Perk 3

Gung-ho

Shoot, use equipment and scorestreaks while sprinting.

A perk made for aggressive play with SMGs and shotguns, Gung-Ho lets you shoot from the hip while sprinting, or toss grenades while on the move.

Being able to use scorestreaks while sprinting is a minor but handy bonus (using UAVs while in enemy territory and keeping your speed up can be helpful, occasionally).

The grenade usage while you’re on the move is also useful in some objective modes, especially on a class with a full load of grenades and the Resupply trait. The ability to bombard an objective area before you reach it while moving towards it at speed is helpful.

Pin Point

Outline enemies when dealing or taking weapon damage.

An unusual informational trait, Pin Point gives you the ability to see enemies that are tagged through walls, highlighting their bodies with a bright outline.

Because Pin Point triggers either when you hit, or are hit, by bullets, you can use Pin Point both to accurately track enemies who duck behind cover, and occasionally to retaliate against an enemy you have not yet spotted.

If you are hit from the flank or rear and manage to get in cover, Pin Point can occasionally help you identify the location of the shooter, possibly giving you a chance to retaliate.

Pin Point pairs quite well with a weapon using FMJ-enhanced bullets because if you tag an enemy near cover, you can finish them off through the cover.

Hardwired

Immune to EMP effects, blocks equipment or abilities that outline you for enemies.

Hardwired is a useful defensive perk that protects against the Eye Spy Rig trait, the Pin Point perk, and removes the outline when you are targeted with a Trojan Scope or Tracking Chip Sniper Rifle.

Hardwired also prevents your minimap from being fuzzed out by the Jammer Grenade, though this is cold comfort when you’re still stunned by said grenade.

Hardwired is useful both for aggressive play and at medium or longer range, where it can prevent Pin Point and advanced scopes from giving the enemy any advantage over you.

Marksman

Acquire enemy names from a greater distance. Reduced flinch that primarily affects sniper rifles but gives a very minor benefit to other weapons.

Marksman does what it says quite well, giving you a small edge in medium- to long-range combat, and aiding sniper rifle usage.

Marksman helps pick out players at a distance, so it is most useful on a long-ranged setup with an AR, LMG, or sniper rifle.

At shorter distances, the benefit is wasted, and without a sniper, the flinch reduction is minimal.

The flinch reduction for snipers can help to win firefights at long range, and it can occasionally help you at shorter ranges when you’re lining up a snapshot.

The flinch reduction is particularly notable if you take the DMR-M1 because this gives you an edge with a medium-range gun that ARs can’t match easily.

Engineer

Detect enemy equipment and scorestreaks through walls and delay activation of enemy mines.

A very useful informational perk, Engineer is helpful both to clear the area around objectives of enemy equipment, and as a tool to locate enemies placing said equipment.

Because you can spot equipment through walls the instant it is deployed, it’s possible to figure out where an enemy is when they deploy equipment.

You can use Engineer alongside a weapon with FMJ rounds to destroy equipment through cover, against streaks with a launcher to find and eliminate them more quickly, or on its own, simply to warn and protect you against enemy equipment.

Keep a class with Blind Eye, Smoke or Jammer Grenades, an FMJ-equipped LMG, and a launcher around. You don’t need such a class at all times, but if the enemy team calls in some nasty streaks or has an area secured with equipment, you can bust their gear easily.

Dead Silence

Footsteps and jump packs are silenced.

A powerful stealth perk for aggressive play, Dead Silence is helpful, both for silencing your own footsteps to enemy players and for quieting your own movement to you so you can hear nearby enemies more easily.

Dead Silence works best paired with a good audio setup and against players with similarly good setups.

While you can’t always guarantee the enemies you’re playing against will use sound to detect your position, the chance that they can do so justifies taking Dead Silence, and that’s ignoring the side benefit of helping you hear other players more easily, as well.

Because Dead Silence also suppresses thruster sounds, it is also very useful if you’re an aggressive thruster user, because it removes one more audio cue with which your enemies can locate you.