Excluding knives, pistols, and launchers, you’ve got a total of 23 weapons to play around with in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. That’s a lot (though two less than Black Ops 6), so it’s not always easy to know what the best guns are at any given moment if you’re more meta-minded.

Of course, if you’re going for all the Black Ops 7 Mastery Camos, then you’ll be using all 30 of the launch weapons eventually, anyhow. Even so, it’s a good idea to start with the meta weapons in the event that they get nerfed and become harder to progress. Or, better yet, the worst guns get a buff later down the line.

Best Black Ops 7 guns in the meta

In the launch Black Ops 7 meta, the best guns are:

M15 MOD 0

(Image credit: Activision)

It may be the very first assault rifle in the game, but the M15 loadout doesn’t mess around. Seriously. To make up for its fairly average rate of fire for an assault rifle, the M15 has great mobility and handling. Plus, it’s also got a reliable 315ms time-to-kill all the way out to 46 meters and little recoil compared to its counterparts like the MXR-17.

It’s a great all-rounder, and you don’t even need to lift a finger to unlock it. Honestly, it’s basically the only weapon you need.

AK-27

(Image credit: Activision)

If you can manage to rip yourself away from the M15, your next pick should be the AK-27 assault rifle. It’s got the third fastest time-to-kill of all the assault rifles at 264ms, but it’s got effectively no range drop off, even compared to the M15.

Alongside this fast TTK, the AK-27 also boasts easily controllable recoil and great close-range handling, too. It’s a jack of all trades, especially with mobility-boosting attachments in the best AK-27 loadout.

Dravec 45

(Image credit: Activision)

The SMGs aren’t doing too hot right now, but it’s hard to ignore the Dravec 45. This was the king of the beta, and although it was nerfed for launch, it’s still a very strong pick. The Dravec is intended for close-range shootouts, and that’s undoubtedly where it excels, particularly if you use mobility attachments. Basically, you want to slide and jump all over the place while rinsing enemies.

The Dravec also has surprisingly great recoil control and better damage drop off than any other SMG. In other words, you’d be surprised how strong the Dravec can be in medium range when the situation calls for it.

RK-9

(Image credit: Activision)

The other SMG that’s worth using, and one of my favourite weapons in the entire game, is the RK-9. It’s an odd SMG in that it’s actually burst-fire, but it rocks an incredibly fast TTK. In fact, if you’re using its Prestige attachment to increase the rate of fire, it’ll kill in just 169ms.

I wasn’t expecting a burst-fire SMG to be this powerful, but it is, and it’s so much fun to use. Build it for mobility, and you’ll blitz through the enemy.

Warden 308

(Image credit: Activision)

The Warden 308 might just be the most baffling and infuriating weapon in BO7. It’s a marksman rifle, so you’d expect it to be better suited to long range, but that’s not really the case in practice. Slap on a red dot, and the Warden is basically a shotgun with max range.

This rifle will kill enemies with just one shot to the chest and above. So, use attachments to increase aim down sight speed and close-range handling, and literally nothing will be able to out DPS you—even with its built-in firing delay.

M34 Novaline

(Image credit: Activision)

Like the Warden, the M34 Novaline is a marksman rifle that makes mincemeat of people at close and medium range. It fires in a two-shot burst, but land both shots, and your enemy will drop in the blink of an eye.

Just as you would with the Warden, use attachments to increase aim down sight speed and handling so you’re more agile with this larger weapon.

All Black Ops 7 weapons and how to unlock them

At launch, there’s a total of 30 weapons in Black Ops 7, made up of 23 primary weapons, three pistols, two launchers, and two melee weapons. There will be seven more weapons arriving in Season 1 shortly after launch, too.

Weapon Type Unlock Requirement Max Weapon Levels M15 MOD 0 Assault rifle Unlocked immediately 47 Ryden 45K SMG Unlocked immediately 42 MK.78 LMG Unlocked immediately 50 M10 Breacher Shotgun Unlocked immediately 36 VS Recon Sniper rifle Unlocked immediately 45 Jager 45 Pistol Unlocked immediately 31 AAROW 109 Launcher Unlocked immediately 30 Knife Melee Unlocked immediately 30 AK-27 Assault rifle Level 4 47 RK-9 SMG Level 7 42 M8A1 Marksman rifle Level 10 50 Shadow SK Sniper rifle Level 13 46 Velox 5.7 Pistol Level 13 30 MXR-17 Assault rifle Level 16 47 Razor 9mm SMG Level 19 42 Echo 12 Shotgun Level 22 36 Warden 308 Marksman rifle Level 25 43 A.R.C. M1 Launcher Level 25 30 X9 Maverick Assault rifle Level 28 42 XM325 LMG Level 31 50 Dravec 45 SMG Level 34 36 Coda 9 Pistol Level 34 30 DS20 Mirage Assault rifle Level 37 43 Akita Shotgun Level 40 43 XR-3 Ion Sniper rifle Level 43 44 Carbon 57 SMG Level 46 41 M34 Novaline Marksman rifle Level 49 48 Flatline MK.II Melee Level 49 30 Peacekeeper MK1 Assault rifle Level 52 46 MPC-25 SMG Level 55 42

BO7 Mastery Camos: Get grindingBO7 Dravec loadout: Best SMGBO7 M15 loadout: A lethal starter assault rifle

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