diff --git a/OpenRa.Game/Traits/RenderUnitMuzzleFlash.cs b/OpenRa.Game/Traits/RenderUnitMuzzleFlash.cs
index 18bfbc8385..0e198ba1ad 100644
--- a/OpenRa.Game/Traits/RenderUnitMuzzleFlash.cs
+++ b/OpenRa.Game/Traits/RenderUnitMuzzleFlash.cs
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ namespace OpenRa.Game.Traits
 				() => (Util.QuantizeFacing(unit.Facing, 8)) * 6 + (int)(attack.primaryRecoil * 5.9f));
 			anims.Add( "muzzle", new AnimationWithOffset(
 				muzzleFlash,
-				() => new float2( self.Info.PrimaryOffset.ElementAtOrDefault( 2 ), self.Info.PrimaryOffset.ElementAtOrDefault( 3 ) ),
+				() => self.Info.PrimaryOffset.AbsOffset(),
 				() => attack.primaryRecoil <= 0 ) );
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/OpenRa.Game/Traits/Util.cs b/OpenRa.Game/Traits/Util.cs
index 2932b94b43..7f80dee427 100755
--- a/OpenRa.Game/Traits/Util.cs
+++ b/OpenRa.Game/Traits/Util.cs
@@ -110,10 +110,13 @@ namespace OpenRa.Game.Traits
 			var bodyFacing = unit.Facing;
 			var quantizedFacing = QuantizeFacing(bodyFacing, numDirs) * (256 / numDirs);
 
-			return (RotateVectorByFacing(new float2(offset[0], offset[1]), quantizedFacing, .7f) + GetRecoil(self, recoil))
-				+ new float2(offset.ElementAtOrDefault(2), offset.ElementAtOrDefault(3));
+			return (RotateVectorByFacing(offset.RelOffset(), quantizedFacing, .7f) + GetRecoil(self, recoil))
+				+ offset.AbsOffset();
 		}
 
+		public static float2 RelOffset(this int[] offset) { return new float2(offset[0], offset[1]); }
+		public static float2 AbsOffset(this int[] offset) { return new float2(offset.ElementAtOrDefault(2), offset.ElementAtOrDefault(3)); }
+
 		public static Tuple<Sprite, float2, int> Centered(Actor self, Sprite s, float2 location)
 		{
 			var pal = self.Owner == null ? 0 : self.Owner.Palette;