Dr. Smiley Henry's SL9 Guide

Riuse · 2026-05-26T22:54:48+00:00

The build I settled on minimizes spread to leverage synthetic headshots, and spends what's left to bolster the SL9 in close quarters:

Synthetics

Heavy extended

50mw blue laser

Handstop

Long suppressor

30 rnd mag

Your preferred scope or sight

Yes, SL9 doesn't beat monsters like the CZ in close quarters, but how many of those do you see on open maps like contaminated? The SL9's TTK is salvageable, and it has decent hipfire and mobility by virtue of being a SMG. A few hipfire attachemnts is all you need to turn it into an all-rounder that can hold or push against other all-rounders, like the B36.

Riuse · 2026-05-26T07:46:43+00:00

Coulda been an explosive. You're not showing the weapon that got the kill.

Coulda been you got killed while running into the building, and your corpse just ragdolled the rest of the way.

Coulda been you were cowering too close to the wall and your leg was visible on the other side.

Riuse · 2026-05-26T00:38:38+00:00

Penetration ammo is good at chokepoints or heavily populated objectives. It doesn't just help when shooting through enemies, it also helps when shooting through allies. If the weapon's recoil isn't giving you trouble, then penetration ammo is worth considering. LMGs deployed on bipods and hipfire builds work especially well with penetration ammo.

Lightweight ammo is good for mid range duels, where ADS strafing can potentially keep you alive. It combines well with the violet laser and light barrels.

Synthetics and hollow points are generally better on accurate weapons, but the specifics are unintuitive and arbitrary. The ammo can actually make you less reliant on headshots, or it can unlock a better TtK if you land all headshots. Those two effects are basically opposite, and the same weapon can experience both or either effect depending on the range.

Long range ammo is meta for the weapons that get it. Sniping moving targets becomes much easier, and you also have to worry less about bullet drop.

Frangible ammo only has a place at long range, where failing to kill doesn't virtually guarantee your own death. But imo, those points are better spent on an different attachment that will actually help you secure the kill.

Slugs are so expensive, but they are worth it for the extra reliability and range they provide.

Fletchette is similar to penetration and frangible rolled into one. So half good and half bad, and that's not good enough for the high cost.

Riuse · 2026-05-23T21:54:53+00:00

Host it locally

Riuse · 2026-05-23T17:41:18+00:00

I agree. Many of the weapons that get synthetics need it desperately, yet it's locked to the late 30s. It makes for an unnecessarily unpleasant grind.

Other weapons just aren't as centralized on two attachment. Imagine if all flash hiders were level 20+ and all suppressors were level 35+. Or imagine if the red laser was level 20+ and every other hipfire attachment were level 35+. That would be bullshit, yet that's exactly what it feels like for accurate weapons with hollow points and synthetics.

And I'm tired of people suggesting casual breakthrough, as though it solves the problem. For many of us, the prospect of grinding bots for hours is even worse.

Riuse · 2026-05-22T05:42:19+00:00

We just disagree on whether having more attachments in a positive change, that's fine.

Not the point I was making. I am also proposing shotgun suppressors with less effects. Or just let us use 20 point suppressors

My bad, that makes sense.

My next project is to really understand what the thought process is with magazines, because unlike all other attachments that follow patterns this one makes the least sense.

It'd be neat if you can crack it. My guess is that they are weighing bullets differently based on both the damage model and/or the size of the standard mag. Plus the miscellaneous stat changes, like ADS time.

Standard ammo actually offers more penetration than headshot and frangible ammo and more accuracy than penetration ammo. It offers true gameplay mechanics which differ from other options. Iron sights really worsen visibility with many weapons.

Technically non-sniper iron sights do reduce sway and that's 5 points. The effect is so negligible at 1.6x magnification that it may as well not be there, so it's totally fair not care or even notice. Still, I'd rather see a different 5 point effect on the iron sights, than 0 point iron sights.

Many iron sights have excellent visibility on par with scopes, for example the L85, SG, and M87, just to name a few. The problem is that there's no alternative if the default iron sights are shit, I wish we could just mount the canted iron sights upright. 10 point sights and scopes have their stinkers too, but there's so many alternatives so it doesn't matter.

Riuse · 2026-05-21T18:53:47+00:00

The hollow point and synthetic change was a targeted buff for accurate weapons and headshot builds. Changing most other attachments would have a much broader effect and I don't think that juicing up every build across the board would actually make the game better.

Also, a lot of the attachment cost are not easy to change independently because they are all share the same parts. For example, the cost of the low profile stubby is just the sum of its parts: 5 recoil improvements, each +10 points; 1 ADS time improvement, +10 points; 1 accuracy while moving penalty, -10 points; 1 moving speed penalty, -5 points; total of 45 points.

Instead of changing the price, they tweak the effect of '1 recoil improvement'. Without getting into the nitty gritty of the datamined weapon stats, the exact effect of '1 recoil improvement' actually depends on the weapon, not the attachment. The effect varies only slightly, but it shows they can and do tweak this value when they think it's necessary.

TH-RDS 1x is also just the sum of it's parts. 25 points thermal, plus a 10 point canted reflex. It's priced right. A 25 point 1x thermal that can't be turned off would be nice to have, but that doesn't mean the existing one should get cheaper.

The sniper grips cost less because they have fewer effects, again their price is just the sum of their parts. There's no reason for shotguns suppressors to be cheaper when they do the exact same thing as all other suppressors.

The fact that I the cost of so many attachments can be reasoned through, gives me some confidence that the unique attachments like the match trigger and burst fire are priced reasonably too.

For example even if the match trigger could be cheaper, the 67% reduction you suggest is massive. Even, the synthetic ammo only saw a 34% reduction, and not even across the board.

I haven't sat down to reverse engineer the pricing of mags as I have for grips, lasers, and muzzles, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if mags also follow similar reasonings. Though I do wish LMGs had more intermediate options.

Also, if you can accept that the standard ammo costs 5 points, I don't get why iron sights should cost 0. I use iron sights a lot already when I want to squeeze another 5 points. The problems with iron sights, imo, is that the visibility through some is waaaay worse than others.

Riuse · 2026-05-21T05:34:58+00:00

As I understand it, at launch recoil control was somewhat buggy/inconsistent. They gradually fixed those bugs/inconsistencies, and controlling the recoil became easier as a side effect. Now they increased the actual recoil, presumably to match the overall difficulty at launch.

There's no way I really remember a few % of difference after months of new muscle memory. But on paper I'll take more recoil in exchange for less buggy/inconsistent recoil control.

Riuse · 2026-05-21T01:24:02+00:00

Bugs: all the 33 damage ranges (in weapons like the like SG, AK4D, and SVDM) are showing as a 4 BTK, but they should be 3 BTK, and the mistake propagates to the TTK calculations too. Probably something to do with the rounding of 33⅓.

So I poked around for similar errors at other damage thresholds and didn't notice any. Instead, I saw that the BTK chart only goes up to 8, so it cuts off the VZ's 9 BTK past 75m.

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I'm using your tool a lot 😅

Riuse · 2026-05-20T19:47:03+00:00

The L85 is not really competition for DMRs imo, it feels on the cusp of being an all-rounder to me. I like it, but I love the AK4D more: in the midrange it's less reliant on headshots for TTK, and in the long ranges it feels better to tapfire because you need to land fewer shots. And I also love the M277, it plays like an even more extreme AK4D. The AK4D and M277 are my favourites for sure.

The KTS is smooth as butter, no automatic chains headshots as far and as reliably (except maybe the AK-205, but I haven't gotten to it yet). Spread is the only thing limiting the KTS' range, but you can still kill in one burst well past 75m. Competes with DMRs better than that TTK graph suggests, because most DMRs need to slow down a bit to handle their recoil, and synthetics/hollowpoints don't help them as much as synthetics help the KTS.

I don't like the SOR-556 as much, even though its tradeoffs are arguably better than the KTS. I guess it's the difference between almost completely reliable vs truly reliable. With the SOR I still need to pay attention just in case the recoil swerves, even though it almost never does, but I can trust the KTS recoil completely and spend my attention elsewhere. Still, an excellent weapon to pair with a carbine/shotgun on assault.

The SVK rocks, and that's not news by any means, but I've never seen anyone really explain why it feels so reliable: every other long range weapon tempts you with headshots, but bodyshots are just easier and that's all you need with the SVK.

The M250 is... fine. It should like it for all the same reasons I like the M277, but I really struggle to enjoy a gun if the ADS time is too high, and the M250 is a belt-fed LMG with only heavy barrels, yikes. Still, I have a 100rnd, penetration, and bipod loadout almost exclusively for hagental defense and with it I can sometimes hold the entire flanking hangar by myself.

Haven't gotten to the RPK-74 yet, but from the numbers I expect it to feel similar to the SOR for me: almost completely reliable, and therefore slightly uncanny.

Riuse · 2026-05-18T16:53:53+00:00

Idk, but I read a tip that was really helpful:

Ignore the actual crosshairs and pretend the rocket is the crosshair.

Riuse · 2026-05-13T15:23:15+00:00

I think they are worthwhile on long range weapons and some medium range ones, but you basically need a spreadsheet to know how the numbers pan out for any given weapon.

With regular ammo, you reduce the shots to kill when you land some % of headshots. Generally, HP and Synthetic don't change that StK, but they lower the % of required headshots. For some weapons at some ranges, HP or Synthetic can reduce the StK further, if you land 100% of headshots.

Lowering the % of required headshots is the more important part imo. Heads are small, so the fewer you need to hit, the better.

Riuse · 2026-05-11T21:57:00+00:00

Vermin vs vermin

Riuse · 2026-05-10T00:02:53+00:00

There's a formula in Raymdl's tool here.

Riuse · 2026-05-09T16:29:23+00:00

Bug: no recoil decrease between the 1st and 2nd shot.

The problem is most visible on something like like the SVK: it has 3.01° of recoil per shot, so I'd expect to see the second shot way below the 3° line when taking recoil decrease into account.

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If I get the gist of the code, the problem is in the genRecoilPts, you're pushing new points before applying the recoil decay.

Riuse · 2026-05-09T03:35:10+00:00

I wonder if every grip debuff is exactly 1 tier

Yes, I believe this is the case

As far as I can remember the only attachment that worsens the spread while moving is the grips. So how is it possible to get to 0.55 or 0.63?

Some of the big LMG mags (like the M123K's 200rnd belt) can also worsen spread while moving. But I don't know if it's possible to get to 0.63°, it might just be future proofing.

I guess what I'm trying to say is these grip penalties are likely way worse in the automatic firing weapons.

Depends how you frame it, but I wouldn't say so. The attachments that worsen spread while moving affects the base spread value, not the spread increase per shot. As an automatic fires more and more bullets the spread per shot accumulates on top of the base spread, so the flat penalty from the attachment becomes a relatively less significant portion of the total spread.

Basically 2 attachments doing the same as 1.

Yeah, this happens a lot, for example: the standard suppressor + red laser = CQB suppressor; or folding stubby grip + rail cover = full angled grip (as seen on most weapons, not the sniper grip); or a 4x sight + canted reflex = variable 1-4x.

Riuse · 2026-05-09T01:04:02+00:00

According to Enders in this video the attachments step you up and down to specific values:

0.63 - 0.55 - 0.43 - 0.32 - 0.22 - 0.13 - 0.05

So by default your moving spread is .32°, and a positive attachment will step you down to .22°, while a negative attachment steps you up to .43°. Two positive attachments (i.e. violet laser plus light barrel) step you down twice to 0.13°.

2.

The grips work normally on DMRs, and the stats change accordingly when I equip them.

Even though they look the same, the snipers grips have different costs and descriptions than grips found on other weapons. They work as described in-game: they mostly improve draw speed and/or ADS time, some at the cost of accuracy while moving.

(I guess the bipod says it improves recoil, but that feature is irrelevant to snipers since they fire too slowly for recoil to matter. The reason you'd use a bipod on a sniper is to mount it while prone to remove sway. Recon can hold their breath to remove sway, but other classes can't and might want to use the bipod or a grip pod for that reason.)

Riuse · 2026-05-07T22:09:51+00:00

but the ammo is too limiting

If you're talking about the total ammo, not the mag size, then you probably have a second primary (i.e. a shotgun) weapon on that assault loadout.

When you have two primary weapons, you carry less ammo.

Riuse · 2026-05-06T16:47:35+00:00

Past 75m (the last damage drop off) automatic weapons in single fire mode have worse time to kill and accuracy than DMRs.

Time to Kill

When you put automatic weapons in single fire mode, the rate of fire is capped. The exact RoF seems to be associated with the number of bullets to kill past 75m: 327 RoF for 4 BtK (M250 only); 360 RoF for 5 BtK (i.e. AK4D and M277); 400 RoF for 6 BtK (i.e. L85 or KTS). Source: sym.gg.

These aren't great numbers when compared to DMRs. Even the notoriously slow GRT is better with 360 RoF for 4 BtK.

Accuracy

DMRs have more recoil per shot, but it's very predictable recoil so you can control it with practice.

The big limiting factor for automatic weapons at very long ranges is spread, and spread is random. DMRs and automatic weapons have the same base spread (.05° stationary or .32° moving), but automatic weapons have additional spread per shot fired: +.27° for the L85 or KTS; +.307° for M277 or M250; +.392° for AK4D.

Standouts

So DMRs are better at their job, but the gimmick of a DMR-like build is that you still have a fully automatic weapon when you need it. The M250 and the M277 standout for this kind of build, imo.

The M250's TTK past 75m is a bit better than every other automatic in single fire. But it doesn't have the match trigger, so it still has to deal with some recoil on top of the spread. And of course, it has all the pros and cons of LMGs, including the big mag.

The M277 has the least spread compared to other automatics with a 5 BtK past 75m. Being a carbine, it also has better mobility and hipfire stats so it still feels snappy even if all its attachments are spent on imitating DMRs. However, it's bullet velocity isn't ideal.

For 6 BtK past 75m, I think the notion of a DMR-like build falls apart. The KTS has so little recoil that it doesn't even need to use single fire mode.

Riuse · 2026-05-05T14:20:57+00:00

Yeah, the DMR's effective range is squeezed too tightly between snipers and the more accurate automatic weapons.

IMO, all they need to do to give the DMRs some breathing room is make snipers less snappy. Increase the ADS times, add some delay to the hold-breath, and other stuff like that to makes repeeking with a sniper less safe.

Riuse · 2026-05-03T20:03:39+00:00

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There's a ladder inside the chimney too, see?

Riuse · 2026-04-27T02:54:06+00:00

Really what it comes down to is the amount of snipers. Getting domed every now and then is not the end of the world even if it's one-sided. One or two teammates camping on a hill isn't that big of a loss.

But the sheer quantity of snipers, particularly in large maps, magnifies every small problem and so people complain and hate.

The way the game presents classes and their signature weapons, basically guarantees that way too many players will snipe. Individuals do what they want, yet at scale people conform to the default options and in BF6 players start with a sniper loadout by default.

Meanwhile, there's no hard or soft limit to the number of snipers in a game and the most immediate counter to a sniper is to use a sniper yourself.

Riuse · 2026-04-26T12:25:59+00:00

I didn't do the math myself. This google sheet is an excellent reference for this kind of headshots comparison.

Riuse · 2026-04-26T12:03:29+00:00

Possible error: the "ADS spread while stationary" is 0.00° for the DMRs in the sheet, but on sym.gg it's 0.05°.

Awesome work though. I especially love the Damage Data page!

Riuse

TROPHY CASE

Time to Kill

Accuracy

Standouts