Take a look at our insanely in depth overview of all guns from Modern Warfare: Black Ops 2 from our own community members of the 2old2shoot clan. Fetal goes over everything you'll need to know to make on the battlefield.
Every year I do one of these informational guides for a Call of Duty page. This year’s going to be different. I’m going to focus on 3 sections of Call of Duty gameplay in three different articles; one a week. I’d like to add a precursor that the comment section of this article is not meant to flame Activision for their faulty connection issues. It’s true most people are having a harder time maintaining the kill/death ratios they enjoyed in Modern Warfare 3 and earlier versions of the CoD franchise. What I’ve noticed though, by looking at friend’s ratios is that generally everyone has maintained the same stats relative to others. I had a 2.32 in MW3, and a 2.5 in BlOps. I maintain a 1.8 which is steadily improving as I learn the spawns. Almost everyone I know has lost .4-.5 of their K/D, so when compared to others, we’re still all relatively equal.
The first installment of this guide will attempt to improve your K/D’s and your Win/Loss ratios by better informing you of weapon benefits and weaknesses, and what attachments have the most impact on weapon improvement. We’ll begin with SMGs, and move to LMGs, Assault Rifles, Shotguns, Snipers, Pistols and Launchers and Specials. So let’s not waste time and begin.
A few quick tips —reloading (don’t let your weapon run out of ammo…ever!) The reload time for a gun with an empty clip is about 1 second longer than is you reloaded with 1 bullet in the clip. Don’t get caught with your pants down in a fire fight, reload as often as you safely can. Sometimes this can’t be avoided, but try to do so if you can help it.
--- Aiming Down Sights will be referred to as ADS.
--- Heads up display will be referred to as HUD.
SMGs
All SMG’s are designed for short to medium range kills. They tend to be easy to use and versatile. Some are better than others in different situations and some do better with certain attachments than others. My philosophy is to play to the strengths of each weapon, not make up for their deficiencies.
MP7- This weapon is the most accurate SMG available, but the trade-off for having this distinction is losing a bit in the rate of fire, and a lot in the damage department. Most SMGs are effective spray and pray weapons and as such they are easy to use. This one is a bit different. It is the second worse up close SMG mainly because of this lack of power and rate of fire. It does do well in those medium range encounters, but over all, this weapon is merely average. You can do better with almost any weapon in this category. The kick when hip firing is up and to the left. Adding a laser sight helps this, but because the weapon is weak up close, you’d be better served by adding a red dot sight for better accuracy in ADS and using a stock as well for faster strafing.
PDW-57- This SMG is one of my favorites. It has a really fast firing rate and a 50 round clip. I usually average 3 kills with this weapon because of the clip size. It suffers at medium range though because of the lack of accuracy. The kick is a severe up and to the left which is way more noticeable when ADS. This is the ultimate “n00b” gun. You don’t have to ADS at all if you run with the laser sight. The laser sight on this weapon makes it more accurate at 20 yards than an MP7 aiming down the sights. It’s absolutely ridiculous how good this second weapon you earn is. It is the second best SMG as long as you run with a laser sight. I often don’t run with a second attachment because this weapon doesn’t need one and you can use the extra slot for something else. If I were to use the second attachment I’d probably go with the fast mags for maximum kill potential in the shortest amount of time.
Vector K10- This weapon has the highest rate of fire of all the SMGs. It is meant solely for up close battles. This is, in my opinion, the worst SMG of the lot. It is really specialized as an up close weapon and doesn’t even do that as well as some other guns because of the power their bullets have. Did I mention the Vector has a weak bullet power rating? It does, and suffers for it. The gun kicks directly up and the laser sight improves the spread dramatically. The clip size is so small for such a weak weapon that you’re almost forced to run with quick mags, so both attachments are necessary to make this weapon useful. Stay away from this gun. It’s pointless.
MSMC- This is the best gun in the game. Each CoD game has an overpowered weapon. This is it for BlOps. It suffers from a small clip size (30) but makes up for it by being well-rounded and powerful. The weapon tends to kick up, and left and right, but it is so predictable and easy to control it almost matches the MP7 for accuracy. There is no need for laser sight on this weapon. I repeat, no need for laser sight. I see a lot of people running with one on this gun and it is a waste of an attachment. If you watch the video you’ll see the spread is hardly better with, than without. This is the only gun I use attachments to make up for deficiencies rather than exploiting strengths. It’s so powerful anyway it doesn’t need enhancing; only improving. I run two different set-ups with this gun. Both need fast mags because of the small clip size. One class is with silencer and fast mags, and the other is an all-around set up with long barrel and fast mags. The silencer is for my ghost class, and really improves my sneakiness. I run this only when the sky is spammed with UAVs. The other is perfect for everything else. You get great range with the long barrel. It helps make this gun as good as the Chicom for distances.
Chicom CQB- This is the only burst fire SMG, and as such it tends to suffer up close. If you’re hip firing it can take as many as three burst to down someone. Also, as a three burst weapon, it’s hard to gauge when this gun will run out of ammo. It works well for medium range though, and is devastating at that distance. There’s no reason to add switch fire for this weapon. You can spam the trigger almost as fast as you could if you had it, and it is more accurate this way. If you did want to run it up close, a laser sight would dramatically help the spam function, but I wouldn’t bother with it. This weapon is as specialized as the vector, but it does OK up close. Play to the strengths of this gun and put a red dot on it with long barrel. As an SMG it does great at medium distance, but you can do better with an assault rifle. The only real plus to having the Chicom is the movement speed you gain as an SMG class.
Scorpion Evo- Aside from the PDW, this is the most uncontrollable SMG. The problem with this is the laser sight doesn’t help. Even when in ADS, the gun is wildly inaccurate and it forces you to burst fire at distance. It’s the most powerful of the SMGs, but the MSMC is right behind it and is way more controllable. The only advantage the Scorpion has over the MSMC is 2 more bullets in the clip. 2. Pointless. If you were to add attachments, I’d add the fore grip. It is the only thing that makes this gun more stable.
Light Machine Guns
You are slow as all get out with these guns. The best thing to do is hold an area with them. The only problem is getting to that area. The spawns move so fast in this game, you might be headed to an area to hold it, and find yourself all alone because that place had already been taken by the enemy. If you can’t tell, I’m not a fan of LMGs, but I have used them on occasion. I do alright if the map stays static, but as soon as things fall apart this class is at a distinct disadvantage. Almost all of these guns work well with the stock for faster strafing and almost all of them need the fore grip to control their fire. You will always been in ADS mode when using these guns, so some of them work well with scopes like the target finder and the red dot. I’d actually consider running the primary gunfighter and get that third attachment and add that sight with a couple of them. I’ll only mention when these attachments are pointless for the weapon. Most of them need to be run exactly the same.
Mk 48- OK, of course the first gun has no need for a fore grip. Being so accurate it also has no need for a sight. The iron sights are good enough. It is super accurate when ADS. Use a stock for quick strafing and maybe quick draw for the ability to ADS faster when you need it. It also has a clip size of 100, which is a good trade-off for the slight lack of power the gun has. You could also run this gun with no attachments and save some slots for some other perks.
DBB LSW- This weapon fires fast. It also is super inaccurate. It needs that fore grip, and the iron sights are crap. The kick goes straight up and really fast. It’s uncontrollable without attachments. It also suffers from a small 75 round clip and a longer than average reload time.
LSAT- has good accuracy at medium range, tends to spray lower right and upper left in ADS, but isn’t totally uncontrollable. The regular attachments mentioned above are all improvements. You could lose the fore grip and substitute a sight of some sort or add a quick draw handle instead. The iron sight’s not bad, but isn’t great either. It has 100 round clip.
HAMR- a lot of people swear by this LMG, but I’m not buying it. It does have great power, and can put people down pretty quickly, but the 75 round clip and the initial kick of the weapon does nothing to help it. The gun jumps straight up and down a lot, but always returns every fourth or fifth bullet to your initial aim spot. This would be fine if it killed in one shot, but it doesn’t. The time it takes for the gun to re-sight on target means almost everyone, especially guys with ARs, will kill you in between. The same attachments apply here.
Assault Rifles
These are the work-horses of CoD. Almost everyone uses them because they’re balanced at all ranges. They shine at medium distance, and tend to do decent in short and long-range encounters. You’re not going to win up close against an SMG very often with an AR, but at least you have a chance. Some of the single shot and burst ARs also have the ability to beat snipers at their own game. The attachment options are always open with these, and some do better with others.
MTAR- This is about as average an AR gets. It has decent power, decent accuracy and decent range. The kick is weird in that it’s circular and goes counter-clockwise. The circle isn’t large, but it does make for some interesting shots. Because this gun doesn’t do long range shots well, I’d focus on making it a better medium range weapon.
TYPE 25- The iron sights are bad and it suffers at medium range for two reasons.
1.) The iron sights are bad
2.) It has a lack of power for an AR.
I know people love this gun. They swear by it. It’s popular and has been likened to the famas of the first BlOps. It kills quickly up close because of its high rate of fire, but for its range and inaccuracy, SMGs are the way to go. There’s no point in running an SMG type weapon that suffers from a movement penalty like the ARs do. Some people believe the kick isn’t too bad, but when a weapon that is so underpowered for medium distance suffers any sort of inaccuracy, you’re at a disadvantage. If it was dead on balls accurate, I’d say it was the best gun in the game. As it is, it isn’t. The weapon needs attachments to specialize it for whatever scenario you have planned for it. To make up for the lack of inaccuracy, you need a sight. To make up for up close encounters, you need a laser-sight. To help in medium distance you need a quick-draw grip. Some people might say you can use FMJ to improve the power of the gun, but they really don’t understand how FMJ works. FMJ doesn’t add power to your bullets; it only allows your bullets to not lose power when shooting through objects. I’d choose a different gun. No matter how you customize this weapon, you’re making up for deficiencies and leaving other issues unaddressed.
SWAT-556- This is the M-16 of BLOPs 2. It has no real power but is accurate when fired. It is a burst weapon, so you might think three bullets should be enough to put someone down. It isn’t. It generally takes two trigger squeezes to accomplish its goal. This is because this gun is meant to be used at medium to long ranges; it suffers a bit at medium range though. I’d say this is the weakest AR. The select fire option does nothing to help it. It makes it wildly inaccurate, and with a 30 round clip inaccurate ain’t good. You need a sight to help make it as accurate as possible, but whatever else you add is up to you. Just say away from select fire (it’s worthless) and a laser sight (also pointless with this gun). This might be the weakest gun in the game because it does absolutely nothing well. At least the Vector is good up close.
FAL DSW- I love this gun, and use it almost exclusively when I choose an AR. It is devastating at a medium and long range, and you can spam the trigger fast enough to have a shot (albeit a small one) at winning up close. It is super accurate. So accurate it has ZERO kick! The iron sights aren’t the best, but they are workable, so there is no reason to have a sight, unless you’re playing hardcore when an acog might be a valid option. Select fire makes this gun a beast. There is a bit of a kick, but it is easily controlled as the kick is totally reliable and always moves up. If you’re in a spot where you have to unload a full clip on someone, you’d have probably lost the gun fight with any other weapon anyway. This weapon has power. It isn’t the most powerful weapon, the SMR has that distinction, but it is the best option for controllable, powerful firepower. The only drawback I can really see with this weapon is it can be hard for newer players to control. You have to be quick on the trigger when it’s single shot. There is a learning curve, but once you master it, you’ll see this gun trumps all other ARs, and is probably the second best in the game. The weak spot is the clip size. It has 25 bullets. This makes you HAVE to be accurate. You miss too many times and it’s over. The best attachments for this weapon are quickdraw (most important), extended mag and select fire. You can add a sight if you want, but in my opinion that’s just a waste.
M27- I see a lot of people running this as well. It is worth it and I’ll tell you why. This AR allows you to move faster and farther than the rest of the ARs. Test it out. You’ll see. It is basically a hybrid of an AR and an SMG. Fast movement, decent in up close encounters, and the range of an AR make it perfect for medium sized maps. It does suffer from a lack of bullet power, but it is more accurate than the TYPE 25 and moves faster too. Not a bad trade off in my opinion. The kick is manageable and a sight of any kind would improve it enough. I might run fast mags on this because the clip size is pretty poor for such an under powered weapon. Other options are available and you really can’t go wrong as long as you stay away from FMJ. The bullet power is weak enough for shooting through walls to not have much effect anyway. This is the only AR I’d consider using a laser sight on. It helps it out tremendously up close. In fact, the best combination I can think of is running laser sight for up close battles and adding the stock for faster strafing. This gun is faster anyway; why not improve it even more so by making it a great strafe weapon!
SCAR-H- I’m not a fan of this gun either. I like accurate weapons, and this isn’t one of them. The kick is so overpowered you are forced to add a control attachment of some kind, preferably the fore grip. The gun has good power though. If you can control it, you can easily kill in 2 or 3 bullets. The iron sight is bunk though, so I’d also recommend a red dot, and a red dot only. The weapon is a medium range powerhouse, but its inaccuracy makes it suffer at longer ranges. Don’t lose visibility by using a holographic. The magnification it gives you is negligible and it blinds your periphery. It isn’t completely bad though. You can be successful with it. I’ve played with a couple of people who like it, but it isn’t real popular.
SMR- I like this gun, but I’m not in love with it like I am the FAL. It is extremely powerful, and gives sniper rifles a run for their money. 2 shots at distance and you’re dead. You could hit a guy in the hand twice and it’s all over for him. It suffers at short range, even more so than the FAL, and it also has more trouble at medium to long distances than the FAL because of the slight accuracy problem. Don’t get me wrong, this gun is still super accurate for a 1 shot AR, but you can’t spam the trigger as fast as you can the FAL and expect to hit every time. It has a small kick up and to the right which is totally unpredictable. Select fire is not an option for this gun. It does OK with it, but the accuracy issues are even more apparent when you use that attachment. Quickdraw is a must and so is a sight. The iron sights on this gun blow, but if you can manage them, you might want to choose extended mags instead. This is to make up for the small clip size of 20 bullets. Once again, this single shot gun has a high learning curve. You get good with the FAL first, and this gun will some second nature and you’ll find yourself controlling it no problem. The deficiencies will become noticeable once this happens, and eventually you’ll find yourself sticking with the FAL.
M8A1- This is the Type-95 of BLOPs2. It’s really good, and really accurate. It doesn’t have as much power as the FAL or SMR. Since it is a burst fire weapon, spamming the trigger is limited, but it is a good weapon none-the-less. I’ve seen people use it, and I’ve grabbed it off a few dead bodies. Most people run quickdraw or a scope of some sort. It is a really good medium range weapon as long as you get the first shot off. When you’re hit with bullets first, it has a tendency to jump higher than other guns making it harder for you to get back on target. Not a bad weapon, just not my first choice.
AN-94- This is the reincarnation of the AK-47. It is wildly inaccurate and jumps left and right as it moves higher and higher when you ADS and hold down the trigger. It does OK as long as you can fire it in bursts, but it suffers at short range and long range, and isn’t the best gun at medium ranges. You can do better and should. If you use this, forget about a sight. The iron sights are essentially a red dot anyway, so no need for that. Use your attachments to improve the clip size or have it reload faster. You’ll also need one to help control it. The fore grip is perfect. Some people love adding a silencer to this gun thinking it improves accuracy. That’s a myth. All it does is suppress the flash of the weapon so you can better see where you’re shots are going. This is another bust of a weapon, but I know eventually I’ll be using it a lot because I’ve always had a thing for AK-47s in CoD games, and this is as close as it gets.
Shotguns
These are some of the most misunderstood weapons in the game, and I know a lot of people are scared to use them. Use them please. They’re fun and once you get the hang of how to run maps to your advantage you’ll be blasting guys away and having a ball. Shotgun classes have the same movement speed as SMG classes. The basic premise of a shotgun is to get an easy one-hit-kill. One of the shottys isn’t designed for this, but the others are perfectly suited to do it easily. All of the shotguns need long-barrel. You need the extra range for a gun that’s as limited as they are. Shotguns are the only guns whose bullets magically disappear after 15 yards or so. Long-barrel gives you an extra 5 yards. That’s totally worth it. You also have to have toughness. You can’t miss that first shot or you’re done. You can afford to take a couple of bullets as long as get the shot off, but when your reticle goes so high you miss, you’re dead. A laser sight on all of these weapons helps too. I’d go so far as to say all of these shotguns except one must have a laser sight. We’ll talk about that one in a sec.
Remington 870 MCS- This is the first shotgun you get in the game, and it is probably the easiest to use. It is pump action with a narrow bullet spread so one-hit-kills are relatively easy to come by. It reloads fast enough, and you can stop the reload animation whenever you want by pulling the trigger. It is more accurate and has a tad longer range if you ADS, but it isn’t necessary for you to do so.
S12- This is a semi-auto shotgun. It doesn’t really have the power for those one hit kills, but it makes up for it by spamming the trigger for 2 and 3 hit kills. It’s not hard to use, but it has one really glaring problem. It runs out of ammo…fast. You have 40 bullets to play with in total, but when it takes 3 shots to kill someone (and we’re assuming you get a hit with every shot fired) you can run out of ammo real fast. I ran this gun for a week thinking it was great. What I didn’t realize it that I was running out of ammo about 1 in every 4 lives (when I lived long enough to go through it). There are better options. Save your unlock token for that better option.
KSG- I’m a believer in this gun. This is the only shotty that doesn’t need, or want, a laser sight. This is because in order for it to be effective, you need to ADS on it. You have to have quickdraw, for that fast aiming, and long barrel. This shotgun fires a slug extremely accurately, and has the longest one-hit-kill range of any of the shotguns. You MUST run toughness. You’re only going to get one shot at the kill. You have to make sure you can hit them. This gun has the highest learning curve of the shotguns, but when you get it right, you’re a monster to the other team. I’ve been abused by the other team calling me unflattering names so many times for using this gun it isn’t funny. Teams can’t stand a guy who runs around fast and just pops people like candy.
M1216- This is an auto-shotgun, and it’s pretty ridiculous. The Remington is better and does what this thing does just as well with less bullets. Where this gun shines is in clearing out rooms. Just run into a room and hold down the trigger, never letting up, and sweep right to left or left to right. The other team won’t stand a chance. Where this gun falters though is the reload time. Each clip has 16 bullets, and there is a split second pause when cycling through barrels. The reload time is atrocious, and takes absolutely forever. This is a specialized shotgun for room clearing. I’ve used it just running around the map, and I’ve done OK, but the other three shotguns are better options for that.
Snipers
Snipers have their own circle in hell. I can’t stand them even thought I know it’s a legitimate aspect of the game. Quick-scopers drive me nuts, especially since if they’re any good, a sniper rifle is the most dominate weapon in the game. Quick-scoping is an art, and takes a lot of practice. I know how to do it, and can manage a bit, but I’m not near as good as the guys who play on Live. The days of the camping sniper are over. People used to run Ghost with the sniper, but since they made ghost useless when you’re sitting still, the camping sniper has almost gone the way of the dodo. Still, I’ve tried ‘em out just so I could do this article, and I’ll give you my biased thoughts about them.
SVU-AS- This gun is total and complete crap. This is essentially a really powerful assault rifle with a scope. I hate scopes, generally because they limit your periphery. This is a 2 hit kill sniper at center mass, 3 hits anywhere else. People generally find someone and strafe while spamming the trigger. It’s quite effective to a certain point. These guys never live long because they have to run around the map to be effective, and as soon as they stand still to shoot, someone else inevitably sees them and blasts them away. You’d be better off using an FAL or an SMR instead of this gun. I’d add a silencer, just for kicks, or an acog because you’d be better off at short range with this thing than long. This does have some potential as a hardcore weapon.
DSR 50- This is essentially the Barrett 50 cal from previous iterations of CoD. It has tremendous power, but it is super inaccurate. Never fear boys and girls, it can be fixed. The Ballistics CPU was destined to be used on this gun. It makes the accuracy perfect for a bolt action and as a scoped weapon I see a lot of quick-scopers using it. It isn’t the most popular sniper, but it is pretty damn good.
Ballista- This is the weapon of the quick-scope snipers in CoD. I know a lot of you add the ballistics CPU to it, but that’s a waste. The gun is only slightly less accurate than perfection. Quick-scopers either use an acog scope or the iron sight. I see a lot of them use fast hands, but I don’t think they realize that has nothing to do with how fast they can scope in on people. The iron sight does make ADS quicker though, and you’ll see a lot of guys using it. Personally I hate it. Not because it isn’t any good. I hate it because of what it’s generally used for.
XPR-50- This is crap. I know it looks good on paper, but it just doesn’t work as well in the game. You can’t really spam the trigger like you can with the SVU-AS because it’s so inaccurate. Ballistic CPU helps, but it is still worthless unless you’re a god at doing head-shots. Yet another perfect Hardcore weapon, but it does leave some things to be desired in Core games. The scope crosshairs are kind of fugly too.
Handguns
Not a sexy subject, but they are useful. Some people have fallen in love with the 823R, but I’m going to tell you about 2 pistols that are better. There’s no need for you to waste slots on a second primary weapon if you can learn to use these puppies. These things are incredibly overpowered now, and are like mini- SMGs in a way, with faster knife times.
Five-Seven- This is probably the most useless pistol. There’s nothing special about it. It does nothing as well as the others, except fire a bit quicker. The power is miniscule, the range pathetic and the only thing it has going for it is it’s pretty accurate. Accuracy with a crap gun doesn’t help. Avoid it.
Tac-45- This is my favorite one. It’s a 2 shot kill with a 10 bullet clip. Extended mag works well with it. With 10 bullets already in the clip, you theoretically could get 5 kills with it at range, which is better than all of the others.
823R- This is a 3 shot burst weapon. People like it, but if you look at the video you’ll see you have to waste 2 bursts to kill someone at range, almost halving your clip and limiting your potential average kill power to 2 people. It is easy to use, and it hip fires well. Newer inexperienced players will gravitate to it, and there’s nothing wrong with that. If it works better for you than the Tac-45 use it, but realize that if you master the 45, it is a better weapon.
Executioner- This is the pistol that isn’t a pistol. It’s essentially a mini-shotgun. Up close, about 5 feet away, it’s a one-shot-kill; 10 feet away, 2 shots. Any farther away and it loses its effectiveness because it only has 5 shots, and it reloads slowly. It is perfect for people who use ARs and need to run into close quarters to reach an objective.
KAP-40 This sucker kills quickly if you can keep it on target. It has the same power as the Tac-45, but is fully automatic. Run with extended mags and dual wield and it’s essentially the FMGs all over again with less ammo. This is perfect for getting into close quarter fights with SMG dudes, and evens the playing field nicely in that direction. It suffers at range though because it so unwieldy. Powerful gun though
Specials
I’m not a big fan of using these. They’re too clumsy to be effective. You’ve probably seen the guys running around the map with the ballistic knives out, but when you look at their stats and who won the game, they’re not helping their team. I want to win, not be a nuisance.
Shield- Of all the specials, I like this the best. The ability to plant this sucker, ala Gears of War (did someone steal this idea maybe?) makes it really useful. As cover it’s perfect for head-glitchers to sit behind. You’re almost forced to run with overkill though. I’ve found the most successful way to use it is to run overkill with fast hands, flak jacket, and an LMG. Guys like to plant it down in a high traffic area in the corner of the map somewhere and hold down that section of the map. The fast-hands is to switch weapons from the shield to the LMG quickly. The Flak Jacket is to stop the endless grenades people will throw at these guys to get rid of them. I don’t run this class, but I’ve seen some people do it with great effect.
Ballistic Knife- This is a bragging rights weapon. It’s sort of an in-your-face way of embarrassing a player. If you can shoot the knife at the other team with regularity and help your team, than you’re a better player than me. They’re fun to use if nothing’s at stake, like in a private match, but pointless otherwise. Bullets work better and more reliably.
Crossbow- This is worse than the ballistic knife in my opinion. You can kind of sweep the reticle across a guy and have a better chance of getting a hit, but that’s unlikely. It also doesn’t kill people unless it sticks. Players without flak jacket can have a bolt land right beside them and not kill them. It takes so long to reload, by the time you’ve shot another one, the guy’s health has recharged and another bolt won’t kill him either. Not a good option unless you’re in a private match or a sticks and stones game and just want to have fun.
Well, that’s all for now. Next week I’ll go over the perks, lethal and tactical grenades along with the kill-streaks. The week after, I’ll answer any questions you guys post in the comment section.
Have a good time playing and I’ll see you online!
