COD: Warzone's Outbreak Zombies mode is different from the regular zombies we are used to. One of the biggest changes is its open world, with zombies spawning everywhere and lots of bosses to fight. 

To survive them, you need ironclad loadouts. This guide will give a few loadout suggestions, upgrades included, to get you to round 40 and beyond.

M16 with Ring of Fire

• Muzzle — SOCOM Eliminator
• Barrel — 20.5 Match Grade
• Optic — Visiontech 2x
• Stock — Wire Stock
• Body — Tiger Team Spotlight
• Underbarrel — Bruiser Grip
• Magazine — Salvo 65
• Handle — Serpent Wrap

The M16 is very good for Outbreak and it is one of the strongest assault rifles to kill zombies with in Warzone. Its burst fire allows you to have a lot of recoil control, while still doing high damage. The attachments we chose will increase your damage, speed, and salvage drops.

These three are the most important things to look out for when making any loadout. Better salvage drop will help you in both the early and late game and will allow you to upgrade your gun rarity, which in turn results in more damage, and let you buy armor. With this loadout, a tier 2 armor and second tier weapon upgrade in round 1 is not uncommon. Improved salvage drop is also important in the late game because you can keep buying killstreaks and equipment without having to worry about running out of scrap or essence.

The M16 can start falling off in damage in the later rounds and is not as strong as the shotgun. That is why I suggest going Ring of Fire to be able to deal extra damage to bosses. This especially comes in handy in holdouts and later rounds where the enemies become super strong. For the ammo mod, I would suggest choosing Napalm Burst to melt enemies faster. Since most of your fights will be from far away, it will be very helpful to apply the fire damage early and watch the health bars slowly melt. 

Read also: COD Warzone Assault Rifle tier list

Hauer 77 with Ring of Fire

• Muzzle — Agency Choke
• Barrel — 25.2
• Magazine — Stanag 8 rnd Tube
• Handle — Field Tape
• Stock — Marathon pad

The Hauer 77 is the strongest weapon in Outbreak Zombies after the wonder weapons (our guide on the best wonder weapons in Outbreak Zombies here). In the early rounds, it one-shots enemies and still does tons of damage to bosses in later rounds. Like with the M16, the loadout I recommend for the Hauer 77 increases damage, salvage drop, and speed.

The most important thing for this weapon is the magazine size because it runs out of bullets really fast. Having eight in the chamber is a game-changer, especially in the early game before you start to pack a serious punch. Once again, you will need Ring of Fire to melt bosses late game and ensure your shotgun never falls off in damage. It will also act as a barrier since if you have it maxed out, enemies can't throw objects at you once you are in the ring of fire, allowing you to stay safe and not take damage from bosses like Megatons.

This loadout will allow this gun to still deal good damage on round 40 especially with ammo mods like the recommended Shatter Blast, which will melt high-armor enemies. It also releases explosion damage, which comes in real handy when killing hordes of zombies, especially when you're training or are stuck in a corner. Napalm Burst is also an option for fire damage and melting bosses, but it's not as strong when facing armored enemies. For that reason, I suggest using Shatter Blast in late rounds, since almost all enemies you encounter will be armored. 

Gallo with Ring of Fire

• Muzzle — Duckbill Choke
• Barrel — 24.8″ Task Force
• Body — SWAT 5mw Laser Sight
• Magazine — Stanag 12 Rnd Tube
• Stock — Tactical Stock
  
  

The Gallo use to be the more overpowered shotgun until it got nerfed. So out of all the shotguns, the Hauerr 77 is still the strongest. The Gallo still has its benefits though, including a way bigger magazine size than the Hauer 77 and a faster fire rate. The attachments used will boost damage, salvage drops, and speed. 

Melee weapons with Aether Shroud or Ring of Fire

If you don't pick up a gun from a wall buy or the mystery box, you could also just start the game with one of the melee weapons. One of the pros of this is you get extra points when getting melee kills so you will be way ahead of everyone else. It is also a one or two-shot kill weapon early game so you should not struggle much when fighting zombies. Just make sure to keep the tier upgraded and the knife pack-a-punched.

You could also add ammo mods to it and it's completely up to you which one you want to add. One of the drawbacks of this, of course, is that some missions can be very hard to do, especially later on. This is why I suggest buying a gun before doing any mission just in case you need it.

I personally went to round 5 without any trouble or using guns but if you get stuck in a corner you will die, which is why I suggest Aether Shroud, so you can escape and knife the enemies. It is also useful when trying to kill bosses, you can turn invisible and just knife them till they are dead. Obviously, the biggest issue with this is you can't keep the knife with you late round. It eventually falls off in damage especially against bosses making it pretty worthless.

Which loadout is better?

The M16 and Hauer 77 are the most used weapons to go high rounds or when speedrunning zombies. If you are new to the Outbreak mode and still getting the hang of it, I would suggest using the Hauer 77 since it is very strong, especially early game. Newer players may struggle with the M16 if they get cornered or if there are a ton of bosses on them. 

That said, the biggest benefit the M16 has is its range, meaning you could wipe out bosses or hoards of zombies before they even come close to you. It's more of a high-risk, high reward with the Hauer 77 and Gallo. At the end of the day, you can use whatever gun you want but it will make the game way harder for you. I have done challenges like knifing only or snipers only, but at a certain point, it just becomes impossible to go any further in the game.