Combat Rifle

"This big rifle is now mine."

- Louis

"Grabbing the assault rifle."

- Nick

The Combat Rifle (most commonly known as the Desert Rifle) is a Tier 2 assault variant in Left 4 Dead 2 that has a capacity of 60 rounds per magazine and is based on the real life FN SCAR-L. Unlike the other assault rifles, it fires in three-round bursts. Contrary to burst rifles featured in other games, where the trigger must be pulled every time a burst is fired, this weapon's trigger can be held down for multiple bursts. Sustained bursts make for a more accurate spread of fire than the M16 and AK-47. The Combat Rifle's damage falls off with distance, starting with 3% damage per 500 Hammer units and significantly greater damage falloff after 1500 Hammer units. It has a max range of 3000 Hammer units.

The Combat Rifle is preferred by Bill, Louis, Nick, and Rochelle (as well as Zoey in the older Xbox 360 version of Left 4 Dead 2).

Official Description
Similar in firepower to the M-16 Assault Rifle, 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 M-16, with improved ammo conservation.

Tactics

 * The Combat Rifle is the most accurate assault rifle in the game and a lot more accurate in bursts than the M-16 Assault Rifle, making it effective for weakening and killing Special Infected from a distance. It can kill Common Infected with one burst, even on Expert. It also carries the most ammo per magazine out of all assault rifles.
 * The Combat Rifle also maintains high accuracy while moving, which allows you to cover or save teammates even while taking evasive maneuvers, moving to help another teammate, or attempting to reach a level objective.
 * 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 kneel down and shoot at the headline of the oncoming Horde, you can still get 1-shot-1-kill results.
 * A total of 420 rounds translates to 140 pulls of the trigger, so accuracy to conserve ammo is crucial.
 * Because the Combat Rifle's reload time is longer than most of its counterparts with the exception of the SG 552, it's highly recommended to reload only when you find a suitable interlude.
 * The Combat Rifle has the second highest magazine capacity of any automatic weapon in the game, providing high efficiency with Explosive Ammunition and Incendiary Ammunition. This is somewhat counteracted by burst which will eat up any ammo you waste over twice as fast.
 * Prioritize accuracy with the Combat Rifle; an inaccurate player will waste three rounds at a time instead of one.

Pros

 * High accuracy.
 * Burst fire helps conserving ammo and killing enemies.
 * Medium damage, one burst is enough to kill any common infected on any difficulty.
 * Massive magazine, allowing it to take huge advantage of ammo upgrades.
 * Relatively common.

Cons

 * Low DPS.
 * Forced bursting requires more precise aiming to conserve ammo.
 * Slow reload.

Differences
The Combat Rifle fires in three-round bursts as opposed to fully automatic, which translates the 60-round magazine to 20 trigger pulls. The individual bursts are highly accurate, and the weapon is still greatly accurate when running or being hit by Infected. DPS (368.4) is lower than the M-16 Assault Rifle, the SG 552 (both ~376.2) and the AK-47 (446.0), and the reload time is the longest of the assault rifles; it takes a little over three seconds to reload the weapon.