The assault rifle is the standard-issue weapon for Xenonaut ground soldiers, versatile enough to be effective in almost all combat situations. With a generous thirty-round magazine and respectable accuracy and stopping power out to even long range, the assault rifle allows a soldier to fulfill a variety of battlefield roles. It is also a relatively light weapon compared to the rest of the Xenonaut arsenal, and unlike the Precision Rifle it is capable of deadly burst fire over short ranges. The cost of this flexibility is that the assault rifle is a jack-of-all-trades - it does not excel in any situation, and in particular its performance against armoured troops can be distinctly average.

Riflemen form the core of military forces worldwide with good reason; they are those best able to deal with the unpredictable flow of a battle. Sheer weight of fire will make up for most of the assault rifle's shortcomings, making it a reliable workhorse on the battlefield. Soldiers equipped with rifles complement those carrying the more specialised weapons, leaving the team far less exposed to the dangers of an unexpected battlefield situation. As such, a commander would be wise to issue assault rifles to a sizeable proportion of his tactical teams.