Call of Duty YouTuber does the math and determines these Black Ops 6 barrels barely do anything

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Well this doesn't bode well for Black Ops 6's iteration of Gunsmith. Helpful CoD YouTuber TheXclusiveAce recently published a breakdown of Blops 6's barrel attachments and determined, amazingly, that most of them are essentially useless.

I wish that was an exaggeration, but the math checks out: Because of how CoD's ballistic model works, most guns are hitscan up to 30-40 meters. The game does not communicate that element of its gunplay anywhere, despite the fact that that 30-40 meters is longer than ~90% of gunfights in Blops, so increasing velocity with the Gain-Twist Barrel is mostly pointless. The same goes for the Long Barrel: With the exception of aggressive SMG damage falloff, the default damage range on Blops 6 guns is so forgiving that you're unlikely to notice a time-to-kill difference by using it. Considering the third barrel option, the Reinforced Barrel, just increases both velocity and range, you can forget about that one in most situations, too.

black ops 6 bullet velocity xm4 — (Image credit: TheXclusiveAce on YouTube)

That leaves the Short Barrel that increases mobility (handy for fast-paced playstyles) and the CHF Barrel that increases headshot damage—even this one is only situationally effective depending on the gun, since extra headshot damage doesn't always mean it'll take fewer shots to kill. The lesson here, which has actually been true for the last handful of CoDs, is that you're better off focusing on attachments that improve the gun's handling, like grips and underbarrels, and ignoring ballistics (unless you're going for longshot kills with an SMG).

Why does Black Ops 6 have prominent attachments that barely do anything? It could be a simple oversight, but the more likely reality is that Treyarch didn't design these barrel attachments for Blops 6—they're for Warzone, where huge maps and long gunfights mean you absolutely want the most potent mix of velocity/range on all of your guns.

That's all fine and good, except that they still serve little purpose in 6v6 Blops multiplayer—a game that millions of people are playing—and the game makes no indication of that. It's up to you to stare at the stats and figure out that the green arrows going up aren't actually helping you, which is pretty counterintuitive for a system that's supposed to make your guns better or more interesting. If this were any other series and we weren't so used to the needs of Warzone clashing with the rest of Call of Duty, this sort of bad game design would be laughed out of the room. But unfortunately, it's business as usual for the best-selling franchise.

You'll get your chance to use Blops 6 barrels for their intended purpose this week. Black Ops 6 Season 1 begins on November 14, integrating Warzone into the Blops 6 fold alongside Omnimovement and a new Resurgence map, Area 99.

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Morgan has been writing for PC Gamer since 2018, first as a freelancer and currently as a staff writer. He has also appeared on Polygon, Kotaku, Fanbyte, and PCGamesN. Before freelancing, he spent most of high school and all of college writing at small gaming sites that didn't pay him. He's very happy to have a real job now. Morgan is a beat writer following the latest and greatest shooters and the communities that play them. He also writes general news, reviews, features, the occasional guide, and bad jokes in Slack. Twist his arm, and he'll even write about a boring strategy game. Please don't, though.