PUBG Analysis: Sniper Rifles vs. Assault Rifles

Miramar and Erangel are the only two maps that are playable on the live servers right now, and they're both maps where most fights are mid to long-range. Naturally, the weapons that should be used on this distance aren't short-ranged weapons. That leaves us with the sniper and assault rifles which are the best to use, but that doesn't mean that you can't use other weapons like the UMP-9, but rather you should prioritize the weapons that optimize the chances of you killing someone instead of them killing you. Let's dive right in!

Semi-Automatic Sniper Rifles

The SKS, Mini-14 and Mk14 are currently the only semi-automatic SRs in the game with the Mk14 only being dropped in airdrop crates. The key features of semi-automatic SRs are the high amount of vertical recoil and the low bullet drop.

From left to right: the Mini-14, SKS and Mk14

These weapons are quite strong overall and there are definitely a lot of quality attachments for the semi-automatic SRs, but the problem with SR attachments is that they're quite rare whether you're talking about Muzzle, Magazine or Stock attachments. The SKS and Mk14 are especially worthless without attachments due to the extreme amount of recoil and weapon sway to the left/right when you're not prone and/or when shooting multiple rounds at a target you just spotted.

But which is the best semi-automatic SR? Which one out of the SKS, Mini-14 and Mk14 outshines the other 2? Well, that really depends on your situation in-game and personal preference. There are some guidelines that you should follow for prioritizing one weapon over the other, those include personal preference, amount of attachments, statistics (visible in-game and in greater detail on the wiki) and ammunition type.

Without any attachments, the Mini-14 is the preferred choice. This is due to the weapon having better basic stats and handling than the other two weapons. Mini-14's are sometimes even used as an AR because it shoots relatively quickly with a little more vertical recoil (Compared to AR's) and a magazine size of 20 extendable to 30.

 Bolt-Action Sniper Rifles

There currently are 4 different bolt-action SRs in PUBG: the M24, the AWM, the Kar98k, and the Win98 (Winchester). The most important features to note when you're researching these weapons are the kickback that the weapon has when it has just shot a round and the high amount of damage that every bullet deals on a target's head and body some even one-shotting level 2/3 helmets with full HP.

From left to right: the M24, AWM, Kar98k and Winchester 1898

The major problem with the bolt-action SRs is that they're hard to find. 2 of them are a rare drop in airdrop crates, the Kar98k is an uncommon drop at almost every loot spawn in the game but you can't expect to find it every game and the Win98 is a Miramar exclusive weapon that's also pretty useless compared to all of the other Sniper Rifles due to the lack of an attachable scope.

Bolt-action SRs definitely get used more than the semi-automatic SRs, and this is mostly due to the fact that long-range fights almost always have cover to hide behind giving you more than enough time to heal yourself up and peek again. If you possess aim well-above average, you should always go for a bolt-action SR since you should always quickly peek and go behind the tree again anyways giving you enough time to reset your weapon after it has shot a round and headshots will have a very high chance of killing your opponent which isn't the case with the semi-automatic sniper rifle.

The best bolt-action SR stats-wise is definitely the AWM. With almost no bullet velocity and the fastest bullet travelling speed in the game it's almost unbeatable. Except for the fact that you only get 20 .300 Magnum bullets with the weapon in an airdrop and it obviously being an airdrop exclusive. You've got to think about it this way. Would you use hundreds of bullets when you're shooting at enemies, one round at a time?

Assault Rifles

Everyone knows assault rifles are currently the most used weapons in the PUBG meta both on a professional level and an amateur level. The assault rifles have large magazines and the bullet drop up to 600 meters is actually very easy to deal with. The fact that you can attach any scope you want on these weapons (except for the 8x and 15x scope on the M16A4) may actually make these weapons the overall superior choice over the Sniper-Rifles.

Informative graph of power, range, stability, rate of fire and the damage per second from all of the common Assault Rifles. Full resolution: Click!

But why? It's definitely because you have a lot of options to work with, since you have the choice of single-fire or burst/automatic-fire. If you know how to spray in this game you can also choose to use that to your advantage since it'll work up to 200 meters giving you a higher chance of hitting the enemy since you're firing so many rounds.

All of the attachments are more common compared to the SR attachments with the exception of the Suppressor which isn't a mandatory pickup at all, most professional players use Compensators since it's hard to stay hidden in this game especially on a higher level.

Which comes out on top?

If you would look at the meta at this very moment, you would see that, even after the M16A4 nerf, the ARs are still heavily favored above both kinds of SRs. This can cause the meta to become stale and less enjoyable, but you should also make use of it yourself. Double AR set-ups are very common today and you won't be facing a lot of trouble with the combination of an AKM and a Scar-L/M416/M16A4 since they do the job on close, medium and long-range. Be careful that the AKM isn't the same and you can't pull off the same strategies with it, rather use it as a breach weapon on close-range and switch to a 5.56 weapon for the distant enemies.

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