One of the two massive changes that came with Season Two is the Akimbo weapon perk, which is available for all handguns if you complete a special challenge. 

An Akimbo weapon allows you to dual-wield two handguns at once, allowing you to put more bullets down range. However, this comes at the cost of accuracy, as you are unable to aim down sights with Akimbo weapons (in almost all cases).

If you haven’t already tried out Akimbo handguns, or are looking for new ways to play with Akimbo weapons, here are some tips straight from the Akimbo Aficionados at the Activision Games Blog:

Unlocking Akimbo

In order to get Akimbo for a specific handgun, you are tasked with getting three kills with that handgun equipped with a specific weapon perk in five separate games (i.e. “Get 3 kills in 5 different matches using the Frangible-Wounding perk with the M19”).

Here are some general tips for unlocking Akimbo with every handgun quickly:

·     Danger Close. For handguns like the M19, their ammunition type is meant to provide low recoil, high fire rate experience. These characteristics are more beneficial in closer firefights, where you can potentially outclass a long-range weapon with a handgun.

·     Keep Your Distance. As for handguns with more powerful ammunition, such as the .357, they are more effective when used for accuracy. Be patient with your shots and stay on target to get the most out of these secondary weapons.

·     Blueprint weapon perks. Some Blueprint weapons have the weapon perk needed to complete each handgun’s Akimbo challenge. For example, the Pixie Cutter from the Valentine’s ‘Slay Bundle’ has the FMJ perk needed for that weapon’s Akimbo unlock criteria. Try digging through that Armory and see if you already have the pre-requisite weapon perk on the handgun you want to gain Akimbo for.

·     Make Use of Extra Loadout Slots. Every single Akimbo handgun challenge can be completed within five games… If you are good enough and plan it out. Put every handgun in the game with their respective unlock criteria weapon perk across five loadouts. As soon as you get three kills with one handgun, pause the game, go into your Edit Loadouts screen, and select the next handgun loadout for your next life.

·     Two Guns, One Stone. Did you know there is a new Mission set that is all about using handguns? If you’re looking to get some serious XP and some new cosmetic items along with a cool blueprint, consider activating the Pistoleer Mission before going for Akimbo on all handguns.

Of course, if you want to test out Akimbo before unlocking it on every handgun, look at the “Akimbo Pack Executor” Bundle, which offers The Executioner handgun that has Akimbo built into it.

Akimbo Tips and Gunsmith Choices

As mentioned before, Akimbo weapons double your firepower at the cost of accuracy, as you will be hip-firing these weapons in almost all cases. In most cases, this makes a handgun more effective at closer-ranges where accuracy isn’t as important.

Take our first Gunsmith suggestion for example, which uses the first handgun that is unlocked for your loadouts:

Here, we keep the Urban Defiler’s 5mW Laser, which greatly increases hip-fire accuracy at the cost of these lasers being seen by enemies. What won’t be seen by enemies is muzzle flashes, which are blocked by another Urban Defiler base attachment the Muzzle Guard.

From there, we swapped in the 26 Round Mags for more ammo per magazine, and the Lightweight Trigger so that more shots can be made with the Akimbo handguns.

Speaking of putting more shots down range, let’s look at that Executioner again, but this time with some new attachments:

A big change we made was swapping out the Match Grade Trigger, which worsens hip fire accuracy, with the Lightweight Trigger, which allows for a faster fire rate without sacrificing precision. We also extended the magazine to 15 rounds, but otherwise left the weapon mostly untouched.

The 1mW Laser grants better hip fire accuracy without exposing you to enemies, while the Muzzle Brake stabilizes horizontal recoil that will happen with this weapon.

The last in the trio of low caliber handguns is the M19, the fourth out of the five handguns. With the ability to equip a 32-round magazine, the M19 is a weapon built to be used with Akimbo.

In this weapon mod, we show off a Muzzle that sometimes gets a lot of flak: the Oil Can Suppressor. Because of its bulk, aiming down sights with a weapon that has an Oil Can Suppressor can be comical, given that it completely obstructs iron sights and some Optics.

But, when Akimbo does not allow you to aim down sights normally, the Oil Can Suppressor, which boasts a bigger range buff than even the Monolithic Supressor, becomes incredibly viable. Here, we stacked that range buff with the XRK Super L Barrel, making the M19’s range significantly better. Then, to round out our weapon, we threw on the 5mW Laser for better accuracy and the 32 Round Mags for maximum ammo reserves.

For the two higher caliber handguns, we’ll start with the .357, which we outfitted with its unique ammunition known as Snake Shot.

Akimbo Snake Shot .357s are like dual wielding shotguns; you won’t have to worry about hip-fire spread too much and get serious firepower by way of shell ammo. Pair this with the .357 Long Barrel, Lightweight Trigger, and 5mW Laser, and you have a seriously dangerous backup to whatever primary weapon you use.

The final unlockable handgun can also benefit from Akimbo, even though its use case is being a one-shot machine that relies on accurate shots.

Still, for this weapon, which we have the Pixie Cutter blueprint from the ‘Valentine’s Slay’ bundle equipped, we can equip multiple range-increasing attachments for a one-two long range punch with serious potential. Although it may not be as accurate as aiming down sights, this weapon can still be a great stealth option by way of its Monolithic Suppressor, and get a fair share of longshots with enough practice.

As for more general tips, be mindful that Akimbo takes up the weapon perk slot, meaning you cannot use Fully Loaded, a perk that grants maximum starting ammo for a weapon. Because Akimbo handguns can be limiting, it may be wise to use these with the Scavenger perk

Alternatively, for weapons chambered in .45 ACP or 9mm, try using it in loadouts that have primary weapons with the same ammunition caliber, such as the new Striker-45, which is chambered in .45 ACP. Having two weapons that share a caliber of ammunition allows you to use both weapon’s ammo reserves for each other, which, in short, gives you more reserve ammo for Akimbo handguns that share an ammo caliber with a 9mm or .45 ACP primary.

A little known tip about Akimbo is that you can technically aim down sights of a handgun with Akimbo, but only while on a ladder. In this case, your Operator will pull out the right handgun and will be able to aim down its sights, allowing you to make accurate shots while defending yourself on a ladder.

Finally, this seems obvious, but putting a scope on an Akimbo handgun may not be the wisest decision, giving that you cannot aim down sights with them unless you are on a ladder. This especially goes for the Lockwood Pistol Scope on the .357, even if it looks pretty cool.

With all that said, we’ll see you online. 

Stay frosty.

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