L86 LSW

The L86 LSW is a light machine gun featured in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Singleplayer
The L86 LSW makes its first, and so far, only appearance, as a Light Machine Gun in Modern Warfare 2. It appears in both the campaign and multiplayer modes with a 100-round drum magazine, ironsights and the carrying handle. Uniquely, when the ACOG Scope attachment is equipped, it takes the appearance of the British SUSAT sight.

In singleplayer, the L86 makes its only appearances in the campaign mission Loose Ends, and the Spec Ops mission Estate Takedown. Three of them (complete with SUSAT sights) can be found in the room next to the kitchen on the first floor of the house. Another L86, with ironsights only, can be found in the basement of the weapon and ammo cache armory.

Multiplayer
The L86 is one of two pre-unlocked light machine guns, and the primary weapon for the default Overwatch class. The L86 LSW has one of the highest damages per second of any weapon in the game. At close range its damage per second is beaten only by the shotguns, the G18 and MP5K, and is equal to the TAR-21 and the Vector. The L86 LSW has the highest damage per second at long range, and is able to kill in two shots with Stopping Power or three shots without it. But the L86 also has the highest recoil of all the LMGs making it difficult to use at longer ranges unless firing in short bursts. The L86 has the second fastest reload time, after the AUG HBAR, and benefits greatly from Reload Cancelling. (The latter has a reload time comparable to some Assault rifles.)

However, the L86 has heavy recoil when firing in full-auto and its iron sights are generally disliked as they block the target at long range and will suffer heavily from muzzle flash. As a result, it is most commonly used in conjunction with the Bling perk, with a grip and sight attachment. Like other LMGs, it also suffers from a slow ADS draw time, although this can easily be mitigated with the Sleight of Hand Pro perk. Firing in bursts or even semi-automatic shots can make the L86 more accurate at longer ranges and make it easily capable of racking up kills on maps with tight alleyways where suppressing fire is often needed. If the player chooses to add a sight to the gun, the SUSAT scope is an excellent candidate, as although it does increase recoil slightly, its clear sights are several times clearer than the iron sights, making it more effective at long range, while raising ADS to the point where muzzle flash is not even seen, let alone a problem.

The Silencer reduces damage, but still makes the L86 LSW arguably the best stealth LMG since the other four LMGs either have a faster fire rate but lower damage, or the same damage and a slower rate of fire compared to the L86. As stated it suffers from having higher recoil than any other LMG, meaning at longer ranges burst-firing or semi-auto firing is required to kill where the others would be able to fire full-auto.

As with all Light Machine Guns (with the exception of the AUG HBAR), whenever a player uses the Extended Magazines attachment, the magazine size is doubled, making it capable of a 200 round drum. This means the player could replace the Sleight Of Hand perk for a different perk such as Bling, or One Man Army.

Weapon Attachments

 * Grip
 * Red Dot Sight
 * Silencer
 * ACOG Scope / SUSAT
 * FMJ
 * Holographic Sight
 * Heartbeat Sensor


 * Thermal Scope
 * Extended Mags

Behind the Scenes
The L86 was supposed to be an L85 rifle at one point, as the L86's texture sheet has the L85's 30-round magazine on it. The L86's kill icon in muliplayer is still an L85.

Trivia

 * The pickup icon shows the L85 infantry rifle, rather than the L86 LSW. However in the Museum and Loose Ends, the correct pick-up icon is used.
 * The L86 LSW is one of the few weapons where an attached Heartbeat Sensor will be fully visible when aiming down the sight.
 * The L86 LSW is the only primary weapon, other than the Riot Shield, in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 that does not use the ACOG sight. It uses the SUSAT Sight.
 * The silencer is not centered on the LSW's barrel. It appears to be mounted a little below the muzzle.