Here are the best pistols in MW2! Overkill is less of a sacrifice than ever before, but a great many players will still prefer to run an AR or an SMG and take a sidearm instead. But which sidearm should they take?
One of the great many problems with Vanguard was how powerful the sidearms were. We saw people ego-challing with the RATT all year long, and it wasn't good for the health of the game. Luckily, Modern Warfare 2 has corrected for this error, and the pistols are in a much more reasonable place. It's just a better balanced game in general compared to Vanguard, as we say in our review of MW2, but let's get back to the subject of pistols.
Modern Warfare 2 launched with a bunch of cool pistols, and we are here to rank them. Let's take a look at which is the best pistol in Modern Warfare 2?
The Best Sidearms In Modern Warfare 2
7. GS Magna
This is a full-auto Desert Eagle, that has a max magazine capacity of only 13 rounds. So, as you'd expect, it's terrible. Mainly because the recoil is completely uncontrollable.
The only "effective" GS Magna loadout turns it into a really weird akimbo shotgun.
Who thought a full-auto Deagle was a good idea?
6. X12
The X12 is your classic, level-1 Glock. There's nothing fancy going on here; it has low damage as you would expect, but great mobility and handling. Because the damage is so low, we wouldn't recommend switching to the pistol and trying to finish enemies off unless you can 100% guarantee they're one-shot. Otherwise, you'll mainly be using it for the master movement speeds at the beginning of each round.
The X12 has 17 rounds in the magazine by default, so it has that going for it.
5. .50 GS
The .50 GS is basically the Desert Eagle. It packs quite a punch and can one-shot enemies with the right attachments. It is pretty slow though, and you definitely have to hit your shots. In our opinion, the Deagle requires more skill than the other pistols, and that is why we place it that "low".
If you hit all your shots, the .50 GS is damn strong, if not you will be pretty lost.
4. P890
The P890 is an awesome pistol. It is fast and kills everything with only two hits, so a lot of people would probably rank it higher, and you could argue if it should be swapped with the X13 Auto. For me personally, the X13 is just even easier to use, but the P890 is definitely a really good fall back option if you run out of ammo with your primary.
3. X13 Auto
Although the damage is pretty low with the X13, having full-auto capability is a game changer for most players. You can pull it out and spray and pray when you're out of ammo, and hopefully you land enough shots to finish the kill. Obviously, the X13 is only effective in close combat, but up to a couple of meters it has a TTK that can rival some of the real SMGs.
2. Basilisk
Normally we wouldn't put a slow revolver in first place, but who would have guessed, there is a fu**ing broken setup for this pistol, that makes it easy to use and extremely powerful. Whoever remembers the Snakeshot revolver from MW2019 knows what I am talking about. With Akimbo you can run two of those bad boys at the same time and have shotgun ammo for them. Running around with two pocket shotguns is extremely annoying for everyone but you... but it is effective and easy.
1. FTAC Siege
This is not a pistol. This an SMG that somehow found a way to sneak into the pistol class category. For that reason, it massively outclasses the other pistols.
This weapon has an amazing fire-rate, far easier recoil than you would think (with the right attachments), and eye-watering 72-round round drum mags.
The FTAC Siege is so much fun, and you don't really have an excuse not to use it unless you're taking Overkill.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, was your complete overview of the best sidearms currently available in Modern Warfare 2. If you want to see what weapons are good for the primary slot, here are the tier lists for ARs and SMGs:
- Best Assault Rifle In Modern Warfare 2 | All ARs Ranked
- Best SMG In Modern Warfare 2 | All SMGs Ranked
And if you're looking for what else has changed in MW2, check out this vid: