The secret weapons of Warzone Season 2 absolutely slay, if you can find them

We are just weeks out from the one year anniversary of Call of Duty: Warzone. And after obtaining thousands of kills and receiving just as many deaths in that time (my K/D stands at a respectable 1.2, which isn't bad for my dwindling millennial reaction times) it's always fun to be slain by something new. I experienced exactly that last night, with Black Ops Cold War Season 2 introducing three secret Warzone weapons that were not a part of any pre-launch patch notes. The Serac CX-9 SMG, RAAL MG, and Sykov pistol are hella powerful, if you can find them.

The CX-9 is devastating, with the Serac SMG rivaling even the MAC-10 at short-range engagements from what we've seen so far. The RAAL MG does destructive damage at range, while the Skylov already has me feverishly recalling the domineering nature of the dual-wield Diamatti. These weapons weren't scheduled for release in Warzone Season 2, nor are they readily available for loadouts, or easily obtained when you're in a game, but they are clearly going to upend the meta – perhaps even more so than the new FARA 83 Assault Rifle and LC10 SMG weapons.

Warzone Season 2 changes are in play

Outbreak interview

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War — (Image credit: Activision)

Learn more about the brand new experience that arrived alongside Black Ops Cold War Season 2 by reading our interview with Treyarch on Outbreak Zombies mode.

Warzone Season 2 has brought about some massive changes to play. Raven has introduced the most significant changes to Verdansk in months; missile silos have opened up across the map, new bunkers and shortcuts are appearing in familiar locations, and there's now a shipwreck between Port and Prison that can be fully explored. At least, I think it can.

Truth be told, I didn't get a chance to see much of the shipwreck for myself. Shortly after Warzone Season 2 went live, 'Xbox Live Down' was trending online as the service crumbled at the worst time imaginable – update day, of all days! When Xbox Live was working, the demand to visit the new shipwreck point of interest – and see the zombies it has unleashed upon Verdansk, following the success of the limited-time Halloween event from last year – is so large that it's practically impossible to get near it. The servers are struggling to host 200 players in one contained area, a fact that is reflected in the framerate and lag apparent to the area.

Still, that didn't stop me from feeling the impact of the RAAL MG early. As a holdover from Modern Warfare's multiplayer, its release was not anticipated or signposted by Raven Software in the lead up to Season 2 – Warzone now focused on further entangling itself with Black Ops Cold War, for obvious reason – but the fully-equipped blueprint, found randomly through loot crates on Verdansk and Rebirth Island, is no joke.

The time to kill is outrageous, the recoil is low at medium ranges, and the rangefinder optic is a nice touch that can help its user better judge distances between their bullets and your death. Unlike other domineering LMGs in Warzone – the PKM and FiNN, for example – the RAAL MG can't currently be tinkered with in loadouts. It's set as a rare drop from the loot table, one that comes equipped with a surprisingly capable set of attachment modifiers should you be able to locate it.

I too found a CX-9 in Warzone and it shreds. (Small Montage) from r/CODWarzone

The same can be said for the CX-9 SMG (which you can see in action above). I'm so familiar with the sound of the MAC-10 by this stage in Warzone's rotation that it has become second nature to me, as soothing to the ears as a whisper on the wind. So to hear another SMG out in the open was surprising, to be perfectly honest... that's the excuse I'll give for why one player was able to kill me so many times in a row, as I continued dropping back in for a closer look at the new weapon.

The TTK of the Serac is lovely, largely because of the CX-9's rate-of-fire and easy recoil, as I discovered when I eventually got my hands on it. The SMG is essentially a new variant of the infamous Scorpion Evo, literally dismembering players at close range. The CX-9 you're going to find in Legendary loot chests across Verdansk and Rebirth Island even comes equipped with a 50-round drum magazine, integrated suppressor, commando foregrip, and reflex sight, making it a formidable weapon from the get go.

That's especially true in Rebirth Resurgence Extreme, upping the player count of Rebirth Island from 40 to 99. The mode is pure chaos, a hell of a lot of fun with the right squad, and the CX-9 introduces additional unadulterated carnage to play. If you're lucky enough to open one of these up from a loot chest early, there's little that can be done to stop it in the close confines of Rebirth Island's claustrophobic spaces – particularly in the moments before rival players have gotten their hands on their loadout. Rebirth Resurgence Extreme seems to be a great addition to play, and only time will tell if it's worthy of permanent playlist inclusion, or better served as a limited time mode.

Secret weapons hit hard

Black Ops Cold War Season Two Operative - Naga — (Image credit: Activision)

I haven't found the Sykov pistol in Warzone just yet, but I know that it's out there. Just waiting to destroy me in new and interesting ways, particularly if it's anything like its equivalent in Modern Warfare's Survival Mode – a powerful pistol that rips through health at an effective damage range, particularly when paired with the Akimbo and 80-round drum magazine. The weapon was obtainable early as part of the Plunder playlist last season, but it still isn't clear whether it's a weapon that will eventually be added to the loadout rotation. As it stands, it would appear that none of the three secret Warzone weapons earn EXP when you get a kill, not yet at least, signaling that they will remain as rare loot drops.

In the last 12 months, finding hidden blueprints in Verdansk has been a fixture of Warzone. The blueprints are solid pre-loads for some of the most popular weapons, typically equipped with a unique skin that can at the very least be applied to your favourite loadout configuration for some additional customisation and bragging rights. This, to my knowledge, is the first time weapons have been exclusively introduced as loot in Legendary loot boxes, and it adds a nice wrinkle to play.

For so long now, the standard rotation in Warzone sees a party fighting to get their boots on the ground as quickly as possible. Then, you fight for a fast Scavenger or Bounty contract, grab an early Loadout drop, and push on to the final circle. By introducing powerful weapons exclusively through the loot table, it gives the added imperative to continue opening boxes and cycling through weapons – particularly in this early stage of Season 2, where the counter to weapons like the CX-9 and RAAL-MG aren't immediately apparent.

Given that the CX-9, RAAL-MG, and Sykov are holdovers from Modern Warfare – introduced in the 2019 release but otherwise unreleased in Warzone, for whatever reason – it seems unlikely that they will be put into loadout rotation, given how focused Activision currently is on furthering the Black Ops Cold War integration. Still, the FARA 83 Assault Rifle and LC10 SMG – weapons officially sanctioned for release as part of Warzone Season 2 – seem solid enough, although we need some more time with them for sure. Fingers crossed that, even if these secret Warzone weapons should fall by the wayside of the evolving meta, that the FARA 83 and LC10 will be worth picking up, leveling up, and loading out in the weeks to come.