Machine Gun

## What is a Machine Gun?

The **Machine Gun** is the only homing weapon is Smash Karts. It is a front-mounted, fast-firing weapon that very slowly decreases the target's health. In addition, it tracks the nearest opponent to you once they are relatively close to you (note that it only deals damage when it is tracking the player). It has a 166 bullet magazine that is gradually used up once used, and cannot be stopped mid-way. It fires for 6.5 seconds.

## Appearance

Machine Guns appear as a green box with mounted barrels on the front of the kart.

## Damage

It takes 1/2 of its full clip to kill a player with max health when the shooter is very close to the target. Damage decreases as the target gets farther away. It is possible to destroy two players with full health as long as the machine gun is touching the target.

## Pros and Cons

### *Pros*

1. It is a homing weapon, so it automatically locks on to close-by players.
2. Large clip (166 ammo).
3. The Machine Gun is fast-firing.

### *Cons*

1. Damage reduces and stops locking on the target when they get too far away.
2. Doesn't do much damage.
3. Horrible against others with other weapons (Excluding another Machine Gun, unless you have less health against another player with a Machine Gun) because they can easily counter.
4. Bad 1v1 weapon due to low power and high hold time.
5. It is most commonly dropped when an lootbox is picked up.

## Other Information and Tips

When you get it, get up close behind a player and start shooting. Make sure to follow said player until you kill the person. Another good use will also be for killing low-health players. A very common tactic for professional players is reverse-homing, where a player uses the aim of the machine gun to go in the direction of their opponent. This weapon helps beginner or rookie players clean out kills.

This weapon is dropped the most out of all weapons and takes up nearly 25% of all time spent in a 3 minute game.

Sometimes, even though the game says the clip has 166 bullets, it actually starts at 170 as soon as you unload.

### Special Game Settings

In professional 1v1´s, the Machine Gun is useless, and in professional lobbies in general, the Machine Gun is looked down on because it can't be chained or followed by another item after being fired; as such, you are very vulnerable, and it has a limited range.

Some competitive servers are played on the **Anything But Machine Guns** setting for this reason. Many professionals prefer this mode as Machine Guns are a detriment to the game.

The **Machine Guns Only** lobby is another special game setting, though not as frequently played on the lobby **Anything But Machine Guns** and other popular settings. As the name implies, Machine Guns Only possesses predictable loot boxes, all giving you the Machine Gun, and since the Machine Gun takes some time to get smashes, the lobby is rarely played on.

## Machine Gun Controversy

The machine gun is the most controversial and disliked weapon in the game for many reasons. Initially, one may find this weapon very useful, as it requires little to no skill to use. However, once one gains more skill in the game, the Machine Gun can become extremely annoying when picked up. This is mainly because is takes up, on average, 25% or 45 seconds, out of a three minute game and does very small, time-taking damage. When a player picks up the weapon at the beginning of a game, it is essentially a death sentence, as every player will have maximum health. When a study was conducted on how many times a player was killed at the start of a game when they received a Machine Gun, it was over 65%. The machine gun has gained many requests for a buff or a complete removal from 3 Mins Free-For-All lobbies, but the developers have not given a lot of information as to where the future of the machine gun lies.

On 28th June 2023 (Exact day would likely differ based on your location), when the 2.1.0 update was released, the update log claims to have re-balanced the machine gun.