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Overview


A cheap option for cash-strapped players, the FAMAS effectively fills the niche between more expensive rifles and the less-effective SMGs.
―Official description

The FAMAS, or Clarion 5.56, as it was previously known, is a rifle featured in the Counter-Strike series.

Overview[]

The FAMAS (French: Fusil d'Assaut de la Manufacture d'Armes de Saint-Étienne or "Assault rifle from the Saint-Étienne weapon factory") is a bullpup assault rifle designed and manufactured in France by MAS (Manufacture d'Armes de Saint-Étienne) located in Saint-Étienne. It is notably used by the French Military as a service rifle. The model featured in Global Offensive is modeled after the FAMAS G1 (using curved STANAG magazines, a feature of the FAMAS G2), whereas it is modeled after the original FAMAS F1 in older games.[2]

In-game, the FAMAS is a cheap and fairly powerful assault rifle available exclusively to the Counter-Terrorists, and the cheapest CT assault rifle at $2050 in Global Offensive and $2250 in Counter-Strike, Condition Zero and Source.

The FAMAS is one of the two weapons in the Counter-Strike series with a burst firing mode, the other being the Glock-18. The player receives the weapon in full-automatic mode, and can switch to the burst mode with the alternate fire key, and can switch back to semi-automatic fire by using the alternate fire key again. In Global Offensive, switching the fire mode makes a distinctive "click" noise audible to all players.

Burst-fire slightly increases the rate of fire and slightly increases accuracy and decreases recoil during the burst (in later games), but increases the delay between individual bursts.

The FAMAS deals low damage for an assault rifle, and has a smaller magazine size at 25 rounds compared to 30 rounds of other assault rifles. It also has a longer reload time than other assault rifles. Overall, despite its unique features, the FAMAS is best used as an eco round CT assault rifle, and is usually discarded in buy rounds for more powerful weapons.

Like with the Glock-18, Bots never use the burst-fire mode and will fire in automatic mode, unless the FAMAS was already set to burst mode before it was picked up. However, should they use the alternative three-burst mode, they appear notably overpowered at long range even in easy mode due to their excellent overall accuracy.

Properties[]

Hitbox Primary Attack
Unarmored Armored
Head 120 84
Chest & Arm 30 21
Stomach and pelvis 37 26
Leg 22 22
Red signifies a fatal hit.
Movement speed in hammer units per second
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Counter-Strike: Source Counter-Strike and Counter-Strike: Condition Zero
Running 220 240
Walking 114 125
Crouch walking 75 80

Prior to Counter-Strike: Source, the FAMAS had the highest knockback power out of all weapons (the second is the Galil). Although risky, the knockback effect can be used to make AWP users miss their shot before they can fire (if they fired a shot within 0.2 seconds after being shot by a FAMAS user). The FAMAS can also be used to "lift" a teammate with sufficient health into an area where otherwise cannot be accessed. However this requires the server option friendly fire to be enabled.

Tactics[]

  • The full auto mode is recommended for short range combat. Aim for the enemy's head and spray bullets at full auto, and compensate for the moderate recoil.
    • Some players may prefer sticking to the full auto mode even at long ranges, allowing a larger margin of error since there delay between trigger pulls isn't as long. It is best to tapfire the weapon at long range or fire one to two shots in quick succession. However, do note that the first shot accuracy of full auto mode is slightly lower than the burst mode.
  • The burst mode is recommended long ranges as the bursts have very little recoil and have a higher first-shot accuracy (as long as the player isn't moving).
    • One 3-round burst deals lethal damage if the burst makes a headshot and another torsoshot. However, this is notably difficult if a target is moving, thus one may have to aim for the stomach/torso to maximize accuracy and still inflict decent damage, and possibly make the recoil push the aim to a lethal follow-up headshot.
    • 3-round burst mode is recommended for those who excel in scoring headshots, especially in Source where the cone of the tri-burst grouping is reduced. As such, it is possible to get two of the three rounds to hit the head, resulting an instant-kill regardless of the enemy's condition.
    • The burst mode increases the delay between individual trigger pulls, making it more difficult to fight against multiple enemies. It is better to use automatic fire when fighting multiple enemies.

Update History

Global Offensive updates

November 18, 2019
  • Reduced the price of FAMAS and Galil by $200 (to $2050 and $1800, respectively)
  • Improved full-auto spraying accuracy of FAMAS and Galil.
September 28, 2016
  • Increased fidelity and reduced distortion in fire sounds for Famas, Galil, Aug, SG553, M4A4, M4A1-S, unsilenced M4A1-S, and AK47.
July 27, 2016
  • Added tracers to alt fire on Aug, Sg, Glock, and Famas.

Appearances[]

In the Tour of Duty, the Clarion 5.56 kill challenge appears in:

Map Difficulty Challenge
Downed tod wide
Downed
Easy Kill 2 enemies
Normal Kill 3 enemies
Hard / Expert Kill 5 enemies

The following bots use the Clarion 5.56 as their main weapon:

Counter-Terrorist bots that prefer the Maverick M4A1 Carbine, Bullpup, or sniper rifles may purchase the Clarion 5.56 if they do not have enough money to purchase their main weapon.

Compared to its multiplayer version, the Deleted Scenes Clarion has less recoil and a higher rate of fire in burst-fire mode.

  • The Clarion 5.56 is only used by the player in Downed Pilot where they start with it. The weapon is lost when the player is captured.

Other cases of its appearance is hinted in:

  • Behind the weapons counter in Counter Terrorist Training.
  • When the evacuation helicopter crashes in Run!, it is possible to hear three shots from the weapon even though it doesn't spawn in the mission.
  • Its shots can be heard in Truth in Chaos when your teammates tell you to take down a sniper, though it does not appear at all otherwise.

Achievements[]

Weapon
Clarion 5.56 Expert Clarion 5.56 Expert
Kill 500 enemy players with the Clarion 5.56.

Weapon Specialist
FAMAS Expert csgo FAMAS Expert
Kill 100 enemies with the FAMAS.

Unused Content[]

  • In Global Offensive files, an unused alternate firing sound (famas-1.wav) and a distant firing sound (famas-1-distant.wav) can be found.

Bugs[]

  • Prior in Counter-Strike: Source, the Clarion was held in a similar way to the UMP-45 in third person, in which the player model appears to be holding a nonexistent foregrip.
  • In the GoldSrc games, there is a glitch that when purchasing ammo with the default primary weapon ammunition key, the Clarion will fire in burst-mode for a few seconds, although it will not harm anyone.

Trivia[]

  • This weapon was introduced with the first Counter-Strike 1.6 beta, released on January 16, 2003.
  • The magazine model of the FAMAS in Global Offensive are curved 30-round STANAG magazines (that only hold 25 rounds in gameplay), while its magazines in earlier games are proprietary 25-round straight FAMAS magazines.
  • In 1.6, the purchase icon for the Clarion lacks the magazine and charging handle.
  • In 1.6, the charging handle does not reciprocate when firing. This is fixed in later games.
  • In 1.6, the Clarion does not feature its real-life ladder sights for rifle grenades/grenade launchers or its bipod. The ladder sights are added in Condition Zero (missing in Source viewmodel) and the bipod in Source.
  • In 1.6 and Condition Zero, the upper part of the carrying handle in the Hud icon is slightly off screen. This is because the spacing between the Galil's and Famas's hud icons is non existing in the game files. The missing handle part appears in the Galil's hud icon.
  • In 1.6, the third-person world and player models of the Clarion are noticeably much more detailed and of higher-quality than those of other firearms. This is due to the fact that the Clarion (along with the Galil) were the last weapons to be implemented in Counter-Strike.
  • The French army nicknamed this gun "Le Clairon", in English "The Bugle", due to its similar profile to a bugle. The developers likely based its Counter-Strike name "Clarion 5.56" on this fact.
  • In Counter-Strike: Source, if the Clarion is fired in three-round burst mode, the weapon ejects 7 shells.
    • Like the Glock-18, the FAMAS will eject three or more shells if the three-round burst mode is used, regardless if the player has one or two rounds left in the magazine.
  • In 1.6, if the player looks at the ground while reloading the Clarion, the reload animation shows the same magazine appearing to be taken out and simply placed back into the weapon. This can also be seen if the FOV is set around 65 to 80 via console commands.
  • While the FAMAS is modeled after a FAMAS G2 in Global Offensive, its HUD icon is still a FAMAS F1.[2]
  • In Global Offensive, the FAMAS is held at a slightly different angle when the burst mode is used.

References[]

External links[]

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