We clarify in our guide what are the best weapons of each class in GTA Online in 2022 and which weapon is best to use in your car
What is the best weapon in GTA Online? What weapon should I use behind the wheel of a car? These are questions that every player of Grand Theft Auto 5”s multiplayer mode has probably asked themselves at some point. That”s why we”ll tell you in the following guide which pistol, shotgun, sniper rifle and assault rifle you should definitely own in GTA Online.
The best weapons of GTA Online in 2022
Table of Contents
Best Pistol: AP Pistol
- How expensive? 5,000 GTA dollars
- Where available? Ammu Nation
- Prerequisite: Rank 33
- Most useful upgrade: Larger magazine
What makes the AP pistol so good? The AP pistol has an extremely high rate of fire thanks to its automatic mechanism. This makes the extended magazine indispensable to compensate for the high cadence. With this upgrade, the AP pistol even has more rounds than the Micro-SMG, with 36 bullets per magazine.
The high precision of the AP pistol at short to medium distances is also not to be disregarded, while the recoil of the weapon is hardly noticeable. Of course, it is particularly practical that the AP pistol can also be fired from vehicles – but more on that later.
These are the disadvantages of the AP pistol: At long distances, it is always advisable to use a weapon other than the AP pistol, as the weapon tends to become inaccurate. The high cadence also increases the ammunition consumption – but this is a problem that only beginners have to worry about.
At long distances, it is advisable to use a weapon other than the AP pistol.
Best submachine gun: Combat MG Mk 2
- How much does it cost? Basic version: 14,800 GTA dollars, Mk2 upgrade: 119,000 GTA dollars
- Where available? Basic version at Ammu-Nation, Mk2 upgrade via workbench
- Requirement: Rank 80 or a workbench
- Most useful upgrade: Larger magazine or full metal jacket bullets
What makes the Combat MG Mk2 so good? Strictly speaking, the Combat MG is not a submachine gun, but is subordinate to this class in GTA 5 and GTA Online respectively. Be that as it may. In terms of ammunition capacity (up to 200 rounds) and damage dealt, the basic version of the Combat MG is already the best of any other submachine gun.
Optional upgrades can also compensate for any disadvantages such as recoil and the resulting inaccuracy. This makes the combat machine gun extremely powerful even at long distances. With the Mk2 version”s full metal jacket rounds, the Battle MG deals additional damage against armoured vehicles.
These are the disadvantages of the Combat MG Mk2: Actually, there is not too much to criticise about the Combat MG Mk2. One could find fault with the fact that upgrading the basic variant eats up a bit of money and bunker research for certain upgrades sometimes turns out to be quite time-consuming and costly. However, this does not make the actual weapon any less powerful.
If you also decide to use a different type of ammunition, you will also have to make compromises: With these upgrades, the magazine capacity is reduced to a maximum of 100 rounds, while the ammunition types of the Mk2 weapons are generally more expensive. If you shoot a lot, you will have to pay even more.
Best Assault Rifle: Special Carbine
- How much? 13,570 GTA Dollars
- Where available? Ammu-Nation, Workbench
- Prerequisite: None
- Most useful upgrade: Drum magazine
What makes the special carbine so good? Picking the best assault rifle in GTA Online is not too easy a task. But if in doubt, I can recommend the Special Carbine with a clear conscience. This weapon offers a pretty good mix of damage, range and accuracy.
Of course, it is also practical that the special carbine is available for purchase right from the start. Beginners do not have to reach a certain level to be able to use this assault rifle. In addition, the basic version of the special carbine can be equipped with a drum magazine, and only having to reload every 100 rounds during a firefight is always a good choice.
Optionally, you can upgrade the special carbine to its Mk2 version for 135,000 GTA dollars. This is not a must, but if you want to unlock even more upgrade possibilities for the assault rifle, you will be happy to have this option.
These are the disadvantages of the special carbine: In direct comparison with the normal carbine, the special carbine draws the short straw at long range. In addition, the Mk2 version has the decisive disadvantage that it cannot be equipped with a drum magazine with 100 rounds. Therefore, you should think twice before giving the rifle an upgrade – the standard variant would definitely be powerful enough.
Best Shotgun: Assault Shotgun
- How expensive? 10,000 GTA dollars
- Where available? Ammu-Nation
- Requirement: Rank 37
- Most useful upgrade: Larger magazine
What makes the assault shotgun so good? The rate of fire of GTA Online”s assault shotgun far exceeds that of the other weapons in this class. However, you should give the basic version the extended magazine as soon as possible to compensate for its low capacity. This gives you not just eight, but 32 rounds per magazine.
The high rate of fire makes the assault shotgun an absolute force of nature at short range and due to the high bullet dispersion you can also allow yourself to aim less accurately.
These are the disadvantages of the assault shotgun: In direct comparison with other shotguns – such as the new Combat Shotgun of the Cayo Perico Heist – this weapon does slightly less damage. No big loss, but the other advantages of this gun outweigh it.
Best Sniper: Heavy Sniper Rifle Mk 2
- How much does it cost? 38,150 GTA dollars, Mk2 upgrade: 165,375 GTA dollars
- Where available? Ammu-Nation, Mk2 upgrade via workbench
- Requirement: Rank 90 or Workbench
- Most useful upgrade: Explosive bullets
What makes the Heavy Sniper Rifle Mk2 so good? This sniper from GTA Online deals by far the most damage of all other weapons of this class. At long range, the Heavy Sniper Rifle is indispensable, as enemies usually die after just one hit.
The explosive bullets for the Mk2 variant are particularly popular, but quite difficult to unlock. With these, your sniper will not even stop at armoured vehicles. In addition, the weapon proves itself as an anti-gripper: even oppressor Mk2s or fighter jets usually lose out in a direct confrontation.
These are the disadvantages of the Heavy Sniper Rifle Mk2: In direct comparison to the other sniper weapons of GTA Online, the Heavy Sniper Rifle has the lowest rate of fire. Likewise, unlocking the explosive bullets via the bunker can be very costly and time-consuming. If you want to unlock this upgrade, you definitely need to be patient.
Also, with the Heavy Sniper Rifle Mk2 (as with all Mk2 weapons), alternative ammunition types turn out to be quite expensive, while you can only carry a limited number of rounds. Again, shooting around a lot can quickly add up to a lot of money.
Best Heavy Weapon: Minigun
- How expensive? 50,000 GTA dollars
- Where available? Ammu-Nation
- Requirement: Rank 120
- No upgrades available
What makes the Minigun so good? Actually, it should be obvious: This heavy weapon is a goddamn minigun! You still want more info? No problem: GTA Online”s minigun not only deals a hell of a lot of damage, it also hits with absolute precision even at long distances and you don”t even have to reload it.
Since the weapon can even cut up cars and planes in no time at all, you are often better off with the minigun in combat than with (target-seeking) rocket launchers. If you miss when pulling the trigger, you can simply keep the fire button pressed and pull your sights back a little.
These are the disadvantages of the Minigun: The Minigun is literally a “heavy weapon”: Once you have equipped it, you can neither jump, run nor climb, let alone take cover. The latter may be acceptable, because everything else should run for cover when you see it.
Beginners will also have to play GTA Online for quite a while to even unlock the minigun for purchase: Rank 120 is required for you to even be allowed to purchase the heavy weapon.
Best Throwing Weapon: Sticky Bomb
- How expensive? 600 GTA dollars each.
- Where available? Ammu-Nation
- Requirement: Rank 19
- No upgrades available
What makes the sticky bomb so good? The sticky bomb has two decisive advantages over the ordinary grenade: Firstly, the sticky bomb sticks to your target. Secondly, the sticky bomb can be detonated at the touch of a button, which makes it an immensely practical weapon.
For example, you can lure enemies into the range of your explosive, blow up cars at a certain time or even specifically take out your pursuers while driving.
These are the disadvantages of the sticky bomb: Like the grenade, the sticky bomb has a relatively short throwing range. So do not overdo it when throwing it.
What else you should know about the weapons of GTA Online
Bonus Tip 1: Up-n-Atomizer saves heists and lives
- How much? 399,000 GTA dollars
- Where available? Ammu Nation
- Prerequisite: None
- No upgrades available
What makes the Up-n-Atomizer so good? Every GTA Online or GTA 5 player will have encountered this problem at some point: On the way to or during a mission, your own vehicle gets stuck somewhere and is as good as lost. Of course, this is particularly annoying if you are dependent on your vehicle for your mission and the mission fails because of this or even a valuable delivery is lost.
That”s why the foxes at Rockstar have come up with the Up-n-Atomizer to provide a solution in just such predicaments: This pistol-type weapon fires kinetic energy blasts that do hardly any damage but push moving objects (and players like NPCs) around.
So if your car/boat/helicopter/plane is stuck somewhere, you can use the Up-n-Atomizer to save yourself or your vehicle from the predicament. In addition, the weapon is also extremely useful for annoying Griefer or God Mode hackers and also has unlimited ammunition capacity.
These disadvantages have the Up-n-Atomizer: The Up-n-Atomizer is not exactly cheap with its acquisition cost of 399,999 GTA dollars. You might want to wait for a discount if the steep price gives you a headache – especially beginners have to think twice about every investment. Fortunately, the Up-n-Atomizer is regularly reduced in price.
Players should also bear in mind that the Up-n-Atomizer is only suitable for PvE or PvP battles to a limited extent. After all, the weapon does little damage, but also has a fairly low rate of fire. After each shot, the pistol has to recharge for a short moment before it can be fired again. However, you don”t have to worry about ammunition.
Bonus Tip 2: The best gun in the car
Last but not least, we have a hot tip for you: What is the best weapon to use while driving? Once again, we advise you to use the AP pistol, which can hold 36 rounds with a larger magazine.
Alternatively, the Micro-SMG is also a good choice, but it only has 30 rounds per magazine. In any case, the high rate of fire of both weapons makes one of the two pistols indispensable.
Bonus Tip 3: Why a gun safe can be useful
How do I make the weapon selection in the car a little easier? Anyone who has ever played GTA 5 or GTA Online, respectively, will probably have encountered the following problem.
The more guns you own, the more complicated it is to select a certain weapon behind the wheel of a vehicle. There is no circular menu here, instead you have to laboriously click through each individual (machine) pistol. For this reason, veterans now advise against completing one”s weapon collection in order to counteract precisely this problem.
Weapon cabinet makes the choice easier: We advise you to equip one of your properties in GTA Online with a weapon cabinet, which usually costs about half a million GTA dollars. Here you can “delete” superfluous weapons from your inventory that would otherwise only clutter up your selection.
If you want to get started in GTA Online for the first time in 2022, you can find helpful tips for beginners in the article linked above. And of course we want to know from you: What do you think are the best weapons in GTA Online? Which is your personal favourite? Write us in the comments!
