You’ll Love This Powerful New Loadout in Call of Duty: Warzone
By: Drew Cordell
Tags: Online, Videogames, Features, Gaming, Call Of Duty

You’ll Love This Powerful New Loadout in Call of Duty: Warzone

Jump into Verdansk and try some new weapons without the shadow of the DMR-14 looming over you Drew Cordell Follow Jan 18 · 8 min read

Call of Duty: Warzone is fun again. Self-Capture/Activision.

“Nerf This!” — D.Va

January 13th, 2021, was a good day for Call of Duty: Warzone. And after jumping in, it’s refreshing to see the game in a better state of normalcy. Players were using weapons other than the DMR-14 and Mac-10/Diamattis. No one was abusing the resurgent infinite-stim glitch to stay alive outside the safe zones, effectively ruining the legitimacy of every game. In a way, it felt like discovering Verdansk and the fun, often stress-inducing game that is Call of Duty: Warzone all over again.

The metaphorical Call of Duty schoolyard bully is gone, and everyone can have fun in the sandbox again.

After booting the game, I jumped right into a game of Plunder with my DMR-14 and Diamattis equipped. I was determined to see just how far the nerf had taken things this time and hoped that other weapons would finally be viable. The first time Raven Software nerfed the weapon, it hadn’t done enough (not by a long shot), and the DMR-14 was ridiculous levels of broken — three shotting people with full armor all the way across the map.

I hated using the DMR-14, but I didn’t have a chance in hell at winning unless I was using it too. There simply were no other competitive options outside of four broken weapons.

Make no mistake, the DMR-14 is still a powerful option in Warzone after its second nerf. But the great news is that you have plenty of other options — potentially better ones now.

Another quick turnaround from Raven Software, addressing weapon balance and fixing the terrible infinite stim glitch that made Warzone unwinnable for non-cheaters.

Most surprising of the notes was the fact that the DMR-14 previously had sniper rifle levels of bullet penetration through cover despite the fact that its greedy magazine is fed with the much more abundant and easy to carry AR/LMG ammo. This change, along with decreased damage at range with some added recoil has brought the DMR-14 down from its previous levels of brokenness.

It is beyond refreshing to run around Verdansk with a bolt-action sniper rifle again and not be punished for it.

The New Call of Duty: Warzone Loadout I’m Using

Popularized by famous Youtuber JackFrags, this new loadout is as awesome as it is powerful. I’ve modified the kit to better suit my playstyle.

The Tundra LW3 is my favorite of the snipers offered in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. In Warzone, it’s a different beast altogether.

Thanks to my time playing Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War with friends, I was able to bling out my loadout with gold camo fairly easily. Unfortunately, it is harder to earn weapon camos while playing Warzone, but the rest of the shared progression system is nothing but upside.

The Tundra-LW3 provides devastating kill-potential at long ranges while the FFAR-1 is an excellent short-to mid-range AR. Image Source: Screen Capture/Activision.

E.O.D. — Take less damage from explosives and fire. This one is essential to keep you alive from those random explosives and molotovs thrown in the final circle or into your building.

Overkill — Very much needed for this build. Overkill lets us take the FFAR-1 as our secondary weapon for close to mid-range engagements with foes.

Amped — Swap faster to the FFAR-1. This one is essential for those situations where an enemy unexpectedly emerges close by or rushes us.

C4 — Though it was nerfed, you can still set up some cool traps and do a ton of damage. C4 provides a good bit of utility and the ability to take out enemy vehicles. Not essential by any means, so take your lethal of choice for this slot if you don’t like C4.

Heartbeat Sensor/Stun Grenade — I love the heartbeat sensor in this game. It’s a miniature less-reliable UAV in your pocket, and it will help you get some kills. Just take the info you get from it with a grain of salt. A lot of players will play the perk that keeps them from appearing on the heartbeat sensor and nothing is more terrifying than running headfirst into an enemy after your heartbeat sensor said the area was clear.

For more utility (especially in duos/trios/quads) consider taking stun grenades to disrupt your enemies and allow your teammates to focus fire on the stunned foe.

Tundra-LW3 Attachments

These are the attachments I’m rocking on my Tundra LW3 in Warzone at the moment. the Tundra-LW3 excels at long-range kill potential and is once again a viable option now that the DMR-14 doesn’t perform like a suped-up sniper rifle.

Tundra LW3 Ashwood. Image Source: Screen Capture/Activision.

Wrapped Suppressor — Keeps you off the mini-map and helps with recoil control.

— Keeps you off the mini-map and helps with recoil control. 28.2" Tiger Team — All-around boosts to damage, range, and bullet velocity help secure long-range kills at impressive distances. Mitigates some of the negative attributes of the wrapped suppressor so you don’t have to lead your shots as much in long-range situations.

— All-around boosts to damage, range, and bullet velocity help secure long-range kills at impressive distances. Mitigates some of the negative attributes of the wrapped suppressor so you don’t have to lead your shots as much in long-range situations. Patrol Grip — More or less an extra slot on this weapon, can be swapped for a larger weapon magazine if you prefer. Extra movement speed from this grip gives better mobility when sprinting from cover to cover. With our other attachments, the base mag holds four rounds. Perform a tactical reload (reload when there’s at least one bullet left in the mag) and you’ll have the fresh four rounds in the mag + one in the chamber for a total capacity of five.

— More or less an extra slot on this weapon, can be swapped for a larger weapon magazine if you prefer. Extra movement speed from this grip gives better mobility when sprinting from cover to cover. With our other attachments, the base mag holds four rounds. Perform a tactical reload (reload when there’s at least one bullet left in the mag) and you’ll have the fresh four rounds in the mag + one in the chamber for a total capacity of five. Airborne Elastic Wrap — Faster aim down sight time and less flinching when being shot at so you can secure kills even when getting hit by the enemy.

— Faster aim down sight time and less flinching when being shot at so you can secure kills even when getting hit by the enemy. SAS Combat Stock — Walk faster while you are aiming down the scope. Strafe from side to side to make yourself much harder to hit when dueling an enemy sniper or an enemy that’s moving in on your position.

FFAR-1 Attachments

The FFAR-1 absolutely shreds. It has a sky-high fire rate, so we build around trying to better control its recoil when holding down the trigger. This weapon can outperform the Mac-10 up close if you hit your shots and does well enough at mid-range encounters. Paired with the Tundra LW3, we have a kit that can excel in combat at any range.

FFAR-1. Image Source: Screen Capture/Activision.

Agency Suppressor — Helps control the vertical recoil and keeps us off the mini-map of our opponents when firing.

— Helps control the vertical recoil and keeps us off the mini-map of our opponents when firing. 21.2" Ranger Barrel — Better bullet velocity which will help with longer-range encounters. Helps mitigate the negative aspects of the agency suppressor.

— Better bullet velocity which will help with longer-range encounters. Helps mitigate the negative aspects of the agency suppressor. Hawksmoor — The optic for this build is entirely subjective, use your favorite or take the iron sights for an extra laser/rear grip/stock attachment slot. Note: Any sight with more than a 2x zoom makes this weapon much harder to aim.

— The optic for this build is entirely subjective, use your favorite or take the iron sights for an extra laser/rear grip/stock attachment slot. Note: Any sight with more than a 2x zoom makes this weapon much harder to aim. Field Agent Grip — Vertical and horizontal recoil control. This grip helps us sustain fire and better control the recoil of this weapon.

— Vertical and horizontal recoil control. This grip helps us sustain fire and better control the recoil of this weapon. Salvo 50 RND Fast Mag — With its insane fire rate, we need an extended magazine. Even with 50 rounds, it won’t last long when you’re firing full auto. The fast mag lets us reload much faster at the cost of some aim down sight time.

The DMR-14, Mac-10, and Diamattis Post-Patch — What’s Next and What Still Needs More Tuning.

Quite a lot of players are still using the DMR-14 (+Type-63), Mac-10, and dual-wield Diamattis. Thankfully, this patch massively downgrades the DMR-14 to reasonable levels. In the hands of a skilled player with more patience in how they cadence their shots, the DMR-14 is still going to be a great mid-range weapon option. But it’s once again being outclassed at range by other marksman and sniper rifles that are truly meant to dominate in long-range engagements.

The Mac-10 is still one of the best building-clearing weapons in the game. In tight hallways and close engagements, it melts your enemies, even with the previous nerf to headshot damage. With its insane rate of fire, this was always the sweet spot where the Mac-10 is supposed to shine. With most players needing to invest in the Overkill perk to add it to their loadout since they won’t be using it as their primary weapon, it’s in a decent enough place.

Other SMGs that players can kit out and find in Verdansk and Rebirth Island have similar time-to-kill, but usually have some drawbacks that are more apparent than the Mac-10’s. Perhaps a slight additional nerf to base damage will bring this weapon more in-line with others and encourage players to explore the viability of other SMG offerings for their secondaries.

Tiny Comrade Diamatti. Image Source: Activision.

As for the Akimbo duel-wield Diamattis, I haven’t done enough testing to really say if the recent nerf did enough. On paper, an 11% damage nerf and removal of bonus-damage zones from enemies when dual-wielding (IE no headshot damage), would seem to be enough. But after winning my gulag match in a post-patch game, I was able to overtake a player using them and confiscate their Diamattis for my own. I absolutely shredded an unsuspecting player who burst through my building, but that may have just been because the dual pistols I scavenged were decked out in the purple anime tracker skins and all the best attachments.

The main issue of the Diamattis is that they are able to perform almost as well as the Mac-10 (perhaps even better in certain situations) and spit an absurd amount of lead, so much to the point where it sounds like your audio glitched out when you’re really cranking on the triggers. All that without the investment in the Overkill perk required to tote around the Mac-10 as a secondary weapon. This means players effectively regain access to their second perk slot to add more utility, all the while effectively using 1.5 to 2 primary weapons with the Diamattis depending on who’s counting.

Call of Duty: Warzone is in a much better place. The meta has room to evolve and adapt, and hopefully, we’ll see more viable weapon options emerge now that the scourage of the DMR-14 has been lifted.

What do you think about the recent Call of Duty: Warzone changes? What loadouts are you using now that the DMR-14 has been nerfed? Let me know in the comments below!