R2DA Wiki
Register
Advertisement

"Capable of dealing mass amounts of damage with the pull of a trigger, the M249 is the go to weapon for any survivor looking for some heavy firepower. You'll be the coolest person in the server while wielding this bad boy."
―Hotorchi

Summary

The M249, formally referred to as the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW), is a light machine gun added to R2DA in its 100th update — otherwise known as v1.0.0.

It has quite a bit of ammo, great range, decent accuracy and can be compared to the Minigun due to the fact that they both tear zombies to bits. The most important difference between the two, however, is that the M249 is refillable.

However, this does come with some trade-offs: the higher rank requirement, higher price, longer reload and the slower walkspeed. This makes you an easy target for Brute clubs, Elemental fireballs, Edgar tongues, etc., so you must be aware of your positioning. This is also a crowd control weapon, like the Minigun. Treat it as such.

Background Story

The M249 was a weapon to behold - the most powerful machine gun, capable of mowing down waves of zombies in a matter of seconds, except for Brutes.

Downsized fifty-five round magazines were required to make it wieldable along with heavy armor and secondary weapons, but the firepower of this weapon is nothing to sneeze at. Perhaps one of the most deadly additions to the survivors' arsenals, this weapon can easily cripple or kill any infected in a matter of seconds.

Its firepower not only allows its bullets to easily pierce through multiple infected but also packs a serious punch. This is one of the best weapons of choice against one of the most dangerous foes of all - the Charged Brute - who will quickly fall in the face of 500 rounds of lead per minute.

Survivors that were firearm experts wondered why this functioned more like an M60 rather than an actual M249 that some company produced before the apocalypse. When R-Brain Hardwork was asked this, they said that this is actually not really an M249 but actually an MK48 which is the upsized 7.62x51 variant of the M249.

Tips

  • Aim down sights as often as possible when shooting, as the spread is decreased.
  • This weapon slows you down when it is equipped. only equip it when you need to.
    • Be aware of any mobs the same way as if you had a Minigun.
    • However, this only takes a quarter of your speed.
      • Compared to the Minigun, your movement speed is slowed down by 4, whereas the minigun slows you down by 8 walk-speed.
  • Fire in short bursts of rounds to conserve ammo. Equip when necessary.
    • This gun is also decently accurate and long-ranged, so don't be afraid to attack distant enemies.
    • You can bring it a step further and try aiming for the head. A simple headshot with this deals 130 damage, one-shotting most Normal Zombies without any levelling.
    • You can also crouch and ADS to improve accuracy even further to achieve maximum efficiency.
  • Bring in a reliable secondary that can help with the long 4.85 second reload.
    • The CK Swat, Katana and Axe can quickly take care of zombies that are closing in.
    • The Steyr M is also a good choice to use with its abundant ammo.
    • The Mini Uzis are the most reliable weapons to use against zombies chasing after you, while reloading, since their rate of fire (500 RPM, ~0.12s) can mow down a horde of zombies in a matter of seconds.
    • The Rambo Knife, Karambit and Tinpot are nice and light weapons to use to get away from zombies while having to reload.
    • The Baseball Bat, with the Tactical II or Scout, can clean a huge horde of zombies.
    • The Luger P08 can help with picking out distant enemies.
      • If your secondary isn't enough, stick with teammates so they can protect you when reloading.
    • Bring some form of distraction, like a Pipebomb, or if you have it, a Phial of Galadriel, this will make zombies move away from you to give you some space to reload.
  • Bring a Tactical II or Scout with you, as the vests provide bonus stamina which can be useful if you need to run away from the battle to reload.
    • Unlike the Minigun, the M249 does not need to use the Bandolier to gain extra mags. Normal vests are fine.
    • The Bandolier supplies two additional magazines, a trait unique to the M249.
  • Like the Minigun, this is a good tool to use against a Brute.
    • You should consider this weapon a re-loadable Minigun. Treat it as such.
  • If Killstreaks matter to you, this weapon can be used to rack up combos.
  • It's best to bring the Hipfire attachment on small maps like Café County as it increases your accuracy.
  • This can penetrate through 2 targets, hitting 3 targets in total.
  • For bosses, bring the Jetpack or a mount with good mobility, to save yourself if you get Stunned, or getting pushed off the map.

Pros

  • High Damage
  • Hard Impact
  • High Magazine Ammo
  • High DPS
  • Very High Damage per Magazine
  • Very High Total Damage
  • Automatic

Cons

  • Slow Walk-speed
  • Slow Reload
  • Expensive
  • High Ranked
  • Low Reserve Ammo

Trivia

Updates

  • v1.0.2
    • Rank changed from 25 to 30.
  • v1.2.0
    • Accuracy changed from 100 to 50.
    • Damage changed from 95 to 65.
  • v1.4.0
    • Rank changed from 30 to 41.

  • This is the second machine gun to be added to R2DA, with the Minigun being the first.
    • However, this is the first light machine gun in the R2D series, as the Minigun is a heavy machine gun.
  • This is the first gun to offer animations as attachments.
  • This is the second weapon that you cannot sprint with, the Minigun being the first.
  • This is one of the five guns currently capable of penetrating zombies.
  • In real life, the M249's rate of fire is faster than in-game.
    • It is about 800 RPM to be exact.
  • The M249 is sometimes referred to as the "Squad Automatic Weapon" alone.
    • An actual M249 has a 200 round capacity (can vary depending on the number of rounds on a belt) compared to the 55 you see in-game.
  • The M249, along with the Minigun, benefits from the extra ammo (Minigun) / extra mags (M249).
  • Prior to v1.2.0, The M249 deals 95 damage that you can one shot Edgars and it has 100 Accuracy.


Advertisement