Ready Or Not: 10 Best Weapons

Every Ready or Not session starts in the police station, and next to the briefing table, the locker is the most popular spot in the building.

Once you’re done playing Barbie with all the outfits you unlocked with your exploits, you stare at the loadout screen, wondering what weapon of justice you’ll take to your next doorkicking adventure.

After one too many visits to the hottest hangout spots in Los Sueños, I’ve learned what works and what doesn’t to negotiate with the city’s finest inhabitants.

As much as I’d like to take my dearest MP5 to every single mission, 9x19mm just won’t cut it once the suspects start wearing body armor. These are the best weapons in Ready or Not, for SWAT operators of all tastes.

10

Beanbag Shotty

One-Punch Man

Let me start this by disclosing that I am not a big fan of S-ranked runs, for the sole reason that most threats we fight in Los Sueños are prime candidates for lethal weapons. That said, even the most murderous of California cops still need to bring suspects alive now and then. For that, there’s no better tool than the beanbag shotgun.

This weapon fires a thick fabric sack filled with lead shot, which hurts like no tomorrow without causing long-term injury… most of the time, anyway. Unlike pepperball launchers, which rely on a cumulative effect, the beanbag shotgun typically stuns suspects with the first shot.

I like taking this in missions where you rarely have more than two suspects in the same room, as the stun dealt by the beanbag shot is just long enough to close the gap and force compliance.

However, not everything is roses here in beanbag land. For starters, a hit to the head can incapacitate and even kill a suspect through blunt force. The beanbag has poor accuracy past 10 meters, so it’s annoyingly easy to send a guy to the morgue instead of jail if you’re aiming at the chest. Another issue is that, if the suspect does not comply, you’ll be shot with actual bullets.

9

MP7

Portable Buzzsaw

The era of the submachine gun is by and large over, with law enforcement and military forces largely shifting towards carbines. And yet, the HK MP7 perseveres.

Introduced in 2001, the MP7 got its combat debut that same year during the US invasion of Afghanistan. Chambered in HK 4.6x30mm, it is a compact weapon with an insanely high rate of fire and decent armor-piercing capability.

The MP7 might feel underwhelming if you use it in single-fire mode, as its rounds are a little too weak, but that’s if you are silly. This needle gun shines if you set it to full auto and let it rip.

It won’t go through level 4 armor in one shot, but you’re dumping half a mag in one trigger press, so that’s not an issue. Just make sure you pack enough magazines, as it’s easy to run out if you’re not disciplined.

8

GA416

The SOCOM Rifle

If you like firearms with personality and soul, you’re probably not happy with how AR-15 platforms are taking over the world of service rifles. It’s not the rifle’s fault for being good, though.

H&K introduced the HK416 in response to a Delta Force (the unit, not the game) request for an improved rifle based on the M4 carbine. The resulting weapon is an AR-15 that’s better, more reliable, and looks cooler.

The GA416 in Ready or Not is not far from the Mk 18 in ballistic performance, but it beats out the classic M4 in ergonomics. This translates into quicker reloads and snappy weapon handling.

You have access to all rifle attachments in the game, and a nice compact form factor that lets you mount a suppressor without getting stuck on doorways.

The GA416 might not be as deadly as 7.62x51mm, but 5.56x45mm AP makes short work of any armor without overpenetration.

7

57 USG

The Sword to Your Shield

One of the biggest plot holes in Ready or Not is how the Los Sueños town is broke, but they can somehow afford to arm every officer with an FN Five-Seven. This pistol is the weapon of choice for the busy officer who wants to carry other junk instead of a lethal primary weapon for most of the mission.

The Five-Seven has a 20-round magazine, and the 5.7x28mm AP cartridge can penetrate up to level 3 body armor. It is the only weapon in the game that lets you bring good firepower behind a shield, or if you’re carrying a non-lethal primary weapon like a beanbag shotgun or the M23A1 grenade launcher.

Unless you have other stylistic preferences, there’s really no reason to carry anything else other than the Five-Seven in-game. It struggles as much as any other pistol with level 4 plates, and all of them require about three shots to down a suspect unless you’re doing a Revolver Ocelot cosplay with the .357.

6

P90

This is a Weapon of War

Anyone who watched Stargate knows the difference between a weapon of terror and a weapon of war. The FN P90 is the latter, and it’s damn good at what it does.

With 50 rounds of 5.7x28mm in a stylish magazine that rotates the cartridge 90 degrees before chambering, the P90 can punch through almost all armor classes in-game.

Although the ballistic performance and rate of fire are comparable to the MP7, the 50-round mag is just enough to make you not worry about ammunition when using automatic fire.

It’s the shortest full-auto weapon in Ready or Not, making it great for ‘negotiating’ with suspects in tight spaces.

5

LVAR

Tacticool Edition

If the other AR-15 rifles in the game aren’t expensive enough for you, you’ll enjoy the LVAR. This dripped out hand cannon has a short barrel that is integrally suppressed, giving you all the pros without having to worry about length.

The LVAR is chambered in .300 Blackout, comparable to 7.62x39mm but with excellent performance in short barrels. In Ready or Not, AP rounds are on par with other intermediate cartridges, with the advantage of JHP still punching through level 3 plates.

What sets this rifle ahead of all other AR-15s in the game is that it has significantly less recoil, thanks in large part to the suppressor design.

I’m a little too nostalgic for older guns, so the LVAR doesn’t match my vibe, but it’s objectively one of the best guns in the game.

4

F90

Short & Sweet

The Steyr AUG brought the light of bullpup coolness to the rest of the world, setting the scene to embarrass the British once they introduced the much-maligned SA80 some years later.

Ready or Not brings you the pinnacle of the AUG development in the form of the EF88 Austeyr, an Australian modernization of the platform.

This is the peak of both practicality and fashion for 5.56x45mm assault rifles: low recoil, quick reloads, and all the benefits of the cartridge.

As any good bullpup, its small form factor makes it ideal for the tight spaces Los Sueños likes to throw at you. It feels damn good to be able to look cool without sacrificing performance.

3

M1014

The Doorkicker Special

Shotguns are incredible all-or-nothing weapons in this game, especially when packing buckshot. A shot to the chest of a suspect wearing body armor will inconvenience them at best, but anywhere else, you have legs, arms, or a whole face flying off.

What sets the Benelli M4 apart from its peers in Ready or Not is the semi-automatic gas-operated action, which gives you a significant boost to the rate of fire compared to its pump action peers.

This family of shotguns is my pick in most games that have it, like Six Days in Fallujah and Escape From Tarkov, because it lets you spit out shells like it’s nobody’s business.

The 8-round tube in Ready or Not is great when you consider that the Super 90 will typically stun or kill a target in one shot, and since you can top off shells individually, the lack of a box magazine is not a problem as you’ll rarely do a full reload while under fire.

However, if the gun is basically perfect, the attachments are a letdown. You only have two red dot sight models and no IR pointer option, making it less than ideal to use with NVGs.

2

M23A1

Bigger Iron

Few weapons have made as much of a splash as the M23A1, introduced during the Ready or Not console release.

Modelled after the Milkor Multi-Shot Grenade Launcher, this is a weapon of mass compliance in the hands of a skilled shot. The M23A1 has a rotating drum with six 40mm grenades in either flashbang or CS gas flavor.

While we already had the M320 launcher as a tactical tool before, it is a single-shot breech-loaded weapon, so realistically, you could only place one grenade through the door before pushing in. This made it extremely limited when assaulting large areas like Port Hokan (Hide and Seek).

Honestly, even if the developers had restricted the M23A1 to Greased Palms, it would have still earned a spot here. Being able to bang or gas multiple corners in quick succession is a game-changer, and there’s nothing else quite as capable of doing it. I do wish we could launch stingers from it as well, but flash and CS gas are just fine.

1

SA-58

The Right Arm of the Free World

Ready or Not gives you the David Selvaggio Arms SA-58 in its OSW (Operator Specialist Weapon) variant, an American license-build of the mighty FN FAL with a modernization package.

The SA-58 OSW version in the game is in the Shorty flavor, with the 11-inch (279mm) barrel—bad for ballistics at long range, but not really a problem when you’re sending Amos Voll to an early grave. It also means you can mount a suppressor on this thing while still fitting through most doors.

The SA-58 is my all-purpose gun of choice. You get twenty rounds of 7.62x51mm per magazine, a full auto mode you’ll never use unless you’re trying to shoot down narco planes, and fairly docile single-shot recoil for a gun with this much punch.

A single center of mass shot is normally enough to bring down a suspect, great for conflict resolution. On the downside, the SA-58 tends to kill targets a lot more easily than lighter calibers, so watch out when facing named suspects that need to be taken in alive. AP ammunition will also cut through walls like paper, which occasionally leads to accidents, but lets you chew through a door.

Ready or Not

Systems

Released

December 13, 2023

ESRB

m

Developer(s)

Void Interactive

Publisher(s)

Void Interactive

Engine

Unreal Engine 4

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