KS-23

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	78
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

Body Part	Light (150 HP)		Medium (250 HP)		Heavy (350 HP)
Body Part	Shells to kill	Time to kill (s)	Shells to kill	Time to kill (s)	Shells to kill	Time to kill (s)
Body	2	0.769	3	1.538	4	2.308

Values are approximate and determined by community testing (10.6.0).

Segmented Reload

Reload time can be expressed as $1 + 0.75 x$ , where $x = missing ammo - 1$ if $x \leq 5$ .

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

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, giving the user a way to destroy the enviroment without having to rely on charges of explosive Gadgets like the C4 and RPG-7 or Charge 'N' Slam.
Dealing up to a 100 damage per shot (as this weapon has no headshot multiplier) makes the KS-23 great at dealing high, single-shot burst damage while not being reliant on hitting heads.
Because of it's single-shot nature, if the user is able to predict their target's movements, the KS-23 can deal significant poke damage at long ranges compared to other heavy class weapons.
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 significant downtime between firing.
Due to the this downtime between firing and having no way to increase the damage per shot, the KS-23 has a slightly longer time-to-kill compared to other weapons of the class.
- In a direct fight against most automatic or semi-automatic weaponry with headshot multipliers, the KS-23 user will be noticeably disadvantaged if the enemy hits their shots.
The time-to-kill combined with the KS-23's small magazine size makes missing a shot very punishing.

Tactics

The KS-23's hip-fire and ADS accuracy, unlike how other shotguns like the SA1216 or Model 1887 function, is not the same. The user should zoom before firing, significantly decreasing bullet dispersion.
- While hip-firing is still applicable in close quarters, with the KS23's high time-to-kill, the user should try to minimize the chance of missing if possible.
Due to the long downtime between firing, it is important for the KS-23 user to utilise cover through the enviroment or Gadgets in order to hide between shots and mitigate damage taken while the KS-23 cycles its next shot.
- The Barricade and Dome Shield are great Gadgets to pair with the KS-23 to have very quick and durable cover available.
- The Goo Gun can quickly create a piller of two to three Goo blobs for similar effect, although less durable and less wide in size.
- The Goo Grenade creates big walls and is also useful for mobility around the map, but switching to and deploying it takes a decent amount of time and the wall that spawns might not form in a way the user wanted it to.
A concrete wall takes three shots to breach. You can fire two, reload, then fire the last shot to engage a potential fight with 5/6 shots in your magazine.
Walls and floors can be prematurely shot with the KS-23 to make them easily breakable later on. This can, for example, be utilized to shoot the ground near the Cashout Station during defense preparation, to later quickly drop it by shooting the floor when necessary, potentially stalling a steal and also preserve charges of explosive Gadgets if the user has any.
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 can only be cancelled with a Quick Melee attack until at least one shell has been loaded, after that you can fire at any point, instantly cancelling the animation.
- In a desperate situation, it can be worth to only reload a single shot and then shoot the enemy through hip-fire.
Dealing a clean 100 damage within effective range, pairing up the KS-23 with Gadgets, Specializations and attacks with similar damage values in order to combo off them and achieve certain breakpoints can be very useful.
- A Quick Melee attack in close range right after a KS-23 hit, dealing 40 damage, can make the difference between winning a fight and losing it or the enemy getting away. The KS-23 still needs to cycle its shots however, so the user needs to be aware that they will be stuck in the cycling animation before being able to shoot again. Not being reliant on Gadgets or Specializations makes this the most applicable attack to combo with.
- The RPG-7, Explosive Mine, C4 as well as Explosive Canisters can all shave off one shot of the KS-23 time-to-kill.
- The Charge 'N' Slam deals 100 damage on the initial and 40 damage on subsequent hits. While it has great combo potential, the user has to be mindful with where they end up after the charge, as they may land in a direct fight with no cover and subsequently be in a disadvantaged position. To help with this, the user should be observant of cover in the vicinity to run to after the charge. They can also cancel the charge at any time if they think they have dealt enough damage to safely follow up with the KS-23. Additionally, if they have it equipped, placing a Barricade right at the end of a charge helps with regaining cover quickly.
- Throwing Arena Carriables deals at least 55 damage to other contestants, which is enough damage for the KS-23 to require a shot less against any given class depending on their health, saving ammunition. While a niche tactic, this can prove particularly useful when being caught off-guard while carrying the Vault, throwing it at the enemy and following up with the KS-23 instead of simply dropping it first.

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.

Source	XP Reward
XP Breakdown
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

150,000 XP

ALTITUDE SICKNESS

Level 11

200,000 XP

CLOUDPIERCER

Level 12

200,000 XP

PEACH HORIZON

Level 13

200,000 XP

TWILIGHT RIPTIDE

Level 14

200,000

MOLTEN CURRENT

Cosmetics

Notice

These sections only display cosmetics in the new cosmetics database. Contributions are welcome!

Skins

Animations

Name	Rarity	Source	Description
PRAIRIE TWIRL	EPIC	250	For contestants with precision and panache.

Name	Rarity	Source	Description
CARTRIDGE JOLT	RARE	125	When every shot counts you make sure cartridge does too.

Name	Rarity	Source	Description
HOT LEAD RELOAD	EPIC	250	Heavy shots, heavier fame. Reload and repeat.

Name	Rarity	Source	Description
FLICKSHOT RELOAD	EPIC	250	A quick flick and you're back in the game.

Name	Rarity	Source	Description
JUGGLE JAM	EPIC	250	Perfect timing. Perfect catch. Perfect aim?

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. Patch 10.6.0 effectively increases the RPM of the KS-23 to 78.

History

Patch	Changes
10.6.0	Disabled trigger-hold delay on the pump action, reducing the chance of shots being delayed by misclicks
9.0.0	Decreased bullet dispersion across all stances when aiming down sights (ADS) by approximately 30%, making the weapon more precise
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