The R1 Shadowhunter is finally out in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Season 2. While this iteration of the fan-favorite crossbow lacks a lot of the customization options found in Modern Warfare, it is still an effective weapon at short to medium range. Here’s everything you need to know to dominate with COD’s newest gun.
Fastest way to unlock the crossbow
The fastest way to unlock the R1 Shadowhunter crossbow is to play modes like Face Off because games are short. You can easily get 3 one-shot-one-kill medals with a sniper rifle in every single match. Repeat 15 times and you’re ready for action with your new favorite weapon.
Note: Your progress will only count if you finish the game.
Best R1 Shadowhunter loadout
This crossbow is a special, secondary weapon. Unfortunately that means no gas bolts, laser sights, or other weapon changing attachments. Instead you’re limited to optics. These slightly increase your range with extra magnification, so the best attachment depends on player preference. You might even want to run it without any alterations.
Optic
- Hawksmoor: 1.37x magnification
- Microflex LED: 1.25x magnification
- Millstop Reflex: 1.37x magnification
- Quickdot LED: 1.25x magnification
Equip the following if you’re looking to solo crossbow with no primary weapon.
Best crossbow class set-up
- Wildcard: Danger Close
- Tactical Equipment: Smoke Grenade (x2)
- Lethal Equipment: Tomahawk (x2)
- Field Upgrade: Field Mic
- Perk 1: Flak Jacket
- Perk 2: Gearhead
- Perk 3: Ghost
This loadout improves your situational awareness and allows you to keep enemies in range while maintaining the advantage. Starting with the Wildcard, Danger Close lets you carry an extra smoke grenade and Tomahawk. The Crossbow is most effective at short to medium range, so you’ll want to use the smokes to draw in opponents. Once they’re close, kill them in one shot.
The Tomahawks are like second and third shots. Missing with the crossbow leaves you vulnerable because of the slow reload. Improving your accuracy with one will simultaneously improve your skills with the other. Thankfully it is easier to land Tomahawks on closer opponents, which is another reason why smoke grenades are the best tactical for this loadout. Throw the lethals as frequently as you can following a missed bolt, but don’t get too trigger happy. Lead the tosses to hit enemies on the move and don’t worry about aiming slightly above your target unless they’re far away.
The Field Mic alerts you to nearby enemies. Getting the jump on opponents is extra important given the high risk, high reward playstyle of the crossbow. This improves your chance of landing shots and makes it harder for other players to stop you. Paired with Gearhead, you’ll get the Field Mic faster and possibly place two at once. Don’t place them too close. The extra mini-map visibility makes protecting objectives, key choke points, and vital lines of sight easier.
People love to throw C4, Semtex, and frag grenades into smoke. Fortunately the Flak Jacket will help you survive explosions.
The point of this class is to make enemies come to you. Part of that is stealth or in this case the Ghost perk. If you’re more of a run and gun player, then Ninja is a good alternative or Engineer paired with Spycraft for a better idea of the enemy’s location based on their equipment.
R1 Shadowhunter camo tips
Unlocking every camo for the crossbow is fairly straightforward. Playing this loadout will help you get all of them without going out of your way, except for maybe the Stripes category. Those camos require longshots which might be tough since our recommended loadout focuses on closer kills.
The trickiest camo category for the R1 Shadowhunter is Psychedelic. The gun has a slow fire rate and only shoots one bolt at a time, making rapid or double kills less ideal. Teammates might eliminate foes before you’re able to get another shot off or you might just struggle in two-on-one situations. The best work around is to play Free-For-All. Everyone is a target and they’ll have to worry not only about your bolts, but other players too. Take advantage of the more hectic gameplay to quickly unlock the rest of your camos.
The stylish gold R1 Shadowhunter is worth the mastery.