The AKS-74U is Now Surprisingly Good in Tarkov!

With all the recent changes to recoil in Tarkov, we are seeing a lot of new weapons make a comeback in terms of their overall effectiveness and usability. In general, with the exception of I think one or maybe two weapons max, almost everything in the game feels better to shoot. Both in terms of the weapons actual recoil, and the overall camera shake that coincides with weapons and their unique recoil. This is a big one, because some weapons in Tarkov didn’t actually have that much weapon kick, but had an unprecedented amount of camera recoil. Since these most recent changes, that feeling of your camera going into orbit when you fire is largely gone for the most part. Which to myself personally, is the biggest change for weapons feeling better to just shoot in Tarkov. One such weapon is the AKS-74U. An oldie in the scale of how long it has existed in Tarkov, but besides the one time you are required to use the weapon (which is Punisher Part 3, where you need 25 scav kills with it) you never see this gun out in the world, unless someone is low on cash and needs something cheap in their hands. However, that has since changed. As someone who genuinely is fond of the gun, I am glad to say that it is much more usable when compared to its older counterpart. On top of that, I have a special version of the gun I like to make for both function and a little bit of form as well. If you have played Resident Evil 8, then this gun should look familiar. It's Chris Redfield’s AKS from the final act of the game. I have to say, it looks really cool, and it’s almost the exact same. There are some parts and cosmetic pieces that just aren’t available to us the player, but other than that, it’s really close.

I enjoy using the off-meta stuff in Tarkov a lot. I enjoy the SAG AKs because of their flexibility and the lack of attachments needed to make them lethal. Just an optic and you are kind of off to the races. Of course, you can add more if you wish, and while they aren’t completely moddable, there’s enough there to warrant their use. Same goes for the AKS; I wish the majority of players went out of their way to use and enjoy some of the niche weapons on offer. And to be honest, I think with all the changes that had happened over the last week or so, including ammo availability, recoil changes, we will begin to see lots of weapon variety out in the world of Tarkov. For example, I have a funny feeling the G36 will be getting a lot of love once people have better ammo available for it. The is one of the few weapons in the game that might have received some of the best buffs to its ergonomics, and recoil numbers. Finally, too, because that gun has been in the game for some time now, and it really was never used. Which is a shame because the last thing we want is for BSG to put new guns into the game and have them never get selected. It’s a real let down when some high-profile weapons make it into the game, and they end up being really bad. In addition to variety of weapons in general, I foresee this wipe and the subsequent months ahead being dominated by a variety of SMG’s. The new SR-2 was already very strong when combined with the better 9x21 ammo types (SP10, SP13). But now, with the recoil adjustments, it’s ferocious. The MP7 is also really scary with its round of changes. Subsonic plus the adjustments, and that gun basically doesn’t move when you shoot it. Overall, I expect to see lots of SMG’s being used; which is exciting to see because they had a very specific role in Tarkov, and now that other weapons and calibers may not be as prevalent, it might give SMG’s sometime in the sun.

But I've been getting sidetracked. The AKS and the “Redfield” version I have dubbed this variant. How do you build it? Good question; it’s not that difficult to make, but will require having all your vendors loyalty level 3 to get the parts from them. If you have the flea, you can still do it obviously, but it might cost a little more. Speaking of this gun isn’t cheap; just the parts and not including the gun will cost about 140k rubles, so it’s definitely not in the realm of budget. Here is what the final product looks like in the preset menu, I gotta say it looks really cool. I know some people might be opposed to having the optic so far up the weapon, so alternatively if you want it a little closer, you can swap out the B-12 mount for the B-18 mount, so that way the optic sits on top of the iron sights, about halfway up the gun. It won’t be the Redfield variant anymore, but hey, whatever you’re more comfortable with. Of course, depending on the day, some parts like the suppressor will most likely be cheaper on the flea, anywhere from 10-20k rubles, but other than that most other parts are better off being bought straight from the vendors.

And that’s the gun. An interesting take on the young brother of the AK family, and a solid weapon cosplay option to boot. Again, it definitely isn’t best in slot because there is not waffle suppressor, but even without it, this weapon performs better than expected. And if I was able to make this gun work before, it’s only going to be better now. And yeah, the gun isn’t perfect to Chris’ version in the game; the buttstock isn’t right, but to be fair, we can’t add a buffer tube to the little AK unfortunately, so we just go with what’s good. It would be sick if we could add a buffer tube so we could go MOE with the rubber butt pad, but this works well in its place. If you found this style of video to be interesting, going over an off build with a gun that doesn’t see a lot of play, be sure to subscribe and let me know in the comments down below. This was really enjoyable to make, and I would be super down for more of these in the future. I hope to see you in future ones.