Free Fire Weapon Guide to Woodpecker: Learn the Pecking Order
Free Fire offers a lot of interesting game mechanics, to say the least. The character ability system, pet system, gloo walls, Clash Squads are among a major few of them. Even the weapon mechanics of this game are a bit interesting. Usually battle royale or FPS shooter games offer sniper rifles like the AWM and maybe a few more like the Kar98k, but that’s about it. At best, you will get some semi-auto marksman rifles that barely get the job done.
Free Fire on the other hand had one of its marksman snipers as one of the most powerful guns in the game for a very long time. The SVD or as it was previously known as Dragunov sniper rifle has been part of this game’s meta for a very long time. In the recent past, another new marksman rifle has been added in the game called the Woodpecker. Sadly, players in the game haven’t given this gun its fair shake. This Free Fire weapon guide will be addressing how you can take some epic tier shots with the Woodpecker.
Woodpecker Rifle:
This gun packs a ton of punch if you go by stats alone. However, stats are not the only benchmark to go but its in-game performance. When playing Clash Squads with the Woodpecker, you will notice that the gun does almost the same damage as the SVD. What works in the favor of this gun is its accuracy and armor penetration. This means that all the bullets fired from the Woodpecker will be able to do some serious damage to a vest of any level. Another thing that you need to understand is that this gun or any marksman sniper is made for mid to long-range fights.
An AR is made for close to mid-range fights and an SMG for close-range fights. That means you can use the Woodpecker in mid range fights to down enemies with ease. In Clash Squads, that translates to taking down SMG and Shotgun players from enough distance that they won’t even be a threat to you. Accuracy is an area where is the Woodpecker absolutely dominates other marksman rifles. Not even the SVD is as accurate as this gun. It can make mincemeat of any player that comes even within 50 to 60 meters of this gun. Yes, it has a lesser range than the SVD which can do deadly damage up to 80 meters, but bear in mind what lesser range means.
Usually, players tend to think that just because the range of a weapon is less than some other gun, then they should use the gun with bigger stats. Balance is something that is often overlooked when choosing the right gun. Yes, the SVD has a longer range, but that also means you will miss more shots in mid-range than you would have with the Woodpecker. To put things into perspective better, the Woodpecker has a smaller range compared to the SVD and in every other area possible, it beats the SVD hands down. It can carry 12 bullets, which is two more than the SVD. The movement speed is exactly the same as the SVD. However, its rate of fire, accuracy, reload time, and armor penetration is much better. The only thing that you will be dealing with is recoil, and in the character skill combination given below, you will be able to fix that as well.
Character Skills:
There are a few areas of this gun that you will need to fix with your skill combination. First is the one which will be needing immediate attention if you do plan on using this rifle. One thing that has been noticed with the Woodpecker is its shooting pattern when a silencer is attached is bad. It’s not just the recoil, but the overall gun mechanics of this weapon that go for a toss when a silencer is added. If you’re going to use a marksman sniper, then silencing it is the way to go. So if the attachment is creating problems, Rafael can fix it with his skill Dead Silent. Not only will your Woodpecker get a better silencer without you looking for it, but also make your enemies die quicker.
That’s because this ability can make any enemy you down suffer HP loss much faster. At level 6 it will make any player shot with this ability suffer HP loss 45% faster. Basically giving no time to them to get revived. With marksman rifles, you have to deal with some recoil. There are attachments like the stock which can help eliminate some of it, but what you need is a skill that does it for you. Thankfully, Dasha exists in Free Fire and her ability, Partying On, can eliminate a huge chunk of that recoil. This ability does two things very well. First is the damage reduction from falls. So if you do fall or jump from a high building, your HP won’t get too low, and it even reduces the time it takes to recover from falls.
That’s one part of this ability, another is reducing recoil build-up and maximum recoil. At level 6 your recoil build-up and maximum recoil will be reduced by 10%. Now that you have taken care of recoil, silencer, and much more with these abilities, it’s time to work on hip-fire accuracy and scope-in accuracy. Any player who chooses a gun like Woodpecker tends to maintain some distance between them and the enemies. So downing your enemies as soon as you start shooting at them is necessary, and for that, you need additional accuracy. There are two characters in Free Fire that are made for this purpose alone. First is the obvious sniper favorite, Laura.
She has been in the game for very long and has the best ability for snipers. Her ability Sharp Shooter increases accuracy when scoped in by 35% at level 6. That means most of the shots you take when you’re quick scoping will connect, and long-distance shots too. It is a must-have skill for any serious sniper and will come in handy when you’re playing Clash Squad. Lastly, you will be adding D-Bee for both movement and accuracy. His Bullet Beats ability at level 6 increases movement speed while shooting and accuracy as well. That means you will be able to run and gun down enemies with your marksman Woodpecker like you would be doing with an AR but from all ranges.
