Apex Season 11 saw the arrival of the CAR SMG, How has the CAR SMG shaken up Apex Legends, and how does it compare to other SMG’s in the game?
CAR SMG Overview
The CAR SMG was last seen in Titanfall 2. Respawn describe it as "a flexible weapon, the C.A.R. SMG is the gun for when you’re ready to make a stand and become the last Legend still standing."
CAR SMG stats and facts
- 18 headshot damage
- 13 bodyshot damage
- First gun in Apex to take two ammo types (Light and heavy)
- Can be used with either a light or heavy magazine - and either mag can be used regardless of what ammo you are using.
Magazine Rarity | Shots per magazine |
|---|---|
| No Magazine | 19 |
| Grey (Common) | 21 |
| Blue (Uncommon) | 23 |
| Purple + Gold (Rare) | 26 |
C.A.R SMG time to Kill
The CAR SMG has very impressive time to kill stats. The following stats are based on a player with a Common Helmet and Red Body Armour.
- Body Shots: 18 Shots to kill.
- Head Shots: 13 Shots to kill.
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R99 vs CAR SMG
The CAR SMG is most closely in competition with the R99, they can use the same ammo (light), the same magazines, and they have very similar fire rates.
The R99 does 12 bodyshot damage and 18 headshot damage. This is less than the CAR SMG. However, the R99 takes a laser sight attachment, this means it can have very accurate hipfire. Far better than the CAR SMG. So, how do the two weapons stack up?
Statistics | CAR SMG | R99 |
|---|---|---|
| Body Shot Damage | 13 | 12 |
| Head Shot Damage | 20 | 18 |
| Damage Per Second | 202 | 216 |
| Body shots to kill (White/Blue/Purple/Red) | 12/14/16/18 | 13/15/17/19 |
The R99 and the CAR SMG have very similar time to stats. The CAR has more damage per bullet, but it's slower fire rate means that it does less damage per second. Some players find the slower fire rate easier to control. But, the far superior hip fire on the R99 makes the R99 a more powerful choice for close range fights.
Extra flexibility over the R99, Volt and Prowler
The CAR SMG also beats the Volt and Prowler (the other floor loot SMGs) in time to kill statistics. Mostly because of it's superior fire rate. The extra flexibility that the CAR brings is also not to be underestimated. One of the biggest frustrations of using the Volt can be that in a late game situation, your opponents are much more likely to be using heavy/light weapons, and finding that ammo when looting can be hard.
The CAR uses the two most used ammo types in the game, which gives you extra flexibility and means you are much more likely to be able to find ammo you can use in those late game situations. This flexibility is also seen when looting, the compatibility with both light and heavy magazines mean that looting is much smoother. It will be much easier to find a usable magazine at the start of the game, as well as good amounts of ammo, so you can rotate out and start grabbing kills much faster.
CAR SMG Recoil
You can see that the CAR SMG has very reasonable recoil that is controllable, especially to people familiar with the R99 already. While it does have slightly more difficult recoil than the R99 at the end of a magazine, the slightly slower fire rate will make this easier to control than the R99.
The CAR SMG is a very flexible gun, designed to make looting fast and killing faster. Check it out next time you are dropping into Storm Point or Worlds Edge!
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