Basics[]
The M249 is a medium machine gun with an average rate of fire that costs $75,000 to purchase. It comes with a high magazine capacity, coming with a slow reload time. Uniquely, this gun can obtain infinite ammo efficiency, allowing it to take ammo from the box without draining ammo at all, as well as making this a pseudo-laser weapon.
Upgrades[]
| Upgrade | Description | Effect | Levels | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barrel Extension | Increases the accuracy of your shots. | Accuracy +5% | 2 | $15,000 $22,500 |
| Shrapnel Rounds | Enemies hit will start to bleed, moving slower and taking damage over time. | Bleed +2500 | 3 | $25,000LOCKING |
| Ammo Efficiency | Reduces the amount of bullets taken per ammo missing, from the ammo box. | Ammo Taken -0.5 | 3 | $10,000 $15,000 $20,000 |
| AP Rounds | Increases the damage of shots. | Damage +30% | 5 | $22,500 |
| Fully Loaded | Increases the amount of ammo you can carry. | Max Ammo +100 | 2 | $12,500 |
| Extended Mag | Increases your magazine size. | Magazine Size +50 | 2 | $17,500 |
| Fast Hands | Decreases the time taken to reload your weapon. | Reload Speed +33.33% | 1 | $20,000 |
| Aluminum Body | Reduces the weight of the gun. | Weight -1 | 2 | $10,000 |
Strategies[]
- The m249 isn't exactly the most reliable weapon, but it isn't the worst either. It works quite decently on Medium - Hard mode up until wave 20 - 25, if you manage to get around it's underwhelming DPS and especially it's relatively long reload-time.
- In career mode, this is slightly mitigated by the fact that there is no need to constantly buy ammo box upgrades and refill ammo if this is maxed. Best for cheapskates.
- Also may be used as a last resort if there is already a minigunner player in the server, but you could just use M82.
- As the M249 fires at 800 RPM, a player can sustain fire with this weapon for about 12 seconds before having to reload.
- Shadow Rounds perk can, however, make this gun's magazine last longer.
- Bullet storm may actually prove to be bad on this weapon unless if the player is defending near the ammo box. Level 3 reduces the time to 8.4 seconds and level 4 reduces the time to 7.2 seconds, making the time much shorter. The recoil also stacks much faster.
- Buying Fast Hands upgrade, utilizing Light Mags and/or Speedload perks is a must due to the colossal reload time, in order to bring the reload time below a minimal 3s.
- If that's not enough, Weapon Handling upgrade (located in the workout section of the shop upgrade) can further reduce the reload time.
- Despite its high initial accuracy the M249 can quickly gain spread due to recoil so be sure to control your shots.
- Steady Aim perk is there if you are having trouble with that.
- Basically a pseudo-laser gun. A fusion of Laser Rifle & Minigun.
- With the Ammo Efficiency upgrade maxed, buying a Deployable Ammo, maxing the Speed Hands upgrade and setting the deploy option to Deploy Self, you can essentially get rid of the need to go back to the main ammo box at all. You can also avoid upgrading Ammo Capacity since the M249 will not take any ammo from it.
- Mods that go well with this gun are Swift and Heavy mods.
- When Swampland Map was added to the game, this gun was given powerful upgrade: Shrapnel Rounds. This allows M249 to slow down zombies in addition to shredding them into pieces, making this weapon best crowd-controller (especially if you slap Deep Impact perk and Penetration mod to increase the number of zombies hit with shrapnel rounds).
- However, due to the powerful ability of said upgrade, it is extremely difficult to unlock. Only available to those successfully survived Swampland Map on Impossible mode, keeping this upgrade out of reach for most players.
- If you do use the Shrapnel Rounds upgrade, there is typically no need to use more than a single Penetration mod as it is impossible to get M249 above 1.88 pierce, and thus will not inflict bleed to more than two zombies. You can use the other mod slots for Swift mods as it will help alleviate the very slow reload speed of the M249.
- If you equip the steady grip and steady aim perks at level 3 or 4 and aim down your sight, this gun has virtually almost no recoil and perfect accuracy
- Although, the M249 does not need prestiged aim perks. Level 3 steady aim is sufficient.
Trivia[]
- M249 is the only weapon that can have infinite ammo efficiency while also not being a laser weapon.
- M249 is the second weapon with Shrapnel Rounds upgrade, with RG-6 being the first.
- With the addition of Shrapnel Rounds upgrade, this gun is the second non-gamepass weapon with 8 different upgrades, with the first being SCAR-H.
- In order to unlock Shrapnel Rounds upgrade, you must successfully beat the game in Swampland Map, which is the hardest map in the game, on Impossible mode, which is the highest difficulty in the game. Of course, even the most skilled player has little to no chance of survival in Impossible mode on solo, and therefore they have to take the extra steps to gather 5 more skilled players to help them. Even then, your team must master the use of weapons, equipment, shop upgrades, and player upgrades, as well as utilizing the best perks and mods to ensure their survival. Oh, and that's not even considering the massive cash drain called the Swamp Giant. The M249 is, without a doubt, the weapon upgrade with the most difficult unlock conditions.
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