RE4 Remake Best SMG: TMP vs LE 5 vs Chicago Sweeper

Game8 names the LE 5 the best submachine gun in the Resident Evil 4 remake, and on the upgrade chart it has a point: the LE 5 out-hits the TMP at every one of its five levels, 0.80 to 0.50 out of the box and 1.20 to 1.10 fully upgraded. What a level-by-level read leaves out is the exclusive upgrade. The TMP's multiplies its power by 1.5, which on the listed numbers takes a maxed TMP to 1.65. The LE 5's makes its shots penetrate five targets and leaves its power where it was.

Then there is the third one. The Chicago Sweeper starts with the lowest base power on Game8's list of every gun in the game, 0.40, and its exclusive upgrade makes its ammunition infinite for 10,000 pesetas.

So here are all three on the axes that actually decide it: when you can get each one, how it scales, what it costs to finish, how much case it eats, and what a magazine costs to craft.

Three SMGs, one ammo box

The three arrive at very different points in a sixteen-chapter game:

• TMP — 10,000 pesetas from the Merchant from Chapter 3, per both the Resident Evil Wiki and Game8.
• LE 5 — free in Chapter 13, behind a power console in the island Freezer. Miss it and Game8 has the Merchant selling it from Chapter 14 for 35,000.
• Chicago Sweeper — a bonus weapon. Clear the main story on Professional with an A rank, then buy it for 1,000 CP in the Extra Content Shop.

All three fire the same Submachine Gun Ammo, per the wiki's ammo page. It is crafted from one Resources (L) plus 6 gunpowder for 30 rounds, which the crafting guide prices at 0.20 gunpowder per round, the lowest figure in its per-round table. (Game8's crafting table lists 40 rounds per SMG craft and 9 per rifle craft, against the wiki's 30 and 7. Run on Game8's figures, the ammo comparisons further down come out in the same order.)

As with the rifles, a second SMG does not bring a second supply. It splits the one you have.

Every SMG, stat for stat

Level 1 is the gun as you receive it; level 5 is fully upgraded. The values are identical on the Resident Evil Wiki's upgrade charts and Game8's weapon pages.

Four things fall out of that table:

• Rate of fire is 2.50 on all three, and none of them can upgrade it. That is why each chart has three tracks instead of four. The wiki's LE 5 prose says it fires slower than the TMP; its own chart and Game8's stat block both list 2.50.
• Precision is where the LE 5 pulls away: 4.50 against the TMP's 2.00, more than double. Game8 calls the TMP's accuracy very low and suited to close range, and rates the LE 5 for mid-range fights.
• Reload runs the other way. A higher number is a faster reload, and the LE 5 starts at 0.65 — the wiki calls it a "lengthy initial reload time" — and finishes at 1.05, about where the TMP starts.
• The case bill is steep past the TMP. At 6 slots the TMP takes the same room as the starting SG-09 R. The LE 5 is twice that, and the Chicago Sweeper takes 21.

Level for level, the LE 5 hits harder

Here is the Power column level by level, with one extra row for what each exclusive does to a maxed gun:

Without exclusives the LE 5 leads the TMP at every level, and the Chicago Sweeper passes the LE 5 from level 3. With them, the TMP is the harder-hitting of the two campaign SMGs by 0.45.

Game8's SMG pages add a timing rule that matters for the TMP in particular: levels 4 and 5, and exclusive upgrades, only open in Chapter 9. A TMP bought in Chapter 3 therefore spends six chapters capped at level 3 — 0.80 power, exactly a level-1 LE 5. The LE 5 turns up in Chapter 13, after that gate, so every level is open the moment you pick it up.

What maxing each SMG costs

Every track is four paid steps. The wiki's chart prints a fifth figure on each row, and it is the track total rather than a fifth purchase — Game8 labels the four prices LV2 to LV5, and the totals only add up that way.

A TMP you bought and an LE 5 you found cost exactly the same to finish, 353,000 pesetas. They just spend it differently: the TMP puts 32,000 less into its power track and 20,000 more into its exclusive.

The Chicago Sweeper is in its own bracket. Its power track alone is 500,000, in steps of 50,000, 100,000, 150,000 and 200,000. The wiki calls it the most expensive weapon in the game to fully upgrade, and its 660,000 in upgrades is well clear of the Handcannon's 540,000 and the Killer7's 505,700 on the same charts. The wiki's infobox also lists a 50,000-peseta buy price, but both it and Game8 describe collecting the unlocked weapon from typewriter storage, so check there before you go shopping.

The TMP exclusive is the one that adds power

The Exclusive Upgrade Ticket changes the arithmetic here the way it does for knives and rifles. The Merchant trades one for 30 or 40 spinel, and its item text says it grants a weapon's exclusive upgrade "regardless of the weapon's level" — you still pay the peseta price on top. Whether a ticket also gets around Game8's Chapter 9 gate is not something either source spells out.

Run the TMP's numbers:

• On a level-1 TMP, the exclusive lands at 0.75 — still under a level-1 LE 5. This is the case the weapon upgrade guide makes for skipping it on a first run, and for a lightly upgraded TMP it holds.
• At level 3 power (29,000 in steps) the exclusive takes it to 1.20, the LE 5's ceiling. The LE 5 charges 155,000 in power steps to reach the same number.
• At level 5 it is 1.65, and the LE 5 has no way to follow.

The LE 5's exclusive is a different kind of perk: it makes shots punch through five targets, the same exclusive the Punisher carries. Its value scales with how often enemies line up for you. Game8 rates the LE 5 for crowds on the island, and the wiki notes that with the Biosensor Scope its penetration makes it a quick answer to Regeneradores.

The honest limit on the TMP case is the price tag. 100,000 pesetas buys the SR M1903's exclusive too, and that one doubles a maxed rifle from 5.30 to 10.60 — which is why the best rifle guide says a ticket headed for a rifle should go there. The TMP's exclusive is for the run where the TMP, not a rifle, is doing your heavy lifting.

The TMP Stock costs spinel, not pesetas

The TMP has one attachment, and it is a spinel trade: 8 spinel, per the wiki and Game8, on the Merchant's list from Chapter 4 according to Game8's trade table. Its item text says it reduces recoil and improves accuracy, and the wiki describes the unstocked TMP as fired from the hip, with the stock moving it to the shoulder. Neither source puts a number on the accuracy gain.

Game8's spinel priority list files the TMP Stock under "Highly Recommended", alongside the Red9 stock and the High-power Scope and below the ticket. At 8 spinel it is a little over a quarter of a first ticket. If the TMP is your SMG, buy it; if you are waiting for the LE 5, those 8 spinel go further toward a ticket. The Merchant requests guide covers where the spinel comes from.

Getting the LE 5 out of the Freezer

PowerPyx's Chapter 13 walkthrough lays out the route. Use the Power Control lever to reroute power to the left side of the facility, go left to the Freezer and open it with the Level 1 Keycard, then solve the power console on your immediate right. It opens a door, and the LE 5 is inside. The console's layout is different on Hardcore and Professional — the puzzle solutions guide covers why a remembered Standard answer will not work there. If your case is full, PowerPyx's advice is to send the LE 5 to storage so it still counts as collected.

Miss it and Game8 has the Merchant selling it from Chapter 14 for 35,000, matching the wiki's infobox. The wiki's own location text gives 26,000 instead, so check the price on his table rather than budgeting for either.

It is also the only one of the three that takes a scope. Game8 lists the Scope (4,000 pesetas), the High-power Scope (7 spinel) and the Biosensor Scope, found behind the Level 2 Security Keycard in the Chapter 13 Incubation Lab. The TMP's only attachment is its stock, and Game8 lists none for the Chicago Sweeper. The best rifle guide compares the three scopes.

A ticket skips 650,000 pesetas on the Chicago Sweeper

The unlock is the Leon "A." Kennedy challenge: clear the main story on Professional with an A rank, which pays 2,500 CP and puts the Chicago Sweeper in the Extra Content Shop for 1,000 CP. Game8 puts the A-rank limit at 7 hours and says New Game Plus is allowed for it, unlike the S+ runs. The challenges guide has the rank table and the New Game Plus guide covers the run.

Its exclusive upgrade — "Ammunition never runs out," per the wiki's chart — costs 10,000 pesetas. Without a ticket, Game8's bonus weapons page says you get it by buying every upgrade first, and every upgrade here is 650,000 pesetas of power, capacity and reload steps. A ticket skips all of it. For scale, the best knife guide works out that a ticket on the Primal Knife skips 250,000.

The catch is the starting stat line. A ticketed level-1 Chicago Sweeper never runs dry, but it fires at 0.40 power, below a level-1 TMP. Its first two power steps cost 150,000 and take it to 1.20, the maxed LE 5's number. So a ticket plus 160,000 pesetas buys a bottomless SMG with the same power stat as a fully upgraded LE 5 — at the price of 21 case slots.

Cheap in gunpowder, hungry for Resources (L)

Per round, SMG ammo is cheap in both materials. Per point of power it delivers, it is cheap in gunpowder but comparatively hungry for Resources (L), and that split decides how an SMG compares with a rifle. Here is the arithmetic on the listed stats, maxed and with each exclusive, using the wiki's recipes: SMG ammo at 30 rounds for one Resources (L) plus 6 gunpowder, rifle ammo at 7 rounds for one Resources (L) plus 10.

Per unit of gunpowder, a maxed TMP carries a little more power than the rifle the best rifle guide recommends. Per Resources (L), the rifle carries about half as much again. So an SMG is the right partner for a run that is short on gunpowder and long on Resources (L), not the other way round.

This is arithmetic on the game's upgrade stat, not a damage test, and it leaves out two things: Game8 notes that rifles deal triple power against weak points, which favours the rifle, and the LE 5's penetration, which favours the LE 5. Refilling a maxed TMP from empty is 70 rounds, 14 gunpowder and two and a third crafts; a maxed LE 5 is 60 rounds, 12 gunpowder and two crafts.

Two ways to tilt it. The Black attaché case raises the Resources (L) drop rate — the attaché case guide covers the cost. And two Common charms from the token machine raise the SMG craft bonus frequency: Don Manuel by 15% and Zealot w/ scythe by 20%. The charms guide explains how the machine decides what you get.

SMGs outside Leon's campaign

In The Mercenaries, four of the eight characters start with an SMG, per the wiki's loadout tables:

HUNK's 160 rounds and his no-reload Mayhem Mode are why the Mercenaries guide puts him at the top of its scoring-speed ranking.

In Separate Ways, Ada starts with the TMP, and Game8 has its stock on sale from her Chapter 2. The wiki notes the TMP's rate of fire is 2.7 there rather than 2.50. The LE 5 is not in her campaign — the wiki lists it for the main game and The Mercenaries only, and Game8's Separate Ways weapon list does not include it. Her own drum-fed gun, the Chicago Sweeper (Vertical Foregrip), unlocks from an A-rank Professional clear of Separate Ways for 1,000 CP; the Separate Ways guide has the rest of her arsenal.

Two more places the SMGs show up. The shooting range hands you the TMP on courses 2-A, 2-C and 4-C, with unlimited ammo. It is not a try-before-you-buy, though: PowerPyx's Chapter 9 walkthrough puts courses 2-A to 2-C at the Chapter 9 range, six chapters after the Merchant starts selling the TMP. The shooting range guide has the score lines. And the Trigger Happy challenge pays 300 CP for defeating 10 enemies with a submachine gun.

Which SMG to carry

One. They share an ammo type, and the TMP and LE 5 together are 18 slots for the same box of rounds.

• First playthrough: the TMP, with its stock. It is in the case from Chapter 3, which is fourteen chapters of use against the LE 5's four, it costs 10,000, and it takes 6 slots. If you put money into it, its exclusive makes it the harder-hitting of the two, for the same 353,000 total a found LE 5 costs.
• Pick up the LE 5 in Chapter 13 regardless. It is free. If you have not invested in the TMP, switch: 4.50 precision against 2.00, a scope rail, and a penetration perk. This is Game8's pick, and on a run where you never bought a TMP it is the right one.
• Postgame: the Chicago Sweeper, with a ticket. 10,000 pesetas and 30 or 40 spinel for an SMG that never runs out, then 150,000 more to bring it up to LE 5 power. Budget 21 slots for it.

For the rest of the arsenal, the best rifle and best knife guides run the same comparison for their classes.

Quick Action Checklist

• Buy the TMP in Chapter 3 for 10,000 and its stock for 8 spinel from Chapter 4 if the SMG is going to be your crowd gun.
• Carry one SMG. The TMP, LE 5 and Chicago Sweeper all use Submachine Gun Ammo.
• Level for level the LE 5 out-hits the TMP (1.20 against 1.10 at max), but the TMP's exclusive takes it to 1.65. The LE 5's exclusive adds penetration, not power.
• TMP levels 4-5 and exclusives open in Chapter 9; before that it caps at level 3.
• Grab the LE 5 free in the Chapter 13 Freezer: reroute power left, open the Freezer with the Level 1 Keycard, solve the console on your right. Missed it? The Merchant has it from Chapter 14.
• The LE 5 is the only SMG of the three that mounts a scope, including the Biosensor Scope.
• Unlock the Chicago Sweeper with a Professional A-rank clear, then 1,000 CP. Put a ticket on it: the exclusive is 10,000 pesetas and skips 650,000 in upgrades.
• SMG ammo is 0.20 gunpowder per round but one Resources (L) per 30 rounds. The Black case helps, and a rifle draws on the same Resources (L).