Swapping weapons is actually a really good argument, because it's faster than reloading. If we assume a 300 Eirene RR4 and Sleeper Simulant vs just a 300 Spindle, and make some assumptions about rate of fire and reload speed... We can select any number for the damage we want because changing the base numbers won't affect the relationship between the strategies, just how big the difference is. Assumptions: All weapons deal crit damage only Reload speed of Eirene RR4 ~1.5 seconds Reload speed of Sleeper Simulant ~2 seconds Reload speed of Black Spindle ~2 seconds Sniper damage on crit 150 Sleeper damage on crit 300 Sniper fire rate 1 per second Sleeper fire rate 1.5 seconds Animation canceling reduces reload time by .2 seconds Black Spindle only for 15 seconds: [spoiler]150 damage per second for 15 seconds = 2250 damage[/spoiler] Eirene RR4 only for 15 seconds: [spoiler]150 dps for 4 seconds, reload 1.5 seconds x3 (time ends during 3rd reload) = 1800 damage[/spoiler] Sleeper Simulant only for 15 seconds: [spoiler]200 dps for 4.5 seconds, reload 2 seconds x2, +300 damage (time ends and out of ammo) = 2100 damage[/spoiler] Sleeper Simulant + Eirene RR4: [spoiler]200 dps for 4.5 seconds + (150 dps for 4 seconds, reload 1.5 seconds) x2 (time ends during seconds reload) = 900+1200 = 2100 damage[/spoiler] Sleeper / Eirene RR4 with reload canceling: [spoiler]200 dps for 4.5 seconds, reload 1.8 seconds, 150 dps for 4 seconds, reload 1.3 seconds, 200 dps for 3 seconds (time ends .1 seconds before sixth Sleeper shot) = 1500+600 = 2100 Of course, it does 2400 if you can get that extra tenth of a second.[/spoiler] TL;DR (or rather, in summary): If you accept my assumptions, greatest sustained damage per second is Sleeper + Eirene RR4 if you cancel reload animations and have 15.1 seconds instead of 15 exactly. I haven't timed animation canceling myself so I estimated. If it is faster than .2 seconds better at least one way (probably on the Sniper if someone wants to test), then it is definitively better damage than Spindle alone and can sustain fire for longer (Spindle is out of ammo after 15 seconds, Sleeper has 1 shot left and Eirene has 11 remaining at 15 carry capacity). It will greatly surpass Spindle only damage if you miss even a single shot on Spindle (ally walks in front of you, someone drops the aura, enemy jumps in front of you, you suck at sniping, etc). In addition, non-crits from Spindle deal a much larger proportion of damage because of the lower crit multiplier. Perhaps later I will do a full sustained damage count by comparing damage of each weapon on Ultras at as close to 300 attack as I can get, then assuming 30 seconds of LMG + Spindle vs Sleeper + Eirene RR4. The real TL;DR: Swapping between Eirene RR4 and Sleeper Simulant deals more damage and sustains fire for longer if you ever miss a shot on Spindle.