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Much like the sniper builds, machine gunners in Jagged Alliance 3 can be sorted into two groups - Agility and Health users.
The former can move around the map to reposition and will deal more damage but the latter can take damage and dish out a ton of it.
Additionally, the core of each build is the same and doesn't require all that much investment.
Machine gunner build core
Every machine gunner needs 90+ Dexterity, both to shoot more accurately and to unlock the necessary perks. It goes without saying but Marksmanship is crucial as well.
Core Dexterity perks for machine gunners are:
- Opportunistic Killer
- Fire Routine
- Reactive Fire
- Killzone
- Sharpshooter
After you get those perks, you can choose between Agility or Health paths.
If you go with the Agility path:
- Fast Runner
- Fast Runner
- Frogleaping
- Total Concentration
Health path:
- Hit the Deck
- Vanguard
- Revenge
- Hold Position
Best traits for machine gunners
Your machine gunner should have Automatic Weapons trait, which will reduce any accuracy penalties one may run into. Additionally, Raven is the best for the role of the machine gunner since she will mark all enemies she covers with her Overwatch and this extends to the machine gun setup.
In other words, you will have free crits against whole groups of enemies if you have her. Mind you, she will crit only one of the marked enemies, you will need to use other mercs to get the full benefits of the free critical hits. This pairs extremely well with snipers.
Weapons and gear
Use RPK or Minimi for Agility machine gunners, with light armour.
For the Health ones, you can also use these but HK21 is the best choice. If you want to keep Free Move while using the health build, make sure you use the Death Squad heavy armour or any medium armour. Also avoid HK21 and MG42 since they also remove your Free Move.
RPK is also better than Minimi because you can add recoil booster on its muzzle slot. Bipod is essential to all machine guns while expanded mag, vertical grip and reflex sight are all nice additions.
If you are having trouble acquiring a machine gun, you can always create a knockoff. AK-47, M14, FN FAL and AK-74 can all mount a bipod and light stock, allowing you to have a semi-machine gun that wastes less ammo but is also less lethal. Make sure the use long barrel, recoil booster and expanded mag whenever possible.
