Activision has just dropped all of the information you could possibly want for the whole arsenal of weapons available in Modern Warfare 4. Alongside information for the whopping 33 operators, you’ll find a lot of important information to keep you in the know on the guns to focus on for exactly the style you want to play. This time around, seemingly loving consistency, there are both 33 operators and 33 weapons available. Only uh… 20 pieces of equipment, though. Guess 13 more is probably a bit too much in that regard.
The operators in Modern Warfare 4 act essentially as a part of your loadout. They cover a range of factions, but notably… there are none you can choose from the North Korean army. Really makes you think. As usual, the gamut of operators you can expect are characters that you will get used to from your time spent across the campaign. From new to old, the selection is wide enough that Ghost isn’t even the only one on the roster with an edgy face mask. As far as I can tell, the operators don’t have any sort of real gimmicks other than their visuals, so you can setup the character you want with exactly the tools you need.
For those tools you need… there are a ton. Yes, by tools, I do mean the guns; the most important tool in any good Modern Warfare soldier’s hiking bag. The lineup covers many of the guns you’d expect, but given the setting of Modern Warfare 4 (Korea), there are some interesting throwbacks that are more expected from a World War 2 game, among some quasi-futuristic messes. A disparity across the board on tech levels for sure, brought to… interesting levels by way of the new “Apex Attachments” system. Guns work exactly how you’d expect and are certainly used to by this point: a level system that gradually unlocks attachments before allowing you to prestige, gaining some bonus camo and/or attachment, then doing it all again. This time around though, that aforementioned apex attachment system keeps things really spicy and interesting.
There are a total of 33 guns as mentioned above; that comes out to 24 primaries, eight secondaries, and one melee. Broken down, that is eight ARs, five SMGs, two shotguns, three LMGs, three marksman rifles, three sniper rifles, four pistols, four launchers, and a knife. With the exception of the launchers and knife, every gun has some unique mechanic to make it stand out once you reach max level. That being the Apex Attachment system I just won’t stop mentioning without explaining (Don’t worry, I will eventually, but not yet. Gotta keep you wanting). The guns I mentioned above that are a bit out of place in Modern Warfare come by way of North Korea’s aged military armory of surplus WW2 / Cold War firearms supplied by Russia or China. Things like the PPSh appear; a Mosin, wood furniture AKs, the RPK. It’s a real melting pot of guns both old, new, and pushing experimental.
Sick of waiting for an explanation of what the hell an “Apex Attachment” is? Wait no longer, because I’m finally telling you. Every gun, when leveled up to maximum, receives an “Apex attachment” that significantly alters its functionality to essentially min/max its strengths and weaknesses. What this means varies significant from gun to gun, ranging anywhere from “We put a sling on it, so you can pull it up faster” to “We’ve installed smart remote chips inside of the bullets that embed themselves into the enemies body just in case they escape into cover, and you can continue to see them through the walls using your optic”. So… a little bit of breadth, there. I will say, personally, I’m a bit… uncertain about these Apex attachments, as I do feel like some of the leave the realm of reasonable, but it’s hard to deny they’re not at least interesting and do their job to make each gun actually feel unique.
For a couple examples of some of the weirder ones, I think it’s largely those same “older” guns that get the stranger things. There’s a “ballistic bayonet” that you can put onto the Mosin for… I guess when you don’t want to shoot a bullet, you fire the whole bayonet at them instead. Something tells me that you could have just fired a bullet instead, but… again, I can’t deny it’s interesting. The AK (Kastov 47 in Modern Warfare 4) is given some sort of… EMP ammo conversion? It’s worded as “An experimental disruption barrel with an integrated optic. Emits a concentrated high-intensity RF pulse capable of incapacitating infantry, crippling electronics, and destabilizing vehicles caught in its crosshairs”. That’s some like… Cyberpunk futuristic kinda thing. Finally, the PPSh, which is given an underbarrel launcher that fires, well, fire. No, it’s not a flamethrower, it’s “A unique underbarrel that launches a rapid burst of advanced pyrotechnic projectiles, laying down intense incendiary coverage that remains burning for a short time”. Time will tell how these play out, but I have to admit some degree of concern for their larger effect on not only the balancing, but the atmosphere of Modern Warfare 4. It’s leaning rather a bit beyond the shadow of reality with a few of these things. Or maybe I’m just out of the loop and the military really made an AK barrel that fires RF pulse rounds.
A new thing to the Gunsmith this time around is the “Gunny”. The Gunny is a function in the gunsmith menu that helps provide advice on how to tailor your firearm to your own preferred playstyle. You simply choose a preference from the list; say… short range, balanced, or long range, and it will use your unlocked attachments to craft the best setup it can suggest. Of course, you might not always agree with these, so you can always twist Gunny’s ideas into whatever you’d prefer instead. Only you know what you truly want. Then, just as you’re getting used to all of it and how nice your gun is with all those attachments, it’s time for prestige and to do it all again. Reset and get an exclusive camo from that gun, lock all attachments, and head straight back to level zero.
Check out the full details on operators and guns on Call of Duty’s blog here.
Also make sure to learn all about the mentioned progression and prestige here.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 officially launches on October 23rd, 2026 for the PS5, Xbox Series X, PC and Nintendo Switch 2. The Early Access campaign is live right now.