What’s up guys, Rogue-9 here and today we continue our quest to find the best loadout
for each operator in Rainbow Six Siege, by examining the loadout META for Jackal’s
primaries: the C7E assault rifle and the PDW9 SMG.
You know the drill!
Analyse stats, run some tests and then draw conclusions; let’s go!
Many thanks to Massdrop and the PC37X gaming headset for sponsoring this video!
If you have been following my Twitch streams over the last couple of months, you will have
seen me wear this headset quite extensively and I have been really happy with it!
Sennheiser is of course known for making great quality speakers and great speakers translate
into great sound quality.
The microphone automatically mutes itself when flipped up and you also get a volume
control button on the other side.
Light and comfortable to wear even over long time periods, I would say that this headset
is a great all in one solution for anyone looking for a mic and headphone combo but
don’t just take my word for it.
The item currently has 563 reviews on the Massdrop website, with a great customer rating
of 4.5 out of 5 stars.
So if you’re in the market for a new headset, I can definitely recommend the PC37X and if
you use the link in the description below it shows Massdrop that you came from me!
I’ve really been looking forward to having a closer look at Jackal’s primary weapons
since he is the only attacker in the game that gets to use an SMG and it’s quite…
yeah, special I would guess is the word…
Here’s the overview of the most important stats for both guns and at first glance, we
can see a lot of green and red mixed for each of the guns which indicates that they each
have their own strengths and weaknesses and that’s always great to see.
Arguably the most important aspect of any gun in video games is its combat efficiency
and here the PDW9 specifically is rather unique.
For every single shot, the C7 is one of the most powerful assault rifles in the game up
to 25m but after drop-off, it is actually one of the weakest.
The PDW9 is a bit weird when it comes to damage per shot.
At ranges up to 18m, it does 34 damage (which is above average for SMGs) and beyond 28m,
it actually does more damage at 35 per shot!
This unique feature was not in the game at the beginning of Operation Velvet Shell.
I still have data from the suppressor tests that I did around that time and back then
the drop-off profile was 33 - 18.
The weird damage profile we see today has been around for ages though, I managed to
dig up a support ticket I created in September of 2017 that highlights the issue to Ubisoft.
In my opinion, it makes no sense for a gun to become more powerful at longer ranges,
especially not an SMG firing 9mm pistol ammo.
But I double checked these stats only yesterday to make sure that they are still accurate -and they are.
So at this stage, I have to assume that (as bizarre as this feature is) it seems to be
intentional and here to stay… or maybe it’s just gone completely under the radar, who knows?!
I also double checked the PDWs behaviour with a suppressor attached and the damage is 28
at all distances, so at least this weird long range damage feature is kind of consistent, I guess.
What does 35 points of long range damage mean in comparison to other Rainbow Six guns?
Well, it makes the PDW not only the most powerful SMG at these ranges but it is also stronger
than any assault rifle or any machine gun, making it the most powerful full-auto long range weapon.
It can even keep pace with Blackbeard’s SR-25 Designated Marksman Rifle which also
does 35 damage at range.
In fact, only a handful of single shot weapons (slug shotguns, pistols and DMRs) can beat
the PDW9 at range… sooo yeah no, I still think this has to be a mistake.
It’s inconsistent with the rules that apply to all other guns and totally nonsensical
that the only attacker SMG should be so dominant at long range.
But that’s how it is and how it has been for about a year and a half now, so what do I know?!
Fire rate interestingly is exactly the same for both of Jackal’s primaries and 800 is
a good bit above the 746.7 RPM average for assault rifles b ut slightly below the 818
RPM average for SMGs. But not by much.
Combining the single shot damage with the fire rate gives us the damage per second output
and so of course the C7 is much better than the PDW up close but because of the weird
drop-off, the PDW becomes the more powerful gun at 30m plus.
Compared to the average 538 DPS of the assault rifle class, the C7 is a great gun at close
range and in fact, it is only beaten by Fuze’s AK-12.
The long range rifle average is 314 DPS so that is a bit of a weakness for the C7.
At close ranges, the PDW9 is also the second best in its class (beaten by the MP7) and
comes in significantly above the 403 DPS average.
At longer ranges it is quite simply one of the most powerful guns in the game, only beaten
(in theory) by the BOSG and the Keratos.
But iron sight, single shot weapons vs. a full-auto 50 shot SMG? Yeah no…
For me the PDW9 is quite simply the best long range weapon in the game.
Because why the hell not?!
So for short range fights: bring the big arse assault rifle; for long range fights: bring
the pistol calibre AR-15 clone. Makes sense.
The shots-to-kill charts pretty much confirm this theory.
At short range the PDW pretty consistently needs one more shot to down or kill than the
C7 except against level 1 armour (where it’s the same) and against level 3 armour, with
Rook plates and leg shots (where it’s two more).
And because the fire rate is the same for both guns, that means that at regular Rainbow
Six combat ranges the PDW9 takes around 75ms extra to down and opponent (apart from the
two exceptions I mentioned earlier).
At long range, you can see that the C7 really begins to struggle, taking between 5 and even
up to 12 shots to down or kill an opponent, while the PDW is basically unchanged except
for needing only 4 shots against level 2 armours with Rook plates.
And unsurprisingly, the long range time to down or kill is hugely tilted in favour of the PDW.
Capacity is also much better for the PDW and that’s a good thing because reloading the
gun is significantly slower.
The C7 is an amazingly fast gun to reload: the best assault rifle in the game and even
faster than most SMGs with the exception of Frost’s C1 9mm.
The PDW9 on the other had is the slowest reloading SMG from empty and only just a little quicker
than the 2.7s of Vigil’s K1A for a tactical reload.
This kind of reinforces the current long range role of the PDW even more, because the last
place you want to be when going through a 3.4s reload is right in front of an opponent.
ADS time benefits lie squarely with the PDW once again.
As an SMG, it already comes with a much quicker baseline time of 300ms and if you choose to
attach the angled grip, you can improve that by a further 40%, down to 180ms.
Now back in the day, the C7E used to also have the quick ADS of the SMG class.
This benefit was in the game for quite a number of seasons and only in a recent standardisation
exercise was the C7 slowed down to match all of the other assault rifles.
So, while it used to be amazing, it’s now just an average rifle and therefore not as good as the PDW.
As you can see in the comparison images, the hip fire spreads while standing still or kneeling
are very similar for both guns but the C7E has a definite advantage when prone, while
the PDW9 gets a massive boost while jogging(so that’s moving without holding down the
“walk” or “sprint” keys).
While moving, this not only gives the PDW an advantage if you choose to take a risk
and spray down an opponent without aiming but it will also give you a further advantage
when aiming in on a suddenly appearing enemy.
From the moment you press the aim button, to the moment you are fully aimed in, the
spread decreases linearly until the gun becomes perfectly accurate and if the spread starts
out smaller, you will get to a decent level of accuracy slightly sooner.
I mean at the end of the day, the advantage would be a couple of frames, so yeah hip fire
spread is not really a huge factor but I would still take the better jogging spread over the prone one.
And last but not least, rec*oil!
In the charts, on the left side for each gun is the default recoil and as you can see,
the PDW9 is slightly better in terms of vertical recoil and also has far less of a tendency
to spread out over time.
In the game’s code, the randomised movement from shot to shot is governed by a stat called
the recoil diamond and for the C7 the diamond becomes quite large after 3 shots.
The PDW drifts off to the right slightly but the grouping remains much tighter.
The second chart for each gun gives us the improved recoil with the muzzle brake and
vertical grip attached and in that configuration the PDW becomes relatively easy to control.
And specifically for this comparison, I also included a third chart for the C7 with the
vertical grip and compensator and even though the compensator does nothing to control the
vertical muzzle climb, the recoil diamond becomes much more manageable and so there
is a decent argument to be made for using the compensator instead.
Which attachment is right for you?
I would say that if you tend to use short bursts, the muzzle brake is better, since
the first three shots become really easy to control.
If you tend to go for mag dumps instead, you might be better off with the benefits provided
by the compensator instead.
It’s up to you but all in all, I would say that the PDW wins the recoil comparison whichever
C7 option you go for.
In fact, I ran some practical tests to compare the controllability of the two guns in different
configurations and while the PDW was much easier to control with the vertical grip attached,
I would say that for short to medium bursts, you could well get away with using the angled
grip which will take your ADS time below that of the pistols; a huge bonus in certain situations.
And so let’s try to summarise this.
Which gun is the better choice for Jackal?!
Well, it’s definitely not an easy conclusion to draw since each have their own strengths and weaknesses.
The average combat distance in Siege is just under 10m so the C7’s close range power
is far more valuable than the bizarre long range capability of the PDW.
And with the same fire rate on each gun, I would say that the C7E takes the crown when
it comes to killing efficiency.
It also has unbelievably good reload times, which is another bonus.
But on the other hand, capacity and ADS time are much better for the PDW, as is the jogging
hip fire spread and that can make the PDW a very good gun for aggressive pushes.
If you can tolerate the additional recoil while using the angled grip, the 180ms ADS
time can allow for amazingly fast snaps and that’s pretty much the thing with the PDW.
Despite being a long range power house, when you get in close, you will want to go for
headshots as much as possible and if you have the aim, the fast ADS time and low recoil
of the gun can allow you to do just that.
If you’re more of a “just for fun” style of player and you tend to get most of your
kills with body shots, then I would say that the C7 is definitely the way to go but for
those confident on their headshots, the PDW9 with the right setup can offer some significa nt benefits.
So at the end of all that, all I can say is that: Jackal has really good guns, full stop
(except for the ITA12L shotgun – It’s really not a great shotgun and why bring that
when you also have access to a pistol shotgun?
Yeah, no forget that thing.).
The C7E is one of the best assault rifles in the game and the PDW9 is pretty much just
as viable if you can take advantage of the benefits it has to offer.
Most players will probably feel more comfortable with the C7 and the added power definitely
makes it more forgiving at closer ranges but hey, why not give the PDW a go and see how
you do… especially if, for some reason, you end up taking a lot of engagements at
more than 30m because the PDW is probably the best long range weapon in the game… for now.
Because maybe that’s a bug after all and not actually intended (even though I reported
it almost one and a half years ago) and maybe, just maybe we might see this getting fixed at some point.
Until then, which of the two guns do you prefer to use?
Do you run the PDW at all and if so, do you use the angled grip?
Let me know in the comments section below and feel free to also give me your suggestions
on which guns to compare next!
And with that, as always thank you for watching, I hope you enjoyed the video and I will see
you in the next episode!