Silenced Submachine Gun

"I guess it'll do. Yeah, whatever, it's a machine gun."

- Ellis

"This shit will even up the score."

- Nick

The Silenced Submachine Gun is a Submachine Gun variant in Left 4 Dead 2. It features a sound suppressor, a 50 round magazine and 650 rounds of reserve ammo. Together with the Chrome Shotgun, Pump Shotgun, and Submachine Gun, it is one of the standard weapons issued to players at the start of a campaign.

The Silenced Submachine Gun has a high rate fire and greater stopping power than the normal Submachine Gun - a Common Infected will drop almost instantly when hit with a short burst and it makes short work of Spitters, Smokers and Boomers. Not surprisingly though, its ability versus Tanks is low.

It is deadly at close quarters and its accuracy at medium ranges is impressive - if the player is prepared to aim carefully and squeeze off short bursts. Adventurous players may care to retain it for a while in preference to switching it out for the first Tier 2 weapon encountered during a campaign in order to discover just how capable the Silenced Submachine Gun can be. For example, when playing Dark Carnival, laser sights sometimes spawn at the Whispering Oaks Motel and with this attached, the Silenced Submachine Gun is stunningly effective.

Tactics

 * Rule Number One: Players must fire in short bursts to conserve ammunition and accuracy. This weapon will burn through ammo to little effect otherwise. (Players should get into the habit of "burst firing" a short string of shots by gentle and quick pressure on the fire control button and then quickly switching targets and repeating the treatment.)
 * For the best accuracy at medium ranges, players should take careful aim - even going into a crouch to engage (e.g.) a Smoker on a roof line or a gaggle of Common Infected on the far side of a car park. Long range targets should be passed over as they will simply waste ammo.
 * The Silenced Submachine Gun tears through Hordes efficiently.
 * A Magnum or Dual Pistol combination works well with a Silenced Submachine Gun. The Magnum option gives the player a useful long range secondary weapon to pick off Special Infected whilst Dual Pistols can engage a wide variety of routine targets thereby saving the Silenced Submachine Gun for emergencies. Any melee weapon is also a good option as a primary weapon to save ammo.
 * The Laser Sight transforms the Silenced Submachine Gun's accuracy. Precision long range shooting is now possible and Special Infected can be engaged with total confidence.
 * Incendiary ammunition and Explosive ammunition do not benefit the Silenced Submachine Gun as much as they do the normal Submachine Gun on account of the Silenced Submachine Gun's lower accuracy at medium ranges. However these classes of ammo are deadly in this weapon at short ranges and close quarters.
 * Until members of a co-op team have acquired Tier 2 rifles, the Silenced Submachine Gun confers a medium range combat capability that cannot be provided by the shorter-legged Pump Shotgun alone.
 * The silencer on the Silenced Submachine Gun is spurious since its "stealth" capability has no game play effect: Common Infected are alerted by flashlights and Boomer vomit - never by the sound of gunfire.

Pros

 * Harder hitting than the regular Submachine Gun.
 * Though it may not have the range of its un-silenced counterpart, it still has decent accuracy at medium ranges.
 * Fast rate of fire allows it to rip up Hordes and Special Infected that are close.
 * If using burst fire, it is not too hard to conserve ammo.
 * A large reserve ammo supply.
 * Using the Laser Sight on the Silenced Submachine Gun makes it the most capable Tier 1 weapon in the game.
 * One of the most common starting weapons in the game.
 * Longer effective range than the Pump Shotgun and a larger reserve ammo supply.

Cons

 * Accuracy is noticeably lower than the Submachine Gun at long range.
 * While doing higher damage than the regular Submachine Gun, it still has a fairly low damage output per shot.
 * A poor weapon versus a Tank.
 * Using full auto shooting with no trigger discipline will leave a player without ammo in very short order.
 * Requires frequent reloading if a player does not use burst firing.