Gun customizers rejoice, because the gunsmith system is back in Call of Duty: Vanguard, allowing you to slap on up to 10 different add-ons onto every single gun. Ignoring all sense of realism or historical accuracy, you can make your favorite WW2 weapons in franken-guns with completely anachronistic red dot sights and other bits of gear. Customizing your weapons is just part of the multiplayer fun, and if you’re just getting started and looking for weird, fun builds to try yourself, we’ve collected some of our tested favorites from the community.
Call of Duty: Vanguard is built off the Modern Warfare engine, but this game is anything but slow-paced. Modes like Blitz are a mess of K/Ds with players spawning on top of each other within seconds. This is one of the most chaotic CODs in recent memory, throwing you into an insane meat-grinder that’s all about getting the most kills the quickest. And these weapons are designed to spit out as much lead as possible while also giving you a smooth experience. The new proficiency that allows you to shoot guns while sprinting? That’s a true game changer.
More Call of Duty: Vanguard guides:
Zombies: Everything You Need To Know About Der Anfang Map Guide | Zombies: How To Survive Into High Rounds Solo | Zombies: How To Get Free Quick Revives | Multiplayer: Settings To Change First | Multiplayer: How To Earn Easy Weapon XP
STG44
The all-arounder Assault Rifle is a great starting pick for any player. While you can focus on medium-range combat, Vanguard is a blazingly fast game. Turning the STG into the Bonerattler Variant is a good starting method for success. With this variant, you can unleash a barrage of bullets on your enemies.
- Add Krausnick 220MM Rapid (Barrel) + 8MM Kurz 45 Round Drums
- Add Mark VI Skeletal (Underbarrel) + Recoil Booster (Muzzle)
- Remove Stock
- Add Nerves of Steel + Fully Loaded Proficiency
Sten
The Sten is your all-around basic power weapon for unleashing a hail of bullets. How you customize it is up to you — including if you prefer hip fire or ADS accuracy, or if you prefer giant drum magazines or smaller mags you can reload faster. Whatever the case, the Sten is a handy all-around weapon for beginners that want to up their mobility.
- Add SA 65MM Rapid (Barrel)
- Add 9MM 50 Round Drums
- Add Sleight of Hand + Fully Loaded
M1 Garand
Instead of using the M1 for sniper kills, you can turn it into a hilarious knifing machine. Remove the Sniper Scope and give yourself anything that improves movement speed. Slap on a Bayonet and have fun, dropping Smoke Grenades to block sightlines while you slash the opposition from ridiculous melee ranges.
- Remove Sniper Scope
- Add Bayonet (Underbarrel)
- Add Reach + Spotter Proficiency
- Smoke Grenade Non-Lethal
MG42
The MG42 is a spray-and-pray gun that becomes an insane multi-kill machine. Accuracy and focus purely on damage (plus extra fire rate) to unleash a hose of destruction. Add incendiary and players won’t be able to react to all the fire in their face.
- Add Mark VI Skeletal (Underbarrel) + Leather Grip
- Add VDD 680MM 31MM (Barrel) + VDD Skeleton (Stock)
- Add 6.5 Sakura 125 Round Drum + Incendiary Ammo
- Add Steady + Fully Loaded Proficiency
Thompson
With the Thompson, you’ll want to focus on mobility, ADS speed, accuracy and damage. Improving accuracy means you can take out enemies even when hip-firing and really unload.
- Add No. 3 Rifle Brake + Medium Ironsights
- Add CGC S Adjustable Stock
- Add Frangible Ammo + Taped Grip
- Add Steady + Quick Proficiency
Einhorn Revolving Shotgun
With the Gung-Ho Proficiency, you can actually fire this powerful sawed-off shotgun while sprinting. We’re going to killer damage and dexterity. This gun is still hilariously accurate, and can be used to snipe people from across the map.
- Add Sawed Off (Barrel) + Removed Stock
- Add Slug Ammo
- Add Stippled Grip + Carver Foregrip
- Add Gung-Ho + Quick Proficiency
There’s really no wrong choices when it comes to guns. These are some fun loadouts you can try for yourself — and you don’t have to copy them exactly, just aim for a similar shooting experience with what you’ve got unlocked so far. Results may vary, but we had a blast giving these community-suggested weapons a try.
