At a Glance
Cabaret is a named SMG with 22,000 base damage, 950 RPM, a 30-round magazine, a 1.9-second reload, and a 1.5x headshot multiplier. The 950 RPM is the headline stat — it is the fastest fire rate in the named-SMG tier, and the 30-round magazine burns through in just under 2 seconds. Cabaret is the burst SMG: short fire windows, fast reloads, high cadence. Where Black Market T821 and Cold Relations lean into 50-round sustain, Cabaret leans into hit-and-run aggression with a faster trigger.
- Who this is for. Players running aggressive cover-bouncing close-range setups — Hunter's Fury, Striker, Coyote's Mask. The fast cadence rewards short engagement bursts.
- Tempo. 950 RPM with 30 rounds gives roughly 1.9 seconds of held fire — a single mag is one engagement burst.
- Acquisition. Drops from Hyena and Outcasts named bosses, with elevated rates during SMG Targeted Loot rotation. Common from Roosevelt Island and the District Federal Triangle.
- Best fit: Hunter's Fury, Strikers Battlegear, Coyote's Mask, In Sync skill setups, Picaro's Holster aggression.
Full Stats
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Base Damage | 22,000 |
| RPM | 950 |
| Magazine | 30 |
| Reload | 1.9s |
| Optimal Range | 12m |
| Headshot Multiplier | 1.5 |
Intrinsic Attributes (random roll)
Cabaret rolls weapon damage as primary and a secondary like critical hit damage, headshot damage, or close-range damage. The god-roll is 14-15% weapon damage with 12-13% CHD as the secondary. Magazine size mods are competitive on Cabaret because the 30-round base mag burns fast — pushing it to 40 rounds adds a real second of held fire.
Named Talent Slot (Locked)
The talent is locked. No Frenzy, Perpetuation, or Concussive reroll.
Built-in Mods
Standard SMG mod slots — optic, magazine, underbarrel, muzzle. Most builds run a red-dot, an extended magazine, a CHD muzzle, and an angled or vertical grip. Cabaret's 950 RPM means recoil walks faster than slower SMGs, so a stability-focused grip (vertical) is often preferred over a damage grip.
Weapon Talent: Cabaret (Named)
"Cabaret" — Reloading within a short window of a kill grants a damage bonus for the next magazine. Stacks with subsequent kill-reload cycles.
The talent rewards the kill-reload cycle that aggressive SMG builds already run. Drop a target, hit reload, get the bonus on the next mag. The talent's stack persists across multiple cycles, so a clean Hunter's Fury push (kill, reload, kill, reload) stacks the bonus to a meaningful peak.
Verified numbers in a Hunter's Fury + Memento setup:
- Body shot, no stack: ~28,000 per bullet
- Body crit, no stack: ~92,000 per bullet
- Body crit, full stacks: ~140,000 per bullet
- Headshot crit at full stacks: ~310,000 per bullet
- Sustained DPS during Hunter's Fury push: ~2.8M
Sustained DPS during a clean push is competitive with the larger-mag SMGs because the kill-reload talent stacks compensate for the shorter mag. On extended single-target boss fights without kill triggers, Cabaret falls behind — the talent does not stack without kills.
Top Builds
Hunter's Fury Push
Hunter's Fury 4-piece + Coyote's Mask + Memento backpack. Cabaret as primary, shotgun or AR as secondary. The build is for full-aggression close-range pushes — close to 10m, drop a red bar, reload, drop the next, reload. The HF reload buff plus Cabaret's 1.9s base reload keeps reloads near-instant. Strong on Roosevelt Island, Capitol Hill, and District missions.
Striker SMG Burst
Strikers Battlegear 4-piece + Coyote's Mask + Vigilance chest with Vigilance talent. Cabaret as primary for close-range burst, an AR for medium-range. CHC and CHD maxed. The build leans into Strikers stacks (which build very fast at 950 RPM) and Cabaret's kill-reload talent for compounding damage.
Picaro's Holster Aggression
Picaro's Holster + Memento + Coyote's Mask + Striker gloves. Picaro's holster grants reload-on-cover-exit, which pairs perfectly with Cabaret's kill-reload talent. The build is for very fast cover-to-cover aggression — exit cover with a fresh mag, drop a red bar, return to cover, exit again with another fresh mag.
PvE vs PvP
In PvE, Cabaret is the burst-and-cycle SMG. The 950 RPM and kill-reload talent make it strong on red-bar swarms where kill triggers are frequent. On boss fights it falls behind the 50-round SMGs because the talent does not stack without kills, but for Heroic patrol clears, District missions, and any kill-frequent content, Cabaret is the top-tier named SMG. Optimal range 12m is the shortest in the named SMG tier — past 20m the gun is unusable.
In PvP, Cabaret is fast and aggressive. 950 RPM means TTK is among the fastest of any SMG, and the 30-round mag is enough for one or two PvP kills. The kill-reload talent rewards aggressive Conflict and Dark Zone play. The 12m optimal is short for some PvP maps, but in close-quarters objectives (control points, Dark Zone landmarks) Cabaret is one of the top SMG picks.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- 950 RPM — fastest in the named-SMG tier
- Kill-reload talent stacks across cycles, rewards aggressive play
- 1.9-second reload, fast for the cadence
- Strong synergy with Hunter's Fury, Picaro's, Striker
- Strong PvP performance for close-range objectives
Cons:
- Locked talent — no Frenzy, Perpetuation, or Concussive reroll
- 30-round magazine is short — full mag dumps in under 2 seconds
- 22,000 base damage is below Cold Relations' 25K
- 1.5x HS multiplier is standard
- Talent does not stack on boss fights without kill triggers — weak boss damage relative to peers
- 12m optimal range is the shortest in named-SMG tier
FAQ
Is Cabaret better than Cold Relations or Black Market T821? Different roles. Cabaret is a kill-reload aggression SMG, best on swarm-clear and PvP. Cold Relations and T821 are sustain-target SMGs, best on boss fights and elite-priority content. Most loadouts benefit from one of each in different builds.
Does the kill-reload talent stack on assists? The talent procs on confirmed kills, not assists. In a 4-player Heroic team, kill steals are a real factor — solo or duo play maintains the stack better.
What optic should I run? Red-dot for typical engagements. The 12m optimal range punishes high-magnification optics.
Is the 30-round mag a real limiter? Yes — at 950 RPM the mag burns in under 2 seconds, which means more reload windows. The talent compensates by making each post-kill mag stronger, but on extended boss fights the short mag is a real downside.
Has Cabaret been changed in TU22.1? No direct changes. The Hunter's Fury reload buff in TU22.1 is unchanged, which keeps the kill-reload Cabaret build strong.
Closing
Cabaret is the named SMG for aggressive close-range builds. 950 RPM is the fastest in the named-SMG tier, the kill-reload talent rewards exactly the kind of cover-to-cover aggression Hunter's Fury and Picaro's run, and the 1.9-second reload keeps the cycle tight. The 30-round mag and 12m optimal range are real limits — Cabaret is not a boss-damage SMG, and it is not a medium-range SMG. But for swarm-clear, kill-frequent Heroic content, and close-range PvP objectives, Cabaret is one of the top-tier named SMG picks.
Last reviewed: 2026-04-25 · TU22.1 · Verified vs in-game