is really all you need to take down most bosses. I've been using the same one on my Assault for probably twenty levels now, and I don't think I've EVER unequipped it. Between switching out Planetstormers for Hard Thorns for Raptors, this gun has never failed me. On any character I play, I am pretty much just waiting to get one. After that, there are very few things that can stop me. Really, the only thing that still scares me are Fiery Skin+Chitinous Hide Stalkers(I don't know why it's just them. There aren't any other regular mobs that worry me with that combination except possibly high level runners. Lots of them.), and Wickers. You might think Devastators would be a problem, but in general I just spam bullets into them and they go down in time. Additionally, this gun fits into nearly any loadout, usually as a secondary to quickly take down hard targets, as well as a boss rusher. Plus, it's similar to the Gebirgskanone in how different you can make the play style if you want to have fun. With Overclocked and Capacity, you can turn it almost into an Assault Rifle, while Pierce and Capacity gives you the wave clear most people say it doesn't have.
Bryan Kwok 02-10-2014
Probably the simplest and best gun in the game. You see zombies, you shoot, they die. If they don't die, fall back one step and shoot. They die.
You don't need to circle zombies like the stripper, or constantly reload like the Shockfield. The simplicity of this gun is plain and awesome.
Damage is sky-high. One shot, one kill. Boom, headshot
Damage overtime is not really necessary. If you're facing a fiery skin enemy, why use a thermal weapon? If you're not, this gun should have one-shotted the zombie anyway. Still, for the sake of boss-killing, it will help
Sure, pierce is bad compared to the other snipers and capacity is small, but why have a ginormous clip when one shot kills all zombies? Also, as far as i am concerned, 2 pierce is good enough. Zombies don't line up for you to kill.
I'd probably Aug Deadly Tenacious Adaptive or Deadly Tenacious Capacity or Deadly Tenacious Overclocked. Really, with Deadly Tenacious, it doesn't really matter what the last aug is
Overall?
Pure Awesome
ZombiHammer 18-10-2014
I first got HIKS around level 55. It was a 7*** with all slots already occupied. But then got a fully virgin 10*** from a Nantomium. This weapon is simply the best if you combine accuracy, mobility, reload time and damage.
From the augments point of view, I would recommend 2 different setups:
1-Skeletonized + Capacity + Deadly: This one, if your armor doesnt have too many machine assisted points, will work wonders, you will be fast, with a strong dps and a much larger clip that will make you able to get rid of 30-40 of the toughest non boss zombies without reload. even the regenerating fire resistant runners that are so dangerous because they approach fast. You can change deadly for piercing, as the gun has already enough damage, but maybe this will mean more than 1 shot per highly evolved zombies, with the advantage of being able to reach more zombies with one shot.
2- Capacity + Tenacious + Piercing: If you have a fast armor, you can really devastate large amounts of zombs with this setup. in a 10*** HIKS you can have a pierving of 4, making this gun your best ally and making you practically unstoppable.
No gun is prfet, so you would need something to fight wickers. My recommendation is a Hornet or Sublight COM2, which are rare weapons, but if not, then a nice Poison Claw or Supermarine can do the trick.
Wikia Contributor
A very powerful Sniper Rifle. Deals a whooping 2,000 damage with a 1,000 thermal damage over time. Takes out Devastators quickly (even if they enrage). Only drawback is its high ammo cost (320 for ONLY 60 rounds) - but it makes up for it with its high damage. Try using Field Supplies skill for free, high damage ammo.
66mazda
I have to agree with Erendian with the fact that this qualifies as one of the most useful and powerful guns. 2000 initial damage plus nearly 1000 in DOT (stats based on standard version) means it takes little effort to kill non thermal resistant bosses, and even fiery skin zombies will go down in a few shots. It can take on many roles (like an effective boss killer, a crowd controller, a single target neutalizer, or a team supporting weapon). Reload time and movement penalty are acceptable. Bryan Kwok is certainly correct about it's relatively simple playing style (see his review). Rarely would I unequip the S300 since finding it in the Level 20s. The weapon's bese stats is just so good, even a S300 with bad augments can do well. But the best thing about it is the it can be easily modified to fit many roles. But it's not all without its faults. it could use some more capacity and a faster firerate, but with all this damage, nearly nothing will come to you. Use this weapon in the correct roles with the correct augments, and you will keep it for many levels to come.
My 1* Normal S300 with Tenacious has been in service for around 30 levels (or 529 games), to Lvl 52, when I replaced it with a 7*** RED RIA T40.
One more thing. The nickname "Necro Snuffer" is a well earned one (from the wikia and experiences from me and many other players).
Recommended augments: Adaptive, Deadly, Tenacious, Capacity, Pinpoint
Rating: 9.5/10
Technological Terror (NK name)
They nerfed the DOT to 333 but is still good
Sliderpro
This is overkill. Mega-rare. A true boss-killer. Get it max tenacious, overclocked capacity and it will do wonders in boss killing. Get it piercing, overclocked damage and get a high-level crowd control weapon. Its just rare and thats the only huge downside
Ghost in chains 7/31/2015
This weapon is rarer than getting 3 nanos in a single game. When I found one I automatically spent my $100000 on ammo for it. Best augmented with Deadly,Tenacious,Adaptive,and Pinpoint, this weapon is used well against all bosses except for the fire spawn and the wicker (duh!).
Damage: 11/10
Capacity: 3/10
Mobility: 7/10
Pierce: 7/10
Fire rate: 5/10
Rating: A+
--(TRekt6 (talk) 00:50, November 19, 2015 (UTC))--
Extremely good gun, best for bossing. With iDRs (Insane Damage Rounds), This gun has to be the best gun in the game. The only problems are the fact that it is THERMAL (meaning that wickers and fire necro spawns are a problem), so ADAPT is a top augmentation. And because it is a sniper rifle, i won't complain about the low capacity.
10/10. A+.
Reccomended augs: Deadly, Adapt, Capacity, Tenacious, Biosynthesis (of course i'm just kidding)
Weapon Type: Bossing
Hornet[]
A Wikia Contributor
The Hornet shares about similar stats to a Sub-Light COM2, but has a lower movement penalty (-3%) and shoots faster (6 rps) I, personally, find this a very good combination of boss and mob killing gun. High damage and high pierce really cut it. A rare weapon that appears at the 30-40 range, optimal augments are Deadly, Overclocked & Capacity. These augments turn Hornet into a fast killing machine.
A-Player 22-09-2014
Lets be frank here, if you don't mind paying more for ammo, a better sublight( non [red] to non [red] as I don't have a red hornet) as it shoots 2 rounds more per second, is more accurate, and you can run faster! Although like the sub-light, its not the best gun for anything, but its very good at almost everything! Don't sell this because its a high persition rifle( Sniper Rifle) just because you can't click fast, as this is a full auto as of today.
Pootis Man 01-10-2014
"It cost 200,000 dollars to fire for 12 seconds" joking, but this weapon is simply too powerful 4 me. Not that it needs a nerf, 800 damage, 6 RPS, full auto, 30 ammo and over 3 pierce adds up for a very strong weapon or sniper rifle. Your pick. Bascially, a sublight with less movement speed, 1 more fire rate, and more than triple the cost of ammo. However, get capacity + 4-7 skills in field supplies means free ammo. (up 2 100 ammo per pickup if you have 7-9 [dunno which one] skills in field supplies and have max capacity, 90 rounds.
edit: recently a new update made the RPS 5. That is pretty noticable in-game, as my hornet loses over 2000 dps :l (being red and having a few touches of deadly)
ZombiHammer 18-10-2014
Hornet is the perfect mobile high precision devastator. It's a full auto sniper rifle that barely needs augments. Recommended to use together with a HIKS, and my friend, you shall fear no one!
Fredy-san 4-11-2014
The only gun comparable to this is Sub-Light COM2. While Hornet has better DPS, more accurate and lighter movement penalty, it has more expensive ammo price and less pierce. Basically a gun with less-crowd more-boss killer capability compared to its CM rival. To note, this gun is a sniper rifle category, so any kills you made with it goes to your sniper mastery and it benefits from x9 Crit damage chance on max mastery. Currently this gun held the fastest boss kill records for me against any kind of elite bosses (level 60 here) below 10 seconds, with shockfield, HKS and Sublight few seconds behind it.
Jared_Hale7:
This gun is SO OP as the red version for me has 1,850 freaking damage! Very nice RPS,very CHEEP ammo. I rate this a 10/10.
Runner 20-11-2014
I finally got one after hundreds of boxes at lvl 45, only for it to be a measly 3** with one aug spot already taken by...yep, biosynthesis. So left with a hard decision I decided to go with deadly over overclocked or capacity, for that extra one second of firing and one shotting weaker zombies. I've never gotten a sublight so I can't really compare, but in reality the ammo isn't that expensive, though my stockpile of cash and 6 points in Field Supplies does help. The low movement penalty, the 4 pierce and the 6 rps make this a very deadly killer for most situations. I find that between the splash of my Jag and the rapid piercing fire of my Hornet mobs just simply melt away. This is also a very good pods and egg killer, makes quite quick work of them. It's favoured for boss killing due to its speed, and complemented with another type weapon (like energy) you should be able to take down bosses easily. The only downsides are the small clip size relative to the rps and the reload time which can be a bit annoying in a jam.
SAS4OmegAlpha 20-12-2014
A great all around weapon. Its pierce makes it a effective group killing weapon and its relatively high Dps make it very effective when you first get it, as long as you get it when you are first able to. I have yet to find a red version but the regular one is not the most powerfull gun at high levels, but it is the most economical. While a red shockfield costs 3,200 for 100 you can get HD ammuniton for this for half that price or less. Add to that is higher pierce than most guns and you can kill 5 for the price of one. I have yet to sell this weapon and more than likely never will. By the time you reach high level you should have at least lv 4 HD mastery which increases this weapons damage even more. If you need 10 more million to fully augment some graphene or red titan armor then you use this gun and make way more every level than you ever could with the best red weapons and come very close to the damage they can inflict, minus the HIKs sniper of course.
AshRulesGaming
A great weapon overall. It can dystroy large groups of zombies, while also being effective against bosses. It's HD ammo is reasonably priced and it is one of my favorite guns of all time. It's main downside however, is the fact that it is so ridicoulously rare. I have only ever gotten 1 Hornet and that was at level 63 after 30 levels of looking only for it to be a 5** I put overclocked and deadly for obvious reasons as I already had 5 points in relaod and 10** titan gloves to more than half the reload time. It is an incredible weapon but SERIOUSLY is so hard to find you'll be such a high level that it is no longer good.
66mazda
This is the most balenced sniper rifle I have ever found. Very low movement penalty, high initial damage, OK reload time, and good pierce. It's versatile. It can dissect crowds briskly, and/or become an effective boss killer. But more capacity could be helpful, and like almost all players say, it's absurdly rare. I also wish it could come with a higher ROF, but it's already doing well in combat, so a ROF increase is not required, but would be helpful.
Recommended augments: Deadly, Overclocked, Adaptive, Capacity, Pinpoint.
Rating: 9/10
SkyrunnerM35
Got one of these babies a while back, didn't think it was too good, being a 4** pre-augged with Race Modded and Biosynthesis. Sat around in my inventory for a while because I wanted one for my collection. But then, Fiery Skins were getting stupidly annoying since they rendered my Striker useless and my 10*** Skeletonized Piercing Capacity CM 505 wasn't good enough, so I had to pistol them. (my 10*** Deadly Capacity Race Modded Ronson 45 didn't do so well either) I really wanted to get a [RED] Raptor so I could easily destroy Fiery Skins, but then, one day, I thought, "Hey, I don't need a Raptor, I have that Hornet sitting around in my inventory!" So I equipped it, retired my 505, and used it. It was EPIC. Shredding fire-resistant targets with high mobility, it stayed in service for a long time. Then, I got an 8** empty Hornet. My jaw hit the ground. I augmented Deadly and Capacity onto it and it was so good that it's now in my Hall of Fame. I believe that this is the best gun in the game, even better than the STRIKER, which is saying something. (Still personally prefer the Striker) I would recommend Deadly, as always, Overclocked, to have more dakka, Adaptive, to deal with Chitinous Hides, and Capacity, to increase the small clip size of 30. Anyway, I cored my 505 later on, replaced the augs with Deadly, Overclocked, and Capacity, and returned it to service.
Sliderpro
Wonderfull weapon. The only thing it really needs from augs - capacity. If you are an assault with crits build, I heavily suggest you aug it with crits and get huge power increase, as max crits will do 300% damage from base, as even with 75% physical resistance - you would get 75% damage dealt on crit, compared to 45% damage dealt with adaptive, so technically you would deal almost the same damage as with adaptive to chitin zombies, while decimating everything else. The third slot is optional and after crits, get higer damage as this would increase your crits damage greatly or get overcloked for better crowd control, but I think that it has enough pierce to compensate, so I recommend damage. Just..get it
RIA 50[]
Pro Medic Dec 12, 2014
First, I must be frank. I am level 66, and the game has NEVER given me a HIKS, and it's only given me a few crappy Hornets - all after I hit level 60. Fortunately, I got a virgin Red Ria 50 with 10*** about 25 levels ago. I have full adaptive, deadly, and overclocked on it. No need for piercing augmentation as it already had 6 (now 7 with mastery skill). Yes, I would love a larger clip size, and yes, I've spent millions of dollars on HD ammo for it, but this thing is legit. It doesn't miss; it does 30,000 DPS (after factoring in premium ammo with my lvl 5 skill mastery bonus); it kills 7 regenerating, chitinous hide or apex-anything zombies with one click (working like a charm when used with bottle-necking tactics), and whereas the HIKS gets tripped up by wickers and fire necrosis spawn, my Ria 50 takes down ALL boss types with acceptable ease and speed.
I currently own 8 different Red 10*** guns, nearly all of which have ideal augmentations. They are the Ronson 45 pistol (which made it really easy for me to get lvl 5 pistol mastery), the Raptor, the Hard Thorn, the Ronson LBM, the Ronson WP Flamethrower, the CM 307, the Gebirgskanone, and the Ria 50. I can live without some of them, but my adaptive, deadly, overclocked Red Ria 50 is too convenient and too much of a lifesaver to go without. Maybe I'll feel differently if I ever get a decent HIKS, but in the mean time, here's a level 66 player who endorses this weapon as indispensable.
A player
The RIA 50 is usually the first sniper rifle you unlock in the game, and it is useful up to level 20, and if you upgrade it, it can be useful even up to level 25. It has a relatively high pierce, making it a suitable crowd control weapon in the early levels, and the price of the ammo is not bad considering the fact that you can get a lot of stopping power. However, it's movement penalty means that you can and will have trouble against some of the faster zombies (ex. Runners, Stalkers).
Dan67
The RIA 50 is probably the best starter sniper rifle to new players who are looking for weapons that have that extra punch per shot. However, it would be advised to sell this firearm around level 20 as long as it is not a RED version with augmentations not to mention at higher levels it's going to be SPEED is Key because those zombies ain't giving you a few seconds to shoot.
Pootis Man 17-09-2014
First sniper rifle, and easily the worst of them all. For starters, it is good until mid game, unless it's [RED] with good augments as all the other sniper rifles outclass it in everything even if it's red
Lowest damage (750, [RED] 1500), Lowest RPS (2), Highest movement penalty (25% less), Tiny clip (5, red is 10 which is better but not ok), lowest DPS even if [RED] compaired to non red sniper rifles, outclassed in every single way possible by Hornet, lowest RPS makes it a direct downgrade to HIKS, as it has twice the RPS and more than twice normal damage not even counting the 1000 damage (2000 for red) damage over 2 seconds)
Only upside is large pierce of 4. Otherwise I wouldn't even bother with it in low ranks if it didn't have that.
AshRulesGaming
In my opinion, the RIA 50 can get the job done. It sure isn't the fastest, or the prettiest way, but it works. Chuck deadly, overclocked and capacity on a RED one and you have a killing machine. I have every single Sniper Rifle in the game and I can tell you for sure that this is the best in terms of its ammo cost, its accessability at low levels, and the fact that it isn't thrown by wickers like the HIKS is.
Zombie Decapitator
Its a good gun for the starting levels, but it has many disadvantages. First of all, 2 RPS is bad enough. And its high movement penalty reduces mobility greatly. This gun is basically the Semi Auto version of the Sublight Com2 and Hornet combined. Not too good - selling it isn't a bad idea. The only upside to it, though, is its awesome sound it makes when you fire it.
CM 800 Jupiter []
Jared_Hale7
I kinda like the idea that there is an energy sniper rifle. It is pretty bad at first, but when you get the good auguments, this is pretty good. The red version is good, same goes with this one also. Get good auguments and be merry.
Hawkfire7
This gun has a potential and some cool effects to play around with at early levels, but overally not the best to use. However to serve it's name and to justify it's high ammo cost, I would suggest this gun needs a buff ASAP, as right now it's not very useful for most people to actually fight. Upping the damage a good bit is very crucial, maybe up the RPS or make it full auto so it can compare to a gigavolt and won't be viewed as an inferior weapon all the time.
66mazda
True, this gun has potential, but there are better choices. Has an acceptable clip, some useful and cool effects, and OK reload time. But it's damage can be underwhelming. A ROF of 4 does not help at all. This weapon can be suitable for taking out crowds at longer ranges, and to assist troubled teammates in clearing out hordes. Not a bad weapon at all, but easy to leave behind.
Note: I think it needs a damage and ROF buff.
Recommended augments: Deadly (must have), Adaptive, Capacity, Piercing
Rating: 7/10