Thunderbird is one of the operators that has received some big changes to their loadouts recently, and to many, the recent changes are a nerf, but there are many including me that consider them a boost. That’s because the new utilities in Thunderbird’s arsenal have more synergy with her gameplay and special gadget, as they provide benefits that impact the team more in conjunction with Thunderbird’s role. 

Thunderbird is a great support operator and the recent addition to her loadouts only augment her support capabilities. But Thunderbird doesn’t only excel in supporting her teammates. She’s also very capable of inflicting a lot of hurt to her enemies, and in this article, we’re going to discuss the best loadout setups that will enhance her overall gameplay.

5. SPAS-15 with Reflex B and Laser + Q-929 with Suppressor + Barbed Wire

The biggest loss from the recent loadout changes to Thunderbird that can really be felt by players is the loss of her impact grenades. Impact grenades are such a handy all-around utility because the player can easily create rotation holes with them, and they can even be used for fragging low-health enemies hiding in corners. The impact grenades are also a great counter for Osa’s Clear Shield. However, now that Thunderbird’s impact grenades are gone, we as the players can really only adjust, and one of the best ways to adjust to the loss of the impact grenades is by using the SPAS-15 shotgun more.

With the SPAS-15 shotgun, Thunderbird would still be able to create rotation holes or destroy unreinforced hatches for flanking or escaping enemies. The SPAS-15 shotgun is also great for fragging enemies at close range because it packs a high damage per pellet, and especially with a laser attachment which will tighten its hip fire pellet spread, it can also be very effective even with the user not going into aim-down-sights stance. The suppressed Q-929 handgun on the other hand will give her the ability to silently shoot attacker gadgets lying around like drones or claymores, and that’s always a good perk to have for roaming or flanking enemies.

Excels in:

• Having a great utility in the SPAS-15 shotgun for reworking the map to the defending team’s advantage because of its high destruction rate per shot
• Having close-range superiority due to the heavy damage per pellet from Thunderbird’s SPAS-15 shotgun which can down enemies with just one to two shots at its optimal range
• The hip fire pellet spread on Thunderbird’s SPAS-15 shotgun will be greatly tightened due to the presence of the laser attachment
• Providing Thunderbird with the ability to shoot enemy gadgets with much less chance of alerting the attackers with the use of the suppressed Q-929 handgun
• Slowing enemies down and avoiding getting caught off-guard on flanking spots with the use of the barbed wires as Thunderbird’s generic gadget

Build Details:

• Primary weapon - SPAS-15 with Reflex B and Laser
• Secondary weapon - Q-929 with Suppressor
• Generic gadget - Barbed Wire

Hip-fire pellet spread test on the SPAS-15 in this setup at 5m range:

Hip-fire pellet spread test on the SPAS-15 in this setup at 10m range:

4. Spear .308 with Red Dot A, Flash Hider, and Vertical Grip + Q-929 with Suppressor and Laser + Bulletproof Camera

While the stock recoil of Thunderbird’s Spear .308 is quite manageable, it can be quite tough to handle with just one attachment that provides recoil control benefits, let alone not having any. This loadout setup has both the flash hider and the vertical grip on the Spear .308, and since its recoil mostly only goes up in a straight vertical path, focusing on lowering its vertical recoil is what will yield the best result when it comes to having the best recoil possible on the weapon. And both the flash hider and the vertical grip specializes in that.

With the flash hider and the vertical grip working hand in hand to lower the Spear .308’s vertical recoil, Thunderbird will have the most stable shooting experience in this loadout setup. The flash hider will also remove the weapon’s muzzle flash which could help a bit in protecting yourself as it will lessen the number of visual cues that enemies could use to determine where you’re shooting from. As for the generic gadget, the bulletproof camera is a handy utility for gathering intel, and it can also shoot EMP blasts that will disable enemy electronic utilities.

Excels in:

• Having the best recoil control possible on Thunderbird’s Spear .308 assault rifle because both the flash hider and vertical grip are present and both of them specializes in lowering vertical recoil
• The flash hider will also hide the muzzle flash from Thunderbird’s Spear .308 and that could make it a bit harder for enemies to immediately pinpoint where she’s shooting from
• The red dot A 1.0x sight will provide Thunderbird with good accuracy due to its simple center dot reticle and it doesn’t obstruct the view of the opponent’s body
• Thunderbird having a great utility for shooting enemy gadgets silently in the suppressed Q-929 which will be very handy when she’s roaming or flanking
• Providing the whole defending team an extra way of gathering intel through the bulletproof camera which can also disable enemy electronic gadgets

Build Details:

• Primary weapon - Spear .308 with Red Dot A, Flash Hider, and Vertical Grip
• Secondary weapon - Q-929 with Suppressor and Laser
• Generic gadget - Bulletproof Camera

Recoil test on the Spear .308 in this setup with the author’s own recoil control applied:

3. Spear .308 with Red Dot A, Extended Barrel, and Vertical Grip + Q-929 with Suppressor and Laser + Bulletproof Camera

As mentioned before, even though it can be challenging to hold down the recoil of Thunderbird’s Spear .308, it can be done well if the player has excellent recoil control of their own and has at least one attachment that provides additional recoil control benefits. For this loadout setup, that one attachment would be the vertical grip. The vertical grip specializes in lowering the vertical kick of weapons, which will be a great help in controlling the Spear .308. But for its barrel attachment, instead of a recoil control providing one, we’re going to run with the extended barrel.

The extended barrel will maximize the damage output of the Spear .308 because it now adds 12% to weapons while also retaining its previous benefit of greatly lowering their range damage drop-off. That means that with the Spear .308 in this loadout setup, the user will be dealing high damage to their enemies regardless of range. As for the suppressed Q-929 handgun, Thunderbird can also perform the role of a roamer, and it’s always great to have a suppressed weapon with you so that you can silently shoot attacker gadgets like drones or claymores, and that will prevent attackers from being aware of your presence.

Excels in:

• Dealing heavier damage from Thunderbird’s Spear .308 because the extended barrel now boosts the damage of weapons by 12%
• Maximizing the damage output of Thunderbird’s Spear .308 with the extended barrel increasing the effective range of the weapon by reducing its range damage drop-off
• Maintaining a good amount of recoil control on Thunderbird’s Spear .308 due to the presence of the vertical grip attachment
• Providing Thunderbird with a great utility for silently disabling attacker gadgets in the suppressed Q-929 handgun which is a handy perk to have when she’s roaming or flanking
• Having another camera for the whole defending team for gathering intel, one that is bulletproof and can even disable enemy electronics with its laser blasts

Build Details:

• Primary weapon - Spear .308 with Red Dot A, Extended Barrel, and Vertical Grip
• Secondary weapon - Q-929 with Suppressor and Laser
• Generic gadget - Bulletproof Camera

Recoil test on the Spear .308 in this setup with the author’s own recoil control applied:

2. Spear .308 with Red Dot A, Suppressor, and Vertical Grip + Bearing 9 with Red Dot A and Flash Hider + Barbed Wire

The suppressed Spear .308 is such an excellent weapon for Thunderbird because with it, she’ll be shooting opponents without them receiving a directional threat indicator telling them where she’s shooting from. Her shots from the Spear .308 will also be more silent, and that will make it even harder for enemies to find out where she is. The silent gunshots from the Spear .308 will also help in avoiding being caught off guard by flanking opponents because the gunshots won’t mask the sound cues that they make.

As mentioned before, even with just one attachment that provides recoil control, the Spear .308’s weapon kick remains manageable, and that’s why the suppressor is a very viable barrel attachment for it despite it not providing additional recoil control benefits. And since Thunderbird will be able to shoot attacker gadgets silently with the Spear .308 in this loadout setup, it’ll be much better for her to run with the bearing 9 machine pistol as her secondary weapon. With the bearing 9, she’ll have another fully automatic weapon in her arsenal for when her Spear .308 needs to be reloaded in the middle of combat.

Excels in:

• Being able to shoot enemies without a directional threat indicator of where the shots are coming from because of the suppressor on Thunderbird’s Spear .308
• The silent gunshots from Thunderbird’s Spear .308 will make it harder for enemies to know her location and will also allow her to hear sound cues from enemies better
• Maintaining a good level of vertical recoil control on Thunderbird’s Spear .308 with the use of the vertical grip attachment
• Having another fully automatic weapon in the bearing 9 machine pistol when Thunderbird’s Spear .308 needs to be reloaded in the middle of an enemy engagement
• Slowing enemies down with the use of the two barbed wires as Thunderbird’s generic gadget and they can also act as good early warning devices for flanking spots

Build Details:

• Primary weapon - Spear .308 with Red Dot A, Suppressor, and Vertical Grip
• Secondary weapon - Bearing 9 with Red Dot A and Flash Hider
• Generic gadget - Barbed Wire

Recoil test on the Spear .308 in this setup with the author’s own recoil control applied:

1. SPAS-15 with Reflex B and Laser + Bearing 9 with Red Dot A and Flash Hider + Barbed Wire

This is the best loadout setup for Thunderbird right now because it provides her with the most versatility. Obviously, having the SPAS-15 shotgun as her primary weapon instead of the Spear .308 will limit her range. However, with the SPAS-15 shotgun, she’ll be able to create rotation holes and destroy soft hatches which are always useful for flanking or escaping enemies. As for shooting opponents at medium to long range, it may have a very rough to control weapon kick, but the bearing 9 can be effective at fragging enemies, especially in controlled bursts.

So with this loadout setup, Thunderbird will have close range superiority because of the SPAS-15 shotgun while still having the ability to frag opponents at medium to long-range with the bearing 9 machine pistol. So all in all, this is a very balanced loadout setup. The only drawback to it is that it lacks any stealth benefits because both of Thunderbird’s weapons won’t have a suppressor. However, the strengths of this loadout setup will far outweigh any stealth benefits that a suppressed weapon will bring, especially since Thunderbird isn’t much of a stealthy operator to begin with.

Excels in:

• Being able to rework the map to the defending team’s advantage because of the high destruction per shot on the SPAS-15 shotgun
• Heavily excelling at close-range combat due to the high damage per pellet of the SPAS-15 shotgun as well as its fast rate of fire
• Having a tight hip fire pellet spread on the SPAS-15 shotgun due to the laser which will allow Thunderbird to frag opponents effectively even without going to aim-down-sights stance
• Having a fully automatic secondary weapon in the bearing 9 machine pistol that Thunderbird can use to shoot opponents at distances beyond the reach of her SPAS-15 shotgun
• Guarding usual flanking spots with the barbed wires which slows opponents who walks over them and creates a lot of noise when opponents try to destroy them

Build Details:

• Primary weapon - SPAS-15 with Reflex B and Laser
• Secondary weapon - Bearing 9 with Red Dot A and Flash Hider
• Generic gadget - Barbed Wire

Hip-fire pellet spread test on the SPAS-15 in this setup at 5m range:

Hip-fire pellet spread test on the SPAS-15 in this setup at 10m range:

Attention operator, please be advised. There is a new directive from Six. Read up on these related articles, and prepare for deployment:

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