Best Sniper Rifles in Warzone and MW3

Whether you like to quickscope or pick enemies off from a distance, it's good to know the best sniper rifles in Warzone and Modern Warfare 3 for your personal playstyle.

We've went over the three best snipers you can use in Warzone and Modern Warfare 3 below, including how to unlock them, and what build they're best used for.

For more help, check out our pages on how to level up fast, how to unlock all weapons, and our Tactical Stance explainer.

Best Sniper Rifles in Warzone and Modern Warfare 3

Going off their base stats, potential with attachments, and community observations and place in the current meta of best weapons, the three best sniper rifles we recommend using across both Warzone and Modern Warfare 3 are: the Longbow, KATT-AMR, and KV Inhibitor.

While you can use sniper rifles from MW2 as well, we think the snipers added in the MW3 era are better overall, and are far easier to unlock if you're a new player to either MW3 or Warzone.

Keep in mind that although we've based this page off raw stats and community observations, our best sniper rifle picks are subjective. They may not necessarily be ones you agree with or find the best to use.

With that in mind, each sniper rifle has its ideal build, so here's more detailed information on the three best sniper rifles in Warzone and Modern Warfare 3:

Note: Some weapons are balanced with different values and numbers in Warzone and MW3, so we've provided the base stats for each mode - if the mode isn't stated for a particular statistic, that means it's the same across both modes.

Longbow

How to unlock: Reach player Level 4

Best build: Quickscope or medium-range

Base Damage in Warzone: 150 Headshot, 112 Upper Torso, 75 Lower Torso

Base Damage in MW3: 240 Headshot, 180 Upper Torso, 120 Lower Torso

Base Range: 44.4m for effective damage range (12.7m in MW3) and 63.5m for minimum damage range, with 770 m/s Bullet Velocity

Base Rate of Fire: 111.1 rpm

Base ADS Speed: 550 ms

The Longbow is making waves for a reason, as it's a one-shot sniper best used for quick scope kills, or at a medium range. It's also a very easy gun to unlock, available as soon as you get access to custom loadouts at player Level 4. If you have the Vault Edition of Modern Warfare 3, you'll have early access to many of the Longbow's attachments.

You need the right build to make use of this speedy sniper rifle, so here's our recommended attachments for a quickscope Longbow in Warzone and Modern Warfare 3:

• Rear Grip: Demo 650 GRIP
• Bolt: SA-M Quickbolt
• Magazine: 10 Round Mag
• Laser: 10 Round Mag
• Ammunition: 7.62X39MM High Grain Rounds

For more of a medium and long-range build that may be more suited to Warzone matches, be sure to check out our dedicated Longbow loadout page.

KATT-AMR

How to unlock: Reach player Level 4

Best build: Long-range

Base Damage: 360 Headshot, 216 Upper Torso, 207 Lower Torso

Base Range: 78m for effective and minimum damage, with 660 m/s Bullet Velocity

Base Rate of Fire: 41.4 rpm

Base ADS Speed:: 760 ms

The KATT-AMR is another early sniper rifle unlock, but unlike the Longbow it's a slower, less aggressive sniper with a low rate of fire. This makes it better for your long-range needs, but you need to be pretty accurate to make the most of the KATT-AMR's one-shot potential.

You can also build the KATT-AMR for quickscoping, but it's not as effective as the Longbow.

To get the most out of its potential, here's our recommended attachments for a long-range KATT-AMR in Warzone and Modern Warfare 3:

• Bolt: Ephemeral Quickbolt
• Laser: FSS OLE-V Laser
• Barrel: Perdition 24" Short Barrel
• Stock: Tactical Stock Pad
• Underbarrel: Cornerstone Bipod

For more details on how to play the KATT-AMR, check out our dedicated KATT-AMR loadout page.

If you're looking for a bolt-action sniper from the MW3 era that might be suited more towards core Multiplayer, be sure to check out the XRK Stalker added in Season 1 - we delve a bit more into this in the sniper rifle section of our best guns guide, but paired with the SP-X 80 6.6X scope, you'll have a solid, one-shot sniper perfect for the core Multiplayer maps.

KV Inhibitor

How to unlock: Reach player Level 25 and make its associated challenge 'Active' at the Armory, then complete any combination up to three of the following: win a match (repeatable), or complete daily challenges (three per day).

Best build: Long-range

Base Damage in Warzone: 157 Headshot, 112 Upper Torso, 75 Lower Torso

Base Damage in MW3: 294 Headshot, 210 Upper Torso, 140 Lower Torso

Base Range: 58.4m effective damage range (38.1m in MW3) and 58.4m minimum damage range, with 820 m/s Bullet Velocity

Base Rate of Fire: 130.4 rpm

Base ADS Speed: 540 ms

You can also use the KV Inhibitor effectively at medium-range, and alter it for a quickscope loadout, but we consider it most effective for your long-range sniping needs. It unfortunately takes longer to unlock than other snipers, as you need to get access to the Armory feature first in order to choose it as your 'Active' weapon, then complete up to three of either winning matches or completing daily challenges to get it.

For core Multiplayer in MW3, we'd recommend the KV Inhibitor for its higher fire rate, but in terms of Warzone, you might find the KATT AMR - or Season 1 newcomer, XRK Stalker - is better suited to the longer range battles you'll likely find yourself in more often.

To get the most out of its potential, here's our recommended attachments for a long-range KV Inhibitor in Warzone and Modern Warfare 3:

• Barrel: KAS-10 584MM Mod Barrel
• Muzzle: Casus Brake L
• Rear Grip: Brace LS
• Stock: ZLR Bulwark Precision Stock
• Ammunition: .338 Magnum Spire Point Rounds

For more details on how to play the KV Inhibitor, check out our dedicated KV Inhibitor loadout page.

Good luck racking up those sniper kills in Warzone and Modern Warfare 3!