Cold War Secondary Weapons Guide

In Call of Duty Cold War, your loadout is pretty important. This is the selection of kit that you take into a game. It starts with your weapon, then its attachments, and the equipment or perks that you can take in too. While your main arm is the biggest element of your loadout,t he rest of it needs to be fine-tuned to work alongside it. Secondary weapons in Call of Duty aren’t the most eye-catching, but they can be an important part of your loadout. Using the right secondary weapon can be a big help when you’re caught short. Many players neglect them entirely, but you don’t need to if you’re using the best Cold War secondary weapons.

Cold War secondary weapons are a bit more interesting than in prior games. This time around you have access to shotguns as part of your secondary weapons. Shotguns are a powerful choice for a secondary. In the past, their limited utility made them difficult for players to use as a main weapon especially if you weren’t the best shot. Shotguns are now a much more viable option for Cold War secondary weapons. They don’t quite have the same punch that they did as primary weapons, but it is a more interesting option for you to try out.

This guide covers everything you need to know about Cold War secondary weapons. Including which are the best secondary weapons, and which types of weapons are best for which player.

The Best Cold War Secondary Weapons

Not looking for a complete guide to the Cold War secondary weapons? If you just need a quick recommendation to figure out which should be part of your loadout then these are the best Cold War secondary weapons.

The Best Cold War Shotgun – The Hauer 77 really stands out as the best Cold War shotgun. While it is slower, it is hard to ignore the one-hit-kill that it hands out.
The Best Cold War Pistol – Out of the pistols, the 1911 is a better choice. It is mainly useful as a backup, but compared with the Diamatti the better damage wins out.
The Best Cold War Launcher – The RPG-7 is the better choice for most players when it comes to launchers. You can use this on whatever target you want, so it is much more versatile than the auto-lock-on launcher. The RPG was pretty fun in Warzone too, and it feels similar here.

Those are the standout weapons in each category and the best Cold War secondary weapons. Our full guide below covers each of them in more detail though.

The Best Cold War Shotguns

Shotguns have been moved over into secondary weapons this time around. However, it isn’t as simple as getting the same quality shotgun but as an extra. Since they’re now the fallback, the Cold War shotguns have been toned down a bit. They don’t have the same strengths that they previously did. They’re still worth using, but keep in mind that shotguns are now a secondary in both name and function. These are the options:

Hauer 77 – This is definitely the best Cold War shotgun. It can do a one-shot kill, which is impressive with health as high as it is in Cold War. This is pump-action so you’re going to be reloading slow. The trade-off is worth it though. If you’re sticking with a shotgun as a secondary then this one is the closest to the power that shotguns had in previous games.
Gallo SA12 – This shotgun is semi-automatic and faster to reload, so it is easier to handle than the Hauer 77. It doesn’t do the same damage though. When it comes down to close combat shots, you don’t want to have to fire off a load of shots in succession, so this one isn’t as useful as the Hauer 77.

The Best Cold War Secondary Weapons – Pistols

Call of Duty Cold War Secondary Weapons

Pistols are the standard choice for a secondary weapon. They work as a fallback if you’re caught in a tight situation. These aren’t the flashiest of the Cold War secondary weapons, but they’ll get the job done. You’re not going to be building a loadout around your choice of pistol, but the most traditional option is often the best. These are the options in the game:

1911 – The 1911 is the best balance of the available pistols. It does a decent amount of damage but actually fires at a good speed too. Assuming you can hit headshots then this pistol is going to be all you need for some close combat.
Diamatti – This is a burst fire weapon, it shots off 3-round bursts with a relatively low damage per shot. It also takes quite a bit of time to reload. This is a clear worse choice for a pistol compared with the 1911, although it is still more manageable than the Magnum.
Magnum – The Magnum has a much higher damage rate than some of the other options available here. The weapon does have a lower muzzle velocity though. While this is only a side-arm, using Gunsmith can be helpful with this one. The Magnum does by far the highest damage. Although, it also does by far the lowest damage per second. There are types of players who this will benefit more than others, but on the whole the other pistols are better balanced.

The Best Cold War Secondary Weapons – Launchers

Launchers are the heavy duty explosive weapons. These have a variety of uses. The most obvious is to attack bigger pieces of equipment and vehicles from scorestreaks. You can get a lot of damage done this way. As explosives, you can also use them against players while this can be trickier at some times. Not every player on the team really needs to be running a Launcher. You also need to keep in mind that launchers are awful at close combat, so don’t use one if you’re only using a long-range weapon. These are the cold war secondary weapon Launchers.

Cigma 2 – This is a lock rock launcher. It can take down vehicles really very well. The downside is that this is slow to handle and has a small ammo pool. This one is pretty helpful, but most players don’t need that much help aiming for a lock-on.
RPG-7 – This is a free fire rocket launcher. It has a large blast radius and does decent damage to vehicles or even other players. This one of the Cold War secondary weapons is a lot more flexible.

Should You Use Lawbreaker for a Second Primary Weapon?

A lot of the best Call of Duty loadouts are going to recommend running Law Breaker to carry a second primary weapon rather than bothering with a secondary. This is a good idea for a few different types of weapons. Specifically if you’re using a weapon like a sniper or a tactical rifle then this is a must. Players using Ars and LMGs might also need to use law breaker, especially if their Gunsmith build makes the weapon useless or too slow when aiming from the hip. These are some of the best weapons to use as your fallback with law breaker:

MP5 – The MP5 is a classic choice for a secondary weapon. This is a strong and effective SMG. You can easily cut through players up close using this and it has great speeds.
AK-74u– The AK is the other standout for an SMG. This one is more of a primary weapon choice, but if you’re really confident then this can work as a secondary. This might be a good choice when using a sniper, since it works for more than just up close firefights. This is a good AK-74u loadout to use as a secondary weapon.

Who Should Use Which Secondary Weapon?

Out of the Cold War Secondary weapons, the shotguns are going to be the ones that jump out to most players. The shotguns work great if you have a decent skill with the game. If you’re struggling, then switching to a pistol might be the wiser choice. Unless you’re confident you can get the job done in one shot, a shotgun might be more of a liability than an asset. The launchers are kind of separate and only a few volunteers need to bother with them. The RPG can be fun though, so spending some time trying to master that can be a worthwhile investment. Otherwise, your skill and play style is going to dictate your choice of secondary. With some primary weapons, running a second primary weapon is also a necessity instead of a secondary.

Our other guides to Call of duty Cold War can help you perfect your loadout for when the game launches: