The SMG in one paragraph of numbers
The SMG is a 400-range Gun weapon that costs 20 gold at tier 1 and fires every 0.167 seconds — about 6 shots per second — for 3 damage a hit and 18 base DPS. At tier 4 it costs 149 gold, fires every 0.15s and hits for 8, which is 53.3 base DPS. It never gains range, never gains knockback, and its crit stays at 1% for a x1.5 multiplier at every tier. That profile makes it the most predictable weapon in the Gun class and the easiest one to plan a run around: you know exactly what 149 gold buys you before you spend it.
“SMG stat line parsed from brotato.wiki.gg and cached in src/data/brotato-weapons.json: T1 3 damage / 0.167s / 18 DPS / 400 range / 20 gold, rising to T4 8 damage / 0.15s / 53.3 DPS / 149 gold.”
SMG stats at every tier
| Tier | Damage | Cooldown | Shots/sec | Base DPS | Crit | Range | Knockback | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | 3 | 0.167s | 6.0 | 18 | 1% x1.5 | 400 | 0 | 20 |
| T2 | 4 | 0.167s | 6.0 | 24 | 1% x1.5 | 400 | 0 | 39 |
| T3 | 5 | 0.167s | 6.0 | 29.9 | 1% x1.5 | 400 | 0 | 74 |
| T4 | 8 | 0.15s | 6.7 | 53.3 | 1% x1.5 | 400 | 0 | 149 |
The shape of this table is the whole argument. Tiers 1 through 3 are pure damage scaling on an identical 0.167s frame: 3, 4, 5. Tier 4 changes two things at once — damage to 8 and cooldown to 0.15s — which is why its DPS is 78% above T3 rather than the 60% that damage alone would give.
What the upgrade curve actually costs
DPS per gold at each tier tells you when the SMG is a bargain and when it is a tax:
- T1: 18 DPS for 20 gold = 0.90 DPS per gold
- T2: 24 DPS for 39 gold = 0.62
- T3: 29.9 DPS for 74 gold = 0.40
- T4: 53.3 DPS for 149 gold = 0.36
Every upgrade buys less efficiency than the one before it. That is normal for a weapon with all four tiers, but it has a practical consequence: a T1 SMG is one of the best-value purchases in the game at 0.90, and a T4 SMG is merely average at 0.36. The T4 step is still worth taking, because 75 gold for +23.4 DPS (+78%) is the largest single jump in the weapon’s life, and by wave 15 you are buying throughput rather than efficiency.
Compare it to what else 149 gold buys. Brick costs 40 and delivers 86.3 DPS. Pistol costs 91 and delivers 57.5. If you have a Gun slot and 149 gold, the honest comparison is “one T4 SMG” versus “one T4 Pistol plus 58 gold of something else” — and the Pistol wins on both DPS and efficiency.
Why 400 range and 0 knockback define the build
Range 400 is the SMG’s real selling point. It sits in the 351–500 band alongside Revolver (450) and Potato Thrower (500), and it is 250 units beyond the 150-range cluster where Fist, Brick and Knife sit. That gap is what lets an SMG build work with almost no defensive investment early: enemies die before contact, so Max HP and Armor can wait.
Knockback 0 is the cost. The SMG creates no space at all — every enemy it does not kill keeps walking. Compare Fist at 15 knockback, Wrench at 20, or Hammer at 50 at tier 4. An SMG build survives by killing, never by pushing, which means your effective DPS has to stay ahead of the spawn rate or the arena collapses.
The crit line compounds the problem. At 1% crit for x1.5, the SMG has the weakest crit profile in the Gun class: Pistol reaches 25% at T4, Revolver carries 3% x2, Sniper Gun sits at 20% x4. Buying crit items on an SMG build is close to throwing gold away. Buy flat Ranged Damage and Attack Speed instead — at 6.7 shots per second, one point of added damage is worth 6.7 DPS.
Characters that start with an SMG
25 of the 64 cached characters list SMG in their starting weapon pool — second among Gun starters behind the Double Barrel Shotgun, which appears in 29. The list includes Cyborg, Captain, Well-Rounded, Ranger, Soldier, King, Mage, Vampire, One-Armed, Apprentice, Loud, Mutant, Renegade, Romantic, Sick, Streamer, Wounded, Builder, Creature, Cryptid, Fisherman, Gangster, Generalist, Multitasker and Lich.
Three of those synergies are worth building around:
Cyborg — “You start with 1 Minigun”, “Ranged Damage modifications are increased by 200%”, “100% of your Ranged Damage are temporarily converted into Engineering halfway through a wave (1 Ranged Damage = 2 Engineering)”. Cyborg turns Ranged Damage into both damage and Engineering, so an SMG plus a structure is a legitimate plan. Note the penalty lines: “Engineering modifications are reduced by 75%”, “Melee Damage modifications are reduced by 100%”, “Elemental Damage modifications are reduced by 100%”.
Captain — “+60% XP Gain for every free weapon slot you have”, “+100% stats gained from level upgrades”, “+200% XP required to level up”, “+2% Enemy health at the end of a wave”, “+2% Enemy damage at the end of a wave”. Captain wants fewer, better weapons, so one well-upgraded SMG beats four cheap ones.
Well-Rounded — “+5 Max HP”, “+5% Speed”, “+8 Harvesting”. A neutral stat line with no Gun multiplier, which makes it the honest test case: if the SMG works here, it works anywhere.
Avoid putting an SMG on Knight — “You can’t equip ranged weapons” — and think twice on Wildling, where “You can’t equip weapons above tier II” caps you at the 24 DPS version permanently.
Wave plan
Waves 1–5. Buy one SMG at 20 gold and nothing else weapon-related. At 18 DPS and 400 range it clears early waves alone. Spend the spare gold on a second weapon slot only if the shop offers an on-tag Gun (Pistol at 10 gold, 10 DPS, also 400 range) rather than upgrading the SMG.
Waves 6–10. This is where T2 (39 gold) and T3 (74 gold) happen. T2 is a 6 DPS gain for 19 gold; T3 is a 5.9 DPS gain for 35 gold. Both are worse value than buying a second T1 SMG, which is 18 DPS for 20 gold. If your character has a Gun multiplier and free slots, doubling up beats upgrading.
Waves 11–15. Take T4 at 149 gold only when you have run out of cheap slots. The 53.3 DPS version is the point where one SMG can anchor a lane by itself.
Waves 16–20. By now a single T4 SMG is not enough throughput for the boss and its adds. Either run two, or pair it with a burst weapon — Revolver at 67.2 DPS for 130 gold, or Obliterator at 123.8 for 255 if the shop is generous.
When to abandon the SMG
Three signals say the run has outgrown it.
- You are buying crit. If the shop keeps offering crit and you keep taking it, you have already lost the argument — the SMG converts crit at 1% x1.5.
- You need to create space. Zero knockback means a wave that reaches you stays on you. If you are taking contact damage every wave, a knockback weapon (Fist at 15, Wrench at 20, Hammer at 50) solves a problem the SMG cannot.
- A Pistol is on offer. At T4 the Pistol delivers 57.5 DPS for 91 gold with 25% crit at x2 — more damage, more crit, 58 gold cheaper. The SMG’s only remaining edge is 6.7 shots per second versus 1.15, which matters for on-hit effects, not for raw damage.
Where to go next
Compare the SMG against the rest of its class in weapons by class and the full ranking in best weapons tier list. The close-range alternative is covered in Double Barrel Shotgun build, and the defensive counterpart in Fist build. For stat priorities on a Gun character, read how to get more damage.