MW4 Weapons List: All 33 Launch Guns by Class

Modern Warfare 4 launches on Friday, October 23, 2026 with 33 weapons. That figure breaks down as 24 primaries, 8 secondaries and 1 melee weapon, spread across nine weapon classes. It is a deliberately tighter arsenal than recent Call of Duty launches, and the design logic shows: fewer guns, each with a clearer job.

Activision published the full launch roster on 19 October, naming all 33 by class with the Player Level each unlocks at. This guide lists what is actually confirmed by class, explains what each class is for, flags which weapons stood out in the beta, and is explicit about the gaps rather than filling them with guesses.

One thing to get straight before the list: a weapon count means less in MW4 than it did in previous games, because of Apex Attachments. More on that at the end.

The headline numbers

Thirty-three weapons at launch, nine classes, one melee weapon. The primary classes are assault rifles, SMGs, LMGs, marksman rifles, sniper rifles and shotguns. The secondary classes are pistols and launchers. Melee stands on its own.

The Riot Shield is handled separately rather than as a weapon class, and it works differently in MW4: it takes damage and breaks over time instead of being an indestructible wall. That is a real change from the games where a shield on your back was a permanent rear armour plate.

Season 1 arrives on November 6, and at least one post-launch weapon has already been shown alongside the launch arsenal, so the 33 figure is a launch-day number rather than a ceiling.

The launch arsenal by class

Below is every weapon publicly named so far, grouped by class. The role column is what the class is for in MW4's 6v6 maps, and the standout column is beta opinion only.

MW4 weapon classes, publicly named weapons and class roles as of 19 October 2026

Class	Named so far	What the class is for	Beta standout
Assault rifles	M4, Kastov 762, Patriot XMR, Hyeon Burst, Han 86	The default pick on almost every map. Usable at every range, strongest in the mid band	M4, by a wide margin
SMGs	ISO Nightshade, X-58 NYX, PPSh-41	Close quarters and movement. Fast handling, falls off hard past short range	ISO Nightshade
LMGs	Type 73, FiNN LMG	Holding lanes and suppressing. Big magazines, slow to bring up and reload	FiNN LMG, per one outlet
Marksman rifles	Oris 8.6, MAR-9	Semi-auto precision between AR and sniper range	Oris 8.6
Sniper rifles	KG-7 Vulcan, Signal 50	Long sightlines and one-shot potential on Ground War and the bigger 6v6 maps	Disputed, sources disagree sharply
Shotguns	Rezi 12	Room clearing and objective defence at knife range	Rezi 12 is the only one named
Pistols	.50 GS, Krait P68	Secondary. Fast swap when a primary runs dry	Not meaningfully tested in the beta
Launchers	PILA	Secondary. Anti-vehicle and anti-killstreak	Essential on Ground War, situational on 6v6
Melee	Combat Knife	The single melee weapon in the launch arsenal	Movement-focused play only

Assault rifles and SMGs: where most games are decided

Five assault rifles are named and they cover distinctly different briefs. The M4 is the forgiving all-rounder and dominated the beta accordingly. The Kastov 762 is the opposite trade: higher damage for considerably more recoil, which rewards players who can actually control it and punishes everyone else. The Patriot XMR, Hyeon Burst and Han 86 landed mid-tier in most beta assessments, though one outlet rated the Han 86 as the most well-rounded rifle it tested, which is a good reminder that mid-tier in a beta is not a verdict.

The three named SMGs are a cleaner story. The ISO Nightshade was the beta's close-quarters answer and the second most used weapon overall. The X-58 NYX sat behind it without anybody calling it weak. The PPSh-41 is the interesting one, appearing on at least one best-guns shortlist and almost nowhere else.

For a ranked view of all of these with the beta caveats attached, see the MW4 weapon tier list.

LMGs, marksman rifles and snipers: the long-range half

Two LMGs are named, the Type 73 and the FiNN LMG. LMGs matter more in MW4 than in a pure 6v6 game because the launch map pool includes three Ground War maps alongside the 12 core 6v6 maps, and sustained fire across open ground is a real job there. One pre-launch guide was notably positive about the FiNN's versatility, which is not the usual reception for an LMG.

The two marksman rifles, Oris 8.6 and MAR-9, occupy the semi-auto space between AR and sniper. In Call of Duty these tend to be the sleeper class because they are over-represented in camo challenge requirements and under-represented in loadouts.

The two named snipers, KG-7 Vulcan and Signal 50, are the most contested weapons in the arsenal. One outlet put the KG-7 Vulcan among the five best guns in the beta and specifically praised using it while moving. Other rankings place it much lower. Do not commit a sniper grind on pre-launch information.

Shotguns, secondaries and the one melee weapon

Only one shotgun is named, the Rezi 12, widely called the best shotgun in the beta, which is easier to earn when it is the only one tested. With 24 primaries at launch there is almost certainly more than one shotgun in the arsenal.

On secondaries, 8 of the 33 weapons are secondaries and only 3 are named: the .50 GS and Krait P68 pistols and the PILA launcher. Secondaries are easy to ignore and should not be, for one reason: if MW4 follows its predecessors, camo and mastery challenges count them. The mastery camos guide covers why whether secondaries count toward the final camos is still an open question.

The melee slot holds exactly one weapon, the Combat Knife. For a 33-weapon arsenal that is a single mandatory grind nobody will enjoy if the camo chain requires it.

The weapons not on the published list yet

Every launch weapon now has an official name. The Mosin-Nagant arrives as a Marksman Rifle at Player Level 36 and the VEL 46 as an SMG at Level 5, both straight off Activision's list. Names such as Daewoo K2, GM6 Lynx and Knight's Armament LAMG still circulate in coverage, but those are the real-world firearms behind the already-named Han 86, Signal 50 and FiNN LMG rather than separate weapons.

The unlock curve is worth planning around, because it decides what you can even start levelling on day one. Each class opens at Player Level 4 with its anchor weapon - ISO Nightshade, Rezi 12, Finn LMG, MAR-9, KG-7 Vulcan, PILA - and then staggers the rest a long way out. The VEL 46 is early at Level 5, but Striga waits until 18, PPSh-41 until 30 and X-58 Nyx until 46. Snipers are the harshest: Astaroth .57 at 25 and Signal 50 all the way at 50. If you are chasing a class-wide camo, the back half of that list, not the challenges, is what sets your real timeline.

The gap matters for planning. If you intend to chase a camo that requires work across an entire class, the size of that class decides your timeline, and right now you cannot see the size of any class. Planning a full-arsenal grind before the in-game armoury is readable is guesswork.

Apex Attachments change what a weapon list means

MW4 adds Apex Attachments, and they are the reason a count of 33 undersells the arsenal. An Apex Attachment is a specialised unlock that changes how a weapon behaves rather than nudging a stat. Reported examples include underbarrel launchers and shotguns, throwing knives, a sniper variant that fires blades and a shotgun variant with explosive rounds.

Two mechanics make them significant. They unlock at max weapon level, so the grind itself is the gate. And they do not consume one of the five standard attachment slots, so an Apex Attachment is additive rather than a trade-off. Activision has reportedly said most weapons launch with their own, occasionally more than one.

In practice that means your 33-weapon arsenal behaves more like 50-plus configurations, and it makes getting weapons to max level the gate on the most interesting content rather than just a camo prerequisite. Which maps you are fighting on also matters, and the launch map list covers the 12 core 6v6 maps and the Ground War pool. The store's Modern Warfare 4 pages cover the levelling side if you would rather not do all 33 yourself.

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