A list of my tips and tricks I’ve gained having played the Coop gamemode for a bit over the lifetime of the game.
An Introduction and Mission Statement
General Ettiquete and Other Words I Can’t Spell
Going on an adventure on your own is nice and all, and at times can help, but if you don’t know what exactly you should be doing (going to the objective doesn’t count as knowing exactly what you’re doing), stick with your team, stick behind them, and if you’re in front of them, crouch so they can shoot over you. Stick to walls, don’t run around corners. The game says don’t be a buddy ♥♥♥♥♥♥, but a little buddy ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ is okay, as a treat.
Be the ♥♥♥♥ buddy. Be there for your buddies when they need a little ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Don’t let your buddies get shot from an angle you could’ve covered, and don’t be the reason one AI kills most of your team from behind because you were too busy making a gucci gun to keep up and cover the rear.
If you know enemies are around but don’t know where, taunt them. They will almost always respond, and possibly even move in response to it, leaving them out of position. Bonus points if you do it while or after getting shot, because then you get access to the even funnier, angier taunts.
And lastly before we get into loadouts in general, keep some gear on you. A grenade, a pistol. You won’t use it several times a game. You won’t even use it once a game. You’ll use it once every few games, but thats why they’re cheap, and as you use it you’ll begin to learn how its useful.
Pistols, Grenades, and all things Common
Makarov. 0 points
Pros: Its free. Take the Makarov, Shinji.
Cons: None. Because its infinitely cheaper than everything else in the game, the infinite-ness of its pros outweighs the finite-ness of any cons.
Welrod. 0 points.
Pros: Saves you 2 points on a suppressor. I’m pretty sure this does more damage than a 9mm should. Or at least it feels like it. This is the most customizable secondary in the game, having access to all underbarrel grips, and all generic optics under 2x magnficiation. You can also spend 3 points on giving it AP ammo, and 2 points on greasing the bolt. No extended mags though. If you seriously want to use this, buy it a loading grip to reduce the reload time by just under half, and a greased bolt to double the fire rate from 1 shot every 2 seconds to about 1 shot a second.
Cons: I take back everything I said about infinity and the Makarov. Even if this thing gave you loadout points I wouldn’t take it seriously. Its cheaper to put a silencer on a makarov than make this thing semi viable. Great for pistol only loadouts!
Browning Hi-Power. 1 point.
Pros: Same price as a makarov with extended mags, but gives you 13 rounds instead of 12. If you just want to have a pistol on hand for that 1 in 50 match where it’ll make a difference, its up to you if you’d rather the extra 5 shots or a slightly faster drawing makarov.
Cons: None. This is the platonic ideal of a sidearm. The sidearm from which all other sidearms are but imperfect recreations of. Except the Welrod, that thing is godless hellspawn.
M1911 & M45. 2 points.
Pros: Handcannons on a budget. They feel powerful, even if maybe it doesn’t shake out to being that much different in game versus 9mm.
Cons: Not a lot of ammo, especially for the price. I’d rather have to shoot every odd person twice with a browning than risk running out of ammo with one of these, but they’re a guilty pleasure. Especially the M45.
PF940. 3 points.
Pros: 17 shots for 3 points. The Browning Hi-Power gets 20 for 2. The real pro of the PF940 is that if you spend 1 more point to get extended mags, you get 31 shots, all but making it a pocket primary (and costing about as much as a mid tier one too!!)
Cons: Aside from a little high initial price, nothing. If you haven’t got 4 points to spare, don’t bother getting it. Get the browning hi-power and have a point left over. Also no full auto.
MR73. 4 points.
Pros: May make you feel lucky. Second most customizable pistol, but has conflicting modifications. Can have a scope (with the longer barrel that makes it single action), can be silenced, and can have a bipod (with the longer barrel that makes it single action). x2.5 scope makes this the only pocket sniper in the game.
Cons: Delayed firing, kind of like the revolver in Counter Strike, but much faster and cannot be cancelled. Maybe 1/10th of a second delay? Feels weird. Makes it way harder to shoot targets moving across your field of view because you have to track them. Half the cool mods require you to put the longer barrel on it and make it single action. Functionally better or the same, but doesn’t look as cool. Need to spend 1 more point on a speedloader to make this useful for anything other than pocket sniping.
Desert Eagle. 5 points.
Pros: No gimmicks, just power.
Cons: Not a lot of customization. Two red dots, compensator or suppressor, laser sight, camo and quick draw holster. Slightly less than most pistols that also get a flash hider and an option for extended magazines.
M83 Smoke. 1 point.
Pros: AI is stupid in smoke, and will call out the incoming smoke grenade, revealing their location. Any AIs passing through it will cough, and AI in my experience pretty much never shoots through smoke.
Cons: With potentially only 2 grenade slots and a lot more stuff you could bring, smoke is rarely seen. And when it is seen, improper or unlucky usage will usually hinder the team somewhat.
M84 Flash. 1 point.
Pros: Sometimes the AI likes to camp. During defense of an objective, a demo objective, or even while attacking an objective, they might just stop moving, waiting for you to come into view so they can one shot kill you with a mosin. Throwing a flash around a corner before turning it can be the difference between 5 kills or 1 death. I always keep one on me. Its only a point.
Cons: Useful as it is, it won’t get as much use as molotovs or incendiaries during objective defense, so its easy to see people just bring two of those instead, or even frag grenades instead.
Molotov. 2 points.
Pros: Area denial! Setting fire to the floor always* stops the AI from moving through it. It won’t stop them shooting through it though so make sure to put it at a corner so they can’t turn around it and get a line of sight on your team. If you can’t put it somewhere that’ll stop the AI from moving to see you, cover that with your gun and put this somewhere else. One molotov can destroy a demolition objective if you land the molotov on top of the pile of ammo. Doesn’t even have to be right in the middle!
Cons: *this one time I threw a molotov on a ramp and the AI was able to just walk through it and kill me. Not so much a con of the molotov itself but you can usually scuttle around in between waves to find dropped molotovs or AN-M14s during a defense, so taking more than one is a bit excessive in my opinion.
AN-M14 Incendiary. 2 points.
Pros: Bouncy! This grenade instead of detonating on impact like a Molotov, will actually bounce. It has a fuse of about 2 seconds I’d estimate, and it cannot be cooked like a fragmentation grenade.
Cons: The ability for it to bounce make it harder to place precisely. Short throwing it might get you killed or hurt, and if it goes off next to a demolition objective, even if the grenade was touching it, it might not be enough to destroy it. Tip: Usually a grenade going off right next to the demolition objective will set it off if the fire wasn’t enough!
M67 & F1 Frag. 2 points.
Pros: The AI isn’t very good at running away from these, even if they aren’t cooked.
Cons: If you’re a bad chef it’ll blow up near you and kill you. Also if you’re a bad throw it’ll bounce back towards you and blow up near you and kill you. Also using one of your precious grenade slots just to kill one or two guys (who may be your teammates) seems kind of wasteful.
Rifleman, for the Confused, Aimless, and Lacking in Self Esteem and Confidence
Pros:
You won’t be taking up a class slot.
Cons:
You’re a gun with legs, and its not a very special gun either.
If you want to be John First Blood Rambo but without the M60 or bow, I suppose you could choose worse. If you die your team is down a teammate, but don’t lose anything Rifleman specifically could provide, because Rifleman provides specifically nothing, so its a decent as a ♥♥♥♥ around class.
So, how do you build Rifleman? However you want, within the confines of how you can. Here are a few suggestions.
Rifleman doesn’t really have a restriction on the weapons he can choose, so much as he is the baseline off of which what everyone else can select is determined. As such his choice weapons are almost everyones choice weapons.
M16A4. 2 points.
Pros: Cheap. Scavenge mags from a wide pool of weapons.
Cons: No full auto. Extended mag is not worth getting. Poor unmagnified optic visibility because of front sight.
AUG. 3 points.
Pros: Full auto with 30 round mag for the same price as the SG552. 12 extra rounds per mag for 1 point.
Cons: None, really. From a purely functional standpoint its basically a straight upgrade from the M16A4 with the two caveats of point cost and lack of mag scavenging.
AKM: 3 points.
Pros: 7.62 stopping power for cheap. Small potential for mag scavenging.
Cons: High recoil. Extended mag not worth getting.
G3A3: 4 points.
Pros: True power.
Cons: High cost. Extremely high recoil. Low ammo count. Extended mag is 2 points. Cumbersome reload from empty chamber.
Hobo Sniper
Get an M16A2 for 1 point, Put the 3x scope on it for 2 points. It hasn’t got much stopping power but its cheap and aside from reloading you shouldn’t ever run out of ammo if you’re resourceful.
Alternatives to consider are the AKM and G3A3 for better stopping power, and especially either of them with the 1 point 1.5x magnification optic for closer range plinking.
Hobo Gunner
Get anything that can have a drum mag upgrade and maybe a bipod attachment. Put both on. M16A2, AKM and AUG are all good options for these, with the M16A2 and AUG being the standouts.
M16A2 and a drum mag (50 rounds) is 4 points total, but you will have higher horizontal recoil from the drum mag. AUG and extended mags (42 rounds) is 4 points total, and will not have the recoil penalty. Personally I go with the M16A4 just for aesthethics, but if you’re absolutely on a budget the AUG seems to be the smart choice.
Breacher, for Those Sure of Purpose (Which Is To ♥♥♥♥ Around Even Harder Than Rifleman)
Pros:
By picking Breacher, you have potentially made one other person play Rifleman
Cons:
You’re a gun with legs, but these guns look different.
Breacher is in many ways, a jack of all trades. Or at least, Jack of all the trades pretty much everyone else can already do. Breacher is a gun class, through and through. The only thing they provide to their team is a cool gun.
Not much to note, different guns, same bullets.
Sterling. 1 point.
Pros: Second only to a Makarov in cheapness. Full auto. Extremely easy recoil. 50 round mag with no recoil penalty.
Cons: No recoil compensator or flash hider, and marginally less damage than you’re used to in close quarters. At ♥♥♥♥ talking distance I’d put it on par with an M16 for damage. Usually needs two shots, but you won’t have any trouble landing them.
And yep, thats it. Uzi is a more expensive sterling. MP5 is three times the cost for a faster firerate and thusly more difficult to control recoil. The KS-23 is a joke weapon, but don’t let that stop you from trying it out, the shotguns are shotguns. The Honey Badger and AS-VAL are just too expensive to play with.
Hobo Sniper
Get a shotgun. Put slugs in it. Put an optic on it. Don’t forget a loading grip, you’ll probably want it unless you detest the look of vertical grips on pump action shotguns.
And I suppose if you really did want to blow your loadout budget on it, you could use the Honeybadger or AS-VAL instead.
Hobo Gunner
Much like before, big mag. No bipods available this time, but you’re gonna be more mobile and probably won’t get any opportunity to use them anyway.
Sterling, like the AUG, stands out for having a big mag with no recoil penalty and a low fire rate for easily managed recoil and ammo economy. Before the Sterling was added, this slot would’ve gone to the Uzi.
Some ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Picked Advisor And Now I Can’t Be Special
If you’re in need of that hit, pick the MP7, Honey Badger, or AS-VAL.
Advisor, The Biggest ♥♥♥♥ Arounder of All Time
Pros:
By picking Advisor, you have potentially made one other person play a potentially more useful class. You also get access to some slight discount firepower.
Cons:
You’re a gun with legs, but these guns look different. But not like, Breacher different.
Breacher Advisor is in many ways, a jack of all trades. Or at least, Jack of all the trades pretty much everyone else can already do. Breacher Advisor is a THE gun class, through and through. The only thing they provide to their team is a really cool (or ♥♥♥♥) gun.
Not much to note, different guns, same bullets.
SKS. 2 points.
Pros: Second only to a Mosin Nagant in price for some .30 caliber fun.
Cons: 2 points to go from 20 to 30 rounds. No full auto. Can’t use the spike bayonet.
AKS-74u. 3 points.
Pros: To rub it in that you got to be the snowflake, instead of picking a super fancy high tech modern gun, you can pay 3 points for a shorter version of a 4 point gun that everyone except breacher, machinegunner and marksman can use, thereby becoming a literal Rifleman. The only thing Advisor has going for it is its unique primary weapon choices, everything else is the same as all other classes (Except for Demo, of course.)
Cons: It makes you a little less special. All attachments are the same as AK-74.
MK 17. 3 points.
Pros: Full .30 caliber power, for 1 point cheaper than a G3A3.
Cons: Same as G3. 2 points to go from 20 to 30 rounds, difficult to manage recoil.
Hobo Sniper
Big boolet. Scope.
Hobo Gunner
Lots of boolet. I see the AKS-74u used for this a lot, probably because its the cheapest full auto.
Demolitions, The Unstoppable Force of Being Cool and Useful
Pros:
You do something special. You have the ability to be useful. You can get trick shots with your explosive underbarrels or rocket launchers on demolition targets and emplaced enemies.
Cons:
You’re gonna get weighed down by all that gear and struggle to stay near the front where you work the best. If you’re behind your teammates will start knocking doors before you can get some HE in the windows. Effective use of class specific equipment encourages a heavy carrier.
Demo is one of the hardest classes to play, in the sense of getting use out of it. Yeah, you can stick a grenade launcher on your drum magged M4, but if you don’t put yourself in a position to make use of it for the benefit of your team, why even bother?
Your primary is likely going to be a trash rod with an optional knee mortar attached to it.
M16A2. 1 point..
Pros: Cheap. A grenade launcher will be 3 points no matter what gun you stick it on, so if its the GL you want, pick a cheap gun.
Cons: Semi or burst only. Severe restriction on optics.
SG552, G3A3, QBZ-03, VHS-2, MDR and WCX
All here specifically because they cannot attach an underbarrel grenade launcher. You don’t need one, but if you’re not bringing a GL, and you’re not bringing a rocket launcher, you’re a Rifleman. You even get all the same guns as him, unlike the last two classes!
And thats it for the guns. Now onto the explosives, where Demo really shines.
M19 and TM-62 Landmines. 1 point.
Pros: The power to make and unmake in your hands. Mostly unmake. Really only unmake. Same damage and blast radius as a C4 or IED, but at 1/3 the price. Also you can carry one of each.
Cons: Takes 3~ seconds to put down. Requires two pretty precise shots to set off. Explosives set it off instantly. Once placed, you permanently lose a grenade slot until you resupply.
C4 and IED. 3 points.
Pros: Can be thrown, faster to place than mines and requires less distance travelled. Reliably set off by one shot. IED is bigger and so easier to hit. Only one or the other, can’t bring both.
Cons: Conventional detonation requires switching to the grenade slot it was in. Replacing it with a picked up grenade makes the C4 disappear. Once detonated, you permanently lose a grenade slot until you respply.
AT4 and Panzerfaust. 3 points.
Pros: Deceptively easier to use than C4 for the same price. Same restriction of only one. Backblast isn’t real and it can’t hurt you or your teammates. Also you can hipfire it.
Cons: Usually means putting yourself in line of sight of the enemy. Being in line of sight of the enemy means at risk of getting one frame killed by an AI with a 7.62, 308 or 50 cal. Only one shot, regardless of your ammo carrier. Doesn’t drop automatically once fired, requiring a second click to lose the dead weight slowing you down.
Underbarrel Grenade Launchers. 3 points.
Pros: Doesn’t take up a grenade slot. Potential for indirect fire keeping you safe.
Cons: 1 less shot than a standalone grenade launcher. 2 shots with a heavy carrier, 1 with light or none. Theoretically the range is limited, but the 40mms in this game are by far the most generous I’ve ever seen a game be with velocity. Hand grenade level of boom, as opposed to mine, IED and rocket levels of boom.
M320 and M79. 3 points.
Pros: 3 shots with heavy carrier, 2 shots with light or no carrier. I think the M79 might reload faster?
Cons: Can’t be taken with an underbarrel grenade launcher, or a rocket launcher. Takes up a grenade slot. Not as big an explosion as the placed explosives or the rocket launchers. Doesn’t automatically reload after firing, and clicking doesn’t make it reload either.
M3 MAAWS and RPG-7. 4 points.
Pros: 2 shots with heavy carrier. Can quickly grab another shot from the resupply without needing to perform the longer animation.
Cons: 1 shot with light or no carrier, and a reload thats longer than a full resupply mean theres basically no reason to use these things. Also the M3 MAAWS is DEFINITELY slower to reload than the RPG-7.
Blow stuff up. Its simple, and from that simplicity you can make it complicated in all the ways you’d like. Learn enemy spawn locations and set up boobie traps with the mines and a sightline, snipe demo objectives early and make a load of enemies spawn behind you and your team to shoot you while you try and get to the next objective, or… become the fourth Rifleman class.
Marksman, The True Snowflake (And A Member of the ♥♥♥♥ Around Club)
Pros:
You do something special. You have access to 3-6x variable zoom scopes, and 7x zoom scopes, as well as various interesting bolt action and semi auto rifles. (And the M14 that can do full auto.)
Cons:
The attack-defend-attack routine of Push means you’ll rarely get a chance to sit still and pick off enemies, and that you’ll spend most of your time in a corner watching very close sightlines, probably several. High zoom optics are not good for this, and neither are bolt actions.
I would consider Marksman to be the third hardest class to play. Getting use out of him is easy but making a difference with it can be hard to do and hard to recognise.
Bolt Actions. 1-2 points.
Put a shot in someones chest and they’re probably going down. The only difference the two-ish calibers make (7.62×51 & 7.62x54r vs .338) is how good you are at wallbanging and if you have to reload one bullet at a time or can reload the whole magazine. (Mosin is better because if you use a short length sight you can get an upgrade to reload it with a stripper clip, and for the memes of course.) Mosin has better penetration on paper, even better than the .338 rifles, as well as both bolt actions getting AP ammo and thus mostly ignoring body armor.
M1 Garand. 3 points.
Pros: Semi auto on the cheap. Can get a rifle grenade attachment. Great budget sniper all around.
Cons: Rifle grenade attachment occupies both underbarrel and muzzle slots. Switching to rifle grenades takes about as long as reloading the M3 MAAWS (Which is to say, way too long). You have to unload the M1, then put in a blank, then attach the rifle grenade. Thankfully once you’re in rifle grenade firing mode you can fire as many as you want without needing to load more blanks. Once you want to go back to firing bullets, its the whole thing in reverse. Hope you’ve got time.
Anti Materiel Rifles. 3 points.
Joke weapons on the same tier as the KS-23. Impractical, unless you like getting shooting people through walls.
M14. 5 Points.
Pros: Full auto. You want it, I want it. I know neither of us can handle it, and I still want it. 20 rounds off the bat.
Cons: Its expensive, and without a bipod (or god forbid you get the recoil bipod grip), theres no way you can handle the full auto recoil. You’re paying 5 points for what everyone else pays 3 for. The snowflake tax is in play.
If modding your weapon for long or medium-loing range (to the point you wouldn’t feel comfortable using it to hold a point exclusively at point blank range), be sure to go back and have a look at the Pistols section near the start of this guide!
Run around with a mosin. Hip fire the AMRs. Make a gucci gun. Like I’ve said before in this section, Marksman is simple. They are pretty much the picture of a gun class. All they have is the guns they get, and in this case the attachments too.
Gunner, The Class We’d (probably) All Pick If We Could
Pros:
SAWs, LSWs, LMGs and MMGs. And a Galil or two. Has the most inter-competitive primaries, giving you plenty of viability no matter what you pick. There are no joke weapons here. (But there are bad picks!)
Cons:
None. If you want to be useful, this is by far the best way to be useful. But it is also in my opinion the second most difficult class to play and if you die (or suck) your team will be much worse off for it. If you fire too soon after setting down on your bipod you’ll experience normal hipfire recoil which will shoot your aim up as far as it can move, while restricted by the bipod.
Galils. 2 points.
Pros: Despite basically making you a glorified Rifleman (yipee!!) these aren’t a bad pick. They have built in bipods saving you some points, are full auto at 2 points, saving you even more relative to other classes, and come with 35 round magazines by default, saving you EVEN MORE points! Oh, and you can actually hipfire these, unlike pretty much everything else.
Cons: You lose the bipod with any underbarrel attachment except recoil bipod grip. And its 5.56, but really, thats hardly an issue, especially if you’ve got backup. If you want more assurances, spend more on something else.
RPK. 3 points.
Pros: Galil with more oomph. Keeps the bipod with underbarrel attachments. Despite the larger caliber, slower recoil that is easier to handle, and a more open iron sight to boot, AND you can scavenge mags from AKMs and Alpha AKs. Extended mags give you 40 rounds to the usual 35 for 1 point, and the drum mag gives you 75 rounds to the usual 50 for 3 points! And you can hip fire it, too.
Cons: None. This weapon has a winning matchup against any other weapon, value wise. The more generous magazines upgrades, the free bipod, the high visibility iron sights, the gentle recoil, the caliber, and the ability to hipfire make this the perfect all rounder for Gunner.
Well, there is one downside I suppose. Because its so good, its kind of boring!
PKM. 3 points.
Pros: 100 round boxes. Not a given as you might expect. 3 for a heavy carrier, 2 for a light carier, and just the one in your gun for no carrier. Recoil starts off unbearable but softens considerably if you keep firing and the slow fire rate make it so you can keep up with it after the first two or three shots. Less recoil than a Sterling on the bipod.
Cons: Hipfiring is all but out of the question if you can’t smell who is wearing fresh underwear. All you get are the usual 3 muzzle attachments, the usual optics, laser pointer and a single camo. If you go no carrier the only way to get another box of ammo from a resupply is to completely empty your current one or do a full resupply.
M249. 3 points.
Pros: This is what the MG3 wishes it was. 200 round boxes, fast fire rate. More shooting, less reloading.
Cons: Not as much attachments as the M60, putting it in line with the rest of the beltfed machine guns. Slow reload like them, too.
Because you can get caught out during long reloads, please have a look at the Pistols section at the start of this guide if you skipped it!
Hold down chokepoints by yourself. Pray for that one rush where 12 people come through one by one. Pray you don’t get noscoped by an AI hipfiring an AMR 5 seconds after your team captured the last defence objective. Yell real loud while magdumping the PKM.
Observer, For Those That Do That Thing In Interviews Where They Make Something Bad About Themselves Out To Be A Good Thing
Pros:
Almost passively useful. Just don’t die, and stick close to your commander when they need you. If the commander is dead, or doesn’t exist, that means you’re finally free! You get to be the 6th Rifleman class!
Cons:
With great power comes great responsibility. With little responsibility comes little power. You can’t do anything without a commander but just being present makes someone more likely to pick a commander, even mid match!
You still remember the weapons of note from the Rifleman chapter, right? Good.
Actually, wait, just a second. Observer gets access to underbarrel grenade launchers, but only ones that come with smoke. It can save you a grenade slot and make you able to smoke long sightlines without having to run all the way over!
Stare at the back of the commanders head. Hide on the objective while everyone else kills and gets killed. Be the last man standing and singlehandedly kill 20 enemies over the course of like 5 minutes while looking like a badass because you played it safe. Do that in a fraction of the time because you have one teammate left. Tape screenshots of all your matches where you got the Azrael reward.
Remember, since you’re a Rifleman with bonuses, you can, just like a Rifleman, help reinforce the areas other classes cover! An extra machinegunner is always nice to help cover the real machinegunner while they reload!
Commander, The Class Nobody Wants To Play and Fewer Still Know How to Play
Pros:
You can spawncamp the AI with support, or make the objective impenetrable for a minute at a time.
Cons:
To do so requires you to pull out your binoculars, have line of sight with your target area, and have a buddy ♥♥♥♥♥♥ Observer nearby. If you or your observers are dead, no more support until respawns!
You still remember the weapons of note from the Observer chapter, right? Perfect.
Also the Commander, similar to the Observer gets access to smoke underbarrel grenade launchers.
Do the American Psycho stare back at your Observer. Peek out to call support on the first wave of enemies and die instantly. Steamroll a match almost singlehandedly with supports. Get 2 of the 3 awards at the end of the match for doing your job. Be sure took up and down really fast at your observer to make it look like you’re nodding your head to let them know they’re doing a good job.
Remember, since you’re a Rifleman with bonuses, you can, just like a Rifleman, help reinforce the areas other classes cover! Being a budget marksman is well suited to the Commander, seeing as they shouldn’t be on the frontlines and should, ideally, be somewhere with a good view of the enemies!
In Closing
And that wraps up our share on Insurgency: Sandstorm: Useful tips for Co-Op (Classes, Weapons, Loadouts!) and other cooperative related title things mmyes. If you have any additional insights or tips to contribute, don’t hesitate to drop a comment below. For a more in-depth read, you can refer to the original article here by The Napper, who deserves all the credit. Happy gaming!