In Battlefield 1, you're thrust into the unforgiving world of multiplayer with the most-applicable 2-bit weapon they could give you. But here's the secret: they're gimping you.
While many weapons in both Battlefield 1 and the series as a whole won't be strictly speaking better – there will usually be a trade off, such as less damage for more accuracy – I can assure you that each class has a weapon or gadget that is just better than what you have available to you at lower levels.
Several of these weapons that are flat out better are only available once you level up that particular class – it's not just dependent on your overall level. But these weapons are available at level zero, so long as you have enough war bonds, which, believe me, you'll earn quickly.
Assault: M97 Trench Backbored
The Assault Class is a tricky one. The starting rifle is not very impressive, and all the other ones available at level zero are equally unspectacular. You'll find you have a lot more success going the Shotgun route, and look no further than the M97 Trench Backbored.
It's going to do a lot more damage than an assault rifle or SMG, and, while it may not have the range, you should really play Scout if you're planning to target long-distant foes. The M97 Trench Gun – Hunter is your only other option, but it sacrifices 9 control for 5 accuracy, which is clearly not a good trade off.
If you want to stick with the good-old assault rifles, more power to you, and good luck.
Medic: Cei Rigotti Optical
Medics have an easy choice. I do long for the days of Bad Company 2 where Medics had LMGs and could just teabag a medkit until the cows came home, all the while mowing down scores of enemies. Those were the days.
But that's been changed for a while now. In Battlefield 1, you're started off with the Cei Rigotti Factor, a gun with decent damage, accuracy and magazine size. But, for a few war bonds, you can upgrade to the Cei Rigotti Optical, which has the same damage, hip fire rating, control rating, fire rate, magazine size – but it's more accurate.
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It's clear as day the better choice, in that respect, but it also has a better sight on it, making this upgrade a no-brainer.
Support: M1909 Benet-Mercie Storm
The upgrade for the support class is, I suppose, what you could maybe call a tradeoff, but only in the sense that trading three PS4s for five Xbox Ones is a tradeoff – sure, you may like the PS4 better, but you got to think of overall value.
You start off with the Lewis Gun Low Weight. It's a decent starting LMG, but you can do a lot better. Look no further than the M1909 Benet-Mercie Storm. Yes, it does have a slightly slower fire rate (by 20, I think), and a slightly smaller magazine size (by about 15), but you trade that and you get more damage, more accuracy and more control. The losses to fire rate and magazine size will be negligible, and the gains to your overall killing power will be significant.
Make the smart choice.
Scout: Incendiary Tripwire Bomb
The Scout class is similar to the Assault class, in terms of its primary weapon. Most sniper rifles are going to perform about the same. You can trade off between different magazine sizes and scopes and whatnot, but you're going to get about the same experience. Sure, some sniper rifles trade damage for fire rate, but a good sniper should only need one shot in my mind.
So, if not a rifle, what could be more beneficial? Why, your gadgets of course. You start out with K bullets – keep those if you'd like – and a flare gun for spotting enemies. Get rid of the flare gun immediately. There are so many better options, not the least of which is the Incendiary Tripwire Bomb. I see many people opt for the vanilla tripwire bomb, but that's a mistake.
The Incendiary Tripwire Bomb is a killing machine, exploding in a ball of fire that lingers around for dozens of seconds. Unlike the regular trip wire bomb that goes off and stays off, the Incendiary Tripwire Bomb has the ability to catch multiple people, even if they passed through seconds apart. While this may not sound like the most probable of circumstances, it's happened with me on several occasions throughout the trial period.
Grabbing these upgraded weapons will put you on more-or-less equal footing with your higher level opponents and put you on the right path to a quicker level-up in each class.
Happy hunting!
