Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War fans have grown accustomed to the best weapon options for the game’s multiplayer. As such, most weapon tier lists for the game will see SMGs like the LC10 and MAC-10 ranking near the top, with the bottom tiers accompanied by guns like the FFAR and the mostly useless rocket launchers. However, Call of Duty Zombies is a different beast entirely, and this shows clearly with the mode’s separate meta.

With Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies making ammo an afterthought, as players can loot magazines off Zombies or resupply their weapons whenever they see fit, specific guns stand out slightly less. While there are some notable exceptions to the rule, a vast majority of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies’ weapon tiers can be defined by their class. As such, players can find success with any Shotgun, though they will likely find any Assault Rifle lacking. With this in mind, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War fans will want to be careful which weapon class they are choosing from when they make their loadouts.

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• M82
• LW3 Tundra
• Pelington 703

For many longtime Call of Duty Zombies fans, seeing snipers ranking this low will be genuinely disappointing to see. After all, sniper rifles in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and 3 were incredibly powerful, as the DSR 50 and Drakon could be used to shred through entire hordes with only a few shots. The snipers in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 got the job done as well, with the Koshka being a powerful gun that could be bought off the wall on numerous maps. For one major reason, though, snipers in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War are a cut below what came before.

While the LW3 Tundra may dominate in multiplayer lobbies, the weapon and its peers are useless in Zombies due to a lack of bullet penetration. While Zombies can be killed in one shot to the head, and a sniper can decimate Mimics and Manglers on Firebase Z, regular hordes are too much for the weapon. As such, avoiding snipers until some kind of penetration buff happens would be a wise decision.

• FARA 83
• XM4
• QBZ-83
• Krig 6
• FFAR
• AK-47
• Groza
• M16
• Type 63
• DMR 14
• AUG

Unfortunately, a lot of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s most reliable weapons in multiplayer find themselves making up this low tier. While the eventual addition of Double Tap will change this, right now Assault Rifles are fairly useless inside Zombies. While they may not get players killed like Snipers will, they will not do much killing, either.

The same can be said for the game’s tactical rifles. While the M16 and AUG were nerfed in multiplayer, they could use a boost here. While they are slightly better than Assault Rifles due to their accuracy and headshot damage potential, the difference is negligible. Still, with the same pitfalls overall, these guns should only get better when Double Tap makes its debut.

• LC10
• MAC-10
• KSP 45
• MP5
• AK-74u
• Bullfrog
• Milano 821
• Knife
• Sledgehammer
• Wakizashi
• E-Tool
• Machete

While SMGs are another weapon category that would benefit from Double Tap, they do perform decently well — especially if players level them up through the new Zombies skill tiers. While a low magazine size hurts a bit, and better options are available, guns like the LC10 are a decent middle-of-the-road option for Zombies fans. Though they will rarely be a weapon of choice, they are a fine thing to pull from the box and use until a better weapon is stumbled upon.

Melee weapons, surprisingly, find themselves in this category as well. Now able to be Pack-A-Punched and equipped with ammo mods, something like the Sledgehammer can be turned into Thor’s Hanmer Mjolnir. With a flaming Wakizashi sword and a poisonous machete also possible, melee gameplay in Zombies is a lot more fun than it used to be. That said, it is still riskier than firing a gun at the undead hordes, meaning that players should not rely too much on the class.

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• RPG-7
• Cigma 2
• M79
• 1911
• Diamatti
• Magnum

B Tier is arguably the most surprising, as only inside Zombies could launchers and pistols be considered some of the better weapons available to players. However, with no Flak Jacket perk to protect the undead, the M79, China Lake, and RPG-7 are all valid options. With PhD Flopper rumored to return, too, negating any splash damage, launchers might only get better soon.

While it will be interesting to see if the crossbow weapon continues the trend, players already plenty of other great secondary weapons to make use of in Zombies. All the pistols are powerful in their own ways, with the Diamatti pistol providing a great fire rate and the Magnum’s headshot damage being second to none. The 1911 is a great blend of the two, which is fitting of Zombies’ iconic starting pistol.

• Streetsweeper
• Gallo SA12
• RPD
• M60
• Stoner 63

The best of the best standard weapons will be unsurprising to anyone that has played Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies for an extended amount of time. LMGs have always been amongst the best guns to use in Zombies due to their high damage and huge magazine. That has not changed in the latest Black Ops game, and it likely never will, as the RPD, the M60, and the Stoner 63 are so excellent.

However, there is a noticeable difference between LMGs and Shotguns, with the former being A- weapon choices and the latter being A+. At one point, the Gallo SA12 was considered the best Zombies weapon before players found that another shotgun was better. The Streetsweeper is just as strong, and if players can get by the weapon’s brutally slow reload speed prior to being Pack-A-Punched, its 45 round magazines are extremely satisfied to fire into hordes of walking corpses.

• DIE Machine
• Ray Gun
• RAI-K84
• Hauer 77

Unsurprisingly, Wonder Weapons are the best of the best in terms of quality. Like any other Call of Duty Zombies game, players will find that these rare weapons are the best at taking down hordes. The electric variant of the DIE is great at crowd control, while the RAI-K 84 does good damage alongside its special slow effect. The Ray Gun is the best it has ever been, with the weapon always being exciting to obtain.

However, there is one weapon that is equally as strong as the iconic Ray Gun — and the gun in question is not even a Wonder Weapon. Instead, it is another Shotgun, with the Hauer 77 being the undisputed king of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies. Killing Megatons and Panzers in a few shots while absolutely decimating regular Zombies, this weapon is dominant throughout the entirety of the match. The secret to the Hauer is to equip the gun’s final barrel unlock, as it provides a massive 72% boost to the gun’s damage. Ludicrously overpowered and consistently fun to use, everyone should give this weapon a try.

With nothing else even coming close apart from the game’s Wonder Weapons, the Hauer 77 is the only weapon to choose when making a high round loadout inside Zombies.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.

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