Silenced Submachine Gun

"Full auto... beautiful."

- Bill

"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 ammo reserve. 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 of 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 weak Special Infected. While it's not very powerful against Tanks, this probably shoots fast enough and may be a powerful Tier 1 Weapon that can take it down with some extra help (such as other players using this weapon too, and the Tank's large size makes the inaccuracy less of a problem).

It is deadly in 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 due to the weapon's exceptional damage per second. Laser sights, when attached, make the Silenced Submachine Gun stunningly effective, as it effectively makes the weapon much easier to aim.

Tactics

 * Players should 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", firing a short string of shots by gentle and quick pressure on the fire control button, then quickly switching targets and repeating the treatment). However, if you are near an ammo pile, ignore this tip, since you won't have ammo problems. Several other fast-firing weapons such as M16 and Combat Rifle also have this problem.
 * 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 horde of Common Infected on the far side of a car park. Long-range targets should be ignored, as they will simply waste ammo.
 * The Silenced Submachine Gun tears through Hordes efficiently.
 * A Magnum or dual P220 Pistols work well with a Silenced Submachine Gun. The Magnum option gives the player a useful long-range secondary weapon to pick off Special Infected, while 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.
 * Laser sights transform the Silenced Submachine Gun's accuracy. Precision long-range shooting is now possible, and Special Infected can be engaged with total confidence.
 * Incendiary and Explosive Ammunition do not benefit the Silenced Submachine Gun as much as they do the normal Submachine Gun on account of its lower accuracy at medium ranges; however, these classes of ammo are deadly in this weapon at short ranges.
 * 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, as well as a capacity to deal damage unmatched by even some Tier 2 rifles.
 * The silencer on the Silenced Submachine Gun is cosmetic, since its "stealth" capability has no gameplay effect: Common Infected are still attracted to its gunfire, despite the Silencer. However, this is not an attempt to increase weapon variants, because it and the Submachine Gun were two totally different weapons - An Ingram MAC-10 and an UZI have similar looks and they are both SMGs.

Pros

 * Hits harder than the regular Submachine Gun and shoots fast enough to surpass the damage per second of both the Assault Rifle and Combat Rifle at close range.
 * It is the only Tier 1 Primary weapon that surpasses the damage per second of dual wielded P220 Pistols fired as fast as possible (Pump Shotgun variants have less than 300, the normal Submachine Gun has 320, two P220s can have up to 350, and the Silenced Submachine Gun has 400)
 * Though it may not have the range of the Submachine Gun, it still has decent accuracy at medium ranges.
 * Fast rate of fire allows it to rip up Common and Special Infected that are at medium distance.
 * If using burst fire, it is not too hard to conserve ammo.
 * Possesses a large reserve ammo supply.
 * Due to its high damage per shot and large reserve ammo, it has higher total damage than any tier 1 weapon, the Hunting Rifle, and the Assault Rifle.
 * Using the Laser Sight on the Silenced Submachine Gun significantly improves its range and accuracy, functionally turning it into a lower accuracy, higher fire rate Assault Rifle variant on par with other Tier 2 weapons.
 * One of the most common starting weapons in the game.
 * Longer effective range than the Pump Shotgun variants and a larger reserve ammo supply.
 * Best Tier 1 weapon against the Tank.

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.
 * The Silenced Submachine Gun's considerable damage per second is dependent upon all bullets hitting their target while firing fully automatic. Firing full auto will exacerbate the Silenced Submachine Gun's poor accuracy, resulting in a large number of missed shots and an overall lower damage output than other weapons at medium or long range.
 * Using full-auto shooting with no trigger discipline will leave a player with an empty ammunition reserve quickly.
 * Requires frequent reloading if a player does not use burst firing.