Grab your blaster and get out there!
The weapons in Star Wars Battlefront are not classic guns like Battlefield, for the most part. The only exception so far is the Cycler Rifle, which is a high power (caliber) weapon with classic recoil and bullet drop, and very lethal if you are accurate with it. It is, however, a Star Card weapon and not available for constant use.
Blasters share some interesting common features. First, none have bullet drop. The shot is going to go roughly where you aim it. Almost all have shot spread, though, so repeatedly firing the weapon will result in inaccurate shot placement. The Focus star card can compensate for that.
Second, they have a relatively low bolt (bullet) velocity. Most are 500 m/s, slower than most weapons in Battlefield 4. The SE-14C is 400 m/s, the Scout Pistol star card is 600 m/s, and the CA-87 (essentially a shotgun) is 200 m/s. The Cycler Rifle has a rather slow 300 m/s, which makes it hard to take advantage of its power at range (no damage drop off) against moving targets.
Third, hip fire and aiming have the same spread and accuracy. There is no penalty for firing on the move, nor advantage for crouching.
Last, most have very little recoil. Some do have more than others, but the basic weapons generally handle better than, say, the very easy to manage SAR-21 from Battlefield 4. Recoil management will be much less important for most weapons, but there are some which do require you to compensate for it to be effective.
A final element is that Battlefront does not use ammunition for its weapons, but heat and cooldown. You can fire until the weapon overheats, then must wait for it to cool down to fire again. All blasters have a 2.72 second cool down, which can be sped up slightly with the coolant flush (old reload) action.
Symthic has stats for the weapons: http://symthic.com/battlefront-weapon-charts
Weapons can be divided up based on handling.
The precision blasters: The E-11, A280C, DLT-19, EE-3. These have both negligible recoil and spread, so you can rely on your shots to stay on target. The E-11 has highest damage but lower fire rate, the A280C a better fire rate, the DLT-19 fires very fast but with less damage, and the EE-3 is a burst fire weapon with damage between the A280C and the DLT-19. All of these will be easy to learn to use, and a great when you want both long range accuracy and close range firepower.
The accurate blasters: The DH-17 pistol, the RT-97, T-21 and T-21B, the Scout Pistol. These have moderate recoil and spread, higher than the precision blaster series, with the T-21B falling in between as it has very low spread.
The Scout Pistol is a special case — because it is a Star Card, you only get one shot with it and its recoil therefore is irrelevent, but if it could fire faster, it would fall into this class. It gives you one high damage short range shot as a secondary weapon, good range is only 10 meters.
The DH-17 is reasonably accurate and has a good range of 25 meters, but drops off rapidly beyond that, making it ineffective at any long range.
The RT-97 and T-21 are intended for longer range fights. The RT-97 is a little harder to handle than the DLT-19, but with practice easier to keep on target at range if you compensate for its recoil. The T-21 has high damage, but no optics which makes it harder to land long range shots. The T-21B loses some damage but is more precise, and has better optics to make landing long range shots easier.
Because the weapons of Star Wars Battlefront are not customizable, you cannot change optics, so you must use what the weapons are equipped with. This is another element of the differentiation between them in the game.
The rest of the weapons so far are unique.
The DL-44 Blaster is a high power pistol with great damage, and a 20 meter good range. It packs a high recoil for a blaster, but still low compared to, say, the Deagle from Battlefield 4, which it is sort of the counterpart for this game. It also overheats fast, so it makes for a weapon which is good at closer range but hard to use at a distance. It can still kill twice as fast as the DH-17, making it the most powerful of the two pistols available.
The CA-87 is essentially a shotgun blaster, with very high damage up close but its shots spread so both damage and accuracy suffer terribly at range. Not good much beyond 15 meters, but lethal for in your face shots.
The Cycler Rifle star card gives you one very high power shot, with bullet drop comparable to weapons from Battlefield 4. It can one shot kill with a head shot at any range.
The Pulse Cannon is a weapon with a similar function, but you must hold fire to charge it, then release the shot, in order to get maximum damage. It can kill in one shot, and doesn’t have to be a head shot depending on range. Once charged, the weapon must be fired, but you can switch weapons to abort the shot.
The Star Card weapons are essentially all one shot with a cool down, so repeated fire stats aren’t relevant.
I haven’t seen the Wookie Bowcaster yet, so no idea of its real stats. It charges up for five explosive shots, and there is no reason not to fire it at full charge. The shots spread out in a line, so getting a kill can be tricky, but it looks like it would be very effective against groups of enemies at moderate range. It is an explosive weapon, though, and falls more into the category of the grenades, and especially the Barrage, a 3 grenade launcher.
Weapons can also be classed in terms of hits to kill: How fast can you take someone out with them?
First, rated for in your face close range shots:
The blow your head clean off weapons:
Cycler Rifle, Pulse Cannon, DL-44, Scout Pistol, T-21, and CA-87 up close is only one hit to kill. Two hits, or one with head shot.
Three shots: T-21B, E-11. The EE-3 and SE-14C get a burst fire which could kill in two bursts, but are actually 5 hits to kill.
Four Shots: A-280C, DH-17. Both fire faster than the two three-shot blasters.
The EE-3 and SE14C require 5 hits but fire bursts, the RT-97C 6 hits, and the DLT-19 7 hits, which makes it the last place choice for close range combat. The fire rates on all of these do change the picture somewhat, as they fire about twice as fast as most others.
At long ranges, though, things change:
Blow your head clean off: Cycler Rifle, Pulse Cannon
Three Shots: T-21, T-21B
Six Shots: DL-44 (but its recoil and shot spread make getting the hits harder than any other blaster)
Seven Shots: EL-11
Eight: RT-97C, DLT-19 (coupled with their higher fire rate, they are actually most effective at longer ranges)
Nine: A-280C, EE-3 (burst fire makes it faster to fire though)
Ten: SE-14C (also burst fire)
20! (or don’t even bother shooting): Scout Pistol, DH-17, CA-87
The heavy blasters come into their own at longer ranges, with the DLT-19 having high accuracy and fire rate to make it an effective suppression weapon, and the T-21/21B good for more precise shots — as close to sniper rifles as we get.
A last useful rating is kills before overheat. I’ll consider close range more important for most of these, for effectiveness, because at a distance you can duck and hide to recharge. Star Card weapons only get one kill at best.
DL-44: 6 (2 at range)
E-11: 6 (2 at range)
A-280C: 6 (3 at range)
T-21: 6 (4 at range)
RT-97C: 6 (4 at range)
SE-14C: 5 (2, almost 3 at range)
DH-17: 5 – no long range
DLT-19: 5 (4 at range, which matters for it)
EE-3: 4 (2 at range)
CA-87: 3 — no long range
T-21B: 2 (but is also 2 at long range!)
A note for long range: First or third person view is often a matter of preference in close combat, with third person being very good for seeing a bigger picture. But long range accuracy needs the higher zoom in effect of first person, especially with those weapons with higher magnification optics.
The final result: All the blaster weapons are roughly balanced. Some are better than others at certain ranges, but all are especially good in one area, and less capable in others. The earliest weapons unlocked are all in what I call the precision blaster category, and are easier to aim accurately, and generally effective over a wide range. Pick the one which bests suits both your playstyle and the situation on the map.
