Warzone Season 1 Meta: The Best MWIII Weapons To Use In BR & Resurgence

The fourth year of Warzone has begun, and all the new MW3 weapons have been integrated. But for those who haven't been grinding multiplayer in the pre-season, it can be hard to know what you should level up first. To make sure you only put time into useful unlocks, here is what we predict the Warzone Season 1 meta will be.

Warzone Season 1 Meta
Warzone Season 1 Meta: Here are the best weapons for you to level up first. | © Activision

If you haven't bought MWIII (you're missing out), it can be hard to know exactly what to level-up first for Warzone. There are dozens of new weapons now from MWIII, and they're pretty much all better than the current MWII weapons, but some are far better than others.

You can find our recommendation for the best Warzone loadout below. At the moment, we are focused on making one great AR/SMG class for BR and Resurgence, but once we know about exactly how good snipers are, we will also make an additional meta loadout for those who want to snipe (it's difficult to predict which snipers will be meta, because we don't know if they will allow the Longbow to be a one-shot headshot).

Warzone Season 1 Meta: Overview

If you just want a quick snapshot of our recommendations for Season 1, here is what we predict the Warzone meta will be:

  • Primary: WSP Swarm (New)
  • Secondary: BAS-B (New)
  • Tactical: Smoke Grenades
  • Lethal: Throwing Knives
  • Perks
    • Base Perks: Tac-Mask, Battle Hardened
    • Bonus Perks: Resupply
    • Ultimate Perks: Tempered (New)

You can find complete attachment setups for the weapons below.

Warzone Season 1 Meta: Primary & Secondary Weapons

Overkill (the ability to carry two Primary weapons) is free for all loadouts now, so we can take an SMG for close-range and an AR/BR for long-range without needing the perk.

Primary Weapon (Close-Range): WSP Swarm

We expect an SMG called the Striker will get buffed into the meta soon (there are lots of bundles on the way for this weapon), but until then we are betting on the WSP Swarm being the best SMG for Warzone.

In Warzone we get Overkill for free nowadays, so we don't need to worry about taking weapons that can be good at multiple ranges, instead we can take a dedicated short-range weapon, and a dedicated long-range weapon. Given that we are therefore only using our SMG in this specific role, we can go with the WSP Swarm, which is bad at mid-range (even for an SMG), but is super reliable in any engagement taking place at less than 10 meters.

Here are the attachments we recommend:

WSP Swarm Attachments Warzone Season 1 Meta
Warzone Season 1 Meta: The WSP Swarm will be a great SMG for close-range, although it does have noticable damage dropoff so choose engangements wisely. | © Activision
SlotAttachment

Stats (Pros)

Stats (Cons)How To Unlock
MuzzleShadowstrike Suppressor S↑ Undetectable by RadarNoneStriker Level 11
BarrelWSP Ruthless-L Barrel

↑↑ Bullet Velocity & Range

↑ Aiming Idle Sway

↓↓ Sprint to Fire SpeedWSP Swarm Level 9

Magazine

50 Round Mag

↑↑↑ Magazine Ammo Capacity

↓↓ Movement Speed ↓↓ Aim Down Sight Speed ↓ Reload Quickness ↓ Sprint to Fire SpeedWSP Swarm Level 17
Ammunition9mm High Grain↑↑ Bullet Velocity↑ Damage Range↓↓ Recoil ControlAMR9 Level 29
UnderbarrelDR-6 Handstop↑↑ Aim Walking Speed↑↑ Aim Down Sight Speed↑ Sprint To Fire Speed↑ Movement Speed↓↓ Hipfire & Tac Stance Spread↓ Aim Walking SteadinessWSP Swarm Level 23

As you can see, with our attachments, we want to increase damage range as much as we can without affecting our handling speeds or mobility. The High Grain ammo is perfect for this, as it increases damage range but only at the cost of recoil control.

We also have an extended magazine, because we need extra firepower in a squad-based game like Warzone, and the suppressor because we want to stay off the minimap. If you hate the ironsights then we recommend dropping the underbarrel first and replacing it with a red-dot.

Secondary Weapon (Long-Range): BAS-B

For our long-range option, we recommend the BAS-B, which has been dominating MW3's multiplayer and is one of the strongest Battle Rifles we've ever seen in CoD. This weapon has everything you want: The recoil is manageable, the TTK (time-to-kill) is impressive, you can use 45 round extended mags, and the handling is decent. We would love a 60 round drum mag, but 45 is still viable for Warzone.

Here is the build we recommend you use:

BAS B Attachments Warzone Season 1 Meta
Warzone Season 1 Meta: We predict the BAS-B will be meta for a long time this year in Warzone; it's fantastic for multiplayer and an obvious choice for your long-range option. | © Activision
SlotAttachment

Stats (Pros)

Stats (Cons)How To Unlock
MuzzleVT-7 Spitfire Suppressor L↑ Undetectable by Radar ↑↑ Recoil Control ↑↑ Bullet Velocity ↑ Damage Range↓↓ Aim Down Sight Speed ↓ Aim Walking Steadiness ↓ Sprint To Fire SpeedBAS-B to Level 18
BarrelBruen Venom Long Barrel

↑↑ Bullet Velocity & Range

↑↑ Recoil Control

↑ Aiming Idle Stability

↑ Gun Kick Control

↓↓ Sprint To Fire Speed ↓ Movement Speed↓ Sprint SpeedBAS-B Level 2

Optic

Mk. 3 Reflector

↑ Precision Sight Picture

NoneMTZ-556 Level 2
Rear GripSTT88 Grip↑↑ Firing Aim Stability↑↑ Gun Kick Control↑ Recoil Control↓↓ Aiming Idle SwayBAS-B Level 6
Magazine45 Round Magazine↑↑↑ Magazine Ammo Capacity↓↓ Aim Down Sight Speed

↓↓ Reload Quickness

↓ Movement Speed

↓ Sprint To Fire Speed

BAS-B Level 19

For a weapon like this, our aim is to extend the effective range of the rifle by increasing bullet velocity and recoil control, but unlike with an SMG, we can afford to sacrifice mobility and handling to get those benefits. Hence, we've taken the heavy barrel and a suppressor that also increases bullet velocity.

If you want to try out a 2.5x rather than 1x optic, we recommend the Corio Eagle, which uses the same reticle as the beloved 3-6x scope from Vanguard. Although, if you are more of a Resurgence player, the 1x might be the better option.

If you want even less recoil than the BAS-B, we recommend trying the MCW. That weapon has a worse TTK, but out of all the new ARs and BRs it also has the lowest recoil.

Warzone Season 1 Meta: Equipment & Perks

Before we jump in here, please be aware that Overkill is now free, that's why you won't see it under our perk recommendations, despite the fact our loadout contains two primary weapons.

Warzone Season 1 Meta Equipment: Tactical & Lethal

As mentioned in our overview of the Warzone meta, we recommend taking Smoke Grenades and Throwing Knives. Smokes are very useful for getting out of sticky situations, and crossing cover. They won't directly help you to get kills like a Flash or Stun, but they will keep you alive. However, the lethal grenade choice is a little more complicated.

There are some players who won't get much value out of Throwing Knives, but if you are aggressive and get into a lot of close-range engagements, then we think they are the obvious choice. Not only can you use them faster than anything else to actually win a fight, but you can also use Throwing Knives to finish any downs you get. However, if you tend to play at longer-ranges and keep your distance, Semtex might make more sense for you.

Although important, Smokes aren't quite as essential as before. This is because there are fewer open spaces on Urzikstan (the new big map), check it out:

Warzone Season 1 Meta Perks: Base, Bonus & Ultimate

Warzone will sadly be keeping the "Perk Package" system from last year, and it will not be adopting the new perk system introduced by MW3. Therefore, we expect very little to change in the Warzone meta as far as perks are concerned. The only major difference is that Ghost has been nerfed to only work while moving, and Overkill is now free for every loadout so doesn't need to be chosen. But besides those changes, perks will feel familiar to anyone long-term Warzone players.

We recommend using the following Perk Package:

Perk Slot

Perk/s

Comment
BaseBattle Hardened, Tac MaskThese perks will help you every single game you play, even if they aren't the most exciting.
BonusResupply Serpentine (a very strong perk) might be returning to this slot soon, but we need to see how powerful they make it.
Ultimate Tempered Possibly consider High Alert if you only play Resurgence. But in most cases we consider Tempered the better all-around choice.

The Ghost perk might be buffed up into the meta again one day, but at the moment it stops working as soon as you stop moving, so it isn't actually that useful.

And there you have it ladies and gentlemen, our recommendations for the weapons and perks you should be using for Warzone Season 1. We regularly update this article whenever a new update has affected the meta, so make sure to check back in post-patch.

Jon Ramuz

Jon has a BA and an MA in English Literature, and as Content Lead for EarlyGame has written over 1,500 articles. He focuses on shooters, but also writes about entertainment and gaming in general....