The AK-47 is a powerful assault rifle that just about always makes it into a Call of Duty game. In this instalment, the AK-47 has the usual visual vertical recoil, combined with some real recoil. We will first discuss which engagements the AK-47 is best at and then discuss some tactics to help you find the most of those engagements.

First, let’s discuss the best engagements with the AK-47. It is best to have distance between you and the enemies with the AK-47. The 18.2” VDV Reinforced barrel will help you be more effective at range, increasing the maximum damage range of the AK-47 as well as the bullet velocity, making it easier to hit enemies at long range. Your favourite optic will help you see enemies more easily, my preference is the Microflex LED. The Spetsnaz Compoensator makes it easier to control the AK-47 at long range, leaving only visual recoil to deal with. To help with the visual recoil, use the KGB Target Designator to reveal enemies further away and to show a red dot above enemies to help you aim. Whilst shooting, you move very slowly making you an easy target to hit. This means that you will need to be behind cover for protection. To make it harder for enemies to get you out of that cover, use Tactical Mask to be immune to flasbangs and stun grenades.

To help you hold down a position under sustained fire, use the GRU Elastic Wrap for flinch resistance, which also gives you bonus faster aim down sight time, and the VDV 50 Rnd Fast Mag which increases the ammo capacity letting you pick your time to reload when there are no enemies. This will require the use of the Gunfighter wildcard to unlock more attachment slots. The Quartermaster perk  together with the stimshot equipment will help you heal faster between engagements.

Now, onto how to find long range engagements. The AK-47 is weak at close range due to the slow movement speed, so you will need to be careful whilst moving through close quarters. Take a strong secondary which you can switch to if needed, such as the Hauer 77 which is a pump action shotgun. Also use the Ninja perk so that your footsteps don’t give you away. You will need to manoeuvre the map towards locations you know will give you cover and medium to long range engagements. Use the mini map to gauge where enemies are, and also use score streaks that reveal enemies, such as the spy plane.

This leaves you with a underbarrel slot for which I used the Foregrip to control the tiny amount of horizontal recoil. Adjust your selection to best suit your play style, some of the other under barrel attachments help with movement speed to get you to you behind cover sooner, for example. You also have a slot for a stock. I used the KGB Skeleton Stock for increased aim walking speed to boost the effectiveness of strafing even behind cover.

In summary, the AK-47 is strong at medium to long range when you are holding down a position behind cover. Here are all the attachments:

And here is the complete class setup for the AK-47 in Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War.