| |
| FAMAS | |
|---|---|
| Alternate name(s) | Clarion 5.56 |
| Game(s) |     
|
| Price | $2250 |
| Magazine cost | $60 |
| Origin |  France
|
| Caliber | 
|
| Magazine capacity | 25 / 90 |
| Firing mode(s) | Automatic 3-round burst |
| Rate of fire | 666 RPM (Auto) 800 RPM (Burst) |
| Weight (loaded) | 3.40 kg |
| Projectile weight | 4 g |
| Muzzle velocity | 2212 ft/s |
| Muzzle energy | 1712 J |
| Used by | Counter-Terrorists |
| Reload time | 3.3 seconds |
| Counterpart | Galil Galil AR |
| Movement speed (units per second) | 220 / 250 (88%) |
| Kill Award | $300 (Competitive) $150 (Casual) |
| Damage | 30 |
| Recoil Control | 21 / 26 (80%) |
| Accurate Range | 15 m |
| Armor Penetration | 70% |
| Penetration Power | 200 |
| Hotkey | B-4-1 CT |
| Entity | weapon_famas
|
“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.
In-game, the FAMAS is a fairly powerful automatic and 3-round burst assault rifle available exclusively to the Counter-Terrorists. It is one of the two weapons in Counter-Strike with a burst feature, the other being the Glock-18.
Although economically friendly, the FAMAS is usually discarded in later rounds for more powerful weapons such as the M4A1 (M4A4 or M4A1-S in Global Offensive) or the Steyr AUG, some players still prefer the FAMAS due to its accuracy in burst fire mode in long ranges and its ability to easily score headshots.
The accuracy of the alternative burst-fire is higher in Counter-Strike: Source, as its spread is tighter at close ranges or/and when crouching.
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.
The FAMAS is one of the four weapons that cannot fire underwater, the others being the Leone 12 Gauge Super, XM1014, and the IDF Defender.
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.
Properties
| Hitbox | Primary Attack | |
|---|---|---|
| Unarmored | Armored | |
| Head | 120 | 84 |
| Chest & Arm | 30 | 21 |
| Stomach | 37 | 26 |
| Leg | 22 | 22 |
The FAMAS is a moderate weight weapon. While wielded, the movement speed of players is 220 units per second (default speed is 250), meaning they have 12% speed reduction. The FAMAS is one of the few weapons unable to shoot underwater.
Advantages
- 3-round burst firing is preferable for long-range encounters
- The cheapest Counter-Terrorist assault rifle
- Very accurate at long range when using bursts
- Low recoil while in burst mode
Disadvantages
- Low damage for an assault rifle
- Low accuracy if fired in automatic mode, except in CS:S.
- Low rate of fire if fired in burst-fire mode.
- Slightly smaller magazine size than the other assault rifles.
- Cannot fire underwater
- Slightly more expensive than its Terrorists' counterpart.
- Long reload time
Gameplay
Tactics
- If the weapon is in the right hands, this weapon can help defeat many opponents either in close, medium, or long range. This is due to the good penetration rate, excellent rate of fire, and acceptable accuracy if the user can control the recoil and shoots in burst-fire of the weapon.
- The fully-automatic mode is recommended for short range combat. Aim for the enemy's head and spray bullets at full auto.
- 3-round bursts have an accurate punch even at long ranges as the bursts have almost no recoil unless you are moving. Use it to your advantage.
- When using burst-firing mode, you can hold the mouse button down without having to control the burst.
- 3-round burst is almost always lethal when a headshot is scored and at least two shots connected. 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.
- 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-fire mode of the FAMAS can be very deadly against large groups of enemies when they are clustered closely together in tight spaces, aim toward the head or chest to cause maximum damage.
- Due to the small magazine, try to make sure all the rounds hit the enemy and reload often, find a safe spot to reload because it has fairly long reload time.
- If you need to run, switch to your sidearm, due to the slow moving speed when wielding the FAMAS.
- Some players prefer to only use the fully-automatic mode of the FAMAS to prevent a decline in the rate of fire. If they do encounter enemies at longer ranges, they may crouch and fire in two rounds in quick succession. However, do note that the first shot accuracy of full-auto mode is slightly lower than the burst mode.
Countertactics
- Use long range weaponry, but beware of its three-round burst ability.
- Avoid close and medium contacts with the enemy. The FAMAS has a high rate of fire which is useful for spraying bullets.
- At mid-long range, keep strafing and moving. When firing in burst mode, the FAMAS will be less likely to hit you.
- If you need to engage FAMAS users at close range, a shotgun or AK-47 is a good choice.
- Any weapon with a higher rate of fire or magazine size like the Galil or the P90 are also effective at close ranges.
- Use flashbang grenades when you spot them at long range. If a FAMAS user excels at burst firing, use a smoke grenade to make passing choke points more safely.
- Try to strike between bursts. Keep moving to reduce the chance of being hit by burst fire,.
- This weapon has a long reload time, so try to strike when its user is reloading or has run out of ammo.
- If an unskilled player uses the FAMAS up close, you may have the chance to down them first, due to the high spread of the FAMAS in full-auto and low magazine size.
Comparison to the IDF Defender
Positive
- Has a burst fire alternative fire (good for long range shooting, can decrease bullet spread, improve recoil control, and is more accurate)
- Lighter (220 unit per seconds vs 210 unit per seconds)
- Faster rate of fire when burst firing (800 rpm vs 666 rpm)
Neutral
- Same ammunition type (5.56mm)
- Same firing rate when firing in automatic mode (666 rpm)
- Both weapons cannot fire underwater
- Same damage against unarmored opponents
Negative
- Lower damage to armored targets
- Sightly less accurate than the Galil in automatic mode
- Slightly more expensive ($2250 vs $2000)
- Smaller magazine size (25 rounds vs 35 rounds)
- Longer reload time (3.8 seconds vs 3 seconds)
Achievements
- Weapon
| Clarion 5.56 Expert Kill 500 enemy players with the Clarion 5.56. |
- Weapon Specialist
| FAMAS Expert Kill 100 enemies with the FAMAS. |
Appearances
Condition Zero
- Bots
In Tour of Duty, there are 3 CT bots that equip the FAMAS as their primary weapon:
- Oscar: Cost 2 (with the Five-SeveN as a sidearm)
- Kent: Cost 2 (with the Desert Eagle as a sidearm)
- Ben: Cost 2 (with the USP as a sidearm)
Other CT bots will purchase the FAMAS when they cannot afford the M4A1. If they cannot afford the FAMAS either, they will buy the MP5.
- Task
Players are required to eliminate enemies with the FAMAS during the Downed mission.
Deleted Scenes
The FAMAS only appears in the Downed Pilot mission as a starting loadout. This probably occurred because the FAMAS was a newly added weapon to the Counter-Strike series at that time. Like the Galil, it was made usable in only one mission in Deleted Scenes.
The recoil of this weapon is lower in Deleted Scenes. The rate of the 3-round burst mode is much faster as well.
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
- In 1.6, the FAMAS 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. This is fixed in Counter-Strike: Source.
- In the GoldSrc Counter-Strike games, there is a glitch that occurs when purchasing ammo with the default primary weapon ammunition key, the FAMAS will fire in burst-mode for a few seconds although it will not harm anyone. This also can occur for the Glock-18.
Trivia
- This weapon was added to Counter-Strike 1.6 after the release of Condition Zero.
- Just like the Galil, the animations for the FAMAS are different in every Counter-Strike game.
- In 1.6, the purchase icon for FAMAS lacks the magazine and the charging handle.
- In 1.6, the charging handle does not reciprocate when firing. This is fixed in later games.
- 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.
- "Clarion" is a common medieval name for trumpets, which the French word "Clairon" is derived from.
- In Counter-Strike: Source, if it's fired in three-round burst mode, it ejects 7 shells, this is barely noticeable if the FOV (Field of View) is low.
- 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 FAMAS, 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 command.
- The model featured in Global Offensive is modeled after the FAMAS G2 (noted by the larger trigger guard and 30-round STANAG magazine) whereas in other games it appears to be an original FAMAS F1. Despite this, it still holds 25 rounds.
- In Global Offensive, the FAMAS is slightly more accurate when standing than when crouching in burst fire mode, unlike all other weapons.
- The FAMAS F1 and G2 originally did not have a 3-round burst-fire mode but modifications were made and currently many FAMAS rifles have a secondary fire mode selector, switching from full-auto to 3-round burst-fire mode.
- The FAMAS in game has lower firepower than the M4A1, even though they share the same caliber type (5.56 NATO).
- This is likely due to FAMAS has lower rifling twist than M4A1 (1:12 in compared 1:7 in) in real life which will make FAMAS has lower muzzle velocity and inflict less firepower in distance.
References
External links
- FAMAS at Wikipedia.
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