Permanently borrowing a wayward clan-mate's rifle setup in Battlefield 4

The words ‘Giggity, giggity, giggity’ and a splash of emoji poo icons are splashed across my Battlefield clan’s Discord channel, again. It seems one of our three magnificent but demented Swedish members, C-West, has logged on and said hello. Although he’s only been in the clan a couple of years, he’s one of our most popular chaps—a real bastard to kill in the tank, but a guardian angel at reviving squadmates.

Since the release of Battlefield 1 he’s taken on something of a celebrity status in the clan, appearing on Discord perhaps a couple of times a month to trade creative insults and remind us that the Battlefield he’s playing is still better than the Battlefield we’re playing. Each time a new game in a series comes out, sadly, but inevitably, there are always some players who flake away or simply get left behind.

The real tragedy is, of course, that this time it’s C-West who’s playing the new Battlefield 1 and it’s the rest of us who have gone back to Battlefield 4.

WW1 was a brilliant gamble that has paid off for BF1, but I feel, on PC at least, that Battlefield is a modern warfare game at heart—choppers support tanks, tanks support infantry, and infantry support each other in squads. Too much of that has been lost behind BF1’s flashy filters, bumbling old weapons and spray-and-pray combat.

But after nearly 2,000 hours of Battlefield 4, I still haven’t found a medic rifle and attachment combo that I feel settled with. Now I think C-West can help. For three years it’s been a case of trying different guns until I find one I like, and sticking with each one until I need a change. It’s almost like I’ve been too busy playing the game to take a step back and look at improving how I play.

I never want to use exactly the same setup as another clan member, because it feels like many of us have found our “The kills are rolling in. I’m kicking myself for not stealing his gun sooner”own niche, (and, unlike in Battlefield 1, there are plenty of ways to customise weapons and there’s a huge arsenal to discover). So the next time C-West comes to join us, I ask him what his favourite rifle setup is. He’s no longer playing Battlefield 4 with us, so there’s no problem with him giving up the details on what gun he uses, right?

He tells me he’s been using the L85A2, with a Coyote red dot sight, a flash hider to conceal the gun’s muzzle flash without affecting bullet velocity, and a stubby grip to combine medium weapon control with high accuracy. But what’s C-West’s new favourite gun in BF1? ’Don’t you guys just throw horse shoes at each other?’ I ask.

I boot up BF4 and join my favourite rush server. It’s one of just a handful of good, active servers, but is always busy. Once I’ve figured out how many bullets the new gun takes to put an enemy on the floor, the kills start rolling in. A few more chaps from the clan join and soon the opposing team are struggling. I’m kicking myself for not stealing his gun setup sooner.

While I’m happy with my new gun setup, C-West would be the first to remind me that I’m not getting more kills because of his configuration, but because all of the best players have moved onto Battlefield 1.

John's been gaming since Doom. He's 98% human, 2% cyborg, but don't let his metal wrist fool you, he still knows how to pile the bodies up on Battlefield and designs bookazines in his sleep.