The best Warzone Welgun loadouts for the Vanguard SMG

The Warzone Welgun is a curious weapon in the Vanguard arsenal - it's a heavier SMG that feels like a hybrid of a submachine gun and an assault rifle. Despite receiving a few minor tweaks and nerfs to its range and certain attachments with the release of Call of Duty Warzone Pacific Season 2, it remains a great weapon for those close to mid-range gunfights. Getting the right loadout and attachments for the Welgun will allow you to lean into more of an SMG or assault rifle build too. So, let's take a look at the Warzone Welgun options to see what the best loadout choices are.

The Warzone Welgun unlock and details

vanguard Welgun warzone — (Image credit: Activision)

You can unlock the Warzone Welgun in both games (Vanguard and Warzone) by getting 10 SMG kills in a match while aiming down the sights, 15 times. Obviously that's going to be a lot easier in Vanguard than Warzone , so you're best off firing up some trad multiplayer and grinding small maps to tick that off.

Your reward will be a solid little SMG that's actually pretty great right out the box without any attachments. Its sweet spot really is smack in that mid range area - it's not quite got the fire rate to get too close, or the accuracy to push that far. Although that can be improved with a little trigger control to fire bursts that are more accurate at longer ranges. We've got a couple of loadout options coming up, though, that can improve the Welgun performance at either ends of the spectrum. So let's take a look.

Warzone Welgun close range loadout and attachments

Muzzle - Recoil Booster
Barrel - 120mm Gawain Short
Stock - Galwain Skeletal
Rear Grip - Polymer Grip
Magazine - 7.62 Gorenko 48 Round Mags
Ammo Type - Lengthened
Underbarrel - SG98 Compact

To get the best out of the Warzone Welgun up close you really need to boost it's fairly sedate fire range. The Recoil Booster and 120mm Gawain Short barrel up that at a cost to accuracy, but that shouldn't matter near to targets. The Gawain Skeletal Stock boosts your movement and sprint to fire, as well as increasing accuracy when you hold the trigger down. The Polymer Grip also increases that sustained fire accuracy, while the Compact Underbarrel Grip boosts your movement speed, which should help in tight spaces. Finally, the 7.62 Gorenko 48 Round Mags boost recoil, accuracy, movement and ADS while Lengthened rounds increase bullet speed to help you hit first.

Warzone Welgun long range loadout and attachments

Muzzle - F8 Stabilizer
Barrel - 320mm SA Shrouded
Optic - G16 2.5x
Stock - Galwain Skeletal
Rear Grip - Stippled Grip
Magazine - .45 48 Round Mags
Ammo Type - Lengthened
Underbarrel - Carver Foregrip

It's not hugely advisable to try using the Vanguard Welgun beyond the most medium of medium ranges, but in that space you can get a fairly lethal weapon with this loadout. Here, we've gone for the F8 Stabilizer to boost accuracy and damage range. The 320mm SA Shrouded barrel gets you a huge increase in accuracy - raising control and flinch resistance, while giving you a larger one hit kill area. The Galwain Skeletal keeps you mobile, adding accurate over sustained fire, while the Stippled Grip and Carver Foregrip both boost recoil and accuracy. All of that accuracy and recoil boosting will help balance out the .45 48 Round Mags, which have great buffs to velocity, range and damage, but a penalty to recoil and accuracy. With this loadout though, the gun remains rock solid when fired and having a larger mag lets you keep the pressure on. Finally, the G16 2.5x optic is just the best option for the range you want to be fighting at, while those Lengthened Rounds' increased bullet velocity should help you get a hit quicker at longer ranges.

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I'm GamesRadar's Managing Editor for guides. I also write reviews, previews and features, largely about horror, action adventure, FPS and open world games. I previously worked on Kotaku, and the Official PlayStation Magazine and website.