Best RPD Black Ops Cold War loadout: Class, attachments, setup & perks

Tanner Pierce

Despite not being an extremely popular weapon within Black Ops Cold War, the RPD light machine gun has incredible potential for a variant that has extremely low recoil but keeps its high rate of fire. Here’s what you need to know about setting it up. 

Light-machine guns aren’t the most popular weapon class in Black Ops Cold War right now. While the Stoner 63 enjoyed some play during the pre-release version of the game, the fact of the matter is that LMGs just haven’t been as viable in the game as of yet.

This is primarily down to the weight of each of the weapons and how much they slow down players during a match. No one wants to lumber around a massive gun when they could just use a fast-paced SMG.

That being said, the class is full of potential, especially with the RPD. The weapon’s array of great attachments means it’s possible to create a class with minimal recoil that can beam enemies down in medium-range gunfights. Without further ado, let’s check exactly how you can create an incredibly powerful RPD setup.

Best RPD loadout

This RPD loadout gives the weapon some pretty low recoil, plus a high capacity and fast reload speed.

Attachments

  • Muzzle: Muzzle Brake 7.62
  • Barrel: 20.3″ Task Force Barrel
  • Underbarrel: Spetsnaz Grip
  • Magazine: VDV 125 RND Fast Mag
  • Handle: Spetsnaz Field Grip

Perks

  • Perk 1: Flak Jacket
  • Perk 2: Scavenger
  • Perk 3: Ghost

Equipment

  • Lethal: Grenade
  • Tactical: Stimshot
  • Field Upgrade: Field Mic

Wildcard

  • Law Breaker

First off, there’s no optic to speak of in this loadout. Simply put, the RPD has some pretty clear iron sights and doesn’t need an optic to help you aim. While one could probably be added without detriment, it’s simply unnecessary.

When it comes to the muzzle, the Muzzle Brake 7.62 is the simplest option because of its early unlock, but it’s also one of the best because of that simplicity. It only increases your vertical recoil control and doesn’t negatively impact your weapon at all.

For the barrel, we’re going with the 20.3″ Task Force Barrel. This gives the weapon a huge increase in damage, damage range, and bullet velocity, making it a powerhouse that opponents won’t want to reckon with. It does come at a cost of your ammo, as you’ll start with a bit less ammo capacity, starting ammo, and magazine capacity, but the positives far outweigh the negatives.

The VDV magazine on the RPD gives it a higher capacity and reload speed.

For the underbarrel, the attachment of choice here is the Spetsnaz Grip because it improves the vertical recoil by 8% and the horizontal recoil by 30%. Despite the positives, this does mean that your shooting movement speed is going to be lower, but not to the point where it’s extremely hurting your performance.

For the Magazine, the VDV 125 RND Fast Mag is the best option. Not only does the high capacity make up for the negatives on the barrel in spades, but it also gives the weapon an extremely fast reload speed, allowing you to get back into firefights faster. That being said, it does negatively affect your aim-down-sight speed, which for LMGs is already slow. Fortunately, there’s a solution.

To make up for the negatively affected ADS time, we’ll be using the Spetsnaz Field Grip to bump it back up. While this does come at the cost of your sprint-to-fire time, like the decrease in aim movement on the Spetsnaz Grip, it’s easy to work with and shouldn’t be a problem.


Hopefully, this guide has provided you with an RPD loadout that will dominate your online matches and help you take down multiple opponents at once. LMG’s may not be the most popular weapons in Cold War, but with the right class, they can still thrive.

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About The Author

Tanner is a former Dexerto games writer, who covered new releases, the biggest trending games, and guides for the trickiest challenges. He has a soft spot for 2020 hit Fall Guys, and a big fan of classic games too.