Combat Rifle

"This big rifle is now mine."

- Louis "Ah hell. Gonna set some things right with this shit."

- Coach

The Combat Rifle (also referred to as the Desert Rifle) is a Tier 2 Assault Rifle variant that has a capacity of 60 rounds per magazine. Unlike the other assault rifles, it fires a three-round burst. Holding down the trigger button will continually fire three-round bursts, unlike burst rifles in most games, where the trigger must be pulled every time a burst is fired. Sustained bursts make for a more accurate spread of fire than the Assault Rifle.

Official Description
Similar in firepower to the M16, the Desert Rifle boasts a three-round burst from a single pull of the trigger. Sustained bursts make for a more accurate spread of fire than the M16, with improved ammo conservation.

Tactics

 * The Combat Rifle is slightly more accurate than the Assault Rifle, and fires three-round bursts, making it effective for picking off Special Infected at a distance.
 * The Combat Rifle's ability to continually fire bursts as long as the trigger is held down makes it effective against Hordes. Sweep your line of fire and swap to a melee weapon when appropriate to conserve ammunition. If you take a knee and shoot at the headline of oncoming horde, you can still get 1-shot-1-kill results.
 * A total of 420 rounds translates to 140 pulls of the trigger; watch your ammunition count and use your secondary weapon when appropriate.
 * Reload whenever possible. The Combat Rifle's reload time is longer than its counterparts, so reload only when you find a suitable interlude.
 * The Combat Rifle maintains high accuracy while moving.
 * The Combat Rifle has the highest magazine capacity among assault rifles, providing high efficiency with Explosive Ammunition and Incendiary Ammunition. This is somewhat counteracted by burst which will eat up the ammo faster.
 * Especially prioritize accuracy with the Combat Rifle; an inaccurate player will waste three rounds at a time instead of one.

Pros

 * Best accuracy out of all assault rifle weapons, particularly on the run and when being attacked.
 * Three-round burst helps experienced players conserve ammo and regain accuracy (the crosshair will tighten back between bursts).
 * Three-round burst also increases hit chance - if the first bullet misses, the spread from that shot will cause the next two bullets to deviate from the crosshair, hitting any infected right next to the point of aim.
 * Three-round burst can be wasteful in lower difficulties, but in higher difficulties, it's perfect to drop a Common Infected with one trigger pull to the chest.
 * The large magazine size and enforced burst fire will keep this weapon online for as long as it takes Survivors with other weapons to empty their guns and reload. This prevents the team from suffering long seconds of no one firing and everyone reloading.
 * When matched with a melee weapon, encourages weapon switching. With other rifles it is quite easy to lean on the trigger when surrounded, neglecting use of the secondary until ammo is dry.
 * Highest Damage per Magazine when compared to other Assault Rifles.
 * Good at taking down Hordes when continually firing.
 * Works well with a Laser Sight.
 * Quite powerful at taking down Special Infected and very effective when it comes to dealing with the Tank.
 * Works well with Explosive Ammunition and Incendiary Ammunition.
 * Can help save teammates with ease. Low friendly-fire damage and high accuracy make it highly effective in racking up protects, even when firing into complicated situations.

Cons

 * Longest reloading time for an assault rifle-type weapon. Spending upwards of 3 seconds reloading is not feasible in many high-pressure situations. Players that instinctively reload after firing a few times will have to unlearn this usually commendable habit to use this weapon effectively.
 * If you continually fire, you will find yourself running low on ammo quite often.
 * When surrounded, the burst shot makes it more difficult to clear away enemies as opposed to the full-automatic rifles.
 * Can deplete ammo faster than the other assault rifles when facing small numbers of Infected. While they can be used to pick off Infected at a distance with one shot (and careful timing of the fire button), the Combat Rifle will always fire three shots, regardless of how quickly the button is pressed. This can be bypassed with a carefully timed melee shove during a burst, which will stop said burst in between shots. It may be advised to switch to the secondary weapon for removing single Common Infected.
 * The three-shot burst mode when using Special Ammo is particularly inefficient when picking off Infected at a distance. The other assault rifles are easier to fire single shots, which makes them more efficient with Special Ammo used at long range.
 * Low rate of fire per burst.

Differences
The Combat Rifle fires in three-round bursts as opposed to full-automatic, which translates the 60-round magazine to 20 shots. The individual bursts are highly accurate, and the weapon is still greatly accurate when running or being hit by Infected. DPS is higher than the Assault Rifle, but lower than the AK-47, and the reload time is the longest of the assault rifles; it takes a little over three seconds to reload.