Weapons

4:24 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 has 33 weapons at launch: 24 primaries, 8 secondaries and one melee weapon, as Activision's Oct 19, 2026 launch blog on weapons and Create-a-Class lists them. They are 8 assault rifles, 5 submachine guns, 2 shotguns, 3 light machine guns, 3 marksman rifles, 3 sniper rifles, 4 pistols, 4 launchers and the FSS Carbon Edge 1095 knife. Every weapon unlocks at a Player Level between 4 and 55, and every gun except the launchers and the knife has an Apex attachment, a final reward that changes how it plays. This page lists them all with unlock levels and stats; which ones to use is on Best Weapons and Best Loadouts, and how to build them is on Gunsmith and Attachments.

Quick facts

Sources: Call of Duty, Oct 19, 2026, Call of Duty, Aug 21, 2026, Call of Duty launch patch notes.

How weapons unlock

Weapons unlock by Player Level in Multiplayer progression. Create-a-Class itself opens at Player Level 4, and before then you pick from premade Default Loadouts. At Level 4 one weapon of each class is ready (Han 86, ISO Nightshade, Rezi 12, FiNN LMG, MAR-9, KG-7 Vulcan, SANG 9mm, PILA and the knife); the rest follow one or two at a time up to the Cronen Squall at Level 55. XP from DMZ counts toward the same Player Level, so DMZ unlocks weapons too, as Activision's progression blog explains.

The levels below are the blog's level tables, which match its progression appendix. The same blog's "Available Criteria" line under six weapons gives different numbers (VEL 46 at 13, Wz.55 Striga at 21, PPSh-41 at 27, X-58 Nyx at 34, Astaroth .57 at 10, Signal 50 at 35); Game Rant's VEL 46 guide also places the VEL 46 at Level 5, so the tables are the ones used here.

A Weapon Blueprint bought in the Store or earned in a Battle Pass makes its base weapon available at once, for your whole leveling journey, per Activision's progression blog. Using a weapon then earns Weapon XP, which unlocks its attachments one level at a time and, at max level, its Apex attachment and Weapon Prestige (Prestige).

To carry two primaries in Multiplayer, take the Overkill Perk in place of a secondary, as the Oct 19 blog explains.

Assault rifles

Eight assault rifles, from the South Korean Han 86 that every player starts with to the open-bolt Cronen Squall at the top of the level track.

Sources: Call of Duty, Oct 19, 2026, Call of Duty progression blog.

The Han 86 fires 5.56 and was built for the South Korean military; the Hyeon Burst is a North Korean 6.8mm prototype; the Axion fires subsonic .300 BLK, which hides the skull over the enemy you kill. The Patriot XMR hits hard with "substantial recoil", the Oct 19 blog says, and the Oden is a 12.7x55mm bullpup.

Submachine guns

Sources: Call of Duty, Oct 19, 2026, Call of Duty progression blog.

The PPSh-41 has the highest fire rate in its class and uses Fire Mods in place of the Ammunition and Rear Grip slots. The X-58 Nyx has an integrated suppressor, and the Wz.55 Striga fires subsonic 9x18mm. Infinity Ward's launch patch notes say SMGs were made more efficient at close to mid range for launch.

Shotguns, LMGs and marksman rifles

Sources: Call of Duty, Oct 19, 2026, Call of Duty progression blog.

The Rezi 12 is a semi-auto 12-gauge with its own Bolt, Guard and Comb slots; the Warlord is a dual-tube pump that is slow to reload. The Type 73 is Korean-made and fires 7.62x54r. The Oris 8.6 is a bolt-action rifle in 8.6 Blackout, subsonic, and the MAR-9 has a Trigger Action slot.

Sniper rifles

Sources: Call of Duty, Oct 19, 2026, Call of Duty progression blog.

The KG-7 Vulcan is a high-capacity bolt action; the Astaroth .57 is a single-shot 14.5mm rifle; the Signal 50 is a .50 Cal anti-material rifle whose reciprocating barrel cuts recoil. The blog's text calls the KG-7's Apex rounds "KG-9 Drillcharge", a slip in the post.

Pistols

Sources: Call of Duty, Oct 19, 2026, Call of Duty progression blog.

The Krait P68 fires subsonic .45, and the Mojave .357 revolver has a Cylinder slot. The blog describes the GS Magna as "Not intended for accuracy".

Launchers and melee

Sources: Call of Duty, Oct 19, 2026, Call of Duty progression blog.

Launchers and the knife take no Gunsmith attachments and have no Apex; you can change only their camos, decals and stickers. Each has 46 weapon levels, and the pre-launch notes added weapon level icons to them.

Apex variants

4:57 An Apex attachment is the last reward for leveling a supported weapon to its max. It is equipped on its own, so it does not take one of the attachment slots, and it changes how the gun plays: a new fire mode, a built-in launcher, or a different role, as the Oct 19 blog describes. Most also block some slots (the Han X20 Skybreaker blocks Optic, Stock and Barrel). Infinity Ward counted 28 Apex attachments at launch, up from 19 in the beta. Some beta Apex attachments were early seasonal event items and are not in the launch game; Infinity Ward's launch notes say "They will return soon". More on Gunsmith and Attachments.

Changes since the beta

The Open Beta offered 14 weapons in its first weekend and 22 across the beta. Infinity Ward's beta patch notes list the handling changes made on Aug 29, 2026 that carried into launch:

• ADS movement speed up 6 to 10% and sprint speed up 3 to 5%, by weapon class.
• Sprint-to-fire: Han 86 from 210 to 185ms, M4 210 to 180ms, Kastov 762 and Patriot XMR 210 to 190ms.
• Aim-down-sights time: ISO Nightshade 190 to 175ms, X-58 Nyx 200 to 180ms, PPSh-41 220 to 190ms, FiNN LMG 300 to 270ms, Type 73 280 to 260ms, Rezi 12 240 to 210ms, Signal 50 560 to 540ms, KG-7 Vulcan 630 to 610ms.
• Weapons with fewer than 60 reserve rounds got an extra magazine.
• For the second weekend every weapon was retuned to raise the time to kill slightly, and the flinch snipers take was raised 28%.

For launch, Infinity Ward's launch patch notes say players strongly preferred the second beta weekend's time to kill, SMGs were made more efficient at close to mid range, and one-hit-kill weapons were tempered with flinch and damage tuning. Multiplayer and DMZ have separate weapon tuning, and the studio said on Oct 23 that it was looking at tuning for the week after launch. See Movement and Gunplay and Patch Notes.

Frequently asked questions

How many weapons are in Modern Warfare 4? Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launched on Oct 23, 2026 with 33 weapons: 8 assault rifles, 5 SMGs, 2 shotguns, 3 LMGs, 3 marksman rifles, 3 sniper rifles, 4 pistols, 4 launchers and one knife.

What level do you unlock the M4 in MW4? The M4 unlocks at Player Level 14 in MW4 Multiplayer. The Han 86 is the assault rifle available from Level 4.

What level is the VEL 46 in MW4? The VEL 46 unlocks at Player Level 5 in MW4, per Activision's level tables, though one line of the same blog says 13.

What is the last weapon to unlock in MW4? The Cronen Squall assault rifle is the last weapon, at Player Level 55, alongside the Air Lockdown killstreak.

What are Apex attachments in MW4? An Apex attachment is the final reward for maxing a weapon's level in MW4; it does not use an attachment slot and changes how the gun works, such as the M4 Hurricane or the akimbo WZ.55 Striga Rampage. MW4 launched with 28 of them.

Can you use two primary weapons in MW4? Yes. In MW4 Multiplayer, equip the Overkill Perk (Perk 1) in place of your secondary to carry a second primary.

Do blueprints unlock weapons early in MW4? Yes. A Weapon Blueprint from the Store or a Battle Pass makes its base weapon available in MW4 no matter your level.

Sources

• Ready for Launch: All Modern Warfare 4 Operators, Weapons, Equipment, and Multiplayer Create-a-Class Features, Call of Duty, Oct 19, 2026
• Ready for Launch: Modern Warfare 4 Progression and Prestige, Call of Duty, Oct 19, 2026
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Launch Patch Notes, Infinity Ward, Oct 24, 2026
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Beta Patch Notes, Infinity Ward, Sep 1, 2026
• Modern Warfare 4 Multiplayer: Movement, Gunplay, Modes, & Maps, Call of Duty, Aug 21, 2026
• Best Meta VEL 46 Loadout in COD Modern Warfare 4, Game Rant, Oct 24, 2026
• Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 (2026) Multiplayer - 15 Things You Need To Know Before You Buy, GamingBolt, Oct 11, 2026 (video)