L86 LSW

The L86 LSW is a bullpup light machine gun featured in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
The L86 LSW makes its first 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, iron sights and the carrying handle. Uniquely, when the ACOG Scope attachment is equipped, it takes the appearance of the British 'SUSAT' Scope.

Single Player
In Single Player, 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 Iron Sights only, can be found in the basement of the weapon and ammo cache armory. It is extremely useful as it has LMG firepower and magazine size without the long reload time associated with a LMG. Unlike its multiplayer counterpart, the singleplayer L86 LSW has near-zero recoil.

Multiplayer
The L86 is one of two pre-unlocked light machine guns, and the primary weapon for the default Overwatch class which includes a Red Dot Sight and a Grip. 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 PP2000. The L86 LSW has the highest damage per second at long range out of all the automatic weapons, 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 by far, making it difficult to use at longer ranges unless firing in short bursts. The L86 has the second fastest reload time of the LMGs, after the AUG HBAR, and benefits greatly from Reload Canceling.

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 single or double shots can make the L86 much 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 a good 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 alternative choice is the Holographic Sight, which offers the most precision at the expense of some muzzle flash.

Due to the extremely high damage per second of the L86 it can be surprisingly effective in CQB, certainly the most effective of all the LMGs. Compared to most CQB weapons it sacrifices fast handling for tons of ammo, allowing the gun to excel in engaging large numbers of enemies. Sleight of Hand Pro helps hugely in such situations, as the slow ADS time when compared to assault rifles and SMGs can otherwise be crippling. Additionally, with Sleight of Hand the reload time of the L86 with reload canceling is as low as many assault rifles. Due to the rarity of needing to reload, having a secondary as a backup is less necessary than on most guns, freeing up this space for launchers or One Man Army. Finally, the very high bullet penetration the L86 shares with all LMGs can give it an edge shooting through walls over most weapons particularly on maps like Favela or Scrapyard.

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 (M240), or the same damage and a slower rate of fire (the RPD and AUG HBAR) compared to the L86. (Keep in mind the M240 and MG4 have glitched silencers; the red dot still shows on enemy radar.) 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.

When fitted with the Heartbeat Sensor, while in ADS, the player can still view all but the very bottom edge of the Sensor screen. In conjunction with a grip, it can make a very good mid-range support weapon.

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 in Modern Warfare 2, as the L86's texture sheet has the L85's 30-round magazine on it. The single player pick-up icon also has the L85's 30-round magazine. The L86's kill icon in multiplayer is still an L85, giving further evidence that the L86 was once an L85. Also, the maximum ammunition amount in single player is 420, which is divisible by 30, the usual Assault Rifle magazine size, further suggesting it was the L85 earlier in development.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
The L86 LSW is featured in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. It is similar in appearance to the Modern Warfare 2 variant, but with new iron sights using a carry handle (similar to that of an M16) as the rear of the sight. In the Redemption trailer, it is shown briefly with the Modern Warfare 2-styled Red Dot Sight, but was unavailable in-game, being replaced in that part with the carry handle variant.

Campaign
The L86 LSW is found in the mission "Bag and Drag" with Red Dot Sight in the blue van that Delta Force uses to chase down Volk. It is also found in the mission "Stronghold" and is possible to find it with a SUSAT scope.

Multiplayer
The L86 LSW is unlocked at Level 4 in Modern Warfare 3's multiplayer. It is, statistically, almost the opposite of its Modern Warfare 2 counterpart; while in Modern Warfare 2 it had high damage and high recoil, in Modern Warfare 3 it features a relatively high rate of fire, lower recoil, and moderate-low damage. It should be noted, however, that visual recoil is far greater when compared to the Modern Warfare 2 counterpart, causing it to regularly jump off target when fired but returning to its original position before the next shot is fired. While this will not cause problems in close range, it can make engaging targets at long range difficult.

Compared to the other LMGs, the main strengths of the L86 are the fast reload time (beaten only by the MG36), the fast rate of fire (beaten only by the MK46) and the lowest recoil among all the LMGs. When coupled with the Grip attachment or the Kick proficiency, the weapon's bullet spread improves massively, although the weapon will still visually kick. All combined, the L86 is capable of a large volume of accurate fire with minimal interruption from reloading. If the Grip and Kick proficiency are used together, this weapon will be capable of firing in long bursts (around four-five bullets) on targets at ranges where players would consider using sniper rifles.

Attachments

 * Red Dot Sight - Unlocked at weapon level 2.
 * Silencer - Unlocked at weapon level 5.
 * Grip - Unlocked at weapon level 8.
 * ACOG Scope - Unlocked at weapon level 11.
 * Rapid Fire - Unlocked at weapon level 14.
 * Heartbeat Sensor - Unlocked at weapon level 20.
 * Holographic Sight - Unlocked at weapon level 22.
 * Extended Mags - Unlocked at weapon level 25.
 * Thermal Scope - Unlocked at weapon level 27.

Proficiency

 * Kick - Unlocked at weapon level 4.
 * Impact - Unlocked at weapon level 9.
 * Attachments - Unlocked at weapon level 12.
 * Focus - Unlocked at weapon level 16.
 * Speed - Unlocked at weapon level 21.
 * Stability - Unlocked at weapon level 28.

Survival Mode
The L86 LSW is available in Survival Mode from level 41 and costs $7000.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

 * The pickup icon shows the L85 infantry rifle. 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. This can be a major advantage to the player.
 * The Silencer is not centered on the LSW's barrel. It appears to be mounted slightly below the muzzle.
 * In both Single Player and Multiplayer, when turning, the L86 stays at the same angle as when the player is still. However, this is different from most of the other weapons. In Multiplayer, most weapons rotate on the muzzle, whereas in Single Player, most weapons act like the L86 does in multiplayer.
 * When using a grip with this weapon, players thumb is on the front of the grip along with his other fingers, for some reason.
 * The L86 LSW is one of three weapons in Modern Warfare 2 to have an optic attachment which is different than the same sight on other weapons. The only other weapons to do this are the TAR-21 and the F2000.
 * In Loose Ends the L86 LSW with SUSAT scope the HUD icon shows "L86 LSW Scoped" rather than "L86 LSW ACOG".

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
L86 LSW
 * In the singleplayer level "Stronghold" enemies will occasionally drop a Modern Warfare 2 L86 LSW model equipped with a SUSAT scope. Like the Modern Warfare 2 UMP45 found in the same level, this appears to be a placeholder weapon that was never replaced with the new version.
 * The serial number of the weapon is DW120381.
 * The single-drum magazine is shared with the MG36 and has a strange iridescent effect applied to it.
 * It no longer uses a SUSAT sight in multiplayer. Instead it uses the normal ACOG sight.
 * In the mission Bag and Drag, during the car chase sequence the L86 found in the back of the van seems to reload at a speed as if Sleight of Hand was in use. This is a common trend with Light Machine Guns in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
 * The Thermal Scope will actually severely reduce recoil caused by the L86 LSW. This is strange because most other guns will have the opposite effect. Combined with Grip or Kick, the L86 LSW rivals the MP7 and ACR in accuracy.