KS-23

KS-23
Weapon Quote	“Pump-action shotgun that fires slugs that deal high arena damage”
Profile
Build	H Heavy
Type	Shotgun
Unlock	Strategist
Damage
Body	100
Environmental	1000
Damage Falloff
Min Range	18m
Max Range	23m
Multiplier	0.70
Technical
RPM	73
Magazine	6
Empty Reload	4.36s
Tactical Reload	Segmented

The KS-23 (Karabin Spetsialniy 23mm) is a Heavy class slug shotgun designed to deal high damage per slug at close to moderate distances, also dealing significant damage to structures.

Usage

The KS-23 can be selected as the weapon of any Heavy build loadout.

The trigger can be pulled to fire one projectile that damages an opponent. The weapon does not deal additional damage on headshots but deals significant structure damage. The trigger must be released before firing again. Zooming in with the secondary trigger slightly increases the KS-23's accuracy. Moving decreases accuracy.

The KS-23 reloads by inserting one round at a time, making its reload extremely slow. However, the reload can be interrupted before the magazine is full to reload less rounds.

The weapon automatically reloads when its magazine is empty, or the user can do a tactical reload before this point. The user has unlimited spare ammunition.

Controls	PC	PS	XBox	Key
Equip KS-23	1	△	Y	Weapon
Fire slug (Tap)		R2	RT	Primary fire
Zoom (Hold)		L2	LT	Secondary fire
Tactical reload	R	◻	X	Reload

Stats

Damage Profile

• Values are approximate and determined by community testing. (8.6.0)

Body Part	Light (150 HP)		Medium (250 HP)		Heavy (350 HP)
	Shells to kill	Time to kill (s)	Shells to kill	Time to kill (s)	Shells to kill	Time to kill (s)
Body	2	0.82	3	1.64	4	2.47

Segmented Reload

Missing ammo	Time to completely reload
1	1s
2	1.75s
3	2.5s
4	3.25s
5	4s
6	4.36s

tactical reload:The reload time can be expressed as 1+0.75x, where x = missing ammo-1(x≤5).

Properties

Weapon

Ranged — Strikes targets by aiming and firing at them from a distance.

Single Fire — Fires once when the trigger is pulled. The trigger must be released before firing again.

Round Reload — Inserts a single round on reload. The next round(s) will also start reloading automatically until the magazine is full.

No Multi-Shot — Releases a single slug projectile with each shot.

No Aiming Down Sights — Cannot use sights. Zooms in slightly instead, but doing so does not significantly affect accuracy.

Unstable Accuracy — Suffers a significant decrease in accuracy while moving and while airborne.

Bullet

Hitscan — Up to 25m — Travels in a straight line, meaning there is no bullet drop. The direction will deviate from the crosshairs depending on accuracy.

Projectile — After 25m — Gets affected by gravity and has a travel time.

Mid Range Falloff — Deals reduced damage when hitting targets at a moderate distance (falloff starts at less than 30m).

Moderate Structure Damage — Damages structures. Takes a few seconds or multiple charges to break a concrete wall.

No Critical Hit — Does not critically hit for increased damage, even if the target was struck on the head.

Not Interceptible — Can not be removed by the APS Turret.

Guide

Strengths

• The KS-23 can break through any surface with a few shots.
• If the user is able to predict their target's movements, the KS-23 is able to reliably hit targets at longer ranges than other Heavy class weapons. However, the damage will be significantly reduced.
• In Terminal Attack, the maximum health Light contestants can regenerate to is 100 health. This is exactly the damage of the KS-23, giving the weapon a slight advantage against that build in the game mode.

Weaknesses

• Reloading the KS-23's shells takes a long time, leading to long downtime between firing.
• The KS-23's small magazine size makes missing a shot very punishing.

Tactics

• The user should zoom before firing, especially at longer distances. This slightly increases the accuracy of the KS-23.
• A concrete wall takes three shots to breach. You can fire two, reload, then fire the last shot so you go in with 5/6 shots in your magazine.
• A KS-23 user may need to lead their target at longer distances, i.e. firing at the location where they will be when the projectile arrives. This is because the KS-23's attack uses a projectile instead of a hitscan beyond 25m.
• A full reload has a long wind-up time, but then reloads much more quickly. For this reason, the full reload should preferably not be interrupted by firing, but the tactical reload can be interrupted.
• Once either reloading animation is started, it cannot be cancelled until at least one shell has been loaded, after that you can fire at any point, instantly cancelling the animation.

Item Mastery

Item mastery XP can be earned by damaging and eliminating opponents with the KS-23.

Each time a certain XP threshold is reached, the item levels up. This does not improve the item, but rewards a unique item customization.

XP Breakdown
Source	XP Reward
Damage dealt by the KS-23	0.2 × Damage Dealt
Opponent eliminated by the KS-23	50
Assist on an opponent damaged by the KS-23	20

Level 1 DEFAULT KS-23

Level 2 9,000 XP DYE JOB (Yellow)

Level 3 9,000 XP DYE JOB (Blue)

Level 4 36,000 XP DYE JOB (Red)

Level 5 54,000 XP DYE JOB (White)

Level 6 162,000 XP TRIANGLE TWINKLE

Level 7 144,000 XP STRIPED GRAZER

Level 8 136,000 XP PAINTED PREDATOR

Level 9 200,000 XP PREDASHEEN

Level 10 360,000 XP ALTITUDE SICKNESS

Level 11 200,000 XP CLOUDPIERCER

Level 12 200,000 XP PEACH HORIZON

Weapon Skins

LEGENDARYEPICRARECOMMONLEVELS

• 
  CHARMALURE - 600
• 
  DATA BREACH - 800
• 
  HAVOC ROSÉ - 800
• 
  PRISM BREAK - 800
• 
  TODDLER TANTRUM - 800
• 
  TOYBOX TRIGGER - 950
• 
  VINTAGE VENGEANCE - 800
• 
  VIRTUAL VELOCITY - $9.99 (S3 Starter Pack)

• 
  BROADCAST BLAZE - S6 Heavy Hitters Twitch Drop
• 
  CHERRY BLOOM BOOM - 400
• 
  DISSUN CAPACITOR - S5 DISSUN Challenge Circuit
• 
  DRIPLOAD - 400
• 
  GLACIAL BLUFF - 400
• 
  HUMÖRFUL HAVOC - 400
• 
  HYPERSTRIKE - Hyperstrike Set (PSN+ Bundle)
• 
  KINRANDE WARE - S3 BP Level 5
• 
  LEAF NO TRACE - 400
• 
  LUMINOUS RIOT - 400
• 
  SYNTHETIC RESOLVE - S7 Head2Head Event
• 
  TRADITION KEEPER - 300
• 
  WAVE INTERFERENCE - S2 BP Level 78

• 
  GALAXY GRID - 150
• 
  POLYGON PARAGON - 150

• 
  VIRTUAL EXTENSION - 125

• 
  STANDARD ISSUE
• 
  DYE JOB - Weapon Level 2
• 
  DYE JOB - Weapon Level 3
• 
  DYE JOB - Weapon Level 4
• 
  DYE JOB - Weapon Level 5
• 
  TRIANGLE TWINKLE - Weapon Level 6
• 
  STRIPED GRAZER - Weapon Level 7
• 
  PAINTED PREDATOR - Weapon Level 8
• 
  PREDASHEEN - Weapon Level 9
• 
  ALTITUDE SICKNESS - Weapon Level 10
• 
  CLOUDPIERCER - Weapon Level 11

Trivia

• The KS-23 exists in real life as the KS-23 shotgun, meaning Karabin Spetsialny—Russian for "Special Carbine". It was designed in the 1970s, under the Soviet Union by TsNIITochMash (Tsentral'nyy nauchno-issledovatel'skiy institut tyazhelogo mashinostroyeniya; tr. Central Scientific - Research Institute for Precision Machine Engineering) for the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It was designed with the purpose of suppressing prison riots. It has the capability to fire several different types of ammunition. It is still in service to this day.
  • The 23 in KS-23 refers to its 23mm caliber.
  • See also: List of Gun Origins.
• After version 6.0.0, the weapon's RPM was only 75 instead of the advertised 85. After version 8.6.0, the weapon's RPM decreased to 73 for unknown reasons.

History

Patch	Changes
7.6.0	Converted the KS-23 from a projectile weapon to a hybrid hitscan-projectile weapon KS-23 shots will be hitscan up to 25m, making it more reliable at closer ranges KS-23 shots will be projectiles after 25m, making it less likely to be used to snipe at longer ranges KS-23 projectile velocity reduced from 300m/s to 280m/s
7.3.0	Increased the weapon equip time from 0.2s to 0.3s
7.0.0	Increased environmental damage from 700 to 1000, meaning it takes one less shot to fracture wall segments
6.9.0	Increased accuracy by decreasing bullet dispersion when firing from the hip while crouch moving Increased accuracy by decreasing bullet dispersion when aiming down sights while crouch moving Increased accuracy by decreasing bullet dispersion when firing from the hip while standing still Increased accuracy by decreasing bullet dispersion when aiming down sights while standing still Increased accuracy by decreasing bullet dispersion when firing from the hip while running Increased accuracy by decreasing bullet dispersion when aiming down sights while running
6.0.0	Decreased pump-action duration from 0.82s to 0.7s, allowing the gun to fire faster. This change effectively increases the KS-23’s fire rate from 73RPM to 85RPM
5.9.0	Increased min damage falloff multiplier from 0.6 to 0.7, meaning the weapon now does slightly more damage at long-range Decreased bullet dispersion when aiming down sights to increase accuracy in the majority of different stances (such as crouching, running, etc.)
5.0.0	Reduced reload duration of full tactical reload from 4.6s to 3.85s (roughly 16%) Reduced reload duration of full empty reload from 5.13s to 4.36s (roughly 15%)
3.0.0	Decreased pump-action duration from 0.7s to 0.575s
2.5.0	Bullet dispersion reduced when jumping, sprinting, or zoomed in, to make the weapon more accurate
2.2.0	Increased fire rate from 55 RPM to 73 RPM Decreased player damage from 120 to 100 Increased environmental damage from 600 to 700 Decreased pump-action animation delay from 0.2s to 0s Increased pump-action animation duration from 0.6s to 0.7s Increased damage fall-off start range from 15m to 18m Decreased damage fall-off end range from 50m to 23m Increased the damage fall-off multiplier at max range from 0.4 to 0.6, meaning it does more damage at range Increased the projectile speed from 200m/s to 300m/s, meaning players need to lead targets less now Decreased bullet dispersion when firing from the hip while crouching, standing, and running, making the weapon more accurate and reliable
2.0.0	Introduced KS-23 to the Heavy archetype