A280C

The A280C Blaster Rifle is a fully-automatic blaster rifle in DICE's Star Wars Battlefront and Star Wars Battlefront II that is most often used by soldiers of the Rebel Alliance.

Design
A modified variant of the A280 Blaster Rifle, the A280C was the preferred weapon of Alliance commandos. Despite its large size, the blaster only weighed around 4.5kg, making it highly manoeuvrable as a blaster rifle. The A280C differed from its lesser refined counterpart in having a notably more thin butt and smaller cooling magazine. Their differences on the battlefield are unknown.

The A280C is also remarkably similar to the Pulse Cannon in design, only really lacking its huge cooling vents.

Star Wars Battlefront
"A280C is a sturdy and powerful blaster rifle that has a high rate of fire and excellent firepower. Modified from the A280 rifle, it was the favored weapon of Alliance commandos."

- In-game description

Overview
In, the A280C Blaster Rifle is the standard weapon of the Rebel Alliance.

In the modes Survival and Skirmish, the A280C is used by Rebel soldiers at all difficulties. Unlike their Imperial coounterparts, the standard weapon of normal Rebel AI is not variant.

The A280C is entirely free for all Rebel forces, although for the use of Imperials, the blaster can be obtained at Rank 8 for 1,550 Credits. It can be a useful weapon at medium ranges but looses accuracy at long range and is outgunned in close combat.

Tips

 * Strong against: low range weaponry at a range, most notably Blaster Pistols, or Heavy Blasters at generally any range
 * Weak against: more powerful weaponry at point blank range, again most notably Blaster Pistols or certain Blaster Rifles

Usage

The A280C Blaster Rifle functions well at truly any range, just like its parallel, the E-11. At closer ranges, its damage is at its best, and, while this maximum damage might be low, it is acceptable enough to score kills and win gun fights. At longer ranges, while its damage may again be sub-optimal, its range and rate of fire pattern added to its good accuracy allows it to perform well here, too. However, as its damage is so low, playing stealthily and attacking when flanking eliminates its high risk of use. Firing at enemies that are completely ready to retaliate usually results in death, as it can struggle to dent enemies at times.

Load out

Considering the A280C's low damage and extremely low heat per shot, use of the Explosive Shot charge card is incredibly useful, turning 4-shot kills into 3-shot kills, in addition to giving the blaster splash damage, thereby making it more accurate than before.

Alternatively, use of the Berserker Trait can be useful as a counter to the omnipresent Bodyguard Trait, allowing its default 4-shot kills to stay as such, ignoring the Bodyguard Trait's damage suppression.

Use of the Scout Trait is especially useful when flanking from behind and attacking unsuspecting opponents, and ignores its low damage output in favour of more stealthy kills.

Using the Scatter Gun is also useful as it allows its users to play on the offensive and defeat enemies at closer ranges swiftly, eliminating one of its main drawbacks in being relatively weak at closer ranges.

Counters

The A280C's main counter is, in particular, blasters capable of defeating it at closer ranges, most notably blaster pistols ─ as shown by this chart, all blasters pictured above the A280C have the potential to beat it at a closer range. The A280C performs at its best at a distance, where it can gradually pick off enemies usually capable of beating it at a closer range. When faced up against the likes of the DL-44, SE-14C, or EE-4 in their respective ranges, it is likely to lose.

Star Wars Battlefront II
The A280C is the default Blaster Rifle available for the Rebel Soldier in DICE's Star Wars Battlefront II.

Overview
As a default weapon of the Assault class, all of the statistics for this weapon are identical to the stats of all the other default Assault weapons in the other factions. This means the A280C is good overall, but excels at nothing. This also means weapon modifications can not be equipped on this weapon which limits its battle potential.

The A280C deals a good amount of damage and is most effective at close to mid-range, where it is better at standing up to the other weapons for the Assault class. It also has manageable recoil, making possible to eliminate an enemy from long range. This weapon can outmatch certain pistols and blaster rifles at medium range. Like most other weapons, the best way to use this weapon is to aim for the head to take advantage of the increased headshot damage.

Updates

 * No changes

Trivia

 * In Star Wars Battlefront, the A280C Blaster Rifle is based on the StG 44. In Star Wars Battlefront II the A280C instead uses the model based upon the AR-15.
 * The Relby V-10 Targeting Rifle has identical in-game stats to the blaster, although this is where their similarities largely end.