Stinger

The Stinger is the cheaper SMG at 1,100 credits and has the fastest fire rate of any weapon in the game at 16 rounds per second — but pays for it with a smaller 20-round magazine and lower per-shot damage (67.5 headshot within 15 meters, 57 beyond it) than the Spectre.

Its ADS mode locks into a 4-round burst rather than full-auto fire, giving it a distinct, more controlled option at range that the hip-fire spray doesn't offer.

That burst-fire ADS mode is functionally similar in spirit to the Bulldog's, giving the Stinger a split identity between a chaotic close-range spray weapon and a more deliberate, aimed option when the situation calls for it.

The sheer rate of fire means bullets land quickly once the crosshair is on target, which can shred an opponent in a very short window at close range. The ADS burst mode gives it more reach than its raw damage numbers might suggest, letting a player fight at a slightly longer distance with better control than hip-firing would allow.

The smaller magazine runs out faster than the Spectre's in a sustained fight, and the lower per-shot damage means it loses straight trades against the pricier SMG or any rifle at range. Low wall penetration is shared with the Spectre, so neither SMG has an edge shooting through cover.

Its damage falls off after just 15 meters — a shorter effective range bracket than the Spectre's — so a Stinger user pushed into a genuinely mid-range engagement is at a clearer disadvantage than a Spectre user would be in the same spot.

At 1,100 credits, the Stinger is one of the cheapest genuine automatic-fire upgrades available, making it a strong eco or light-buy pick when the Spectre's extra 500 credits isn't in the budget but a rifle definitely isn't either.

It's a reasonable pick specifically against other eco or pistol-round opponents, where its fire rate advantage matters more than its damage deficit relative to a full rifle.

It's also worth considering over the Spectre specifically when the extra 500 credits would otherwise go toward armor or utility that the team needs more urgently that round — the Stinger still gives a real fire-rate advantage over sidearms for meaningfully less.

Lean on the ADS burst mode for anything beyond point-blank range — hip-firing the Stinger at distance wastes its main advantage, since the burst mode meaningfully tightens the spread compared to full-auto hip fire.

It rewards the same aggressive, close-range mindset as the Spectre but with less margin for error given the smaller magazine — landing the first few bullets matters more here, since there's less ammunition in reserve to recover from a bad opening exchange.

Given the shorter effective range, committing fully to close-quarters positioning — rather than trying to contest the same mid-range spots a Spectre user might hold — tends to get more consistent value out of it.

Against pistols at close range, the Stinger's fire rate generally wins a straight trade, similar to the Spectre, though the smaller magazine means it needs to close out the fight quickly rather than sustain an extended exchange.

Against the Spectre, the matchup favors the pricier SMG at anything past close range — the Stinger needs to force the fight into its own 15-meter window to have a real edge.

Against a rifle, the Stinger is at a clear disadvantage at any real distance and depends entirely on catching an opponent by surprise at point-blank range, where its fire rate can land enough shots before a rifle's slower-but-harder-hitting fire responds.

The Stinger's short effective range makes it best suited to maps with tight, close-quarters layouts — sites with short corners and connector rooms rather than long open lanes, where its 15-meter damage window covers most of the realistic engagement distance anyway.

It's a reasonable budget-conscious alternative to the Spectre on those same maps when the extra 500 credits would do more good spent on armor or utility, provided the plan is to fight close rather than contest any real distance.

On a map with any real long sightlines, the Stinger is a weaker fit than the Spectre or a rifle, and a team relying on it there is generally better served planning to force fights into the corners and rooms where its fire rate actually matters.

It's a common pairing with a light armor buy on a genuine force round, since the credits saved relative to the Spectre or a rifle can go directly into that extra protection, which matters more in practice, round after round, than the small per-shot damage difference in most of the close-quarters gunfights the Stinger actually ends up getting used for in a typical match.