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Best XM4 loadout and class build for Black Ops 6

An old favourite continues its reign of the assault rifle family.

Image credit: Eurogamer/Activision

The XM4 in the newly-released Black Ops 6 is an assault rifle that many players will recognise as a common staple from previous Call of Duty releases.

Similar to past iterations such as the M4 or M16 rifles, the XM4 returns from Black Ops Cold War, delivering reliance once again as an all-round solid, fully automatic rifle.

With a fairly high rate of fire, this gun almost bridges a gap between assault rifles and submachine guns, giving you something that'll output rapid fire at close range, and decent offence when attacking over long distances.

In this guide, we'll be running through how to unlock the XM4 in Black Ops 6, as well as the best attachments, and best class build and perks to pair alongside it.

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Black Ops 6 XM4 best loadout and attachments

With the XM4's high rate of fire, we're looking at this weapon through the lens of close-medium range engagements. While you can still manage to pick off targets further afield, you'll have to employ more resistance from the recoil to hit your shots.

With all this in mind, we're recommending you build the gun to lean into its medium range effectiveness, whilst also providing bonuses to mobility and handling aspects that'll help for close-distance encounters.

Before getting into all the specifics, let's take a look at our set of recommended attachments for the XM4 in Black Ops 6:

  • Optic: Merlin Reflex or player preference
  • Muzzle: Suppressor or player preference
  • Barrel: CHF Barrel or Long Barrel
  • Magazine: Extended Mag I
  • Rear Grip OR Stock: Quickdraw Grip/Assault Grip OR Heavy Stock/Balanced Stock
A look at a few of the attachments we're recommending for the XM4. | Image credit: Eurogamer/Activision

With it being such an all-round weapon, the XM4 is probably one of the easiest weapons to tailor to a particular playstyle - within reason of course, it is still an assault rifle after all.

With that in mind, some of the attachments mentioned you might prefer to leave out and instead opt for something else.

A couple of examples of these are the Merlin Reflect optic sight, and the Suppressor in the muzzle slot.

Image credit: Eurogamer/Activision

The former is just a solid alternative to the iron sights, but if you're comfortable with them, you could swap over to another attachment that'll more directly affect the weapon's performance.

Same goes for the Suppressor, which we're recommending for its stealthy capabilities of keeping you off the radar when firing, but if this isn't something you feel you're in need of, that's another slot you could swap out for something more to your liking.

Beyond that is where the core stat boosts of this weapon lie, with the CHF barrel, Extended Mag I magazine, and a choice of either a grip or stock.

The CHF Barrel brings with it an increased headshot multiplier effectively increasing damage dealt to the head, whilst the alternate option in the Long Barrel will simply increase the gun's damage range, assisting it for those attacks at longer distances.

Image credit: Eurogamer/Activision

With a higher rate of fire, the Extended Mag I attachment will provide a 50-per-cent boost to magazine size, granting it a total of 45 rounds per mag. The tradeoff is an extended reload time, which ultimately didn't take too long to get used to.

Finally, we've got a couple of recommendations for the final attachment you'll have to make a choice between.

On one hand, you could pick the rear grip option, with a choice between the Quickdraw Grip - for quicker aim down sights speed - or the Assault Grip, which will boost your sprint-to-fire speed, giving a boost for those moments when you need a quick reaction.

Alternatively, you could instead opt for a stock option with either the Heavy or Balanced Stocks that grant flinch resistance, or aim-walking and general movement speed respectively.

Image credit: Eurogamer/Activision

If these stat boosts are both important to you and you're not picking the red dot sight or suppressor however, you can of course take one from each of these categories.

Just like with any attachments, it's worth experimenting, trying different combos out to see what fits for your playstyle.

Black Ops 6 XM4 best class build, perks, gear, and equipment

When it comes to the loadout in terms of perks, equipment, and more, we're leaning into the new 'Combat Specialty' feature, and picking a Wildcard that'll net you an extra perk - alongside all the other bells and whistles a loadout contains.

These are all intended to net you more score towards Scorestreaks, with some mobility and resistance-focused aspects to improve your survivability.

Here's a high-level view on our recommended loadout setup for the best Black Ops 6 XM4 build below:

Best Black Ops 6 XM4 loadout

  • Perk 1: Flak Jacket
  • Perk 2: Dispatcher
  • Perk 3: Quartermaster
  • Combat Specialty: Strategist
  • Secondary: GS45
  • Tactical: Flashbang
  • Lethal: Frag
  • Field Upgrade: Player preference
  • Wildcard: Perk Greed with perk Gung-Ho
An overview of all the perks, equipment, and gear we're recommending for use with the XM4. | Image credit: Eurogamer/Activision

For the main three perks, we're going for a full set of Strategist (green) perks, opening up the Combat Specialty bonus for those perks.

With Flak Jacket, you'll take reduced damage from explosive and fire damage, Dispatcher will net you Scorestreaks at a quicker rate, whilst Quartermaster lets you recharged equipment overtime, keeping you stocked up on Frags and more.

With the Strategist Combat Specialty, you'll get a slew of bonuses like more score from objectives and damaging enemy equipment, faster deployment of your own equipment, and more.

The full in-game description for the bonuses provided by the Strategist Combat Specialty. | Image credit: Eurogamer/Activision

As for the returning 'Wildcard' slot, you're able to pick Perk Greed, letting you pick any perk of your choosing - we're recommending Gung-Ho, but if there's another perk you'd rather, there's a slew of options to pick from.

The Wildcard Perk Greed, and the bonus perk we're recommending, Gung-Ho. | Image credit: Eurogamer/Activision

As for your secondary, we're using the GS45, but as with your Lethal, Tactical, and Field Upgrades - for which we're picking Flash Grenade, Frag, and Assault Pack - it's all ultimately down to personal preference.

Depending on how you built your XM4 in terms of attachments, some of your perk picks might be slightly different with ours, so don't be afraid to mix and match - but keep in mind, you can only get the Combat Specialty of a particular perk set if you have three perks of the same type.

How to unlock the XM4 in Black Ops 6

You don't have to do much to be able to take the XM4 for a spin in Black Ops 6.

To be able to unlock and customise the XM4 assault rifle, you'll be able to do so as soon as you unlock the ability to create custom loadouts at Level 4.

Left: The progression screen showing the custom loadouts unlocked at Level 4. | Right: The XM4 in the weapon select screen. | Image credit: Eurogamer/Activision

This should only take a couple of matches or so, as long as you're netting kills, playing the objective, and engaging with any source of XP.

Once at Level 4, you're able to equip and customise it to your liking.

Good luck using the XM4 in Black Ops 6!

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