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The best MP5 loadouts in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

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One of Call of Duty’s most iconic weapons is the MP5, a lightweight, powerful SMG that works in many situations. In Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, the MP5 makes its triumphant return, but with the slew of possible attachments and perks you can equip, it might be tough to pick the best loadout for the weapon. After all, Treyarch has implemented way more customization options than before, which is ultimately a good thing, but it can lead to being paralyzed with all the choices available to you.

Fortunately, we’ve spent a considerable amount of time with Black Ops Cold War and the MP5, and have a good understanding of how the weapon works. Here, we’ll let you in on some of the best loadouts you can use with it, including the best attachments, equipment, and perks to get the most out of the MP5.

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MP5 overview

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The MP5 is one of the most beloved weapons in Call of Duty history. It works well with the game’s fast pace, and is ideal for those who like to get right in the face of their enemies. Skilled players can effectively use the weapon at medium range, but for the most part, this is meant for up-close battles. It’s got a fast rate of fire and manageable control, making it ideal for newcomers and veterans alike. Above all else, the MP5 just feels good to use. How a weapon feels in Call of Duty can make or break its effectiveness depending on your play style. With the right attachments, you can absolutely dominate with this weapon, regardless of map or game mode in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

Close range

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As mentioned above, you won’t be using the MP5 to snipe enemies across the map. Sure, it’s possible to get long-range kills with this weapon, but even expert players will have a tough time pulling off eliminations that aren’t at close to medium range. To get the most out of this weapon, you should fully deck it out with attachments for close-quarters battles. Here are the recommended perks to use for those situations.

Optic None
Muzzle Agency Suppressor
Barrel 9.5″ Task Force
Body None
Underbarrel None
Magazine 40 Rnd Drum
Handle Airborne Elastic Wrap
Stock Raider Stock

Regardless of your playstyle, if you’re going to use a Muzzle, we highly recommend the Agency Suppressor, as it’s easily the best in the game for getting up close and personal. Not only does it keep you off the radar — which is ideal for sneaking around and getting into the enemy’s spawn — but it also boosts the weapon’s vertical recoil control by 7%. For the Barrel, you should use the 9.5″ Task Force, which gives you a 6% damage boost, a 50% increase in damage range, and increases your bullet velocity by 75%. While the damage range and bullet velocity boosts won’t be too effective since you’ll be mostly using the MP5 up close, the main reason to use this barrel is for the increase in damage. An improvement of 6% doesn’t sound like much, but this can often make or break certain gunfights.

Since the MP5 has such a high rate of fire, you’ll likely blow through the ammo in your clip. To mitigate that, we recommend using the 40 round drum. The extra 10 bullets will save your life — trust us. Pretty much any of the other magazines will slow down your aim down sights (ADS) speed, so we typically advise to avoid those. As for the Handle, it’s a good idea to use the Airborne Elastic Wrap for its 30% increase in ADS speed, 90% flinch resistance, and the ability to aim while going prone. All of those factors make a huge difference, but the ADS speed boost is the main reason to use that Handle. Finally, you should use the Raider Stock to gain a 30% sprint to fire speed increase, along with a 10% aim walking movement speed boost. Being able to run around and quickly begin firing will save your life, especially if you have increased damage and ADS speed.

As for your secondary weapon, almost anything is a good choice. We like RPGs for crowd control, but the Gallo SA12 shotgun is great, as well as the knife. We found that the knife is great since you’ll be up close anyway, making it easy to swap to it to finish off any nearby enemies. For tactical, we cannot recommend the Stimshot enough. This item immediately initiates healing and is super effective when facing off against multiple enemies. Pretty much after any time you take damage is a good time to use the Stimshot. We also like using the Semtex grenade because it explodes quickly and doesn’t roll, but most of the lethal equipment is good. And for the Filed Upgrade, we’ve been loving the Field Mic, as it effectively works like a mini-UAV, revealing most of the enemy players’ locations if you put it in a high traffic area.

The perks in Black Ops Cold War are a mixture of familiar and new, and for the most part, they’re all decent. For the MP5, we recommend using the Perk Greed Wildcard to allow you to use two perks from each category. For category one, we like Engineer, which allows you to see enemy equipment through walls, and Flak Jacket, to enhance your resistance against explosives. For category two, the Gearhead perk is a good choice, as it reduces the charge time of your Field Upgrade, along with Tracker, revealing enemy footsteps. Finally, for category three, we highly suggest using the Gung-ho perk to allow you to use equipment while sprinting and to switch weapons faster, with the Ghost perk to stay off the enemy radar during UAVs.

All-around

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If you’re playing on a larger map or a game mode that lends itself more to medium/long-range encounters, you’ll want to adjust the attachments you use with your MP5. Before you do that, make sure you slap on the Gunfighter Wildcard to allow for three additional weapon attachment slots. This will allow you to get the best of both worlds — making your weapon deadly at close range and effective during medium-range firefights.

Optic Microflex LED
Muzzle Socom Eliminator
Barrel 9.5″ Task Force
Body Steady Aim Laser
Underbarrel SFOD Speedgrip
Magazine 40 Rnd Drum
Handle Airborne Elastic Wrap
Stock Raider Stock

Right off the bat, you should probably equip some sort of Optic on the MP5 if you’ll be using it at medium range. Its iron sights aren’t terrible, but they become increasingly less useful the farther away your target is. We like the Microflex LED Optic because it’s just like the red dot from the classic Modern Warfare games, but use whichever you’re comfortable with. Things get tricky when deciding which Muzzle to use, but if you’ll be facing off against enemies at medium range, you should use one that doesn’t impact your damage range. These are Muzzles like the Socom Eliminator, or the Flashguard 9. You might be tempted to use the Agency Suppressor, but it lowers your damage range by 25%, which is absolutely noticeable.

For the Barrel, again, go with the 9.5″ Task Force for its boost to damage, damage range, and bullet velocity. As for Body attachments, none of them are amazing, but the one with the fewest downsides is the Steady Aim Laser, which increases your hip fire accuracy by 15%. All of the other ones are either not useful, or have too many negatives to justify attaching them. Next up is the SFOD Speedgrip Underbarrel, which increases your sprint move speed by 10% and your horizontal recoil control by 15%. This comes in handy when executing long-range shots. The final three attachment slots — 40 round drum Magazine, Airborne Elastic Wrap Handle, and Raider Stock — are the same as the close range loadout.

In fact, the secondary weapon and equipment are all the same as well. The only difference comes in the perks you use since you’ll have the Gunfighter Wildcard that prevents you from having two perks from each slot like in the first loadout. Since you’ll only have one perk from each category, you’ll have to be much more conscientious about which ones you choose. We still recommend the Flak Jacket perk for slot one, to take less explosive damage; the Gearhead perk for slot two, to reduce Field Upgrade charge time; and Gung-ho for slot three, which allows you to use equipment while running, among other features. You can swap the third perk for something like Ghost (avoid UAV detection), or Ninja (sprint more quietly), depending on the game mode you’re playing.

Keep in mind, these perks, attachments, and equipment items are what works well for us. Use this guide to start with and adjust accordingly based on your playstyle. The beauty of the sheer number of customization options means that players of all skill levels and play styles will likely have an option for them. Just make sure you adjust your loadout depending on game mode and map. Not all loadouts work well across the board, so keep that in mind while playing.

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Joseph Yaden
Joseph Yaden
Joseph Yaden is a freelance journalist who covers Nintendo, shooters, and horror games. He mostly covers game guides for…
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