Re-balancing the Commando without Reverting it

Games Halo Infinite
1

Gonna be clear here I currently have an irrational love for the VK Commando, in terms of game feel and sound design it is my favorite gun. It is however on the weak side compared to it’s contemporary, the BR. I call the BR it’s contemporary because they spawn in the same lockers, and unlike the Variety show that are the Pistol lockers the VK and BR hold the obvious position as the games base level precision rifles. So my suggestions will be aimed at making the VK the BR’s equal without reverting the nerf.

First thing I’m going to do is quantify the Power that each weapon has, Power here consists of a combination of TTK, Effective Ammo, and Reliability.

TTK: “Time to kill” should be the easiest to understand. I’ll be using both Perfect TTK and Bodyshot TTK. TTK data is mostly taken from Aozolai. Most Bodykill TTKs are different now and instead are Calculated using the Perfect TTK and some math.

Effective Ammo: How many Spartans can you kill without reloading. This too will be measured in Perfects and Bodyshot Kills

Reliability: What factors exist that make it more or less difficult to land your shots. This is the hardest to quantify but it is still important in a balancing discussion. Notes will be made of Recoil, Bloom, and ADS throttling. I’m not touching aim assist with a ten foot pole.

Using the MK50 Sidekick as an Example weapons profile

MK50 Sidekick
TTK: P (1.10 seconds) B (~1.55 Seconds)
EA: P (1.71 Spartans) B (1.20 Spartans)
Reliability: Small amount of recoil. Bloom curve kicks in about the 6th shot and reaches max bloom about the 9th out of 12 shots per reload. Quick reload mitigates low EA, ADS throttling on the Bloom.

BR75
TTK: P (1.55 Seconds) B (~2.71 Seconds)
EA: P (3 Spartans) B (~1.71 Spartans) [That’s 4 bursts per perfect, 7 bursts per bodykill not all bullets need to land for the 7th burst to kill]
Reliability: Very little recoil that doesn’t build on subsequent shots, so functionally none, No Bloom, No ADS throttling. The most reliable gun in the game.

I personally believe the BR to the most balanced gun in the game currently. The armor health buff stopped it from being perfectly balanced. Before the indirect nerf, it had a 3 Spartan Perfect and a 2 Spartan Bodykill ammo count.

VK78 Commando
TTK: P (1.14 Seconds) B (1.86 Seconds)
EA: P (2.5 Spartans) B (1.53 Spartans)
Reliability: Heavy Recoil. Recoil increases in intensity after the 4th shot. Bloom curve kicks in about 4th shot and hits max bloom at about the 8th or 9th shot out of 20 per reload. Has about the same Max bloom as the Sidekick. Combination of ADS throttling and Descoping hurt it’s long range capabilities against most weapons but especially against the BR. The way the recoil resets is good in most situations, but if your target jumps, walks up some stairs, or you walk towards them while they’re above you, the recoil will begin to reset inconsistently, messing with aim.

In an aimbot’s hands this gun would be better than the BR in nearly every way, but players, I hope, are not aimbots. While looking at the stats the TTK seems acceptable but the VK does feel under-powered in play. Bloom and Recoil means that burst or tap firing is a must at medium-range and beyond, slowing down that TTK. ADS throttling means that being descoped reduces the effectiveness of the weapon, meaning at longer ranges the VK is much easier to shut down with spam than other long range weapons. The nerf to damage and buff to armor also decreased the VK’s Effective Ammo meaning that VK users are much more likely to run out of ammo right as they need one last shot to secure a kill.

My suggestion would be to increase the VK’s ammo count from 20 per reload to 22. 22 bullets would be the Goldilocks-zone of enough extra ammo, it doesn’t surpass the BR in staying power but would be more forgiving of missed shots. 24 bullets would line up well with the VK’s optimal 4 round bursts, but it would match the BR’s Effective ammo count of three Perfects per clip and surpass it in Bodyshot damage, beating out the BR in staying power. This is something I think most people obsessed with weapon balance, would prefer be avoided.

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2

The commando is extremely hard to use on mouse and keyboard, at least for me. The only time I can kill reliably with it is if I warm up with it in training mode. I’d much prefer just replacing commando spawns with BR’s and Stalker Rifles. Also would’ve preferred having a DMR in the game. Commando is extremly unwieldy.

2 Likes
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Loving the Commando, I hope they take your considerations into account. The recoil is too much for the damage given and unfortunately I feel the AR is so overpowered at mid to long range that this VK weapon never gets fair due. Not far off from being great though!! Fingers crossed this gets tweaked soon

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I really wanted to enjoy the commando, I’ve really tried, but it is so hard to control. I really am disappointed with it. I regret picking it up every time.

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5

Something that bugs me about it that is frustrating to see NOBODY else mentioning at all is the reticle. Its too cluttered, getting a sight picture on the target is harder than with, say, the BR, or even the AR.

idk what i’d change about it in a small way, I think it just needs to be completely rethought. A good reticle is important for precision weapons.

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The commandos problem is that both the AR and Sidekick beat it in range and accuracy.

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True, plus the optimal ttk for the commando is very tough to achieve, compared to the ar, sidekick and br.

Can’t quite capitalize on it with its current setbacks.

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There’s some accessibility options in the settings, “Reticle Outline Opacity” and “Reticle Outline Thickness” If you set them both to Zero The reticle gets significantly cleaner. Doesn’t change the reticle itself just removes the outline. Makes aiming in Bright areas a Pain though.

9

Just make it like the DMR, that solves it for me IMO.

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10

After having put a lot of time in with the gun I completely agree. Upping it’s raw DPS in anyway makes it too strong. A bigger magazine or maybe have it come with an extra spare mag off spawn would be the way to buff it.

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I feel the bloom is a major issue with the Commando. No other precision weapon has the amount of bloom that it has. I’ve dumped 3/4 of the mag without my reticle leaving the target just to get killed by the AR when I had the upper hand. The recoil can be controlled, but having to burst fire, even at mid range, is a major setback.

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Yeah i tweaked those settings to try and make it tolerable. Ended up reducing hud opacity a little bit too, but there’s no way to do ONLY reticle opacity, so the rest of the hud looks weird. I’d still like a new reticle in the long term.

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I’m with you on this one, reducing those settings just make it slightly better.

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I really hope they do slightly modify the commando in some of the ways you’ve talked about. I can’t put my finger on it, but I really like everything about the gun - it’s design and sounds. It’s just the actually getting kills with it I struggle with a tiny bit xD still always try to pick it up though.