The MP-40 is the first SMG that is unlocked in Call of Duty: Vanguard and it is a great general purpose submachine gun that is good for both close and medium range engagements. We will be exploring how to best use the MP-40 and then come up with a class setup that makes the MP-40 an even better all-purpose fighter. As I was using it I had the most success holding down areas on maps that have many close to medium range engagement opportunities. Being aggressive with it by running around will expose you to assault rifles at medium to long ranges and shotguns in close quarters where they have big advantages. When you encounter enemies that are also using a SMG whilst being aggressive, your chances of winning are 50/50 or better or worse depending on your reaction skills. So it is usually better to look for ways of boosting these chances by being prepared for enemies as well as having some cover.

You will be vulnerable whilst moving to the area you want to hold down. There are a few things you can do to keep safe. Take Ninja both to hide your own footsteps from enemies as well as reducing the noise you make whilst moving so you can hear enemies more easily. The Dead Silence field upgrade hides you from enemy recon and spy planes, I usually activate it when I hear one of those kill streaks get called in. The Radar perk will let you see where on the map enemies are fighting letting you know which areas to go for as well as giving away enemy locations so you can hunt them down on your way. Lightweight increases your movement speed. I would usually recommend the tactician perk, but since the MP-40 is an early SMG you might not have that unlocked yet. Lightweight both helps you get to the area you want to hold down faster as well as boosting your strafe speed which will help you win contested fights.

When you do encounter an enemy, either on the way or when holding down a location, be sure to strafe whilst firing at enemies. This will make you a harder target to hit. The steady proficiency helps by reducing the movement penalty whilst under fire so that you can continue to strafe effectively even if you are taking damage. The Krausnick 33M Folding stock helps increase your movement speed even more making strafing even more effective. The Grooved Grip also boosts your strafing speed as well as helping to control recoil. The Stim tactical equipment heals you up quicker so that you can quickly recover from a contested fight to be ready for the next enemy.

When holding down an area you will need to be ready to deal with many enemies coming at you in quick succession. A few attachments will make this easier. The Mercury Silencer helps you stay off the mini map and won’t reduce your aim down sight time like the other silencer does, which is key to being able to react quickly to enemies. The 9mm 64 Round Drum magazine will give you plenty of ammo to take on around 3 to 4 enemies between reloads. You will need to time your reloads carefully based on how many enemies you believe are nearby. As you reload, you will need to be more defensive or hide by, for example, going prone or staying in a corner behind a door. Taking the Fully Loaded kit will give you a full ammo supply on respawn meaning you will be unlikely to run out of ammo.

By default the MP-40 is a 4 hit kill dealing just too little damage for a 3 hit kill. You can get around that by going for headshots, which can be challenging, or by using the Incendiary ammo type which does just enough damage over time to push the MP-40 into a 3 hit kill weapon, at least whilst within the effective damage range. To let you spot where enemies are coming from, focus one kill streaks that reveal enemy locations, such as the enemy intel and the spy plane.

For me, enemies are hard to see in Call of Duty: Vanguard. There are a few attachments that help with that. The GF-59 Flashlight increases the distance at which enemies will have a red dot above them. This makes them easier to see. I often can’t even see the enemy character, just the red dot and have to guess where the character is based on the red dot. Additionally, pick your favourite optic as the iron sights obstruct your target. The Slate Reflector is my favourite because of its simple dot indicating where bullets will go.

The last attachment that we haven’t discussed yet is the barrel. There isn’t anything that really fits into the MP-40’s character. For example, one of the barrels removes headshot bonus damage, which is not good because you can turn the MP-40 into a 3 shot kill using headshots. Another increases the recoil a lot which makes the MP-40 difficult to control. The Krausnick 317mm 04B barrel reduces the recoil of the MP-40. This isn’t needed that much, but it is nice to have compared to skipping the barrel attachment altogether. We also haven’t discussed the lethal equipment because that mainly depends on your preferences. I usually take the frag grenade, but I don’t really end up using it very much. Feel free to pick whatever you end up finding the most useful.

So that’s the MP-40 SMG. With all of the attachments we have mainly boosted the mobility to help you get to good areas to hold down faster as well as improve strafing, as well as picking attachments that help hide your position and being able to take on many enemies in quick succession. Here are all the attachments and the complete class setup for the MP-40 SMG: