Zenith CA-40

The Zenith CA-40 is a weapon in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. The Zenith CA-40 is a derivative of the Zenith pistol that appeared in Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

Overview
The Zenith CA-40 is a highly convenient weapon due to its small inventory size, readily available ammunition, and high degree of versatility. The weapon's ability to accept a silencer, fire EMP rounds, and fire in an alternate firing mode (when upgraded). permits the weapon to be useful under a variety of circumstances. The Zenith CA-40 features a modern design with orange iron sights.

The standard edition of this weapon is extremely common; every armed person in the game possesses an unlimited supply of CA-40s. This can be readily observed by knocking out any armed person. Once he or she is revived by a friend, a fresh CA-40 will be pulled out.

Elite edition 10mm pistol
The Elite edition pistol is included as part of the Intruder Gear DLC, available as a free download.
 * The Elite edition deals more damage to hard targets (robots, cars, armored components, cameras, doors, destructibles) than its regular counterpart, despite the in-game damage stat showing no difference from that of the regular counterpart. It takes only a single bullet from the silenced Elite pistol to destroy a camera.
 * Maximum range is 40 meters, slightly more than the 35 meter maximum range of the regular version.
 * Instead of an unlockable full-automatic fire mode, the Elite edition features an unlockable 3-round-burst fire mode; since the bursts have greater 'rounds per second' then the full-automatic on the standard edition, they can be 'pulsed' for increased fire downrange.
 * The elite version reloads significantly slower than the stock Zenith 10mm pistol and has a smaller magazine, even when fully upgraded. Dry reloads may require a tactical retreat from battle or switching to an alternate weapon.

Gameplay
For both the standard and Elite editions of this weapon, the variety of upgrade options means that a fully, or almost fully, upgraded pistol can easily be your main weapon. The damage subtraction when a silencer is attached is only 5, which, at least on paper, is a small loss of damage as compared to the damage penalty on other weapons when a silencer is attached. In semi-automatic firing, both variants have great handling, which is a hallmark of pistols in the Deus Ex series.

Even without upgrades, this weapon kills fleshy, unarmored characters very quickly. Two leg shots are enough to put down armed NPCs of low durability, such as Mikael's bodyguards. Tars' bodyguards (some of the weakest characters in the game), die to a single bodyshot, while Dvali gangsters usually take 2 shots to the chest, sometimes 3. Since just a few shots will dispose of low-durability enemies, aiming for the head is not necessary, unless they are hiding behind cover. Police in light tactical gear can withstand 3 or 4 shots to the groin or stomach, or 2 shots to the less protected parts on their back. The Zenith CA-40 is, however, far less capable against opponents that are considered "armored" (as indicated by the vest icon in Jensen's smart vision). Against augmented or armored police, about 12 body shots at pointblank, or 15 shots at about 25 meters, are needed. Sentry bots, EXO-suits, and turrets require a great deal of ammunition to take down.

Like most weapon in the game, the pistol supports a laser sight, which is helpful when using the automatic fire mode. However, due to the pistol's great handling, the laser sight is not necessary if the weapon is primarily used for precisely aimed semi-auto shots.

The silencer, as previously mentioned, doesn't significantly lower damage while adding a potentially useful function. However, unlocking the automatic fire mode, even without a laser sight, sets the pistol to a 25% bloom pattern, regardless of bonuses, and drawbacks. The only way to improve it is by adding a lasersight. Note, however, the low maximum range of 35 meters (on the standard edition of the weapon). This short range limits the usefulness of the silencer, since avoiding detection is, in general, more difficult at shorter ranges than at longer ranges.

Standard Zenith CA-40
The distinguishing feature of the Standard Edition, as compared to the Elite Edition, is the automatic fire mode. Once unlocked, automatic fire works well as the primary fire mode. In full auto, the weapon pulls to the left, and goes through a whole 38-round magazine quickly, in about a second and a half, although 10mm ammo is common.

While the automatic fire mode is not as controllable as the machine pistol, it is possible to do two taps to destroy cameras, triple taps to kill helmeted opponents, and repeated bursts of roughly 12 rounds against harder targets. The dry reload on the pistol is lengthy, so it is preferable to reload before the magazine is completely empty. Automatic fire mode benefits from cybernetic weapon handling, which permits reloads in less than half a second, with no perceived recoil if you're crouched and iron sighted, along with great accuracy on the move, and minimal bloom when firing. However, getting a pistol like this is very expensive in crafting material.

As a further bonus, automatic fire is one of few things in the game that causes terror among your enemies, which can easily be seen if you unload on the Jinn during the black market buy mission, or the Dvali guarding Koller's bookshop.

The unlimited supply of pistols for armed NPCs can be exploited with a bit of management to farm for pistol ammunition and/or dismantling fodder if the player has the Micro-Assembler augmentation. Against NPCs carrying this weapon, Adam with default durability upgrades dies after 6 shots from this weapon.

Elite Edition Zenith CA-40
Instead of the automatic fire mode on the standard edition, which burns through ammunition very quickly, the elite edition offers a 3-round burst that can help with ammo conservation. Unless automatic fire is desired, the elite edition is generally advantageous compared to the standard edition, due to its higher damage and range.

The player can achieve more rapid fire by "pulsing" the trigger and each burst fires at a higher rate than the standard's fully automatic mode; however, the shot grouping will become noticeably worse, as will the recoil, with repeated firings on the burst mode.

As noted above, the Elite edition does more damage than the standard edition, despite what is shown by the in-game stats. Being able to destroy cameras in one shot with the silencer on is a powerful ability, as is breaking police helmets in one bullet (with damage fully upgraded), rather than the two, sometimes three, shots required by the standard edition.

Fully upgraded, the Elite edition is quite the powerhouse for how little inventory space it uses. With maxed out damage upgrades, it takes two body shots to kill an ARC soldier at 30 meters, while the standard edition with maximum damage upgrades requires three shots, sometimes four. At 34 meters, the Elite pistol still stands tall with two bodyshots to kill, while the normal pistol now takes five bodyshots.

Unlike the standard edition, the Elite edition's silencer has a negligible effect on the pistol's damage output, except at extreme range. At 34 meters, it takes four bodyshots with the silencer on, which is still one less bullet total to kill than the regular pistol (without a silencer) at that range. At 18 meters, and with the silencer mounted, the elite still only requires two bodyshots to kill, while the standard edition, without silencer, needs three shots to achieve the same result.

Trivia

 * The CA-40 retains much of the old Zenith's aesthetics, but now features a squared backstrap with an internal striker system akin to pistols that enables it to use firing mode modifications.
 * The new Zenith model is referred to as the "CA-40" by its receiver branding and the case studies of the ZAP derivative, while the in-game description identifies it as the "CA-4".