Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s multiplayer outing this year is full of old-school style, from the terse arsenal to the classic scorestreaks. With interactive maps and a cavalcade of modes, there’s plenty to shout home about if you want to dig into this year’s COD with a group of mates.
But how should you configure your loadout if you’re just starting out? We’ve put together a short guide with some tips for your Black Ops Cold War loadouts, based on our 20 hours with the game over the launch weekend.
Here’s what works for us, and what you could benefit from across the game’s many multiplayer modes.
Primary weapons
As ever, the old-reliable MP5 seems to be a very popular choice for Black Ops Cold War players this year. With near-unparallelled TTK, it’s a beast for racking up kills and dangerous in anyone’s hands. If you’re looking for more of a challenge though, we highly recommend the RPD, which you get at Level 35.
This LMG is a scorestreak monster, especially if you can speed up ADS and reload time with attachments. Beyond that, the Pellington 703 is another brilliant choice if you fancy yourself a marksman. One-shot kill to the head or upper chest never gets old, especially on the wider Combined Arms maps like Armada, where you’ll find plenty of sniper’s nests.
Secondary weapons
As far as your secondary is concerned, we swear by the Hauer 77. This shotgun is devastating at close range, and once you get the effective range attachments, it can be deadly from mid-range too.
Use it to clear objectives and surprise enemies who can’t even ADS before they’re toast. Upgrading the ammo capacity and removing the stock will also make it better at firing after a sprint, which you’ll be doing a lot of to capture faraway hardpoints.
Equipment
Frag Grenades are the obvious choice in the primary slot, with Stimshots even more of a foregone conclusion as your secondary. Stimshots let you recover a lot of health very quickly in the midst of combat, and they recharge fairly quickly, bolstering your survivability in battle.
As for your field equipment, it really depends. If you need ammo, take the Assault Pack for extra score, but the SAM Turret is also fantastic for getting extra XP and neutralizing airborne threats online. Our personal favorite is the proximity mine, which is great for setting up camping spots and blocking objectives, especially if you pair it with the Gearhead perk. Speaking of which...
Perks
In the early game, stick with Engineer, especially so you can re-roll your Care Packages and potentially get a cheeky Chopper Gunner. Flak Jacket is also useful on the more hectic maps, and Paranoia can be situational, especially in Free-For-All.
For your second perk, Scavenger is fantastic if you have limited ammo weapons, but Assassin is also solid in the early game, offering extra XP for killing enemies with scorestreaks. Gearhead is our favorite though, as it gives you two Field Upgrade charges, which means double the proximity mines.
Gung-Ho is a great last perk to speed up your TTK with tons of useful features like faster weapon swap, but Cold Blooded, Ninja and Ghost are also very handy if you’re more of a stealthy player.
Wildcards
New for Black Ops Cold War, the Wildcards fundamentally change your loadouts for the better. Our favorite has to be Gunfighter, which lets you break the attachment limit on your main weapon, which will make it even more potent in combat.
Law Breaker is also great if you want to wield two types of primary weapon, and Perk Greed is good if you can’t compromise on the perks. Danger Close is handy if you’re frag-happy, but not worth it compared to the rest.
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