Battlefield 3 Multiplayer Class And Weapons Guide

I'm very happy to present to you my first guest post here on Light Speed Gaming.
This one comes in from Mike Derges from stinkyink.com, who gives us the low down on the various classes and unlocks in Battlefield 3

A question many gamers ask when they first play a class based shooter is “What class is for me?” this is almost always followed by “Which gun is good?” The purpose of this post is to give new players an overview of what each class offers and a look at some of the top gear for each.

Assault

The Medic class. By default Assault players spawn with either an M16A4 or the AK-74M and their tool of the trade a Medkit.

This allows Assaults to begin their careers as medics, throwing a medkit at your wounded teammates feet cases them to heal rapidly and you to gain points. The ability to keep your team alive is bolstered by the classes first unlock the Defibrillator.

The defibrillator has no kind of ammo supply and can be used without any kind of cool down other than it’s animation. Once hit a player will be given the option of pressing “A” (or “X” for our PS3 friends) to be revived. As well as getting them up and letting them get back into the action revives earn the medic equivalent points to a kill and negate the deaths impact on respawn tickets. For veterans it’s worth noting that unlike in some previous games de-fibbing an opponent does not damage him.

As for weapons the Assault class uses Assault rifles, while still deadly at close range ARs are geared to mid to long range combat and most come able to fire fully Auto or single shot. Key weapons to watch out for are the F2000 which is locked until the player gains 124000 points in the class and the M26 Mass under-slung which adds a shotgun attachment to the under-slung rails provided by most of the assault rifles.

Engineer

Engineers usually spawn with Carbine rifles, these lighter weight assault rifles are often restricted to burst and single shot firing modes. However the semi-auto fire in this game allows a player with mad mashing skills to put out a rate of fire similar no different from full auto so this in fact simply offers more control over your weapon. Among the engineers weapons is the highly regarded SCAR-H which offers fully automatic fire and very good accuracy.

However the real draw of engineers isn’t the weapon selection, it’s the gadgets.

The first pieces of kit that engineers love are the RPG or SMAW rocket launchers that the class beings with. While incapable of vehicle lock-on they can be used un-guided against both ground based infantry and vehicles. As the class progresses they unlock the Alternative launchers the stinger (used for aircraft lock-on) or the Javelin which locks on to enemy armor.

The class also gets a really nice item called the repair tool which lets them keep vehicles in tip top shape, if you maintain a teammates vehicles you’ll again be awarded points. In a pinch this nifty little gadget can also be used to damage opposing armor but it’s not particularly effective and you’ll need to be dangerously close to a tank before you can hurt it.

If using and repairing vehicles isn’t your cup of tea the class unlocks an Anti-tank mine very early which takes the same slot. These mines, unlike most equipment, do not disappear when you die so if you remember to drop them each time you spawn you can quickly build quite a mine field.

The last option in this equipment slot is the remotely activated EOD robot which lets the engineer activate objectives from a safe distance.

Support

The support class does not get many options when it comes to equipment, it only has 2 choices for it’s equipment slot but makes up for this with raw firepower. The classes signature weapon is the light machine gun, the class of weapon with hug rates of fire and massive clip sizes.

The main perk of the support class is the ability to keep yourself and your squad supplied by dropping ammo boxes. Similar to the medkit you gain points each time an ally gets ammo from standing near your box and throwing them down at choke points lets the other classes get to work more efficiently, engineers for example are able to keep up rocket barrages for example.

This also helps support players to keep an almost never ending stream of fire pinning your opponents down.

The secondary equipment slot is up for grabs by the claymore mine and the C4. Unlocked much sooner the C4 can be used in a variety of situations, making alternate routes through levels, booby trapping objectives or as a last ditch anti-armor option. the only downside to C4 is the reliance on the player detonating it.

The Claymore mine is tripped when a player crosses it’s path dealing massive explosive damage aside from this it’s main advantage over the C4 is that a player starts with 5 as opposed to the 3 pieces of C4.

As for weapon selection for a Support I honestly haven’t noticed much difference between the different LMGs other than the initial two offerings. The RPK and the M27 that support players begin with only have 46 bullets in a clip whereas the other guns, the M249, PECHENEG and the M60 all come with 100 shots per reload by default and can be boosted up to 200 by using the extended magazine attachments.

Recon

The recon class is for sniping but by no means should that limit you to the back of the map.

The Sniper rifles are extremely powerful and accurate in BF3 and while they will not kill in one body-shot they are all designed to drop opponents in a single round to the head, rewarding accurate players further.

The weapons for the recon class fall into two groups, bolt action and semi-automatic rifles. Each group has it’s own advantages, bolt rifles typically pack a much greater punch and can cause massive damage even if getting a head-shot is impossible due to cover. Semi-auto rifles trade some power for a greatly increased rate of fire allowing for quicker progression through targets and reduced downtime on a missed shot.

Aside from the guns recons get some pretty nice gear; a squad respawn beacon for players who like to get back in the action (or keep themselves spawning away from it), a Remotely controlled reconnaissance drone which allows the sniper to safely mark enemy targets for himself and his team. In addition to those recon players get access to a motion sensor tool which pings whenever a player gets close and the option of picking up the SOFLAM another remote gadget capable of marking enemy vehicles for your squad to take care of.

So there’s a rundown of the classes and some of the cool things they unlock, there’s still a little more however. A players level also unlocks a few goodies, mainly shotguns and SMGs, these weapons while less specialized than the class specific unlocks are available for every class allowing close ranged recon play or light-weight support action.

I hope this has given you a taste for the options available to you as a player, if you want to share any killer weapon combinations and class set-ups please do by writing out a comment below.