BR5 Feedback: The 9 Rifleman + Select-Fire Rifle Meta

Suggestions Weapons
1

Hello everyone!
I’ve been playing Enlisted since 2021, and I’ve experienced almost every major meta the game has had: the 9 Riflemen + gas grenade era, impact grenades, grenade launchers, and now the current 9 Riflemen with select-fire rifles while rotating 3 squads.

In my opinion, this meta is turning BR5 into a mode that’s mostly about spamming infantry and constantly cycling squads for both teams. Even many veteran players have stopped using other classes because Rifleman is simply the strongest and most efficient choice. I think this has become one of BR5’s biggest balance problems.

Suggestion 1: Remove Select-Fire Rifles from Riflemen
Riflemen should no longer be able to equip select-fire rifles, such as:
FG 42,AVS-36,T20,Type Hei Automatic
Yes, this would reduce their firepower, but a Rifleman squad still has 9 soldiers, so I think the trade-off is fair.

**Suggestion 2: Reduce Rifleman Squads from 9 to 7 Soldier**s
Another option is to reduce Rifleman squads to 7 soldiers, matching most other infantry squads.
This would directly reduce the effectiveness of the current strategy where players rotate three 9-man Rifleman squads nonstop. If you’ve played BR5 for a while, you’ve probably seen—or even used—this tactic yourself.
It’s frustrating for both sides:
Attackers overwhelm objectives through sheer numbers.
Defenders have unlimited respawn tickets, making endless 9-man infantry rotations extremely difficult to deal with and turning matches into pure infantry spam.

Suggestion 3: Nerf Select-Fire Rifles by Removing Recoil Control
I think this is the simplest and most effective solution.
Instead of removing the weapons entirely, remove or significantly reduce their recoil control. These rifles should be much harder to control in full-auto, preventing players from spraying with unrealistically high accuracy.
That way, 9 Riflemen would still be a viable option, but it would become a situational tactical choice instead of the default meta for BR5.

Final Thoughts
This is just my opinion on the current BR5 meta. Ironically, I use this strategy too, but that’s exactly why I think it’s unhealthy—most other classes have been pushed into secondary roles while Rifleman dominates almost every match.
I’d love to hear your thoughts:
Do you think the 9 Rifleman meta is too strong?
Which of these suggestions do you agree with?
Do you have a better balancing idea?
Let’s discuss it in the comments. Thanks for reading!
P.S. If anyone doubts that I’ve been playing since 2021, I’ll attach my in-game profile below.

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  • Suggestion 1: Remove Select-Fire Rifles from Riflemen
  • Suggestion 2: Reduce Rifleman Squads from 9 to 7 Soldiers
  • Suggestion 3: Nerf Select-Fire Rifles by Removing Recoil Control
0 voters
2

Edit the poll to include a flat no of all suggestions.

Those are the rules…

(You only have a minute left to do it).

3

where to edit. sorry idk

4

Give select fires to TT paratrooper squads. FG42 is already in the name. Buff Semi-autos to a point where it is worth running rifles squads. Bring them all to SVT-38 level at least.

The slow deployment should balance out the OP select fires. You either get 6 strong fighter right away, or you can wait for the para deploy for more options.

5

image
Should be a pen symbol on your post.

At this point, what I would do is briefly delete the poll and save that edit, then edit your post again to add a new poll which conforms to the rules. This is how you get around the five minute window that bars you from altering old polls after initial posting.

1 Like
6

I don’t think you can a edit poll once you’ve made it, delete it make a new one with the current options and a no option. (edit the post like @OggeKing said with the icon, and delete the old poll and make the new one)

1 Like
7

Honestly, this is a difficult problem.
Because BR5’s infantry balance is already set to a golden balance thanks to SF.
That’s why they tried to nerf SF Meta last time, but eventually withdrew it because changing this would ruin the infantry balance.

8

They changed it more because the way they wanted to do it would alter SF-rifles too much from what they are now - the argument being that people who bought ones as premiums (Kreighoff FG in perticular) would be left with a substantially lesser and different product than they initially bought.

I don’t think there is an argument against nerfing SF rifles out there - most people would agree that they are a problem as they now exist. But as usual, despite everyone agreeing that there is a problem, no one can agree on a solution for it.

10

That’s not entirely wrong, but in my opinion, it would be more appropriate to nerf SF after adjusting the other things.
Honestly, the ironic thing is that thanks to SF, the balance between infantry is very good right now.
Of course, I know that the SF itself is the problem.
The only problem is that, thanks to SF, the balance is good.

11

I should also add that they way they wanted to do it before also affected different SF rifles very differently… some would have been more aversely affected than others (certain rifles with already low initial recoil would hardly notice the change, whilst the ones with very high rate of fire and high recoil would basically become unplayable in comparison).

12

As requested by OP