The Best MK2 Weapons in GTA: Online

Image: Rockstar North, Rockstar Games via HGG / Koby Gibson Ross

Human Made

My name is Gibson Vasela. I am a freelance writer who has been playing video games for almost 20 years now. I play all kinds of games, but I especially love immersive sims and RPGs.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Hsu

When it comes to weapons in GTA Online, you’re going to want to make sure you’ve got the best of the best. There are a lot of hostile players out there who will mow you down without a second thought, so it pays to be prepared. This is where the MK2 weapons come into play – upgraded variants of some of the most staple firearms in GTA Online.

Unfortunately, not every gun in the game has a MK2 variant. With that in mind, we’ll be going over each of the 12 weapons that does have a MK2 version and ranking them from worst to best.

All MK2 Weapons in GTA Online, Ranked Worst to Best

Before we dive into our ranking, if you want to know how to unlock/upgrade a weapon into its MK2 variant, check out our quick guide here.

First up, we have the SNS Pistol MK2. This is an upgrade over the standard SNS Pistol, but that isn’t really saying much.

Even after being upgraded, the stats on this gun aren’t the best when compared to most other weapons in the game. That being said, if you do plan on using this weapon as it’s meant to be used (shooting people in the head), then the damage and fire rate shouldn’t matter to you that much.

The only real use for the SNS Pistol MK2 is putting a suppressor on it to turn it into a stealth weapon. But even then, you’re probably better off using the AP Pistol instead. Make this your last upgrade out of all the MK2 weapons in GTA Online.

Pistol MK2

The Pistol MK2 is a great side arm to have for a couple specific scenarios, but not much else. It’s a reliable firearm that you can use in drive-bys or whenever you’re in most vehicles.

I recommend that you upgrade this weapon with full metal jacket rounds. This is especially useful if you own the Cocaine Lockup because, during the mission where your business gets raided, there will be a van driving away that you need to stop in order to complete the mission successfully.

You can drive in front of it and use this gun to easily take out the driver. Aside from this specific scenario, I don’t think this gun is very useful. The AP Pistol is generally better for drive-bys, and any silenced weapon will suffice for stealth missions, so there’s no need to put a suppressor on this gun.

Marksman Rifle MK2

The Marksman Rifle MK2 is a really solid rile that has the versatility and mobility of an assault rifle, but the precision and accuracy of a sniper rifle. It’s a semi-automatic weapon that allows you to deal high damage from a safer distance away. It features high accuracy and good range, making it a solid choice if you’re not the type to rush into fights head-first.

However, despite these benefits, I can’t help but feel disappointed with this gun. I was hoping you could put a long-range scope on this gun that allows you to fire it from the same distance as a sniper rifle, but you can’t.

Because of this, there really isn’t that much of a reason why you would get this weapon over any of the assault rifles on this list. As previously mentioned, it does have good stats and is still a solid weapon, but its semi-automatic firing rate just doesn’t make it that great.

SMG MK2

The SMG MK2 is the only MK2 submachine gun in GTA Online, making this weapon a bit of an oddity. It’s a gun that sports decent–but not great–damage, as well as a good fire rate. This gives it a nice DPS that makes it effective to use against most enemies.

The fact that it’s an SMG means that you can move around faster with it than if you were using an assault rifle. One benefit it has over ARs is that you can use this weapon while riding a motorcycle or when on certain boats.

If you use motorcycles a lot, then I recommend you get this gun. If not, then it may be better to skip this one and get an assault rifle or the LMG discussed later instead.

When it comes to magazine upgrade types, I’d recommend the “Extended Clip.” As the name implies, this will increase its ammo capacity before you need to reload, which is great as this thing can go through ammo fairly quickly.

Carbine Rifle MK2

The Carbine Rifle MK2 is the first of several assault rifles we’re going to be discussing on this list. It features great accuracy when being fired at any range. This makes it a good weapon for medium to long encounters.

As there are a decent amount of such encounters in missions, this ends up being a good gun to use for many different situations. While the damage on this weapon is good, it’s not as good as the other MK2 ARs.

Bullpup Rifle MK2

The Bullpup Rifle is a really great AR that prioritizes giving the user great accuracy, range, and control over their rifle. This gun doesn’t have the best DPS out of all the MK2 weapons, but it’s still solid enough to justify using. I recommend that you get this gun with armor-piercing rounds. This will let you do extra damage to armored NPCs and players, shredding their armor.

The one downside of getting armor-piercing rounds is that you will only be able to have 20 bullets per magazine. This isn’t a huge step down from the default magazine, but you will be missing out on the whopping 60 bullets per mag you could be getting with the extended clip.

Special Carbine MK2

Next on our list, we have the Special Carbine MK2. This was a really disappointing gun to upgrade, in my opinion. I find it to actually be a worse variant than the standard Special Carbine. This is mainly due to the fact that the maximum magazine size is drastically reduced, making it a lot less effective in certain scenarios.

Despite that, it’s still a good gun to have and a better MK2 variant than the previous entries. However, I do not recommend that you use one of the alternate ammo types. Instead, it’s best that you get the “Extended Clip” upgrade in order to double its ammo capacity from 30 rounds to 60 rounds. This should help to somewhat negate the magazine-size downgrade I mentioned earlier.

Assault Rifle MK2

The Assault Rifle MK2 is an AR that deals really solid damage to enemies. Its accuracy could be better, but I’d say the increase in damage makes this a great weapon to pick up.

I personally do not recommend that you get any special ammo types for this gun. Instead, you should purchase the “Extended Clip” upgrade to double your magazine size from 30 to 60.

This decent magazine size combined with its strong damage makes it a great primary weapon for most missions and/or encounters. That’s the thing about assault rifles, they are very versatile and thus make great primary weapons.

Combat MG MK2

The first and only LMG on this list – the Combat MG MK2 is a heavy-duty weapon with a solid rate of fire and good damage output. It can also hold a whopping 200 rounds per mag (when upgraded with the “Extended Clip”).

Due to its very large magazine size, this is a really great PvE weapon. You can take on huge hordes of enemies at once with this gun. It’s a great weapon to bring with you into horde modes, missions with lots of enemies, and when you’ve got a high wanted level.

Heavy Revolver MK2

The Heavy Revolver MK2 is a weapon that’s pretty slept on by casual players, but its one that a lot of pros include in their load-out. This gun is one the best MK2 weapons in GTA Online for a good reason.

When upgraded with hollow point rounds, the Heavy Revolver MK2 becomes an absolute BEAST for dealing with unarmored targets. You can instantly kill most NPCs with one shot to the chest, and you can deal massive damage to unarmored players as well.

It can be punishing when you miss with this weapon due to the fact its fire rate is slow and it can only hold six shots before it needs to be reloaded. But if you can get good with this weapon, you’ll become unstoppable in most situations.

Pump Shotgun MK2

The Pump Shotgun MK2 is a really fantastic PvP weapon, one of the best in GTA Online. When you upgrade the regular Pump Shotgun to MK2, put explosive rounds on it. Not only will this deal extra damage, but if you hit the target or a space near them, it’ll knock them over, leaving them unable to retaliate.

The gun is still great for PvE encounters as well, but due to how expensive and limited explosive ammo can get, I recommend you only use this for PvP encounters or when you need to destroy a vehicle. Speaking of which, the explosive rounds are great for quickly blowing up cars, making it a nice alternative to the grenade launcher and other similar explosive weapons.

Heavy Sniper MK2

In first place, we have the Heavy Sniper MK2! If you could only get one MK2 weapon in GTA Online, it would HAVE to be the Heavy Sniper MK2. This is because you can put explosive rounds on this gun, which turns it into an anti-aircraft beast.

With the explosive rounds, this gun becomes the definitive best weapon for dealing with jet griefers. Taking down enemy aircraft becomes so easy, as long as you can hit your target, which isn’t particularly difficult given that it’s a sniper rifle.

In addition to this benefit, the gun is still great for tackling ground targets. Thanks to the explosive rounds, when you shoot an enemy they will be knocked over and unable to retaliate for a moment. This becomes even better when you realize that you don’t even need to land a direct hit. Simply firing at the ground or wall near the target will be enough to ragdoll them! This makes PvP so much easier.

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We hope that you enjoyed our article ranking the best MK2 weapons in GTA Online! What are your thoughts on this list? Do you agree or disagree? Feel free to let us know down in the comments section. And make sure to subscribe to our weekly newsletter for more regular GTA Online content.

Happy gaming!