L86 LSW

The L86 LSW is a light machine gun featured in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and is set to appear in 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. (The AUG HBAR has a reload time comparable to some Assault rifles).

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, but still the recoil from this LMG is very hard to control. 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 OMA. 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 non-working 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 to the Modern Warfare 2 variant, but with a carrying handle and new ironsights.

Multiplayer
The L86 LSW is unlocked at Level 4 in Modern Warfare 3's multiplayer.

Modern Warfare 2

 * The pickup icon shows the L85 infantry rifle, which has a shorter barrel and 30 round magazine 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 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.
 * The L86 LSW is the only weapon on Modern Warfare 2 to have a unique ACOG scope and the SUSAT scope attached 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 a 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.
 * The HUD icon for the L86 LSW does not have a drum mag, like it does in-game, but instead has a normal assault rifle magazine.
 * In Loose Ends the L86 LSW with SUSAT scope the HUD icon shows "L86 LSW Scoped" rather than "L86 LSW ACOG".
 * The magazine would make the weapon hard to hold comfortably without some difficulty, since the rounded drum would stick into the firer's arm.

Modern Warfare 3

 * The LSW now has new iron sights, as well as a carrying handle.
 * The L86 LSW has the exact same stats as the MG36.