Urzikstan officially opened its doors to Warzone in season one of Modern Warfare 3, and it’s important to know what the Warzone meta guns are before crafting a loadout.
Players may feel overwhelmed trying to choose a loadout for their first Warzone match as there are 114 weapons at launch, including 37 new Modern Warfare 3 weapons. But there is a science to weeding out weapons that don’t find a place in WZ’s meta.
In Modern Warfare 2, weapons that stood out in multiplayer didn’t necessarily find the same success in a battle royale format. And a significant reason for that is the massive health disparity between both game modes. Base health in WZ2 without any plates was 150 and 300 fully armored, while multiplayer base health was 100.
Lower base health made time-to-kill speeds feel extremely fast, but MW3 increased the base multiplayer health to 150. Because of that, there’s a bit of a closer alignment between both experiences, meaning multiplayer’s best weapons also shine in Urzikstan.
Here are the best meta guns to use in Warzone so far in season one.
Warzone meta guns
Best long-range Warzone meta guns
BAS-B
The BAS-B is a hard-hitting battle rifle, but feels more like an AR. This weapon suffers from a slightly smaller magazine size of 45, but don’t let that scare you away.
The BAS-B blows other options out of the water when it comes to TTK speeds and hits much harder than ARs. And despite being a battle rifle, the weapon still has similar mobility stats to other ARs.
The only downside is that players must get used to the BAS-B’s recoil and use attachments such as a barrel or underbarrel to compensate for that fault, so check out our best loadout for the BAS-B in the link above to see what you should use.
DG-56
ARs that shine the most in Warzone deal massive damage and have a reliable recoil pattern that’s easy to control at longer ranges. Early signs point toward the DG-56 checking every box for a perfect long-range meta weapon.
The Corio Eagleseye 2.5x optic is the best in Warzone and is found on most of our long-range loadout guides.
Despite seeing nerfs across the board, the AR still dominates in Warzone and will most likely be at the top of long-range meta and popularity lists.
Pulemyot 762
This is a dominant LMG in Warzone early on, especially with the Conversion Kit equipped. This is a gun that relies on its giant magazine and strong firepower to decimate armor plates in Urzikstan, making it one of the best overall guns in BR.
KATT-AMR
Warzone 2 brought back one-shot kill sniping, but it came with the caveat that rifles had to have explosive ammunition equipped, which increased damage range by 40 percent but came with the downside of reducing bullet velocity by 40 percent. This made it hard to line up shots as sniper rifles suffered from extreme bullet drop-off.
However, the KATT-AMR can one-shot kill enemies in Warzone without needing to equip explosive ammo. This is a game changer as the KATT-AMR can use high-velocity ammunition instead and effortlessly take down enemies at range.
MTZ Interceptor
Our build for the MTZ Interceptor is the one that dominated in season one thanks to its long range and powerful capabilities to two-shot enemies in the chest and above. It’s gotten nerfed a bit but is still an incredibly strong gun.
Best close-range Warzone meta guns
WSP Swarm
The Fennec 45 dominated season one of WZ2 thanks to a fire rate that no other SMG could compete with. And that’s precisely what the WSP Swarm offers, loaded with a fire rate of over 1,000. Like what we saw with the Fennec, players must adjust for the weapon’s poor recoil, accuracy, and range.
Pure damage and fire rate are best when it comes to close-range weapons, and recoil is less of an issue.
If you are looking for a pure flamethrower within 10 meters, look no further than the WSP Swarm.
BAS-B
This gun appears twice on our list because it’s so powerful and versatile that it’s being used in two different ways. This build, linked above, turns the BAS-B into an SMG that shreds enemies at close range with huge power and massive recoil.
Striker
The Striker is a favorite SMG thus far thanks to its range, which is where it reigns over other options in the archetype. It loses out up close to high fire-rate SMGs like the WSP Swarm, but out-ranges the others.
WSP-9
The WSP-9 is like a stronger, more accurate version of its Swarm little brother, but with a slower fire rate. It’s become a favorite for some players in Warzone, especially with our best loadout for it, linked above.
