Stalcraft Recoil Table

Every weapon ranked by recoil, best attachments fitted

Compare the recoil of every weapon at a glance. Each row fits the compatible attachments that recoil least and shows how far the aim point climbs and drifts over the same spray, next to the weapon without attachments.

Find weapons

Calculating recoil for every weapon…

Spray and ranking

Total recoil · Best attachments · 20 m · Standing · 2.5 s

Weapons by recoil

One spray of 2.5 s at 20 m, Standing. Showing: Best attachments.

Colours

Least recoilMost recoil

Each column is ranked on its own among the weapons the class, rarity and caliber filters keep, in the build shown. Search does not change the colours.

Calculating recoil for every weapon…

Lower is less recoil. The numbers are aim-point drift calculated from the game's recoil statistics with no mouse correction, as in the Recoil Visualizer.

How the Recoil Table works

The Recoil Table runs the Recoil Visualizer's recoil model for every weapon that has recoil statistics: once without attachments and once with the compatible attachments that recoil least. Each row describes one spray at the chosen Target Distance, Stance and Simulation Length. It is calculated from the listed statistics, not recorded in game.

How the best attachments are chosen

Goal value of a build
total recoil = vertical climb + horizontal drift

The Best attachments for setting chooses what is made smallest: Total recoil (climb plus drift), Vertical (climb only) or Horizontal (drift only). Both are in metres on the target, from the same spray summary the Recoil Visualizer shows.

  • Only compatible attachments are tried: the ones whose game data lists the weapon as a suitable target. A weapon with none listed keeps its numbers without attachments.
  • At most one attachment per slot: handle, muzzle, laser and magazine. Pistol grips cannot be obtained in the game, so they are never used. Every combination is considered. A combination that is worse on vertical recoil, horizontal recoil and recoil buildup all at once is skipped, because it can never be the best.
  • Preferred attachments are fitted whenever the weapon takes one; with several for one slot, the one with the lowest goal value is used, and a weapon that takes none gets the best in slot. Blocked attachments are never used. Both lists are remembered and also apply to the Recoil Visualizer's Best attachments button.
  • Attachment percentages are added together and applied once, as in the Recoil Visualizer. Only the vertical recoil, horizontal recoil and recoil buildup modifiers change the result.
  • When builds tie, the one with fewer attachments is shown. If no attachment lowers the goal value, the best build has none.
  • Other attachment effects, such as spread, ergonomics, aim speed or magazine capacity, are not weighed. The best recoil build is not always the best build overall.
Why combinations can be skipped

Climb and drift only grow when a summed modifier grows: the percentages are added and then applied once, and a larger vertical recoil, horizontal recoil or recoil buildup never makes a kick smaller. So if one combination is at least as low as another on all three sums, the other can never have a lower goal value. It is skipped only when the first one also wins a tie (no more attachments, then attachment ids), so an attachment that does not change the goal value is never added. Only the combinations that remain are calculated in full, which gives the same answer as trying every combination.

What the columns show

Total recoil

Climb plus drift of the shown build, in metres, whatever Best attachments for is set to. The column of the chosen goal (Total recoil, Climb or Drift) is marked with a target icon, and the table is sorted by it until you choose another column.

Climb

How far the aim point rises over the spray: the sum of every vertical kick.

Drift

The furthest the aim point can drift sideways: the sum of the largest horizontal kicks, like the cone in the Recoil Visualizer.

1st kick

The first-shot recoil multiplier from the weapon's statistics. Attachments do not change it.

vs. no attachments

How much the best build changes the goal value compared with the weapon without attachments, in percent.

Best attachments

The attachments of the best build. The button at the end of the row opens the weapon in the Recoil Visualizer with these attachments and the same spray settings.

The spray

  • Time: the shots each weapon fires in that many seconds at its rate of fire (⌊RPM ÷ 60 × seconds⌋). Faster weapons fire more shots, so this compares recoil over the same time. The default is 2.5 s.
  • Shots: the same number of shots for every weapon, which compares recoil per shot.
  • A full magazine is not offered: a smaller magazine would then look like less recoil only because it fires fewer shots.
  • Target Distance (5 to 100 m) scales the metres. Stance applies the weapon's own crouch and prone multipliers.
  • Numbers shown switches the numbers between Best attachments and No attachments. The attachment column always shows the best build.
  • Weapons that fire only one shot in the chosen length, such as bolt-action rifles in a short time, have no kick to compare. They are listed after the others with “—”; use Shots to compare them per shot.

Reading a row

  • The rank is the row's position in the current sort. With the default sort, rank 1 is the weapon with the lowest goal value with its best attachments.
  • The weapon cell shows the weapon and its category; the attachment cell shows one icon per fitted attachment, with its slot and name on hover and for screen readers.
  • "No compatible attachments listed" means the game data names the weapon in no attachment's suitable-target list, so the weapon is compared without attachments.
  • "No attachment lowers recoil" means every compatible attachment leaves the goal value the same or raises it, so the best build is the weapon without attachments.
  • A negative vs. no attachments is less recoil than the weapon without attachments: −25% means the goal value is a quarter lower.
  • With Numbers shown on No attachments, the best build's attachments are crossed out in red: the numbers leave them out.
  • Hover or tap an attachment icon to see all of its statistics as the game lists them; the lines that change recoil are highlighted.

Using the table

  • Start with Total recoil to find the weapons that move the least over the same spray, then switch Best attachments for to Vertical or Horizontal to see which part of the recoil a weapon struggles with.
  • Sort by vs. no attachments to find the weapons that gain the most from attachments, and the ones where attachments barely matter.
  • Use Time to compare automatic weapons over the same moment of a fight, and Shots to compare the recoil of each shot, which suits slower semi-automatic weapons better.
  • Compare weapons at the distance you expect to fight at. Climb and drift grow with distance, but the order of the weapons does not change for small angles.
  • Open a weapon in the Recoil Visualizer to see its pattern shot by shot, compare it with up to 5 weapons and try other attachments by hand.
  • Tick up to four weapons to compare them: the tray at the bottom opens a side-by-side view with the differences from a baseline weapon and their sprays overlaid.
  • The magnifier button of a row opens its recoil insight: its rank in each recoil column, what each best attachment adds or removes, and its full recoil profile.

Assumptions and limitations

  • The numbers describe aim-point drift with no mouse correction, as in the Recoil Visualizer. They are not bullet impacts.
  • Spread, stabilization and handling are not part of the goal value.
  • Weapons without recoil statistics, such as melee weapons, launchers and devices, are not listed.
  • Compatibility comes only from the game data's suitable-target lists. An attachment that the list does not name is not offered.
  • Game updates can change recoil statistics, attachment modifiers or compatibility before the site's data catches up. The table always uses the data the site has loaded.