Best LMG attachments in CoD Modern Warfare and Warzone
The best Light Machine Guns (LMG) and attachments in Call of Duty Modern Warfare and Warzone. All guns are split in four tiers.
The analysis has been provided by qKatana, a veteran Call of Duty player who wrote each gun guide only after unlocking the corresponding Gold camo.
Note that optics are very subjective, and you may prefer a different one depending on your personal preferences, your tactical approach, and the game mode: this is particularly relevant in Warzone as we fight in a large map.
Related:
Tier S
PKM
The PKM has an extremely competitive time to kill of 158ms out to about 37.5m. This is its 3-shot kill range, and it drops off to a 4-shot kill with a TTK of 237ms, which is phenomenal too. The PKM is amazing, and it just needs a reduction to ADS time via attachments to get even better.
Stippled Grip Tape. It decreases ADS time by about 2 frames, but it could be more because this gun is an LMG (it might vary depending on weapon class). Also likely increases sprint to fire speed by 5-10%.
No Stock. This attachment is excellent on Light Machine Guns as it doesn’t seem to increase recoil too much, but it improves movement speed to be up to par with Assault Rifles, and it increases ADS speed by a noticeable amount (probably by about 2 frames).
Snatch Grip. A unique attachment for the PKM: it increases recoil control but also ADS speed. If this attachment turns out to be bad when someone tests it statistically, use Commando Foregrip or Operator Foregrip instead.
Monolithic Suppressor. It keeps you under the radar while using your 100 rounds. Damage range isn’t necessary, but it can help (7.5% increase). A great attachment for Light Machine Guns, especially because you want to catch people off guard if possible since your ADS speed isn’t too fast.
Sleight of Hand. Reduces reload speed from 6.77s to 4.61s, which is a reduction of 32%. It is very beneficial for the PKM and it is the best 5th attachment I could find.
Notes: The range of the 3-hit kill is so good that you don’t need a damage range increasing barrel. Either extended barrels are great for Ground War and can be used instead of the Monolithic Suppressor. The Heavy Barrel will increase range by 25% and decrease ADS speed by 1 frame. The Extended Barrel is similar with a 20% range increase and better recoil control.
Tier A
MG34
The MG34 has a very high fire rate and high damage with a very slow ADS speed, low mag size (for an LMG and its fire rate) and a super slow reload speed.
Stippled Grip Tape. Presumably reduces ADS time by 2 frames like other weapons, but it could be more for Light Machine Guns because they have a slow ADS time by default. Sprint to fire speed increased by 5-10%.
100 Round Belt. This LMG starts with 50 rounds by default and has a high fire rate, so it shreds through the ammo. On top of this, the reload speed is very slow at about 6 seconds, and using Sleight of Hand doesn’t make it much more bearable. Therefore, I highly suggest using 100 rounds so you have to reload way less. It’s preferable to have a slow reload speed and more mags than still having a slow reload speed and fewer mags.
No Stock. It brings a huge boost to movement speed to negate the movement penalty of the 100 Round Belt. It also increases ADS speed by a very good amount.
Commando Foregrip. The MG34 suffers from a large amount of recoil in both the vertical and horizontal shake due to the high rate of fire and the heavy rounds. Vertical recoil is very manageable though, so reducing the bounce from side to side will make this gun pretty accurate.
Monolithic Suppressor. Since you’ll be firing a lot of bullets even from range, you’ll want to keep under the radar a bit. Damage range is nice but not important. I am not sure about the barrels, but I don’t think they make much of a difference.
Tier B
None.
Tier C
M91
Stippled Grip Tape. I should place this at the top of the list for almost every weapon. It gives you a free ADS speed increase of 2 frames (aiming stability is basically irrelevant). Sprint to fire speed is good also, but probably it doesn’t help as much with Light Machine Guns considering their ADS is so slow.
M91 Infantry. It brings an improvement to ADS speed by 2 frames, and only a 1% increase to movement speed, but that’s just a bonus. The reason this attachment is ranked higher than the “No Stock” one is because the negatives don’t really affect the weapon as much. A 10% decrease to damage range is negligible with its 42m (approximately) 3-shot kill range to the torso and head.
Commando Foregrip. Recoil stabilization is really important on the M91, especially with the No Stock attachment. The other grips increase recoil control, which isn’t needed for this LMG because the recoil pattern is fairly controllable.
Monolithic Suppressor. I really like a suppressor on an LMG because it helps to stay “off the radar” (not literally). The Compensator doesn’t help much on this weapon, so it is not needed. If a suppressor isn’t necessary, you could also use a reflex. The damage range increase of 7.5% isn’t required, however, it almost negates the Infantry Barrel.
No Stock. Increase to ADS speed by 2 frames and movement speed by around 5%. It reduces recoil control significantly. It is replaceable with Sleight of Hand which reduces your reload speed dramatically from approximately 6s to 3.5s - though you have 100 rounds and not a very fast fire rate.
SA87
The SA87 is kind of an AR crossed with an LMG. It has a slow fire rate, high magnitude recoil, small ammo size, slow ADS speed, moderately slow movement speed and reload speed. It seems very underwhelming statistically, and some players say it is the worst weapon in the game, but it doesn’t feel like it.
Stippled Grip Tape. Increases ADS speed by 2 frames, but it could be more since it’s an LMG. Also, supposedly increases sprint to fire speed by 3 frames, which is phenomenal for a Light Machine Gun.
12.4” Factory Barrel. Greatly increases ADS speed and movement speed. Probably, it also decreases range by quite a bit considering the negative bullet velocity stat, but the range by default is already very good, so equipping this barrel isn’t a big problem. It doesn’t affect recoil by a great amount. Definitely a must have when making this AR/LMG hybrid into an AR.
Commando Foregrip. The recoil on this gun is mostly vertical, but it’s extremely predictable. It does however have significant side-to-side bounce too which Commando Foregrip reduces dramatically. Definitely better than using an Operator or Ranger foregrip.
Monolithic Suppressor. The sound on this weapon when the suppressor is equipped is awesome. Besides that, it’s not necessary, and the Compensator could replace it, but I don’t think that’s needed either.
Sleight of Hand. I don’t have any stats to go off, but I timed it without any software, and it seems to go from 2.3 seconds down to 1.6 seconds approximately. This is a 30% reduction, which is excellent.
50 Round Mags could also be used instead, but this gun fires slowly, so I think that SoH is a better choice. Using the ADS stock or the Tac Laser didn’t seem to make much of a difference with ADS speed, so I didn’t use them.
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Credit for guides and gun images: qKatana - Header image: Activision
