Weapons Guide | Axis | DoD:S

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WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT FOR THE WEHRMACHT


Now that we're done with the boys in green, lets hop across the
Atlantic and see what the Germans are packing. There are many
similarities between the Wehrmacht classes and the U.S. Army classes.
Many classes are coded the same way. However, there are differences,
particularly in the German Rifleman class, that a mindful player
will be pay heed to when picking a class on the Wehrmacht side.

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WEHRMACHT STANDARD EQUIPMENT


Pistol:

Walther P38
Magazine capacity: 8 bullets, with 2 extra mags.
Secondary Fire: none


The P38 is as good of a pistol as they come, and even gets one more
bullet per magazine than the Americans' standard-issue pistol, the
Colt .45.

The P38 is, of course, semi-automatic, so you can fire it as
fast as you can click. Keep in mind while firing it that you only
get 8 rounds with it, and they will run out quickly when you have
to resort to a pistol to defend yourself.

The pistol isn't as accurate as a rifle or even a submachine gun;
to be honest, if you have to use the pistol to defend yourself, it's
not going to be at long range. You're probably trying to kill someone
while en route to a good Sniper location or MG-42 nest.

Remember that you only have 2 extra magazines with you, so the P38
can only get you out of so many jams. That said, the P38 reloads
quickly when you have to, and should prove to be an effective
sidearm.


Melee Weapon:

Entrenching Shovel


Gotta love those resour***ul Germans. Why bother carrying a knife when
you can use your perfectly good shovel to bash and slice your hapless
opponent into submission?

The shovel works exactly in the same way as its American counterpart, the
combat knife; get in front of or sneak up behind an enemy soldier and
slice away at close range until you hear them scream (and they will if
they are stabbed to death - one of my favorite additions in Dod:S).
Again, if you can sneak behind an opponent, using your shovel will deal
additional "backstab" damage (shout out to all of my Rouges in Aegwynn)
that will instantly kill the opponent.

Or you can be like the crazies in the servers and run at someone and
try to stab them outright, regardless of the fact that the enemy has a
fully loaded weapon pointed right at you. If you succeed at killing
them this way, make sure to celebrate. Celebrate boldly and often.

Other than those two circumstances, you really shouldn't rely on a melee
weapon as much as you should on your primary weapon.

((For nostalgia's sake, and for anyone who cares, MY favorite German
melee weapon was from the v1.x days, where German paratroopers were
equipped with butterknives (yes, I know they were used to cut
paratroopers free from trees if caught). There was little greater
satisfaction than butterkniving someone. Except maybe greasegunning
someone...but I digress - On to the Wehrmacht Classes!))

Detonation Weapon:

Demolition Pack

Demolition packs aren't available in every map. As of the latest
patch, the two offical maps that feature them are Colmar and Jagd.
Any soldier can pick up a Demo Pack, regardless of what team they're
on, and they can be found in and around the large TNT crates you'll
find in those maps. (And only the Wehrmacht use Demo Packs on
Jagd.)

Demo packs are not used directly to kill members of the other team,
but instead to destroy objectives in Detonation-style maps. However,
it should be noted that Demolition packs are very deadly, and even
putting a wall between yourself and the exploding objective won't
necessarily keep you safe from harm.

Demolition packs are planted by pressing the use key (default 'e'),
and can be defused in the same fashion. If you see a Demo pack about
to explode, remember that when you attempt to defuse one, the
countdown timer will stop - so as long as you get there before it
detonates, you'll have a chance at stopping the explosion.

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THE WEHRMACHT RIFLEMAN CLASS


Primary Weapon:

Mauser Kar 98
Clip Capacity: 5 rounds, with 12 extra clips.
Secondary Fire: "Ironsight" zoom

Equipment:

2 Rifle Grenades
Entrenching Shovel

**WEAPON**

The Kar 98 in DoD:S is very different from its earlier DoD iterations,
much to the chagrin of some and the enjoyment of others. I will not
use the word "railgun" (well, I won't use it anymore) to describe the
DoD:S Kar. I've never liked that word. Instead I will describe how
it should be treated now and how the class on the whole should be used
for the benefit of the team.

The Kar 98 is a bolt action rifle, just like the sniper rifles in the
game (as a matter of fact, the Wehrmacht sniper rifle *is* a Kar 98
with a scope attached.) As such, you cannot fire this weapon the way
the U.S. Army Rifleman can fire the Garand. This limits the ability
of the Wehrmacht Rifleman to assist in close quarters combat and flag
pushes. When facing two Thompsons and a BAR, one guy with a Kar who
has to work a bolt in between each shot probably won't last very long.

Instead, use the Kar's accuracy at long range (which is comparable with
the Garand) to the advantage of yourself and your team. The Kar's
ability to effectivly choke points at a distance makes the Rifleman
class a very important defensive class. Keeping a distance (even
if only medium range) from the enemy will keep you alive longer, and
give you more time to line up your shot.

Using the Kar this way in a squad can really increase your chances of
overcoming the enemy. With a Kar on the move behind a group of
MP-40s and MP-44s, the submachineguns can take care of immediate threats
while the Kar scouts out and removes the distant threats.

The Kar's secondary fire "Ironsight" zoom is also very effective when
defending areas or moving up with a squad. The ironsight zoom greatly
increases your chances of hitting a lethal area, which brings up
another point: The Kar is one of the most lethal weapons in the game,
Any shot to the chest or head will kill someone.

Sometimes your team has to hold on to a vital flag and you're the only
one around to do it. If you're a Wehrmacht Rifleman and are in this
situation, you're very well equipped to do the job until the respawn.
go prone in some tall grass, or on top of a tank (like the second
flag in Flash), and keep changing your position. The Kar will
get the job done: just pull up those Ironsights, put the enemy
on the tip of the point, and watch em drop.

**EQUIPMENT**

Rifle grenades are a wonderful thing, and totally redefine
the way the Wehrmacht Rifleman class contributes to his team. A
rifle grenade is shot from the end of the Kar 98, after fixing
a special attachment to it. Using these grenades, a Rifleman
can launch grenades practically anywhere on the map, and
especially places where an Assault or Support class troop couldn't
throw one.

If you aren't using your rifle grenades, you really ought to be.
Rifle grenades have the uncanny ability to hold off enemy troops,
because noone who sees a grenade drop from the sky in front of
them is going to run at it, and if they do they'll shortly blow up.
Launch a rifle grenade towards the main routes from the enemy spawn
to contested areas - like the middle flag area in Flash and
Avalanche - by the time enemy can advance through the explosions,
your team will have moved up and be waiting for them.

Alternatively, these grenades can be shot at Sniper and Machine Gunner
nests from angles that one of your own Snipers couldn't get a
clean shot from. Rifle grenades can also be bounced off of walls
(my favorite thing to do) in order to get a grenade into a needed area.
Remember: A rifle grenade gives you the opportunity to cause major
damage to enemy installations without putting you in the direct
line of fire. So use them when the need arises!

Spetsnaz420 also points out that you can pick up grenades thrown at
you by pressing the use button (default 'e'), which also works for rifle
grenades. He elaborates:

"This is also useful for rifle grenades shot into sniper
nests...sometimes I just sit there waiting for nades to pop in to throw
out. You can also shoot rifle grenades at a wall close to you and
pick them up and throw them. Rifle grenades take half of the amount of
time to detonate than a regular pineapple or potato masher grenade
(Lappy's note: that's about 3-4 seconds)."

The Entrenching Shovel that the Wehrmacht Rifleman gets is the same
from the Wehrmacht "Standard Equipment" section.

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THE WEHRMACHT ASSAULT CLASS


Primary Weapon:

MP-40 Submachine Gun
Magazine Capacity: 30 rounds, with 6 extra mags.
Secondary Fire: Punch

Equipment:

Walther P38
1 Fragmentation Grenade
1 Smoke Grenade

**WEAPON**

The Wehrmacht Assault class is identical to the U.S. Army Assault Class,
with the only difference being the appearance of the in-game weapon.
The mass-produced, cheap and efficient MP-40 was the bread and butter
submachine gun of the German army, and if you liked the Thompson
on the American side, you'll like this gun just as much.

The MP-40 shares all of the Thompson's pros and cons. It is a light-
weight submachine gun, so the recoil really affects the gun while
shooting further than short range. When shooting at medium range, it
is best to be crouched or prone, and shooting in bursts. This
method will take the enemy down the quickest.

What's great about the MP-40 is the nice, large magazine it comes with:
30 bullets should be more than enough to last as long as you aren't
shooting the entire magazine every time you see an enemy - which
is a flaw I always take advantage of when I play against newer players.
The new player (n00bz, if you must) more often than not will stop
where they are upon seeing an enemy and shoot their entire magazine
at them - even if they've ducked behind cover. This is why you
fire in short, controlled bursts - you don't waste ammo, and you have
a better chance of hitting people.

To increase your chances of killing people with this gun, do what I do
and try to move through areas that are tight, forcing your opponent
into close-quarters combat - the kind of combat the MP-40 is best at.
Also, if you come across an enemy or two out in the open: KEEP MOVING.
A stagnant Assault soldier is a dead one. Put it this way, if you
were a Rifleman, what kind of target would you prefer - a still target
or one that's running circles around you shooting at your head?

The reload time is quick, so even if you run out at an inopportune time,
it won't be long before you're back in the fray. If you run out of
ammunition at a REALLY bad time (say, in front of a Machine Gunner) or
if you'd really like to embarass your opponent, the secondary fire
punch will knock 'em silly. I think in these situations it would
make more sense to switch to your pistol, but hey, its your game.
Play it your way.

**EQUIPMENT**

The Wehrmacht Assault class gets the same excellent equipment as the
U.S. Army Assault Class, if only in potato-masher form. The
fragmentation grenade is a great thing for any soldier with an MP-40,
as the gun on its own isn't really that well equipped to clear out
a flag position or wipe out a Machine Gunner nest to get ready
for a cap.

Make sure when using your grenades to remember that you can "cook"
the grenade by holding down the fire button for a while before
letting go. This will shorten the fuse on the grenade, so your
opponent can't run away before it blows up! In my opinion, the
standard frag grenade fuse lasts for 5-6 seconds.

Even better than the frag grenade is the smoke grenade! Just like
the American Assault Class, the use of this baby is, in my opinion,
even more essential to the success of the Wehrmacht team than the
U.S. Army. Because the Wehrmacht Rifleman isn't as effective in
close-quarters combat than the U.S. Army Rifleman, the Wehrmacht
has to rely more on its Assault and Support men to get the flag
caps. Smoke grenades make their job all the more easier.

Spetsnaz420 also points out that you can pick up grenades thrown at
you by pressing the use button (default 'e'), which can be useful in
all sorts of situations, like when you try to throw a grenade
around a corner and instead bounce it off the wall in front of you
and into your lap .

The good Assaulter will recognize when his team is in need of
a cap, or when his Machine Gunner needs to advance, and be
able to throw his smoke grenade so as to make that move
easier. I like to throw smoke grenades right at the
middle flag in Avalanche and Donner and run right up
and hide. Often times, if your less-than-heroic teammates
(who probably haven't read this guide) are a little
wary of advancing toward a cap, a smoke grenade and
a charge to the middle will help to motivate them.

The pistol described in the Equipment section is the same
from my "Standard Equipment" section.

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THE WEHRMACHT SUPPORT CLASS


Primary Weapon:

MP-44 (Sturmgewehr-44)
Magazine Capacity: 30 rounds, with 6 extra mags.
Secondary Fire: Semi-Auto toggle

Equipment:

2 Fragmentation Grenades
Entrenching Shovel

**WEAPON**

The Wehrmacht Support class plays a little differently than the U.S.
Army Support class due to differences in the primary weapons.
Comparitively, the MP-44 (the first true assault rifle, but if you're
smart enough to read my FAQ then you probably already knew that)
can outlast the BAR due to the extra amount of ammunition
it carries in each magazine. In truth, a soldier with the MP-44
*has* to outlast his opponents, both to make up for the Wehrmachts'
more defensive Rifleman and due to fewer amount of spare magazines
that he can hold.

The MP-44 shoots slower than the MP-40, and at full auto it's hard to
hit anything past short range with it. However, if you fire in short,
controlled bursts (just like you've been doing everywhere else in my
FAQ), you'll find that the heavier MP-44 can actually pick off
targets at medium ranges. Switching to semi-automatic mode by hitting
secondary fire is also a great way to increase your ability to kill
targets at long range, as it gives the soldier a slight boost in
accuracy. It's a great thing to do for a prone Support soldier who
has to defend a flag against a distant threat.

That said, you don't carry a gun like this to try and pick off people
across the map. That's why your team has snipers. This rifle will
drop anyone (and even groups) at close range, and the heavy firepower
is essential to back up any advancing squad of Assault, Rifleman, or
Rocket class teammates. Two shots to the chest is all you need, and
if you hit a limb, you'll never need more than three shots.

I have the easiest time hitting with this rifle while I'm crouched, so
when I see someone I drop to my knee and unload. This is what I
recommend you to do unless you turn a corner and run right into an
American. In that case, hold down primary fire until the walls
(surrounding furniture, even other soldiers!) are covered in
blood.

**EQUIPMENT**

I am so happy that the Support class gets two grenades now. They
used to only get one, and it never seemed like enough. Now, I
would never encourage you to throw grenades with reckless
abandon, you might hit your teammates. Check to see if there are
any around first, shout "Fire in the hole!". *Now* throw them
with reckless abandon.

Grenades are such a wonderful thing for the Support class
because it gives them a reach against Snipers, Machine Gunners,
and Rocketmen. Grenades are great for throwing at contested
two-man-cap flags, around corners where you suspect an enemy to be
waiting, and even as distractions; just because you don't have a
smoke grenade doesn't mean you can't intimidate an oncoming
group of defenders by dropping a grenade in their path. Sometimes,
the time it takes for two grenades to blow up is all the time
your team needs to make a critical capture, or move up.

Lastly, don't forget to cook off those grenades by holding down the
fire button before you throw them! It's much, much harder for a
sniper sitting in his little hole to run away from a grenade with
1 second left on its fuse than a grenade with a full fuse. Just
make sure you don't hold on too long and blow your face off. I
let go after 4 seconds.

Spetsnaz420 also points out that you can pick up grenades thrown at
you by pressing the use button (default 'e'), which can be useful in
all sorts of situations, like when you try to throw a grenade
around a corner and instead bounce it off the wall in front of you
and into your lap .

The shovel that the Support class gets is the same from my
"Standard Equipment" section.

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THE WEHRMACHT SNIPER CLASS


Primary Weapon:

Mauser Kar 98 w/ Scope
Clip Capacity: 5 rounds, with 12 extra clips.
Secondary Fire: Scope Zoom

Equipment:

Walther P38
Entrenching Shovel

**WEAPON**

Playing as a Sniper is definitely a challenge, but it pays off big
time for your team if you're good at it. Just like the U.S. Army
Sniper, you won't be pulling any mid-air lean-strafe headshot
kills like you do in Medal of Honor (I hate that game, yet my
roommate insists it's the ONLY game to play.... DoD 4 Life!).
Instead, being a good Sniper all comes down to the position you sit
in, and your aim.

The Kar 98 is a very good rifle, with a slightly different scope
attached than the scope on the American Springfield. It is the
same bolt-action rifle that the Rifleman uses, so you will have to
pause between each shot to work the bolt. I like this, as it keeps
me from getting too frustrated if I miss. Instead of wasting all of
my bullets, I'm forced to readjust. The rifle reloads slowly, as the
soldier puts each round in individually. Take this into account
before reloading, as you can't cut the sequence short.

You won't be hitting much of anything without looking down the scope,
so do use your secondary fire button, people. Keep in mind, while
looking through your scope, you will move very slowly, and be unable
to sprint or go prone without unscoping. Also, every time you fire
the rifle, you will unsight while the soldier works the bolt and
resight as soon as you can fire again.

What makes a sniper good isn't his aim (although good aim helps),
as much as his position. Three things I consider when trying to find
a good nest is what kind of angles I'll have against enemy positions,
how many different enemy positions I'll have to watch to keep safe,
and how many different angles I could get shot from. It may seem
best to try and cover three different windows, but if it puts you in
the line of fire from a fourth window that you can't see, I don't
think the cover is worth it.

I don't know where all the best spots are - find them yourselves!
In my experience, the best spots are the ones the opposing team
pays the least attention to. Watch your enemies: the way they
run, the routes they often take, the directions they look in, and
devise your own hiding spots around their blind spots.

**EQUIPMENT**

Both the pistol and shovel that the Sniper gets are the same
from the "Wehrmacht Standard Equipment" section. Pistols are
valuable to the sniper, as they are the best (only) mode of defense
if confronted on the way to a position. You could try to
no-scope them (That's shooting them without the crosshair for all
of you fresh'uns out there), but I think the pistol gives you
a better chance.


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THE WEHRMACHT MACHINE GUNNER CLASS


Primary Weapon:

MG-42 light machine gun w/bipod
250-round belt, with 1 additional belt.
Secondary Fire: Deploy/Retract Bipod

Equipment:

WaltherP38
Entrenching Shovel

**WEAPON**

The MG-42 is a scary, scary gun. Good thing you're not on the
business end of it, eh? This gun has a tremendous advantage over the
American .30 cal. The ammo belt for the MG-42 carries a whopping
250 rounds, giving it 100 extra bullets to shoot down the U.S. Army
with. In addition, The MG-42 has a much faster rate of fire than the
.30 Cal, effectively doubling the amount of damage a Machine Gunner
can deal on the Wehrmacht side.

So what's the tradeoff? Im glad you asked. The MG-42's insane rate
of fire comes at a price, the price of a barrel. The barrel of the
machine gun overheats with excessive usage, which means that a
Wehrmacht Machine Gunner cannot fire all 250 rounds of the MG-42
consecutively. Instead, he has to be careful about when he shoots
his machine gun. He still has to provide cover and support
fire for his team like only a Machine Gunner can; he can't do it
if he loses the ability to shoot his gun.

If you think that this makes the Wehrmacht Machine Gunner class
less useful, you are wrong. The MG-42 is still a weapon to be
feared, it just has to be feared in moderation. Remember, you
have a much longer ammo belt than the Americans do, so you won't
have to worry about needing to reload quite as often. Plus,
even though you have to shoot in shorter bursts, the insane amount
of bullets you'll be spitting out in those bursts makes gunning
down squads of infantry a shorter job.

You can monitor how hot the barrel of the gun is by the meter on
the right of your screen. When it fills up (the barrel is totally
red), you'll be unable to fire the gun until it cools down
sufficiently, and the barrel of the weapon will smoke. Sometimes,
though not often, this smoke is enough to give you away to an
enemy with a rifle grenade or a Bazooka. Be careful.

To effectively fire the MG-42, you really have to deploy your
bipod. To do this, hit Secondary fire near anything you would
want to deploy on: a bench, a rock, a chest of drawers, even
go prone and deploy on the ground! Your aim will be restricted
slightly, but you'll be able to mow down troops at any range.
You also have to be deployed to reload the weapon, and this can
be a lengthy process. Only reload when it is safe to do so,
even if it means ducking behind cover.

The Machine Gunner is the backbone of the team. A good
Gunner will move up with his teammates and cover/defend the flags
his team has. Covering fire works the best when it's coming from
a machine gun, even better when that machine gun is the MG-42.
Working with your team this way will win you the map in no time.

And thanks to Spetsnaz420 for remninding me about ammunition.
If you're a good Machine Gunner (and hey, if you're reading this
guide, you will be) then you'll be needing more boxes of ammo as
you mow down enemy troops and cover your own. Your teammates
can give you an extra box of ammunition by hitting the use key
(default is 'h'). Encourage them to do this. They need you to
keep shooting and you need bullets to shoot.

Even though the ammo boxes that players can drop are universal
(a teammate of any class can pick it up by running over it and
get one additional reserve clip/magazine/etc.), the Machine
Gunner is the class that really needs them, with the Rocket class
being its closest competitor for ammo usage.

And of course, if you're playing as a class other than a Machine
Gunner and you see a teammate who is, drop him a box of ammo.
Everyone goes home happy .

**EQUIPMENT**

The pistol and shovel mentioned above are the very same from my
"Standard Equipment" section. I would recommend a Gunner to his
pistol when moving to a new position, as it is so hard to hit
a rushing enemy with the MG-42 when it's undeployed.


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THE WEHRMACHT ROCKET CLASS


Primary Weapons:

Panzerschreck Raketen-Panzerbüchse 54
Ammunition: 5 rockets
Secondary Fire: Shoulder Panzerschreck

Mauser C96 w/ M712 attachment
Magazine Capacity: 20, w/ 2 extra mags.
Secondary Fire: None

Equipment:

Entrenching Shovel

**WEAPON**

Sometimes you just need to blow someone up, and when you do, this is
the class you'll be picking. Far from being a joke, sometimes the
best way to get rid of a Sniper or a Machine Gunner is by shooting
a rocket a through his window. Maybe a Sniper can't get an angle
to line up a shot, or the Machine Gunner is out of position; firing
a rocket right can be the best way to get the job done, and the
Panzerschreck does just that.

When using the Panzerschreck, it's important to remember a few things.
Just like the American Bazooka, it can only be fired from your
shoulder. You have to hit the secondary fire button to shoulder your
loaded Panzerschreck, and when you do your movement and aiming
speed will be slowed to what seems like a crawl. Loaded
rocket launchers are heavy, evidently.

In addition, when you shoot a Panzerschreck over long
distances, you need to take into account that the rocket will trail,
or drop, over long distances (damn gravity). When aiming at medium
to long distances, make sure you compensate for this drop by
aiming higher than whatever it is you're aiming at (which, lets face
it, is probably an enemy Machine Gunner or Sniper).

It takes a little while to reload a Panzerschreck, so you need to be
careful when you're firing one. Really, a rocket isn't going to be
much good to you at short range, so if you fire a rocket and all of a
sudden you see a Tommy-Gun in front of you, switch to your other
weapon: the C96!

The C96 is an interesting little pistol, because it was so modifiable
in its day (still is, technically). The attachment you get in this
game, the M712, is really interesting because it turns the little
semi-automatic pistol into a fully-automatic submachine gun.

The C96 is everything that a Panzerschreck is not: an excellent
short range weapon and a dreadful weapon at anything beyond that.
You really are going to be hard pressed to take a sniper out of a
window at even medium range with one of these - but you shouldn't
be trying to do that anyway, you have a rocket launcher for that.

When moving from position to position with the C96, try to stay in
close-quarters areas, so you can maximize the C96's lightning-fast
rate of fire. Keep in mind though that the lightweight nature of
the C96 makes the recoil a bit high. You can shoot it at full
tilt, just make sure you control the recoil if you do.

While it's great rate of fire really helps the Rocketman get from
position to position safely, the C96 does tend to spend the twenty-
bullet magazines pretty quickly. Keep this in mind when
advancing, also remembering that you only have two spare
magazines. Between the C96 and the Panzerschreck you should
have no trouble backing up your team whatever the situation.

And for the last time, the shovel described above is the very same
as the one described in my "Standard Equipment" section.