I won't lie, I haven't really paid much attention to attachments in Arc Raiders up until now. I'd never equip them until my stash was full and I needed to free up space, and even then, I'd just slap them on whatever gun would accept them, all willy-nilly. It was a means to an end, so to speak, that end being room for more junk, of course.

That's not to say I couldn't feel the difference between a naked gun and a decked-out one; I just didn't put much thought into it. Needless to say, it wasn't optimal, in part because I'd entirely underestimated attachments in favour of trying to accumulate a stockpile of the best guns.

After watching ModernNik's impressively comprehensive attachment breakdown, I won't be making those same mistakes again. They tested every type of attachment, and even though some of the gains may look small—like a 0.16ms recoil recovery boost from a common stock—it all adds up.

By far my biggest takeaway is that the 'quality sweet-spot', for lack of a better term, is often green, uncommon attachments. These offer the most bang for your buck, as blue, rare attachments often come with pesky drawbacks that tend to outweigh the positives, though there are a few exceptions on specific weapons that I'll go over, like the Lightweight Stock for the Ferro and the Stable Stock III for more close-range guns.

This testing starts with stocks, which greatly improve recoil and dispersion recovery, but the Stable Stock III also slows down equip and unequip speed. Since a popular tactic is to break a shield with a slow but high-damage weapon like the Ferro, then swap to something more sprightly, this stock isn't necessarily an upgrade over its green counterpart.

Most impressive was the Lightweight Stock in particular, which has the unique benefit of 200% increased aim down sight speed. On the Ferro, this means it goes from a full second to just 0.22ms to fully aim in. Now that's one hell of a quick draw—and I want it. It's important to point out that the blue-quality Vertical and Angled Grip III's reduce ADS speed, so avoid those on the Ferro, even if you're using the Lightweight Stock.

While bullet dispersion is much more annoying than recoil in Arc Raiders, I was also surprised by how effective the various grips are. Even the common Vertical Grip I or Horizontal Grip I is great for narrowing the overall spread, especially when you're letting loose with full-auto weapons.

Then there are barrel attachments. Muzzle brakes make a fairly sizable impact on both horizontal and vertical control, so they're great for full-auto guns and can be doubled up with grips.

More interesting are the compensators, which reduce per-shot dispersion and max shot dispersion, so your bullets land on target more easily. Compensators will benefit any weapon, of course, but they're really nice for fast-firing semi-automatic weapons like the Renegade, so you can spam them faster without worrying about your shots randomly flying off to the side.

What I've realised is that, in most situations, attachments actually matter more than the quality of the specific weapon. I've griped about how basic weapons like the Stitcher and Ferro overshadow higher-tier guns, and attachments do effectively the same thing. I'd bet that a decked-out, common Stitcher would beat the purple Bobcat every time.

With that in mind, I reckon I'll equip the following attachments on my favourite weapons:

• Stitcher with a Muzzle Brake II, Vertical Grip II, Extended Light Mag II, and the Stable Stock II as often as I can, as it's fairly cheap
• Ferro with the Vertical Grip II, the Lightweight Stock for 200% increased ADS speed, and a Silencer I
• Renegade with the Compensator II for rapid-fire accuracy, Extended Light Mag II, and Stable Stock III