As a popular shooting game, weapons are undoubtedly the most important existence in Black Ops 6, and they are also essential props for you to experience various game modes. And if you want to have the advantage in every battle as much as possible, choosing a suitable weapon is very important.
At present, there are various types of weapons in BO6, and one of the most popular guns is undoubtedly the fully automatic shotgun, which is suitable for fast-paced run-and-gun builds. In this build, you need to face many enemies head-on because the shotgun has a small range.
However, if you can do this after practicing in BO6 Bot Lobbies, you will be able to fully utilize the power of Maelstrom, one of the best shotguns in the game. Its extraordinary firing speed allows you to further increase its damage range and accuracy by making appropriate combat combinations around it. In addition, by equipping the buttstock and laser attachment, you can also achieve fast-paced movement and control.
Based on this, we will introduce you to how to unlock Maelstrom and how to exert its power.
How To Unlock Maelstrom?
To unlock Maelstrom in CoD Black Ops 6, you first need to complete Merry Mayhem event in BO6 Season 1 Reloaded, and earn 600,000 XP during the event. The event will last until Thursday, December 19. In fact, earning this much XP means that you have unlocked all the event rewards, and Maelstrom is the last one among them.
If you didn’t participate in the event from the beginning and didn’t have enough time to earn 600,000 XP, you can also get Party Etiquette blueprint for Maelstrom from the in-game store through Bad Manners bundle to unlock the gun.
What Loadouts Does Maelstrom Fit In?
In the game, you can change the best or most powerful loadouts for your gun. For Maelstrom, you can use the following loadouts:
- Muzzle: Modified Choke
- Barrel: Reinforced Barrel
- Rear Grip: Ergonomic Grip
- Stock: Balanced Stock
- Laser: Strelok Laser
The most important thing to note when using Maelstrom is that with Modified Choke equipped, you will want to aim down sights while shooting to reduce pellet spread, but only while ADS. While this makes your Maelstrom a little inconvenient, it can be a big improvement as it almost guarantees that all of your pellets will land.
Additionally, Strelok Laser can increase your hip fire to ADS accuracy. It makes the laser visible and you need not to move around while aiming and can just pull up quickly in combat to shoot. If you choose not to use Modified Choke, you can also replace Strelok Laser with Fast Motion Laser for increased hip fire accuracy.
Best Maelstrom Matching
For a weapon to have a powerful impact in the battles of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, it is important to have potent strength on its own, but effective matching with other items can often achieve twice the result with half the effort.
For Maelstrom, for example, the reinforced barrel can enhance the small-area damage it causes, and because Maelstrom is a shotgun, the fast bullet speed will also play a role because of the short range, while weapons such as assault rifles rarely consider bullet speed.
In terms of mobility, you can pair Maelstrom with an ergonomic grip to enhance your sliding shooting, diving shooting, and ADS speed; and equipping a balanced stock will also enhance the speed of strafing movement, movement, hip-fire movement and aiming and walking movement, so that you can move a lot without any problem. Based on this, our recommended pairings are as follows:
- Pistol: Grekhova
- Melee: Knife
- Tactical: Stim Shot
- Lethal: Combat Axe
- Field Upgrade: Sleeper Agent
- Perk 1: Dexterity
- Perk 2: Assassin
- Perk 3: Double Time
- Wildcard: Perk Greed
- Perk 4: Ghost
Like most weapons, Grekhova is a worthwhile secondary weapon to pair with Maelstrom, as you can quickly switch to it in combat and knock out enemies with its fire rate. The knife is always the best melee option to pair with Maelstrom.
Also, since you’ll be constantly sprinting and diving in Black Ops 6, equipping Stim Shot can help keep you alive, as it heals your wounds and refreshes your Tactical Sprint.
Meanwhile, Combat Axe is a useful secondary tool to throw at enemies that you can’t kill with Maelstrom’s magazine. Since you’re often behind enemy lines, Sleeper Agent field upgrade will be one of your most used tools in the game, and it’s very effective because it disguises you as a member of the enemy team.
In terms of perks, you can get Enforcer feat with the red perk. With this, every time you kill an enemy, you get a temporary increase in movement speed and health regeneration. The three best red perks are:
- Dexterity: Increases your accuracy while moving and reduces fall damage.
- Assassin: Stops enemies from getting kill streaks.
- Double Time: Allows you to sprint almost non-stop.
For Wildcard, we recommend using Perks Greed and Ghost, as this combination will make you invisible to enemy radar effects. Of course, you can also choose to utilize Ninja to reduce movement speed, Flak Jacket to protect you from incoming explosives, or Tactical Mask to protect you from tactical grenades.
If you don’t want to use Perk Greed, it’s also a good idea to choose Gunfighter as one of your Maelstrom’s additional attachments. However, the prerequisite is that you must equip a larger magazine.
After understanding the above information, I believe you already know how to use Maelstrom in battle. If you lack some props that can be matched with it, you can enter IGGM Discord to follow the game giveaway information. I wish you a merry game.
