MW3 best Longbow loadout

Update: Our best MW3 Longbow loadout was updated with new and alternative attachments to be up to date with changes made to MW3 since its launch.

Modern Warfare 3 has plenty of weapons for you to try out. As ever, though, MW3's best guns have long emerged in the meta. Whether you like to aggressively run and gun down your opponents or sit back with a sniper, there’s something for everyone. Snipers, however, will appreciate MW3’s best Longbow loadout as they try to level up.

The Longbow is a ferocious sniper rifle in MW3 that allows for some serious quick-scoping and plenty of instant kills for those who can successfully and consistently land headshots. So, without further ado, here’s the best MW3 Longbow loadout, including all the attachments, perks, and equipment you’ll need.

MW3 best Longbow loadout: best attachments

The Longbow is one of the best weapons to use early on in MW3, especially with as much ADS speed as possible packed into it. It unlocks at Level 4, and is a great sniper to use until better snipers become available to you.

It has a one-shot headshot and you can quick scope with it, which with some luck (or sheer skill), will set you up for some brilliant clips. This particular loadout is partially thanks to YouTubers, WhosImmortal and Cbass.

• Underbarrel: XRK Edge BW-4 Handstop
• Stock: Stockless
• Optic: KR V4 1X Riser or Corios Eagleseye 2.5x
• Bolt: SA-M Quickbolt
• Rear Grip: DEMO 650 Grip or Nought-Z3 Grip

Ultimately, the Longbow is a great early-game sniper that is capable of one-shot headshots, but if you can't consistently hit heads, this can be a bit of a problem. The below suggestions are intended on helping with the centering of your crosshair and your mobility so that you can be both precise and fast with the Longbow sniper.

With the XRK Edge BW-4 Handstop as the underbarrel, you’ll get yourself some additional movement speed, ADS speed, and sprint to fire speed which will ramp up your mobility. This’ll affect our bullet spread, but that’s not going to matter with a weapon like the Longbow where we want to be moving fast and quick-scoping where possible.

Your optic is down to what you’re most comfortable with, but the KR V4 1X Riser suggested by WhosImmortal actually improves our ADS speed a tiny bit, and we want as much ADS speed as possible for this weapon. It can easily be swapped out for a laser if you prefer those, or for a suppressed muzzle if you'd like to stay undetected on the map. That said, Cbass' recommendation of the Corios Eagleseye 2.5x is also worth looking at; it gives you a very clear, magnified view of the enemy, but this does come at the detriment of our ADS speed.

Suggested by both WhosImmortal and Cbass, having a Stockless stock will - like our underbarrel - focus on improving our mobility with the weapon while limiting our control of it. Again, as we’ll be quickscoping, we don’t need to worry about the spray or control of this gun too much; we just want to be as fast as possible. That said, if you’d rather have some more control of your Longbow, you can always swap the Stockless stock out for something that will provide you with a little less mobility and a little more control, such as the KV Factory Stock.

Attaching the SA-M Quickbolt will also increase our rechambering speed so that we can be super quick with our shots and continue to keep the kill feed ticking, or ensure a target winds up dead. As for the rear grip, using the DEMO 650 Grip suggested by WhosImmortal will improve our ADS and strafe speed that little bit further, which is what this loadout is all about. That said, Cbass alternatively recommends the Nought-Z3 Grip as a rear grip for the Longbow, which offers us additional ADS speed and sprint to fire speed, which we ideally want. This will impact our recoil control negatively, but considering we won't be spraying targets down, this shouldn't affect us too much.

Last, but not least, Cbass also recommends that players who want to be even faster with the weapon opt for a smaller 10 Round Mag. After all, one shot is all you should need to kill a target, so being able to quickly move out and heal or reload can be quite valuable if you're confident with your sniping abilities.

Of course, as a sniper, the Longbow does require a bit of skill and the ability to aim consistently. If you have that nailed, you’ll have a blast killing off enemy after enemy with - and without - your scope.

MW3 best Longbow perks and equipment

Now that our Longbow loadout is established and we’ve got a speedy sniper in our hands, it’s time to run through what equipment compliments the weapon.

• Secondary Weapon: Renetti - our Renetti loadout has the pistol feeling more like an LMG, making it better for any surprise short-range encounters.
• Vest: Infantry Vest - provides three gear slots and three equipment slots.
• Gloves: Marksman Gloves - reduced sway and flinch when ADS, which is ideal for snipers.
• Boots: Stalker Boots - increased strafe and ADS movement speed.
• Gear: Bone Conduction Headset - reduces combat noise, so you can hear enemy footsteps and gunfire more clearly.
• Tacticals: Flash Grenade - a versatile grenade that blinds and deafens targets so you can go in for the kill or delay.
• Lethals: Breacher Drone - a drone that will explode when in contact with or in close proximity to a target.
• Field Upgrades: Munitions Box or Trophy System - you can never go wrong with more ammo, but the Trophy System can destroy nearby equipment and projectiles to keep your sniper self safe and secure.

How to unlock the Longbow in MW3

The Longbow is unlocked in MW3 when a player reaches Level 4, without any Armory Unlock challenges required. This is also when loadouts will become available to you.

For more on MW3, take a look at our best AMR9 loadout, and our best Striker loadout. Or, if the Longbow isn't cutting it, give the MCPR-300 loadout or FJX Imperium loadout a whirl.