Black Ops 7 Warzone Weapon Tier List: Season 06 AR & SMG Meta

Call of Duty: Warzone's Season 06 update landed on September 17 with the biggest Assault Rifle and SMG balance pass of the year, and it reshuffles who you should actually be dropping into Haven's Hollow with. Treyarch's own patch notes call the goal a deliberate shake-up: bring down the weapons that dominated Season 05 and give the underused options room to compete, rather than a blanket nerf sweep.

This tier list ranks the eleven Assault Rifles, SMGs and LMGs Season 06 actually touched, using nothing but the exact damage, range, recoil and velocity numbers Treyarch published. It's an opinion built from verified balance data, not a community spreadsheet parse, and it covers Battle Royale/Resurgence (BR/RES) tuning specifically since that's where most of these adjustments apply.

01What Changed in Warzone Season 06

The headline nerf hits the AN-94, which Treyarch says "had a strong run at the top of the meta" through Season 05. Its close-range damage drops from 41 to 38, its medium-range damage falls from 37 to 34, and its effective range at every band shrinks by several meters. On top of that, the AN-94's headshot multiplier is cut from 1.3x to 1.2x, its BR/RES recoil rises 12%, bullet velocity falls from 920 m/s to 890 m/s, and aim-down-sight speed slows from 235ms to 245ms. Even its 15" Benthic Barrel attachment got weaker, with its bullet velocity and recoil control bonuses both reduced.

The VST SMG takes an equally heavy hit: maximum damage falls from 29 to 27, medium damage from 27 to 24, and minimum damage from 22 to 19, while its already-short effective ranges get trimmed further and its ADS speed slows from 155ms to 165ms. On the buff side, the Voyak KT-3 gains damage at every range band (39 to 42 up close, 34 to 37 at medium, 30 to 32 at distance) plus 8% less recoil and faster bullet velocity, and the MPC-25 gets a small but real damage-range extension along with tighter recoil deviation. You can read every line item in Treyarch's full Warzone Season 06 patch notes.

Every placement below traces back to a specific published number: a damage increase, a range cut, a recoil or velocity change. Weapons that gained damage or control without losing anything in return move up. Weapons that lost damage, range or handling without a compensating buff move down. Weapons Treyarch left untouched hold their pre-patch standing relative to the field, which in practice means they slide down a notch since several of their competitors just got stronger around them. One important caveat: this list covers Warzone's BR/RES tuning only. Treyarch's own Black Ops 7 Season 06 notes confirm that core Multiplayer weapon tuning is coming a short time after launch, specifically so the team can watch where the new VMP and TR51 Para land in the meta first, so treat any Multiplayer-mode rankings you see elsewhere as unconfirmed until that follow-up patch lands.

02S Tier: Voyak KT-3

The Voyak KT-3 is the clearest winner of Season 06's balance pass, and it's not close. Treyarch buffed its damage at all three range bands simultaneously, close-range damage rises from 39 to 42, medium from 34 to 37, and long-range from 30 to 32, which is a full magazine's worth of extra stopping power stacked across the whole engagement curve. Recoil drops 8% and bullet velocity climbs from 900 m/s to 910 m/s on top of that, so the gun is easier to control while also hitting harder at every range. Underused Assault Rifles rarely get this kind of across-the-board buff in one pass; Treyarch clearly wanted the Voyak to be a real alternative to the ARs that dominated Season 05, and the numbers back that up. If you only take one loadout change from this patch, put the Voyak KT-3 in it.

03A Tier: MPC-25, Strumwolf 45 and EGRT-17

The MPC-25 didn't get a damage buff so much as a control and range buff: its maximum-damage range extends from 13m to 13.5m, recoil deviation drops 8%, and vertical recoil is trimmed by 10%. That's a meaningful quality-of-life gain for a gun that was already a strong close-range pick, and it should hold its spot as one of the safer SMG picks this season. The Strumwolf 45 got a smaller but real bump too, close-range damage rises from 47 to 48, its only change this patch, which nudges an already-hard-hitting SMG slightly further ahead of the pack.

On the Assault Rifle side, the EGRT-17 quietly becomes more competitive: close-range damage rises from 35 to 36 and medium-range damage from 31 to 32, though that medium band now starts a touch closer in at 45m instead of 42m. It's not a Voyak-level swing, but for a rifle that was already a solid mid-pack option, the extra damage per bullet adds up over a full magazine.

04B Tier: M15 MOD 0, VX Compact and Sokol 545

The M15 MOD 0 picks up small damage bumps at medium and long range (26 to 27, then 24 to 25) plus a solid headshot multiplier increase from 1.31x to 1.4x, which rewards players who can land shots to the head consistently. It's a real improvement, just not a large enough one to leapfrog the A-tier picks above it. The VX Compact gets a similar treatment: medium-range damage rises from 23 to 24, horizontal recoil drops 10%, and its 13" Promontory Barrel and Recoil Sync Unit attachments both got stronger recoil and velocity bonuses. Stack those together and the VX Compact is a noticeably more controllable SMG than it was before Season 06, even without a headline damage number to point to.

The Sokol 545 LMG is this patch's sleeper pick. Its close-range damage jumps from 44 to 47 and its long-range damage rises from 35 to 36, both real buffs for a weapon class that usually gets ignored in balance passes. LMGs still carry the same mobility tradeoffs they always have, so this isn't a call to run Sokol 545 everywhere, but if you already like LMG playstyles it's a stronger pick than it was last season.

05C Tier: AN-94 and MK35 ISR

The AN-94 lands here specifically because Season 05's dominant Assault Rifle just took Warzone's biggest single nerf and still has the base kit of a good gun underneath it. Every damage band is down, the headshot multiplier is lower, recoil is heavier, and it handles slower on both bullet velocity and ADS speed. It's not unusable, but the numbers no longer justify picking it over the Voyak KT-3 or the SMGs above it, so it drops from meta-defining to simply playable.

The MK35 ISR takes a smaller but still real hit: close-range damage falls from 39 to 38, long-range damage falls from 33 to 31, and bullet velocity drops from 920 m/s to 910 m/s. Its medium-range band is untouched, so it still has a niche as a mid-range rifle, but the two-sided nerf at both ends of its damage curve pushes it out of the top tier.

06D Tier: VST and REV-46

The VST was Season 05's premier close-quarters SMG and Season 06 systematically dismantles that position. Every damage band drops (29 to 27, 27 to 24, 22 to 19), its already-tight effective ranges shrink further, and its ADS speed slows by 10ms on top of that. That's a nerf aimed squarely at removing it from close-range engagements, which is exactly what it was best at. The REV-46 gets a smaller, more surgical trim: its damage numbers are untouched, but its maximum and medium damage ranges both shrink slightly (12.8m down to 12.2m at the top end), meaning you have to be closer to a target to get the same damage you used to. Neither gun is dead, but both need to be replaced in your loadout rotation if you were leaning on them for close-range fights.

07Quick Loadout Adjustments for Season 06

Whatever you were running before September 17, a few concrete changes are worth making before your next match.

Quick Loadout Adjustments for Season 06

1. 1It's the only weapon this patch buffed at all three damage ranges, plus 8% less recoil and faster bullet velocity, making it the single biggest upgrade you can make right now.2 min
2. 2Its damage bands are all shorter this patch, so fights that used to be safe mid-range trades now need you to close the distance or switch weapons entirely.5 min
3. 3Every damage band dropped and ADS speed slowed by 10ms, so it no longer wins the close-range duels it was built for; try the Strumwolf 45 or MPC-25 instead.5 min
4. 4The AN-94's Benthic Barrel bonuses were cut and the MK35 ISR lost bullet velocity, so an attachment setup tuned for last season's stats is no longer optimal.10 min
5. 5This balance pass is Warzone-only. Treyarch has confirmed separate Black Ops 7 Multiplayer weapon tuning is still coming, so don't assume these exact changes carry over outside Warzone.2 min

08Where the Meta Goes From Here

Two things are worth watching. First, Treyarch has explicitly confirmed Black Ops 7 Multiplayer weapon tuning is still coming, separate from this Warzone pass, once the team has data on how the new VMP and TR51 Para settle into that mode's meta; expect a follow-up patch with its own set of numbers rather than an automatic carryover of these Warzone changes. Second, Warzone balance passes at the start of a season are rarely the final word. If the Voyak KT-3 ends up as overtuned as the AN-94 was last season, or if the VST and REV-46 turn out to be nerfed harder than intended, a follow-up hotfix inside Season 06 wouldn't be a surprise based on how the last several seasons have played out. Treat this list as accurate to the September 17 patch and worth rechecking once Treyarch publishes anything further.

The Haunting Season 06 Launch Trailer, posted September 8, 2026 on Xbox's official YouTube channel, previewing the update that shipped these Warzone weapon changes.