23 May 2024 3:20 PM +00:00 UTC

Best M16A4 Loadout in XDefiant

An M16A4 loadout placed above a purple-hued background of XDefiant gameplay showing four characters posing with weapons at the ready.

Burst-fire weapons are never everyone’s cup of tea, but if they’re for you, then the M16 is the weapon for you. Although it struggles to keep up with the competition by default, the best XDefiant M16A4 loadout helps carve out a mid-range niche for this iconic rifle, especially as it has the potential to one-burst enemies if you can land headshots.

If the XDefiant meta is your goal, then there are certainly easier-to-use alternatives in our guide to the best XDefiant guns. However, the M16 is the only burst weapon in XDefiant right now so it’s all burst fans have. Thankfully, it can pack a punch with the right build - and it’s not what you’d expect.

Best XDefiant M16A4 Loadout

The best M16A4 build in XDefiant is:

Muzzle: Muzzle Booster
Barrel: Rapid Fire Barrel
Front Rail: Angled Grip
Rear Grip: Heavy Grip
Stock: Precision Stock

Because the M16 has relatively controllable recoil by default, besides a slightly annoying horizontal pull, you don’t have to focus on improving it any more than its base stats. This means that you can take advantage of the rate of fire buffs that hamper recoil control, and then use a handful of attachments to get the recoil closer towards its default. Given it's intended as a mid-range assault rifle, it’s rather odd that the best M16 build can throw recoil to the wind.

A screenshot of the class customization screen showing an M16 loadout in XDefiant with the various attachments equipped.

The biggest drawback of the M16 is its slow firing pattern. While it’s not possible to reduce the time between bursts, increasing the weapon’s rate of fire goes a long way in dropping enemies quicker. This is where the Muzzle Booster and Rapid Fire Barrel come in, amping up the RPM by 7.5% to reach 296 RPM. However, this does come with a sizable 30% hit to both horizontal and vertical recoil control.

With the M16 being a burst weapon, the vertical recoil isn’t as impactful as you might expect as the gun has a chance to ‘reset’, so to speak, between bursts. Plus, vertical recoil is much easier to manually compensate for. Horizontal recoil, on the other hand, is much trickier to fix yourself. Thankfully, the Angled Grip improves horizontal recoil by 5% and the Heavy Grip offers a further 2.5% boost to this stat, alongside 10% improved ADS flinch control.

A first-person screenshot of XDefiant gameplay showing the M16 build in action, with the player firing at an enemy down a snowy street.

Last but by no means least, the Precision Stock serves up a salve for both horizontal and vertical control by 5% to further reduce the impact of the rate of fire attachments.

With all of these combined, this M16 build is much more aggressive at medium ranges and still surprisingly controllable. However, it is much more sluggish, so don’t expect to go toe to toe with the likes of the XDefiant Vector loadout at close range. I’ve found great success using this M16 loadout to lockdown longer sightlines on maps, which is particularly effective in more attack and defence game modes.

An M16A4 build in the stats screen in XDefiant, showcasing how the equipped attachments influence the weapon's performance.

Although it’s a more challenging playstyle, you can actually turn the M16 into a close-range weapon if you’d like to. To do this, use the Muzzle Booster and Rapid Fire Barrel but use the Superlight Grip, Quick Draw Grip, and Removed Stock. Sure, it looks incredibly weird, but it is surprisingly effective if you’re willing to put in the work to master it.

XDefiant M16A4 Class Setup

This build firmly cements the M16A4 as a mid-range rifle designed to dominate sightlines. As such, you’re going to struggle when things get up close and personal.

To get around this, I use the 93R as my secondary weapon. Decked out with the Muzzle Booster, Quick Mag, Quick Draw Grip, Reinforced Stock, and Reflex Sight, the 93R is the perfect close-quarters companion for the M16.

An M16A4 loadout in the class customization screen in XDefiant, showing the primary and secondary weapons alongside the throwable device chosen.

As for the throwable device, any of the available options work well here, though the Sticky Grenade and Frag Grenade are the best choices. Again, this loadout is all about controlling areas of the map, and both the Sticky and Frag can take out enemies from afar. The Sticky deals more damage but in a smaller radius than the Frag, which you can also cook to perfectly time its detonation.

Most loadouts aren’t all that impacted by your choice of XDefiant Factions, however, mid-range guns generally don’t pair well with the Cleaners. Why? The Cleaner’s passive which adds a burn effect to deal damage over time, also reduces the effective damage range of your weapon. With the M16A4 and other mid-range weapons, this effectively reduces the DPS in all but close range. So, instead of the popular Cleaner Faction, I recommend one of the other XDefiant classes, such as the Libertad or Phantoms, especially with the mid-range playstyle of the M16 in mind.

How to Unlock the M16A4 in XDefiant

To unlock the M16A4 in XDefiant, you have to get 20 assault rifle headshot kills. Thankfully, this is a relatively straightforward challenge to complete. I recommend using an accurate assault rifle like the M4A1 or the ACR to make landing headshots easier.

With that out of the way, that’s all you need to know for the best XDefiant M16 loadout. Once you’ve had enough of the M16A4, why not try out the ACR loadout or AK-47 loadout? Otherwise, take a look at the XDefiant guns list for even more alternatives before even more are added as part of the XDefiant roadmap updates.

For more articles like this, take a look at our Guides , FPS , and XDefiant pages.

Rory Norris

Guides Editor

FPS Expert and Guides Professional

As our Guides Editor, Rory makes sure you’re never stumped in the latest and greatest games. If he’s not cooking up the best builds and loadouts, there’s a good chance he’s waxing poetic about Deep Rock Galactic instead.

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