Best Maelstrom loadout, class build in Black Ops 6

The best Maelstrom loadout in Black Ops 6 makes the most of the fact that the game finally has a fully automatic shotgun. Fully-auto shotguns are best used with a fast-paced run-and-gun build where you try to get in the face of your enemies as much as possible, because as is the case with most shotguns, you don’t have much range. However, the Maelstrom is one of the best shotguns in the game if you can manage this, thanks to how quickly it fires, so our build is mostly geared around increasing the damage range and accuracy as much as possible. We also want to enable fast-paced movement and handling with the stock and laser attachments. So without further ado, here’s the best Maelstrom loadout in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and how to unlock the gun to begin with in Season 1 Reloaded. Table of Contents How to unlock the Maelstrom in Black Ops 6 To unlock the Maelstrom in Black Ops 6, you need to complete the Merry Mayhem event in Season 1 Reloaded. This involves earning a total of 600,000 XP during the event, which runs until Thursday, Dec. 19th. Earning this much XP will mean you’ve unlocked all the rewards, of which the Maelstrom is the very final one. Alternatively, if you don’t have the time to commit between now and then, you can also buy the Bad Manners bundle from the in-game store. This costs 1,800 COD Points and will grant you the Party Etiquette blueprint for the Maelstrom, which unlocks the gun for you to level up. Best Maelstrom loadout in Black Ops 6 [Image: https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/black-ops-6-maelstrom-loadout-attachments.jpg?quality=90&strip=all] Here is the best Maelstrom loadout in Black Ops 6: * Muzzle: Modified Choke * Barrel: Reinforced Barrel * Rear Grip: Ergonomic Grip * Stock: Balanced Stock * Laser: Strelok Laser The most important thing to note with the Maelstrom is that you ideally want to be aiming down the sights when you’re firing, thanks to the Modified Choke, which reduces the pellet spread considerably but only when ADSing. It’s a minor inconvenience for a major buff as it almost guarantees all of your pellets will land. Finally, there’s the Strelok Laser, which is all about buffing your hipfire to ADS accuracy. It makes the laser visible when aiming down the sights, but it’s a small price to pay since you don’t want to be walking everywhere while aiming, you want to just pull the gun up quickly when in combat. (If you opt to not use the Modified Choke, you can also replace the Strelok Laser with the Fast Motion Laser for better hipfire accuracy.) Best Maelstrom class in Black Ops 6 [Image: https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/black-ops-6-maelstrom-loadout-class.jpg?quality=90&strip=all] The Reinforced Barrel is essential for that small damage range buff, and since this is a shotgun, bullet velocity also comes into play due to the short range, as opposed to weapons like assault rifles where bullet velocity usually isn’t that important to consider. Then on the mobility side of things we have the Ergonomic Grip to buff your slide to fire, dive to fire, and ADS speeds, while the Balanced Stock buffs the following speeds too: Strafing movement, movement, hipfire movement, and aim walking movement. That’s a lot of moving. Here is the best class to use with the Maelstrom in Black Ops 6: * Pistol: Grekhova * Melee: Knife * Tactical: Stim Shot * Lethal: Combat Axe * Field Upgrade: Sleeper Agent * Perk 1: Dexterity * Perk 2: Assassin * Perk 3: Double Time * Wildcard: Perk Greed * Perk 4: Ghost As is the case with most weapons, you’ll want the Grekhova as your trusty sidearm thanks to how quickly you can switch to it and mow enemies down with its fire rate. The Knife is always the best melee choice to go with this. When it comes to equipment, since you’ll be sprinting and diving constantly, the Stim Shot is essential to keep you alive, as it heals your wounds and refreshes tactical sprint. Meanwhile, the Combat Axe is a helpful tool to quickly throw at any enemies you don’t manage to kill with one magazine of the Maelstrom. Since you’ll be behind enemy lines often, the Sleeper Agent field upgrade is one of the most situational tools in the game but it can be very effective here as it disguises you as a member of the enemy team. On the perk front, you’ll want all red perks for the Enforcer specialty, as this grants a temporary buff to both your movement speed and health regen rate whenever you kill enemies. The three best red perks to opt for are: Dexterity for the improved accuracy when moving and reduced fall damage; Assassin to stop enemies from getting kill streaks (though take note that neither this or Bruiser are great options, Assassin is just the better choice of the two for this class); and Double Time to allow you to sprint pretty much constantly. For the wildcard, we’d recommend Perk Greed alongside Ghost as this combo will keep you invisible to enemy radar effects. (You could also opt for Ninja to move quieter, Flak Jacket to protect you from incoming explosives, or Tac Mask to protect from tactical grenades.) If you don’t want to run Perk Greed, choose Gunfighter, and as one of your extra attachments, make sure you pick a bigger magazine — that’s the one weakness this gun has currently. Elsewhere, we have multiplayer explainers on the best guns, maps, and Double XP, campaign guides for safehouse puzzles and safe code locations, and the Liberty Falls vault code in Zombies.