Learning goals
- Understand hand cannons.
- Understand precision sidearms.
- Understand why damage per shot, recoil, reload, and weakpoints matter.
- Learn when slow powerful sidearms fit a loadout.
Explanation
Hand cannons are powerful sidearms that usually focus on high impact per shot rather than spraying many bullets. They can feel like mini-snipers, heavy pistols, or high-damage backup weapons. Their strengths are priority-target damage, headshots, and weakpoint support; their tradeoffs are slower fire rate, smaller magazines, recoil, and punishing missed shots.
What should I do?
Use hand cannons or precision sidearms when your Primary clears groups but struggles against tough targets, when you want weakpoint support, when you like deliberate shots, and when you can manage recoil and reload timing.
How to avoid wasting time
If a hand cannon feels bad, check whether you are using it at the wrong distance or firing too quickly. Some powerful sidearms reward calm aim more than spam.
Common mistakes
Watch for these Secondary weapon habits while testing and investing.
- Spamming a hand cannon and missing shots.
- Ignoring recoil recovery.
- Bringing only slow weapons to fast swarm missions.
- Treating precision sidearms like machine pistols.
- Forgetting that reloads can interrupt survival.
Practical example
A player uses a launcher Primary for groups. Their hand cannon handles tougher enemies that survive the explosion. Another player uses a sniper Primary and may prefer a fast machine pistol instead because the Primary already fills precision.
Key Takeaways
- Hand cannons are sidearm problem-solvers: slower, stronger, and more deliberate.
Practical task
Precision secondaries are best when they solve a specific problem.
- Equip a slow or accurate Secondary if you own one.
- Run a low-risk mission.
- Use it only against tougher or priority enemies.
- Aim for headshots or weakpoints when possible.
- Notice reload and recoil timing.
- Decide whether it supports your Primary weapon.
You can explain when you would choose a precision Secondary over a rapid-fire Secondary.