Call of Duty Vanguard is no longer supported with additional content or significant updates, and players have largely moved on to more recent releases. Nevertheless, Vanguard’s multiplayer is still available and this MG42 loadout is usable.
For when you absolutely, positively need to kill everyone in your Call of Duty: Vanguard lobby, you need to get your hands on a light machine gun. Lucky for you, Call of Duty has a collection of light machine guns that are perfect for shredding cover, enemy killstreaks, and even the players themselves. The finest example of this was the MG42, a godless killing machine that was easy – with our guide to the best MG42 Vanguard class at least – to keep on target for all 125 rounds in the magazine. The MG42 (shortened from the German Maschinengewehr 42, literally Machine Gun 42) was great for players who wanted to hold areas and take things a little slower.
If you were always pushing objectives, then something like our best MP40 Vanguard class or our best STG44 Vanguard class was more your style, but use the MG42 right and you could lock down entire areas of the map, or lock down a patrol area of hardpoint in a hail of brutal bullets.
Best MG42 Vanguard class
The best CoD Vanguard MG42 loadout was:
- Muzzle: F8 Stabilizer
- Barrel: Krausnick 450MM B42MG
- Optic: M38/Slate 2.5x Custom
- Stock: VDD 64M
- Underbarrel: Heavy Foregrip
- Magazine: 13mm Anti-Material 125 round drums
- Rear Grip: Stippled Grip
- Proficiency: Frenzy
- Kit: Fully Loaded
For us, trading off aim-down sight speed and hip-fire accuracy to give you stellar recoil control, damage, and range was a worthwhile deal. You could engage with this at any range, really – the only key thing was to have your gun up as you push into buildings or roll around corners.
Lots of these attachments were unlocked later on, so this was more of a long-term investment. If you’re just hopping in today, the MG42 has 70 levels, so you could be at it for a while. The most important part was the Krausnick 450mm B42MG which improved your bullet velocity, range, accuracy, and controllability, although it hit your fire rate, hip-fire accuracy and aim walking movement speed. The VDD64M Stock gave you tons of aiming stability, recoil control, accuracy and flinch resistance. All you had to do was give up some movement speed and aim down sight speed.
Finally, it was wise to pick the 13MM Anti-Material 125 Round Drums. This added damage, penetration, velocity, and range. It also made the recoil a little more unmanageable, but the rest of the build helped address that.
Elsewhere, the build featured little bonuses to usability for the gun, although the Frenzy proficiency was nice as it started your health regen immediately after getting a kill. Fully Loaded also made sure you had plenty of ammo, bumping you up from two to four spare mags.
Crucially, the MG42 struggled with shooting from the hip or any of the quick movements that usually typify a fast-paced Call of Duty match. However, once you got into the flow with the MG42, you were easily able to overpower enemies with the sheer weight of firepower. 125-round drums meant you were often carrying more bullets than anyone you might run into.
So there you have it, the best MG42 build in Vanguard. This LMG was an absolute blast to use, especially once you had the large drum magazines equipped.