Choosing the right weapon in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Multiplayer is of utmost importance. You cannot run around with a TAC-19 in a map having long lines of fire.
Similarly, a sniper rifle will not be effective in close-quarter combat unless you are gifted with Quickscoping skills.
For more help on Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, read our Prestige Tips, Best Perks, Exo Suits and Upgrades, Exo Survival Strategy Guide.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Weapons and Attachments
In Create-a-Class section, first thing should be your Primary Weapon and all Perks, Weapon Attachments, and Scorestreaks should complement each other.
Furthermore, keep in mind whether you need to use that Class/Loadout at CQC or long-range. In Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare; almost every weapon has at least one unique characterisitc which distinguishes it from other weapons in the same class.
You will find a weapon which prints its own ammo, weapons that fire 4-shot bursts, and even dual-wield LMGs. In this guide, I will briefly break down all Primary Weapons in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.
Assault Rifles
Assault Rifles in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare are highly versatile weapons which work best at medium-long range. These are not suitable for hip-firing or close-quarter combat, but work great at long-range.
AK-12 – Best in Class Mobility
Although AK-12 does not have any unique characteristic, it is certainly the best Assault Rifle in terms of its mobility. This is an extremely stable weapon with manageable recoil pattern.
Since it is unlocked at the beginning of the game, you will see a lot of players using it and sticking to it for a long time.
Although it does not have much of a recoil without any attachment, you can install Vertical Forgrip to make the recoil even better. It takes about 4 shots to kill an enemy and reloads in 2.0 seconds without any attachment.
ARX-160 – Best in Class Range
ARX-160 has pretty decent rate of fire and controllable recoil; even at long-range. Almost at all ranges, the recoil pattern of this weapon is mostly vertical which can greatly reduced by installing Vertical Foregrip.
It takes about 3-4 shots to drop a target at medium to long range and reloads in 2.0 seconds.
Bal-27 – Best in Class Fire Rate
A unique characteristic of this weapon is that its rate of fire increases with time. It means the longer you hold the trigger, the more its rate of fire will become. This is particularly useful if you have two or more targets in front of you.
Drop one target and without letting go of the trigger, move to the second one to take him out more quickly. However, if you are going with this strategy, it is a good idea to equip Extended Mags and Scavenger.
It has slightly more recoil than ARX-160 which can be reduced greatly by installing Vertical Foregrip. If recoil is something that worries you, I would not recommend installing Rapid Fire attachment.
At long-range, stick to short bursts for maximum efficiency and manage recoil in the much better way. It takes 4-5 shots to drop targets at medium to long range and reloads in 2.0 seconds.
HBRA3 – Best in Class Handling
HBRA3 can be considered as a hybrid of Bal-27 and AK-12 as it provides best of both recoil and rate of fire. The unique characteristic of this weapon is that it fires first 3 shots faster each time you hold down the trigger.
Due to this fact, it is better to fire this weapon in short successions. It mostly has vertical recoil and sways upwards if you keep on holding the trigger; installing Vertical Foregrip helps.
Anywhere on short range, it is a 3-shot kill, but at medium to long range, you will need 4-5 shots. As for its reload time, it reloads in 2.0 seconds.
IMR – Best in Class Damage
This weapon has multiple unique characteristics; first, it is a 4-shot burst weapon which is ideal to take out targets anywhere other than short-range without worrying about recoil and secondly, this weapon automatically prints its own ammunition.
You can save your extra slots without worrying about installing Scavenger or Extended Mags when using IMR. It reloads in about 2.8 seconds and mostly requires 2 bursts to drop a target on medium to long range.
MK-14 – Best in Class Accuracy
MK-14 is the only semi-automatic Assault Rifle in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare that requires a lot of skill; especially in this game. Since players are always on the move using Exo-Abilities and Exo-Movements, it is extremely difficult to take them out with a single-shot weapon.
If you are blessed with good accuracy and a fast trigger-finger, you can go with this weapon and drop targets even at insanely long range. It is a 3-4 shot kill from almost any range in the game and reloads in about 2.0 seconds.
Lastly, since this is a semi-automatic weapon, you do not have to worry about the recoil.
Submachine Guns
These weapons provide the best mobility with Exo-Movements and are most suitable for short to medium range engagements. They also have pretty compact hip-fire spread, but are not recommended for long-range engagements.
In Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, I have noticed that with the exception of short-range, Assault Rifles dominate SMGs at medium to long range.
KF-5 – Best in Class Range
The unique characteristic of this weapon is that first five rounds of every magazine have increased damage. After every reload, make sure that your shots are well on target and you will most certainly drop your target.
Players who like to reload often will benefit from this weapon, but they need to make sure to equip Dual Mags and Scavenger to keep a high ammo count.
KF-5 has a high spread recoil and installing Foregrip does not help much. It reloads in 1.8 seconds and takes about 5-6 shots to kill from medium to long range.
MP-11 – Best in Class Mobility
This is the perfect weapon for players who like to move around and slay targets as they go by. Combine it with Exo-Overclock and Lightweight and enemies will have a hard time taking a shot at you.
Both objective-based players and slayers will take benefit from the mobility that it offers. It has a wide-spread recoil pattern which is greatly reduced by installing Vertical Foregrip.
It reloads in 2.0 seconds and takes 4-5 shots to kill at medium to long range.
ASM-1 – Best in Class Damage
The unique characteristic of this weapon is that its rate of fire reduces and accuracy increases over time. You can consider it as a hybrid between an Assault Rifle and a SMG.
Even when we talk about the recoil pattern of this weapon, it is pretty much similar to an Assault Rifle than a SMG; though I would not recommend using a Vertical Foregrip on this weapon.
It reloads in 2.0 seconds and kills in 5-6 shots.
SN-6 – Best in Class Accuracy
The unique characteristic of this weapon is that its first three rounds fire faster than the rest of the shots. Due to its unique characteristic, it is better to fire this weapon in quick successions that holding down the trigger.
I would highly recommend using Vertical Foregrip on this weapon due to SN-6’s insanely large recoil. It reloads in 1.8 seconds and takes out 6 shots to drop targets from medium to long range.
SAC-3 – Best in Rate of Fire
The unique characterisitc of this weapon is that it can only be used in Akimbo. Due to this, you will not be able to ADS, but will receive increased rate of fire. It reloads in about 1.5 seconds and drops target in 5-6 shots.
AMR-9 – Best in Class Handling
The unique characteristic of this weapon is that it is the only SMG which can use Underbarrel Attachments. Other than this, this is a regular SMG with no special traits.
When we talk about the recoil pattern of this weapon, this has the best handling in the game. It reloads in 1.8 seconds and takes around 6-7 shots to drop a target at medium to long range.
Sniper Rifles
Needless to say, but Sniper Rifles are the kings of long-rang combat. These weapons are extremely poor when it comes to hip-firing and close-quarter combat.
In previous Call of Duty installments, we have seen people even dominating at CQC, but Sledgehammer Games has promised that trick-shooting has been completely removed from the game.
LYXN – Best in Class Range
This Sniper Rifle has the ability to fire in rapid succession and has insanely long-range. You can expect to drop targets at any range with maximum 2 shots.
However, with Exo-Abilities and Exo-Movements, you may need to adjust your reaction time and accuracy to become better with this weapon. It reloads in about 3.0 seconds.
MORS – Best in Class Handling
This is one of my personal favorite Sniper Rifles in the game. You can hope to get a single-shot kill from across the map.
The only drawback of this weapon is that it reloads after every shot which can be really punishing if you are not accurate with your shots. It has the least rate of fire across all Sniper Rifles along with Atlas 20mm and reloads in about 1.2 seconds.
NA-45
This is an extremely unusual Sniper Rifle to use in the game due to its unique characteristic. The first shot from this weapon which is called Primer has the ability to stick to an object/enemy.
The second shot which is called the Catalyst; if it is shot anywhere near the Primer, it will cause the Primer to detonate, killing everyone in the close vicinity.
Both Primer and Catalyst can be fired in quick succession and are extremely powerful to take out targets behind cover and inside buildings. NA-45 has the highest rate of fire across all Sniper Rifles and reloads in 2.0 seconds.
Atlas-20mm – Best in Class Damage
This is shoulder-mount Sniper Rifle which cannot be shot from the hip by any means. This is certainly the Sniper Rifle to go with if you want to drop enemies with one-shot kills at any range.
Atlast-20mm has the similar rate of fire like MORS and reloads in 3.5 seconds which is quite sluggish.
Shotguns
With both ADS and hip-fire, shotguns are the kings of short-ranged combat and are completely non-existent when it comes to long-range even medium-ranged combat.
With Perks like Gung-Ho and a Shotgun in your hands, you will drop bodies like crazy.
TAC-19 – Best in Class Mobility
TAC-19 is an extremely powerful weapon which can devastate your enemies at CQC, but will not prove worthwhile at long and even medium range. It has the least rate of fire across all Shotguns and reloads in about 0.6 seconds.
S-12 – Best in Class Rate of Fire
S-12 is an extremely inconsistent weapon when we talk about one-shot kills. However, this weird behavior is countered by its fully-automatic nature.
The feel of running around this weapon while dropping bodies on the way is truly amazing. It reloads in about 2.0 seconds and has the highest rate of fire across all Shotguns.
Bulldog – Best in Class Damage
Bulldog provides the best of both S-12 and TAC-19. It has a higher rate of fire than TAC-19 and guarantees one-shot kills at close-range. It reloads in about 2.6 seconds and drops targets standing at medium-close range with only one shot.
Heavy Weapons
Heavy Weapons can be considered as Assault Rifles with a deeper penetration power, larger clip size, and somewhat increased damage. However, these do not possess the mobility and low ADS time of Assault Rifles.
In Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Heavy Weapons categories contain LMGs, HMGs, and Energy-beam firing weapons.
EM-1 – Best in Class Damage
EM-1 does not require any ammunition, but can overheat. This weapon has the best hip-fire and allows you to stay on target even when your target is moving at a rapid pace.
One important thing to keep in mind is that when this weapon gets ‘Overheated’, you can reload it to cool it down; it will completely cool down in about 7.0 seconds.
Pytaek – Best in Class Accuracy
The unique characteristic of this weapon is that it stabilizes over time. Since Heavy Guns have a large clip size, this bonus keeps on improving.
You can choose Perks like Scavenger to get full benefits of this weapon. It takes about 4-5 shots to drop a target on medium to long range and reloads in about 7.0 seconds.
You can also install Vertical Foregrip on it to make its recoil even better.
XMG
The unique characteristic of this weapon is that it can only be used in Akimbo. This is for the very first time that we are seeing Heavy Weapons in Akimbo Mode.
In addition to this, these weapons also have a characteristic called Lockdown Mode. Lockdown Mode greatly increases the Damage Output and Accuracy of these weapons, but at the cost of player’s mobility.
Personally, I recommend using the Lockdown Mode while defending an Objective. While in Lockdown Mode, these weapon require around 2 shots to drop a target at any range and outside of Lockdown Mode, you will need at least 6-7 shots to drop someone at medium to long range.
Moreover, the reload time of these weapons also differ in Lockdown Mode.
EMP3 – Best in Class Range
This is a similar weapon like EM-1, but instead of being fully-automatic, it fires in short bursts. Due to this fact, it becomes highly difficult to pick off a target while he/she is in the air or moving with Exo-Movements.
Even if you manage to gain decent accuracy with this gun, you will require a couple of bursts to kill the target.
Ameli – Best in Call Rate of Fire
This is just another normal LMG without any unique characteristics. This has the best rate of fire across all LMGs, but due to this, the recoil becomes highly uncontrollable.
It reloads in about 7.0 seconds and requires about 3-4 shots to kill a target at long range.
Weapon Attachments
ACOG Scope
ACOG Scope has more zooming in capabilities than a regular Red Dot Sight. It is recommended that you use ACOG Sight on highly accurate weapons and stick to long-range combat.
At CQC and medium-range, you will have difficulty in taking out targets with Red Dot Sight. Note that ACOG Sight works differently on Assault Rifles, SMGs, and Sniper Rifles.
When applied on Sniper Rifles, you will face difficulty at long-range, but you will do good at medium-ranged combat.
Advanced Rifling
In Call of Duty: Black Ops II, this attachments used to be called as Long Barrel and increased the range of weapons. Retaining the same function in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Advanced Rifling is particularly useful on Shotguns and SMGs.
Although I have not done any experiments to prove how much additional range you acquire with Advanced Rifling, but you will be treated with less shot kills every now and then.
Shotguns like S-12 which may or may not give you one-shot kills must have Advanced Rifling equipped on it.
Akimbo
Akimbo allows you to dual-wield and with a few exceptions (SAC-3, XMG, etc.) they are only available on Pistols. Akimbo restricts your ability to ADS, but grants you with additional firepower.
Akimbo are extremely beneficial to snipers and heavy weapon users as a side-arm. At CQC, these will easily dominate SMGs and Shotgun users, provided that you start firing first.
Auto Focus Sight
Under normal circumstances, this weapon works as a regular Red Dot Sight, but if you ADS and remain stationary in your position for a couple of seconds, it will automatically zoom in your target.
Due to this feature, you need to ensure that either you are well hidden behind your cover or are at the position from where you wish to take a shot before ADS.
If you are a Red Dot Sight user, I would encourage you to try Auto Focus Sight for its multi-functionality.
Ballistic CPU
This attachment can only be installed on Sniper Rifles. This attachment makes your Sniper Rifles sway less when ADS; especially when going for a long shot.
You will see most of the sniper running around with Ballistic CPU as a default attachment.
Dual Magazine
If you are someone who likes to reload after scoring a kill or firing a few bullets, Dual Magazine is the perfect attachment for you. This attachment not only allows you to reload faster, but also saves you a lot of ammo after reloading.
If you’re a slayer and play CQC, this is a must have attachment for you.
Foregrip
Foregrip has been in the Call of Duty franchise for a long time and serves one simple purpose: reduces the recoil of fully automatic weapons. This only comes in handy at long-range combat because it is better to fire from the hip at CQC.
It is not necessary that Foregrip will always reduce the recoil of every weapon drastically, but it will certainly make it more manageable.
Grenade Launcher
This attachment allows you to mount a Grenade Launcher under your weapons. If you do not wish to take a Secondary Weapon, you can always go with this attachment to serve as your Secondary Weapon.
However, do note that this attachment is not nearly as effective as Secondary Launchers and you need to score almost a direct hit to take out a target.
Heat Sink
This attachment can only be applied on Energy Beam Weapons and reduces the ‘Overheated’ time of those weapon. Personally, I believe that if you prefer an Energy-Beam weapon, this attachment should be a part of your Create-a-Class.
Hybrid Sight
HyrbirdSight allows players to switch between a regular Red Dot Sight and 4x Magnifier Sight at will.
Unlike ACOG Scope, this allows better flexibility at both long and close range, but only if it is applied on decent-ranged weapons. Make sure to switch your Sights as you move from one area to another.
Ironsights
This attachment is exclusive to Sniper Rifles and removes the built-in Score with regular Iron Sights. Although you will suffer from long-range accuracy with an Iron Sight, your Sniper Rifle will become more suited to medium and long range combat.
Attach it on your MORS and you will see what I’m talking about.
Laser Sight
This attachment was first introduced in Call of Duty: Black Ops II. It is recommended to install this attachment on SMGs, ARs, and Shotguns.
With Laser Sight, you will be able to hip-fire a lot more accurately than without Laser Sight. This gives you the opportunity to run and gun your opponents.
During an encounter with an enemy who uses ADS before firing, this will give you an obvious advantage.
Parabolic Microphone
Depending upon the enemies you are facing, this attachment can be exceedingly useful or utterly useless.
Parabolic Microphone allows you to see enemies with Silenced Weapons on your Mini-Map as if they were using unsilenced weapons. This is particularly useful in game mode where you need to play hide and seek with your opponents like Search & Destroy and Search & Rescue.
Quickdraw Grip
Quickdraw Grip is one of the most important attachments during medium range combat. This attachment basically allows you to bring up your weapon faster (Quick ADS).
That isn’t useless during long-range engagements where a fraction of second does not help much, but in medium-ranged combat, not having a Quickdraw Grip might result in ending a one-on-one gunfight.
Furthermore, while using Exo-Movements, Quickdraw Grip will help you get to targets much faster.
Rapid Fire
This attachment increases your rate of fire at the cost of fast ammo-depletion and increased recoil. If you can control the recoil, you can use this attachment even at medium-ranged combat, but this is mostly suitable for CQC.
Red Dot Sight
Red Dot Sight is nothing alien to any FPS fan out there. This is the most basic sight which provides you with a clear and better vision of target at all ranges.
If you are not comfortable with Iron Sights, Red Dot Sight is the way to go.
Stock
This is one attachment I cannot play without! Stock used to be a Perk back in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 called Stalker. Stock allows you to retain your speed while ADS with weapons.
That might not sound important on paper, but in reality it can make all the difference in winning or losing a gunfight. With Stock, you will be able to retain your normal speed and dodge enemy bullets while ADS.
Suppressor
This is a crucial attachment for Classes built around stealth. This attachment keeps you off the radar when firing your weapon; unless enemies are using Parabolic Microphone.
Another thing to keep into account is that you will briefly appear on enemy radar after using your Exo-Movements. It is better to use other stealth perks which conceal your Exo-Movements from the maps along with the Suppressor.
Tactical Knife
This attachment is only available for Pistols and cannot be taken with Akimbos. With this attachment, you will be able to deliver faster melee attack. While crossing corners, this attachment comes in very handy.
Target Enhancer
This attachment allows you to find targets hiding behind cover or inside buildings with a built-in Threat Detection System. Also note that players can negate the effects of Target Enhancer by a Perk called Cold-Blooded.
Thermal Sight
This Sight requires that you adjust your aim just like the built-in aim of a Sniper Rifle. It shows you enemies in heat signatures so that you can identify them with ease.
Tracker
This is a lethal attachment which shows enemies on your radar after you wound them a little. Once tagged, enemies can be pursued anywhere on the map.
The only way to avoid being tagged by the Tracker is by using a Perk called Low Profile.
Variable Zoom Scope
This attachment is exclusive to Sniper Rifles only and allow players to switch between three levels of zoom. Variable Zoom Scope allows you to gain more flexibility at both medium and long range combat.
Supply Drop Weapons
Aside from all the regular weapons mentioned above, there are other weapons categorized as Enlisted, Professional, and Elite. These weapons are only acquired from Supply Drops.
Supply Drops are earned for completing Challenges/Operations and by playing the Multi-Player Mode excessively. Furthermore, playing Clan Wars and Special Promotions are few other sources of earning Supply Drops.
Weapons earned from Supply Drops are not drastically different from the regular weapons; except that they have some really cool paint jobs and a couple of unique attachments.
If you do not wish to keep the weapons you acquire from Supply Drops, you can also redeem them for some extra bit of XP.
Find anything missing or confusing? Let us know in the comments below!
