The Best Battle Rifle in MW2 (Battle Rifle Tier List)

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 introduced many new aspects to the Call of Duty community, including a brand new category of weapon, the Battle Rifle.

The Battle Rifle category sits somewhere in between assault rifles and marksman rifles, with the intention of offering a more mobile version of marksman rifles or a more powerful version of assault rifles.

This article will discuss the best battle rifle in Modern Warfare 2, placing them into a comprehensive tier list.

Essentially you can look at battle rifles as a larger, heavier form of an assault rifle, packed with full rifle-calibre cartridges.

The Best Battle Rifle in MW2

Firstly, let’s focus on the best Battle Rifle in MW2. As mentioned, Battle Rifles are a completely new category of weapon type within Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and it is safe to say that Activision is still in the process of establishing how powerful these weapons should be. 

In a fast-paced game like MW2, there are only certain Battle Rifles that are usable within the game.

Let’s look at the best Battle Rifle in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 first.

Lachmann-762

If you prefer to run battle rifles in semi-automatic mode, you might have a slightly different tier list than this, but when it comes to using a battle rifle in fully automatic mode, you can’t look past the Lachmann-762.

This weapon comes with a 20-round magazine as standard, and you also have the option to attach a 50-round magazine.

Therefore, this weapon quickly becomes a very powerful weapon in fully automatic mode and can be used in a similar manner to a heavy assault rifle.

This weapon still comes with plenty of recoil, but significantly less than the others on this list, and you can use a couple of attachments to reduce the recoil to a feasible level.

Even at its very best, this weapon is not a quick one and rewards slower play, so be mindful of this when you opt to run a battle rifle in MW2 multiplayer.

Honourable Mentions

While the Lachmann-762 is certainly the best and most usable battle rifle in this game, there are a couple of others that you might want to consider, depending on your style of play.

This section will discuss other battle rifles that you can use within certain game types or maps on MW2. They certainly aren’t great run-and-gun options, but you will want to use the best SMG loadout for that type of gameplay.

FTAC Recon

The FTAC Recon is an interesting option available in MW2, especially in semi-automatic mode. Due to how it plays and looks in-game, many players view this as the battle rifle version of the M4.

Pleasingly, the FTAC Recon provides decent damage and has much better recoil control than other rifles on this list. However, if you choose to change to fully automatic mode, the FTAC Recon quickly becomes unplayable, as you only have 15 rounds in your magazine.

With that in mind, you can only use the FTAC Recon if you use it as a semi-automatic. Otherwise, you are better off choosing the Lachmann-762 or an assault rifle.

TAQ-V

The final battle rifle you might want to consider using in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is the TAQ-V. The TAQ-V is MW2’s version of the SCAR-H, and for that reason alone, this weapon has plenty of nostalgia bonus points. 

Sadly though, the recoil on this weapon is much worse than we hoped it would be, and it makes the weapon almost impossible to use in fully automatic mode.

Not only that, but the TAQ-V also offers less damage per bullet than the FTAC Recon, making it hard to justify picking this weapon over other battle rifles for reasons other than fond SCAR-H memories.

The TAQ-V certainly doesn’t warrant getting placed in the Ones to Avoid section, but it is definitely not the best battle rifle in the game. 

Ones to Avoid

Finally, we have the battle rifle you should avoid using at all costs. As we have touched on, there are only four battle rifles currently in MW2, meaning there is only one battle rifle left for us to discuss. 

While none of the battle rifles is perfectly suited for the current game meta, this battle rifle is particularly poor and one you should avoid wherever possible.

S0-14

If you simply focus on the statistics of this weapon, they are not actually too bad. However, when you play a match with the S0-14, you will quickly realise that this weapon is just too slow to be a good weapon choice in MW2.

Out of all of the battle rifles in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the S0-14 offers the least recoil control, which means it is pretty much impossible to use in fully automatic mode.

Overall, this means there are no scenarios where this is the right weapon to use in Modern Warfare 2. It does offer some damage, but the recoil is too poor to manage, and the weapon is too slow to play it like an LMG or assault rifle.

Luckily, you unlock this weapon automatically by ranking up your EBR, and you don’t need to level up the S0-14 to unlock any other more usable weapons.

Battle Rifle Overall Tier List 

Now you have a much better idea of which battle rifles you should look to use in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. While most of them are certainly usable, there are a couple you might want to avoid and instead opt for one of the best assault rifles or the best LMG in MW2.

Weapon	Tier	Description
Lachmann-762	A	When it comes to using a battle rifle in fully automatic mode, you can’t look past the Lachmann-762.This weapon comes with a 20-round magazine as standard, and you also have the option to attach a 50-round magazine
FTAC Recon	B	The FTAC Recon provides decent damage and has much better recoil control than other rifles on this list. However, if you choose to change to fully automatic mode, the FTAC Recon quickly becomes unplayable, as you only have 15 rounds in your magazine.
TAQ-V	C	The TAQ-V offers less damage per bullet than the FTAC Recon, making it hard to justify picking this weapon over other battle rifles for reasons other than fond SCAR-H memories.
S0-14	F	There are no scenarios where this is the right weapon to use in Modern Warfare 2. It does offer some damage, but the recoil is too poor to manage and the weapon is too slow to play it like an LMG or assault rifle.