Modern Warfare 2 Gunsmith & attachments explained

Liam Mackay
Modern Warfare 2 FJX Cinder weapon vault attachments

The Gunsmith returns in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, allowing players to customize their guns with a variety of attachments to build a loadout that suits their needs. Infinity Ward have revealed more about how the new Gunsmith works, so here’s everything you need to know.

Customizing weapons with attachments has always been a core part of Call of Duty, and Modern Warfare 2019 brought an entirely new system in the form of the Gunsmith. The system evolved with Vanguard’s 10 attachments, and Modern Warfare 2 will be changing it once again.

Modern Warfare 2’s multiplayer and Warzone 2 was finally revealed at Call of Duty Next, and Infinity Ward have detailed the new Gunsmith system ahead of the highly anticipated beta.

M4 Modern Warfare 2 Gunsmith

In some ways, Modern Warfare 2 brings the Gunsmith back to basics by only allowing players to equip five attachments but also adds a whole new layer of complexity with the Platform system.

Modern Warfare 2 will introduce the Gunsmith Platform feature, where weapons will be grouped together to form a family of weapons. Weapons in the same platform will share unlocks, so you’ll be unlocking attachments for different weapons as you progress.

The new Receiver attachment will show up alongside other traditional weapon attachments like Muzzle and Stock. As you use a weapon in-game, you’ll unlock new attachments, and one of these attachment categories will be Receivers.

According to the devs “Changing a weapon’s Receiver completely alters what the weapon is; it’s considered a “new” weapon when building a Loadout, but it still lives within the same Weapons Platform.”

For example, there are five Receivers in the Tempus Armaments’ M4 Weapons Platform: the base M4, the M16, the 556 Icarus LMG, the FTac Racon Battle Rifle, and FSS Hurricane SMG.

Players will unlock two types of attachments when leveling up a weapon in Modern Warfare 2. The first type belongs to the specific Weapons Platform, which includes Receivers, Barrels, Stocks, Rear Grips, and Magazines. These can be used across all Receivers within a Platform.

The devs explain that: “The second are attachments that can be used across all weapons that are able to equip them. These are Optics, Ammunition, Underbarrels and Foregrips, and Muzzles. This allows you to collect an arsenal of attachments that only need to be unlocked once.”

Weapons Platform Specific Attachments – Only usable within a specific Weapons Platform:

  • Receiver
  • Barrel
  • Magazine
  • Stock
  • Rear Grip

Universal Attachments – Can be used across all Weapons Platforms:

  • Muzzle
  • Underbarrel
  • Ammunition
  • Laser
  • Optic

This means that players will no longer need to grind to max weapon levels in order to unlock the best optics, suppressors, grips, or ammunition on every gun. Instead, they’ll only have to do it once.

The devs also confirmed that a Firing Range feature will be accessible in Modern Warfare 2.

This new system may sound confusing, but once you get your hands on the Modern Warfare 2 beta, the concept should become more familiar to you.

You can also check out all of the PC system requirements and all of the free rewards up for grabs in the beta.

Image Credit: Activision

About The Author

Liam is CharlieIntel's Editor who focuses on Call of Duty but also plays lots of fantasy RPGs or anything else in his massive gaming backlog. After graduating in Journalism from Edinburgh Napier University, Liam freelanced in games journalism before joining CharlieIntel in November 2020. You can contact Liam at [email protected].