M134

M134 icon

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The **M134 Minigun**, known in-game as the **M134**, is a rotary heavy machine gun, (though it is classified as an LMG in game for simplicity) that uses 7.62mm Ammunition and was added in the v0.9.1 "*Keep Your Enemies Closer*" update on February 10, 2020.

## Background

The M134 Minigun is a 7.62×51mm NATO six-barrel rotary machine gun with a high sustained fire rate. It features a Gatling-style rotating barrel assembly with an external power source, normally an electric motor.

## Info

It is comparable to its cousin: the PKP Pecheneg, except the fire rate is increased and the accuracy is greatly improved. It can be considered as a combination of the PKP Pecheneg and the Vector in several ways. It has a massive slowdown of 30% when not firing it.

## Pros and Cons

### Pros

* Very high DPS.
* Highest obstacle damage out of any of the guns in the game (x5).
* Can eliminate players extremely quickly if paired with a good scope.
* Extremely accurate, which makes it a very dangerous weapon when in the right hands.
* Can be used instead of a sniper, range is not a problem.

### Cons

* This gun is sought after by many, so holding it out may cause you to be targeted.
* Extremely long reload time (8 seconds, the longest reload of all guns in surviv.io).
* Extreme slowdown when holding or firing it. This makes it easy to get hit by enemies returning fire.
* The extremely fast fire rate can cause you to miss a lot of shots, wasting ammo.
* Extremely large, which prevents you from hiding efficiently while holding out.
* Useless in close-quarters, as the barrel is very long and there is a very high slowdown.

## Strategies

### Using

* Because of the slowdown, it is best stored until you are at an advantageous position and ready to use it, as it makes you a big, slow, attractive target.
* If you have a teammate, try to get them to provide you cover fire or defend your flanks from third parties.
* The M134 can be used as bait, as it's a very sought after gun. Kill enemies when they get close to it.
* Hide behind indestructible obstacles (e.g. Hardstone Block) when reloading, as enemies will have to approach you, allowing you to finish the slow 8 seconds reload. Reload whenever you are not in a fight. The extreme slow down and the massive reload time make it virtually impossible to reload while fighting.
* It's best paired with a Shotgun or any close range weapon so that you're able to still engage in close range encounters.
* Consider firing in short bursts unless you are trying to hit a slow-moving target or one behind cover, as burst firing will allow you to conserve ammo, as well as give you the ability to dodge oncoming fire.
* It is especially useful in 1v1 situations if your opponent is far away, as you can hold down the trigger and kill them without interruptions. Make sure you have a good scope.
* If your opponent hides behind a destructible object, continue firing at them. The M134 can destroy most obstacles in less than a second, allowing you to rip through the player behind it.
* Do not use the M134 for close-quarter combat. Insane slowdown + massive barrel length makes it impossible to use, as you will be susceptible to shotguns and melee weapons.
* If your magazine starts to run out, use your secondary weapon. The reload is so slow that it makes you extremely vulnerable and makes it so reloading mid-fight is impossible.
* This weapon can be used with quickswitching: shoot when needed, and quickly switch to a secondary to increase your movement speed. Be careful, however, as doing so reduces the M134's DPS by a lot since you can only fire in bursts.
* Do not fire the M134 while you're in the water unless necessary. The water slowdown and minigun slowdown combined makes it so you can't move at all, making you an easy target. As a general rule, just don't even equip the M134 when in a body of water.
* If you have a tank or scout in your team in cobalt mode, you should give the M134 as they have infinite ammo and can run as usual without slowdown respectively.

### Countering

* Try to rush M134 users with a shotgun, especially in enclosed spaces or when there are many obstacles to provide cover.
* Dual-wielding powerful pistols (P30L, Desert Eagle) can be a good offense against an M134 player. Hide behind indestructible cover, and spam click with your cursor focused on your enemy. With a powerful weapon like the M134, players often forget about their health bar.
* If you have an M79, you can move closer to your opponent and launch a 40mm grenade at the player, then use your secondary Weapon (Assault Rifle, SMG, or LMG is advised) to finish the M134 user off. Be quick, however, or the slowdown will give your enemy enough time to adjust their aim.
* Use grenades to force the M134 user to change their weapon and move, as he/she must either switch to a weapon that is easier to combat or be killed by the grenade. Don't attempt to cook the grenade if not near-indestructible cover, or you will be gunned down before you have a chance at throwing it.
* Try to rush to the shooter with full adrenaline, and melee the shooter when you get to him, using the advantage that the shooter barely moves when shooting the M134, as well as the barrel length of the weapon. The Pan is recommended for this strategy as it reflects bullets. Watch out for any secondary weapons such as shotguns, however.
* Take cover behind an indestructible Obstacle and wait until the user needs to reload. Due to the long time needed to reload this weapon, the M134 user will be vulnerable long enough for you to easily damage the opponent.
* Train the M134 user around a building like a barn or a house while hiding a powerful melee weapon (Machete, Naginata, etc.) and rush them with your melee.
* The M134's massive structure DPS will demolish any destructible obstacle almost instantly, and with the fire rate, this will also damage you tenfold. Therefore, taking cover in a destructible obstacle or staying in the open is not a good idea.
* Weaving around can cost them precious ammunition and reduce their chances of hitting you since they will constantly adjust their aim. This is especially true because of the accuracy of the M134 and the fire rate. If they have bad aim, you can get them to waste their entire magazine without taking too much damage. If done well enough, you can reach the M134 user and kill them with a shotgun or a melee weapon while taking minimal damage.
	+ Be careful, however: you should only attempt this if the distance between you and your enemy isn't too large, if there is adequate cover, and if they are not hacking.
* Use long-range weapons that do high damage, such as Sniper Rifles and DMRs when near an indestructible obstacle that can be used as cover. This way, with the player holding the M134, it will move very slowly, and you will have a massive aiming advantage not to miss.
* Be aware that if you see this weapon on the ground somewhere, the odds are good that someone is using it to bait people into a trap because of it's rarity and usefulness. Look around for areas other survivrs can hide before you just rush towards it.

## Sounds

The switching sound uses the same audio that PKP Pecheneg/PKM uses.

* Reloading
* Firing
* Switching to

## Time to Kill (ms)

*Note: Headshots are not included in TTK values.*

## Trivia

* This is the sixth-fastest weapon in the game, capable of firing at a rapid 18 rounds per second, same as the CZ-3A1.
	+ This is beaten out by Flamethrower, Dual G18C, both Vectors, and MAC-10.
* This is one of the two most accurate weapons in the game, tied to the Scout Elite.
	+ This wouldn't make much sense in real life, as unmounted miniguns greatly decrease firing accuracy.
* This is the only weapon with less ammo at spawn than magazine capacity (50% of magazine capacity, to be exact).
* Its reloading sound is similar to that of PKP Pecheneg.
* The nickname the "minigun" was derived from the fact that the M134 design was a downscaled version of the M61 Vulcan cannon. The M61 Vulcan is a 20mm rotary cannon mounted on jet aircraft to act as the secondary weapons.
* In real life, the M134 would be impractical for a single soldier to carry around and fire. This soldier would need to bear the extraordinary weight of a combination of the weapon itself, the large amount of ammunition that would need to be carried, and a large electrical battery to power the weapon. Such issues are the reason why the M134 and its variants are usually mounted on vehicles or tripods.
	+ Interestingly, the icon for the M134 features dual triggers. This means that the gun is typically fired using two hands on the triggers. There is no carry handle or ground trigger to enable firing from the hip, as is depicted in-game. The world image also shows that the M134 has a very large stock, possibly intended to mitigate the massive recoil.
* The M134 conceivably weighs 120 pounds unloaded (80-pound + 40-pound battery, approx. 54.43 KG), which would be about six times as heavy as the previous heaviest weapon in normal mode, the DP-28. The DP-28 weighs 20 pounds (approx. 9.07 KG).
* The M134's reload takes as long as reviving a player. It is the longest reload time out of any weapon in the game. This is to balance out the intense fire rate and the massive ammunition capacity.
* A typical M134 has 6 barrels and is capable of firing bullets at incredibly high fire rates of 2000 to 6000 rpm. In surviv.io, it is a lot less, probably to balance the weapon as 100 rounds per second would unbalance the game and also would slow the player down more.