Fear and Loathing in NOTD

A guide to items and weaponry
 * This guide was authored by Kithrixx.

Hollow Point

 * Adds 12% damage
 * Priority: Highest priority goes to damage dealing classes, namely, Commando, Combat Engineer, Marksmen, and Arms Assaults.

A flat 12% damage buff, the Hollow Point is the best ammo mod for pure damage. It’s notable that this damage increase applies to abilities such as One Shot One Kill, making the Hollow Point ammo mod extremely valuable to Assassination Marksmen.

Armor Piercing

 * Adds 7% damage, applies a debuff on attack that reduces the target’s armor by 1
 * Priority: Useful for whoever happens to be wielding the SMG, otherwise, a priority hierarchy similar to the Hollow Point should be used.

Nearly functionally identical to the Hollow Point. It’s worth noting that in many cases the Armor Piercing mod is better than the Hollow Point in terms of autoattacking with a weapon, as the 1 additional damage generated by the loss of an armor point on the target is generally more than the 2% supplied by the Hollow Point. This goes double for the SMG, as the damage dealt by the SMG is reduced by 2 for every 1 point of armor, making Armor Piercing rounds especially effective on the SMG.

A notable use for the Armor Piercing mod is to give it to the Tank equipped with the Crowbar. The damage increase is negligible and the armor reduction doesn’t increase the Crowbar’s damage, but the constant debuff application could potentially be useful for teammates. However, Tanks seldom have the room for it, and should only be given on the occasion that they have room and nobody else wants the AP.

Full Metal Jacket

 * Increases attack speed by 15%, decreases range by 1
 * Priority: Tailor made for the Marksman. If the Marksman already has one, give him another. Commando is second priority and third is open to the rest of the classes.

This is the ammo mod for the Marksman. –1 range is not an issue on a Sniper Rifle or a Barrett, considering that they already can shoot well beyond the user’s sight radius. The +15% attack speed increase is the most significant for these weapons as well, due to the fact that they are the slowest firing weapons available apart from the Stinger. It also synchronizes well with the Master Marksman ability (stuns targets for 0.3 seconds if the target 10 distance away or more) as it increases the Marksman’s attack speed, therefore allowing for more stuns. If a Marksman is not available or already has one (or two, depending on personal preference), the Full Metal Jacket should go to the Commando if one is available, as the attack speed increase will make Adrenaline stack faster and therefore reach maximum stacks at a more rapid pace (and therefore allow the Commando to reach maximum damage potential quicker). If neither a Marksman nor a Commando is present, the Full Metal Jacket can go to whoever wants it.

It is notable that the –1 range modifier can and will affect the crowbar. There is indeed a minimum range and the crowbar cannot reach 0 and therefore become unusable, but equipping the Full Metal Jacket ammo modifier to the crowbar will make it lose its splash damage, thus rendering it nearly useless.

It is also notable the effects that the Full Metal Jacket has on Flamethrowers and Shotguns. For Shotguns, the pellets cluster together more on firing, and damage per shot upwards of 150 has been observed. The flamethrower’s target acquisition range is affected, and not the range of the projectiles emitted. Applying a Full Metal Jacket to a flamethrower will simply bring the “maximum range” in further, resulting in the marine equipped with a flamethrower attacking when the target is closer. This means that more flame projectiles pass through the target by the nature of the flamethrower, resulting in a great deal more damage (which is further increased by the attack speed increase offered by the mod).

High Explosive

 * 3% damage increase, attacks apply a burning dot, attacks apply a Fire Vulnerability debuff that increases damage from explosive-based and fire-based damage sources
 * Priority: Any Flamethrower class takes first priority, second priority goes to whichever tank (be it Protection Assault or Fortitude Demo) gets the crowbar first. Third priority goes to the Explosives Demoltions. Fourth priority goes to everyone else.

If the Flamethrower class is not available, the High Explosive mod goes straight to whoever is wielding the crowbar, in which case its role is something of support. It applies a fire vulnerability debuff to the target, meaning that other fire-based and explosive-based damages are increased by 50%. The crowbar does not require reloading, so the debuff is constant. On top of this, if one is wielding the crowbar, then their job is to maintain the main target’s attention by applying a constant source of damage as opposed to the maximum amount of damage possible. The small amount of additional damage that it applies is a nice bonus, but the “main attraction,” so to speak, is the constant application of the debuff to the target.

On the more offensive side of things, the High Explosive ammo mod is completely devastating in the hands of the Flamethrower class. As a class that deals primarily fire damage, the 50% damage increase from fire-based damage sources is absolutely amazing. The mechanics of the flamethrower weapon will be touched upon in more detail later in the guide, but the short version is that the flamethrower shoots several projectiles in a row and the first flame projectile that is sent out applies the Fire Vulnerability debuff to the target. The rest of the projectiles from the shot are now dealing 154.5% damage. Needless to say, this makes the Flamethrower’s damage output outright terrifying, and will lead him to completely decimate any and all ground forces that he encounters.

Ocular Implants

 * Increases sight range by 3
 * Priority: Generally effective for all classes

Simple and clean, this item increases the sight range of your Marine by 3 when equipped. This is more useful for some classes than others (Recon, for example), but many players ignore them in favor of other upgrades or inventory space, so obtaining Ocular Implants is something of a first come, first serve basis.

Ocular Implants do not stack with the Marksman’s scope, but it does stack with Perception.

Thermal Sight

 * Applies detection in a radius of 9
 * Priority: A Leaver if available, otherwise, a damage dealing class

The Thermal Sights’ utility lies in being able to see invisible or burrowed units. Invisible enemies are generally the most dangerous, and it is best to equip Thermal Sights on your damage dealing classes, as vision is not shared in NOTD for active players. A DPS will benefit more from being able to see a Black Ops operative, for example, as they will be able to kill it much quicker than a Tank will due to the fact that a Tank class does not need to be able to see what is attacking him to soak the damage from it whereas a DPS will need to see something to be able to kill it.

Thermal Sights stack with themselves, and as a result are good to put on a leaver. Leavers have Team Sight (otherwise they would be difficult to manage) and as a result share any detection that they may have. Keeping a leaver on hand equipped with as many Thermal Sights as are available is a common and effective tactic.

An important fact to remember is that Perception and Thermal Sights do not stack.

Combat Mobility Augment

 * Increases movement speed by 10%
 * Priority: Recon. Beyond that, Assault or Marksman, as they are the slowest classes in the game.

Recon’s job is to run around the map and find items for the team, and later, to rescue civilians. A 10% movement speed buff applied to his already exceptional speed allows him to do this job better, as he can kite and scout better.

Personal Arc Reactor

 * Increases energy regeneration by .33 per second and increases shield regeneration by .33 per second
 * Priority: Highest priorities are shared by the Field Aid Medic and the Fortitude Demolitions, with the rest of the team holding a lower priority.

The Personal Arc Reactor is fantastic for Field Aid Medics that are suffering from energy problems due to having to constantly use their abilities to keep everyone alive. It is also effective in the hands of a Fortitude Demo, who requires a great deal of energy use to keep himself tank capable. Other energy-use heavy classes are fine candidates, but the Field Aid Medic and the Fortitude Demolitions are integral to the team’s increased defensive capability and survival, and therefore gain a higher priority.

Passing the PAR to someone who has suffered a Short Circuit for a brief amount of time to help them regain their shields and energy is a common tactic if an Engineer is not present to repair the Short Circuit right away.

Nano Health Augment

 * Increases health regeneration by 2
 * Priority: Tank gets first priority.

The Nano Health Augment is for the tank simply because it keeps him alive longer, making the Medic’s job easier. It is notable that the Nano Health Augment and Endurance do stack.

High Capacity Clip

 * Increases base clip size of all classes by 100%
 * Priority: Combat Engineer and Commando share first priority, and the rest of the team comes second.

Good for any class that utilizes weapons to great effect, such as the Combat Engineer and the Commando. The increased ammo clip will allow a Combat Engineer to maintain his damage bonuses longer and the Commando will be able to utilize his maximum adrenaline stacks longer.

Worth noting is how the game calculates the High Capacity Clip’s ammo increase. All classes aside from the Assault have a base clip size of 30, and equipping the High Capacity Clip will increase it by 30 to 60. The Assault has a base clip size of 40, and the High Capacity Clip will increase this by 40, resulting in 80, 120, or 160, depending upon the level of Ammo Feed (0, 1, and 2, respectively). Any level of Ammo Feed does not affect High Capacity Clip’s capacity increase as the Ammo Feed is also increasing the Assault’s base clip size (by 100% and 200%, respectively) and not working off of the total ammo capacity achieved by having both Ammo Feed and High Capacity Clip. The High Capacity Clip does not stack with itself, so if another is found, it is best to pass it off to another player.

C2 Armor

 * Adds 2 to armor rating
 * Priority: Tank gets first priority if he doesn’t have any armor, beyond that, second priority goes to the rest of the team.

The C2 is the lightest armor, and as a result doesn’t impact movement speed very much. It’s worth taking if you’re taking more hits than you’re comfortable with and need a little damage mitigation.

C2 and Tanks: Protection Assaults in Easy Company are generally starved for kills due to their exceptionally low damage output, and often have to whore out kills here and there to reach Safeguard in time for Ere2. One such area is the Starport, where Charlie is chained. Calling the bottom right entrance to the Starport is a common practice for Protection Assaults and it is advised to grab the C2 at the Starport and a flamethrower to accomplish this task without taking too much damage, as only in rare cases will the tank be able to get through all waves without getting hit once or twice without backing up to kite. Tartarus is also a concern, even though the strategy is to taunt and kite instead of taunt and tank, hits will happen and it is important to minimize damage as much as possible during these early phases where you do not have as many points in damage reduction.

C4 Armor

 * Adds 4 to armor rating
 * Priority: Tank gets first, second goes to medium classes

The C4 is the golden standard. There is one in the upper right cluster of eggs that always spawns, and if the tank does not have C4 or better by then, it’s for them. Other classes should only take this if they feel that they are taking way too many hits and are not confident in their ability to kite away from damage. Light classes (the Recon, Marksman, and Psi Ops) should not take this at all due to the speed reduction that it will apply to them. The Medic can take C4 with acceptable penalties even though she is a light class as the Medic’s job is to stay with the group, and any team with any sense of awareness will not abandon the Medic. It will increase the Medic’s survivability enough to where she will be much harder to pick off by ranged enemies (or for that matter, ambushing or fast melee enemies).

It is important to note that, as the Protection Assault, you can very easily tank the Queen with C4 armor. It is entirely possible to tank her with C2, although doing so is somewhat riskier. If you are having trouble tanking the Queen with C4, eat a medkit periodically throughout the fight. You will survive with no trouble.

C6 Armor

 * Adds 6 to armor rating
 * Priority: Tank gets first, second goes to medium classes

Drops only in the Apollo Security Team campaign, and only one is available. It goes directly to whoever is tasked with the responsibility of tanking.

It is worth noting that the first boss of Apollo Sec deals increased damage based on armor, and it is unwise to enter his range with armor of any kind, especially C6.

XS-4 Armor

 * Increases shields and adds 4 to shield armor rating
 * Priority: Fortitude Demo gets first, second goes to Recon, the rest of the team gets third

Armor specifically made for the Fortitude Demo, it increases his shield reserves and adds 4 armor to their armor rating. This is especially significant, as when the XS-4 is coupled with Spiked Armor and the stat boost class point, the Fortitude Demo’s shields have an armor of 8 and 170 hitpoints. Ailments do not contract when enemies damage shields and shields regenerate faster than hitpoints, so the XS-4 is perfect for the Fortitude Demo as it becomes significantly harder for him to receive damage and ailments. Also of note is that the Medic’s Nanoshield instantly restores shields to full, making the Fortitude Demo’s large shield capacity and durability extremely effective when coupled with a Medic constantly renewing Nanoshield on him. If a Fortitude Demo is not available, the armor should go on the Recon to reduce the chance of contracting ailments and, by extension, death by ailments.

Reactive Armor

 * Adds 1 to armor rating and reduces up to 100 damage to 25
 * Priority: Protection Assault/Order Flamethrower/Technician first, Fortitude Demo second, and the rest of the team gets third.

A luxury in damage reduction, if you are a Protection Assault with Safeguard and Reactive Armor, all you have to worry about is not dying to open wounds or venom. The mechanics work like this: If an enemy deals damage, the maximum amount of damage that they can deal is 25 for all attacks up to 100 damage. This is to say that, for instance, if an enemy deals 125 damage, the first 100 points of damage are limited to 25 damage maximum. The rest is dealt as normal damage, resulting in 50, which isn’t even that much, as the damage is first reduced by one’s armor rating.

Kinetic Armor

 * Adds 1 to armor rating and reduces ranged up to 100 damage to 15
 * Priority: The Medic first, other classes second

Many of the bosses in NOTD have ranged attacks, and in situations where the Tank is holding the attention of only the boss and no nearby infested (a good example of such a situation would be Seth), the Kinetic Armor is fantastic. Equipping the Kinetic Armor to the more vulnerable classes is also a decent idea, as mobs tend to contain a great deal of Infested Marines in later difficulties and death by Infested Rifles is a swift and brutal fate to lighter classes when line of sight is obtained by the infested horde.

Anti-Venom

 * Cures 1 stack of Venom
 * Priority: The Tank gets first and the Recon gets second.

Anti-Venom is very useful for when the Tank is tanking bosses, namely ones with a great deal of hitpoints. Anti-Venom is for when the Tank is busy getting in the boss’s face and it would be dangerous for the Medic to get close to use their Anti-Venom on him. It is also useful to the Recon, who is often away from the team scouting for items (if he is Mobility) and cannot afford the movement speed reduction that Venom stacks bring. Anti-Venom drops in groups of 5 and stacks in the inventory up to groups of 20.

Bandage

 * Heals 50 hitpoints and cures Open Wound
 * Priority: Open, but the Tank should at least have a full stack of these before anyone else

Bandages are for curing Open Wounds and not much else. A Medkit will heal three times as much as a Bandage, so do not use these to heal with. Having a Bandage in your inventory will allow you to use it on other players as well by pressing X to access the Marine Actions menu and then X again to select Fibrin Bandage, from where you can target the player that you wish to bandage. This is useful for getting Open Wounds closed on players that are extremely low health and you don’t want to drop the bandage stack, wait for them to pick it up, and then use it, which has resulted in many deaths in the past due to simple miscommunication. Bandages drop in groups of 2 and stacks in the inventory up to groups of 4.

Medkit

 * Heals 150 hitpoints over 10 seconds
 * Priority: Open, but the Tank should have at least one full stack of these during boss fights

Medkits are the best healing item for hitpoints. They do not cure ailments, but heal thrice as much hitpoints as a Bandage does. They also heal over time, so using one during a tanking sequence during a bossfight will keep your health up and not require the Medic to get close to use Heal or Nanoweave. Medkit usage stacks, so spam clicking your Medkits will get you healed faster. Medkits are dropped in groups of 3 and stacks in the inventory up to groups of 6.

Road Flare

 * Gives True Sight and Team Sight of an area for 60 seconds.
 * Priority: Whoever has the spare inventory space. Flare carrying generally falls to Assault players as they have the second largest inventory in the game and stay with the group.

Flares are good for pinpointing locations, circumventing blindness, and revealing invisible foes. Dropping one during a wave that is known to have invisible enemies (for instance, Black Ops) will allow the team to pinpoint and eradicate the cloaked enemies without the use of Thermal Sights. They also call the Dropship to your location in Easy Company as opposed to the pre-designated LZ, providing you with ammunition and a Thermal Sight being dropped at your location. Road Flares are dropped in groups of 3 and stacks in the inventory up to groups of 11.

Magazines

 * Gives 3 magazines to player
 * Priority: People with low ammo first, that nubbin with 150 mags wondering why he’s so slow last

Bullets. Simple as that. It’s worth noting that the ammunition in NOTD can be used for any weapon, for instance, one could empty half of a clip using a Gauss Rifle, then switch over to a Flamethrower and finish the clip off.

Players can drop magazines from their reserve into their inventory to increase movement speed. Dropped in groups of 3, stacks up to groups of 3 in the inventory.

Ammo Box

 * Stores Magazines, when used gives 3 magazines to player
 * Priority: Classes that use a lot of ammunition and classes that require speed

A box especially for your bullets. Storing magazines in the ammo box is as easy as picking up magazines with an ammo box that has room, or dropping them to your inventory. Picking up an Ammo Box with room will automatically store any magazines in your inventory in it. 15 magazines can be stored in an Ammo Box.

Weapons
In-game damage values are calculated as follows:

Base Damage + Bonus Damage – Armor Rating = Total Damage


 * Example:
 * Gauss Rifle vs Agron
 * Agron has 2 armor, is armored, massive
 * Gauss Rifle does 12 base +4 due to armored and +4 due to massive
 * Gauss Rifle did 20
 * Agron has an armor rating of 2
 * Gauss did 18

Unless noted otherwise, damage is reduced by 1 for every 1 point of armor.

P-45 Gauss Pistol

 * Standard issue security team pistol.
 * Stats:


 * Damage: 20
 * Attack Speed: 0.65
 * Bonuses: +6 to light, +2 to heroic
 * Splash Radius: 0.3
 * Range: 6
 * Reload Time: 1
 * Priority: Commando and Marksman share first priority.

A favorite of Commandos due to the increased attack speed and base damage. Also a fine sidearm for Marksmen, due to the incredibly low equip time, it can be whipped out and utilized against gargoyles in a pinch and is exceptional at this task. It is notable that all players in the Apollo Security Team, regardless of class, will start with the P-45.

Gauss Rifle

 * Basic Infantry Rifle.
 * Stats:


 * Damage: 12
 * Attack Speed: 0.4
 * Bonuses: +4 to armored, +4 to massive, +4 to structure
 * Penalties: -4 to psionic
 * Splash Radius: 1.5
 * Range: 13
 * Reload Time: 1.5
 * Priority: Starting weapon for all classes except for Marksman

The starter weapon for the majority of the classes, the Gauss Rifle is a good all rounder. Considered by many to be bad, it’s not that the Gauss Rifle is bad, it’s just that there are many other specialty weapons whereas the Gauss is an all-rounder. It has decent range and damage except against specific kinds of armored targets, and deals good splash damage.

HK420 Assault Rifle

 * Slower firing than the Gauss Rifle but packs a bigger punch.
 * Stats:


 * Damage: 15
 * Attack Speed: 0.5
 * Bonuses: +5 to armored, +5 to massive, +5 to structure
 * Splash Radius: 1.2
 * Range: 14
 * Reload Time: 1.5
 * Priority: Damage dealing classes share highest priority.

The HK420 is generally an upgrade to the Gauss Rifle. While it fires marginally slower, it deals much more damage, making it more ammo efficient. Also notable is that it lacks the damage reduction modifier to Psionic type, making it more effective to a wider range of targets. It’s good for all classes to have, but due to the general damage dealing capability of the Commando, Commandos usually get first dibs on it. Riflemen also perform well with the HK420, as do Combat Engineers. Arms Assault is bound to be equipped with a Chaingun, or, failing that, a Laser Rifle at some point, so they generally do not pick up HK420s as they are assured a powerful damage output at some point.

M5 Pulse Rifle

 * A rifle capable of dealing extra damage to psionics.
 * Stats:


 * Damage: 13
 * Attack Speed: 0.65
 * Bonuses: +7 to light, +7 to psionic, +7 to heroic
 * Splash Radius: 1
 * Range: 12
 * Reload Time: 2.5
 * Priority: During Apollo, the DPS. Otherwise, a bit of a niche weapon. Should go to whoever doesn’t have a specialty weapon, such as the Medic.

A retooling of the Gauss, this rifle is good against what the Gauss isn’t, to the point where it deals extra damage to psionic armor types. It’s also good against light armor, making this weapon the only rifle type that does the full base damage to Ere (the light/psionic modifiers cancel out his armor rating).

Chaingun

 * Heavy Machine Gun good for mowing down masses.
 * Stats:


 * Damage: 18
 * Attack Speed: 0.53
 * Bonuses: +9 to armored, +9 to massive, ignores armor
 * Splash Radius: 2
 * Range: 13
 * Reload Time: 6
 * Priority: Arms Assault gets first, Commando and Combat Engineer share second, third goes to the rest of the team.

A monster of a gun with a damage rating that may seem lackluster to some until they realize that the Chaingun ignores armor values, meaning that it does full damage to all targets (and bonus to others). The only downside is the six second reload time, but this can be dealt with in a variety of ways. The Arms Assault comes with a massive clip size, and the Commando and Rifleman come with the capability to obtain reduced reload time. On top of this, manually reloading nets the player a 30% decrease on reload time, which comes for any class. The splash and damage makes this weapon perfect for completely destroying mobs of enemies.

MP9A2 Sub-Machine Gun

 * MP9A2 Sub-Machine Gun makes quick work of lightly armored units.
 * Stats:


 * Damage: 11
 * Attack Speed: 0.22
 * Bonuses: +2 to biological, +4 to light, +4 to psionic
 * Penalties: -2 damage instead of –1 for every point of armor
 * Splash Radius: 1.8
 * Range: 9
 * Reload Time: 1.5
 * Priority: The Combat Engineer and Recon share high priority. Beyond that, whoever wants it.

A rapid attack weapon that performs exceptionally well against light targets, but does terrible against even reasonable armor. Recommended for the Recon, as the Surveillance tree comes with passive and active armor reducing abilities. The Combat Engineer also deals amazing damage with the SMG, as “It’s Me Again!” stacks accumulate quickly and he possesses a large armor debuff in the form of Boom! Headshot. It’s worth noting that the Armor Piercing ammo mod effectively increases the damage of the SMG more than any other weapon, due to the way that the SMG calculates damage reduced by armor. Due to the low caliber nature of the weapon, damage is reduced by 2 for every point of armor. This works in reverse, however, so if the armor of the target drops into the negatives, the damage is increased by 2 for every negative point of armor. This leads the SMG to be a brutally effective weapon against heavily debuffed targets.

Flamethrower

 * Burns any living creature quickly.
 * Stats:


 * Damage: 8 per flame projectile
 * Attack Speed: 1.15
 * Bonuses: +5 to biological, +5 to light, ignores armor
 * Penalties: -3 to armored, -3 to massive
 * Splash Radius: Linear
 * Range: 4.65
 * Reload Time: 4
 * Priority: Commando first, any DPS second, the rest of the team third.

The Flamethrower is an interesting weapon, in that it shoots somewhere in the ballpark of 12 projectiles in a line, each one going a little bit further than the last one. This means that the closer the target is, the more damage that the weapon is going to do. Damage for the Flamethrower is next to impossible to calculate due to the odd nature of the projectiles, but it’s undeniable that the Flamethrower is a brutally effective weapon. It is the only weapon in NOTD that has a linear splash instead of a circular one.

Sniper Rifle

 * One shot, one kill.
 * Stats:


 * Damage: 48
 * Attack Speed: 2.2
 * Bonuses: +27 to light
 * Penalties: -15 to armored, -15 to massive
 * Splash Radius: None
 * Range: 21
 * Reload Time: 4
 * Priority: Marksmen first for Apollo because they do not start with a Sniper Rifle, otherwise, Medics second and the rest of the team third

A whole lot of bang for a single target, and not much else. Good for conserving ammo, bad for mobs, allows the Marksman to use OSOK. Medics are encouraged to make use of this weapon’s range to stay out of trouble.

Barrett M112

 * Heavy sniper rifle.
 * Stats:


 * Damage: 50
 * Attack Speed: 2.3
 * Bonuses: +25 to armored, +25 to massive
 * Penalties: -15 to light
 * Splash Radius: None
 * Range: 25
 * Reload Time: 6
 * Priority: Marksman’s signature weapon, so MM first and forever.

A larger, much angrier version of the Sniper Rifle, this will fuck up an Agron something fierce. Increased range and much, much louder.

Stinger Mk3

 * Stinger MK-3 Rocket Launcher. Consumes 10 rounds per shot.
 * Stats:


 * Damage: 300 damage to enemies, 75 damage to allies
 * Attack Speed: 7
 * Bonuses: Ignores armor
 * Penalties: -100 to heroic, Friendly Fire capable, shots consume 10 rounds instead of 1
 * Splash Radius: 5
 * Range: 15
 * Reload Time: 6
 * Priority: Goes first to Veterans who know what they're doing.

The Stinger is a rocket launcher that deals massive damage to a single target and everything around it. A favorite of many players that is handled with respect, as a misplaced shot can wipe an entire team.

Shiva

 * Eats Tac Nukes for breakfast.
 * Stats:


 * Damage: 50,000
 * Attack Speed: 1
 * Bonuses: Ignores armor
 * Penalties: Friendly Fire capable, leaves behind a no-man’s land after firing
 * Splash Radius: 30
 * Range: Extremely High
 * Reload Time: N/A, single shot
 * Priority: Seriously, goes to veterans who know what they’re doing.

Louder than the Voice of God and hits twice as hard. The Shiva is a single-shot tactical nuke that will completely eradicate anything in a radius of 30. Unless it’s a boss, whatever gets caught in the blast (and the deadly chemical fallout afterwards) will be completely and utterly destroyed. It’s notable that the Shiva can be dodged, but trying it is not advised as there is (at minimum) a 55% chance that trying to do so will utterly fail and result in the vaporization of a player.

Shotgun

 * Shotgun does damage to multiple units in a close distance. Consumes 2 rounds per shot.
 * Stats:


 * Damage: 30
 * Attack Speed: 1.75
 * Bonuses: +15 to psionic
 * Penalties: Shots consume 2 rounds instead of 1
 * Splash Radius: 4
 * Range: 4.5
 * Reload Time: 4
 * Priority: Commandos and tanks first, everyone else second.

The Shotgun, being a scatter weapon, is good for dealing with mobs and infested marines. Each unit hit with a shot from the shotgun counts as an adrenaline stack, so it’s a popular weapon amongst Commando players. It’s also good for tanky classes, as the weapon has a very short range and tanks are capable of taking the couple hits that usually come with getting in close quarters.

Crowbar

 * Just an ordinary crowbar...in space.
 * Stats:


 * Damage: 35
 * Attack Speed: 0.5
 * Bonuses: Ignores armor
 * Penalties: Melee range
 * Splash Radius: 1.25
 * Range: 1
 * Reload Time: None
 * Priority: Tanks and tanks only.

The Crowbar is a fantastic weapon, capable of dealing 70 armor piercing damage per second and generally obliterating everything around the target due to splash damage also being 70 armor piercing damage per second. The only issue with it is that it’s a melee weapon, really only suited for use by tanks, as they can handle the hits that will inevitably result from close combat. Mobility Recons that utilize cloak are also capable of using the Crowbar to great effect in dealing with mobs, but detector units such as Agrons can easily spell death for the Recon doing so when the entire mob turns and hits them all at once. It is possible to deal with entire waves in this fashion, but it is generally looked down upon as it is hogging kills and everyone needs levels.

Laser Rifle

 * Experimental Laser Rifle.
 * Stats:


 * Damage: 8
 * Attack Speed: 0.2
 * Bonus: -1 armor damage modifier, meaning that it does increased damage the more armor the target has
 * Penalty: Eats ammo like candy
 * Splash Radius: 0.8
 * Range: 9
 * Reload Time: 3
 * Priority: First to heavy damage dealing classes (Commando, Arms Assault, Combat Engineer), second to the rest of the team

The Laser Rifle is interesting, as it is the only weapon whose damage is actually increased by the amount of armor the target has. The damage type is also notable as fire/explosive, so it deals even more damage if the target is under the effect of Fire Vulnerability. It deals a massive amount of damage to a single target, but burns through ammo quickly. Good for Arms Assaults as they have the large ammo clip to handle such ammo consumption and it also works well with Suppressive Fire/Blood Frenzy, leading to an almost permanent stun on the target being attacked while the Assault is under the effects of both buffs. It is also good for the Commando, as the rapid attack rate makes adrenaline stacks max out almost immediately.

Gravity Gun
Product of White Mesa Research Facility. Not authorized for civilian use. Priority: Someone who knows how to use it.

The Gravity Gun is an interesting weapon, in that it also has a great deal of utility. It can be used to grab items and units and launch them at enemies, dealing 50 damage and knockback upon impact (which is affected by ammo mods). The gun can also be discharged without holding anything, resulting in a small cone of damage (that does deal friendly fire). The utility lies in that it can grab items from almost an entire screen away and teleport it to the wielder, to be dropped or to be launched. It can also grab players, yanking them to the wielder. This is useful if a teammate is lagging behind, or needs to ascend several levels of terrain quickly, such as the walls of the fort, the helipad, or the southern hill. Recons are known to grab the Gravity Gun because Hold Fire does not affect it, and use it as something of an additional inventory slot by grabbing an item with it and continuing to run around the map scouting. The Gravity Gun is also exceptionally good for Medics, as they can use it to grab injured players for healing and grabbing other players and pulling them out of danger.

Disclaimer
The intended purpose of this guide is to be half informative and half persuasive; and it is indeed riddled with my own personal opinions and the opinions of others. That said, it is not the definitive authority on what is and isn't the optimal loadout. This guide was written with the intent to show what is the general consensus on item distribution and why such distributions are common throughout games of NOTD. The fact of the matter is that such distributions work, and they work well. I wrote this to give a detailed explanation as to why these common distributions work, and to give a readily available, pre-written answer to an argument over equipment that isn't "because I said so" or "because that's how the vet players do it".

Situations in-game can and will deviate from the standard view of how things go. Players will die, different items will be found, and people will have their own opinions on how the game should be played. Deviating from the guide is not the end of the world, and giving a CMA to the Survival Rifleman so he can do civs when there isn't a Recon available is okay. The guide is just that: a guide, and deviations can be made in-game due to circumstance without much issue as long as common sense is applied first.