Warzone 2: Best Pistols With Loadouts

Call of Duty Warzone 2 improves upon the first game in terms of offering a wide range of arsenal, the best loadouts, and pistols. Usually, the meta is dominated by some of the best assault rifles, snipers, and SMGs, but having the best pistol will also turn the tide in your favor.  

Story Highlights

• The Basilisk is the strongest pistol in Warzone 2.0. When paired with the right attachments, it has high damage output and absolutely no drawbacks
• The X13 Auto is a close second with full-auto capability and the ability to demolish opponents at close range.
• The P890 is fast and deadly. It can kill almost everything with two hits but sadly falls short of the X13.
• The .50 GS is a powerful weapon but requires more skill than the rest to be used optimally.
• The X12 is a semi-automatic pistol with low damage. It isn’t very versatile and falls short of the rest of the pistols.

P890

One of the guns featured in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022) and also available in the first season of Warzone 2, is the P890. The P890 is a semi-automatic pistol with high accuracy and hard-hitting .45 rounds. The gun is highly reliable in most scenarios and can help you get some easy kills. It’s used best when eliminating downed opponents when your primary is out of ammo.

Best Attachments

The best attachments for the P890 are as follows:

• Muzzle: Forge DX90-F

The Forge DX90-F muzzle increases your fire rate, allowing you to get more shots off on your opponent and therefore, deal more damage.

• Barrel: XRK Tacops Barrel

When you’re using a pistol in Warzone, you need to ensure that your loadout focuses on speed as well as Aim Down Sight (ADS) time. Having a lightweight barrel like the XRK Tacops Barrel greatly improves your movement speed with the pistol as well as your ADS speed. This allows you to maneuver around enemies and quickly aim and fire at anyone in your path.

• Rear Grip: Bruen Express

The Bruen Express rear grip increases your recoil control.  However, it comes with a drawback. It decreases your aiming stability which isn’t a big negative since you’ll only be using the P890 in close-quarters combat.

• Magazine: 10-Round Mag

Having more bullets available at your disposal is never a bad thing. The 10-Round Mag increases the magazine size of the P890 from 8 to 10. The two-bullet increase may seem insignificant, however, being able to deal extra damage to your opponent, is always a plus. On the flip side, the 10-Round Mag also comes with the drawback of a slower ADS speed and reload speed. Thankfully, this is negated by our other attachments. Choosing a larger magazine, however, would result in a larger negative impact so we seem to find this the best balance.

• Trigger Action:  Bruen Express

The Bruen Express trigger action further improves your ADS speed and provides more recoil stability. This is extremely useful in a 1v1 gunfight. With the additional bit of fire accuracy provided, you’ll be able to hit your opponents from further away and with more ease.

Alternative Attachments

If our main loadout isn’t quite your style, try this on for size:

• Barrel: Xten Harbinger 
• Magazine: 12-Round Mag
• Rear Grip: Bruen Anchor Grip
• Optic: SZ Sigma-IV Optic
• Muzzle: Slab-10 Comp

This loadout is extremely different from our main loadout. It provides more control and a larger magazine size, however, isn’t as quick for maneuvering and fighting a close-quarters gunfight.

Unlock Path

Here are all the unlockables for the P890:

.50 GS

The .50 GS is an extremely high-power, low-fire-rate handgun. Initially, it has the highest recoil of all the pistols but also packs the heaviest punch. The gun can be used

Best Attachments

This loadout primarily focuses on range and power. We’ll essentially be turning out .50 GS into a pocket sniper.

• Muzzle: SA Peak 77

The SA Peak 77 decreases both horizontal and vertical recoil, making it easier for you to hit follow-up shots without having to correct them.

• Barrel: SA Tyrant Fifty

The SA Tyrant Fifty increases the gun’s bullet velocity, damage range, hip fire accuracy, and above all, recoil control. This allows you to use the gun at range to take out opponents with ease. On the flip side, it reduces ADS speed and movement speed which isn’t really important when you’re picking off enemies from afar.

• Optic: Any

Feel free to use any optic you’re comfortable with using. However, do keep in mind that the larger the optic, the slower the ADS speed will be.

• Ammunition: .50 Pistol Overpressured +P

The .50 Overpressured +P ammunition type causes your target to flinch, which allows you to slow them down and pick them off with ease.

• Trigger Action: SA Competition Trigger

The SA Competition Trigger increases the gun’s fire rate and allows you to attack much faster. However, it also decreases the hip fire accuracy since we don’t intend to use this in close quarters; the effect is negligible. 

Alternative Attachments

If you want to use the .50 GS in close quarters, try out this akimbo loadout:

• Muzzle: EXF Fifty GS
• Trigger Action: SA Hare Trigger
• Magazine: 13 Round Mag
• Rear Grip: Akimbo .50 GS

With this loadout, you can use the .50 GS as a close-range demolisher. Dual wielding the .50 GS paired with a larger magazine allows you to deliver an insane amount of damage at close range without any need for aiming down sights.

Unlock Path

Here are all the unlockables for the .50 GS:

X12

The X12 is an extremely balanced pistol. It is lightweight, accurate, and a reliable option. It boasts many customization attachments that make it more versatile; however, due to its low damage output, it isn’t as effective as the rest of the guns on this list.

Best Attachments

In this loadout, we’ll be dual wielding the X12 and turning it into a fast-firing beast.

• Muzzle: Forge DX90-F

The Forge DX90-F improves the X12’s recoil smoothness and bullet velocity, adding more power to each shot and allowing you to fire rapidly without losing control. The attachment also provides sound suppression to your bullets. The muzzle also decreases your ADS speed which thankfully isn’t a problem since we’ll be using Akimbo.

• Laser: 1MW Pistol Laser

The 1MW Pistol Laser improves the gun’s hip fire accuracy and recoil. This allows us to fire more accurately when we’re dual wielding. On the downside, the laser is visible to other enemies, and however, given that we’re fighting at close range, they will not have enough time to react.

• Rear Grip: Akimbo X12

The Akimbo X12 allows you to have two pistols in your secondary slot. This gives you double the firepower and double the fire rate while removing your ability to ADS.

• Magazine: 24-Round Mag

The 24-Round Mag gives you extra bullets per magazine, which is a help in a pinch.

• Trigger Action: XRK Lightning Fire

The XRK Lightning Fire greatly improves your fire rate and is a must-have for dual-wielding the X12.

Alternative Attachments

If you prefer a more accurate and less spray-and-pray playstyle, this is the loadout for you.

• Barrel: XRK LUC-9
• Laser: 1MW Pistol Laser
• Trigger Action: XRK Lighting Fire
• Rear Grip: Cronen Lima-6

This loadout makes an accurate weapon with low sprint-to-fire time and a high fire rate. This will surely be right up your alley.

Unlock Path

Here are all the unlockables for the X12:

Basilisk

The Basilisk is a 5-Round pistol with a decent fire rate and high damage output. However, it has high damage falloff at a distance, which we can overcome with the right attachments.

Best Attachments

We’ll be creating an absolute powerhouse of a gun with high mobility and even higher firepower by using Akimbo Basilisks.

• Barrel: 10.5″ FTAC Arrow

The 10.5″ FTAC Arrow barrel increases your movement speed while holding the gun as well as increasing bull velocity, hip-fire accuracy, and damage range of the gun. Since we plan on running Akimbo pistols, we need to improve our hip-fire accuracy.

• Laser: REVO-LSO 7MW

The REVO-LSO 7MW laser further increases the hip-fire accuracy of the gun and makes it more accurate in combat. The laser also improves your hip-fire recoil making it easier for you to stay locked on to your opponent mid-combat. Lastly, it also increases your spring-to-fire speed and therefore letting you maneuver around your opponent and still be quick on the draw. 

• Ammunition: .500 Snake Shot

The .500 Snake Shot ammunition is amazing. It increases the damage radius of each bullet and allows you to engage in combat from further away. This makes the loadout more dynamic and usable in every situation, from tight corners to more open areas.

• Trigger Action: Bryston Match Grade

The Bryston Match Grade trigger allows you to fire the weapon faster than ever. Other than just improving the fire rate of the gum. it also improves your aiming idle stability and trigger response time, All in all, allowing you to shoot much faster and have an extremely fast time-to-kill speed.

• Rear Grip: Akimbo Basilisk

The Akimbo Basilisk rear grip allows you to dual-wield the Basilisk and double your firepower. However, it also removes your ability to ADS.

All these attachments joined together, make the Basilisk the best pistol in COD Warzone 2.0.

Unlock Path

Here are all the unlockables for the Basilisk:

X13 Auto

Best Attachments

We’ll be creating a dual-wield X13 Auto loadout

• Muzzle: FT Steel Fire

The FT Steel Fire muzzle increases your damage range and bullet velocity. It also decreases recoil and makes the gun far more accurate. However, it also decreases the ADS speed and aim-walking speed. Due to the Akimbo rear grip, this effect is nullified.

• Barrel: Impact Point

The Impact Point barrel improves the recoil control and the hip fire accuracy of the X13 Auto. Paired with the Akimbo rear grip, we’ll have two highly accurate X13 Autos.

• Laser: FJX DIOD-70

The FJX DIOD-70 Laser improves the weapon’s stability. It also increases the sprint-to-fire speed, therefore allowing you to adopt a more aggressive playstyle.

• Rear Grip: Akimbo X13

The Akimbo X13 rear grip allows you to dual-wield the X13s and essentially have two SMG-like fully automatic weapons on your side. This will greatly increase your damage output and make you a force to be reckoned with.

• Magazine: 33 Round Mag

The 33 Round Mag allows you to spray fire on your opponent for longer and gives you more time to correct your shots before running out of ammo.

Unlock Path

Here are all the unlockables for the X13 Auto:

Best Pistol Loadout In Warzone 2.0

Here are the best perks and field upgrades to pair your pistols with and create the best pistol loadout in COD Warzone 2.0:

• Perk 1: Battle Hardened

The Battle Hardened perk improves your immunity to stunning equipment like Stun grenades. It also lets you recover faster from flashbangs.

• Perk 2: Tracker

The Tracker perk allows you to detect enemy footsteps at close range. This can help you determine where the enemy is going and follow them.

• Bonus:  Fast Hands

The Fast Hands perk increases reload speed of all weapons and is a huge help in combat. Being able to reload before your opponent gives you the slight advantage that you might need to win the fight

• Field Upgrade: Dead Silence

The Dead Silence Field Upgrade will allow you to sneak up on enemies and annihilate them.

Verdict

The best pistol in COD Warzone 2.0, as of Season 1, is the Basilisk. When paired with the best attachments, it has the highest damage output of all the pistols. It allows you to adopt a very aggressive playstyle and hunt enemies close to mid-quarters. 

Coming in the second, we have the X13 Auto. The X13 Auto can be tuned to become a powerhouse of a weapon. It essentially becomes an SMG, and when dual-wielded, it can absolutely shred its opponents.

The P890 is an extremely versatile weapon. It is fast and allows you to maneuver around opponents with ease. It has a decent damage output that can kill opponents with only a few shots; however, when compared to the X13 and Basilisk, it fails to hold its own. 

The .50 GS is an extremely powerful weapon and can definitely be used to great advance, but it also requires more skill than the rest of the handguns. It requires the user to aim very precisely and is hard to control in tight situations. Compared to the Basilisk, which lets you spray and pray, the .50 GS isn’t as versatile.

The X12 is a semi-automatic pistol with extremely low damage compared to the rest. Despite all attachments to make the gun stronger and more versatile, it still manages to fall short of the rest. Sadly, the base damage output is far too low to be improved upon.

Next:

• COD Warzone 2.0: BEST Marksman Rifles
• COD Warzone 2: BEST Controller Settings
• Warzone 2: Best Shotguns With Loadouts