COD: MW3 Haymaker Guide - Best Build & Loadout

Modern Warfare 3 has hundreds of attachments (with many being virtual lookalikes that essentially do the same thing slightly differently), which makes building guns an incredibly confusing process! Looking up class setups online can be clouded by tons of clickbait and low-effort junk, so if you're looking for highly-researched and performance-tested class setups from an actual Call of Duty expert, you are in the right place! In this guide, we'll take a look at the best loadout and attachments for the Haymaker on 6v6 maps.

Best Haymaker Build & Attachments

Before we discuss the "standard" build of the Haymaker (no Conversion Kit), I'd like to share our JAK Maglift Conversion Kit build for the Haymaker! There are legitimate reasons you may want to use the original Haymaker over the Conversion Kit:

• This build is significantly easier to control and aim with. The JAK Maglift Conversion can be very difficult to control while maintaining rhythmic trigger pulls to keep up the maximum fire rate with the Maglift's binary trigger. The actions of timing your trigger pulls (and releases) combined with controlling for recoil and tracking fast-moving targets may prove challenging for some.
• You prefer a more "traditional" shotgun build. Firing the JAK Maglift is like trying to hold onto an angry dragon in your hands. You might prefer a satisfying "doof doof" and more 'traditional' shotgun feel as opposed to a reckless, incomprehensible spray with the forced, busy upkeep of a binary trigger.
• You like Dragon's Breath rounds. You cannot use different ammo types on the JAK Maglift, so if you like to set your opponents aflame, this is the build for you.

The Haymaker is a semi-automatic spam machine that replaces consistency with the ability to simply keep firing until your target falls over. This build combines the best-in-slot Muzzle and Underbarrel for maximum Hipfire performance with the largest extended magazine, and No Stock to counter the mobility losses incurred by that big mag. Because the Haymaker does not one-shot past point-blank range, logically I tested this build's effectiveness with its two-shot kill potential.

The Dragon's Breath Rounds do slightly increase the overall Damage Range and two-hit kill effectiveness, but that isn't the reason for using them. Unfortunately, the real reason for using DB is the degenerate one: the blinding spam of fire rounds. It cannot be understated how disorienting and difficult it is to aim properly against a constant spam of blazing-bright fire rounds - so the investment into the Ammunition is purely for the distinct combat advantages.

EOD does not reduce the direct damage your pellets deal but it does affect the burn damage. This is okay, because we aren't actually interested in the damage over time from the burn effect.

While the Imperator Long Barrel does translate to a one-shot kill upgrade from 2.6 to 3.5 meters, you have to ask yourself how many times you will actually encounter an enemy in that 0.9-meter sweet spot to justify this attachment's use. From there, the barrel can enhance your two-shot kill potential from 9.5 to 12 meters, and while this sounds nice, you need to consider the true value of this attachment. It might make a difference in 25% of your gunfights (as encountering enemies between 9-12 meters will be fairly common but will not be anywhere near the majority), but I recommend focusing on attachments that make a difference in 100% of gunfights - and all of these attachments do exactly that.

MW3 Shotgun Loadouts

Best Builds & Attachments

Riveter

Haymaker

Lockwood 680

Haymaker: Alternate Ammo Types

• Slugs (12 Gauge and Explosive): Both equally worthless. They don't one-shot to the chest at anything outside of point-blank range, so considering both recenter and rechamber speed, there is no use-case. I suspect these to be glitched.
• Bolo Shells: Did not appear to make a single difference and literally make the weapon worse by mysteriously taking away your one-shot potential in exchange for... using one attachment slot.
• Dragon's Breath: This is included on the build not for its negligible Damage Range benefit, but for the combat advantage of blinding and disorienting your opponents.

Final Build: Haymaker Attachments

• Muzzle: Crown Breaker Choke
• Stock: No Stock Mod
• Magazine: 20-Round Drum
• Ammunition: 12 Gauge Dragon's Breath
• Underbarrel: Bruen Bastion Angled Grip

Our Testing Process: What does "Mathematically Optimized" mean? 

It means that I have personally conducted over 30 hours of dedicated testing across the entire MW2 & 3 attachment set, endlessly consulted high-quality external resources and databases, and tirelessly tested performance across separate attachment combinations to produce what I believe to be the optimal build of a weapon for a specific purpose. Weapons are carefully crafted considering every possible detail - attempting to deliver the mathematically best possible performance in every category - mobility, handling, recoil, range, and accuracy.

With my builds, I believe you should see creative, never-before-seen uses of attachments that create incredible weapons. Do keep in mind that these weapons will not do the work for you - while they have all been precision-crafted to reduce horizontal recoil as much as possible, some of them still have quite noticeable vertical recoil, and it is on you to manage that vertical recoil correctly. I sincerely hope you enjoy reading about this build and every other build I have to offer on Fanbyte!

DISCLAIMER: If you test these in the Firing Range, please note that the Firing Range is currently glitched and shows more visual recoil and different damage performance than actually experienced in-game; it is best that you test these in a custom match or online.