Black Ops 7 Season 2’s new weapons shred the meta with rapid-fire TTK

New guns are always going to be powerful when a new Call of Duty season drops, but some of the new weapons introduced in Black Ops 7 Season 2 are crazy strong.

Black Ops 7 Season 2 is filled with all-new maps and modes plus returning fan favorites like Safeguard and Slums, but the new guns available at the launch of the season are easily the stars of the show. The REV-46 SMG and EGRT-17 assault rifle are dominating lobbies right now, and upcoming changes could make them even more impactful to the BO7 meta.

Moving Away from the Maddox

If you played Black Ops 7 last season, then you’ve probably seen the Maddox RFB assault rifle in most of your matches. A returning weapon from Black Ops 4, the Maddox dominated BO7 with its close-range power and long-range accuracy.

The Maddox got nerfed during Season 1, but it’s still one of the best assault rifles in the game. Now, Season 2’s new weapons have taken its spot at the top of the food chain. With Season 2 balance changes coming later than usual so the development team can monitor weapon performance in the live game, the REV-46 and EGRT-17 are the best of the best for the foreseeable future.

Explaining the EGRT-17

The problem weapon last season was the Maddox, an assault rifle that shredded at close-range and could have basically zero recoil at long-range. This season, Treyarch added the EGRT-17, an assault rifle that shreds at close-range and can have basically zero recoil at long-range. See the problem there?

Granted, the EGRT-17 isn’t as accurate as the Maddox at long distances. However, it’s significantly stronger up close, so it just trades one thing for another.

The EGRT-17 boasts the second-highest fire rate in its class—losing only to the rapid-fire Peacekeeper—but it still has an easily controllable recoil pattern despite being a certified bullet hose. With the right attachments, it becomes a laser beam. The only thing holding it back is a slower-than-average reload speed, but that can easily be offset with attachments as well.

As if the weapon couldn’t get any stronger, its bullets also ricochet off surfaces. If you prestige the EGRT-17, you then unlock an attachment that makes the bullets ricochet three times. That attachment also offers a huge improvement to both damage range and bullet velocity, which makes the gun even easier to control.

The Stock-Switching SMG

This season’s new SMG is just as strong. The REV-46 is the fastest-firing SMG in Black Ops 7 by a wide margin, and that’s just one reason why this gun is so popular in BO7 right now.

A weapon that can shred enemies at close range is already going to be strong in any Call of Duty game just by virtue of its fire rate, but the REV-46 has a unique trick up its sleeve: a folding stock. It’s the only weapon in the game with a folding stock mechanic, and its stats change drastically depending on the configuration.

Using the typical fire-select button, you can retract or deploy the REV-46’s stock at any time. With the stock folded, the REV-46 has unmatched handling with blazing fast ADS and sprint-to-fire speeds. Once you unfold the stock, the gun gains reduced recoil and a significantly tighter hipfire reticle.

It’s the best of both worlds for SMG lovers, and the REV-46’s prestige attachment sweetens the deal even further. Once equipped, the stock dramatically boosts movement and ADS speed while extended at the cost of some additional recoil. It’s really not that harsh of a tradeoff, though, and it makes the REV-46 capable of both hipfire shreds and room-clearing strafes simultaneously.

Bringing Back Blackout

These weapons are already strong in their current state—and things could easily change once balance patches start to roll out— but the EGRT-17 and REV-46 make me really excited for something else on Season 2’s roadmap.

Both guns are already proving popular with the Warzone crowd, but Black Ops 7 Season 2 is bringing back the fan-favorite Blackout mode introduced in Black Ops 4. Blackout beat Warzone to the punch by a full year, and it was a much more enjoyable experience for casual sessions.

Blackout was fast-paced and designed with fast-paced action in mind, so I can see the EGRT-17 and REV-46 sitting comfortably at the top of the new Blackout meta. It may not be a one-to-one translation of BO4’s battle royale since this is being touted as a “new battle royale experience” that “draws inspiration” from Blackout, but if the core mechanics are the same, finding these two guns will be like finding a gold SCAR in OG Fortnite.

Blackout won’t be coming back until Season 2 Reloaded, so there’s still plenty of time for these guns to get nerfed into the ground. For now, the EGRT-17 and REV-46 are very much worth grinding the battle pass for.