The aptly named 9-Barrel Rifle is one of the coolest and most unusual weapons in Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodhunt. It performs like a hybrid between a dedicated marksman rifle and a light machinegun, and it looks like it belongs in a museum. This quick guide will provide a full overview of the 9-Barrel Rifle in Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodhunt, and explain how and why you should use it.
The 9-Barrel is a precision weapon, meaning that it gets a high headshot multiplier of 200%, as opposed to the 150% given to most other weapons. It deals 35 damage to the body and 70 to the head, which puts it firmly between the Marksman Rifle and the Revolver in terms of damage-per-shot. Like those two weapons, it also has an extremely long effective range. The 9-Barrel Rifle has a magazine capacity of nine rounds, which gives it the edge in damage-per-mag; it also fires quite quickly when fully spun up, outperforming both the Revolver and the Marksman Rifle in mid and close range.
This brings us to the key feature that separates the 9-Barrel Rifle from other weapons in Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodhunt: if you hold down the fire key, the weapon spins up and increases its fire rate dramatically. With each upgrade tier, the 9-Barrel improves in effective range and spin-up time, making it a rare example of a weapon that actually has better DPS at higher tiers. Pace your trigger pulls when targetting players at long range to secure headshots, and fire indiscriminately if you find yourself in close quarters with your quarry.
In summary, you should almost always pick up the 9-Barrel Rifle when you find it in Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodhunt. It uses little ammo, hits hard, and can get kills at any range. Its only notable drawbacks are a relatively long reload, and its reliance on headshots. You will be at a disadvantage against skilled players with less aim-dependent weapons like the Dual Crossbows and the LMG, so have a backup plan for those encounters.
