Far Cry 5 - The Best Starting Weapons for Early in the Game

Posted in far cry 5

Far Cry 5 has a taxing opening few hours where you'll be short of money, weapon choice and with a whole shrouded world in front of you. In this guide I'm highlighting the best starting weapons with a great tip for acquiring a really powerful weapon early. The guide is primarily designed for beginner players who are just starting out and those who may not have played a Far Cry game before.

You may have already seen other guides on the best weapons in Far Cry 5, but in my experience these tend to focus on mid to late weapons such as the SPAS-12 or AK-M, which are locked behind high levels of Resistance Points. Whilst these weapons look lovely, you won't see them for many many hours. By that time, you'll have recruited several Specialists (Companions) and will barely remember the tough opening few hours.

Instead, I'm focusing this guide on the first 5 or 6 hours of the game, where only the first level of weapons are unlocked in the shop. You'll have access to a single weapon of each type: shotgun, rifle, sniper etc. and money will be limited. Remember, although you can buy weapons from the shop for a fee, always try and loot enemies for a better weapon. Over time you'll discover sharpshooters and heavily armed enemies that carry a sniper or shotgun that you can loot for free. For a free LMG see further down the guide.

Which weapon class is best

In my opinion, the shotgun, sniper and machine gun class are the best in Far Cry 5. Whilst melee attacks with shovels provide the most laughs, bows, pistols, flamethrowers and SMG's can be ignored for the most part.

Why the dislike for the bow and flamethrower? Although the bow is fast and easy to resupply, there are notable downsides in it's limited ammo and poor accuracy at distance. The flamethrower is also fun at first but soon becomes a chore once you realize it's limited use and the dangers of burning things too close to you. Pistols are high accuracy but low damage weapons and SMG's have limited range and are outclassed by shotguns for their one shot reliability.

The reason behind the choice of shotgun, sniper and machine gun, is simply catering to the AI of Far Cry games. Sniper rifles provide an excellent opportunity to take out enemies before they have chance to reach you, whilst a shotgun provides a high powered attack at close quarters. Enemies will often attempt to rush and flank you, especially when your health is low. A shotgun, sees that this rush fails.

Overall, the most effective class is the machine gun (if you don't mind sacrificing stealth). They have always been great in the series and in FC5 they're still excellent. Armed with a bucket load of ammo, they can mash up enemies in a split second and any machine gun can also take down those annoying enemy planes and helicopters with ease. For some reason as well, the game designers decided that machine guns won't slow you down too much either.

Which weapons are best

Since you've only got one weapon choice per class at this stage of the game, the best primary weapons are:

M60 - Machine Gun

Pure Rambo style, the M60 can wipe out groups of enemies and help you liberate those early Outposts with ease. The reload speed is poor but given the large magazine size, controlled short bursts will see you through groups of 5 or 6 enemies at a time. The M60 is also perfect against vehicles and aircraft which are a nuisance when the regional Resistance Level is low and enemies tend to spawn more quickly.

ARC-L - Sniper

Great for picking off enemies at range, especially if you're good at headshots which result in instant death. For those who prefer to pick chunks out of the enemies defense, the ARC-L is great at keeping you a safe distance from the fight. It's not great a close quarters though and near useless against aircraft so consider the Additional Holster to rectify this issue.

M133 - Shotgun

Provides protection at close range with one shot kills. Although it's a pump action weapon and slow to reload, you still want the M133 by your side if your stealthy approach fails and the enemy is alerted to your presence when in close quarters.

How to get a machine gun early for free

With the M60 as arguably the most powerful early game weapon, let's look at how you can get one for free and save yourself some cash.

As you progress through the open world of Far Cry 5 you'll see a range of different vehicles on the road. Some friendly cars, other hostile trucks and even some larger delivery trucks. These larger delivery vehicles are known as Reaping trucks and have the little crate symbol above them, both in the open world and on the map.

Successfully stopping the truck, by taking care of the driver first, provides the opportunity to loot the truck with some handsome rewards. A great tip for this operation is to switch ammo types to burst rounds which are better suited for penetrating vehicles quickly. To switch ammo types, on PS4 open the weapon wheel and press triangle while the gun is highlighted.

Simply take out the driver (sniper is best) and wait for the truck to come to a halt. Interact with the side of the truck and the back doors will fling open. Inside is a lovely brand new M60 machine gun, ready for the taking!



Repeating the process is also possible, not for another M60 but for the ammo resupply of course.

Don't forget perks and attachments

If there's one perk you should certainly consider for the early game it's got to be the Additional Holster (6 points). With only a single weapon in your weapon wheel, you'll constantly be running out of ammo and tactics during a firefight. The Additional Holster means that a second weapon can be assigned to a wheel slot, allowing you to not only carry more usable ammo in total, but also helping you switch between close range and long range combat.

On the attachments side, if you've got the ARC-L in your arsenal then strongly consider the silencer attachment to reduce the noise. This helps you pick off enemies without fear of being detected, so long as enemies are spread out nicely and don't spook the others. Lastly, a larger magazine size is a great choice for the machine gun but if you want stability then that's an expensive perk and probably one for later in the game.