The 13 Worst STARTER Guns in Call of Duty History, Ranked

Sometimes a Call of Duty game hands you an atomic bomb launcher right out of the gate, like the M16 from COD 4. But sometimes the developers really want you to feel the grind. Everyone enjoys working toward better weapons, that's part of why we like playing Call of Duty, but you still need something to work with at level one. I searched through Call of Duty history to put together the definitive list of the 13 worst, most useless starting weapons in the franchise, counting down from 13 to the single worst offender.

Let me know which of these you actually tried to use instead of just going melee, because honestly melee would have been the better option for a few of these.

13. The Olympia in Black Ops 1

I'm sure Treyarch got a great laugh out of this one. You boot up Black Ops 1, look at the awesome weapons, listen to the menu music, pick the starting shotgun because you want to blow some people off their heels, and then you're stuck using one of the most useless weapons ever put in a first-person shooter.

A good double barrel shotgun is satisfying, but a bad one is one of the most frustrating things ever because you're dealing with horrible ammo capacity and a long reload animation, and in return you get nothing back. "It's not an equal partnership." The Olympia basically had negative range and it actually got less accurate if you aimed down the sights. I don't even know how that works, but thanks for the joke, Treyarch.

12. The Trench Gun in World at War

Your starting shotgun in World at War straight up sucks, and frankly all the shotguns in this game do. So assuming the PS5 port ends up being real, which I do think it is, you're going to want to avoid this weapon class altogether. It's not just that the map design doesn't complement shotgun play, it's that these guns are just bad.

The Trench Gun had horrible ammo capacity, a slow fire rate, and truly horrendous one-shot kill range that would almost never work in your favor. You get insta kills every now and again, but it's never reliable or consistent, which kills the whole point of using a shotgun in the first place. If that port does happen, don't use the Trench Gun.

11. The EBR14 in Modern Warfare 2019

This weapon has been in Call of Duty a million times and it's always had a bit of a following, so I understand why Infinity Ward brought it back for Modern Warfare 2019. What I don't understand is why they made it so bad. Recoil is ridiculous, the iron sights are terrible, and the damage is super inconsistent.

There's literally no reason to use it over any other gun in the game because the time to kill is so fast. You could be using something fully automatic that threads through anybody you touch, or you could use this semi-auto beam launcher that doesn't actually do anything and is almost impossible to aim consistently with.

10. The M16A4 in Modern Warfare 3

The M16 was ridiculous in its first few appearances throughout Call of Duty history, an insane debut in COD 4, a very strong follow-up in Modern Warfare 2, and an iconic version in Black Ops 1. Then there was this gigantic piece of trash that was the Modern Warfare 3 version.

Damage was inconsistent, there was some really annoying bouncing recoil for whatever reason, and the fire rate was bad. You were basically supposed to point at people and politely ask them to disconnect from the lobby, because that would have gotten you a better kill to death ratio than this gun did.

9. The M4A1 in Modern Warfare 3

We're still dogging on the original Modern Warfare 3 here, because it pulled off the one two punch of ruining two classic weapons at once. The M16 and the M4 were the two starting assault rifles in that game, and both were mainstays of the franchise as a whole, yet Sledgehammer smashed both of them into the dirt.

I don't know why the M4 in this game is so bouncy, unreliable, and inconsistent. It's unstable and unusable, and both of these guns tarnish the legacy of their own names. I'm genuinely kind of upset about it.

8. The ASP in Black Ops 1

I've tried not to put pistols on this list because it feels a little unfair, but I couldn't resist including this one because it's truly something special, and not in a good way. I didn't even think it was possible to make a handgun this useless, but Treyarch did it back in 2010.

A pistol with a tiny magazine, horrible damage, a distracting model, and a dinky sound effect all combine into what I believe is the single worst handgun in Call of Duty history. "I'd rather throw my gun at the enemy than actually try to shoot them with the ASP."

7. The W1200 in COD 4

COD 4 really isn't a shotgun friendly game. The maps don't complement that play style, especially since there was no unlimited sprint, so even with extreme conditioning equipped you'd run out of stamina pretty quickly. A super aggressive pump shotgun class just didn't work in this game, and on top of that, the W1200 itself wasn't good.

It was super inconsistent, slow, and only held four shells at a time, all of which had to be reloaded individually. Nobody used it unless they were on Shipment, and even then it wasn't good because the range was abysmal. How do you make a gun that's not even good for Shipment?

6. The Model 680 in Modern Warfare 2019

We can all agree Modern Warfare 2019 had some ridiculous shotguns, so I don't know what the Model 680 was doing in the lineup. It's a pump-action shotgun with an extremely slow fire rate, which would be fine if the one-shot kill range backed it up, but the range wasn't good either.

It took forever to fire and was heavier than the other shotguns in the game, and I was somehow expected to use this over monsters like the 725, the R9-0, and the Origins 12. Yes, you could load it up with attachments in the Gunsmith, but then it was just on par with the other naked shotguns, so why bother.

5. The AUG in Modern Warfare 2019

I'm still amazed this gun made it out the door, and even more amazed that despite all the patches this game received, Infinity Ward never made the AUG any better. This SMG had an unimpressive fire rate, low damage, terrible iron sights, and mediocre handling.

The whole gimmick was that it was a platform for you to load up with attachments and turn it into something special. The problem is you couldn't actually make it special. You could fine-tune it with all the best attachments for a specific play style and nothing changed. It stayed mediocre.

4. The Pelington 703 in Black Ops Cold War

The sniping scene was pretty strong in Cold War, mainly because of the LW3 and later the K31 Swiss. The starting bolt action was about as useful on the battlefield as a British teddy bear.

Compared to the LW3, the Pelington was significantly slower since each round had to be loaded individually instead of using a magazine, and you weren't getting extra damage in return since its one-shot kill range was basically the same as the LW3's. Better ammo capacity, quicker to use, basically identical range, so why would I ever pick the Pelington?

3. The Lachmann-762 in Modern Warfare 2

A terrible gun from a terrible game. This battle rifle packed quite a punch in theory, but it had some of the most unreasonable recoil ever, and the damage seemed legitimately broken at times, not broken in the sense that it was too good, but in the sense that the bullets just didn't seem to work.

Sometimes you'd hit somebody once and they'd die instantly. Sometimes you'd hit somebody three or four times and they wouldn't die. How are you supposed to use a gun like that? It's like it had a random number generator in place of a damage stat.

2. The MP5 in Modern Warfare 3

The MP5 is now seen as the sweatiest gun in Call of Duty history, thanks to Modern Warfare 2019, but back in the day it was just a fan favorite all-rounder SMG. Iconic in COD 4, underrated in Modern Warfare 2, and it had its own fan club by Black Ops 1.

Then there was the Modern Warfare 3 version, which felt like somebody put it on toast. I keep asking why Sledgehammer felt the need to crap on legacy weapons in this game. The M16, the M4, and the MP5 are all staples of the franchise, and all three were turned into bottom tier starting weapons in Modern Warfare 3 for no discernible reason.

1. The Dragunov in Black Ops 1

The single worst sniper in Call of Duty history. "Black Ops 1 Drag is basically a war crime in digital form." I would rather stand in line at the DMV than use this gun. I would rather buy plane tickets over the phone than use it. I'd rather recycle ten thousand Call of Duty history video list topics than use this gun.

It is the single worst sniper rifle in Call of Duty history, and it was a default unlock, which is exactly why it earns the number one spot on this list.

Let me know where I got it right, where I got it wrong, and any other starting weapons that deserved a spot here.