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NSX Tengu Highly Technical

NSX Tengu: Highly Technical Weapon Guide

NSX Tengu is an SMG, available to all classes. It is an unusual hybrid between a shotgun and an SMG: Tengu fires four pellets with each shot, each pellet dealing minor damage. Pellet spread is significantly reduced while aiming down sights to boost the effective range to reasonable levels. 

Tengu excels at consistently dealing damage to enemies, even against mobile targets, or when the user makes aiming mistakes. This makes Tengu a perfect weapon for newbies and low-aim players. 

Due to large pellet spread from the hip, Tengu has worse hip fire than other SMGs, almost always requiring the user to aim down sights.

Stats

NSX Tengu

Best of Both Worlds

Both SMGs and Shotguns have a number of problems that make them less effective than other CQC primary weapons. 

Shotguns fire multiple pellets with each shot, so they can easily inflict some damage with each shot. However, their Time to Kill is balanced around hitting nearly every pellet, and large Pellet Spread limits their effective range. Unless you’re within a few meters and aim well, any automatic CQC weapon is likely to kill faster. 

They also have relatively low Rate of Fire, so missing a whole shot is extremely punishing.

Shotguns also don’t have Cone of Fire Bloom, so you are expected to fire at maximum rate of fire to make your TTK more competitive. 

To summarize, to be effective with a shotgun in hectic close range combat you are expected to hold your aim pinpoint at enemy’s center mass and click at a very specific rate. Needless to say, this is hard to accomplish even for good players. 

The fact that shotguns easily inflict partial damage doesn’t mean much, because only partial damage will take ages to kill an enemy. 

SMGs have a different set of problems. On average, they have lower DPS than other CQC primary weapons, lower Damage per Magazine, and shorter effective range. The only thing they gain is increased hip fire accuracy, and 75% ADS. And sometimes you can have too much accuracy.

You have to compensate reduced firepower with your own skill, going for headshots and hip fire headshots, and outmaneuver the enemy with your mobility. This creates a significant skill requirement just to make SMGs competitive in CQC.

NSX Tengu is a perfect balance between shotguns and SMGs. Tengu easily inflicts partial damage on targets, but it doesn’t suffer from shotguns’ low RoF and from SMGs’ “too much accuracy”. You can waive Tengu in general direction of the enemy and still kill him in a reasonable amount of time. 

Tengu is inaccurate enough to be effectively used in hectic CQC setting, even by an average player. But it is accurate enough to have about the same effective range as other SMGs. 

Couple that with some very short reloads and decent Damage Per Mag, and you get a rock solid SMG in the end.

Mechanics

NSX Tengu blueprint

Mechanically, Tengu is a shotgun. Feel free to familiarize yourself with Weapon Mechanics and Shotgun Mechanics.

Cone of Fire Bloom. Unlike Shotguns, Tengu does have some CoF Bloom, in line with other 200 damage per shot weapons. Similar to other SMGs, Tengu has the same CoF Bloom for both ADS and Hip Firing.

CoF Bloom Per Point of Damage Done: 3.5 * 10-4

In this regard, Tengu shares the first place with Eridani, which is known for sustained hip fire accuracy. Of course, Pellet Spread will interfere with that a lot, but as far as CoF Bloom mechanics are concerned, Tengu is excellent.

The fact that Tengu fires multiple projectiles with each shot is a double edged sword:

Pros: 

  • Makes it easier to consistently inflict some damage, even when target is actively dodging or the user makes aiming mistakes. This gives Tengu affinity for CQC and makes it friendly towards newbies and low-aim players. 
  • As an additional consequence, Tengu user is less affected by flinch from getting shot, and can be competitive in duels even without Battle Hardened implant.

Cons:

Damage

Damage per Pellet: 50 @ 6m - 36 @ 40m
Pellets per Shot: 4
Damage per Shot: 200 @ 6m = 144 @ 40m

Rate of Fire: 500
Damage Per Second: 1666 - 1200
Headshot Damage Multiplier: 2x

Within maximum damage range, Tengu’s DPS is equal to 200 @ 500 weapon, such as Gauss SAW, which is below average for an SMG.  Considering that optimal DPS is harder to reach for Tengu, it has a comparatively low, but consistent damage output. 

Despite that, in the hands of an average user, Tengu is likely to be more effective and kill faster, just because it is so consistent at dealing damage.

Similar to other 200 damage weapons, Tengu gets hard countered by Nanoweave Armor, which can increase Ideal TTK from 0.48 seconds to 0.72 seconds – that’s 50% TTK increase for 20% damage reduction!

However, Tengu can potentially deal 400 damage with a headshot, and kill an enemy with just three headshots, with a good overkill in case a few pellets miss or hit the body.

Tengu takes 4 body shots or 2 head shots before it can reliably melee combo enemies.

Ammunition

Ammo: 20 / 140
Damage Per Magazine: 50 * 4 * 20 = 4000
Extended Mags: +4 rounds per magazine (+800 DPM)
DPM w/ Ext Mags: 4800
Reload Time: 1.875 sec / 2.5 sec

Tengu has very decent Damage Per Magazine, close to Cyclone’s, which holds the first place among first gen SMGs. Extended Mags provide a noticeable boost, pushing magazine size from “adequate” to “comfortable”. 

Tengu also has quick reloads; the long reload penalty is unusually mild for an SMG. 

Hip Fire Accuracy

Hip Cones of Fire:1.75 / 1.75 / 1.75 / 2.0
(crouching still, crouching moving, standing still, standing moving)
Hip CoF Bloom: 0.07
Pellet Spread Hip: 3.0

Due to large hip fire Pellet Spread, and larger initial Hip Fire CoFs, Tengu has notably worse hip fire than other SMGs. 

Laser Sight

Tengu has access to a unique attachment – Hybrid Laser, which reduces Hip Fire CoFs and Hip Pellet Spread by 20%. It enables the user to hip fire with a bit more liberty, but other SMGs will still have much better Hip Fire accuracy.

 

Click to enlarge.

On these pictures, each weapon fires 2000 damage. This is 10 shots for NSX Tengu, and 16 shots for GD-10 Blitz. Both weapons are fired from the hip while Standing Moving – the most likely hip firing stance. As you can see, Blitz – and by extension other SMGs – has much more accurate Hip Fire. 

As mentioned, Tengu has below average DPS, and due to large pellet spread, it cannot focus its DPS when firing from the hip, and even with Hybrid Laser you can’t hip fire for headshots outside spitting range.

And with normal, partial body shots, Tengu simply takes too long to kill an enemy from the hip. If the enemy is on the beefy side, and slightly at range, you’re likely to run out of ammunition before killing the enemy, assuming you even live that long.

All of this boils down to – Tengu can be effectively hip fired, even without Hybrid Laser, but with much less freedom than other SMGs. Tengu requires more thoughtful approach. It is preferable to almost always Aim Down Sights, and hip fire only against squishy or weakened targets, or at very close ranges. 

ADS Accuracy and Effective Range

ADS Cones of Fire: 0.15 / 0.17 / 0.15 / 0.32
(crouching still, crouching moving, standing still, standing moving)
ADS CoF Bloom: 0.07
Pellet Spread ADS: 0.75
Velocity: 380 m/s
Projectile Lifespan / Gravity: 1.5 / 11.25

Overall, you can expect Tengu to have about the same effective range as other SMGs, around 20-30m. 

Remember two things:

  • Tengu gets an accuracy boost for staying still or crouching.
  • Tengu fires multiple projectiles, so it benefits from firing at completely exposed targets.

Given right conditions, Tengu can reach out to enemies at longer ranges, especially if they’re not Heavy Assaults. 

However, the reverse is also true. When the target has partial cover, you will need to be closer before you can do any meaningful damage.

Due to relatively large initial Pellet Spread, burst firing is not as important with Tengu as with other weapons, so you can afford to fire in longer bursts. Extremely high First Shot Recoil Multiplier makes shortbursting even less desirable. 

Tengu has slightly less Damage Degradation than other SMGs, losing 28% of damage over 29m. For comparison, 125 damage SMGs lose 33% of damage over 31m (assuming SPA on both).

Overall, Tengu has surprisingly decent effective range for an “automatic shotgun”. 

Recoil

NSX Tengu recoil pattern
NSX Tengu recoil pattern

Vertical Recoil: 0.4
Vertical Recoil Per Second: 3.33

First Shot Recoil Multiplier: 3.5x
Recoil Angle: -5 / 5
Horizontal Recoil: 0.25 / 0.25
Horizontal Recoil Tolerance: 0.6
Average Horizontal Deviation: 0.205
Maximum Horizontal Deviation: 0.5
Recoil Recovery Delay: 120
Recoil Recovery Rate: 18

Tengu has high vertical recoil for an SMG, but it’s fairly average overall. However, Tengu has extremely high First Shot Recoil Multiplier, and this is something that you will need to adjust to when firing at enemies beyond ~25m. 

Tengu has more stable horizontal recoil than most SMGs.

All that said, you will run into damage degradation and Pellet Spread issues long before recoil becomes a problem. So aside from the mentioned FSRM, recoil is not something you should overly concern yourself with when using Tengu.

NSX Tengu Horizontal Recoil

Misc Stats

ADS Time To / From: 0.15 sec / 0.15 sec
ADS Movespeed Multiplier: 0.75x
Minimap Detect Range: 40m
Equip / Unequip Time: 0.65 sec / 0.25 sec

All of these are standard for an SMG.

Attachments

Optics

Tengu has access to a variety of 1x and 2x scopes, including HS/NV scope. As always, the choice will depend only on your personal preference, but generally speaking, there’s no reason to use anything other than 1x CCLR scope. 

Barrel

Flash Suppressor

This is the standard recommended attachment for most weapons, as it provides a bit of concealment at nearly no cost. Increased minimap detection range can mess with you, giving away your position to enemies outside your effective range, so if you do a lot of solo flanking, you may prefer to run Suppressor or no barrel attachment instead. 

Suppressor

Suppressor will reduce your ranged damage, reducing your Damage Per Second by up to 13%. Tengu sounds loud when you shoot it, but it sounds much quieter to other players around you. And the Suppressor makes Tengu nearly inaudible

Suppressor is a great attachment for flanking SMG Infiltrators and Light Assaults, who usually have more thoughtful and deliberate engagements, against unaware or weakened enemies. Having more time to ADS and aim properly will further reduce the effects of damage penalty.

However, it doesn’t make much sense to use Suppressor for aggressive pushing and hectic CQC skirmishes, as you’re likely to be spotted or lit up by a Motion Spotter anyway.

Rail

Tengu has access to Extended Mags (+4 rounds per mag), Darklight Flashlight and Hybrid Laser attachment.

Hybrid Laser reduces hip Pellet Spread and Hip CoFs by 20%. 

On paper, both Hybrid Laser and Extended Mags are viable. I’ve used both, and have been satisfied with their performance. 

The problem with Hybrid Laser build, is that Tengu has worse hip fire performance than other SMGs, and Hybrid Laser is inferior to Advanced Laser Sight.

 You would think that 20% reduction to Pellet Spread and 20% reduction to Hip Fire CoFs come together and equate to 40% reduction to Hip Fire CoFs of ALS, but it doesn’t actually work like that. Effectively, you still get a 20% reduction versus 40% reduction.

And given the fact that Tengu has worse hip fire capabilities than other SMGs even before the attachments, it doesn’t make much sense to go with Hybrid Laser.

It’s certainly a viable attachment, you can make it work, but objectively Extended Mags is better, especially when used by flanking classes – Light Assault and SMG Infiltrator.

Ammo

Tengu has access only to Soft Point Ammunition, and should always be used with it.

Recommended Attachments

This is a cookie cutter build if you don’t know which attachments to pick for your playstyle.

  • 1x CCLR
  • Flash Suppressor
  • Soft Point Ammunition
  • Extended Mags

Gameplay Tips

First and foremost, you must realize that Tengu’s hip fire is much worse than for other SMGs. You almost never want to hip fire, unless the enemy is just a few meters away. So in almost any engagement you want to be aiming down sights.

Other than that, Tengu plays a lot like other SMGs, so feel free to check out the corresponding sections of the SMG Guide and SMG Infiltrator Guide.

Remember to close the distance before engaging, when possible.

Take advantage of Tengu’s short reload. After killing one enemy, you almost always want to take a step back and reload, unless you’re flanking several enemies from a really good position, and can kill all of them at once.

Get a good sidearm, and get good with it. You’re gonna be relying on it a lot, similarly to other SMGs. 

Be careful about engaging enemies in partial cover. You won’t be dealing much damage to them.

When engaging enemies at range, you can boost your accuracy by being still or crouching. Just be careful about being sniper bait.

Conclusion

Tengu is the most competitive weapon in the whole NSX lineup. It is very effective, and will serve most players much better than Cyclone ever will – and that weapon is universally regarded as the best SMG. Unlike other SMGs, Tengu is friendly to newbies and low-aim players. It has the best qualities of shotguns and SMGs, while doing away with their worst qualities. 

Tengu is much easier to use than other 200+ damage weapons, while still letting you enjoy the feeling of impactful, high damage shots.

Worth buying?

Tengu is a must buy if you have any intention of using SMGs. 

However, at the end of the day, all SMGs have limited firepower and effective range. Most classes will have a more versatile CQC primary weapon option. If you don’t have a reason to use an SMG, you don’t have a reason to use Tengu.

NSX Yumi

NSX Yumi: Highly Technical Weapon Guide

NSX Yumi is an assault rifle, available only to Combat Medic class. It fires in fast and accurate bursts of 5 rounds, but with a short delay before each burst.

Yumi is an excellent weapon for medium and long range combat, and it gives a huge advantage when firing first, more so than any other automatic weapon. But the burst delay makes the weapon a little bad in direct confrontation, especially if the enemy engages you first in close quarters. 

Playing with Yumi is like playing with any slow and accurate ranged Assault Rifle – you will have to stick to cover, be ready to disengage if you get shot and avoid rushing head-first.

Using the Yumi is the hard way to teach a player to look for good engagements; the strict requirement on accuracy and firing delay will force the user to always aim down sights and aim properly before opening fire. 

On the other hand, Yumi is a weapon that plays itself. Unlike other burst weapons, which are basically automatic weapons in disguise, Yumi doesn’t allow any Cone of Fire management, and barely requires recoil compensation. 

Yumi is predominantly a medium+ range support weapon. If you ever wanted a designated marksman rifle for a medic – this is it. 

Yumi was released in underpowered state, and was significantly buffed in Apr 27th, 2017 patch and Oct 19th, 2017 patch, and now that this weapon is actually viable, let’s take a deeper look. 

Stats

NSX Yumi

Mechanics

After you press the trigger, there is a 0.25 second firing delay. Then it takes a 0.24 seconds to fire off a 5 round burst, with 60 ms refire time between shots. For comparison, AF-4 Cyclone has 92 ms refire time. 

NSX Yumi timeline

As with a semi-auto weapon, you can queue the next burst right after you start charging the current burst. Click-release-click-hold until the next burst starts charging. This technique is explained in detail here

If you press the trigger without Aiming Down Sights, you will not be able to Aim Down Sights until the weapon finishes firing.

Similarly, if you press the trigger while ADSing, you will not be able to leave ADS, even if you jump. This is actually one of the biggest turn-offs of this weapon, because when you click to fire, you essentially commit your next 0.55 seconds to firing, and this can be a problem if you get attacked by another enemy during this time. 

Melee Combo

Yumi’s fixed burstfire mode gives it an interesting mechanical quirk. You can click to start charging the burst, and then perform a quick melee attack while the weapon is firing. This makes Yumi surprisingly scary in close quarters, because even if only 4 out of 5 shots hit, a knife strike will still reliably kill standard infantry through nanoweave. 

Learn more here.

Damage

NSX Yumi Damage
Click to enlarge

Rate of Fire during a burst: 1000 RPM
DPS during a burst: 2783 to 2083 depending on distance.

Overall Rate of Fire: ~545 RPM
Overall DPS:
1516 to 1135, depending on distance.

Yumi fires off the burst at the highest rate of fire among all primary weapons, and therefore has the highest non-shotgun DPS. Burst delay significantly reduces overall rate of fire, reducing overall DPS to be on the level of a 167 @ 550 RPM weapon. 

Description Effective Health Bullets to Kill
6 7 8 9 10
Default   1000 0 – 10 11 – 55  56+    
Nanoweave  1250     0 – 29 30 – 63  64+

 

With perfect accuracy and bodyshots, Yumi will require two bursts against a full health target. Heavy Assaults will require an extra burst at most. It is possible to one-burst a target if several shots hit the head.

Overall, assuming good, but not perfect accuracy, you should expect 2-3 burst kills against standard enemies, and 3-4 bursts against Heavy Assaults.

Finally, one burst + one quick knife swing will reliably kill standard infantry, though it’s not an easy combo to hit against an aware player. 

Recoil

  Stock With Attachment  
Vertical Recoil during Burst, per sec ~3.6 ~3.1 Compensator
First Shot Multiplier (Recoil) 0x 0x  
Average Horizontal Deviation 0.057 0.043 Forward Grip
Maximum Horizontal Deviation 0.12 0.09
Recoil Angle 5 3.75
Recoil Recovery True Delay 0.31
Burst Recoil Recovery Time 0.079 0.065 Both

 

Yumi is the only weapon to feature a zero First Shot Recoil Multiplier, meaning it has no vertical recoil for the first shot. The first shot is still subjected to Horizontal Recoil, though. 

Yumi has one of the lowest values for Vertical Recoil, though extremely high rate of fire still creates a noticeable vertical pull during the burst. You can’t start compensating recoil on reaction, because the burst will be over before you can react.

Yumi has very little Horizontal Recoil for its damage profile, and a negligible recoil angle to the right. 

Recoil Recovery finishes before you can start the next burst. 

Accuracy

ADS CoFs: 0.03 / 0.15 / 0.03 / 0.15 / 0.05

Yumi has very small Cones of Fire in all stances, and reduced Cone of Fire Bloom. Most 167 damage weapons have CoF Bloom of 0.06. 

It’s worth noting that Yumi doesn’t get any bonus accuracy for crouching.

Overall, it’s safe to say that Yumi features one of the longest effective ranges among Assault Rifles. And even ranged monsters like Reaper DMR cannot compete with Yumi’s moving accuracy and low Bloom.

Hip CoFs: 2 / 2.25 / 2.5 / 3 / 0.12

Yumi has standard hip fire accuracy for an assault rifle. It can be surprisingly effective in a pinch, but don’t expect any miracles, especially if you use Compensator. 

Attachments

Optics

Yumi has access to a variety of reflex scopes from 1x to 3.4x, and HS/NV scope. As always, the choice will depend only on your personal preference.

A low magnification scope makes it feel like the weapon has no recoil at all, and it allows a wider field of view, which can be crucial while you are busy tunnel visioning in one direction and firing off several bursts – Yumi has a long exposure time. 

On the other hand, a higher magnification scope gives a clearer sight of the target, allowing for more deliberate accuracy. It can also help identify targets at longer ranges before you even open fire. 

When in doubt – start with 2x Reflex, and see whether you need more or less magnification.

Barrel

Yumi has access to Flash Suppressor and Compensator. Both are viable, depending on playstyle and intended application.

  • Flash Suppressor will make you less noticeable, which is crucial in ranged combat. 
  • Compensator will increase ranged accuracy and make it easier to get headshots. 

Rail

Yumi has access to Extended Mags (+5 rounds), Forward Grip, Darklight Flashlight and Underbarrel Smoke and Grenade Launchers.

Yumi is a rare case of a ranged weapon where Forward Grip is not mandatory. Yumi already has very little horizontal recoil, and at ranges where you would benefit from the Forward Grip, Yumi already gets weaker due to Cone of Fire Bloom and damage degradation.

Yumi’s underbarrel attachments are similar to those of other weapons.

Underbarrel Grenade Launcher offers a great way to increase utility, versatility and firepower. It can damage vehicles, finish off players behind cover, and even OHK if you manage to get a direct hit. UBGL was never a bad attachment to have. It has just two problems: it is usually available on crappy weapons, or weapons that greatly benefit from other rail attachments.

Yumi doesn’t have any of those problems, so it is a prime candidate for using UBGL. 

Ammo

Yumi has access to SPA and HVA

SPA is better within 35m and gives maximum benefit of +1.8% damage at 15m.

HVA is better at 35m+ and gives maximum benefit of +6.4% damage at 90m. 

If you’re interested in a more in-depth analysis of ammo types, /u/DrSwov has a reddit post with TTK numbers against different targets.

Recommended Attachments

There are many viable attachment combinations with Yumi. If you know what you’re doing, you should be able to easily figure out the best build for yourself. 

If you need some help to get started, here is an example of a cookie-cutter build:

  • 2x Reflex
  • Flash Suppressor
  • High Velocity Ammo
  • Underbarrel Grenade Launcher
  • Battle Hardened Implant

The goal behind this loadout is to give you the most versatility and combat options, without being overly specialized in any particular area.

Gameplay Tips

NSX Yumi is way more versatile than it may seem on the first look. The burst mechanic spices things up a bit, but you quickly get used to it, and for most intents and purposes, you simply get a gun that shoots half the time, and charges up the other half. 

Use the burst delay to your advantage, and take aim properly while the gun is charging up. 

Yumi has surprisingly decent performance from the hip, but you should still invest in a powerful sidearm for close encounters, and get comfortable with it. If you get engaged while healing or reviving, the sidearm will be your go-to weapon, not the Yumi.

Being unable to fire single shots is definitely limiting, because you can’t tap-fire snipe engies behind turrets or deployables. 

Yumi is excellent at range out of the box, without any performance-enhancing attachments, so it can be used with any attachment combination and still be viable.

The burst mechanic certainly gives advantage to firing first, but it’s not like you automatically lose if you get engaged on. Dodging enemy fire and hip firing, or ADSing and going for headshots are both viable ways of fighting back, depending on situation. 

Don’t spend too much time firing at targets at super long range, you’re unlikely to kill them before they make it to cover, and every moment you spend outside cover increases the chances of getting sniped. 

In extreme close quarters, consider switching to a sidearm, if you’re good with it. You can also “pre charge” a burst as you round the corner, though it requires good timing, and you have to already know where the enemy is. 

Conclusion

Yumi is an interesting and worthy addition, both to NSX lineup and Assault Rifles in general. Not everyone will like it, but everyone can use it. Unlike most other NSX weapons, Yumi doesn’t have a steep skill requirement.

  • Give Yumi to a PS2 newbie with some FPS experience, and he will be able to participate in ranged combat, even though he knows nothing about CoF and recoil management.
  • Give Yumi to a hardened veteran with excellent accuracy, and most enemies will die before they realize they’re getting damaged. 

Yumi is a welcome respite from super-niche weapons, though the delayed burst mechanic   seems a little out of place on Medic, and would make more sense on Light Assault or Infiltrator, in my opinion.

If you’re thinking about purchasing the Yumi, it is strongly recommended you trial it, and use it in actual combat for the whole 30 minutes. 

Answering critique

The whole premise of Yumi being a “garbage” weapon is based on a 0.25 second burst delay, which is not a big deal, unless you get shot as soon as the engagement starts. This just means Yumi user has to be a little more thoughtful about engagements he’s taking, nothing more.

Ignoring the burst delay, Yumi is basically an incredibly accurate 167 @ 550 AR with nearly no recoil and automatic CoF reset. I wouldn’t say that’s bad.

Adding Yumi into Weapon Simulator

If you want to add NSX Yumi into my Weapon Simulator, add this string to the end of the Stats.csv file, which you can open with Windows Notepad:

804246,NSX Yumi,NS,Assault Rifle,167,10,125,90,1,60,1,0.48s / 0.56s / 0.56s,580,-,30,210,3550,2755,0.5,0.12,0.05,2,1.5,2.5,5,2,0.03,0.03,0.15,0.15,5,5,0.29,0.12,0.12,0.4,0,16,Auto,0
804246,NSX Yumi SPA,NS,Assault Rifle,167,15,125,90,1,60,1,0.48s / 0.56s / 0.56s,551,-,30,210,3550,2755,0.5,0.12,0.05,2,1.5,2.5,5,2,0.03,0.03,0.15,0.15,5,5,0.29,0.12,0.12,0.4,0,16,Auto,0
804246,NSX Yumi HVA,NS,Assault Rifle,167,8,125,110,1,60,1,0.48s / 0.56s / 0.56s,609,-,30,210,3550,2755,0.5,0.12,0.05,2,1.5,2.5,5,2,0.03,0.03,0.15,0.15,5,5,0.29,0.12,0.12,0.4,0,16,Auto,0

Keep in mind that it won’t properly simulate Yumi’s burst mechanics.