Light Machine Gun is a unique weapon in Fallout 76. It has a very high rate of fire, but you can also use it very accurately. This is by far the best machine gun in the game. In this guide, I’ll cover why it’s so great and show you how to use it for the best results.
Light Machine Gun Explained
First, LMG is closely related to German MG42 machine gun from World War II. It was so effective that German infantry squad tactics were entirely machine gun-centric. Fallout 76 faithfully recreates what made MG42 great through LMG.
We can start looking for plans starting at level 30. There are many enemies that drop plans in the southern or eastern areas of the map. But by far the easiest way to get this plan is to buy it from Responders Vendor located at Whitespring Resort. It costs quite a few Fallout 76 Bottle Caps, so stocking up on enough currency is crucial.
The weapon is classified as a Heavy Gun, so it benefits from all heavy weapon perks, including Stabilized for extra accuracy and armor penetration in Power Armor.
Pros & Cons
So what makes it so great? Shoot it once and you’ll immediately see one of its advantages.
MG42 is known for its extremely high rate of fire, and so is LMG, which has one of the fastest rates of fire in the game. Currently, only Gatling Laser or Minigun can fire faster than it.
But the advantage of Light Machine Gun is that it does not require wind up. You just point and instantly fire a bullet at whatever object you want to destroy. And the damage of its bullets is about 50% higher than that of Minigun.
All in all, Light Machine Gun is Heavy Gun with the highest DPS in the game. This is indeed proven in practice. If I aim correctly, I can kill any normal enemy with LMG, and it’s about as fast as killing a normal enemy with Railway Rifle. This is so fast.
Meanwhile, for a machine gun, its accuracy is also very high. It hits where you point it and is largely error-free. This makes it almost usable as a combat sniper.
If you try to hit an enemy with a .50 caliber or Minigun from a distance, you’ll see how accurate Light Machine Gun is in comparison. No rapid fire weapon can achieve this level of accuracy without the use of VATS.
But I have to mention that its major disadvantage is the relatively small magazine size, which can only hold 75 rounds. You might think that’s enough, but LMG has a very high rate of fire. So complaints about how often you need to reload are actually pretty common.
Another issue is the high Action Point cost in VATS. You’ll notice your AP drop to zero instantly. But to be fair, all Heavy Guns are very expensive in VATS. You should accept lower accuracy for a high rate of fire.
Tips For Use
So you have a weapon with an unusually high rate of fire and accuracy, but a small magazine. The last thing you want to do with this weapon is spray and pray, unless the enemy is right in front of you and you won’t miss it.
One trick you can use is to immediately aim down the sights, even while the animation is still going on, to make the gun instantly more accurate. Aim and fire, and the muzzle will climb up and tilt slightly to the right. You can actually counter muzzle climb by moving your mouse or controller to continue shooting at the same location.
Since controlling the climb up is a little difficult, I recommend aiming for the chest and letting the muzzle climb up while controlling the lateral movement. If you hit the first one, it will stun the enemy for a second. You can then re-aim and go for a second burst. Most normal enemies will usually go down after two or three bursts.
The closer the enemy is, the longer you can fire. So this means you should keep a shorter distance when fighting distant enemies.
Because aiming down blocks your view, another option if you get stuck is to switch to third person. It’s actually better suited for longer bursts, as you can better track whether the gun is still aimed at the enemy.
The downside is that the bullets are actually fired from your gun, so against very close enemies you may find that the bullets may not go exactly where you want them to.
Overall, Light Machine Gun is great for running and gunning. The combination of high damage and high rate of fire means you can run around taking short shots at enemies you encounter, as few enemies will require you to pause for more than a few seconds.
Mods
LMG only has a few mods. You can add Muzzle Breaks and Prime Receivers for extra damage. Typically, one drawback of Prime Receiver is the need to provide Ultracite ammo. But ammo is especially important for LMG, whether you have it ready or not, because it’s in high demand.
Besides crafting, you can also use Hunting Rifle to collect ammo. Because it’s so powerful, you’ll get extra ammo with each kill. You can then spend it on LMG.
Legendary Weapon Effects
As always, which works best is a matter of personal preference, but I’ll give you some of my own thoughts.
Something that boosts damage, like Aristocrats or Bloodied, is great for the first star since the weapon has high base damage.
Anti-Armor is also good, although if you combine it with Stabilized perk and Power Armor, this should give you about 70% less armor, but aside from Power Armor, it’s still as good as ever.
But I personally recommend using Holy Fire, because the flamer has an area of effect, so you can point directly in the general direction of the enemy.
The second star is the most interesting. Explosive will give you a noticeable damage boost, but if you follow my advice and go for short-range controlled bursts, the explosions will actually interfere with your ability to aim.
Rapid is especially useful because the increase in rate of fire is scaled with the normal rate of fire. So a 25% increase in rate of fire makes a big difference. On LMG, it has a rate of fire of just over 200, which is faster than Gatling Laser or Minigun.
Hitman is another good choice if you want to aim like I recommend. You gain 25% increased damage when aiming. If you know how to collect ammo, Faster Fire may be a better choice.
There are no amazing options for the third star. But Rapid Reload is a good choice since you need to reload often. But I also found that if you have Speed Demon Mutation, your reload speed is just a little faster.
If you use a lot of heavy weapons, you probably already use Bear Arms perk, so Weight Reduction is nice but not required.
Personally, I would choose Aristocrats or Bloodied, Faster Fire, Rapid Reload as a close to ideal three star.
Outro
In short, Light Machine Gun is a unique weapon because it has a very high rate of fire, but if you use it properly, it is also much more accurate than you might think.
In practice, if you use them outside of VATS, they feel like the heavy weapon equivalent to a handmade or combat rifle. If you like running and gunning, then this LMG is definitely for you.
